Neil Thompson is our guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast. When it comes to the world of digital marketing, some people are still just starting out. It’s a fast-paced environment to live in, and being able to handle your own against some of the best is important if you want to succeed. That’s where Neil Thompson comes in. Neil is just starting out in the world of digital marketing, and through the success, he’s found today, he can speak first hand on the struggles of dipping your toes into this environment. His company, Teach the Geek, has helped many people just like him, and this week, Neil talks to us about how he can help you get comfortable with public speaking, as well as encouraging others to ask for and seek help when they need it. Let’s get started!

• How Neil got into digital marketing! With his product, Teach the Geek, Neil invites people just like him to conquer their fears of public speaking. With a background in engineering, science, and the STEM community, Neil would often find himself overwhelmed with the number of presentations he’d have to do in a week. Creating a product to not only help himself but help others in the same position, gave him a better quality of life at work!
• Neil tells us about when he first developed the product, and the struggles he faced along the way. Without knowing what to do after creating the idea, and no background in marketing or sales, Neil tried to do things on his own. Nothing was really working out, however, and so, Neil turned to the internet, trying his hand at things like webinars and Facebook groups.
• Following the suggestion that he try webinars, Neil hired VAs to help him set one up, inviting his friends and family to join him on YouTube Live. When the time came, however, no one showed up. The show must go on, Neil said, and he still went through with the presentation. However, after watching it back, Neil discovered an error with his slides, and the webinar footage was still unusable. That’s when he knew he needed professional help.
• From there, Neil tells us about hiring a marketing agency to help him with branding and marketing. They gave him a plan and a strategy on what to do going forward. Additionally, Neil explains that they were big on setting him up with a social media strategy, introducing him to new accounts across the board. With events planned on teaching his course and getting new hires, Neil found success with this agency. Currently, Neil also has a YouTube channel where he interviews people in the STEM field!
• Neil tells us about how hiring the agency was the right idea. Playing to your strengths is important, but being able to recognize your weaknesses is important as well. Neil wonders if Teach the Geek would’ve taken off sooner if he had hired the agency earlier on, but going through what he did is a good lesson, both to himself and to fellow people who’re just dipping their toes into the marketing game.
• Lastly, Neil talks to us about the future of Teach the Geek. Currently, it’s an online course aimed towards individuals. In the future, however, he’d like to move into companies! Giving keynote speeches, workshops, and offering the course to people who work in the company is something Neil is looking forward to. Neil never wants to be an employee again, and Teach the Geek is giving him the opportunity he needs.

Jason Hsiao is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads podcast. Creator and video editor at Animoto, a software designed to help small businesses owners create professional looking video content, Jason has all the inside tricks that beginners are looking for when it comes to breaking into the world of video. From getting started, to finding the most interesting content to work with, Jason can get you ready for the world of video, while skipping the live aspect for those who prefer to keep things more narrative. Let’s get started!

• All about Jason, and Animoto! Software that’s been around for 10 years now, Jason explains that Animoto allows you to upload videos that can then be transformed into professional looking pieces of content. They have free plans, as well as a tier paid system, that works for small businesses owners working on a smaller budget than large companies.
• Jason explains how powerful social media is, and why video content is important. Animoto can help you achieve the things you see on social media all the time—whether it’s an overview video, a list video, or a demo, you can create top tier graphics, text designs, swipe effects, and more. Anything you see big companies doing, Animoto can help you do the very same.
• Jason talks about the hype revolving around Facebook Live. Now that it’s been around for over a year, a lot of people think it’s better to go live for the sake of going live. However, Facebook’s algorithm favors content that’s engaging, and that people are paying attention to. If you don’t have a reason to go live, you’re better off producing a candid video. That way, you can control the content you’re creating, and do with it what you want.
• Jason explains how to make a video that people will watch. The team at Animoto have been studying nonstop for years what it takes to get people engaged, and there’s not a checklist of items that you can run down in order to guarantee success. Mostly, you need to remember that a video is a form of communication, and you need to be regularly communicating with your audience. Think about the outlets you have—blogging, email, etc.—and think about what you need to inspire and educate your audience.
• Additionally, Jason talks about a video from the point of view of a salesperson and marketer. Think about how you can bring people along that customer journey through your content, and how you can start getting them to convert to whatever your offer is. Jason explains that save the best for first, instead of last, and insists that putting the most interesting content in the first second of the video is what will bring people in. Things need to be short to keep up with the shrinking attention span of the public, so get your message across as effectively as you can, in as little time as you can.
• Jason talks to us about the biggest mistakes people make in the video, starting with the length of the content created. People who are just getting started tend to make things too long, and Jason challenges them to cut their video time in half while maintaining the same message. When a video starts, 100% of your audience will be there, and the amount will decrease as the video plays. Every second count, so give them your best stuff right off the bat!
• Jason also discusses the anxiety that can come with video. People think things need to over the top in order to get see. However, Jason reminds people that we’re living in an age of over information, and misinformation. People want the truth, to establish a sense of authenticity and foster trust between yourself and your audience. Giving them good content is more important than putting on a high budget show.
• Jason gives some advice for the call to actions in your video content. People think that video can only be used for grabbing attention, but people are finding ways to use video for every stage of the funnel. The most basic strategy revolves using videos to foster an interest and then converting that interest into a warm lead. They don’t need to be familiar with your company in order to watch the video, to create something with a wider appeal that can start a relationship with your business and the brand.
• Lastly, Jason leaves us with advice for people who haven’t delved into video yet, explaining that you should be challenging yourself to create one short video. Once you start to see how easy it is, you’ll have the confidence to create more. And, additionally, you’ll see how fun it can be! Don’t think you need to be in the video, or that you need to hire a full team, in order to find success.

Brendan Kane is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast. A digital marketer and business strategist, Brendan’s been in the game for over 15 years and is here to share some of his amazing expertise with us. A recent author of the amazing book One Million Followers: How I Built A Massive Social Following in 30 Days, Brendan has worked out a technique that ensures success to the people that follow it. Let’s get started!

• How Brendan got involved in the digital marketing world! He’s touched every aspect of digital marketing over the years and has worked with a multitude of people across the board. He’s been able to build technology platforms for big brands around the world, and for high list celebrities as well. This success was, and still is, amazing, but brought the question of how he would be able to give a small business the same treatment of success. Can his systems be applied to a smaller scale project? The answer: yes!
• Brendan tells us about how his book idea got started, insisting that the question posed gave him the idea to create a system for small businesses. However, it’s important to note that he didn’t come up with the idea of gaining a lot of social media followers overnight—this was an idea that was 3 and a half years in the making.
• There are different processes for people to engage in your content, and if you want to generate a large social audience, Brendan explains that you need to understand that audience. You’ll need to guess what content will work, perhaps analyze the content from your competitor’s in order to see what they’re doing and generate something of your own. Don’t invest too much time in one specific direction!
• As you post, Brendan encourages you to look through what kinds of comments and shares the content you’ve created is garnering during the time that you post it at. Leverage that as a research tool, and from there, you can use advertisement systems to control certain variables (like who you’re marketing to and the products that they buy). This helps you understand how your content is performing under certain circumstances.
• Brendan addresses the idea of fake followers, explaining that the ones he gained were real people. It’s easy for people to follow you—the real element is how you foster that connection and relationship with them when they follow you. What you do with the followers proves your longevity and your ability to sell to them. You can build up a good engagement rate on social media through testing, and seeing what works and what doesn’t.
• Brendan then talks about ‘vanity likes’, explaining that the message he’s trying to put out with his book isn’t about gaining followers. Rather, it’s about the value of information and the testing process that you go through to gain these followers. It’s about teaching it and using it to generate likes, earn followers, and gain leads. In fact, there are instances that this system can generate some success in building audiences around the world. The best part? You don’t need money in order to test the content and scale that you’re trying to reach!
• Lastly, Brendan talks to us about the biggest misconception with social media. He says that most people assume you can just create content blindly, put it out there, and hope for the best. The reality is that with the power social media gives us, success can be quickly gained. It lets you seed your content to an audience when you don’t even have an audience, and the advertising process lets you reach a large number of people in a short amount of time. Quality content is the key.

Stacy Raske Martin is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast. Stacy Known as the Empowered Overthinker. Stacy knows what it’s like to suffer first hand from having too much gone on in your brain at once to get something done, and this week, she’s here to share her expertise on how to get yourself on the right track, and how to dig yourself out of mental holes that your brain puts you into. Let’s get started!

• What it is that Stacy does! As the Empowered Overthinker, Stacy helps female entrepreneurs who find themselves stuck in cycles of doubt build the confidence and consistency they need to reach their high-level goals and believe they’re good enough to reach out and reach up! Though Stacy does know that the process of overthinking happens to anyone, she notes how differently it manifests in women, especially women who work in the world of business. That’s where her specialties come in handy.
• Stacy talks to us about how it works with women and the power of overthinking, noting that there’s so much expectation that women fall under. On top of the pressures from society, women tend to put themselves under a mountain of pressure as well and combined, it makes for a stagnant work ethic when you’re trying to run a business.
• In order to find success, Stacy states that you have to first be in alignment with yourself, and your needs. When it comes to building a business, you’re so focused on yourself as the brand, that you don’t tend to think about yourself as a person. When you’re inner critic gets in the way, in terms of sabotage and negative thinking space, it can bring your business down, due to feelings of imperfection, and not being good enough.
• Stacy explains to us the 4 simple steps that are amazing for crushing your inner critic, starting with routines! You need to master your morning, your day, and your night, and create time that’s solely dedicated to yourself. By focusing a few minutes of your day on your needs, you’re telling yourself that you’re good enough to have this time.
• Second, Stacy talks about the release! You need to let go of the things you don’t actually have control over, and that starts with releasing the energy spent into making these things work. We’re so backed up with emotions that it puts us in a place of being highly reactive to the world, instead of being proactive in what we want to achieve. We need to consciously recognize what we can control, and release what we can’t, in order to clear our brains and shift our focus.
• Third, Stacy talks about being able to receive! When you’re working hard on your business, you’re focused on growth and obtaining your goals. However, during that process, you need to make sure you’re not blocking yourself from receiving what’s coming in! The biggest block you can suffer from is expectations—if things aren’t exactly what we expect them to be, we tend to think that we didn’t win. In that case, you’re not receiving your victory due to perfectionism, and blocking your own success as well.
• Lastly, Stacy talks about respect. One of the most important things in a business setting is to have respect for yourself by setting boundaries. This is the missing piece for most people, and though it’s a topic of conversation, no one’s really explaining the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of boundaries. They are the mechanism that affects all of the other things we do, and you need to instill a set of personal boundaries for yourself and your work.

Melisa Liberman is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast. The creator of Crushing Motherhood, Melisa is a career coach for corporate mothers, and she has the information you need in order to balance your life! From maintaining a state of technology free presence with your children to making sure that you’ve got a 3 step process in place for getting yourself out of that rut, Melisa gives me all the details on what makes her a successful mother, and how you can be the very same. Let’s get started!

• What it is Melisa does! As stated above, she works as a dedicated career coach for mothers who are also business owners. These women may find themselves struggling to reach a balance between their former, high performing self and all the motherhood challenges that come into their lives recently. On top of trying to maintain a business career, these women have a family to care for, and Melisa can help them with both.
• Melisa talks to us about the feeling of being “stuck”. Often, people can feel stuck due to having too much on their plate. They need things, and they have so many goals they want to accomplish but no way of immediately doing it. With that big (or small) goal on your plate, you can find yourself bogged down and stuck, leaving the goals we’re trying to accomplish in the dust.
• Where that feeling of being stuck comes from—our mindset! A lot of it comes from feelings of not being good enough, from feelings of failure and that we’re not capable of actually accomplishing our goals. This underlying thought process about our capabilities and our ability to succeed can hold us back. Additionally, Melisa warns that we might be trying to stretch ourselves too thin with our goals and that the overextension is stopping us from doing anything at all.
• Melisa teaches us how to beat getting stuck with 3 easy tricks. The first one involves doing a brain dump—figure out what the things you want to do are, and write them down on a piece of paper. From there, you can see everything laid flat, and whether these goals are personal or business-related, they have a place to exist outside of your head, making it clear and ready for processing.
• Step 2 revolves around what you think about your brain dump. Melisa encourages us to peel back the layers to figure out what’s preventing us from taking action, and what’s keeping us stuck where we’re at. When you look at your brain tump, you can write out the thoughts you have about it—if you think you can accomplish it, how you can do it, and why. Through this, you’ll start writing out things that revolve around your capabilities, and what you can and cannot do. These things that lie under the surface are what’s causing you to be stuck, and now you have a way to find and recognize them.
• Step 3 involves figuring out what thoughts can serve you. In this process, we can shift into what Melisa calls “B- work”—it’s not done perfectly, but it’s done, and it’s out there. The idea of perfection can weigh heavily on a lot of people, especially in the marketing world, and we all have moments where we’re wondering if we’re spending enough time on this or that. We end up getting stuck due to those thoughts about ourselves, and the judgments we have about ourselves as a parent or a business owner.
• Melisa talks about juggling a business with having children, telling us that the first part is knowing what the big picture is. In terms of your business, what are the 2 or 3 things that you’re trying to accomplish at any given time? Melisa will often set these goals with 90-day increments so she can accomplish them in a timely and stress-free manner. The second focus is being present with your children when you can be, and that involves putting technology aside and making sure your children are getting the attention that they deserve from their parent.
• Lastly, Melisa tells us what working with her can entail! She explains that she likes to work with clients to help them understand where they’re at right now, and where they want to be. She works to fill in that gap. The initial thought most clients have revolved around needing more time to get things done, but looking at the bigger picture clears away those smaller concerns and brings to light bigger ones, and the true things that are holding them back. Most of the time it has to do with your mindset, and she works to shift their way of thinking in order to remove them from paralysis, and getting them what they want.

Hi everybody, it’s One-Click Lindsey. Today' I am going to share Traffic and Leads Masters Program! An all-inclusive package that lasts for six months, the Master's Program is a perfect opportunity for marketers and business owners alike to brush up on their digital marketing skills, while also learning a bit about everything in the digital marketing world with access to everything inside my business brain. It’s something you won’t want to miss out on, trust me. Let’s get started!

• How you can get in on the Live Showcase Method! Last week, I went over the basics of what the Live Showcase Method contains, and how it can help you in your Facebook Live endeavors. Right now, and until Tuesday at midnight, you can sign up for your chance to get the Live Showcase Method treatment at liveshowcasemethod.com! I spent my entire 2018 learning how to utilize the power of Facebook Live, so trust me when I say that the Live Showcase Method is a surefire way towards success!
• Briefly, I go over what comes with the Live Showcase Method package! For starters, I provide my clients with a calendar link, where they can input their Facebook Live schedule. Then, when the time comes, my staff and I will come out to view your Facebook Live in order to give you feedback and critiques of your hosting methods! Everyone starts at 0 viewers, so don’t let that disappoint you as you grind your way up the ladder.
• In addition to that, I’ll be going live myself to perform the Live Showcase Method! Every day at 9 AM, join me and see what it’s all about, and let me talk to you about the variety of ways that your digital marketing can get an upgrade! With a variety of topics already covered, make sure you join me over the next couple of days to understand why people are starting to harness the amazing power of Facebook Live videos.
• During these Facebook Lives, I talk about the new product that I’m selling to my amazing audience—the Traffic and Leads Masters Program! The second iteration of this run through, the Traffic and Leads Masters Program has everything you need to be successful when it comes to the world of online marketing. With how well it works, I have no doubt that you can and will pay off the entire membership cost in the first month!
• I’ll go into what you can expect when you sign up for the Traffic and Leads Masters Program, starting with a weekly phone call with me! That’s right—for the first month, I’m on standby weekly to answer any questions you could have and to solve any problems that might come up. Additionally, you’ll be added to a private Facebook group that’s made of staff members of mine, as well as marketers who’ve signed up for the program previously, providing you with a source of community, and a wealth of information!
• Lastly, I’ll talk about some of the other benefits of the program, which include an accountability coach. Someone you can talk to once a month, an accountability coach is someone who can make sure that you’re on the right track, that you have a plan and a strategy in place, and that you’re doing all necessary things to achieve your end goal. Additionally, you’ll get access to all of my previous training, which range across a large spectrum of digital marketing!

James Hebdon is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast. He's the founder of Paid Search Magic with his wife, Amy, James is a Google AdWords and paid search expert. Together, he and I talk about what his agency has to offer for other businesses, the algorithms that Google is currently running when it comes to keywords and earning your place on the Google search list, and how small businesses can benefit from the use of Google AdWords in order to maximize how often they’re seen by people in their local area. Let’s get started!

• How James got started! Paid Search Magic was founded by him and his wife, Amy, and together they run what he calls a boutique agency where they run paid ads for clients. Additionally, they’ve started a training program to teach other business owners and digital marketers the ins and outs of paid search! There’s plenty of options for everyone, from consistent training to sessions that last a couple of weeks.
• James tells us how they got into the training scene, stating that it comes from his wife! Amy got thrust into doing training and loved it so much, that she started pursuing it. It’s a labor of love between both of them. In addition to these training sessions, James and Amy also offer free advice in their Facebook Group, Google Ads for Savvy Digital Marketers.
• James gets into the discussion surrounding the changes that Google has made recently that affect the digital marketing scene. Since AdWords are based in an auction type setting, where you bid on keywords to see how high up you can get in the ranks, it’s important that your quality score plays an equal part as the monetary value, making it possible for all businesses to have a chance. Google has since changed this, and James goes over the details of what we can do to make ourselves stand out and climb the ranks.
• James also gets into the changes around long tail keywords and shorter keywords. They don’t want people bidding on long tail keywords, because the competition and the stakes for shorter keywords are higher and more expensive. This means that when people focus on using long tail keywords, they aren’t seeing as much traffic as their competition.  James also highlights how small businesses can benefit from this as well.
• James goes into the details about Google MyBusiness, stating that it’s a must-have among digital marketers and small business owners! It’s free to set up, and you can do it by yourself with how simple they make the controls. Once you have a MyBusiness setup, people will be able to find your business through local searches that include “near me” in their sentence, which puts you on the board against the competitors in your area.
• James talks to us about how Google can help small businesses reach a larger audience. If you have a storefront, Google is going to consider you to be very relevant for people who’re looking for local services. There’s not much competition on a local level, so you’ll find success with ease! Local pay per click might get tricky, he warns, but Google is working systems that appeal to small business owners, and it’s good to keep this in mind going forward.
• James wraps it up by talking to us about Bing, and why people should be using Bing Ads. It’s the next place people will go from Google, and even though they only have 10 - 20% of the search market, it’s still enough to put stock in. Bing makes it easy to import Google settings, and Bing can often be a better opportunity for local business owners due to fewer people competing. This means prices for top keywords can be lower and more accessible!

Robin Waite is our special guest on today's episode of Traffic and Leads Podcast.  As a guest on my show this week, Robin and I talk about his shift in career, how to get started with him if you’re an interested client, and what he thinks the world of business and marketing could be doing differently in the long run. Additionally, we get to talking about his new and amazing book—Take Your Shot: How to Grow Your Business, Attract More Clients, and Make More Money. Let’s get started!

• How Robin got started in the world of business! For 12 years, he ran a creative agency for marketing, branding, and web design. Recently, however, Robin went through what he calls a midlife crisis, which prompted him to close his agency and turn towards the process of building businesses. He hasn’t looked back since, and today works mostly with client businesses and service-based businesses to get them off the ground!
• Robin talks to me about his book, Take Your Shot: How to Grow Your Business, Attract More Clients, and Make More Money. The book is about how he went through coaching his first client, who was a major part of changing the landscape in the work he does now. The main issue revolves around his client not offering an outcome, or a payoff, for the services they were offering, and Robin goes through the explanation of how to get your value proposition in line when starting your business model in his book.
• Robin tells us how he obtains his clients! He states that a lot of them come through word of mouth referrals, but since he’s always on the content marketing wagon, he’ll get people to meet him through various growth hack methods on social media! When people do want to collaborate with him, the first thing he’ll do is have them fill out an assessment form—this way, he can weed out people who aren’t ready for the step of hiring a business coach, and can find the perfect fit for his coaching style. Additionally, Robin does a lot of podcast interviews, and speaking engagements, in order to consistently push out content to audiences that can generate warm inbound leads.
• But, how does Robin get these leads? Well, he tells me about a process he uses called the video content ecosystem! This can be used by anyone who uses video as a medium to reach their audience—say you produce a Facebook live stream for your Facebook fans. When the video is completed, you can download that video and upload it to YouTube, giving you another edge up against the rest. Additionally, Robin likes to use a website called rev.com, that offers transcript services (done by humans) for a reasonable price! From there, you can use the written content based on your initial video for blogging pieces, as well as pieces for social media and your website!
• Robin talks to me about the “Magical Marketing Mystery Machine”, which is a common idea that most people who work in the digital marketing space believe in. With the field being more crowded and popular than ever, it’s harder to be found in the mass of crowds. Because of this, Robin likes to deliver 3 times the amount of value you want to get back in what he offers. Additionally, Robin urges small businesses owners to stay away from email marketing—while it may work in the long run for big name brands, it doesn’t work as well for small businesses, and the sooner you can admit that the easier the process can become!

Today, we have with us, John Jonas. He is an experienced businessman, and the founder of onlinejobs.ph. Today, we are talking about how important it can be to outsource jobs across the world, to hiring dedicated people that will work hard to maintain their full time positions, and why his website and his business is a better, smarter choice compared to his competition. Let’s get started!

• How John got started! 14 years ago, John was looking to hire new people for his business. He’d tried all kinds of services to find freelancers and contract workers that didn’t give him what he wanted, and what he stumbled on in the process was what changed his life, and his business course! After receiving advice from his friend, John hired a man from the Philippines, and he hasn’t looked back since!
• John talks to us about the process of hiring a freelancer, and the concept behind what they’re meant to do. You want to hire them for a specific purpose, and once that task is complete, they’re usually gone. When hiring from the Philippines, you get a very different result. Jobs there are only temporary, lasting a total of 6 months before they have to find something else. So, when you offer them a long term, full time job position, they’re going to stay around as long as possible! They also care more about your business, and what you do, and are willing to learn as much as possible to maintain their jobs, as well as make sure the work they’re producing is the best of the best.
• John talks to us about the benefits for business owners when it comes to hiring from the Philippines. You get long term, full time employees that can create content for you and learn whatever you need them to learn, while also avoiding hiring more people to the same over and over again over months at a time! These people are committed and ready to work hard for their jobs—it’s just like hiring locally, at one third of the cost.
• John talks about his businesses versus UpWork, explaining that what they can offer is a better deal, at a better price. When you hire someone from the Philippines to be your virtual assistant, you’re giving them a chance at a full time job, and forcing yourself back into the CEO position. If you can’t keep the outsourcer busy, then you’re wasting your own time and money. So, by making sure they’ve always got something to do—things you would usually do—you can then focus on improving the business, thinking about the business, and achieving the goals you’re setting.
• John gives us a bit of information on hiring someone, and why it’s good to test the waters at first. When you give them their first task, you’re seeing if you can work with them in the long haul, and if your styles mesh together. If you find that things work out, John says that this person will undoubtedly stick around and keep things going.
• Lastly, John tells us how his website works, stating that—unlike UpWork—there’s no additional fee or charge for using his business. You simply pay a monthly fee of 69$/month in order to access their database of workers looking for jobs. From there on out, it’s between you and the people you choose to hire—John and his fellow founders don’t ask for any money!