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#but we’ve planned to have a weekend away like delayed anniversary
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young royals makes me miss my girlfriend SO MUCH but she’s so busy rn and lockdown so I can’t rlly see her and ugh ugh so sad I miss her :((
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swiftlymoniquesblog · 3 years
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A Tribute to Supernatural (LONG post ahead)
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Well, today is the day. The day I have struggled with for the past year or so, the inevitable. The day the last episode of Supernatural was going to air on television. I never thought I’d be writing about this, about how much this show has meant to me, but with today being the day another chapter in all our lives comes to a close, I feel like I owe it to the cast and crew and to all of you, to make this post. So here it goes.
I haven’t been in the fandom for too long, about two-and-a-half years now. I’ll never forget my anniversary date: May 20th. That was the day that changed my life forever. I know, sounds pretty cliché but it’s the truth. I remember that day very vividly, too. I had gone on a bus trip with my family, out to stay at a casino about an eight-hour drive with my family. It was rather a fun time and I remember on our way back home; I was searching through Netflix for a new series to start, and Supernatural had popped up. I hesitated trying it again, because I had previously watched the first episode of the first season, and it absolutely freaked me out. I had tried to watch the second episode after that but couldn’t make it halfway through. After much deliberation with my friends on Facebook, who had been fans for quite a long time at that point, had told me to just push through and keep watching because it got better. So, with an eight-hour drive ahead of me, I figured I’d start it again and really give it time. Little did I know, that was the day that I would hold close to my heart forever. And of course, my friends were pleased to have heard I was giving it another chance because they knew I’d love it; they were right.
Fast forward to today, and this show is way more than just a show to me. It’s become a way for me to connect with people, complete strangers in most cases, but it’s become a safe place. Sure, I’ve had my share of negative people or “bullies” if you want to call them that, but none of that would stop me from talking or sharing anything about the show. Then, I got more invested in the cast and who they were outside of the show. I never realized how important they would become to me too, but they really have and they’ve become like a distant family. Granted, I’ve only met a lot of the cast just once, but the connection they give us, whether through the characters of the show, or the small glimpse into their personal lives they give us, just makes you feel like you’re apart of something bigger. And they never let you think that they don’t care. Of course, they don’t really know me, just like I really don’t know them, yet they have a way to make all of us feel like we’re tied together somehow, and it’s beautiful.
Like I’ve previously stated, I have met quite a few members of the cast (see photos above). My first Supernatural convention was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. It had been several years since a convention was set up in Texas but when they announced there was going to be one in the Dallas area, I knew I had to be there. The show had already made that much of a difference to me, under a year. 2019 was the year I graduated from university and I wanted to do something really special to celebrate such a big accomplishment. What did I choose to do? Celebrate with the Supernatural family of course! When I began buying tickets, it was scary yet exciting. I, unfortunately, didn’t get a photo with Jensen because they had sold out already, three months before the event was going to take place (hence the photo with a poster of Jensen). I bought the photo with Jared and was extremely nervous about that photo more than any others. I still really don’t have a solid answer as to why I was so scared to meet him but I usually say because he’s so freaking tall, it’s kind of intimidating, and the fact that I had built such a high pedestal for Sam in my mind, that I was afraid I would disappoint myself seeing Jared, but none of that happened.
Getting to go to a Supernatural convention is extremely difficult. It’s so unbelievably expensive, I still can’t believe I’m trying to go a second time (if COVID would just CHILL) but the experience as a whole, is what does it for me. If you go as I did, I went for the entire weekend because I didn’t want to miss a single minute of all the excitement that was building from Creation Entertainment or the fans who were going to. Actually, it turns out, that a few of the friends I made via social media, were going to be there that weekend too, so we made plans to meet up in person; and we did! The fans are what really makes the convention's special. Because we all have one thing in common and we all can share our experiences and laugh or cry with each other. It’s a community I’ve never been apart of before, but that’s what makes it so special. The fandom has, mostly, been very generous to me. Offering up advice on what to expect when going to the convention and advice on meeting everyone. Most of the advice came about meeting Jared and it turned out everyone was right.
Jared Tristan Padalecki is one GIANT teddy bear! So many people described him that way to me but once you get to see him up close, it’s nothing like you imagine. He is HUGE and it is kind of scary with that floating over your head, but when you walk up to him, he smiles so wide at you and is so happy to see you. For me, I went right in for a hug, wrapping my arms around his waist and his around my back or so. It was brief but I felt so safe just being that close to him for that small amount of time. And then my op, is my friend is supposed to be sad that I’m hugging Jared and not her. We weren’t prepared too much on how we were going to pose, but I remember Jared had reached out for my friend to be closer to him in the photo but she said that she was supposed to be over here for the pose. I remember too, Jared grabbing me and wrapping his arm around me, right under my neck, somewhat close to my boobs (no, he didn’t touch them, even by accident) and I responded by bringing my arms up to hold onto him too, then the photo was taken. I made sure I was smiling and had no idea how Jared looked, but I think he looks absolutely adorable smiling like he was. And when I went to walk away, I looked up at him, looked into those beautiful eyes, and thanked him for the photo and being there that weekend. He smiled at me and rubbed my back just briefly, but I felt heat rise in the place he touched. Other fans too, commented how happy he looked, when I went to pick up my photo on the table that held all the freshly printed photos. I was really happy with how it turned out but I kind of wished we planned it better. This second con, if I get to go, will be a lot better because I’ll have a photo with Jensen and two with Jared, and I’ve already come up with the poses for those three ops.
Ultimately, this show and the community of fans, has really gotten me through a lot. Recently too, life has been pretty difficult for me, but I always just look at my phone to see my wallpaper of me and Jared, and that makes me feel a lot better. I’ve invested so much time and effort into this show, that I can’t imagine a world where it no longer exists. I don’t believe everything we’ve built as a fandom is going away, it’s just going to look a lot different.
I’ve had my own fears for how this day was supposed to come. And it was supposed to originally end much earlier in this year but because it got delayed, the final filming, it brought me a small bit of relief because it meant I got to hold on to Sam and Dean just a little longer. But now that this day is here, I am grateful for all it’s brought me; happiness and a sense of family. I’ve worried too much about how we are all going to carry on without new episodes coming on. Will everyone end up forgetting the show? Will it still be as important to people as it is right now? Will all the merchandise disappear? Will conventions still be going, if they get picked up again? How will people see Jensen and Jared now that they have separate plans? Will they lose fans after the last episode ends? Will we still mean as much to them now as we did at the start of it all? What is the future going to hold for Sam and Dean? So many questions plague my thoughts and have ever since Jensen, Jared and Misha announced season 15 was going to be the last one. But I guess that’s all just a part of the life cycle of a show. And maybe all of these questions will have answers tonight, maybe they won’t. Only time will tell.
All in all, I am so incredibly proud of everyone who was involved in that show. They worked incredibly hard to bring these characters to life every week and they gave us a wonderful fifteen-year run. A lot can happen in fifteen years, and it has, for all of us. No one is the same person they were fifteen years ago; I know I was a child and now I’m all grown up. To try and put into words what this show has meant to me, wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but my level of gratitude to everyone isn’t as easy. I feel like thank you, just isn’t enough. The cast and crew deserve way more than just a thank you and that’s why I’m writing this. But the biggest debt I owe is to Jensen and Jared and everyone who was at the sets from the very beginning. I know it must’ve been difficult, being away from family members as often as you were, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you to Eric for creating this show and this community. For sharing an insight into the thoughts that roam around your head and bringing them to life. For gifting us with Sam and Dean Winchester, two of the most beloved characters I think anyone has ever seen. I can just see years from now, people talking about the ‘greatest television shows of all time’ and I imagine that Supernatural will be on that list, if not at the top. I hope someone not only talks about the show itself but about the fans and the dedication we have to a storyline so unique as this one. To all the writers, y’all have made me laugh and cry and cheer for the good guys. There have been breathtaking highs and heartbreaking lows throughout the years but what a ride! Never have I been this invested in a tv show before, but as my Supernatural Day 2019 shirt says “possessed and obsessed.”
Finally, to the Supernatural fans, I love you all so much. There isn’t another group of people I would want to have as friends to cope with this ending. I know it’s been hard on all of us, having to accept the end, but we’ve gotten this far, so let’s bring it home. Let us be the ones to carry on the “family business.” We can carry the lessons that the Winchesters taught us and we can be the ones who won’t ever let them be forgotten. It is a privilege to have walked this journey this far and I hope to walk through to the end, together as a family. I want this to hold a special place in your heart years from now, as it will mine. Never forget what this show, this family, the cast and crew have meant to you. It can be easy to forget something that is no longer right in your face but keep the memories close to your heart, forever.
Let’s kick this ending in the ass and come together to support each other in this difficult time. And, as a few people have mentioned, carry on wayward son (and daughters) there will be peace when you are done.
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georgialouisea · 5 years
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The 3 Year Secret
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Pairing - Dean x Reader, Aunt Julie (oc), Adam, Kristen, Sarah, readers parents. Word count - 2.1K Warnings - Fluff, a smidge of angst, secrets. Written for - @spnfluffbingo2019 Squares filled - Kissed to keep quiet. 
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“Having fun?” Dean asked as he handed you a full glass of champagne sitting down in the chair next to you.
“So much.” Smiling at him you took a sip from the glass, your focus drifting back towards the center of the hall watching your younger sister dance with her husband. “Feeling like a proud big sister, are you having fun?” You asked pulling your eyes away from them to look at Dean.
“I’m here with you how can I not be having fun?” He winked at you. “They look happy.” He tipped his head towards the newlyweds.
“They are they’re perfect for eachother, the classic childhood sweethearts story, they’re gonna be so happy together, bet you ten bucks I’ll have another niece or nephew this time next year.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“You two lovebirds!” Your Aunt Julie plonked herself down on the empty chair next to you, the wine in her glass threatening to spill over the edge.
“Hi.”
“Hello, Julie.” Dean smiled at her.
“Oh, you two are sweet.” She grinned at you. “So-”
“So what?” You asked as you placed your glass down on the table.
“When should I start shopping for my dress for your wedding?” She asked with a wink, it was quickly becoming apparent this wasn’t her first glass of wine probably closer to her third.
Dean’s arm wrapped around your waist. “I don’t know.” Your hands rested in your lap your fingertips brushing over your finger where your wedding ring usually sat.
It wasn’t that you didn’t want your family with you on your wedding day the way your family dealt with parties, birthdays and weddings they went all out every time and that’s not what you and Dean wanted. Your life with Dean was unpredictable, to say the least, hunting took you to a different state every week neither of you had enough time to plan a wedding. When Dean proposed to you three years ago it took you less than a week to get married at the local courthouse taking a few hours away from hunting to get married. It was small and intimate with only Sam and Cas as your guests but you wouldn’t change it for the world. With everything happening so quickly you didn’t have a chance to tell your Mom you were engaged before you were married. That was three years ago, to your family’s knowledge you were just dating Dean with everyone waiting for news of your engagement. You wanted to tell your Mom face to face not over the phone and especially not without Dean there. Every single time you went to tell your Mom your secret another family member would have some news, your sister’s engagement, your Brother having a baby, your sister’s wedding, every single time you let their news be celebrated. As time went on it became harder and harder to find the right time to tell your family your secret.
“I’m sure it won’t be too long before you’re engaged, right Dean?” She raised a brow at him as she sipped on her wine.
“We’ll see.” Dean tried to brush off her question.
Picking up your glass you took a large sip of champagne.
“Oh you two need to have kids, you’ll have such beautiful babies.” Julie gushed with a grin on her face.
Choking mid swallow your hand covered your mouth as Dean’s hand rested on your back. “Honey, you okay?” He asked handing you a glass of water.
Taking the glass from him you took a few slow sips of water. “I’m fine.”
“Julie, will you excuse us, I think we’re gonna go and walk in the grounds, get some air.”
“Oh you kids go enjoy, I’m gonna go find my husband.” She took her wine glass as she stood up stumbling slightly before quickly finding her footing as she headed towards where your cousins were sat.
“Are you okay?” Dean asked his hand running up and down your back slowly.
“Yeah, honestly I’m fine.”
“C’mere.” Taking your hand he helped you to your feet. “We’re gonna go for a little walk.”
“My Mom will notice we’ve gone.”
“Then she can send someone to come find us.” Grabbing your bag you slung the skinny metal strap over your shoulder as you let Dean lead you out of the hotel. Linking your arm with his you walked in silence next to him, your pace slowing when you approached a lake towards the back of the hotel, the trees above you lit with fairy lights intertwined in the branches.
Dean’s hand covered yours as it rested on his arm. “What’s going on?” He asked when you stopped walking.
“We’re constantly lying to them, every single family meet up, every single phone call with my Mom, we’re married Dean I should be able to tell my Mom that you’re my husband not my fucking boy-” You didn’t have chance to finish your sentence before Dean’s lips were on yours, his arm slipping around your waist as you melted into the kiss.
Pulling away from you his forehead rested against yours. “Your brother is walking towards us with Kristen.” He whispered pecking your lips as he pulled away with a smile on his face. “Hi, guys.”
“You two sneak out too?” Adam asked with a raised brow.
“Just needed some air.” You shrugged.
“Aunt Julie got to you two too?” Your brother smirked at you.
“Something like that.” You sighed.
“There’s a really pretty bride over the lake down there, if you two are spending some time out here it’s pretty romantic.” Kristen pointed over her shoulder.
“We’re heading back up into it.” Adam nodded towards the hotel.
“Good luck!”
“You too.”
Watching them walk away Dean’s hand gave your waist a squeeze. “Do you want to stay out here or go back inside?”
“Stay out here.”
“C’mon then.” Dean’s hand took yours as you walked along the edge of the lake. “You want to tell your Mom then?”
“I do, not this weekend this is Sarah’s weekend this is her wedding I’m not going to take a second of the attention away from her we’ve waited for three years we can wait a few more weeks, drive back out here and tell her.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Dean smiled down at you. “Let me know when you want to go back inside.”
“I’m enjoying this, here with you.”
“Me too.”
--
Knocking on your parents front door you took a step back. “Are you ready?” You asked Dean looking up at him.
“Are you?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
The front door opened. “Y/N? Dean? What are you two doing here?” Your Mom asked pulling you both into a hug. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay, we’re in town and thought we’d stop by.”
“Come in, come in.” She ushered you both into the house. “Where are you staying? She asked closing the door behind you.
“We’re gonna book a room at the hotel in the city.”
“No you’re not, you’re staying here in your own room.”
“I erm, think we should talk before we agree to stay here.”
You watched the smile on your Mom’s face disappear. “What’s wrong? Did you break up? Are you sick?”
“No, we didn’t we’re still very much together and neither of us is sick.”
“So what’s going on?”
“Is Dad home?”
“He’s in the garage, do you want him here too?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go get him, go get settled in the lounge.” She waved her hand in towards the back of the house as she turned to go find your Dad.
Sitting down on the couch Dean’s hand held yours as your hands rested in your lap. “You okay?”
“No -”
“What’s going on?” Your dad asked as he walked into the lounge, his eyes on you. “Are you sick?”
“No, why do you both think I’m sick? Do I look sick?”
“Are you pregnant?” Your Dad asked ignoring your question.
“No, would you both please just sit down so we can talk to you.”
Waiting until they had both sat down on the couch opposite you, your parent's body language closely mirroring you and Dean, your Dad held your Mom’s hand as they waited to hear your news.
“I’m going to start by saying I’m so sorry and we should have told you a while ago but it was never the right time, Adam told us Kristen was pregnant, then Sarah got engaged and every time we’ve gone to tell you something’s happened so we’ve delayed telling you so many times.”
“Y/N, what’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath Dean’s hand gave yours a squeeze his silent confirmation to continue.
“Three years ago Dean asked me to marry him, we got married less than seven days later with a friend and Dean’s brother Sam there, it was completely unplanned we took an afternoon off work and got married, by the time I could tell you we were engaged we were already married, I didn’t want to tell you over the phone I wanted to be home when I told you and every time I’ve tried it hasn’t happened.”
“We know.” Your Mom admitted with a smile.
“What?”
“We know you’re married we have done for years.”
“What? How?” You looked at Dean wide eyed an equal look of confusion on his face.
“The first time you visited us here after you got married you were in your room talking about how you were gonna spend your six month anniversary, I was putting laundry away and overheard the two of you talking, it confused me at first because you’d been together for well over a year, the next morning you must’ve put your ring on out of habit, Dean noticed it at the same time I did, he held your hand and when he let go the ring was gone and his hand was in the pocket of his sweatpants.”
“You’re not mad I didn’t tell you?”
“I knew you’d tell us when you were ready, as long as you’re happy together we’re happy for you.”
“You are?”
“Of course we are! Come here.” Getting up off the couch she pulled you into her arms. “Are you happy?” She whispered.
“I’m so happy.”
“Good.” Pulling away she held you at arm's length. “Dean your turn.” Letting go of you she pulled Dean into an equally rib crushing hug. “So.” She gave Dean a final squeeze before letting him go.
“So what?”
“When are you two having your engagement, wedding and three year anniversary party?” She asked with a wink.
“Whenever you want to -”
“Steve get the calendar we have one hell of a party to plan!” Your Mom pecked your cheek before scurrying off to the kitchen.
“Dad, you’re not mad?” You looked towards your Father who was yet to say a word.
“Your Mom told me when she found out of course I’m not mad, these past few years that you’ve been with Dean are the happiest I’ve seen you in a long time.” He pulled you in for a hug kissing the top of your head. “I best go stop your Mom before she invites everyone she knows to this party.” Letting go of you your Dad stopped and stood in front of your husband. “Oficcially welcome to the family son.” Your Dad shook Dean’s hand pulling him in for a quick hug. “Continue to keep our girl happy and safe.”
“Always Sir.”
“I really need to go stop your Mom.” Your Dad winked at you before following your Mom into the kitchen.
“That wasn’t too bad right?” Dean asked wrapping his arm around your waist.
“It went much better than I thought it was going to.”
“See you’ve spent all morning stressing for nothing.”
“My Dad called you son.” You grinned up at Dean wrapping your arms around his waist. “They’re happy for us.”
“Y/N! We need to know who you want to invite, also will this be like a second wedding, you could renew your vows maybe?” Your Mom called from the kitchen.
You rested your forehead against Dean’s chest. “What have we let ourselves in for?”
“One hell of a party apparently Mrs Winchester.”
“I love you.” You smiled up at him.
“I love you too.”
“Do y’all want a cake?” Your Mom asked as she popped her head around the door with her phone pressed to her ear.
“Oh my God, we’ve created a monster.” You groaned.
Dean reached out taking your hand. “No cake but we will have pie.” He winked at you. “C’mon let’s go plan our wedding reception I guess.”
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ssa25 · 5 years
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Day 5: Red string of Fate (Sasuhina Month 2019) - Part 2
@sasuhinamonth
Continuation from Part 1-
Eight months later
Ino and Sai request the pleasure of your company at their wedding on the……. 
Hinata fidgeted in her seat, as the maid of honour, was glowering her way. She recognised the pink haired woman from three years ago. She remembered her name, an appropriate one considering the colour of her tresses, Sakura.
"Why the fuck is that woman giving us the stink eye?", Tenten noticed it too. At that moment, Hinata regretted agreeing to accompany Tenten as her plus one, when Neji my cousin and her recent boyfriend couldn't cancel a last minute work related travel. 
This wedding reception was one of the crazier ones she has attended. Booze was flowing, the music was loud, and most guests were already drunk and on the dance floor. 
Tenten and her had entered the premises only a few minutes back, and Hinata was already feeling awkward. 
Sai was a famous tattoo artist and Tenten's family business supplied special handcrafted tools to him.
But now seeing some of the familiar faces of Sakura, Chouji, Shikamaru and Temari (who gave her the cold shoulder), and the bride Ino, Hinata knew that it won't be long before she crossed paths with Sasuke. The very idea made her nervous. Their last encounter had ended on a strange note.
Her inner musings came to a halt when she saw Sakura sit next to her at the table. Tenten was away chatting up with a potential client. 
"Who invited you here?", was her first question. 
Hinata wondered if she should even respond to a passively rude question. 
"Well?", she pushed her to answer. 
"I'm here with someone who was invited.", Hinata answered in a clipped tone. 
"It's so convenient, isn't it? Showing up at a celebration you have no business being a part of.", her venom laced words only mildly offended her. Shino, her close friend always says- people who take digs at others are unhappy and bitter within, so feel sorry for them instead of yourself. 
Grabbing her purse, she decided to go to the bar.
"A Daiquiri, please.", she requested the bartender. 
"Martini."
She instantly recognized his voice beside her. She should have been more surprised, but she was already expecting to see him. She kept her eyes on the stained glass bartop, but if she were to be honest, she really wanted to turn towards him. 
"I hoped to see you here.", Sasuke spoke to her. 
Finally, she looked up at him and took in the minute changes. He grew his hair out a little, it made him look even more appealing if that was even possible.
"Aren't you a little late to the wedding?", she commented, as she had to drag her eyes away from his direction.
"I am. Apologetically so. Work commitments are to blame.", he rubbed his hand across his face tiredly. "I heard about you and Gaara from Shikamaru few months back."
"You seem to know a lot about me."
Their drinks were served promptly, and they both took to it quietly. 
"Not as much as I would like.", he replied looking at her from the corner of his eyes. 
Hinata could feel herself turning pink from the alcohol and Sasuke's unveiled interest. As stoic as he looks, he has always openly verbalised his interest in her, making her heart thrum. It was an odd sort of effect. One that she couldn't say she felt with Gaara.
"Kyoto is beautiful. I have only been here once when I was a kid.", he continued. 
She nodded her head, then turned to see him. "Do you still live in Tokyo?" 
"I do.", he started rotating his glass, an air of anxiousness around him as he grew silent for a few seconds. "With my girlfriend."
Her eyes widened at the revelation. She felt her heart drop steeply after a momentary soar. 
He looked into her eyes with a pained apologetic expression. "I want to be honest with you."
Quickly, she looked away fearing a display of her vulnerability. "That's…. That's good." 
"…. I'm not sure if I should say this, but I wish I wasn't in a relatio-" 
"You shouldn't…. You shouldn't say it. ", she did not want to hear anymore. "It's not fair to your girlfriend."
"Nor is having thoughts about another woman. But somehow I cannot stop myself from thinking both of those things.", he gulped down the rest of his drink.
"Is it Sakura?", the questioned slipped past her lips before she could even judge if it was appropriate.
"No. Uzumaki Karin. She's Naruto's cousin."
She wondered if the said woman was at the party with him.
"I...I should get going.", she said as she got down her seat. "Goodbye."
"Can I atleast have your number? Believe me, I have the resources to get it myself, but I didn't think you would appreciate it."
He was right. She wouldn't. But she still had no good reason to share her number with him. 
"Why do you need it?" 
He frowned at her, upset at having to respond to a question he knew she wouldn't like the honest answer of. 
"To keep in touch.", he half lied. 
And she could see right through it. She would hate to be the reason for someone else's despair. 
"Maybe next time."
---
Six months later.
We are engaged!! Karui and Chouji invite you to share their joy and celebrate the special occasion with them on…. 
"We've got to stop meeting like this… "
Hinata turned around to find Sasuke behind her, in a long black coat over a blue shirt and black trousers. He seemed unaffected by the freezing weather, as his eyes grazed over her. She was bundled up with every winter accessory she could fit into, but still felt like she was freezing her ass off. Now, seeing him look devastatingly handsome in the cold nights, and staring at her with those deep dark eyes, she felt a warm tingle run up her spine.
"You think so?", her voice sounded more steady and confident than she actually was. 
"Am I finally allowed to have your number?", he asked her taking a step closer to her.
She had heard about his break up with Naruto's cousin, from their common friends. And she felt ashamed to realise that a burst of happiness had bloomed in her heart to be aware of the news. She wanted to keep her hopes low, but she did want to see him again. And here he was, right in front of her, wanting to know more about her. 
"Don't you want to go inside and congratulate the newly engaged couple first?", she reminded him timidly. 
"I have my priorities straight.", he replied and stayed put. Looking behind her, he asked her with an arched eyebrow. "Are you waiting for someone?"
"I was.", she smiled and stepped up to him. "Not anymore."
They both keep their eyes affixed on each other for a few seconds, before Sasuke instinctively wrapped his arms around her and buried his nose in her thick luscious hair, breathing in the scent he had been wanting to get another whiff of, for almost two years.
He sighed in satisfaction when he felt her arms hug him back. He realised that she was opening up to him too, so he took his chances. 
"I like you.", he said blatantly. 
She laughed shyly into his chest, before replying. "I do too. But I can't for long, if I freeze in this weather." 
Chuckling, he rubbed his hands on her back, and turned her towards the door of the champagne bar. Once in the confines of the warm ambience, they both stuck together savouring each other's presence. 
Most of their friends kept looking their way to scrutinize the budding relationship, but it did not affect the bubble they were in.
Chatting and drinking, they made up for lost time. When it was all done, they had shared their phone numbers, addresses, some anecdotes and a few promises.
---
Three months later. 
We still Do and Always will. Come and join us as Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto renew their wedding vows on the eve of their 35th wedding anniversary on the…. 
Hinata read the thick gold embossed invitation card for Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha. She found it in her letterbox, returning back home from work.
Turning around the invite, she found a pale blue sticky note on it. 
I know you told me that you might not be able to make it. But I just had to send it to you. It's only been a few weeks since we last saw each other, but I can't wait to see you again, under any pretext. If you can't make it to the vow renewal, I will drive to Kyoto the weekend after.
-Sasuke
Hinata bit her lower lip as she tried to contain her smile. Sasuke and her had agreed to try a long distance relationship, after they both realised that their work commitments could not be altered on a short notice. But they were both willing to try. Sasuke was usually the one to travel to Kyoto during weekends, Hinata had been to Tokyo only twice. 
But what Hinata knew, and Sasuke didn't, was the job interview she had, at a reputed hospital in Tokyo the week after. It felt like they were both getting very serious very quickly. If he had invited her to a family event, it would mean that he had planned to introduce her to his family. It made her nervous to just think about it, but in a good way. 
So, when she finally turned up at the party, in a stunning black backless dress, with news about her new job offer, Sasuke was completely blown over. That night, for the first time she gave herself to him, body and soul. 
'People don't meet accidentally, they cross paths for a reason.'
xxx
Note:Apologies for the major delay.
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yeehawnarrie · 5 years
Note
35 narry proposal please
#35 “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
(So, small disclaimer: you really hit the jackpot and got my almost dead plot bunny running, so this is a bit longer than the 500 words I promised…It ended at 2k so if you’d rather you can read it over at AO3. Also, I haven’t read it through again, so I’ll come back later to fix all the mistakes.)
So it starts like this: he and Harry are lounging about in their LA house when Niall realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. And it’s not like he never thought about it, it’s that all those other times he thought of it as a sort of abstract concept. He wasn’t planning on leaving, and sure as hell Harry wasn’t either, so naturally they would be together forever. It never occurred to him that he wanted to marry Harry, officially, big ceremony with his ma crying and all. And that sort of takes him by surprise.
So now he’s got into the idea of planning a perfect proposal. Sure, he could just ask Harry over dinner one night and have it done with, but he didn’t want that. After everything they went through to even be together, they both deserved a nice story to tell their future children and both their mothers. Also, Harry deserved better.
First he gets the ring, which is stressful enough to almost make him drop the idea altogether, but he decides to man up -whatever that means- and pull through.
He visits so many jewelry stores he’s starting to dream silver and diamonds, and still none of the rings they show him are right. 
There are some big ones, full of encrusted diamonds and gold ornaments that he’s sure Harry would like on any other occasion but just don’t feel right for this. And then there’s the simple ones, plain bands on gold or silver with just a small engraving, but they’re boring. He wants Harry’s engagement ring to stand out against all his other rings.
Things go like this for a couple of months until one day he gets frustrated enough he calls Maura to vent to her, and a week later he gets UPS package with his grandpa’s wedding ring on it and no note. The ring is a band of yellow gold, old but still pretty, and instead of smooth it’s encrusted with small emeralds all around. It’s simple enough that it won’t look over the top, but also unique enough it won’t just get overlooked every time.
It’s just perfect, and Niall feels like crying.
With the ring taken care of, Niall moves to choosing a perfect date.
His mind runs through all the cliches: Valentine’s Day, and Anniversaries, and Birthdays. But none of them work.
For once, it’s the middle of April and Valentine’s Day and Harry’s birthday have long come and gone, and there’s no way he’s waiting another full year to do this. Their anniversary it’s in October and he’s not willing to wait that much either. And what kind of asshole proposes on their birthday?
So the cliches won’t do, which means he has to think of a date himself and his life it’s stressful enough already without having to plan around both their schedules.
But whatever, he has Harry’s calendar synchronized with his own on his computer, so one night he waits until Harry is fast asleep and he can hear his snoring and sneaks into their office.
Both their schedules are packed once the summer starts and it doesn’t stop until almost the Holidays. Which means he now has less than two months to get it all perfected, and it’s not ideal, but he’s gonna have to make due if he wants to be engaged before they have to spend four months apart with just a few days off in between. He can do it, of course he can.
He selects a weekend in June where none of them have nothing to do for the next week and puts it down in both their calendars as ‘date night’. They haven’t got one of those in a while and he guesses he can get away with it without Harry noticing anything weird, he knows how much he likes those.
Except he maybe cannot, because next morning, when he goes down to the kitchen where Harry is making breakfast, he just looks at him a bit funny and says:
“So, you added a date night on the calendar?”
And it’s not like Niall thought he wasn’t gonna notice that, it’s just that he had hoped it would take him longer than a couple hours and then he’d have time to think of a good enough excuse.
“Well yes, we haven’t got one in a while, I thought you’d like it,” he says, and Niall doesn’t like lying to Harry, not even if it’s to hide his secret proposal plans. It just feels wrong.
But Harry just nods with his head and hands him his coffee.
“You’re right, we’ve been too busy. We promised we’d have one date night a month and it’s been at least three since the last,” he says. Niall just nods back, taking a sip of his coffee. “So what are we doing?”
And well, this is the part Niall hasn’t figured out yet. And maybe he should have made a plan before deciding on that date, but he didn’t want to risk any of them scheduling something else on that day.
“I- I mean I…” he starts to say but he honestly has no idea what to say. And then he remembers there’s this hipster place Harry’s been meaning to check out but they never get time to, and so he goes with that. “I thought you’d like to go to that restaurant Jeff went a couple months ago?”
“Are you serious?” Harry asks, his face brightening like a child on Christmas morning. “You got reservations? Since when? My name’s been on the waiting list since November.”
Well, shit.
“Just talked with some folks, moved some influences, you know how it is,”
For a second he thinks he just got busted, but Harry only smiles bigger and kisses his cheek.
“I knew you were worth keeping around,” Harry says, a glint in his eyes Niall knows well.
And Niall almost feels too guilty for lying to enjoy when Harry goes down on his knees and gets his mouth on his hardening dick. Almost.
And if Niall thought getting the perfect ring was hard, nothing compares to the hell he goes through trying to make those damn reservations for that goddamned restaurant.
First, he tries the obvious one and calls the place, hoping that his name might give him some kind of privilege, but they either don’t know who he is, or they just don’t care. They promise to include him on the waiting list and call him if there are any cancellations, but Harry’s been on it longer and he hasn’t got any calls, so that’s no hope.
Then he calls his team and has them calling every famous person he knows to ask if they have a reservation they might want to change with him. But of course no one with a table wants to delay it for Niall’s antics, not even when they learn it’s for a proposal.
Lastly, he thinks about hacking into their booking system and putting his name on it, even gets as far as to look up for hackers online before realizing that’s probably a very stupid idea that’s gonna get him either scammed of his money or in jail. But by this point it’s already the beginning of June and he’s running out of time.
And it’s not really about the restaurant. He knows Harry would understand if he told him there was a change of plans or a mistake on the reservation. He just wanted everything to be perfect for him and now nothing is.
And as the day of their date night approaches Niall just continues to feel awful because their dinner it’s the only thing Harry talks about. Well, not quite, but he does talk about it with such excitement that it breaks Niall’s heart every time.
It’s until the day before that he manages enough courage to come clean to Harry about it all.
They’re in their kitchen eating pasta for lunch and it’s cozy enough with a rare sudden pour of rain hitting on their windows, but Harry keeps mentioning the suit he plans on wearing for their date and Niall just can’t anymore.
“There’s no restaurant reservations, Harry,” he says, voice almost cracking with frustration.
“What?” Harry asks. “Did they had to cancel?”
And really, Harry is offering him an easy way out. Just say that they canceled and get it done with, push his proposal for after the summer.
But he’s so tired with frustration that he just says, “There never were reservations, I lied.”
“What do you mean you lied? Why would you lie, Niall?”
And Niall is so exhausted with himself he doesn’t even try to come out with an excuse.
“Why did you lie, Niall?” Harry presses again and his voice sounds angry, but Niall knows he’s just disappointed, and that’s somehow even worse.
“Niall,” and it’s the almost scream that gets Niall back on his senses.
It’s at that point that he realizes there never was gonna be a perfect moment, not even if he somehow got himself a table on the restaurant. He’s sure he would have gotten there only to find something else that didn’t live up to his expectations and chicken out of the whole thing.
Because even though he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with Harry, a part of him is worried Harry doesn’t want the same thing. So he made this whole “perfect” scenario on his mind as a way to prove Harry he was worth it, ‘please don’t leave me’.
But he can’t see it now, clear as day. And so he jumps out of his chair on the table and motions Harry not to move.
“Stay here, okay? Don’t go, I’ll explain all in a second,” he says before running for the stairs to the laundry room where he hid the ring because he knows Harry hates doing the laundry and would never go down there on his own.
When he comes back to the kitchen, ring safe inside his jeans pocket, he’s relieved to see Harry didn’t move. Sure, he’s standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth on a frown, but he’s still there and that’s what matters.
“I do have a reason why I lied,” he says, getting face to face with Harry. “But it’s a really stupid one and I don’t want you to make fun of me.”
“What are you even talking about, Niall?” Harry says, voice not even half as angry as before.
So now he’s here, in front of the love of his life, the weight of the ring on his pocket and there’s no five-star restaurant or expensive dinner. Hell, he was so caught up on his own bullshit he didn’t even remembered to write a speech. But this right here, them on their kitchen with the rain pouring outside and fresh out of a fight is as perfect as it goes.
“I love you, Harry. I’m sorry I was stupid enough to even make you doubt it for a second. I just couldn’t bear this not being perfect, but I was being stupid, it’s just perfect like this.”
“What-”
But Harry doesn’t get to finish his question, because Niall sinks down to his left knee in front of him and suddenly he can’t form words.
“Harry, you’re the most amazing man I’ve met in my life, and I’m the luckiest person alive for having the honor of knowing and loving you. You’re my best friend, my life partner, the man I’ve loved before I even knew what true love felt like. You’re the one person I can’t imagine my life without,” he starts saying, voice already cracking with emotions. “And it hasn’t been easy, you and I, and I know there’s been times when it would have been easier to just quit it, go different ways, but I’m so happy you decided to stay every single one.”
“Niall…” Harry begins to say, but Niall cuts him.
“And I love you so much, Haz, I couldn’t begin to explain to you how much. I love you and your ridiculous suits, and your hundreds of rings, and those necklaces you wear. I love the way you talk and your laugh, and I love the way you hold my hand at night when we go to bed. I love you with my entire self and, if you don’t mind, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
And Niall looks at Harry’s eyes, shiny with tears, as he presents him with the ring. “So, Harry Edward Styles, would you marry me?”
He doesn’t get an answer. Instead, he gets an armful of Harry, arms around his neck and his face in the crook of his neck. He can feel his tears on his skin and wetting his shirt, but he doesn’t mind one bit. He already knows the answer anyway, always did.
So he just holds him there.
“I still hate that you lied to me, whatever the reason,” Harry says after a couple minutes, eyes still teary but smiling. “But yes, I wanna marry you, Niall Horan. I’d do it every day of my life if you let me.”
“Reckon that’d be too expensive even for you,” Niall says as he slides the ring in Harry’s middle finger, admiring how it just fits with him.
“Don’t lie to me ever again.”
“I won’t even try, I promise.”
Harry looks at him with those eyes that render him useless just a second before their lips collapse with one another. The kiss sweet and passionate all at the same time, perfect with the years of practice, both of them perfectly in sync with each other.
And it isn’t the perfect proposal like Niall planned, but it is perfect all the same. And if Niall lets Harry do all the wedding planning it’s just for the greater good, really.
send me a number and/or a prompt!
check the other 99 here!
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rememberthattime · 4 years
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Chapter 55. Third Anniversary
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Three years!  I really can’t believe it. I remember every moment of our wedding day, and the emotions are still so vivid that it feels like it could’ve been three weeks ago.
After Noosa and New Zealand for our first two anniversaries, how could Chelsay and I possibly celebrate this year?  
Ah, Paris. A return to where it all began.  
This trip was especially hard to come by. After the Scotland escape, I had zero doubts about Paris in late August. People were traveling, Coronavirus was under control in Europe, borders were open, and we’d found friends to watch Indy.
Then, chaos struck. I remember where I was: drinking my morning coffee and reading Twitter news. August 14. Due to a spike in French Coronavirus cases, the UK government announced that any travelers arriving from France were subject to a two week quarantine. Sure, this would impact Chelsay and I returning from Paris, but wasn’t a deal breaker - We can just work from home after our trip.
But I nearly spit out my coffee when I read France’s response. In an entirely petty political move, France announced they’d institute a reciprocal quarantine for travelers from the UK. THIS would be a problem. Chelsay and I were only going for three days, so we’d be stuck in the hotel the whole trip. Adding to the pressure, this weekend’s anniversary wasn’t the only one at risk... We had an upcoming French road trip that was now also on the chopping block.
Adding further chaos, that very same day, Indy’s stomach bug returned. Our friends that planned to watch him have their own puppy, and because the bug is so contagious, we’d now need to find a new sitter. Complete chaos. 
This was probably a sign. We should just delay the trip. But I NEEDED this trip! I’ve genuinely never been so busy at work. I was deploying a product and creating an entirely new program at the same time. I had to escape.
Chelsay & I were rattled, but determined to get away, we planned two alternate trips for this anniversary weekend, Rome or Lake Como. I incessantly refreshed Twitter waiting for news from France and, although the name of this post foreshadows a miracle, at the time, our Paris trip was doomed. There were a few weekend walks where Chelsay and I agreed we’d book Italy when we got home, but something always held us back. We wanted to go to Paris, and wouldn’t give up until we absolutely had to.
Somehow, the reciprocal announcement never came. France cooled, and perhaps due to my emails to every diplomatic department, realized there were still UK tourists willing to visit (and spend).
Chelsay and I eventually found a sitter for Indy, and our dream anniversary trip was back on! ...with renewed appreciation for how lucky we were to return to Paris.
We’d be taking the train for our first international trip in six months, and in a fitting send-off, Chelsay and I departed from St. Pancras Station on August 29. Exactly three years to the day that we were legally wed in the adjacent Camden Council Building.
We both exhaled as the train began along the tracks. After the past week’s twists & turns, Chelsay withheld any excitement until we were literally en route.
After arriving at Gare du Nord, our taxi to the ritzy Westin Vendome was an immediate flood of emotion. It was reminder of why we love Paris, the prettiest city in the world: with its cream hue, decadent ornaments, steep grey rooftops, and hidden attic skylights. It was a reminder of why we love traveling, and why we returned to the UK: we can be transported to a new planet within a two hour flight or train ride. Finally, it was a reminder of the events and feelings of our wedding weekend three years ago. 
I’ve always been keenly and precisely aware of setting, and internalize ‘place’ with every memory. Chelsay always jokes about her first time in Southlake: “...and this was our grocery store, and this was my dentist, and this was 7-11 where we got slurpees one time...”. If I can get that excited about returning to the CiCi’s Pizza from my youth, imagine arriving in the city that played host to my fondest memories.
After dropping off our bags, Chelsay and I stopped for lunch at a brasserie in Montmartre, and reminisced about every detail from our wedding weekend. About the surreal scene seeing our American friends and family outside Le Bon Georges, about Chelsay’s reveal and her timeless bridal elegance, about the ceremony in Chapelle Expiatoire, the reception in jaw-dropping Le Meurice, our first dance under the Eiffel Tower, or PIANO MAN concluding the sweat-fest on the Seine. The feelings from that weekend came right back: the planning pressure beforehand, the joy of the day, and the relaxation as we left for the Maldives. The emotions were still so vivid - it three years later, but felt like the day after... waking up with J-Lo stuck in my head.
The next few days were a trip down memory lane. Mike & Chelsay’s Parisian Greatest Hits. Track #1: the quiet backstreets of Montmartre.
This neighborhood has quickly become Chelsay’s favorite. There are a few touristy spots, but as you descend the steps behind Sacre Couer, you escape into the life of a local. Charming brasseries, colorful fruit stands, quiet green spaces, and small boulangeries up-and-down Montmartre’s leafy boulevards. Before our trip, Chelsay asked me the specific scene I was hoping for from this trip. I told her I’d imagined walking down tree-lined Rue Caulaincourt, cuddling together under an umbrella as it rained, then darting into Boris Lume, a patisserie we’d visited on our 2017 birthday trip.
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There were blue skies as we passed Sacre Couer, with gorgeous fall colors providing a photogenic setting. My umbrella-cuddling dreams weren’t to be.
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Except at that moment, heavy grey clouds rolled in and droplets began to sprinkle down.
WHAT?! This was EXACTLY what I’d described. HOW?? It was so sunny just 10 minutes earlier.
As we cuddled under the umbrella on leafy Rue Caulaincourt, we definitely acknowledged that this was my dream. We were both giddy. 
But given the circumstances, I don’t know how we didn’t freak out more. This was EXACTLY what I’d wished for. 
As the rain became harder, we escaped into Boris Lume for a sweet reprieve. Chelsay describes her lemon & basil tart as the favorite dish she ate all weekend. More broadly, this was the ideal scene I’d envisioned before our trip... and somehow it came together within an hour of arriving!
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So, how do you follow such an incredible start to our anniversary trip? How about returning the exact spot where Chelsay & I said “I do” three years earlier: Chapelle Expiatoire.
The setting was as pretty as I remembered – we were both impressed with our 28 year old selves. How did we book a place like this? 
After taking in the setting for several moments, we recreated the day: Chelsay walked down the aisle. I watched as she ascended the steps into the Chappelle. We kissed at the altar, and left our ‘ceremony’ holding hands.
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After the Chapelle, Chelsay & I had another wedding reunion planned: Le Bon Georges.  This little bistro and its owner, Benoit, played host to Chelsay & I’s Welcome Dinner. It was the most surreal moment of the entire wedding weekend: walking through winding Parisian streets to find our closest friends and family awaiting us. We hadn’t seen many of them in two years, yet there they were – surrounded by the cream colored buildings and classically grey rooftops of Montmartre.
The welcome dinner itself was just as special as the setting, and based on this trip’s meal, Benoit’s standards haven’t slipped over the years. Chelsay and I enjoyed an absurd amount of steak (had to be 20+ oz) and a rare full bottle of wine while catching up with Benoit.
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We returned to our hotel later that evening and enjoyed the romantic view, closing one of the best travel days we’ve ever had.
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Then I woke up at 5 AM… It could’ve been the wine, or more likely the 20 oz rare steak, but I felt dreadful. My stomach hurt, my head hurt. I’m not kidding when I say that had the Lil Wayne song ‘I Feel Like Dying’ stuck in my head.
I managed to fall back asleep until 7, but the pain didn’t subside. Chelsay wouldn’t wake up for a few hours, so I was on my own in this foreign land. 
I knew I had to do something or I’d risk losing the whole day. Keep in mind, this is not America: there aren’t 24 hour convenience stores where I could get a coconut water, or a McDonalds open at this time for a greasy pick-me-up. I frantically Googled: any cafes nearby? I need bread – is there a boulangerie open?
Alas, the French didn’t offer anything that fit my urgent need… but Uncle Sam did. God bless it: a Starbucks open at 7 AM, and just a 10 minute walk.
I threw on the same clothes from the night before – not even looking at a mirror – and stumbled out of the hotel and down the empty streets for my venti black coffee, a sugary smoothie, and anything with starch.
With remedies acquired, I stumbled back down the street towards the Tuileries, aiming to recluse myself in the quiet, healing gardens. Seven years ago, Chelsay was battling a similar ‘sudden’ illness – it was a simple French sandwich and the Luxembourg Gardens that revived her then. Could I replicate her improbable recovery today?  
The scene had all of the makings for a miracle: Comically large coffee. An entire baguette. Quiet setting. Crisp air. Fall leaves (not required, but a nice touch). Most important of all, my favorite chairs in the world: the Parisian “lean-back” loungers.
As the sun rose, my spirits lifted. My headache and stomach ache subsided, and I was revived. Another miracle recovery, thanks to French gardens with an assist from Uncle Sam’s conveniently open roaster. I repeated this routine the next morning (minus the illness) – the below picture captures the peaceful setting, but let’s just say I wasn’t as put-together on the first morning.
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Chelsay awoke around the time I was fully recovered. I kept trying to tell her about my morning trials, but it was impossible to convey. This is why I have the blog: so I can always remember these travel miracles.
I had a new appreciation for our saved day, and determined to take advantage, we set off for breakfast at nearby Angelina’s. Though normally too busy to find a table, Chelsay and I were easily seated and enjoyed a decadent but delicious eggs benedict. We needed a big breakfast given the day’s activities.
We set out for a long walk on our way to a neighborhood we’d never visited: Canal Saint-Martin.
The walk itself was the highlight of our day – Paris is unquestionably the prettiest city in the world, and our peaceful Sunday stroll had me considering whether we could live there. We stopped in the quiet Jardins du Palais Royal, browsed the tiny commercial alleys of Le Marais, and made stops at two of Chelsay & I’s wedding photography locations: the Louvre and nearby Pont des Arts. Based on these pictures, we were putting on our own photography clinic that day.
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Arriving in Canal Saint-Martin, the setting was certainly a different side of Paris. Though attractive in its own way, it’s much younger, and less classically Parisian.
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We weren’t in Amsterdam though, so we didn’t stay long. That said, we were there long enough to spot a dumpling house with a line around the block. Now, I know French cuisine is one of the finest in the world, and no one comes to Paris for dumplings… but this line caught our attention. We quickly Googled: ‘Gros Bao’, huh?
What we’d stumbled on was a mix between Din Tai Fung and Bone Daddies. Chelsay’s favorite savory dumplings, mixed with the unpretentious vibe of one of my favorite restaurants in London. It was a total surprise, but genuinely could have been the best meal of the trip… which says A LOT given we’d visited Le Bon Georges the night before.  
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We spent the rest of the afternoon lightly shopping and relaxing around the hotel, before heading out for our evening activity, a blend of previous Paris experiences. On every one of our Paris trips, Chelsay and I have spent at least one meal picnicking on the Eiffel Tower lawn. On most occasions, we’ll pick up a baguette, fromage, and some chacuterie from nearby Rue Cler.
On this night though, we decided on a tribute to the night after our wedding.  Rewind to 2017: we’d spent months eating responsibly, so the day after our wedding, we were craving something carby, starchy, and heavy. We found a rotisserie chicken from a nearby market, with juices dripping onto a bed of potatoes. It can only be described as dirty, but after months of ‘shedding for the wedding’, it was perfect.
Now, back to present day. After a brief stop at our final wedding photo location, we picked up another dirty rotisserie chicken and potatoes, found a quiet spot under the Eiffel Tower, and feasted like medieval kings (meaning without utensils). There will be no pictures of the banquet.
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Our last day was relatively short given our afternoon train back to London. That said, we were still able to enjoy a petit dejeuner, Chelsay got an exclusive tour of the original Goyard shop, we popped in to appreciate Monet’s Water Lillies, and returned to one of our favorite places in the world, the Luxembourg Gardens.  
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And that was our third anniversary trip. 
It was a perfect analogy to our relationship.  
Chelsay and I always talk about how ‘easy’ we have it, but when you think about it, we actually live a fairly demanding lifestyle. Three international moves in five years. 50+ trips. Challenging jobs. And of all the dogs we could chose, we landed on a border collie!
But our lifestyle together, and our ability to keep things light throughout, has prepared Chelsay and I for any small hurdles that come our way. Not even the French government quarantine threats could stop us. 
Like our annual anniversary celebrations – from Noosa, to New Zealand, and now to Paris – our relationship continues to get better every year.
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vinylbay777 · 5 years
Text
New Albums Still to Come in May 2019
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We’re already one week into May and we’ve already seen some pretty important new albums hitting shelves. Last week saw the highly-anticipated release of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Father Of The Bride,’ as well as albums from Judah & The Lion, L7, Dream Syndicate, Bad Religion and Ashley Tisdale. And there’s still more to come as the month soldiers on.
Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at some of the new albums we can expect to see coming out in the next month. From rock and metal to pop and hip-hop, here are seven albums worth watching for in May.
1.       Charly Bliss, ‘Young Enough’: Up-and-coming pop-rock band Charly Bliss is getting ready to release their sophomore album, ‘Young Enough,’ this week. The follow-up to their well-received debut full-length ‘Guppy,’ the new album has a lot to live up to. However, with upbeat, catchy-yet-thought provoking singles like “Capacity,” ‘Young Enough’ could prove to be just as powerful. (5/10)
2.       Whitesnake, ‘Flesh & Blood’: After a year-and-a-half of delays, Whitesnake is finally releasing their new album ‘Flesh & Blood.’ The band is still at the top of their game after more than four decades, coming out swinging with hard-rocking tracks like lead single “Shut Up & Kiss Me.” According to frontman David Coverdale, that song is supposed to be a light love song to counteract all the darkness in the world right now. (5/10)
3.       Carly Rae Jepsen, ‘Dedicated’: Carly Rae Jepsen has proven herself to be a force in pop music over the last 10 years, producing hit after hit to compete with the bigger pop stars. Her upcoming fourth studio effort ‘Dedicated’ is shaping up to be another hit with singles “Party for One” and “Now That I Found You” having made their way to the top 30 in the US. (5/17)
4.       DJ Khaled, ‘Father of Asahd’: DJ Khaled has broken out over the last three years, releasing two highly popular albums and working with several of today’s hottest hip-hop artists. He plans to do it all again with ‘Father of Asahd,’ his 11th studio album. From what we already know, the album features appearances from Beyonce, Jay-Z, Future, Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper, Migos’ Quavo and more. (5/17)
5.       Rammstein, ‘Rammstein’: Rammstein’s first new album in a decade, the band hasn’t shied away from controversy in promoting it. The German metal band has released two singles so far, both with videos that have had people talking. “Deutchland” in particular raised concerns of anti-Semitism with its video, which chronicles hundreds of years of negative German history, including the Holocaust. With that being said, “Deutchland” and second single “Radio” each have strong melodies and pointed lyricism that push the envelope and make you think. The rest of the album should be interesting as well. (5/17)
6.       The Stray Cats, ‘40’: It’s been more than 26 years since The Stray Cats have released an album together. But for the band’s 40thanniversary, the trio is doing just that. The album’s first single “Cat Fight (Over A Dog Like Me)” swings as if no time has passed. (5/24)
7.       Ionnalee, ‘Remember The Future’: Gaining prominence in 2009 as the highly secretive iamamiwhoami, electro-pop artist Jonna Lee has since taken up the moniker of Ionnalee to release new music, putting out the project’s debut ‘Everyone Afraid to Be Forgotten’ in 2018. A little over a year later Lee is back with that album’s follow-up, ‘Remember the Future,’ this month. There’s something understated yet entrancing about her sound that sucks you in. (5/31)
Even with one week down, May 2019 still has a lot of killer new album releases to look forward to. From highly anticipated projects from the likes of Carley Rae Jepsen and DJ Khaled to ones from artists just bubbling up like Charly Bliss to established rock and metal bands like Rammstein, Whitesnake and The Stray Cats, new music abounds this month. Keep an eye out for some of the titles listed above and let us know what May 2019 releases you’re excited to get your hands on in the comments below.
                                                              ---
Discover music new and old at Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top new independent record shop. We have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres to suit the tastes of most music fans. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. Whether you’re looking for something new or to rediscover the classics, we have you covered. And with more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.
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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years
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The Weekend Warrior 6/11/21 - IN THE HEIGHTS, PETER RABBIT: THE RUNAWAY, INFINITE, UNDINE, HOLLER and More
This is going to be a tough week to deliver a full column just because I’ve been so insanely busy doing other things for my real job. More on that below, but first, I totally screwed up last week. I totally left out a movie I had been looking forward to, without realizing it was released last Friday, since I didn’t have it on my release list. I ended up inadvertantly leaving it completely out of my column. Bad Ed. (This week's column is brought to you by Ian McNabb's new album "Utopian" -- a fantastic new extra-length offering from the former Icicle Works frontman -- that just means that I was listening to it while writing this week's column. No $$$ was exchanged.)
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That movie I missed last week was UNDINE (IFC Films), the new film from German filmmaker Christian Petzold, who has made some fantastic films, including Phoenix and Barbara. It reunites Petzold with the stars of his last movie, Transit, Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski. It’s a fairly bizarre film that plays around with myths about water nymphs, but it takes some time before you realize that’s what it’s about since it follows Beer’s Undine, as one of her relationships ends and another begins with an underwater diver. After winning the FIPRESCI Prize and the Silver Bear for Ms. Beer at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, it’s now playing in select theaters, including the IFC Center and Film at LIncoln Center as well as on digital and VOD platforms.
The film starts with a conversation between a man and a woman, Undine and Johannes, the latter who is breaking up with the former. From there, we watch a rather strange relationship build between Undine and a diver who she meets when a fish tank explodes all over them in a coffee shop. Yeah, it’s one of those kinds of movies. But Undine is one of Petzold’s more romantic films even if it takes an artier and dreamlike approach to show this romance unfold, and then it just gets weirder and weirder and more enigmatic. Water is definitely a recurring theme in what I could only really call a female power fantasy, but you know what? We’ve seen so many male power fantasies, it’s kind of nice seeing this sort of thing from a female viewpoint, and Beer is quite amazing -- well worthy of the accolades she’s been receiving. Undine is a fine addition to Poltzold’s growing filmography, although it didn’t hit me quite like Phoenix did, and I’m not sure I’d race out to see it a second time.
Before we get to this week’s new wide releases, this week also begins the 20th Anniversary Tribeca Festival -- note the absence of the word "Film" -- which as luck would have it opens on Wednesday with the World Premiere of the biggest and widest release of the weekend, the Jon M. Chu-directed musical, IN THE HEIGHTS (Warner Bros.)! I really haven’t seen much from it yet, so I have very little to say at this time. Hopefully, I’ll have time to watch more over the next week and a half.
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In case you haven’t heard, In the Heights is based on the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical that preceded Hamilton, and it focuses on the Washington Heights area of NYC, primarily the LatinX community that has lived and thrived there but is dealing with things like gentrification destroying it. The movie stars Anthony Ramos (from Hamilton and A Star is Born) playing Usnavy, a bodega shop owner who dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic and reopening his father’s snack bar. He also has eyes on the beautiful Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), who wants to move downtown and get into fashion. Meanwhile, Nina (Leslie Grace) has returned to the neighborhood from college and she reunites with her ex Benny (Corey Hawkins) and that relationship is rekindled. Nina’s father (Jimmy Smits) is a big shot in the neighborhood, running the car service, but he’s been selling it off to pay for Nina’s school.
I already reviewed the movie here, but reviews are generally great with 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and people have been chomping at the bit for this movie to be released after it was delayed nearly a year from 2020 due to COVID. Although Lin-Manuel Miranda only has a small role in the movie, he’s probably going to be the film’s biggest selling point, especially considering how many people watched Hamilton when it was released on Disney+ last summer -- that, too, was originally intended for a theatrical release.
For director Jon M. Chu, this is his first feature film since Crazy Rich Asians, which was a huge box office hit, but it also had a similar cultural impact of what is expected from In the Heights. It opened with $26.5 million in 3,384 theaters in August, 2018, but then it had massive legs over the course of the summer to gross $174.5 million total. While it didn’t end up getting the awards love many expected, it did help to make the likes of Constance Wu, Akwafina, and Henry Golding bigger stars, as well as boosting the careers of Gemma Chan, Jimmy O. Yang and other Asian-American actors. One can presume that In the Heights will do the same for Ramos and a few others, although it’s still too early to see if it will have legs when it’s so easy to rewatch on HBO Max.
The movie is one of the summer’s big buzz movies that should continue to bring people back to theaters with the positive reviews leading to inevitable positive word-of-mouth among a moviegoing audience that for a long time brought a ton of business into theaters.
I feel like In the Heights could make a play for $30 million this weekend even with the knowledge that it’s also playing on HBO Max. It just seems like a lot of people are going to want to see this in a theater with other people, and frankly, it’s been so hot outside, especially in New York, that it’s going to be a great option to see in theaters in order to get some much-needed air conditioning, if nothing else. But expect it to do well enough among audiences to have some significant legs, although I’m a little hesitant at calling it to make $100 million even with restrictions being reduced and more theaters opening every weekend. I’d love to see it happen but for now, I’ll stick with around $80 million for its domestic gross.
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Also opening wide this week is the family sequel, PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY (Sony Pictures), which has also been delayed a number of times since COVID hit. Once again directed by Will Gluck (Easy A), the sequel had a plum Easter release last year or maybe that was this year. Honestly, I don’t remember. In the sequel, Beatrix Potter’s popular literary character Peter Rabbit (voiced by James Corden) has to contend with the couple from the first movie, played by Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson, are getting married, and Peter’s feeling a bit put-out, because he’s considered the “troublemaker” among the bunny family of Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Benjamin (voiced by Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Aimee Horne and Colin Moody). He ends up running away (duh) and getting in with a group of London animal crooks, including the rabbit Barnabas (voiced by Lennie James from Fear the Walking Dead), who may have been friends with Peter’s father.
I only first watched the first Peter Rabbit movie, originally released on February 9, 2018, earlier this week before watching the sequel, and honestly, that first movie was much better than I expected and better than it should have been, and I probably could say the same for the sequel. I generally love Rose Byrne, and oddly, I like James Corden voicing Peter Rabbit more than I have other things he’s done. Maybe it’s just that Beatrix Potter’s character works even when put into a modern setting where Byrne seems to be playing a version of Potter who ends up getting a big publishing deal with David Oyelowo (another actor I like) playing the publishing big wig who wants Bea to change things. It’s just as funny seeing Peter fighting with Gleeson’s McGregor for the film’s physical humor to help sustain a second movie.
Actually, I kind of liked that Gluck’s movie is kind of wholesome rarely going for the easy laughs or things we’ve seen in far too many animated movies (slow-motion and bathroom humor, for instance), and also having jokes that only the parents will laugh at. The film is also quite a technical marvel because mixing CG characters with live action ones is something that rarely turns out well (see Sony’s Smurfs movies, for instance) but CG production house Animal Logic, who also did Happy Feet and The LEGO Movie, really now how to give these furry, cuddly creatures real physical attributes that makes even cynical adults like myself completely believe in them.
Let’s get to some box office thoughts. The original Peter Rabbit movie opened with $25 million, which is pretty good for a family film from the before times. More importantly, it made $115 million in domestic theaters as it lasted through the summer, which shows that kids and families really loved Corden’s take on the popular children’s book character. Even though these are different times, and we are not seeing that many movies opening with more than $25 million, the success of the first movie means that kids will probably not be too old to want to see Peter Rabbit’s new adventures.
I think this one can probably open with $14 to 16 million when you realize there isn’t very much competition for family audiences, at least nothing PG, because even DIsney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is now on DIsney+. (Okay, there's also Spirit Untamed, but that proved to be quite a non-starter, and this seems like an easier sell to a wider group of kids and even adults.) That and the fact that Peter Rabbit 2 isn’t simultaneously on streaming should give it a strong play for second place this weekend, and don’t be surprised if it has similar legs to make $60 million plus just in theaters alone.
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Also being released fairly wide is the Deon Taylor-directed horror comedy sequel, THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR: MEET THE BLACKS 2 (Lionsgate), which probably wasn’t screened for critics in advance. I’m not quite sure how wide Lionsgate is planning to go with this, but the original movie opened in over 1,000 theaters in April 2016 and made $4 million its opening weekend and $9 million total. One can assume that the first movie was popular enough to create an audience for the second movie that hasn’t really had what we used to call an “urban comedy” in quite some time, particularly since Paramount’s Coming 2 America ended up streaming on Amazon. Since audiences are generally trying to get back out to theaters, it’s safe to assume that the audience for this kind of comedy feels the same. I probably could see this opening with around $3 million, but it’s hard to say without having a definite theater count. I’ve become quite a big fan of Taylor in the years since the first movie, so I might even venture out to see this if I have the time.
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Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Mark Wahlberg, the sci-fi action movie INFINITE (Paramount+) was supposed to get a theatrical release but is instead being dumped to Paramount+, and sadly, dumped is the operative word here, because it pains me to say that the duo behind Shooter and other cool movies I’ve enjoyed have made a very, very, very, very, very bad movie.
The fairly ridiculous premise -- which to be fair is based on a book called “The Reincarnationist Papers” by D. Eric Maikranz -- involves a cadre of people known as Infinites who can remember everything from their past lives. There are “good Infinites” called Believers, and “bad Infinites” called Nihilists who are sick of living through their pasts so they just want to make the whole world burn.
Wahlberg plays Evan McCauley, a good “Infinite” even though he only remembers part of things from the past, and he’s thought to be the reincarnation of one of the Believers’ leaders named “Heinrich Treadway,” who we see die in a car chase through Mexico City in the film’s opening. Treadaway’s mortal enemy is Bathurst, played by Chiewetel Ejiofor, who wouldn’t mind finding and killing Treadaway first because he has an “Egg” with great power that can help end the world.
Okay, the premise could definitely be interesting, despite being an obvious Highlander rip-off, but unfortunately, it becomes very obvious that a movie like this constantly needs to explain to the viewer why this premise is “so cool,” and whenever anyone does try to explain anything, it just sounds incredibly stupid. We’ve seen so many sci-fi action movies like this one, and frankly, I was a little surprised that this one didn’t star Bruce Willis, because it definitely seemed like his thing. (Anyone remember Surrogates? That movie’s director, Jonathan Mostow, is STILL in directors’ jail!!) But more importantly, it reminds me of a much better version of the same idea that was just released, called The Old Guard, which … what the fuck?!? … also starred Chiwetel Ejiofor!! (At least in that one, he doesn't have a ridiculous accent and isn't chewing up every single bit of scenery.)
Yeah, it’s hard to forget that you’re watching an inferior version of The Old Guard when Ejiofor is RIGHT THERE, but this one combines a lame attempt at world-building with some surprisingly decent action scenes, but it’s also hard not to think that Fuqua -- and I say this as one of the director’s biggest fans -- was trying to do his own version of The Matrix. But any opportunity to do something cool in the action realm is destroyed as soon as we get more “splaining” about this world, a lot of it done by Jason Mantzoukas as the Artisan, a mad surgeon who also explains things in a confusing way that it never helps. He’s also the film’s only attempt at humor, and he’s done far better in other things. The film’s only real female character, Sophie Cookson’s Norah, is so bland and generic that you quickly forget what she’s bringing to the movie, if anything. (As you watch the movie, you realize how smart it was for Chris Evans to get out while the gettin' was good.)
By the time it gets to the final climax, we get a somewhat decent final battle on an airplane between Treadway and Bathurst, but by then it’s too late. We get some horrible narration before the movie ends with a set-up for a possible sequel will not make ANYONE (particularly critics) happy if that sequel does indeed happen.
Infinite makes it obvious that remembering one’s past lives could only be made much worse by having watched this movie in one of them. This is horrendously bad, awful crap.
A big release on the streaming series side of things is Marvel Studios’ LOKI (Disney+), the first episode of which is on the streamer now. I’ve actually seen the first two episodes and they’re interesting. Essentially, Loki has been captured by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization that exists outside time and is charged with making sure that variant timelines and people aren’t created by things like Loki’s stunt in Avengers: Endgame where he got out of the Avengers’ grip using the tesseract, essentially changing his own timeline. I watched the first two episodes and thought they were pretty good but not the OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!!! that everything Marvel does seems to get from the rubes calling themselves “film critics.” I liked seeing Hiddleton returning as the characters, because he’s quite good as Loki, although Owen Wilson (as TVA agent Mobius) basically seems to be playing himself and not really doing anything particularly memorable. Because of that, Loki comes off as a buddy comedy with a lot of conversations between Loki and Owen Wilson, so if that’s your thing, then maybe you’ll like Loki, but maybe it’ll also get better over the next few episodes as WandaVision did. (I mean, one thing I can say as a positive is that the Marvel Studios/Disney+ series have been much more watchable than the Netflix/Marvel series, because I didn’t get through a single one of those.)
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Chris Appelhans’ animated WISH DRAGON (Netflix) was originally going to be released by Sony Pictures since it was produced by Sony Pictures Animation as a Chinese co-production, but for whatever reason, it’s now going to be on Netflix. I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet but hope to get to it soon.
Also now on Netflix is Mark Raso’s thriller AWAKE, starring Gina Rodriguez as Jill, a former soldier in a world that’s been hit by a catastrophe that wipes out all electronics and eliminates humanity’s ability to sleep. Jill realizes that her daughter may be the key to salvation but isn’t sure if she wants to sacrifice her to save the world. Again, another movie that I just couldn’t find the time to watch if I wanted to get my work done for Below the Line. (Things are very busy right now because Emmy nominations take place over the next couple weeks.)
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Jessica Barden (The End of the F*** World) stars in Nicole Riegel’s indie drama, HOLLER (IFC FIlms), playing Ruth Avery, a young woman who sees her acceptance into college as a way to get out of her dreary Southern Ohio town. She decides to take a job on a dangerous scrap metal crew with her older brother (Gus Halper) while stealing metal at night in order to pay her way to college, and she finds herself torn between her future and her family. The movie also stars Pamela Adlon as their mother. After premiering at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Holler will be released in theaters and digitally and On Demand this Friday.
I actually thought this one wasn’t bad even though it treads on rather familiar indie drama territory of wanting to get out of one’s town and get out into the world. Obviously, Barden’s presence is what really drives the film, because she is such a fantastic presence. I especially liked her in Jungleland, but this shows what she can do in a full-on leading role. While I wouldn’t urge anyone to race out to their local cinema to see Holler, it’s not a bad debut feature from Riegel, who built it out from a previous short, which feels somewhat obvious.
I was able to see Prano Bailey-Bond’s CENSOR (Magnet) at Sundance earlier this year and found it to be a nice creepy video nasty. It stars Niah Algar as Enid Barnes, a film censor who watches and rates horrible low-budget horror videos but who is also obsessed with finding her missing sister and seemingly finding a clue in a particularly strange horror film. Censor will hit theaters Friday and then be on digital on June 18, but I’ll have to watch it again to remember if I liked it for more than Niah Algar’s performance.
Starting on Friday up at Film at Lincoln Center is a special “Big Screen Summer: NYFF58 Redux” which is basically showcasing a bunch of movies from last year’s New York Film Festival, which was mainly held virtually, but now you can finally see many of them in the FilmLinc theaters, running from June 11 through August 26, and it includes things like Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe Anthology” (which haven’t been screened theatrically in New York other than at drive-ins). Click on the link above to see when any of your favorites or ones you missed will be screening.
I didn’t get a chance to watch Ty Roberts’ adaptation of Jim Dent’s novel, 12 MIGHTY ORPHANS (Sony Pictures Classics), but it opens in Texas this Friday and then nationwide on June 18. Starring Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Wayne Knight and Vinessa Shaw, it tells the story of the Mighty Mites football team of Fort Worth, made up of orphans during the Great Depression who barely had shoes or football but with the help of legendary high school coach Rusty Russell (Wilson), gave up a lucrative position to teach and coach the orphanage team. Rusty developed strategies that would allow the scrawny team to beat much bigger players on the football field. I’ll probably try to write something more about this next week.
Some of the movies I just didn’t have time to write about include:
QUEEN OF SPADES (Dread) SUBLET (Greenwich) ASIA (Mnemsha Films) UPHEAVAL (Abramorama) THE MISFITS (Highland Film Group, The Avenue) QUEEN BEES (Gravitas Ventures)
Next week’s big release is another sequel, THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD (Lionsgate), but also Edgar Wright’s documentary, THE SPARKS BROTHERS (Focus Features), will be released after its festival run.
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hermanwatts · 4 years
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Sensor Sweep: Crusher Joe, Diana Rigg, Black Ops Cold War, Ambrose Bierce
Forthcoming (Cirsova): We’ve just received Schuyler Hernstrom’s foreword for Endless Summer, and we thought it was too good not to share:   Discussing stories is a complicated business.  Buried somewhere underneath layers of criticism, commerce, and identity you might find some deep understanding of Misha’s work. But I worry that careless digging will disturb the landscape. I challenge myself to think about his work with the care and sensitivity that he puts into it.
Memorial (The Silver Key): Word spread on Facebook last night that Charles Saunders, author of Imaro, has passed away. It is being reported he died in May. Odd that an obituary search turns up empty.  Let’s hope it may be a rumor, but it does not appear that way. Author Milton Davis, who continued in Saunders’ “Sword-and-Soul” tradition, broke the news, and many authors, friends, and peers have chimed in since.
Cinema (Wert Zone): Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire in 1938, Rigg was raised by her parents in Bikaner, India. Returning to the UK, she trained as an actress and made her stage debut in 1957 and her TV debut two years later. In 1965 she was cast in the first of her three major screen roles on the fourth season of British spy series The Avengers, playing Emma Peel. Peel was an action heroine with a line in witticisms, engaged in a constant battle of comebacks and ambiguous tension with her co-star Patrick Macnee (playing John Steed).
Cinema (Wasteland & Sky): The 1970s are still looked on by movie snobs as the peak of cinema, destroyed by the aforementioned filthy space movie that opened the theaters of the 1980s to juvenile pap. This is of course ignoring that the 1970s were dead, spiritually, and morally, which makes many of those 1970s “classics” more worthless than the juvenile goofy space movie. It actually has a moral point, regardless of what you think of it. 1970s cinema, as a whole, did not.
Games (Bleeding Fool):  The new game Black Ops Cold War takes place during Reagan’s presidency during the height of the cold war with communist Russia. The initial trailer features KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov speaking about the communist’s plan to bring down America from within. If you pay attention, you may recognize some of the moves being used by the left today. The trailer urges you to “know your history or be doomed to repeat it” as it flashes images from the cold war across the screen.
History (DMR Books): This past Friday marked the four hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the definitive end to the Great Siege of Malta. On September 11, 1565, the tattered and battered fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent sailed away from the tiny island of Malta, utterly humiliated. The Ottoman Turks had disembarked amid imperial splendor nearly four months earlier. Their soldiers were reckoned in the tens of thousands, outnumbering by a factor of four to one–at minimum–the Knights Hospitaller and the Maltese who fought alongside them.
Fiction (Galactic Journey): The book is titled The Wizard of Lemuria but we don’t meet the wizard until Chapter 4. There are 12 chapters. The first quarter of the novella-length book is spent introducing our hero, Thongor of Valkarth. He is, although a lowly barbarian mercenary, both mighty and honorable. The book opens on the aftermath of a wager on a zamph race. Jeled Malkh—an officer and swordmaster—lost the wager, and attacked Thongor rather than pay up. Thongor quickly overcame him, shrugged off the bet, and offered to drink away their differences.
War Gaming (Jon Mollison): Miniature wargames in general, and historical wargaming in particular, are headed down the same road as every other hobby out there. You’d think those with an interest in history would be better prepared to learn from the history of other hobbies, but it doesn’t look that way. A lot of ink is being spilled and chit is being chattered about how to save the hobby from… well, from something that can’t really be shown or identified.
Comic Books (Screen Rant): Heads are gonna roll – as well as fly, disintegrate, and cave in upon themselves, along with pretty much any other violent act that can be inflicted upon a head – in the latest adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Originally published in Weird Tales and later adapted by Dark Horse Comics, the story of the legendary Destroyer is now published by Ablaze, a publication that has given Conan a sword more caked with blood than ever before thanks in part to their decision to create a truly uncensored version of his exploits.
D&D (Grognardia): I’ve never been much of a fan of Deities & Demigods, though I owned it, of course. Why wouldn’t I? I have always had decidedly completionist tendencies and being an unabashed TSR fanboy, there was no chance I wouldn’t purchase this book as soon as I was able to do so. It’s true I didn’t get much use out of it, but I still proudly displayed it on my bookshelf, right next to the Monster Manual.
Guns (Frontier Partisans): As will most when forced to fight for their way of life, the Apaches of The War Chief utilized any weapon to which they might lay hand. Some of these they fabricated, with especially skilled artisans becoming highly revered by the tribe. The Apaches ranged a broad swathe of the American West and portions of Mexico, and so various materials fell into their hands — materials they converted into bows, arrows, and war clubs, including the famous jawbone club. These weapons and tools, for centuries, they fabricated themselves from indigenous materials.
Edgar Rice Burroughs (Pulpfest): The 2020 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering will be held Sunday, October 11 through Tuesday, October 13 in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Guest of Honor is acclaimed comic book artist and Hollywood illustrator Daniel Parsons. COVID-19 restrictions dictate this will be a small gathering in two large meeting rooms at the Country Inn & Suites located at 1650 Doris Drive. Fort Atkinson is located just 35 miles from Madison or 65 miles from Milwaukee. It’s 100 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Fiction (Old Style Tales): “Some Haunted Houses” is easily one of Bierce’s most entertaining series of tales. I recommend it as the ideal Hallowe’en reading choice – a collection of pithy short stories that exude the gloomy atmosphere and chilling mood that make stories like Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw” or Poe’s “House of Usher” horror classics. Reading one after another, a strange feeling of uneasiness creeps into your imagination as Bierce’s reporterly prose calmly details what sound like the verifiable details of veridical hauntings.
Cinema (Swords & Stitchery): There is a space opera out there that came out back in the day that most of you had never heard of… A bit of background, on the weekends back in the 90s I would get into my car & go down to Wallingford,Ct for a weekend of Anime at a local comic shop. I would spend the weekend with friends & one of the things we saw was this. Crusher Joe was made into an animated film in 1983, and a pair of for-video animated episodes in 1989. The film version won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1983.
Gaming (Future War Stories): There are time when we must ask ourselves when we witness what could have been: how can this not exist? That is how I and many other gamers felt during the recent leak of a Xbox development kit for the Blizzard cancelled StarCraft: GHOST 3rd person action/stealth game for the 6th generation. For many of us, GHOST was going to be first day buy for our OG Xbox consoles…and then there were delay after delay until GHOST was placed on DNR status in 2006 by Blizzard after nearly six years of development that span two studios.
Tolkien (Notion Club Papers): John Garth. The Worlds of JRR Tolkien: the places that inspired Middle-Earth. Frances Lincoln, London: UK, 2020. pp 208. John Garth is one of the best and most important writers on JRR Tolkien. This is his first full-length book since the landmark volume Tolkien and the Great War of 2003; so I knew I would enjoy it. From the title, and the fact that it is a large format, really beautifully-produced, hardback volume; I supposed The Worlds of JRR Tolkien might be dominated by the pictures, maybe even be something like a superior ‘coffee table’ book?
Fiction (Library Blog): This week marks the bicentenary of Sir Walter Scott’s twelfth novel The Abbot, published in Edinburgh on 2 September 1820 and in London two days later. Alone among the Waverley Novels, it was presented not as a stand-alone narrative but as the sequel to an earlier volume, The Monastery, which had appeared just six months earlier. Set in the early years of the Scottish Reformation, The Monastery had sold well but had disappointed many readers and reviewers. Criticism was directed, in particular, at the pivotal role played by the ghostly White Lady,
Cinema (Hollywoodintoto): Reporters have spent days detailing why “Terminator: Dark Fate” became the year’s most embarrassing flop. The movie made just $29 million stateside, and its foreign box office totals are equally weak ($94 million and counting). That’s no way for a franchise reboot to perform. Most observers are writing the saga’s obituary. Those reporters nailed some of the core reasons for its box office woes, from franchise fatigue to recycled story beats. Most missed another crucial factor. The sad decline of Arnold Schwarzenegger, A-list movie star.
Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): So yesterday’s post on Edgar Rice Burroughs and Harold Lamb and the recent post on the canon, coupled with today is the anniversary of the passing of J. R. R. Tolkien and the seventh anniversary of the death of Frederik Pohl, got me to thinking. I referred to Burroughs and Lamb as giants. In the canon post I quoted Newton talking about his achievements being due to his standing on the shoulders of giants. So who exactly are the giants in the field?
Fiction (Tentaculii): There’s a new bibliographic website for prolific British writer Michael Moorcock. The Works Of Michael Moorcock is obviously still a work-in-progress, but the pages for books and shorter fiction appear fairly complete. Moorcock tried his hand with at least one Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but has no overtly Lovecraftian pastiches that I’m aware of. His leftist attacks on many other writers, often described in words such as ‘brusque’ or ‘pungent’, turned out no differently in Lovecraft’s case and with the usual knocks being offered (“astonishingly awful prose” etc).
Fiction (George Kelley): I’ve been a big fan of Hank Davis’s Science Fiction anthologies over the years. Just in time for the Holiday Season, BAEN Books released Space Pioneers, an anthology with just about something for every readers’ taste. In typical Hank Davis fashion, the mix of stories blends Oldies with some newer stories like David Drake’s “Superweapon” (2018). I especially enjoyed Ross Rocklynne’s “Quietus” and Manly Wade Wellman’s “Men Against the Stars.” If you’re in the mood for an entertaining theme anthology, I recommend Space Pioneers. GRADE: A
Fiction (Paperback Warrior): In 2019, Stark House Press generated a commercial and critical hit with the release of The Best of Manhunt, an anthology of stories from the legendary 1950s crime fiction digest. Knowing a good thing when they see it, the reprint publisher has compiled a second volume of blood-on-the-knuckles tales from the popular magazine’s heyday for an August 2020 release.
Writing (Rawle Nyanzi): Recently, I came across an article (archive here) about the evolution of the horror genre in film. While the article is from 2000, and I’m not a horror fan myself, one point stuck with me: how scientific materialism, rather than an understanding of good and evil, became dominant in horror filmmaking, starting with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. In the materialist worldview, the universe came into being by random chance, and so did the Earth and humanity.
Writing (Kairos): World building is the one element that sets speculative fiction apart from every other category of writing. When designing a secondary world, it’s crucial to establish a foundation of internally consistent principles to help readers suspend their disbelief. Religion in general has been a constant of human existence. Writing a secondary world where there are no and never have been any religions will automatically cause tension between the setting and known history, straining credibility (though it could make for an interesting story hook if handled properly).
Tolkien (Jon Mollison): Listening to the Silmarillion on audiobook, and something occurred to me. The three themes of the Ainur presage the three ages of Middle-Earth.  From the Tolkien Gateway: The Ainur’s flawless Music satisfied even Ilúvatar during this early stage. The Second Theme was “like and yet unlike” the First; it gathered new power and beauty. Soon, however, Melkor’s discord rose up against it, and there was a “war of sound more violent than before”. This time, Melkor’s Theme triumphed over that of the others; many of the Ainur stopped singing entirely out of dismay.
Sensor Sweep: Crusher Joe, Diana Rigg, Black Ops Cold War, Ambrose Bierce published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/
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lawrenceseitz22 · 5 years
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger https://ift.tt/2Az2BKR via IFTTT
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 published first on your-t1-blog-url
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 published first on your-t1-blog-url
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 published first on your-t1-blog-url
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 published first on your-t1-blog-url
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207
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Click on the video above to watch Episode 207 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.  
Announcement
Adam: All right, we are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 207. We are live from Washington, DC, and hopefully Marco will be joining us, although it sounds like he may be on the way to, very shortly, having another child.
Bradley: I know what reports used to insult the Hangout.
Hernan: Yeah, c'mon.
Adam: So, well, before we get into announcements, we should go around and say “hello” to everybody, and just going to ask you each how the weather is and just let me know.
Hernan, just kidding. How’s it going man?
Hernan: Hey, guys. The weather is getting nicer in Argentina, so I’m told. I’m really excited to be here and I’m super, super happy.
Adam: Awesome. Chris, how you doing?
Chris: Yeah, good. [inaudible 00:00:40] this weekend.
Adam: Yeah?
Chris: And the weather was still nice and cozy and warm here.
Adam: Yeah, man. Awesome.
Bradley, how you doing?
Bradley: I’m happy to be here. We had a really good time at POFU LIVE. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet quite a few people and just had a really good weekend. It was our first one, but first live event [inaudible 00:00:59] really well. Get to hang out with my partners for a while, except Marco, for the rest of the week, which is kind of cool. You’ll only get to do this once a year. So, it’s kind of … It’s good timing for us whenever we get together and get to plan and to scheme out for the next year. So, just glad to be here.
Adam: Definitely, and Jay, a quick shout-out to my wife. Thank you. You can see all the beef jerky here. We got a bouquet of beef jerky just in time for Hump Day [inaudible 00:01:23].
Male: [inaudible 00:01:24]
Bradley: That’s nice.
Adam: Thank you. Let’s see. We got a lot of stuff we want to cover today, but I wanted to, as usual, say if you’re just starting out with Semantic Mastery … I know there’s actually a question about this. So, we’re going to get more in depth into this, but if you’re just starting out, the place to start is the Battle Plan, all right?
Hernan: Right out of this.
Adam: We got a physical one which you can get. You can also opt for just the digital version, but I think you should definitely check out the Battle Plan.
This right here is the place you want to start. Even if you’re going to hop into our Mastermind right away, we want everyone to have this. It’s a great blueprint for repeatable results. Then, I just mentioned the Mastermind. That’s where we want people to be. If you’re looking to actually start and to grow your agency, or you want … Sorry, you already have a digital agency and you want to grow that, you want to find ways to grow in scale, then that’s where you want to be.
Chris: Yeah, it’s more than just one page like [crosstalk 00:02:17]-
Adam: Oh, yes. [inaudible 00:02:19].
Chris: [crosstalk 00:02:18]
Adam: It’s many pages.
Chris: It’s more than one page.
Actually, how many pages is there [inaudible 00:02:27]. How many pages of [inaudible 00:02:29].
Adam: Let’s see, I’m getting word that there might be an echo. So, Hernan, could you try muting one of the … yep. [inaudible 00:02:38].
Hernan: [inaudible 00:02:40]
Bradley: It might be mine. It might be mine. Stand by.
Adam: All right. So, we’re going to keep going. If somebody can … I know there’s a delay on there. So, I’m going to keep rolling through, and you guys can let us know.
In case you didn’t hear all of that, basically, we’re happy to be here. Thank you for the beef jerky, Jenny. Grab the Battle Plan. It’s freaking awesome. Then, come join the Mastermind. So, that’s the really condensed version.
Male: [inaudible 00:03:04]
Bradley: Hey, guys, by the way, let us know if the echo has stopped. If not, we can still [crosstalk 00:03:07]-
Adam: Good to go. He just messaged me.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:03:08] … It’s good to go now?
Adam: Yeah. So, it’s good to go.
Bradley: Okay, cool.
Adam: All right. So, other than that, let me check my announcements real quick. I’m used to doing this with the safety of two monitors here. Oh, so we’ve got the … Hopefully, you saw the email. If you didn’t, we want to tell everyone we’ve got to flash a 24-hour sale going on with syndication networks. We got those up. The ordering process has been improved, and it’s in mdyv.co. I’m going to drop the link along with the coupon code so you can save 30%, but that’s only going to be until … for, basically, the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow morning we might extend it since some people had some issues.
Other than that, we have got Episode 208 that’s coming up next week. For better or worse, we’re not going to be able to be together. That would’ve been really cool because 208 for us represents a four-year anniversary of doing Hump Day Hangout. So, four years of this.
Bradley: Four whole years. That’s crazy, and we only missed one weekend. It was a scheduled week that we took off.
Chris: You should join me in Florida.
Adam: [inaudible 00:04:03]. Yeah, just hope down real quick for Hump Day.
Bradley: Oh, it’s going to be on Halloween.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:06]
Adam: Yes.
Bradley: So, make sure that you come dressed.
Adam: Yeah, please come dressed up, put in some pictures.
Hernan: Do I need to be dress up as well?
Adam: Yes [inaudible 00:04:15].
Bradley: No, you’re ugly enough. It’s cool.
Hernan: All right. Okay, cool.
Bradley: It’s cool.
Adam: But not only that, we’ve got some awesome prizes. I’m going to put the link on the page. We’re having a contest to see who’s going to win it. We’ve got a grand prize that’s got about five or $600 worth of prizes included in it. We’ve got a runner-up prize with several hundred dollars. Then, on top of that, if you just come live, we’re going to have a ton of stuff we’re going to be giving away. So, don’t want to miss that, and it’s more you share, the more chances you have to win, and we just want to get the word out, have a good time. I think we’ll probably go a little bit longer next week, right?
Bradley: Probably.
Male: [crosstalk 00:04:48]
Adam: Okay.
Bradley: Probably.
Adam: Cool. All right. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Chris: Yeah, I’m going to prepare some good questions for next week.
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:04:53]
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: Oh, yeah, and have your POFU coin, right?
Adam: Yeah, for real.
Male: Ooh, yeah.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:05:00] do that, but with this is a memento that we gave to our … the members that came to POFU LIVE, which is … It’s a coin and it’s kind of just something to think of to always remind you of what’s your position of fuck you is, you’re POFU is. So, it’s always to remind the people that got them to keep something to remind them of what their plan is, what their business plan is, and why you grind so hard, why you put so much work and effort into the business and whatever you’re trying to build.
So, this is the coin that we gave out to every member of the LIVE event, but it doesn’t have to be this particular coin. It could be whatever you want it to be, but I would recommend that you have something like that that you keep as just a memento to remind yourself through periods of stress and discouragement, feeling like you failed at times. Those types of times are when it’s really good to have something to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that was kind of our way to create this little exclusive club of POFU coin holders, but again, it doesn’t have to be specifically that. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So, it’s something we would recommend for you guys to do as well.
Hernan: Yeah, and I would like to personally thank everyone that was there on the event. I think it was amazing. I think it was like before and after for Semantic Mastery, I would say. We’re already planning next year’s, so we’ll keep you guys posted about that. This was a great event. We had a bunch of good stuff. We had a bunch of good people coming, and-
Bradley: It was great.
Hernan: Yeah. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for attending. Thank you for all of you guys that made this all possible. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s event, there’s going to be information out there soon.
Bradley: That’s it.
Adam: Definitely.
Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:06:46] posting on the page, and he was there. We just want to give him a special shout-out because Greg helps us out with some of our Facebook groups and stuff, and he came to the LIVE event, and he’s just always been a real trooper and somebody that we appreciate very much. So, again, thanks Greg for coming out. We certainly all appreciated getting a chance to meet you and you participating with the event and everything. So, thanks again.
Adam: Thanks, Greg.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Yes.
Chris: It was good meeting you in person.
Bradley: All right. So, can we get into questions?
Hernan: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, let’s do it.
Bradley: All right, we’ll stand by because I just lost the page.
Chris: So, if you didn’t make it to POFU LIVE this year, you better save up, and book your time and come next year.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, 100%.
Bradley: All right. Well, let’s get to it, then. Adam Moody has the first question. Well, you could’ve just ask me [crosstalk 00:07:34].
Male: [inaudible 00:07:34]
Adam: I got the inside track, man.
Bradley: All right. So, the first one was question from a viewer.
How Do You Index Syndication Network Posts?
“I’m not seeing my syndication network posts being indexed. How can I get them indexed?”
Well, that’s a good question. Typically, we don’t worry about the Web 2 posts being indexed because whether they get indexed or not, Google will likely crawl them and see them anyways. Sometimes, they will be indexed, but it’s not something I ever sweat or worry about trying to force the indexing of those posts, and the reason why is because if your website that you’re blogging from … So, that’s the one you’re essentially building links to through your syndicated posts. If it’s connected to Search Console, Google Search Console, and you go in and you take a look at the links to my site, you’ll see WordPress.com, and Tumbler, and Blogger, and all the bookmarking sites. You’ll see all the links pointing back to your site. Whether they’re in the index or not, it really makes no difference because Google’s telling you from Search Console that the links are indeed … They are in and they’re aware of them. So, that’s why I never worry about indexing. That’s why we didn’t spend a lot of time covering it.
There were some things that we did in the past that would automate, scraping those URLs from the Web 2 posts, and sending them to an indexer, but unfortunately, the plugins that did that stopped working, stopped being developed. They stopped supporting them, and we never found a really suitable alternative.
Now, that said, there is a training in the update section of Syndication Academy that talks about how you can use an applet to automatically extract the art, the Web 2 post URLs, and feed them into a Google Sheet, and then you can build links to a Google Sheet, which could be used like an indexing tool, and that’s been … That was covered in the Syndication Academy update webinars. Just go back through your webinar, update webinar archives, and you should be able to locate that.
If you’re insistent upon getting them to index … But again, your time, in my opinion, should be spent elsewhere because Google will crawl those sites, and they will recognize those links whether it indexes them or not. That’s all that matters is that Google sees them. Just to prove it, Hernan and we have tested no indexed PBNs in the past. Now, we don’t recommend … PBNs isn’t something we teach. Do they still work? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s not something we teach, but we have even tested no indexed PBNs, and they absolutely work.
As long as Google knows the link’s there, no index just means they don’t put it in their index. It doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the link and they’re not counting the link equity to it.
Hernan: Right. There were no index to follow PBNs. So, as long as you have that tied there no index to follow, some actually, some Web 2.0 websites, and social networks that we post out with Syndication Academy … They will have no index to follow.
Bradley: Medium is one of those unless you have a paid account?
Hernan: Yeah. They have no index to follow. So, you cannot index that, but that doesn’t mean that the links do not count. So, we do that for traffic purposes as well. You will see a lot of people coming through the RSS feed to the website, so that’s cool. But yeah, they definitely count towards the authority of the website.
Bradley: So, make sure we get this clip sent to the guy that asked that in support.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
Bradley: All right.
Chris: Cool.
How Do You Take Advantage Of Using A 2014 Guest Post To A 2018 Press Release?
Bradley: All right. So, that was a good question. Next is [Greg Pippany 00:10:45]. He says, “Hi. Hopefully, it went great for you guys. I have a press release and guest post from 2014 that are still live and linked to my money site. Would it make sense to link to them with a new press release, and how would I word a sentence to incorporate those links into the press release?”
Yeah, absolutely. You should be building links to that. If they’re live and they’re good links, there’s no reason why you couldn’t. As far as how would you incorporate a sentence or how would you word a sentence to incorporate those links into a press release, well, that depends because I don’t know what the topic of your press release is going to be, but typically you don’t … I mean, don’t overthink it.
Typically, what I do, like for example, one of the things that I love to do now is take the media room URL, which is essentially like the organization page for the organization that I’m publishing a press release about, and I like to link to that company page because it’s like a blog roll, it’s like a media room. That’s what they’re calling it, especially on the Press Advantage platform. They have the media room, which it shows it’s got an NAP, which by the way, Jeremy, the developer at Press Advantage enabled GMB mapping beds now for the organization page directly below the NAP section, which is super powerful.
So, anyways, for each press release that gets published, it gets put right on that page, and it’s also got the eye frame for the website. That’s a super powerful page to link to. So, what I do within press releases themselves is say, “Stay up-to-date with all the whatever company’s news here,” and then I just link directly with the naked URL to the media room, right? That’s really powerful because now we’re building media-style links to a media room unlike a newsroom, but so to speak, for the organization. That’s super powerful.
Hernan: So, there will be … Sorry, Bradley.
Bradley: Go ahead.
Hernan: It will be kind of a hub which you can link to several other properties from that media room.
Bradley: Correct. It’s a hub.
Hernan: Okay.
Bradley: Correct. Yeah.
Hernan: Okay, okay.
Bradley: But my point is don’t overthink it. Just give a quick, simple call-to-action for why they should go click that link on a separate line, right? Just give it its own … just say whatever it is to your guest posts, like “learn more about” or “see how this company was featured on,” and then name the publication, and then put the link to that guest post. You see what I’m saying? You don’t have to overthink it. Just put a simple call-to-action as to why somebody should click on that link, and whether they click or not, you’re going to get the SEO benefit from the link, but you could generate some traffic to that property as well. Okay?
He says, “Any other ideas on how to best take advantage of that 2014 PR and guest post? Thanks.” No, I mean that’s basically it. Just link to it as far as I’m concerned. You might want to IFrame it into a blog post or something, which would be kind of cool if it’s a … IFrames are super powerful. We can’t get into too many tips and tricks here as to why they’re super powerful, but if you’ve got a really good PR, a press release published on a really good PR site, or a guest post on a real high authority site, it would make sense, especially if it’s got a live link back to your money site like you said it does. It would make sense to possibly IFrame that article, that page, excuse me, onto one of your asset pages, right? Then, do some nasty link building stuff with that, too. Okay?
How Do You Boost A Local Towing Site To Generate More Organic Calls?
Handy Expert: He says, “I currently have a towing sign in my local area generating about 70 to 80 qualified calls a month with great organic rankings, but average map rankings. I was still able to close a towing client at $750 a month.
Male: Nice.
Bradley: I got paid. Now, I was planning to supplement my organic calls with some PPC Google Ads to add some gas and fire to get my clients making more money.” That’s a good strategy. He says, “One, how would you recommend I use that budget with Google Ads? I don’t mind making less profit myself in the beginning as I plan to take SEO. I planned the SEO to take over in the later months. Should I run YouTube ads like you’ve discussed in the past, or said I run regular PPC ads since the niche is towing and they typically call the first one they see? Thank you.”
Okay, that’s a great question. So, no. YouTube ads are likely not going to help you at all with towing stuff. It would be okay if you were running YouTube ads to help rank towing videos for search, but those are one of the types of keywords where people are going to directly to Google and search for a solution, like we just-
Adam: I need a tow [crosstalk 00:15:00].
Bradley: We need a tow truck, right? They’re not going to go to YouTube first. So, that’s why I’d say I would recommend just going straight to Google PPC. Yeah, you absolutely can use that to supplement. As far as you said you’re got a close a $750 a month, I don’t know what the towing cost per clicks are. I know that … I was just talking with these guys about it. Google Ads, search ads, are still a great way to generate leads. It’s absolutely a great way. It’s very, very targeted traffic if you know what you’re doing, and with a simple Alpha/Beta campaign structure, which is exactly how I run all my ad campaigns, it’s really simple to hone in on your very best keywords and set up exact match keywords to very, very targeted landing pages and just get incredible results.
You are going to spend some money, and it takes a little bit of time to dial the campaign in. I typically recommend that the first 30 days you’re going to waste some money. Typically, usually between the 31 and 60 days, you’re going to start dialing it in really good. Usually by the end of 60 days, I have a really well optimized campaign that just generates leads consistently.
Remember guys, with PPC, it should be more like a vending machine, not a slot machine. In other words, you should have a known quantity when you put a dollar in, I’m going to get a dollar fifty out, or if I put a dollar in, I’m going to get two dollars out instead of like a slot machine is where you just put money in and pull the handle and hope that you’re going to make some money. That’s how most people treat their PPC campaigns.
Okay. So, he’s showing towing keywords roughly-
Adam: Four to six bucks.
Bradley: Yeah, four to $6.
Hernan: That’s not bad.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s not bad at all. So-
Adam: Just depends what you’re getting on the back end.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:16:30] He gets paid per call?
Adam: No, he’s getting … It doesn’t sound like, but perhaps. Again, that depends. If you’re not getting paid for call, then you might not want to do this, but depending on what you’re looking for, but if you could say, “Hey, I can also offer you additional calls”-
Bradley: Well, I think what he’s saying is that for now, he’s got good organic rankings, he’s getting good calls, but he wants to improve his Maps rankings-
Chris: [inaudible 00:16:51]
Bradley: … and he wants to supplement the calls with PPC while he works on getting the Maps ranking up.
Chris: I would run call-only ads.
Bradley: You could do call-only ads, too. They’re a little bit less expensive than clicks, direct clicks, but not much anymore I’ve found. But yeah, you could also try call-only ads. As far as that, play around with the budgeting. If you’re not … I don’t know how experienced you are with Google Ads, but I would suggest if you’re in a lead gen business, that you start getting some experience in that anyway.
So, maybe take $150 of that budget, which is essentially $5 a day in budget spending, and see what you can do with it. That might not even be enough. You might want to do 250 or $300, and I know that seems like a lot, even half, but just to do that for the first month or two so that you get some data coming in. You’ll learn all that you need to within about 60 days of how to optimize a PPC campaign for a towing company, right?
Hernan: Right.
Adam: Which is cool. He’s got a client paying him for it. I realize maybe he’s going to pay out of his pocket-
Bradley: Yeah, so now-
Adam: … but you’re not paying literally out of your pocket.
Bradley: Yeah. So, essentially your client’s covering your education. Hernan at the event … Somebody asked him, “What’s the best way to learn how to do Facebook ads?” Hernan said, “Spend some money.” In other words, go out and set up a Facebook ads campaign and play around in the platform, and spend some money. That’s what I’m going to tell you about PPC, the same thing. We have a training course called Local Kingpin. I saw another question on the page about it. We’re going to get to it, but it talks about how to do PPC Google Ads for lead generation and how to make it profitable. Again, the best way to learn is … Going through a course might help you to get kind of a jumpstart, but you’re still going to need to learn by spending money, not just playing.
Hernan: Yes, 100%. Also, each industry is different. So, maybe what applies to tow truck might not apply to some other industries. So, I think that’s a great point. The client is paying you to learn, so that’s great. You’re also, potentially, giving the client better results. So, in [inaudible 00:18:45] the PPC campaign. So, that’s even better because the guy will be happier, and you know that a happy client stays for longer. So, that’s pretty cool. That’s why we kind of usually recommend when you’re starting out, you can combine PPC and SEO so that you offset the way with SEO … You offset that with PPC and the guy’s stoked, and off you go.
Bradley: Yep. Okay. Let me go to the next one.
Adam: [inaudible 00:19:13]
Bradley: Premier Travel Services.
Adam: Also, I love these business names. It’s always funny to like “[inaudible 00:19:18] Business Services,” but then sometimes we find out who it is. If you tell us and it gets confusing, but it’s kind of funny. I’m like I always try to match the business to the person.
Is The Semantic Mastery Local Kingpin Training Still Relevant In 2018?
Bradley: Yeah. All right. So, this one says, “I plan to do some PPC training for local clients. Would you say that your Local Kingpin training is still relevant in 2018?” Yes, it absolutely is. The only difference is now is the interface has changed, the [inaudible 00:19:40] interface has changed. The content is absolutely still relevant. That Alpha/Beta campaign structure … nothing has changed, except, like I said, the interface has changed and Google is also implemented a lot of AI now so that they have a lot of different bidding strategies that weren’t available at the time, like enhanced cost-per-click and maximize with conversions.
Chris: Aww.
Hernan: Sorry.
Bradley: There’s all these different campaign stuff that can be added to the campaigns, but I still don’t implement any of those until I’ve set all of my campaigns up manually, and optimized them all manually first. Then, once I get them to where I think they’re optimized very well, then I will play around with some of the Google’s automated bidding strategies to see if it can beat mine. Typically, it will, but I always like to wait until I have the campaign fully optimized the way that I want it before I implement any of those.
So, just as an aside, we are going to up … or I’m going to update that training probably with a webinar at some point because I’m still doing a lot of PPC stuff, and that training needs to be updated slightly just because of the interface. I can talk a little bit more about the automated strategies because I’ve been doing a lot of PPC since that training was originally released. I’ve got some additional techniques and strategies that I would like to share. So, I will be updating that training probably sometime within the next couple of months. By New Year’s, maybe it’ll be ready, but that it is absolutely still relevant.
Scott’s up. What’s up, Scott?
Hernan: What’s up, Scott?
Bradley: He says … I think the last time we did this, Scott was there.
Adam: Yeah, Portland. Yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, Scott was there. That’s right.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, last year’s-
Bradley: In Portland, yeah.
Hernan: In Portland.
Bradley: So, what’s up, Scott? We miss having you here buddy.
Adam: You guys crashed my wedding.
Hernan: Oh, yeah, we did. That was fun.
What Are Your Thoughts On Gary Ilyes’ Statement That Google Does Not Read EXIF Data?
Bradley: Scott says, “From what the frack files, Garry Isles from Google was on a Webinar today and stated that Google does not read the EXIF metadata from images.” Well, yeah, but Google also is really good at misdirection. They like to tell you stuff that is absolutely false, like “Don’t use press releases anymore because press releases are bad for SEL.” Yet, here they are still working like gang busters, you know what I mean? Same thing about [inaudible 00:21:54] posts and stuff like that.
So, anyways, he says, “He did say they are considering reading the EXIF metadata in the future. This doesn’t seem to correlate with page rankings that have images with EXIF data. Do you have any news on this topic? Thanks so much.” Yeah, exactly. If Google says, “Don’t do it because it doesn’t work anyways,” that means do more of it. Does that make sense?
Hernan: Or at least-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:22:13] manipulating the search engine.
Bradley: Yeah, that’s right [inaudible 00:22:15] propaganda.
Hernan: Yeah, or at least test it. Test it. See if it works for you. We don’t recommend you following us to the letter. We don’t recommend you follow anyone to the letter.
Bradley: Or Google to the letter.
Hernan: Or Google to the letter for that matter. Go ahead and test it, and report back. That’s what we always recommend. Test.
Bradley: Yeah, and if you’ve tested and you know that the pages with images that have metadata ranked better than the pages that do not, you’ve already proven that Google was misleading you, or just wasn’t being-
Hernan: Fluffing.
Bradley: … wasn’t giving you the full truth, right?
Hernan: Yeah, and it happens when … It happens to me with Facebook, too, right? Facebook grab the whole … When you’re spending some type of money and we have that in the pipeline, by the way, for Semantic Mastery, they will just call you and try to advise you, but the reality is that those are big companies. They are big companies, and most people are on the front lines communicating with the media, communicating out there. They’re not developing the backend, which are the algorithms, how the stuff actually works. You can see that because there are discrepancies.
So, hey, they will go out and say something. Maybe by the time they go out and say something, something else has already changed. So, have that in mind. They’re a big, big companies composed with lot from a lot of people, and they have different points of views, I would say.
Bradley: Yeah. Not only that, but Scott, even if that were true, which I’m saying it’s not, but even if it were true, just think of if you’re saying he did say they are considering to read the EXIF data, well, that means all of the properties that you’ve optimized when they … if they finally decide to start reading the EXIF data, which they already are, but if they decided just tomorrow like “Okay, today’s the day we’re going to start reading EXIF metadata,” then all the pages you’ve optimized will be way better than everybody else.
Adam: Yeah. Scott already commented. So, he’s saying “I plan on continuing adding the EXIF data [crosstalk 00:24:06]-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:24:06]
Hernan: Yeah, do that.
What Order Of Semantic Mastery Course Can You Recommend For Someone Doing Local SEO For Clients With Rank And Rent Style?
Bradley: So, B&B Special Events is another one. He says, “As someone who is just joining Semantic Mastery and would like to take all of your courses, in what order do you recommend I take them: Outsource Kingpin, Syndication Academy.” He goes through a litany of our courses. “I do local SEO for local clients, rank and rent style, to give some more context. Love you guys. Thank you for all the help.”
Adam: First of all, and I think Bradley is uniquely positioned to answer this question, but you belong in the Mastermind. There’s no better way to say that. If that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what you want to do, you belong in the Mastermind. You get either a lot of this content for free or severely discounted.
So, with that said, I’ll let Bradley kind of go with it.
Bradley: Well, he says, “I do local SEO for clients and rank and rent style to give you some context.” Then, yeah, there’s no better suggestion than for you to join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind because, as Adam said, both of those courses are, basically, you get those courses. We’re changing slightly how they’re being released and distributed, but you’ll get access to all of those courses and even the ones that have a higher ticket price then where we can just give them to you. You’ll get an insanely stupid discount even more so than our typical 30% discount under the new system that we’re going to be implementing.
So, my point is … just to answer everybody else, okay? The first recommendation is if you already have a business and you’re looking to grow that business and scale it, to increase revenue, that’s what the Mastermind is all about. The Mastermind is not, necessarily, just about SEO stuff. We do talk about advanced SEO training in there when needed: when people bring stuff up, they want us to pursue or to go more in depth, but it’s more about business training because there’s so much more to running a business than just knowing a skill. So, that’s essentially what the Mastermind is all about, in that we are going to be pushing a very specific path, too, of the training in which order you should take it.
That’s something we’ve kind of failed to do in the past because all of our trainings are good. They each teach different things that could all be implemented into your business, but for somebody new coming in and they get hit with a fire hose of information, it’s like, “Okay, where do I start and which in which order, and blah blah blah?” So, we are really … We’re redesigning our Mastermind to kind of lay that path out.
So, I would suggest starting with Local Lease Pro, which we just recently launched. I don’t think we have it available for public sale just yet outside of the original promotion, but we will have that up shortly. Then, from there, it’s up to you, but the next logical step from Local Lease Pro would be Local GMB Pro and Local PR Pro, Local Kingpin, which is setting up the PPC ads for supplemental traffic. That’s also really good if you’re doing client work because you can get clients’ incident results using Google Ads.
Then, from there, Outsource Kingpin. Once you’ve got your services, your products and services in place where you’re able to generate results for clients, or if you’re doing lead gen, you’re able to get results for your lead gen assets. Then, we talk about the next thing is outsource and building your teams so that you can remove yourself from the process and still have your business operate and generate revenue. That’s where outsourcing comes in. So, we would recommend Outsource Kingpin at that time.
So, again, just to kind of boil this down to make it a shorter answer, join the Semantic Mastery Mastermind where this path will be laid out very clearly, and you will get access to the products in that specific order, which will help you to build your business. Each one of those products compounds on the next and helps you at the stage that we recommend, okay?
Chris: Speaking of which, the Local Lease Pro is actually available, but only in the Mastermind right now.
Bradley: Oh, that’s true. That’s true. We don’t even have a public sales page up for it yet.
Adam: Yeah. So, B&B Special Events, one, if you got any questions with people who are serious about joining the Mastermind, if you want, contact support, [email protected]. We’ll hook you up. I’m happy to jump on a short call, or something like that, if you’re serious about, it or you just want to find out, or ever you guys “For real, what do I get?” Things like that. We’re happy to have a quick chat with you.
Bradley: Yep. Cool.
So, that was my … The best answer’s come join the Mastermind, but the next best answer is buy each and every one of our courses individually in the order that we tell you, which is the same order that you’re going to get in the Mastermind, but that adds up to be a hell of a lot more money than it would’ve cost you to just join the Mastermind.
Hernan: Plus the support and the community there.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: The bi-weekly webinars, the Bradley halls, and some of us go there, but the bi-weekly webinars and the Facebook group, like the community there is amazing. We saw it on POFU LIVE. A lot of people where from our Mastermind. They were part of our Mastermind; the community was there. So, yeah, it was pretty, pretty awesome.
So, not only you get … That’s the big point. Not only you get access to all of that training in a specific order at specific times, but you also get support and follow-up, which is, I think, at least for me … It’s a big deal because some courses you can buy them, you can apply them, and then maybe something comes up, right? Maybe some stuff didn’t work as expected or maybe you’re having different results. So, that’s why it’s always good to have a community of people that you can ask questions to and then you can get support out of.
Bradley: That’s it. Interesting side story real quick. POFU LIVE was awesome because we got to meet some people that have been a member of our Semantic Mastery Mastermind for years.
Adam: I’m giving a shout-out to Richie.
Bradley: Yeah, to Richie, to Greg.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:29:38]
Bradley: I’m sorry. I don’t remember Greg’s last name, but-
Adam: [inaudible 00:29:42]
Bradley: No, the other Greg. Anyways, sorry guys, but we had just an amazing event and had some people that came that had been in the Mastermind for years and kind of lurking in the background who don’t participate in the conversations as such, but they came, which was amazing because it was like people came to the event, and they introduced who they are. I’m going, “Okay, I don’t recognize the name,” and then, “I’ve been in the Mastermind for years.” I’m like “Okay, but I still don’t recognize the name.” “Oh, yeah, because I never comment on anything or ask any questions, but I’m always there absorbing information.”
It was awesome to hear that, and they were like “I’m quiet. I don’t want to get out there and talk and have conversations with people, but I know that it’s like one place that I can always go to get current information that’s not bullshit.” It was great to hear that.
Adam: That’s the best response you give. That was awesome.
Hernan: That’s cool, too. If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s cool, too. I would strongly suggest that you do because you get a lot of stuff. Then, there were some-
Adam: Or at least come meet us live so that we know who you are.
Hernan: Ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. There was some business opportunities like actual people making deals on the event and through the [crosstalk 00:30:50]-
Bradley: His name is Gary by the way, not Greg.
Adam: Oh.
Bradley: That’s what I meant to say, Gary, by the way.
Hernan: So, I think that’s pretty powerful, too, because businesses … Our business grew from a Mastermind, you know what I’m saying?
Adam: Yeah.
Bradley: There’s a gnat flying around, and I’m going to get it. I’m not going crazy I swear.
Should You Take Advantage Of Using The Auto Reschedule Post For Near Me Keywords In Citation Builder Pro?
All right. Jay Turner is up. He says, “Maybe I should ask this in the Local GMB Pro Facebook group, but here it goes. Should we Citation Pro, Builder Pro users be taking advantage of the auto?” Okay. So, he’s talking about the auto poster, the GMB auto poster. “Should we be taking advantage of the auto reschedule post option. Seems like re-posting a near me keyword post every day would be worthwhile, or will reposts have very little benefit because they are not original content?”
That’s a great question, Jay. Actually, I just addressed this at POFU LIVE. I’m happy to share that here, though, guys because there is something that you can do to reduce expenses or reduce your overall time required for this because if you’re using the GMB auto poster, our auto poster, there is an option to reschedule a post or republish it.
So, for example, you have to do this. You can’t right now; I don’t think the functionality is available if you do bulk upload via CSV file, but if you do it manually where you schedule each post, you can go in. You can select the time and date for when it publishes, and then there’s another checkbox that says republish post. Then, if you enable that or check that box, it reveals a drop-down that will show you like how many … When would you like to republish? It says one day, every three days, every seven days, and then there’s one for every 30 days.
Excuse me. What I suggest doing is going through and scheduling out 30 posts, one post per day, or whatever your frequency of publishing is for the assets that you’re doing that for. Typically, for most of the stuff I do, I just published one post per day, seven days a week now. Because of the auto poster, it makes it simple. You schedule all those out. So, you schedule out 30 posts for 30 days, and then on each time you schedule a post, you add it to republish 30 days from that day. Does that make sense? So, on day one, you scheduled post one. On day 31, you schedule post one again. Does that make sense?
What’s great about that is you can have it automate it. All you have to do is schedule it one time, and it will automatically post and in the next month, it will just start that cycle over again. Now, I do recommend having probably … We just started this method myself, so I don’t have any data yet to determine whether we should absolutely change the posts or not, but what I would suggest is at least preparing for every 90 days or so swapping out the images and the posts slightly, varying the post text slightly, and then rescheduling.
So again, this is something you can train a VA to do. You can train a VA, set up a training video and process doc, showing them how to go in and schedule 30 posts. You could even train a VA to grab 30 images, or optimize 30 images with EXIF data and all that stuff, optimize them, upload them, schedule them out, and then click the reschedule/republish option, schedule them out for 30 days. Then, have a calendar reminder set up to every 90 days, they go back in, swap 30 images out or 30 posts out, for the next quarter, if that makes sense. That’s something that you can train a VA to do and you wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore and it would get done.
That’s a great question. Absolutely guys, if there’s a way that you can reduce costs for GMB posting … I pay some of my VAs, one in particular who does GMB posts for clients, I pay her per post. So, every post she publishes, she gets a certain amount for them. It’s $3.50 a post. That’s a lot. So, if you can figure out ways to reduce costs, you can do that. Now, for clients, I wouldn’t recommend doing the republishing stuff because you can charge them for unique content for per post, right? But for lead gen assets, I would absolutely recommend that you reduce your costs as possible. That’s a good question Jay.
How Do You Get Faster Results With A Video Carpet Bomb Style Campaign?
Frankie is up. He says, “I have everything set up in terms of purchase, in terms of purchased all the tools and have created my own SAP for how to run my own video carpet bumps style type of campaigns. My question is …” Really caught on. “My question is should I be targeting local cities and do rank and rent, or should I go after affiliate campaigns and target those keywords?”
It’s a really good question. “With this setup, I can publish 1,000 videos easily over a small period of time. Which would you suggest to start getting some results fast? Thanks as always for Hump Day Hangouts.” Well, that’s up to you, Frankie. I would recommend if affiliate marketing is what you’re interested in, then go do affiliate marketing. If local marketing and lead generation is your thing as you have more of an interest in, then do that, but either way, choose one and stick with it until you monetize it.
Because my point is like if you are … I don’t know what your business goals are. I remember you’ve asked some other questions in the past, though, on Hump Day Hangouts, and I think your questions were more targeted about local marketing consulting, like as a video guy. If that’s the case, then I would recommend you avoid the affiliate route for now because all it’s going to do is distract you, and it’s going to slow you down from being able to perfect your specific video marketing method for lead generation or for rank and rent, or whatever it is, however you decide that you’re going to monetize it.
Guys, we as Semantic Mastery as a group has struggled with not being able to focus or chasing too many different opportunities. So, that’s part of … that’s going to be a lot of our messaging going forward is we have decided to really focus in on what our core offer should be and our core service, right? We recommend you guys do the same, and even for our agent, like my own agency that I’m building into the same thing, I’ve reverted all the way back to just doing the kind of the lead gen model where we build the asset first, and then we find the service provider or the client.
Again, you’re going to see a common theme among all of our training going forward, and that is we’re going to tell you find one thing and don’t give up on that one thing until you’ve monetized it. Don’t start any other projects, don’t chase any new opportunities until you’ve mastered that one or at least got the one profitable to where it’s generating revenue and to where you can remove yourself from that process and it continues to generate revenue, right?
So, for example, even if you went after a lead gen … Let’s just say affiliate marketing with these videos, and you got it to where it was profitable, but you were running the campaigns. You were the one doing the research, finding the products that you’re going to promote, generating the key word list, creating the videos, uploading and running the video, probably marketing blitz or whatever tool it is that you’re running that campaign. You could do all that and end up having a profitable affiliate marketing business, and then say, “Okay, well now it’s profitable. Well, let me go ahead and move on to doing local lead gen with these videos as well.”
But unless you have process ties, you’re systematized, that with the affiliate and all the work that you’ve put in to make an affiliate campaign profitable, you shouldn’t even move on to that. In other words, even though if that might have money be producing positive revenue for you, until you removed yourself from the process and it still generates revenue for you, you shouldn’t move on to the next because otherwise you end up bogging yourself down to where, “Okay, now you’re doing all this work and now you got to do all this work to,” and at some point you’re going to reach a point of diminishing return and you’re going to not be able … You’re going to hit a capacity limit where you won’t be able to make any more money. If you would have been able to remove yourself from that first process that you made profitable when you were doing the work yourself, and still keep it profitable, now you’ve got revenue coming in so that you can devote all your time to the next process that you want to perfect.
Hernan: Yep, I do agree. I mean, we all go through this where we as a group … and then we had that exact same issue with the people that came to POFU LIVE event. The fact that they were making money, they were feeling that they were too distracted, and that’s completely fine. You’re definitely not alone in that regard.
Bradley: That’s correct.
Hernan: We’ve been there. Everyone goes through that because the reality is that we’re entrepreneurs. We want to fix stuff, and we see [inaudible 00:39:02] as an opportunity. So, I totally grew with Bradley. Building a successful business … Once the initial rush, or the initial high, wears off, it’s hard because of the fact that you need to keep at it even when you are not as excited with that project anymore, and then everything else seems so exciting to go ahead and tinker with, but I think that the key to success here and the key to actually building businesses that are really profitable is just what Bradley described. Go at it, whatever it takes you, make it profitable, remove yourself from the equation, and then go to the next thing.
Bradley: Go to your next opportunity.
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: I mean guys, that’s the only way to do it. Even in my own business, I could have achieved so much more by this point in my marketing career if I would have focused and not chased every opportunity because I could have become super, super good at one thing, and then pulled myself out of the equation, like he said, out of the process, and have built a system that makes everything that I was doing complete. It gets done without me doing it. Then, I could have moved to the next opportunity and I would’ve had a much more successful business by this point had I done that.
We all go through that, and again, that’s why we really want to help other people to avoid that to where they can get their businesses profitable and get more of their time back at the same time and with less trial and error. Does that make sense?
Adam: If you do that, you could apply the eco method and as sooner place in your business, right?
Hernan: [crosstalk 00:40:30]
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah.
Adam: That’s an inside [crosstalk 00:40:34]-
Hernan: Yeah. We know that; we’re not going to-
Bradley: So, Frankie, my final answer to you would be either way, whether it’s affiliate marketing that you want to do or local marketing, either way will generate you money once you learn what it takes in that particular model. So, just select one and stick with that one is what I’m saying, okay? I can’t tell you which one’s better than the other. I’m partial to local, but affiliate marketing certainly works. So, it’s entirely up to you.
Hernan: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the good news, like they both work. You want to go with local, but with local you want to go ranking YouTube videos, you can do that. As long as you keep on doing what you’re doing, it will work, but you need to give it the time and the opportunity for it to work.
Adam: Greg said, “What’s up?” Then, after that it said the mics are going crazy. So, Greg just wanted to repeat, [Greg Jayburt 00:41:17], fantastic community manager of ours. If you’re in the groups, you see him. We were super happy to have him at POFU LIVE. So, thanks for being there, man.
Bradley: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:41:24]-
Chris: [crosstalk 00:41:25] good meeting you.
Bradley: We had to reiterate that because echo might’ve ruined it. So, Greg, we apologize, man. It was a good attempt to thank you.
What Are Your Thoughts On Press Cable?
All right, Dan is up. He says, “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys?” Let me start that one over. “Any feedback on Press Cable, guys? I have a few credits left there, but wondered if you know if they delete PRs or not in time. I was going to do a first PR there to save money, and then order the rest through your service. Also, is there any day of the week good to publish a PR, or is there a significant enough advantage for doing PR earlier in the week? I remember something to this effect.”
Okay. Dan, great questions. Number one, is Press Cable still good? Absolutely. Absolutely. Press Cable is still good. I still use Press Cable. I’ve got a subscription to that and I will maintain that as well because it is good.
One of the things I do really like about Press Cable now is one of their distribution sites is Newswire.net. I used to have a bunch of credits for Newswire.net and I used them all, and I canceled my subscription like a dummy many years ago. But Newswire.net is a really good site for press releases, too. I don’t use their distribution service anymore. Like I said, I don’t have credits anymore, but through Press Cable, that is one of their distribution points now. So, that’s one that will show up in Google news and that’s something that you can use. It doesn’t purge, so you can use that as a stack of PR in a PR stack. Okay?
So, yes. It’s still good. As far as do they delete or purge PRs, well, it’s not Press Cable that would delete or purge them. It’s their distribution partners, their sites. It’s up to the distribution sites whether they purge or not, not Press Cable. There’s the same problem with Press Advantage or any other distribution sites out there. Some of the Republic … the media sites or news sites will purge, and there’s nothing you can do about that. The idea is to, especially for a PR stack, is define the PRs that don’t get purged. Like I just said, Newswire.net is one of them. The Press Advantage: Anything published on Press Advantage doesn’t get purged and the Press Advantage company pages are great.
Also, for Press Cable, if they get picked up by Digital Journal, which they used to, but I think Newswire.net replaced Digital Journal, but Digital Journal doesn’t purge either, at least as far as I know because I’ve got some Digital Journal stuff that’s been around for years. So, I would check into that as well.
And Adam, since you’re getting up, would you mind getting me a beer?
Adam: Funny. I’m one step ahead of you.
Bradley: All right. Sweet. Thank you.
Adam: [crosstalk 00:43:49]
Bradley: That’s awesome.
Chris: I’m good.
Hernan: I’m good. Thank you.
Bradley: Okay. So, yeah, Press Cable is absolutely still good, and Dan, yeah. I’ve never recommended in the past keep … If you have a subscription or credits, don’t cancel it because even if you decide that you want to start using presses, press releases from us and MDYB, which is our distribution service is Press Advantage Service, which is fabulous by the way. Even if you decide that you want to use that, I recommend keeping multiple press distribution services available because diversity of links is important, okay? I like to add variety and diversity into mine, too. If you keep hitting the same press release distribution service over and over and over again, there will be a diminishing return for that as well, like to the same target URLs, I mean, if that makes sense.
Adam: Here you go.
Hernan: And then-
Bradley: Thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.
Adam: Cheers.
Male: [inaudible 00:44:39]
Hernan: Because Greg was saying something like … Let me grab this from him … was something that … Answering to Dan, he was saying, “I would do that in reverse. Spend a little money for a Press Advantage press release from Semantic Mastery, it will not purge, meaning it will be there for years and years from now, and you get a news media room as a pure hub. Then, use the Press Cable to link to it.”
Bradley: To link to that, correct.
I’m telling you the Press Advantage network is amazing. The organization pages are fabulous with now the mapping beds, especially the GMB mapping bed right under the NAP. It’s really a powerful … It’s got the eye frame built into it. It’s fabulous, guys. It really is. It’s an integral part of our process now.
Any Thoughts In Using Square Videos In YouTube And Facebook?
Okay, [Brian Mckay 00:45:23] is up. What’s up Brian? He says, “Anyone have any comments on Square Videos on YouTube versus Facebook? Can you use Square on YouTube videos?” I’m not sure, Brian. Hernan, that’s more of a question for you.
Hernan: Yeah. You can Brian. I would strongly, a 100%, recommend that you start using Square Videos on Facebook right away just because of the fact that Facebook is mostly mobile right now. At least most of the traffic that we get is mostly mobile.
Adam: Today I learned, right?
Hernan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A 100%. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:45:50]-
Adam: I mean, I know that traffic is, but Square.
Hernan: Yeah, Square versus like landscape videos, the way that YouTube is. Now, you can repurpose Square Videos for YouTube if you add the remaining content to the … You can add parts with content to the sites of the videos. So, you will make it landscape, 69 versus one to one. So, that is something that I would recommend, strongly recommend, for people who are going to Facebook and wanting to repurpose to YouTube. So, you can do that, which is square first, then landscape, or you can do the other way around, which is you get a landscape video, 69, and then you turn that into one one by adding content on the top or the bottom.
So, that is up to you. What I usually do is to grab a YouTube video, cut it, cut it in the middle, like this. So, you cut in the middle-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:39]
Adam: [crosstalk 00:46:40]
Hernan: … so you have a one to one ratio, and you can use that for Facebook. That’s usually what I do because … that’s because I’m lazy.
Bradley: Damn. So, he’s not only drinking beer, he’s drinking scotch, too. Wow.
Hernan: It’s going to get interesting the last-
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:46:50]. The last 10 minutes of this Hangout are going to be nuts.
Hernan: Going to be nuts. So, hang in there.
Bradley: That was a good question, Brian.
Wayne Clayton, the master of memes. Did he post that [crosstalk 00:47:02]? He should’ve.
Adam: We’re not … Yeah, I was about to say we’re not skipping this. Wayne, if you’ve got it, please put it on. [crosstalk 00:47:06].
Bradley: If you got it, you got to post it. Also, the one that you did where you showed the … you put the image on Gemina’s phone, too, because that was amazing and Hernan holding beers. He made these great memes, guys, from POFU. It was awesome. Wayne always does. We missed you, Wayne, at the event. We really did.
Hernan: Yeah, man.
Chris: And I really loved the one where I balance the woman on my [crosstalk 00:47:27]-
Bradley: Yeah, yeah, and Chris-
Hernan: Keep on walking.
Adam: Yeah, Chris gets the cool one with the good looking woman in his hands.
Male: [crosstalk 00:47:32]
Bradley: And I’m in drag.
Chris: [inaudible 00:47:35]
Hernan: If you haven’t seen them by the way, if they’re are not there, they’re in the free Facebook group. So, sematicmastery.com/facebook will take you to the free Facebook group.
Bradley: They were great. They were great. Thank you, Wayne. We knew you … You have entirely too much time on your hand, which is really the problem.
Hernan: Which is … So, good job.
Bradley: Yeah, right. He been listening, apparently. Right.
That’s right. Good man.
How Long Before Google Knows The Loophole in GMB Lead Generation And What Should You Do With It?
Bill says, “With buying verified GMBs becoming more common, I’m wondering how long before you think Google starts closing that loophole and what you think will happen for the many who use that loophole?” That’s a very good question, Bill. I don’t know how long it’s going to be. They will, they’ll close it. So, my point is take advantage of it right now while you can, and build as many fucking assets as you possibly can. What will happen when they close that loophole? I don’t know, but my point is … and that was a question that came up at the POFU LIVE event because what I shared at the POFU LIVE event was how to really scale a GMB lead generation business.
Adam: Yeah, through the Local Lease Pro.
Bradley: Really, really scale it. Yeah. Through, essentially, the Local Lease Pro method, but-
Adam: On steroids.
Bradley: Yeah, on steroids with process development, all that other stuff. It’s still not 100% complete, but it will be very, very soon. That’s so like our … The members of POFU LIVE that are going to participate with me … We’ve got a 90-day goal to build 50 GMB assets in the next 90 days. Then, by then, we’ll have the processes in place to where we double or [inaudible 00:49:05] work. We’ll have the processes and the virtual assistance in place to do the work for us.
So, within the next six months, my goal is to have anywhere between 200 to 250 GMB assets, which is huge. So, take advantage of that because once you have something like that, now think about even if they were to close that loophole. Let’s say that happens, and say, I didn’t even come close to my target goal and I hit 125. Well, I’ve got 100 and some odd GMB assets out there now that I can be using as leverage to contact and prospect for clients or service providers, but I could go back to … if that loophole gets entirely shut down, which it likely will at some point, then we will have already developed an asset that we can use as leverage for going back to the standard client model. Does that make sense?
Male: Yes.
Bradley: And so my point is again, guys, if you’ve been through any of the training … Bill, I don’t know if you’ve been through our training about this or not. That’s why I recommend you find one industry and you really scale building assets in that one very specific industry because now you will have all of this data and you’ll have all of these assets that are valuable to one particular industry. You can craft your sales message, all of your marketing materials, everything to that one very specific industry type or business type, and you’ll be able to scale much quicker that way. If you have to do all of that for each industry that you have, think about the enormity of the amount of work that you have to do.
Chris: [inaudible 00:50:28]
Bradley: All the sales copy and all the VSLs and all the emails are now … I mean, all of that. You have to duplicate everything you do for each new industry. That’s an enormous amount of work, so just stick with one, and become the go-to expert in that one particular industry, okay?
Hernan: You can use something like the Eagle Method for that [inaudible 00:50:47].
Bradley: That’s twice now. It’s twice now you’ve created that open loop. See. See how it all comes together.
Male: [crosstalk 00:50:53]
Chris: Yeah, I guess I missed out on [crosstalk 00:50:57].
Bradley: Yeah, I know.
Jordan Valor. Jordan, what’s up buddy? We missed you there, too, man.
Adam: Hey, man? Oh, man. Jordan, you remember that place we ate at in Texas? We found Funnel Hacking Live.
Bradley: We found here that rivals it, right?
Adam: [crosstalk 00:51:09]-
Bradley: There’s free tacos.
Adam: But just saying.
Bradley: Yeah, we found a rival street taco provider. So, anyways. Jordan says, “I know you guys are focusing on local, but thank you for the tips us regional and national guys can apply. Things like drive stack syndication networks, recommendations for SEO ultimate bootcamp, et cetera, are super helpful. This stuff works. You just have to contextualize it to a national brand. Keep it coming.”
Jordan, that’s exactly right. I’m glad you said that, man, because if Marco were here, which he’s not because he had some, I don’t know, insignificant thing to attend to, like his wife having a baby-
Adam: Some sort of life event or something like that.
Bradley: Yeah, something, whatever. [inaudible 00:51:44].
Chris: Maybe he had to go to hospital.
Bradley: If Marco were here, he would tell you local is relative to the observer, right? What is local? It’s relative to the observer.
Hernan: That’s [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Bradley: So, local could be hyper-local, like what we’re doing with the Local Lease Pro method, or local could be a specific city or a specific county, or it could be a state or it could be a region, or it could be a country or [inaudible 00:52:09]. So, really it just depends on what your particular business model is. Most of what we teach can be applied to whatever your location area is or location range is. Obviously, there’s some stuff that’s very specific to local, but for the most part, our [inaudible 00:52:24] will still look to that as well.
Hernan: Yeah, definitely.
Adam: Well, as an example just for the general public-
Bradley: Here’s another one.
Adam: … could you apply the Local Lease Pro method to somebody who wants to take over a state?
Bradley: Yes, absolutely you could.
Chris: Hell, yeah.
Bradley: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Cool.
Bradley: In fact, the Local Lease Pro method is about hyper-local, but scaling it to a national basis. So, my point is like you go hyper-local, but you create a ton of assets that you could literally build on a national basis-
Adam: That’s pretty cool.
Bradley: … depending on how quickly you can do it before they close the loophole [crosstalk 00:52:53].
Hernan: Yeah, and speaking of SEO Ultimate Boot Camp, shout out to Jeffrey for being on the POFU LIVE event. That was awesome.
Adam: Jeffrey Smith, SEO design solutions, SEO Boot Camp-
Hernan: Yeah, Jeffrey Smith.
Adam: He joined us, gave a fucking killer presentation.
Bradley: Yeah. He’s bad ass, man. I really like Jeffery. He’s amazing. We’re so honored to have him.
Adam: Word on the street is that he might be there next year [inaudible 00:53:12], maybe.
Chris: Bradley got ears big like that when [inaudible 00:53:16].
Are There Any SEO Tips Using Video Thumbnails Posted To GMB?
Bradley: All right. So, Jim Greene’s up, and he says, “Random question: are there any SEO tips using video thumbnails posted to GMB?” Yeah, well here’s a better tip, Jim. Don’t just post the video thumbnail, post the video to GMB; upload it directly to GMB. So, instead of posting like a YouTube link in the post and then just using the video thumbnail, what I recommend is literally taking the video file and uploading it as the post itself. What we found recently was GMB posts, just image posts, get a certain amount of engagement depending on, obviously, what the industry is, the level of interest in the specific location that you’re marketing in, and all that. That will determine how many views like an image posts gets, right?
But for example, I’ve got a client that is in the preschool space. Let’s use this as an example. I’ve got a client that’s in the preschool space that we post image posts, GMB image posts, and within a week, they might get 150 to 250 views within seven days on that image post. Well, I just took one of their rep videos. I use David Sprague’s review commercials to generate reputation videos or review commercial videos or whatever for my clients once a month. So, I decided one day … We’re doing the video anyways, and so I said one day, “Hey, let me try this.” Then, I uploaded the actual video file to GMB posts and when I did, like within seven days … Typically, a GM image posts would only have between 150 to 250 views in seven days. It was well over 600 views in seven days. So, I was like, “Oh, man. I’m onto something here.”
Very similar to Facebook, guys. I mean, it makes sense. Facebook, when you post a regular image post in a Facebook group, or excuse me, on a Facebook page, you only get about 5% reach to whatever the number of followers of that page are. So, for example, an image post will only get 5%. Of the thousand members, you’re going to get 50 people that might actually be exposed to that image post, but if you do like a Facebook Live video, then you’ll get 30% reach to the same audience, right? I think Google’s applying the same thing is they’re pushing the videos more because they get more engagement, so you’ll see a bit more views.
So, there you go, Jim. You upload the video instead of just the image, okay?
Hernan: Yep.
Bradley: Frankie says, “Wow, that spoke right to the heart. Thank you, Bradley, and all you guys.” You’re welcome, Frankie.
Hernan: [inaudible 00:55:42] Frankie.
Bradley: That’s awesome. Thank you man.
What Is The Difference Between GMB Pro And GMB Optimization?
Brian says, “What is the difference between GMB Pro and GMB Optimization? Sounds like it should be part of GMP Pro. What is that special about GMB optimizer?” I’m not sure what you mean, Brian. GMB optimization is what we’re going to provide as a done-for-you service in MGYB, which is our store. GMB Pro, Local GMB Pro, is the training for how to do all this stuff that we’re going to do in our done-for-you service. Does that make sense? So, essentially what we provide in the done-for-you service, which is going to be available in MGYB, is what you will learn in Local GMB Pro.
Adam: I’m just wondering is there some other service out there?
Bradley: I don’t know.
Hernan: Probably.
Bradley: [crosstalk 00:56:28]
Adam: Anyway [inaudible 00:56:29] … Who was it that asked that? Was it Brian? So Brian, since we’ve still got a few minutes left, if there’s some other product or something out there, let us know. If you can clarify, maybe we can answer better.
Bradley: Wayne put that meme in there. That’s awesome.
Okay, Greg’s up. He says, “[inaudible 00:56:45] I would do that in reverse, but a little money for Press Advantage press release from SL.”
Male: [inaudible 00:56:50]
Bradley: Okay. Yeah, he already talked about that. Thank you, Greg. That’s good advice by the way. In Wayne’s meme, it’s amazing. Thanks, Wayne.
Okay. Paul says, “They have already started closing the loopholes. Google has started turnover in that department inside the …” Well, that’s possible, Paul. But you know, guys, we’ll find a work-around. Don’t we always?
Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:57:15].
Chris: As far as I know, it’s still working.
Bradley: Hammer time. Look at that, all those memes. Thanks, Wayne.
Chris: There you go.
Bradley: That’s awesome.
How Do You Change No Follow Links To Do Follow In Press Release?
Brian says, “Anyone tried changing nofollow links to dofollow links and press releases by editing an HTML view?” Brian, it’s funny you mention that because that was a hack that I used to do at Newswire.net because you could publish the … you could save … So, you’d go in and you put all your text and your links into the press release, and then you would save it as a draft, and then you would submit for publishing, which would go to the editors for review. But when you saved for draft or submit for publishing, it would change all of the links to nofollow.
So, what I would do is always go save as drafts, and then before hitting submit for publishing, I would go into the HTML view and edit the nofollow tag out. Then, I would submit for publishing before hitting save for draft again, and it would send it with the nofollow tag removed and they would publish it that way. It was a hack I didn’t tell anybody about because I didn’t want them closing that loophole at Newswire.net. I just spilled the beans now because I don’t know if that’s still available, and I don’t have any credits left.
Male: Go for it.
Bradley: But as far as like Press Advantage, I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know about Press Cable either because, typically, you … Again, in either Press Advantage or Press Cable, I don’t see an HTML view. There’s not a way for me to edit the text. It’s just the [inaudible 00:58:42] editor. So, they insert the nofollow links. There’s not much you can do about it. But Brian, if you’re on a platform where you do, yeah, try it. See what you can do. See if you can edit it out. That’s a good thing to do.
Adam: Our POFU video’s going to be released, especially, to Mastermind members. That’s-
Male: [inaudible 00:59:02]
Adam: That’s TBD.
Male: [crosstalk 00:59:04]
Hernan: Yeah, that’s TBD. Yeah, we definitely recorded them. So, we have them. We’re going to be adding them. They’re going to be out for attendees.
Bradley: Yes.
Hernan: Not sure what’s going up next.
Bradley: Yeah, because the Mastermind members are going to get the process training for the Local Lease Pro scaling method once the POFU LIVE members and I get through our 90-day challenge. We’re going through a build group together where most of the members are going to be joining me for the next 90 days, and our goal is to hit 50 GMB assets, built and optimized by the end of 90 days. If we can do it, then they’re going to help me to refine the process training and all that, too. Then, that’s when I’m going to release it to you guys.
I know I’ve mentioned that I was going to try to release it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s likely going to be … Well, 90 days is going to be beyond that, but it’s worth the wait. I’d rather give it to you guys in a more polished form than in its raw form. Obviously, though, Mastermind members, if anybody really wants it in its more raw form, reach out to me and I’ll work something out with you, okay?
Hernan: Cool.
Adam: You heard that, reach out to Bradley directly.
Bradley: What’s that?
Hernan: Yeah.
Bradley: Through support [crosstalk 01:00:05].
Male: [crosstalk 01:00:05]
Bradley: No, Mastermind members can contact me in the group at anytime, at anytime.
Adam: Bradley loves Facebook, so it’s the best place to [inaudible 01:00:14].
Hernan: Yeah, we can. Can we put Bradley’s phone number right here on the event page?
Bradley: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
Adam: That was good and it’s not because [crosstalk 01:00:22].
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:00:22]
Adam: During the Hump Day Hangouts, but I remember the very first … just want to share this fun tidbit with people. The very first draft of emails that we had as an autoresponder, like “Thank you for joining Semantic Mastery,” … This is like four years ago now. Hernan included Bradley’s phone number.
Hernan: Oh, I did. Oh, man, sorry. That was there for quite a bit, actually, for maybe a year, something, and you were getting these calls [crosstalk 01:00:45]-
Adam: The crazy part is how many people don’t call today, but anyways, don’t call Bradley.
Chris: You mean the 976 number?
Adam: Yes.
Chris: That’s so funny.
Adam: Hold on. We need to go register it.
Hernan: Sorry man. Sorry.
Bradley: All right guys. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up. We’ve got lots of beer to drink, and apparently lots of beef jerky to eat.
Adam: Thanks, Jenny.
Bradley: Yeah, thanks, Jenny.
Hernan: Thanks, Jenny.
Chris: Thank you.
Hernan: Thank you guys, and we’ll see you soon.
Bradley: [crosstalk 01:01:03]
All right.
Chris: Cool.
  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 207 published first on your-t1-blog-url https://ift.tt/1SwaST9 October 29, 2018 at 09:54PM Semantic Mastery https://ift.tt/2rWKl8L
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