#seeing the ''24 days ago'' timestamp on this as i finally go to hit post... woof. again i'm so sorry 😭 thank you for letting me talk

[mattodore]

can you describe matthias and theo night routines? and their sleep schedule

<3 ly

Theo doesn’t get a lot of sleep since he’s either out partying into the long stretches of the night or up studying until the words begin to blur on the page. I’d say he normally falls asleep around 3AM-4AM and doesn’t wake back up until 7AM. Four-ish hours is pretty average for how much sleep he gets a night… maybe less at times if he’s more stressed than usual. I should add that he does sleep more when he’s staying over at Matthias’s or vice versa, but generally he tries his best not to let Matthias distract him from studying before bed… which only ever works out about a quarter of the time. Matthias can be... very persuasive.

In the case of Matthias, well… he’s a chronic insomniac whose insomnia is exacerbated by hallucinations and nightmares. Unsurprisingly, his sleep schedule is terribly inconsistent, but if he does sleep then I think he normally manages it sometime around noon and will stay asleep for about an hour or two. It’s actually very rare that he falls asleep during the night—especially after Theo begins to sleep over, as Matthias prefers to read and watch over him at that time instead. Theo has fits in his sleep (from nightmares that he never remembers…) and Matthias gently calms him so he doesn’t wake up.

The only time they fall asleep at around the same time is when they’ve been at it for a while and both need a break. Matthias doesn’t stay asleep for long, though… maybe an hour at most. He does sleep easier around Theo, but that’s mostly just when Theo is awake. I think Matthias finds a lot of comfort in knowing Theo is there watching over him. He went through a lot at the reformation school and there were many times within those years where sleep would be abruptly interrupted and then he’d be back on the killing floor, so to speak, so having someone there to watch over him… I think it really helps. Then, on the other hand, Theo sleeps pretty deeply after they’ve been having sex. There’s never a time he feels more cared for and adored than when Matthias is making love to him, so it's... a relaxing experience. It puts Theo's mind at ease and I think it’s probably when Theo feels the safest. So he'll sleep for a long while after, feeling cradled in Matthias's presence, his anxiety finally snuffed out.

As for their actual night routines… hm. They’re very different, especially before and after the start of Echthroi. 

Theo’s night routine stays pretty much the same throughout the story. He’s not one for self-care, like, at all. Because of that, he doesn’t necessarily have a routine… Theo’s honestly only really meticulous in his studies and everything else suffers for it. However, Theo physically cannot fall asleep unless he’s checked the locks on the windows and doors and closed all of the blinds and curtains. That’s the one routine of his he’s always sure to follow through on, even when he’s intoxicated or sleep deprived.

Otherwise, what else he does as part of his “routine” is up in the air. Sometimes he showers before bed, other times he showers after waking up. Sometimes he combs through his hair all nicely and other times he just impatiently rips his fingers through his hair and shrugs. Sometimes he forgets to brush his teeth, other times he forgets that he’s already brushed his teeth and ends up doing it again. He’s a bit of a mess. If he’s actually aware/awake enough to put himself to bed, then he’ll messily wipe any makeup off his face post-clubbing and/or he’ll shower post-hook up (if it’s the pre-Matthias part of Echthroi). If he’s tired from studying he’ll put all of his materials away and then flop down on his bed. If he has to see his parents in the morning then he’ll wind up in the bathroom for too long, brushing his teeth until his gums bleed. If we’re talking about Theo in the post-meeting Matthias part of the story then he might take a cold shower to try and get Matthias out of his head for a little bit, or he’ll find himself laying in bed staring warily at his phone. Hm… and in general Theo will hum lullabies to himself so he can fall asleep easier… it’s a childhood habit.

By nature of Matthias’s insomnia, Matthias doesn’t exactly find himself preparing for bed during the night like most people. He does, however, still run through his personal care routine at around 8pm. He showers, brushes, flosses, cleanses and hydrates, primps and preens, and then he’ll usually find himself entertaining guests or a partner for the night.

For Matthias pre-meeting Theo, he’s often not alone after dark as he has a string of men with whom he takes to his bed or a list of faceless people to call on whenever he wants to be surrounded by bodies and chatter. There are still quiet nights where he’s by himself or just with Imani, but they’re relatively few and far between. For Matthias post-meeting Theo… woof. He did sleep around here and there still, but I think he gave it up pretty early on… his mind was always swimming with thoughts of Theo and he couldn’t focus on nor did he find himself interested in the men he’d have under him. So after meeting Theo his usual night circuit changes and he often finds himself staying home and reading with some wine and the occasional glance at his phone, waiting for a response. Matthias does a lot of waiting when it comes to Theo.

If they're together at night (when they’re dating), then Matthias will usually make dinner for Theo. He likes feeding him (by hand, even, though Theo often protests). Normally Theo will have a few textbooks with him that he can study from while he waits for dinner and he always winds up going "give me a minute" when the food is finally done. They'll enjoy each other's company just fine at home or they'll go out for a drive or a walk. Theo often winds up getting roped into following along with Matthias's night routine and will poke fun at how fussy Matthias can be as Matthias does skincare beside him in the bathroom. Theo tries to get away with studying again later in the night, but Matthias likes to distract him as he’s personally offended whenever Theo whips out his textbooks past, like, 11PM. In general, they'll wind up having sex at some point, or multiple points, and then they'll shower together. After they towel off and Matthias dries Theo's hair, Matthias will most likely end up reading to Theo until Theo falls asleep. If Theo wakes up during the night, Matthias simply kisses him back to sleep.

[jikookuntold]

What happened to Jikook in May 2015?

“How Jikook Started?” “Jikook and significance of May” “Jungkook and his Song Recommendations” were all the titles I thought about for this post and I ended up with the one you see. But what made me write this? A few days ago I came across an old tweet of JK from May 2015. This tweet was a song recommendation which I hadn’t notice before because I was only focused on 123 theory and as we all know this theory starts from October 2015 and I thought maybe we should pay more attention to the other songs JK recommended either. So I decided to go deeper and when I checked the tweets from May to August 2015 some interesting theories came to my mind.

Jikookers believe Jikook’s relationship changed in INU era and for proof of this theory they discuss some moments (long stares, exchanging jackets, etc.) but I’ve never seen them paying attention to the songs JK recommended in this era. It’s obvious that not all the songs he listens, likes or recommends are about romantic aspects of his life. On the other hand, musicians listen to any kind of song and this helps them for their career so not everything has to have a secret message or meaning, but no one can ignore the fact that when you feel connected to some lyrics and it captures your emotions you tend to share it with others so they can understand your feelings. This is more relatable for introverted people, an introverted person with artistic features uses different forms of art to express their feelings and JK is one of them.

JK’s song recommendation tweets started at the end of 2014 with “Lee Yerin -Your Universe” on December 24th and continued with “Misty Miller - Best Friend” on February 22th, and two songs on March 9th“King Krule - Baby Blue” and “Years & Years – Memo”. This declaration was necessary for this post but I’m not going to analyze these songs here. These songs are very significant (especially the last one from an openly gay artist with very expressing lyrics) and they need their own post.

After “Years & Years – Memo” JK didn’t recommend any song until May 24th. It’s interesting how there is a pattern for dates of his song recommendation tweets, it’s like he spams Twitter for a week and then deletes the app for months. Even his tweets in general, follow this pattern and most introverts can relate because sometimes we feel like expressing ourselves on social media, and some days we avoid it at any cost.

So, what happened in May 2015? Why Jikookers think this period is significant in Jikook history? Jikook had some obvious moments in INU era, JK seemed to be enchanted by Jimin and Jimin had became quieter and more preserved but still captivated by cute maknae. The most notable moment from this era happened on May 5th at Sukira Radio Interview where the MC asked about Jimin’s love for JK and Jimin answered: “There is something about him I don’t like but he is cute”. JK’s reaction to this answer is remarkable especially when Tae almost exposed them by saying “I think he kinda likes men” about Jimin and Jimin didn’t deny it.

A week later, on May 13th BTS went to Kota Kinabalu to film the Summer Package and Jikook filmed a log together before coming back to Korea. A few weeks later on June 5th when they were in Malaysia for Red Bullet Concert, they asked JK in an interview to describe Jimin "Jimin hyung is such a nice guy. His personality is just too nice. And he keeps giving me nice food. And when he smiles, his eyes are so pretty. He's the most charming guy on the team. If I were a girl I would date a guy like Jimin hyung." He answered. Fun Fact: They didn’t ask him who he wanted to date if he were a girl, but yet JK managed to state this anyway. They had asked this question from the members since their debut but JK never had chosen any member for someone who wants to date, and this moment was a turning point in JK’s attitude especially toward Jimin, even Jimin himself was shocked by JK’s answer. This fact directs us to the main question: What did happen in May 2015?

How was JK feeling at this point? Did something change in him? We can’t give a precise answer because we don’t know his emotions unless he shares them with us. As I said earlier, sharing music is a good way to express emotions. With recommending a song you can share your feelings without being too obvious (and get away with it because they are not your words, duh?) JK didn’t recommend any song after March 9th for two and a half months and finally, on May 24th he felt to share music and became active again. But three days before this date, Jimin had shared a song, surprisingly.

We know it’s not very common for Jimin to recommend a song especially in the style Namjoon and JK do, but on May 21st he recommended a newly released song named Pretty Bae by Lee Hyun and Park Bo Ram, here are the lyrics translations:

They say I’m pretty these days that I’m like a woman

They ask me, do you even have any flaws?

They say I look good these days, my friends tell me

Is there anyone out there like me?

I walk on this street while humming

I feel good today for some reason

I wanna date someone pretty

A person with a pretty heart rather than a pretty face

I wanna date someone nice

A person with a warm heart rather than a good body

Had a cup of coffee on the weekend, watched a movie I wanted to see

It’s all good but what’s missing?

A person to laugh at my boring stories

Where is that person?

I walk on this street while humming

I feel good today for some reason

I wanna date someone pretty

A person with a pretty heart rather than a pretty face

I wanna date someone nice

A person with a warm heart rather than a good body

He’s not handsome but nice-looking

She has no makeup but she shines

Is he looking at me?

What if she catches me? I pretend not to see

It feels good, should I go to her/him

And carefully start a conversation?

I wanna date someone pretty

A person with a pretty heart rather than a pretty face

I wanna date someone nice

A person with a warm heart rather than a good body

I wanna have a pretty love

A person with a pretty heart rather than a pretty face

I wanna date someone nice

A pretty person, a nice person, I hope it’s you

As you see, the lyrics are about someone who is feeling pretty and wants to date a person with a good and warm heart but he/she secretly wants it to be him/her crush. Jimin’s timestamp is on the last part of the lyrics saying “A pretty person, a nice person, I hope it’s you”. And three days later JK posts a screenshot of a song from Kehlani (an openly pansexual artist) named “You should be here”. Here are the lyrics:

I'm looking right at you, but you're not there

I'm seeing right past you, but you seem well aware

Your body is here but your mind is somewhere else

So far gone and you think I can't tell

Can't tell that you are disconnected

You pulled away and I miss your presence

I always said to you

Baby, you should be here, right here

Baby, you should be here, right here

Don’t know where you went but you're lost now

Don’t know where you went but you're gone now

Don’t know where you went but you're lost now

Don’t know where you went but you're gone now

Head on your chest babe, but your heart is so quiet

We used to talk all night long, now we laying in silence

Your arms around me but your soul is somewhere else

Gone so long and I know you so well

I know that you are everything that I ever dreamed of

And hoped that love had a happy ending

Baby, you should be here, right here (yeah-yeah)

Baby, you should be here, right here (you should be here, right here, right here)

Don't know where you went but you're lost now

Don't know where you went but you're gone now

Don't know where you went but you're lost now (oh-whoa)

Don't know where you went but you're gone now

You should be here, right, right here yeah

The lyrics are talking about someone who the artist cares about and it feels like that person is physically present but his/her mind is somewhere else. He/she wants that person close, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally. A few hours later, JK recommends another song, this time a famous song (any Shrek lover know this by heart) I need some sleep by Eels: Here are the lyrics:

You can't go home like this

I try counting sheep

But there's one I always miss

Everyone says I'm getting down to low

Everyone says you just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

I need some sleep

Time to put the old horse down

I'm in too deep

And the wheels keep spinning round

Everyone says I'm getting down to low

Everyone says you just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

You just gotta let it go

*Fun fact: This song was on Jimin’s playlist in 2017.

This song is about mental and emotional frustration and exhaustion, being deep into something, and seeking redemption. We can’t tell if JK is expressing this about himself or someone else since his timestamp is on the part saying “You can't go home like this”. But the song JK recommended the next day (May 25th) is another story and has a straightforward message. “Can’t help falling in love” is a hit song by Elvis but the track JK post is a cover of this song by Eels:

Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Shall I stay? Would it be a sin?

If I can't help falling in love with you?

Like a river flows, surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes. Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes. Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love with you

For I can't help falling in love with you

The lyrics don’t need any explanation. His timestamp is on the part saying “If I can't help falling in love with you?” this part comes after the part “Would it be a sin” and makes it more remarkable. It’s obvious that there was something big going on with his emotions at this point and when you put these four songs together (one from Jimin and three from JK) you can see the roller coaster of feelings very clear. But the next day (May 26th) something interesting happened which relays my theory. Namjoon recommended a song named Pray from Younha and this was the thing he wrote in the caption of his tweet: “For all the broken-hearted” Sure this can be to anyone but two weeks later on Jun 10th JK recommended the same song without any caption. Here are the lyrics:  

When you are lost

I will shine a light

When your heart shakes because of the wind

I will hold your hand

I am praying for you

Praying that you will be protected

So that my hopes can reach you

The closed door is slowly opening

I hope you won’t cry over your scars

Or get trapped in despair with pain

With all my heart, I hope you will be comforted

Today, I’m praying again

I am praying for you

Praying that you will be protected

The world has become harsh seas

For you, who has left for the voyage?

I hope you won’t cry over your scars

Or get trapped in despair with pain

With all my heart, I hope you will be comforted

Today, I’m praying again

When Namjoon literally recommended this song two weeks before, why JK had to do this again? Unless he had something to express through lyrics. As you see the lyrics are about pain, despair and getting emotional scars or as Namjoon captioned “something for broken-hearted people”. Two days later JK posted a video of himself walking and singing in the night, the song he was humming was from Yoon Jong Shin and here are the lyrics:

On January 13, which was especially cold, I first met her, who laughed a lot

She said she never spent a birthday with a boyfriend before

She liked shoes and bags and that was so cute

She said I looked sad from behind as she took a picture and smiled

On the sunny first day of April, I made her cry for the first time

After seeing her pretty eyes get puffy, I cried too

Every time we fought, we always used the word “break up”

We wouldn’t talk to each other for days, having a tense battle

Would she know that my heart raced every time I went to pick her up?

I have never met anyone who was better than her in my life

On June 17, she was struggling and broke up with me

In the end, I gave her a scar, although I didn’t mean to

A month passed, a year passed and still, there are times when I miss her

Whenever I pass by that street in Ichon-dong, it’s still clear like it was yesterday

The park at night, the hamburger store, the rice bowl store in the basement

There is so much emotion in this lyrics and you have to be really in love and broken-hearted to hum this song in the dark let alone filming and posting the video. After that JK didn’t recommend any song for two weeks and he came back on June 27th with another straightforward message. A song named Love Me Again by G.Soul and here are the lyrics translation:

It’s already been a few years

And we’re standing in front of each other like this

As if nothing happened

Just like the old days

As I look at you

Who is calling me a good friend?

I tried to hold it in

But I need to tell you something

I know I hurt you but

Could u love me again?

Without knowing, I’m in love with you again

So could u love me again?

I didn’t know love back then

Baby love me again

Baby please please please

Need u love me again?

It’s already 3am

We’re both getting a little drunk

As if it’s nothing, you talk about your new boyfriend

As I look at you

Who is calling me a good friend?

I can’t hold it in

And I have to tell you something

I know I hurt you but

Could u love me again?

Without knowing, I’m in love with you again

So could u love me again?

I didn’t know love back then

Baby love me again

Baby please please, please

Need u love me again?

Oh please believe me girl

This time, I’ll really

Love u harder

Oh baby one more time

Love me again

I know I hurt you but

Could u love me again?

Without knowing, I’m in love with you again

So could u love me again?

I didn’t know love back then

Baby love me again

Baby please please, please

Need u love me again?

Oh baby just please please, please

Could u love me again?

Again, love me again, again

Oh girl I need you to

Love me baby

Love me again

He wants that person to give him another chance and love him again. He confesses that he has hurt that person because he didn’t know love back then and doesn’t want to be “the good friend” that person sees him now. He wants that person’s love.  JK didn’t recommend any song after this for another two weeks and came back on July 10th with a song RapmonHyung has recommended to him: Tears by Le So Ra

Me in the mirror inside the cramped dark room…

The dismal face is quite ugly

Foolish like this, I’m left behind

But I still long for you.

Miserably left behind like this,

I just make unwelcome calls

It’s okay if you get mad at me

It’s okay if you make me cry

Just turn all your attention back to me

It’s okay, just say anything

It’s okay if you mock me

I’m like this only with you, oh my own.

Like a speck of dust in this cave-like room

I’m foolish and I’m left alone

I miss you again today before you miss me

I’m miserably left alone like this

And again I call you before you call me

It’s okay if you get mad at me

It’s okay if you make me cry

Just turn all your attention back to me

It’s okay, just say anything

It’s okay if you mock me

I’m like this only with you, oh my own.

In the mirror, I look so ugly

This song is about being left alone and rejected. His loved one is mad at him and doesn’t give the love and the attention he/she used to give before. Four days later he recommended another song named Romance by CHEEZE and here are the lyrics:

With a red balloon full of

Your deep flowery scent

You surround me in your

Lifeless hollow smile

All our warm memories together

Can’t melt my heart

That has been frozen over

By that cold stare of yours

Walking through the night, side by side

The faint silhouette of your back

Still haunt me as my sweetest nightmare

Like the strings of a puppeteer

Losing sleep over the cold half of the bed

As your wandering image gently crushes me down

Walking through the night, side by side

The faint silhouette of your back

Still haunt me as my sweetest nightmare

Like the strings of a puppeteer

Walking through the night, side by side

The faint silhouette of your back

Still haunt me as my sweetest nightmare

Like the strings of a puppeteer

This is another song about someone who used to be warm and loving but now has a cold stare with no emotion. In my theories, this emotional conflict started in May and ended in August. Why August and how it ended? In August 18th Japan fan-meeting Jimin fainted and apparently this had a big impact on Jikook’s relationship. The day after, when Jimin came back on the stage JK did a beautiful interaction with him. Two days later JK did a live stream and sang a song named I will give it all to you. Three days later Namjoon posted screenshot of this song with the caption “Jeon Jungkook OST”. Here are the lyrics:

I have something for you

I have something to say tonight

I will give it all to you

My love that's about to burst

There's nothing I can't do for you

After picking the stars, I'll fill your hands

I have something for you

I have something to give you tonight

There's nothing I can't do for you

After picking the stars, I'll fill your hands

I will give it all to you

My love that is about to explode

The lyrics are talking of a beautiful love about to burst and the lover is ready to sacrifice and do anything for him/her love even if it’s bringing the stars in the sky and hand it to his/her lover. 12 hours later Jimin tweeted something suspicious: “The stars in the sky (musical note emoji) (surprised emoji)”. This tweet has no media and the caption has no hashtag except Jimin. It seems like someone had brought the stars in the sky for Jimin and it has something to do with music either. I wonder who it would be…

Conclusion

I tried so hard to not express my theories and leave the conclusion to you but some facts are undeniable especially when you put them together with the events and moments that happened in that period. I (rightfully) believe that the chronology of the events is extremely important and it can tell you more than just a surface without reading too much of it. If you don’t like theories or you have your own theories just don’t read this part because I don’t want to change anyone’s mind:

We all know about Jimin’s affection for JK in their debut years. I don’t think that was something fake or exaggerated, he really adored JK and wanted his attention (maybe he was aware of their mutual crush, I don’t know) but he could never imagine this turning into something serious. But it did and JK was the one who noticed this first and took action but he got rejected and became broken-hearted. This rejection was the result of fear, fear of an unknown future. Jimin’s love for JK was still strong but he had to reject JK to stop things from getting worse and out of hand. But in JK’s eyes, everything was different. He wanted him back, he was missing Jimin’s affection because he had found out that he is in love, the thing he didn’t know beforehand (I think memory of the rainy day has happened at this era, or maybe I’m wrong) After weeks of emotional conflict, finally they were at the same page and they were ready to make their relationship work. JK assured Jimin about his love and it seemed like a happily ever after but little did they know about their future and fate.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, early February 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late January report, although some may be older than that. Report is a bit short because I was sick this last week; don’t worry, I used hand sanitizer before typing this up, so you are all safe 🤒

I am currently looking into setting up a new ecommerce business forum where we can discuss this sort of news, as well as any day-to-day issues we face. I need some good suggestions for a cheap or free forum space that has some editing tools, is fairly intuitive for inexperienced members, and is accessible. If you have any suggestions, please reply to this post, email me on my website, or send me a tweet. (I will put out a survey once we narrow this down to some good candidates, but if you have any other comments on what you want from such a forum, please include those too!)

As always, if you see any stories I might be interested in, please let me know!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Searchmetrics says Etsy did quite well [podcast & text] in the Google January Core Update, while both Amazon and Walmart lost a little bit. “Who won January? I’m going to say Etsy. Etsy has really done a tremendous job [with Google visibility] over the last two years. Sure, they’ve been on the winning side of the algorithm update, but consistently, being in that a position, from my experience, isn’t by chance.” Here’s more analysis listing the US winners and losers, including by subject category (sadly, not shopping sites). Marie Haynes says that the update likely targeted sites that aren’t properly disclosing affiliate links, as well as some pet health sites. 

Since a quarter of Americans have a disability, your website, your products & your marketing should be more accessible. Lots of good ideas in here! 

ETSY NEWS 

TOU alert: Etsy has banned the sale of spent bullet casings (often used as craft supplies). It’s not clear why. There is a thread from a seller whose listings were pulled here.

The 2020 wedding trends blog post is one of those pieces that is useful to sellers & buyers alike, and is also good for Etsy because it attracts outside articles and links. Some trend & keyword info of interest: ”there has been a 171% increase in searches on Etsy for bridesman items and a 72% increase in searches for best woman items”... “searches for ‘70s invitations increase 18% and searches for disco ball items increase 18%” ...”24% increase in searches for bridal jackets and a 4% increase in searches for women’s pantsuits” …”searches for reused, recycled, or reclaimed wedding items increasing 7%” in the last six months (compared to the same time the previous year).

Etsy released its annual diversity & inclusion report on January 29, getting some media coverage along the way, for example here, here and here.

Reverb hired David Mandelbrot as their new CEO; he most recently ran Indiegogo. (Etsy bought Reverb last year.)

The 4th quarter 2019 results will be out Feb. 26. I am currently planning on doing my usual summary thread in the forum. 

Decent overview of product photography for beginners, with some pointers on what Etsy wants you to do with photos. For example, “The recommended size for listing images is 2000px for the shortest side of the image, and a resolution of 72PPI.”

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

So you know what Etsy tags are, but you get confused when people talk about tags for search engines? Read this beginners guide to SEO meta tags. (not needed for Etsy shops, but it is terminology used by some website builder sites, as well as coders of course.)

Data provider Jumpshot will be closing due to the controversies over the revelation that their parent company Avast (the anti-virus software) provided user activity to Jumpshot while perhaps not always fully disclosing this to the users. This will affect some SEO tools that relied on these click stats to generate estimates for traffic & search term use, Hitwise & Moz among them.  “In all likelihood, Avast took the action to protect its core business, as multiple articles, including from Consumer Reports, called out the company for its data collection practices, while some called for the uninstallation of the Avast software. This is probably as much PR damage control as it is driven by any principled position.”

Forbes appears to have been hit by some Google search issue, but it happened later than the Core Update, so no one is sure what is going on.They were previously penalized for selling links, but that was years ago.   

John Mueller listed all of the big Google search news from January in this almost 9 minute video. Click to see the detailed info under the video, because they helpfully summarized the important topics by timestamp, and linked to text resources as well. (Some of it is technical/coding relating; you have been warned!)

There may be another big Google ranking update happening right now (Feb. 9), as tracked by Search Engine Roundtable. Check that site over the next few days for any updates. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

The time you send your marketing emails matters, although it’s going to vary more than this article lets on. Keep track of your own stats. 

Debunking some myths about Instagram, including the importance of your follower count. “...your follower count isn’t the most important metric on Instagram. Your engagement rate is. Your engagement rate (which is found by calculating the number of engagements you receive divided by EITHER the number of people who saw it OR your total followers, depending on who you ask) is crucial.”

If you use the app Social Captain for Instagram, be aware that your Instagram password was publicly available in the source code. 

Facebook’s algorithm has a lot of different factors controlling who sees your posts, including actually having conversations with others, and including “quality, original videos.”

Facebook’s revenue was up 25% in the 4th quarter of 2019, to $21.1 billion, but they expect the privacy controversies to cut into growth this year.

Pinterest is testing an augmented reality tool called “Try On” that allows users to see what they will look like with specific lipstick colours. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Google Shopping Ads will soon be shown in Gmail accounts, YouTube and the Discover feed, starting March 4th. Note that “Retailers have been steadily shifty more of their search budgets from text to Shopping ads.”

A comparison of Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads, with plenty of tips. According to them, if you are seriously considering one, you should probably do both. “When we talk about Facebook, we’re also talking about Instagram, What’sApp, and Facebook Messenger. Google also includes YouTube, the second-most trafficked site in the world (behind Google itself).”

Google’s revenue was up 17% in the 4th quarter in 2019, almost all of it from advertising. YouTube makes more on ads than Amazon does. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

eBay released its 4th quarter results for 2019 on January 28, with revenue down 2% and gross merchandise value down 5%. Amazon’s sales were up 21% for the 4th quarter. 

BigCommerce now allows customers to check out in over 100 currencies, integrated with several different payment processors. 

Wondering what a good conversion rate would be for different ecommerce pages? Here’s a brief overview of the known stats, with some tips on improving.. (Note that any action can be counted as a conversion, including signing up for an email list, so this isn’t just about purchases.)

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Are you marketing to Generation Z, or think you should be? Here are 52 facts (with the citations); some highlights: Gen Z has more members than millennials do, and “As of 2020, Gen Z makes up more than 40% of U.S. consumers.” and finally “When shopping online or in stores, 65% of Gen Z prefers to see as few items as possible out of stock” (that last one explains a feedback I received, I think LOL Kind of hard on Etsy when you might have a listing with multiple choices & you only have the one left.)

A study of Cyber Week email open & click rates shows that it might be better not to mention the holidays or discounts. 

This article warns consumers of the tricks ecommerce sites use to nudge people to buy more, including some clear examples of deception. “A study by Princeton University and the University of Chicago singled out online clothing seller Fashion Nova, which tells customers that items in their cart “are in high demand.” The problem? The message appears for any item that’s added to the cart. Fashion Nova’s cart also tells shoppers that their items are being “reserved” for 10 minutes. But nothing happens to the items after the 10 minutes are up.”

MISCELLANEOUS 

YouTube wants Clearview AI’s face recognition program to stop scraping its videos for content, and to delete anything it has already collected. (Twitter did the same last month.)

[celtfather]

How to Vote in Celtic Top 20 #438

How to vote in the Celtic Top 20, plus lots of great Celtic culture through Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.

Mithril, Round the House, willos', Andy Law & Friends, Outbound Traveler, Jim Sharkey, We Banjo 3, Eamonn Flynn, The Prodigals, Kyn, Hard Green, The Wild Irish Roses, Brother Sea

I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show with ONE friend.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is dedicated to growing our community and helping the incredible artists who so generously share their music. If you find music you love, buy their albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow them on Spotify, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

Remember also to Subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Every week, I'll send you a few cool bits of Celtic music news. It's a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Plus, you'll get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free, just for signing up today. Thank you again for being a Celt of Kindness.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 With the new year comes a new votes in the Celtic Top 20. This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2019 episode.  Vote Now!

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:07 - "The Trip To Skye/Brenda Stubbert's/The Hunter's Purse/Tommy Peoples" by Mithril from The Return Home

6:57 - WELCOME

7:37 - "MacLeod's Farewell" by Round the House from Safe Home

10:53 - "Pastures of Plenty" by willos' from 4th

15:25 - "An Diberdhyans / Dons Bewnans" by Andy Law & Friends from The Long and the Short of It

20:19 - "Vincent Black Lightning" by Outbound Traveler from Go On and Wander

24:52 - HOW TO VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20

27:44 - "The Old Piano" by Jim Sharkey from A Lovely Day

32:45 - "The Bunch of Green Rushes/Salt Creek" by We Banjo 3 from Gather the Good

36:48 - "Black Coddle" by Eamonn Flynn from Black Coddle

41:05 - CELTIC FEEDBACK

45:13 - "Jug of Punch" by The Prodigals from Brothers

51:16 - "Fata Morgana" by Kyn from Earendel

55:32 - "Whisky in the Jar" by Hard Green from Rare Old Mountain Dew

59:49 - "Garry Owen" by The Wild Irish Roses from Full Bloom

1:02:26 - FINAL NOTES

1:03:58 - "Curious Shore" by Brother Sea from EP

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

  CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic musician and podcaster. This show is dedicated to the indie Celtic musicians. I want to ask you to support these artists. Share the show with your friends. And find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. You can also support this podcast on Patreon.

Subscribe to the Celtic Christmas Podcast to enjoy hours of Christmas music by Celtic musicians.

HOW TO VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 We are near the end of the year. That means there are just a couple more weeks left for you to vote in the Celtic Top 20.

The Celtic Top 20 is a poll for you to pick the best songs of each episode of the podcast. At the end of the year, I compile the twenty most-popular songs of all episodes into one very special, extra-long episode.

Your last day to vote for your favorite Celtic songs of this year is on December 18, 2019. There are many ways you can vote. I will list two below.

The most-obvious way to vote is to just relax and listen to the show. Each time you come across a song or tune that blows you away, write down the show time.

Then head over to the shownotes at CelticMusicPodcast.com. I list the times of each song played in the show. If you wrote down 5:56, you can find exactly what song was played at that timestamp.

Just copy the band name and the show number. Go to BestCelticMusic.net/vote/ and cast your vote.

You can repeat this procedure with as many tracks as you want in the show.

That’s the basic way. But sometimes you want to give every song a solid chance to be heard. So now I want to share tips on how to make voting easier, using a method I use when picking my favorites.

Step 1. At the top of each episode of the podcast, I list every artist in the show. Copy and paste that list into a notes program along with the show number. I use Evernote. So that’s where I paste it.

Step 2. Listen to the episode. If any song or tune doesn’t impress you, look at the show time to find out the band name. Delete that band from the list.

Step 3. Repeat that procedure until you’re done.

Step 4. Go vote at BestCelticMusic.net/vote/. Post all of the band names that remain in your list in the voting form. Congrats you’re done!

I know. I’m a bit anal about voting. But sometimes I’m impressed by multiple artists. So I want to give each a chance to be heard again.

Either of these methods of voting are great with me. Ultimately, I want you to just enjoy the show. But the Celtic Top 20 is something special. This is a chance for many artists to get extra special attention. The tracks are also added to our Top Irish & Celtic Music Playlist on Spotify. It’s a big honor. But these artists need your votes to earn it.

So go vote in the Celtic Top 20 today!

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through it's culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Join the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST! Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. It allows us to attract new listeners and to help our community grow. You get weekly episodes of this podcast and you get them before regular listeners. When we hit a milestone, you get an extra-long episode. We are $26 away from a two-hour instrumental.

You can pledge a dollar or more per episode and cap how much you want to spend each month over on Patreon.

I want to send a huge shout out to our Celtic Legends. These amazing people pledge at least $25 per month to support Celtic culture through music. That is just incredibly kind. So I humbly thank you.

Raise a glass to Shawn Cali, Hank Woodward, Annie Lorkowski, Tiffany Knight, robert michael kane, Bryan Brake, Lynda MacNeil, Kevin Long, Nancie Barnett, Miranda Nelson, Carol Baril, Scott Benson, Marianne Ludwig, Patricia Conner

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast at http://songhenge.com.

Oh! And Song Hengers who pledge $5 or more per month also get an exclusive podcast where I tell you a little more about artists in the latest episode.

  I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Email a voicemail message to celticpodcast@gmail.com

Tim Meushaw emailed two years ago: "Hi, Marc, I have been a listener for a very long time, but usually when I'm listening I'm doing fairly mundane things, like cleaning or driving.  But I was on holiday on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides, for a few days last week, and listened to episode 332 while hiking north to Ardmore Bay, outside of Tobermory.  They say that on a clear day, you can see to the Isle of Skye, which reminded me of next year's Celtic Invasion.  I can't say I actually saw Skye, but the rest of the scenery was breathtaking.

To prove I was listening, I made a short video of the bay, with "Sláinte Mhaith" from that episode playing as background music.  Hope you enjoy!"

Tim followed up a few days ago and reminded about this email. So let me say first I am sorry Tim that I missed your email. I haven a much better system for including your feedback into the show. And hopefully, I won't run into that problem again in the future. Thank you so much for sharing the video too.

If you want to watch Tim's video. Head on over to the shownotes.

Fred Gilbertson emailed some photos in July 2018: "Hi Marc, I listened to your podcast for the 1st time yesterday. I had spent some time in the morning deleting other stuff from and then adding new stuff on my iPod. I think I stumbled upon your show doing an iTunes search for Natalie MacMaster. Anyway, I loaded the podcast on and later I rode my bike. My 1st new listen was to an NPR New music podcast, and when it ended I switched to your show.

I enjoyed it a lot, and I intend to listen again in the future. You read a note from the listener in Suffolk, England and told of the pictures he had attached for your viewing pleasure, and you welcomed “us” to send more. Right at that moment I happened to be at a spot that I thought you would find interesting. I was on the Colonial Parkway, near Williamsburg, VA. I stopped right where I was and took 3 pictures, rode another mile or so and took 2 more. It was a rather gloomy day, but it is always rather glorious out on this stretch of the earth.

On one 1 side of the parkway where I stopped, there is a farm that’s called “Gospel Spreading Farm”, which, due to its religious identity, is the only residence and farm that remained when the land was cleared decades ago for the construction of the parkway.

Same spot, looking to the southwest, you see the James River

Same spot, sort of northwest in direction, more of the James as well as the southern tip of Jamestown Island, where the colonists arrived in 1607.

About a mile away, the James w/ a look at the Surry Nuclear Power Station

Same spot, a selfie."

Brandon Ball emailed a photo in May: "Love the podcast First podcast I ever listened to, back in 2009. Keep turning them out! And please play Drunken Night in Dublin by The Mahones?

Here’s what I just built while listening to the most recent podcast. Whiskey you’re the devil is playing now. It’s a box for sprouts! Thanks Marc, Great listening,"

Kathy Levin emailed in March 2017, “Hey Marc, Hope all is going well.

You always ask what people are doing while listening to your Celtic Podcast - well I spend many days here at work (WD-40 Company) catching up on back episodes I have not listened to while working.

I use this to drown out the fact I work in an area with some very noisy people. Today I am setting the mood for an Irish Rovers concert we are going to tonight.

On another note:  Would you please send me the link for artists that would like to have their music on the Podcast?  I have a great guy that I met last year at an SCA event and then re-connected with last month who is interested. He is out of Canada and is also on Patreon.

Thanks for the great music!"

  #celticmusic #celtictop20 #irishmusic

Check out this episode!

[lawrenceseitz22]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger https://ift.tt/2THJycx via IFTTT

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o’clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 published first on https://xanthelasmatreatment.com/

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

 Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o’clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on https://xanthelasmatreatment.com/

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o’clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on http://beyondvapepage.blogspot.com

[neliesheppard]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o’clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

[deborahmuro]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it’s a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don’t resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o’clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://jesicasearcy.wordpress.com/feed

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 syndicated from https://xanthelasmatreatment.com/

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 posted first on your-t1-blog-url

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 published first on your-t1-blog-url

[your-clarity-digital]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

  Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227 published first on your-t1-blog-url https://ift.tt/1WMpNvB March 18, 2019 at 09:23PM Semantic Mastery https://ift.tt/2rWKl8L

[lawrenceseitz22]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 227

Click on the video above to watch Episode 227 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: Alright, we are live. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts, Episode 227. I’ve got this beautiful blue shirt on. Oh, look at that as the logo on there. I didn’t notice that.

Anyways, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. We got some really good announcements, as well as diving into the questions. And thank you, first of all for watching. But first, we’re going to take a minute Say hello to the guys and then we’ll dive into it. Chris, you want to kick us off?

Chris: Yeah, good. Super excited to be here. And even more excited that’s Bradley will finally reveal his secret SEO loophole for 2019 at the end of this webinar.

Bradley: I am?

Adam: Wow. Thank you, Bradley. That’s very nice of you.

Bradley: Wow, this is news to me. I better come up with something.

Adam: Let’s get 59 minutes. All right. The clock’s ticking. Hernan. How are you doing man? Are you on live on Facebook right now? What’s going on now?

Hernan: I was trying to upload storage and Instagram but that didn’t work. So if you guys are doing any Facebook ads, raise your hands. And if you are, everything is down. So yeah I’m gonna just, you know go hide somewhere because everything is down. I know the end or something.

But you know, other than that – good, good. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about what’s coming up. Be three again what’s a big successful. I really appreciate all of you guys that go to help support some for the semantic mastery group. So outstanding.

Adam: Marco How you doing man.

Marco: I gotta miss your secret. It has never been easier to rank and make money online than it is right now. Google has so many people convinced that it’s so difficult that people just simply won’t put in the work to do the SEO correctly. And by correctly I don’t mean you know as had SEO doesn’t work for me. I manipulate, manipulated as much as I can. But that’s what they don’t want you to do because they know it works. So that’s a secret what Google is telling you not to do it for a reason. And it usually works really well when you can get around all of the barriers that they put up. But guys and ladies, it has never been any easier. Listen to me and I’ve been at this for more than 15 years now, it has never been easier to make money online and it has never been easier to rank online. Remember that. I said it.

Adam: trademark. Marco 2019. Copyright. Awesome. Bradley. How are you doing man?

Bradley: Good. Happy to be here.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, I like your shirt. You’re looking good. I don’t know.

Bradley: Yeah, it’s a little warm because I wear it often so it’s and it looks like it’s fading a bit but whatever

Adam: … a chamber like shrouded and you know it’s got a little fog around it.

Well, hey, everybody wanted to say again, thanks for checking out Hump Day hangouts. If you’re new and watching us thanks. And we’re normally not quite this weird, although kind of borderline. And we appreciate you watching if you catch the replay, that’s cool too. We love it if you’re watching on YouTube or wherever you’re watching these clips. And if you’re wondering where to get started with semantic mastery, this is the place to be you can come to semantic mastery.com slash HD. Questions every week if you’re early or late because you’ve got a meeting and got a client call or your work whatever it is, you can ask your questions on the page and we answered them in the order they came in. So you can always check out the replay as well but we love having people live case only there’s good reasons to be here some fun stuff some giveaway stuff like that and then after that definitely check out the battle plan we just released version 3. Bradley you shaking your head up should people not get the battle plan?

Bradley: No, I’m just… really sorry.

Adam: I was like, hey what the hell man. Yeah, so grab the battle plan. go to battle plan dot semantic mastery. Com and get started there and make Bradley go like this instead of like that. So that’ll happen if you get the battle plan and we want to make Bradley happy so do it after that join the mastermind if you’re looking for a way to grow or start your local digital marketing agency the mastermind is the place to be on top of everything else you get in there you get a closer access to us to answer questions you can ask stuff Bradley Marco me, Hernan, Chris whatever you need and we’ll get back to you You can find out more about that as long as long as in addition to all the awesome stuff you get at mastermind dot semantic mastery. com and then for everybody if you’re looking for done for you services done to the highest standards go to empty why b dot SEO actually we’ve got a sale going on right now we got a really short term sale we extended a little bit this time there’s a little bit of confusion that we’re working with the new system so you can still save 25% off on our wireless drive stacks and I’m going to put all that information on the page you got 24 hours

Though to take advantage of that, and Marco I think there’s some more stuff coming out pretty quick and there that people are gonna be able to get their hands on.

Perhaps?

Marco: Maybe you’ll know.

Hernan: Where we were saying that there was like four more services being added. That’s pretty cool. Adam: Yeah, we got link building, which I believe will be out by the end of this week. If we push it, hopefully, things get done there. And then the mastermind members, right, Bradley or the mastermind members can get to test something. First. Is that public knowledge? are we keeping quiet on that?

Bradley: Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it. We’re going to, we’re actually going to be launching the Off-page GMB SEO service. So essentially, our team will build all of the off page assets that we teach on the GMB Local Lease Pro method essentially, and we’re going to be obviously launching that to the MasterMind First, we always do and making sure that you know, get the delivery and fulfillment everything worked out well, and then we’ll launch it publicly. So you know, it’ll be several weeks before you guys can see it Mr. In the mastermind, which in that case, it’s very likely that will be available next week.

Adam: Outstanding. Well, we’ll put that stuff on the page for people who are here live, especially. So you can go take advantage of the ROI Sal, grab the Battle Plan or join the mastermind. And while you’re at it, hit up the YouTube channel or if you’re watching the replay, go ahead and click subscribe. And if you come across our clips, we’ve got tons of clips, answering questions, webinars, all sorts of stuff. If you find one that would be helpful to someone, you know if it’s going to solve their problem. If it’s going to help them on the right path, please forward it over to them. You know you don’t gotta tell them to subscribe. We just help them out, help bring them into, you know, let them know about semantic mastery and how we can help them and get them to the hump day hangouts here. We love getting questions from people and helping people out and if we can’t ever answer the question, we’re just going to point you in the right direction. So kind of pay it forward and please share any of the clips of the videos you find helpful with that said, I think That’s about it. Guys. we dive into it?

Bradley: I’m ready. Any objections? Speak or forever hold your peace. Let me grab the screen. Let’s do it. I haven’t grabbed the screen button. Hold on. It’s like, it’s my first time. All right, we’re gonna jump. Not a lot of questions. So you guys better get to ask him. Or we’re going to start singing show tunes and shit. I don’t think you want that. Alright, so Alex is up. I kind of replied to him even six days ago, because it’s funny when we close down the hump day Hangouts. And then like an hour later, we get more questions. I feel obligated to answer them because it’s like, otherwise, you gotta wait. That person’s got to wait seven days. So don’t get in the habit of posting on the, you know, the day of the Hangout after the Hangouts over because I’m not always going to be able to answer them.

How Do You Avoid Misleading Customers And Establish Client Relationship For A Lead Gen Business Model?

Anyways, that said, Alex had a pretty good question guys. And I’m going to kind of run through this it says. Hey guys, I have a brand new lead gen WordPress properties calling it XYZ company. For this example, I have made the mistake to not use a calling center. And the confusion happening eight to 10 times is insane. The contractor has an answering service as well, which of course only says their own name. when the phone rings, the color might ask three to four times is this XYZ company? And they reply No, you made a mistake. We are ABC. The problem is, even if I solve the problem with the calling center, my client, the contractor still has a problem with the confusion that occurs when they arrive at the job site. And they see something different than the website or even when he calls back mentioned this company. And then the question arises, why is it different, etc, playing the game that he is, indeed, XYZ company while he owns another big company in line to his clients is not viable. Yeah, you never ever, ever recommend that you mislead anybody? Or that your client or your service provider, in this case, mislead anybody yet? Why would you encourage you don’t incur it, and that’s what he’s saying. It’s not viable. So that’s not what Alex is doing. But I’m telling everybody else. Don’t ever do that, right. You don’t ever want to try to mislead people or have your comment or ask anybody to mislead people? Which would be your contractor in this case, would you recommend to use their name inside the website as partners just give a hint to who is going to be on the phone? And the contractor calls back and of course, to know who is going to come to the job. And so you can see, I replied and never attempt to mislead the caller asked the call center or contractor to mislead, what you can do is have your call center if you have one answer with ABC, formerly XYZ. So in other words, you can say or another version of that is XYZ is under new management by ABC, or you can say thank you for calling XYZ part of the are part of our use. Excuse me, thank you for calling ABC, which would be the company the actual contractor that’s going to go to the job and say, part of the XYZ marketing group or something like that. Does that make sense? Here’s the thing guys. When I first got started in this business, that is exactly the issue that I started I ran into was I would have my generic branded websites. In Google Maps listings at the time, because I would do both and for example I would always just use the city name plus Tree Service so let’s just use Culpeper tree services and example the listing would show on the website would show called laboratory service but then whatever the company’s name was that would actually go show up at the you know, I would send them to lead information but they would go show up at the house because I never sent the calls directly to the contractor I would have them go to a call center like I learned that really early on and so I always had a call center setup but the call center would answer like Culpeper Tree Service How may I help you they would take the lead information and send it out to the contractor the Tree Service contractor within show up at the job but their truck and their lettering and you know that their shirts everything would have completely different branding and that would cause confusion and I remember contract is calling me and asking me well what do i do and at the time I didn’t really have a good answer but I learned over time you know kind of rather quickly that the best thing to do is just either rebrand the site essentially for them, which you can do if you have a decent relationship with the contractor and and with a Google My Business profile or a maps listing, what you can do is if you’re worried about actually rebranding, renaming it which I wouldn’t be if you have a good relationship but it can cause a bit of a pain in the ass if you decide that you have to replace the contractor with somebody else. But what you can do is actually put that change the logo image to the contractors logo and the profile like the main you know, banner, the main profile, not just the the, the profile image but the, you know, the the header banner, excuse me, which could also be the the image on the GMB website if you’re just using Jambi assets and then on the website itself, I would always rebrand the website for the contractor so that I wouldn’t have to update my NAP essentially but I would still have the contractors information on there but with the current with the call center what I would do is I would end up saying have the call center say you know, this is

Joe’s Tree Service formerly called pepper Tree Service, or part of the call preparatory service marketing group or something like that, right? So that it would be very clear to the color right off the bat.

If the call I would say, Well, I thought it was calling card Tree Service. Oh, yeah. That I would tell the contractor when they’d say, Well, I thought I’d call contractor or treating Cole pepper Tree Service, I would tell the contractors tell him Hey, it’s a marketing website that we use for generating leads and it hadn’t been rebranded to our name yet and that’s that way you’re not misleading anybody they’re telling the truth. And so again, if you’re using a call center or in this case, he says that he should be which I totally agree I’ve said that many, many times. Guys, your best bet is to use a call center period gives you a lot more control it’s a more of an exclusive service that way you know it is a lot of benefits to using a call center but that’s what I do. So for example, I just had to fire a handyman for some assets that I had built for him, but that’s what you know, we would say thank you for calling. Home pros or whatever.

Now. Now under new management by and in the hand, we’ve mentioned the new net, manage the new handy man’s name, excuse me. And so it was very clear to the color that what they call it online was still the correct so from the number that they call it online, they went on I did a search they found a company they call that company and now that companies either under new management or part of a marketing group or something like that, does that make sense? It’s a very simple way to get to make it clear to the caller that they are indeed getting their phone is being answered by the person that’s going to come out and provide them with an estimate or service you know, provide them with the service that makes sense. So that’s essentially what I told him. It’s just to do that if you have a longer term relationship with a particular contractor that is proven or service provider doesn’t have to be a contractor, right, but has proven to be a good partnership, because that’s the way I look at these when I deal with service providers, then I don’t mind even setting up new assets under that brand, I still control them. I don’t give them access to that to it. But I could, I don’t mind setting them up under their brand, it’s going to be my phone numbers, my web assets or everything, so that in the event that it goes south, then I can always go in and update all that stuff.

So I don’t mind actually going in and setting them up branded for the contractor right off the bat. As long as I’ve already established a good relationship, you guys, that’s where it’s critically important guys that to deal with service providers when you’re selling leads that you can build a long term relationship with because you’re going to have a much better business, it’s going to be more stable and you’re going to have a much better time just managing it right? It’ll be easier to manage.

So that’s why I recommend said that over and over and over again. I even said it in the training. If you’re starting out, you’re going to have to establish that relationship first. And this is the workaround until you have established that relationship, once you have established that relationship, and don’t be afraid to rebrand for that particular Service Provider. It just makes everything easier for you to manage going forward as well as you know it will make your content your service provider happier too because it’ll be their name out there on the web and tell them unless they do something stupid and you have to go rebranded again but since you maintain control of the assets that shouldn’t be an issue right? It’s not something you want to do by the way is switch service providers often guys it’s a pain in the ass don’t do that it because it only makes it harder on you so that’s why I said it’s important to try to fight now initially as I said, you might have to sift through you know several pieces of garbage to find a good one and that happens. Like I just mentioned I had to fire a handyman that I built some and assets for because he turned out to be a piece of garbage literally, okay? But it happens from time to time and that’s why I didn’t I had set up his original handyman service provider maps listing under his name but all the other ones that I had set up in, you know, in the adjacent areas were all branded under a generic brand name.

It was for a reason because I said to him I’m not going to brand news for you until we’ve established a good relationship and guess what within six weeks I realized that he was a piece of shit and so I sent I set up his original branded account and didn’t give him access to it I literally shut his branded account down it’s gone like it’s gone. You can’t even pull it up and maps anymore but I kept all the generic ones that I had set up and they were all still under the generic name because he hadn’t proven himself to me yet which was great for me because I didn’t have to go in and try to rebrand them again within six weeks. So that makes sense so again guys there’s there are ways to deal with this and that’s a great way and that’s part of the reason why I prefer using a call center there’s just a number of benefits for using a got a call center guys, all right? I was a good question though Alex.

Is BulkVPA.com Still A Viable Source As PVA Account Creator In 2019?

Robert says, is Bulkvpa.com still a viable source from PVA accounts? You know, I’ve told you this can because I know you asked this in Syndication Academy, I think. It is Facebook group and I answered you there but I’ll answer it for everybody else’s benefit I’ve had mixed results the last couple times I’ve purchased accounts from them as well as any provider for that matter we are it’s it’s hard to find good email accounts now because they if they’re not set up properly then they will get triggered or flagged very easily no matter what you do with them and that’s one of the issues we’ve run into we’ve talked about you know internally we’ve talked about providing that as a service ourselves because we have VA that actually create the accounts manually in phone verify them and all that for like syndication networks for example, but it’s, it’s it really is kind of a pain in the ass and it would be hard to be profitable especially if people are ordering a ton of accounts. And that’s not something that we want to focus on. So that’s, you know, we’re having the same trouble is like when I’ve got when I need a set of accounts, it’s difficult for me to get them as well so you’re not alone in that can I would say use it your own risk.

You know, I can’t speak for them except that I have had mixed results with every provider that I’ve tried in the last, you know, several months. It’s been like that for months actually. So, anybody wants to comment on any of these?

Okay, I’m going to keep moving then.

How Does Google View MyMaps For Service Businesses?

Okay. So cannot says up again. He says, If I’m creating a service based GMB where they only go to the customer know the store. Does it still make sense to create my maps? How does Google view my maps for service businesses? Example, If I’m a plumber, plumber, Excuse me, could I create a My Maps going from my business to a customer’s address?

Yeah, you can. But here’s the thing. If it’s a service area business and you don’t have a storefront then you’re not going to you don’t in your GMB for example, you’re not displaying your physical location which you shouldn’t be for a service area business that’s against Google’s Terms of Service for that and fewer people also come to the business.

Pardon me, guys. I have to stand for a minute. I need to make that shift before I get on Hump Day Hangouts. Right, let me grab the screen again.

So can As I was saying, what you do is just grabbed the city center. So type in the name of the IRS, the city that your zip code or whatever that your businesses listed in, like the physical location. And then you actually just create those driving directions from the city center to the areas that you want to target, for example, and again, that’s something that like, you know, you can do that for creating geo posts and that kind of stuff for Jambi or, excuse me, surface area businesses, right, so you don’t want to reveal especially if you’re using a spam the maps listing, you don’t want to use the actual physical address, so you don’t want to cause that as the starting point or, or publish that as the starting point for my map. What you do is just wherever that physical location is of that map listing, you take that zip code, just enter it into Google, it’ll give you the map pin is what it deems City Center, right? And so you just grab that coordinate and start it from there. That’s what you would drive you, you’d have driving directions from that point out to the target area that you want to optimize for. Does that make sense?

So there is a benefit to that. I’ve actually used that method to get maps listings that have pigeon filters applied lifted, so it's a good strategy when it keeps moving.

Should You Use A Legitimate Associated Account Or Use A Separate Persona Account For The RYS Drive Stack?

JOHN says, I have a legitimate GMB for my own, but I’m sorry, somebody’s gonna jump in. Okay. Third somebody. I have a legitimate GMB business for my own business, if I got an RYS Drive Stack should it be built on the legitimate associated Google account or separate persona account? I answered you just a few moments ago, John, we will build it on the persona account because we will never ask you for access to your Google account. There are many reasons why we won’t do that. So we will build it under a persona based account. But once we deliver it to you, you can always transfer ownership to whatever Google account you want. Okay?

Adam: Wouldn’t even transfer ownership, I would not just make it a manager, make your legitimate GMB and whatever Gmail account you using for that going, it’s all explained in the email that you get with your arm is drive stack. Yeah, it’s all in there. What you need to do with this with the account at all, as the owner, you never go back in there, again, as the owner, but as the manager, and then you could do whatever you want as the manager or you go as a manager, or like for drive stack. Specifically, just proper editing permissions, right? You would keep the persona count as the owner of the documents, the folders and files and such. Yep. But you would add to your main business account. As you know, with editing permissions,

  Best Practices When Rebranding A GMB Site And How To Prevent Losing Rankings

Bradley: Alex says what should anyone be aware of when rebranding a site? How can you prevent losing rankings? Well don’t I mean again it here’s the thing if you’re just rebranding the images so if it’s if you’re saying a site so I’m not sure if you mean again. Or if you mean a website, if it’s a website, it shouldn’t hurt anything. If you’re just changing the branding on it.

Typically I build the websites for, you know, keyword optimized, not brand optimized, right? Obviously branding as a component of it. But it’s more about keyword optimization. When it comes to a GMB. Be, like I said, if you’re worried about I don’t build citations, guys, until four GMB sites listings locations until I have a security service provider in place like and when I say secure, I mean one that I’m going to I expect to have a long term relationship with I don’t build citations for those until then, because that’s part of the problem. If you build a bunch of citations under a generic brand, and then you have and then you do rebrand it for a service provider. Now you’ve got NAP consistencies, so I don’t do that I use all the other off page method on page and off page methods that I can to get results first find a service provider then once I’ve established a good relationship, then I will rebrand, and that at that point potentially start building citations.

But if you’ve already got results, why do I need to build citations that make sense? Now again, I’ve got certain service providers that I have Legion relationship with or engagement with, I can say that I go out and build the assets under their brand right off the bat, and I’ll build citations to them. Because some of these guys I’ve had relationships with for years, they’re not going anywhere. So there’s really no reason for me not to just build them for them immediately branded for them and start building citations right off the bat. And that’s why I’m telling you guys it’s better to build that type of relationship if you can, there are good contractor I say, contractors, but service providers, you know, I do mainly with contractors, there are good ones out there, you have to sort of sift through several of them to find them, but there are good ones out there that will understand the relationship that you’re presenting to them like the offer, right and those are the those are the best ones because then once you have somebody that says that they want to continue to get more leads from more areas, then it makes it a lot easier to build your lead gen business because you can build the assets under their brand right off the bat. Okay? Now again, doesn’t mean it can’t go south at some point in the future, and it can cause a bit of a nightmare if you’ve got a bunch of citations out there. But, you know, that’s part of the business guys it is.

So number two, when creating mass page sites, as far as rebranding, like I said, if you’ve got stuff that is ranking really well then I would just change images in such on the site. You don’t have to go in and change title tags and things like that. And I mean, you can change the title tag for the business name if you want but I typically am optimized for keywords anyways, right? So you can go in and add images that have the company that you’re promoting. I have there don’t put their phone numbers in the image guys, obviously, but you can put their logos banners that display their name, that kind of stuff, right? People aren’t going to, well, maybe some people but very rarely are people going to go to a site that’s branded for the company that you’re promoting right that you’re sending leads to that has the company’s logo on the site that has the banner that talks about the company’s name and they’re going to go to another browser tab and it goes search the company and call the company direct it’s very rare that people are going to do that because people are typically they just want to call to get this you know a quote or service or whatever right?

Is Creating 300-500 Mass-Page Sites With Similar Content Considered Spam?

So that’s when creating mass page sites and the initial content is unique but copy 300 times with the change the suburbs is considered spam of, absolutely that spam there’s no question that spams. How can you do it safely? Well, I mean, you really can’t I mean, you can get away with it, but it’s spam. I’m just aware of that. You know, we all do it tell me like I don’t do mass page sites anymore. I did years ago, but that’s a churn and burn strategy. I always expected them to get slapped. And most often more often than not, they did and so I didn’t like that because there’s a lot of work that you’d have to set up and then you know, I don’t like rework I like trying to build long term and assets.

And so again, I mean, it is spam though, just make no mistake can be Let’s be really clear about that. How can you do it safely? Well, you really there are things that you can do. I’m not going to be able to give you the best advice on that because I don’t like doing those type kind of sites. I would consider. You know, again, there are other people out there other groups that do a ton of that kind of stuff. Mass page stuff that can give you much better advice than I can. Does anybody want to comment on that?

Hernan: No, I just had an off topic report steals Facebook is down.

Bradley: Okay. Well, thanks for that update, Hernan.

Would You Get A Penalty When Indexing Mass Pages From Google Search Console?

That last part of that is when indexing so many pages from Search Console, is it dangerous to get slapped? Yeah, I mean, yes, but again, what I found like years ago when I was doing stuff for with lead gadget and what they called the ATM that was like this industrial strength mass page builder. It was odd but it was crazy like we would let you know we would build a site with 30,000 pages a WordPress site with 30,000 pages, we would add maybe, let’s say, six tags per page, which would then create 180,000 tag pages. So the site would be 210,000 pages, right? Or because we would create 30,000 thousand posts, essentially, that would have six tags per post. So again, think about that guy at 210,000 pages. And what was interesting was, and again, very similar to what you’re talking about like I would use spam content anyways, even though sometimes they said not to I would still use spam content. But what was interesting was the tag pages would index like crazy and you’d end up checking like a lot of the posts the original post wouldn’t index but the tag pages would index and it was crazy to watch a site go from, you know, a couple of hundred pages index to a few thousand to a few to several, you know, 10s of thousands and then well into the hundred thousand mark and it was crazy to see that because they were essentially spammed sites but it’s almost as if those big types of sites played like within different rules like they haven’t for. I’m not sure why that was. But they seemed to index anyways. And I mean to for a period of time, I don’t know any more guys, because I haven’t done any of that stuff. And at least two years now, but back when I was doing it, it was crazy to watch how many of those pages would index it was just, it was nuts. But again, if you’re if you if a lot of times we would recommend not and I’m prefacing all this with I haven’t done this in two years, at least. But I tested adding into Search Console, and I found that it wasn’t necessary to do so you could add like a sitemap. That’s all I would do if you’re going to do it was at a site map, you know, you first have to verify the site, but then you can just add the site maps. But again, that’s you’re giving direct access to Google at that point to a spam site. So I’m not sure that I’d want to do that. And if you were going to do that, then I would recommend that you only do it through persona based Google accounts, like additional Google accounts that you set up, certainly not through your own main account or any account that you have that you that has any value. Does that make sense?

What Are Your Thoughts On Easy Local Cash (ELC) Software 3.5?

All right. I’m gonna keep moving. Alina. I see you’re asking the same question that many other people have asked and I got it guys. I’ve just got to be real clear about this. This is not our software. It never was Chad Kimball’s Easy Local Cash (ELC) software. It’s awesome that we’ve been able to use it for six months. It’s free software. You know, again, it’s not our software. We don’t support it. We cannot support it. It’s his software. And I can understand why he has changed it. And I know what you’re saying. I pulled it up today to verify it. This is the easy local cache software guys that we’ve been using for six months. And he says important, this version of the easy local cache software has been discontinued and is no longer returning accurate results. Look guys I understand why he’s done this. He wants to push people into his email list so that he can market his maps products to you. I get it guys it makes perfect sense. It wasn’t our software, to begin with. Okay, so you. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you right now we don’t have a solution for that. It’s might be something that we can develop. We don’t have it on the books to develop at the moment. So it says email here for more information about the newest version of the software. I know when you click that button, all it does is it opens up your email service provider and it goes directly to this email address and if you’ve emailed him and he hasn’t replied I’m not sure what else to tell you, unfortunately.

Hernan: Now, unfortunately, that that’s like standard practice not to answer that email because I know quite a few people that have sent in they’ve used the recommendation email here and it’s probably a catch-all Yeah, and it does it doesn’t get a response. So if he wanted people in his email list and people are going into his email list, he should have had an autoresponder at the very least so the lesson to learn here guys set up your email marketing correctly or else you’re going to lose a whole lot of people from your email list to start with.

Bradley: Yeah, and so In the meantime, unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for it has anybody can I have not been running this software recently, guys? Because honestly, I’ve been working on more on the monetization part of it, the prospecting process, and all that to monetize existing assets. And not only that, but I haven’t been buying and securing new assets recently because we’ve still got a lot that we’re working on that have already been secured. So I haven’t tested it to see is it really not returning good results, or is that just a bogus warning message? I don’t know. Maybe somebody can confirm. I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve run this software period. So again, I’m not trying Alina I just have to be very clear. It was never our software, to begin with. We cannot support the software it’s not ours. It’s not our right or even our responsibility to support it. it was great that we got to use it for six months as we did for free. You know, I knew at some point that he was if Chad was smart, and he’s a smart dude. That uh. That he should have put it behind some sort of you know like a membership area or something like that but he offered it is for free as a lead gen tool like for to build his own email list because originally and that’s why every time I shared the link to the software it was always to the landing page where he prompted you to opt in because I wanted that like I wouldn’t just share the software download link and that’s why I didn’t it would none of the courses that I share the direct software download link because you know that’s that I’ve been on unethical of us to do that right. I made it perfectly clear that you should opt in to Chad Kimball’s list if you’re going to use this software and so again I completely understand why he’s done this there’s no loss you know I don't resent him for that was my point it kind of sucks right now because we don’t have a solution but you know maybe we’ll come up with one it’s just not going to be today or tomorrow I can tell you that. Sorry to tell you that by the way.

Should You Use Spaces Or Underscores When Optimizing Images?

Mobile local business says image optimization and video to use underscore or hyphen to separate keywords and titles on the images saved. And in the background optimization, optimization and image details should underscore hyphens be used or at all, or just spaces between words in regards to SEO. I’ve always just use spaces. I don’t know if there’s really any difference between any of that now, because, you know, almost all web browsers and, and everything understands spaces. I remember years ago, a lot of times, you’d want to use hyphens and stuff like that, but I mean, we’re in 2019. Now. I don’t think that matters at all. Marco, do you have any definitive answer for that?

Marco: Not enough for that because I just don’t bother.

Bradley: You just put spaces?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I do. I mean, I don’t know because most of the stuff I don’t, I don’t really do anymore. I just have I just tell people this is what you need to do, right? I tell people that I have working for me, this is what you need to do. So I don’t tell them how to add the title to the image or how to upload it because to me, that’s why I said doesn’t make a difference because whatever they’re doing well. Whatever we’ve set up to do works. And so why bother going into that granular? Right. Hyphens or underscores, or spaces, I haven’t seen any difference. So until I do, or until I, we test it, I can’t really say, I do know that just doing spaces works, because that’s what all of our people do.

Bradley: Yeah, so that’s interesting. I, you know, just to be clear, like I said, I’ve always just you spaces in my team, I do know what my team does because I’ve given them the instructions and they just follow my lead. And that’s always to just use spaces and I’ve never had any issues with that. So yeah, I don’t think it makes a difference. Remember, it’s like I said, it’s 2019. I don’t think that makes any difference whatsoever. Now, I could be wrong now.

However, let’s see. That was something else. Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t think that makes a difference because I know that you could, you could run all the words together and Google can still understand it like in other words, if it’s, you know, a forward keyword phrase, if you run them all together, Google still recognizes what that keyword phrases, right? It’s not like jibberish at that point, Google can still recognize it. That’s part of the reason, exact match domains could get you in trouble, guys, if you got an exact match domain with no hyphens, which, you know, hyphens look spammy a shit and domains anyway. So most people would never use hyphens as part of an exact match domain. But Google still understood with that keyword that exact that match domain was an exact match keyword, Google knows that that’s part of the reason why the threshold for triggering a spam filter or penalty filter essentially is lower with exact match domains, because you’re coming right out of the gate with an exact match keyword is your domain name. So you’re telling Google I’m an SEO you know what I mean? And again, those were typically I’ll just run together.

I’m just thinking about this a little bit more with Elena and because I see the next question coming up. Robert, I’ll get to you in just a moment. But Jason had a very similar question guys, Tree Pat, our developer for the GMB auto poster and the briefcase. I’m not sure if autoposter has it or the post to scheduler but the briefcase has a Google My Business Rank Tracker. It’s part of the briefcase service. So if you have a briefcase subscription, I think it Rank Tracker is part of every subscription level, correct me if I’m wrong, anybody, but he actually sent me a video in slack and the channel that we communicate in to check out he sent it to me yesterday, and I looked at it today. And he was asking using, he was showing me how he’s using the Rank Tracker for a potential prospecting strategy. Because the Rank Tracker shows the way it works is you can set up within the Rank Tracker in the GMB briefcase I don’t have it open guys to show you maybe I’ll I’ll do a tutorial on it next week. If I investigate this a little bit further or and guys, if I investigate this a little bit further and come up with a solution.

Through the GMB briefcase that will be able to provide us with accurate details so that we can still do location research to substitute for Easy Local Cash software. If I find out that that works, then I’ll record a training a short training video about it, and I’ll post it and all of our groups. So you guys have that even before next week. But I’ll probably covered again, next week on Hump Day hangouts too. But what I’m saying is within the GMB briefcase, you can go in and set your keyword and your location and then you can set up a grid to for service area businesses, especially that’s either a three by three grid or a five by five grid. So if it’s a three by three grid, it will show nine points on the map that and I think you can set the radius of so like the distance the surface area radius, essentially of the grid as well. And so if you set like, let’s say, a 10 mile radius, and you’ve got the nine the three by three grid, which would be nine points, it would be nine points spread out in a square. Around a 10 mile radius with your the location that you set right in the middle. And what it does is it will go out. And again, you put your keyword and in the location, and then if you set that it will go out and show the grid. And then we’ll show how many listings are ranked and, or whatever, like through the API. I think for each one of those map pins in the grid, it will show like Matt pins and will show a number. And so that’s one way that if you do five by five, it’s 25 points right at 25 point map. So there’s 25 pins, and so it’s a lot more accurate or granular, I should say. So he was actually showing me a strategy. He was asking my opinion about using the GMB briefcase Rank Tracker tool as a prospecting strategy for outreach to potential clients to show where there is an opportunity or where there’s deficiencies in their own marketing and things like that and using the tool as the data driver, right. And so that’s something that I’ll look into a little bit because I think It was interesting because I asked him specifically like, this is pretty cool. But what is your strategy? Is it for prospecting? He replied, Yes. Now, we haven’t chatted since then, because it was just today that this happened. However, there may be an option. I’ll dig into this to be able to use the GMB briefcase as a substitute for easy local cache. And if that’s the case, that’s even better. Because we do support that tool. We can endorse that one and you guys are already on our list, so you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You would have to have a briefcase account though, so that’s something we’ll look in guys. Can somebody remind me of that? If you don’t mind and maybe Marco? You can, you can look at it as well.

Do You Still Recommend Including NAP In GMB Posts Frequently?

Alright, we’re going to keep moving it. Robert says. Hey, do you guys do recommend including NAP and GMB posts? frequently, not if it’s a service area business? You can do this though, and I replied to you earlier, Robert, who’s also a mastermind member, I recommend if it’s service area business, you can put name city state zip don’t put the street address if it’s a service area business and you’re not displaying a street address in your maps listing. Don’t display it or don’t post it as part of your GMB post either and you don’t have to do that every time guys either you can do it you know very it up varied up so that you know sometimes they do have it sometimes they don’t okay ship I didn’t mean to do that.

Okay. Going to keep on moving. Jason says this the same question we already answered. Kelvin says I got the battle plan. It’s organized well, but now it leaves me with more advanced questions.

What Is The Fastest And Cheapest Way To Boost A GMB Listing?

What would you say is the fastest and cheapest way to get a listing boosted as a way to get your foot in the door with clients citations is not citations. I’ll tell you that citations take a while to really start taking effect because citations typically take a long time to index citations is more of a longer-term strategy guys, it’s not something that again all Legion assets that I set up now I don’t even start publishing citations until I’ve got a service provider in place. And I’ve established a good relationship that I expect or assume is going to be long term.

So citations are not even something that I do anymore. A standard operating procedure unless it’s for a client already, or something that I’m setting up branded right off the bat, which could be maps expansion for a client or for an already existing lead gen service provider that I have a good relationship with that make sense?

Citations are great for long term strategy, but it’s not something I do. It’s not something that’s going to push it maps listing anytime soon, okay, post Yes, Jambi posts, obviously, that’s the local GMB pro method. Right off the bat, their post is a great way to start getting traction guys, it’s not necessarily to rank the maps listing is it is to get leads from the listing because it’s a mobile device thing. It doesn’t necessarily equate to more better rankings. It can and will over time, but you can get leads from posting properly without even pushing the rankings. That’s exactly what the local GMB pro method is all about. Okay, so post absolutely, that should be standard operating procedure right off the bat. Like as soon as you come out of the gate clicks to the GMB Yeah, click through is absolutely important. Guys, if you can manipulate that, and there’s ways to do it, you can, you know, you can try automation, although a lot of the times, that doesn’t work very well.

Also, I’ve talked about this many times, but you can use Google you can use ads traffic paid traffic to, to get traffic to you, like, legitimate real traffic to the listing. And that is weighted extremely heavily and there’s ways to do it. We did a training on it for YouTube, how to do it with YouTube ads, that was an order pump on the battle plan. So if you didn’t get it, and you still want it, I don’t know if we can make that available. But that’s one of the ways that you can actually use YouTube ads to drive traffic directly to a GMB listing.

And that is heavily weighted traffic because Google knows who those users are. It knows that there if you can find an end market audience that they’re in the market for those services and you can set your geographic targeting so that it’s only local people actually clicking through their Genuine Google users with a valid interest in what you have to offer. So it’s not just about manipulating the rankings by sending traffic targeted traffic. It’s also about potentially generating leads. And I’m saying YouTube guys because you could use AdWords. google ads, like search traffic. But that’s damned expensive. YouTube ads is incredibly inexpensive. I mean, literally, it’s pennies per view on the video. And if you have your targeting, right, and a compelling message in the video, you can get clicks for 10s of sense, right? Because remember, you might take you six or eight or 10 clicks, or 15 clicks, or excuse me views eight or 10 or 15 views to get one clip. And if you’re paying five or six cents per view, and it takes you 1212 views to get one click, that’s 60 cents per click. That still has a lot better than paying six bucks per click, or 16 or 26 or 30. You see what I’m saying. So my point is a YouTube ad is a great way to drive traffic. Also, guys display ads.

Google display ads, the display ad platform is so much better than it used to be. It’s so much easier to set up a display ad campaign now, because all you have to do is have images and lines of text. And you can set up a display ad campaign and get clicks. I start off for contractors, guys, I’ll set up display campaigns for 100, or excuse me, $1.50 per click is my max cost per click bit, right. And then once I get some data that comes in, typically they run somewhere between and for most contractors. Again, I deal almost exclusively with contractors, but the average cost per click usually run somewhere between 85 cents to $1.15.

So what I do is I always start off the campaigns at $1.50 max cost per click bid. Then once I have some data coming into the account, then I’ll go in and start manually adjusting the max cost per click bid down to what around the threshold of what the average cost per click data shows me. And then once I have some more data come in, I actually do encourage using Google’s automated bidding strategies and Google will tell you right

In the ads platform of give you recommendations two years ago, I would have said you’re nuts if you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, because they’ll, they’ll burn through your money. I’m a believer now. The Google I every time I go in not every time but what I’ll do is I’ll go in and implement one of Google’s recommendations to an automated bidding strategy could be maximum conversions target CPA, there’s, there’s several of them, I’ll let you will make the recommendation it takes I always manage the campaign manually to begin with until there’s enough data in there. And then I will start using or start implementing or applying some of Google’s recommendations which are typically automated bidding strategies and then I’ll make a note of when I applied that particular recommendation. And then I’ll go back in and a week or two weeks depending on the traffic volume and see what you know, compare what the results were from my manual campaign management versus the automated campaign management and if Google’s is better, I leave it implemented right? If it’s if my campaign management was better, more cost-effective, then I will switch it back to manual CPC or manual management, excuse me to make sense.

And again, guys, Google Display Network is a fantastic way to get targeted geo-targeted traffic from people that are from a relevant audience to click through to your assets which can be a GMB, guys. You can put a GMB business site URL in there so it makes sense or even a map URL so again if you if you want more training on that we had it was part of an order bump I don’t know if it’s still available but that was part one of that was the I think was called the Google Ads mastery or some shit like that as part of the battle plan funnel.

So, as far as on-page SEO, well, you want to do that anyways, but one also one of the best things Kelvin is press releases. It’s not as easy with press releases as it was a year and a half ago, like a year and a half ago I could get within oftentimes within to press releases, I could push a map list into the three pack. It seems that as with everything in SEO, once it’s been the cat is out of the bag and it’s been done enough or by enough people, it starts to become less effective. I’m not saying press releases are not effective for pushing maps assets into the three pack they are but it requires a little bit more persistence more of them. Pr stalking really helps. And also if you can diversify your distribution networks. So in other words, don’t use the same distribution network 18 times right. Like it does help if you have some diversity.

Okay. And then like we teach and local PR pro about PR stalking, there’s a very specific way it’s random, but in a specific way that you can get better results from your press releases. And that’s taught in local PR pro. But I think press releases on page, you name several of them posts, which should be standard operating procedure clicks to GMA yeah I don’t recommend trying automated strategies guys, you know, you can, you can play with that if you want.

But I’m telling you guys, you could for an very inexpensively you can buy traffic from YouTube for a little bit more money, you can buy traffic from the display network and it’s in Google knows that audience guys, it knows who those people are, it knows that they have an interest in what you’re sending them to, right, because you set all that up and you’re targeting. So that is heavily weighted traffic. If you send spam traffic or automated traffic or non relevant traffic, it can give you a boost. But what might take you know, 300 clicks through from non relevant traffic might only take 30 click through from relevant traffic to achieve the same results. Right. And the point with relevant traffic is that traffic has a very good chance or at least is likely to actually convert into a lead anyways, because it’s relevant traffic to begin with, whereas non relevant traffic is strictly an SEO tactic. Make sense, so hopefully, that was helpful. Let’s keep moving.

How Do You Improve The Security Of A WordPress Site Aside From Changing Password And Two-Factor Authentication?

Ted says WordPress question clients that is creating spammy blog posts client site is creating I change the password set up 2FA what is 2FA not sure what that means and reinstalled the core WordPress via the admin dashboard but it’s still happening what steps would you take action? better hosting sounds act yeah does it sounds like it’s hacked. If the hackers in your actual server which it sounds like likely is or they are likely in your server I’ve had that happen in the past it doesn’t matter how many times you delete the site and reinstall it like if the they can they can take over it. So I would actually highly recommend switching to a better host if you’re especially if you’re on a budget host guys, you know, don’t try to save money on hosting. We’ve said that for years because shitty hosting will make it hard to rank sites anyways.

Like I’m not kidding because you’re associated with like bad neighborhood guilty. You’re guilty by association. Like if you’re if you’re IP or your WordPress site or your whether it’s WordPress or not, doesn’t really matter. But if your site is hosted in a bad neighborhood, so means it’s surrounded by a bunch of other shitty spammy sites, it’s going to make it very difficult. That’s one of the ranking factors. There’s no question and for these kinds of issues, also, if you’re on a budget host guys, I recommend that you do something like install something like uptime robot or something like that, so that you can see how often on shitty hosts your site is down. And that’s a terrible ranking signal. You might not even know it because you’re not probably in the site all the time. But a lot of times on those budget host because it’s shared bandwidth and they way overload IPS. They put way too many sites on a single IP. What happens is if if any site out there is getting a surge in traffic or is getting, you know, spam bot, like a surgeon bought traffic and things like that it will actually slow down all of the other sites and oftentimes knock them offline that are also hosted on that same IP. And so if you put enough time robot on an inexpensive hosts on a site that’s hosted on an inexpensive host, you’ll see that your site is going to be down often. And that’s a terrible ranking signal.

So spend a little bit of money, get a better host highly recommend, especially if you’re doing client work, guys, you know, pass that cost off on to the client. In fact, you can actually make hosting a profit center for you, if you go out and get your own VPN or, you know, like, for example, what we always recommend liquid web liquid web is fantastic. You can go out and get cloud hosting or virtual private server hosting. And you can set it up to where you can host multiple sites through your hosting service and in charge your clients what they would be paying to host on, you know, hosting companies for their own hosting account, you just become the host to them, then essentially, you’re reselling your hosting service to them. And so that can become a profit center right. Let’s say you got 10 clients and you go you sell them. You tell them it’s $20 a month for hosting or if you pay month by month or $15 per month.

If you pay annually and you collect $180 per year per client, that’s 1800 dollars on 10 clients, guys, it doesn’t cost you 1800 dollars for a good server and liquid web for the year for only host 10 sites. I mean that when you get what I’m saying, so now you turn that into a profit center and you can assure your client that you have well secured server that also has fantastic support. Liquid webs got fantastic support. So hopefully that makes sense. Where is this question that I’m missing? That’s probably old. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to keep moving.

Alright, guys, we’re almost out of time and go through just a few more, and we’ll be done two factor authentication. Thanks. Well, appreciate that. It would be great if you could offer PBS. Yes, God I know we’ve talked about I don’t think it’s going to be something that we’re going to do though honestly, it’s it’s a lot of work and it wouldn’t make us very much money and it’d be tough to manage and plus, we’d have to deal with support issues obviously when counts got shut down, which will invariably going to happen. So it’s not something I think that we want to do I understand your pain trust me I do. But I’m not sure that we’re going to do that if we do we’ll certainly announce it commonly says asking a second question because the questions here look like. Yeah. I’m curious as to why today such a slow day. That’s okay. We only got five minutes left anyway. So we appreciate the additional question.

How Important Is On Page SEO For Client GMB Rankings Compared To Backlinking Strategies?

Kelvin, he says how important is on page SEO for client GMB rankings? Compared to back linking strategy? What comes first on page always do on page first I mean, here’s the thing right now with with Google just being tight about stuff trying to prevent us from doing stuff. And that’s exactly why because, you know, the the world the SEO world has been spamming GMB’s been for the last six months pretty heavily. It’s not just us, but there’s certainly a lot of that going around. So I would recommend like if it’s an established company that has had a GSB for a period of time I wouldn’t worry about it because I haven’t had any issues with that whatsoever, but if it’s a brand new GMB listing, I would recommend that you do on page stuff and stages slowly, instead of going in in one fell swoop and optimizing everything, like from top to bottom, you know what I mean? Which is what we taught because it was working really well. But what I’m saying is for new, if it’s a brand new Jambi listing, I would recommend that you go in and just do you know, one thing at a time and give it a day or two in between significant on page changes or edits, okay, only because, like I said, also, you would probably want to log in through a manager account, not the primary owner account to do that.

if you are established, you know, agency like you know, if you provide Client Services, and you typically are a manager to multiple other clients, then use your your main Google account if that’s how you access other people’s GMB is through through a manager account. If it’s you your profile like it is with me. I’ve got to my main account which is you know my own personal name, essentially. And then I have my G sweet account that is for my company, my agency. And so I typically have my clients add both names as managers to their GM bees so that I can depending on which account I’m logged into, I can still access and make edits and changes and such. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. So it’s not it’s not odd, or it doesn’t look suspicious for me to have access to clients accounts and make changes because it’s, you know, Google I’m sure understands what I do you know what I mean, so that that’s completely normal. But what’s not normal is to login through a primary owner account for a new listing and make an optimized soup to nuts like top to bottom, you know what I mean that that could potentially cause a suspension right now, if it’s an established company, though, like in other words, that the GMB has been published online for a period of time the company has authority as you know, as a validated entity and the real business world then I wouldn’t I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still access through a manager account because I don’t I don’t like to log into my client accounts anyways. So I would still recommend that you go through a manager account and then make the changes but again depends on the length but GMB on page stuff is certainly important. Guys, anything that you can do on page is going to make your off page efforts more effective, right, or you’ll get better results with less off page work. That’s kind of the point. So that’s always we’ve always recommend starting with on page stuff.

By the way, if your if your client does have a main website that is attached as the primary website for the GMB guys on page SEO for the clients website is critically important and there’s no better course out there for on page SEO then Jeffrey Smith SEO boot camp which we should probably drop a link for that because if you try to buy it on his public link, it’s going to cost you $1,000 if you buy it from us will cost you 500 and it is hands down the best on page SEO course I’ve ever seen Jeffrey Smith ranks websites guys like with zero backlinks like he outranks authority sites was your backlinks because of the way that he creates on the way he does on page SEO. It’s absolutely incredible. Never seen anybody better in the business. That is the truth.

So anyways, we’re about out of time. Yeah, that code is working now, by the way, guys, thanks again for that grant says when I tried the briefcase right track or in the past, I didn’t see where competitors optimization information would be collected, such as, yeah, that might be an update grant. Again, I just had tree pad just sent me the video yesterday and said, What do you think about this, I, you know, I appreciate your input. And he was showing me what he was using as a potential prospecting strategy. And it did have a lot of additional stuff that wasn’t there a couple of months ago, when I started testing it. Remember grant we were in we’re in the beta, the beta testers, slack group. So a lot of these features are still being developed out. So it might be that it’s just a, you know, new new data and that’s why he sent it to me to ask me my opinion on it. So again, I will look into that a little bit further Guys, if it’s something that we can use as a buck.

Even if it’s not able to do what we want it to do for location research yet that’s something we can certainly request to have done and I’m sure it’s repaired can work that out for us so again guys just give us a little bit of time we’ll try to work out a solution for that I’m sure right SEO. But look at Adam on the draw. Alright guys we’re gonna wrap it up five o'clock.

Thanks everybody for being here we don’t have a mastermind webinar this week so I guess we’ll just see you all next week any parting questions or words guys bye everyone yeah Have a good day have a yeah I lost my train of thought so Have an awesome day alright guys see everybody later thanks for being here.

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