Ask Amanda About Marketing

Too often in the world of content marketing, there is no real plan in place for measuring performance. That's why a thoughtful content measurement plan is absolutely crucial. I had a great time talking with digital marketing lead Azeem Ahmad, also known as Azeem Digital, about his step-by-step process for creating and executing a successful measurement plan that drives results. Azeem explains how to set up an infrastructure for measurement and much more. 

What is humantic content? Think of it this way: when it comes to content and its value, context still reigns supreme. And at the end of the day, humans understand content better than AI. Grant Simmons, VP of Performance Marketing at Homes.com, part of the CoStar Group, joins the show to talk all things humantic content. Grant breaks down how this type of content satisfies both users and search engines, how to create content that prioritizes context over keyword density, and much more. 

Whether you're a nonprofit, for-profit, civic organization, or any type of organization, storytelling is an important part of garnering brand awareness and creating an effective marketing campaign.  I had a great time chatting with Tonya McKenzie, Los Angeles County Commissioner and PR & Leadership Consultant, about all things storytelling. In this episode, Tonya breaks down the importance of telling a brand's story, how to work with organizations to do it in an impactful way, and much more. 

Getting your content to rank faster might seem difficult, but all it really takes is a little extra effort and work beyond the usual keyword research and optimization.  Patrick Stox, product adviser, technical SEO, and brand ambassador for Ahrefs, joins me to talk all things ranking—and ranking quickly. In this episode, Patrick talks about the tools you can use for more advanced keyword research, utilizing expert insight for more authoritative content, and much more. 

The truth about marketing is that not every target market is in the same place at the same time, and every customer journey is different.  It was wonderful talking to the great Carmen Ballock-Bunt, marketing operations analyst with Blue Shield of California, about why these truths emphasize the importance of strategizing your marketing mix, where to begin when building a strategy, and so much more. 

Link building is a process that requires quality content, and having content that build links naturally takes plenty of research and trial and error.  I had a great time chatting with digital PR specialist Monique Quarles, of Wiideman Consulting Group, about all things organic link building. Monique breaks down ways to create content that's optimized for building links naturally, explains how to know what format works best for your content, and much more. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about a customer journey is that every journey is linear. In reality, there are often hundreds of interactions happening along the way. The wonderful Kevin Indig, director of SEO at Shopify, breaks down the concept of search journeys and why they're so important for optimizing content, how to use search journeys to anticipate a user's next step after consuming your content, how to improve your keyword research for search journeys, and much more. 

Making your content, and content marketing, accessible to everyone is one of the most important things you can do for reaching the widest audience possible.  I had a great time chatting with social media manager and accessibility advocate Alexa Heinrich about the many ways you can make your content more accessible. In this episode, Alexa breaks down ways you can identify where to improve accessibility, the importance of color contrast for people who are visually impaired, and so much more. 

The process of spiral thinking is a way of coming up with executable ideas by "spiraling up" into a more positive and optimistic mentality when ideating.  The wonderful Dave Goodman, CEO of the MindShare Network and former Vice President and Executive Producer of Walt Disney Entertainment, explains this invaluable approach to creative thinking, how to apply it to projects and content, designing ideas through small steps, and more. 

Content creation isn't an exact science, and sometimes things fail. That can be a tough pill to swallow, but there are ways to avoid some common mistakes to help get the results you want. It was a blast talking to the wonderful Mark Porter, of Screaming Frog, about some of the most common mistakes in content, how to prevent these mistakes from happening, how to ensure that your content is relevant, and much more. 

To understand why your content might not be ranking from a technical SEO perspective, it's important to understand the process of rendering and how it impacts content. It was wonderful chatting with Jamie Alberico, aka Jamie Indigo, about all things rendering. She explains the process of rendering, the differences between client side rendering and server side rendering, how to determine what is correctly rendering, and much more.

Prioritizing a mobile experience for your content is just as important as it is to optimize content for desktop—especially depending on what type of content your produce. It was wonderful chatting with the great Garrett Sussman of IPullRank about how to optimize content for devices, what types of content should prioritize mobile vs. desktop, and so much more. 

Focusing on all parts of the content funnel, rather than just bottom-funnel content, is an incredibly important part of any strategy. Purna Virji, LinkedIn's senior content solutions evangelist, breaks down how to come up with content ideas for all parts of the funnel, how to make sure all parts are cohesive, how to increase your audience, and much more. 

Developing a good link building strategy is all about perfecting the outreach and having the right expectations about the results you'll get. This week, I was joined by the wonderful Syed Farhan Raza to chat about the art of link building. In this episode, Farhan breaks down ways to perfect your pitch, how to determine what a quality link is, and much more. 

Niche content may seem hard to research and create, but it can be incredibly effective for being authoritative and ranking with your content strategy.  SEO strategist Tessah Aihara, founder of SEO Mama, talks all things niche content. In this episode, you'll learn how to research effectively for niche content, how to improve your meta descriptions, the ways to know when niche content is successful, and much more. 

If it seems like Google updates happen all of the time, it's because they do. How does that impact your content and how it ranks? The great Mordy Oberstein, Wix's liaison to the SEO community and host of The SEO Rant podcast, talks all things Google updates, the evolution of search, how important it is to keep up with updates so your content can rank, and much more. 

Creating evergreen, linkable, and thoughtful content can help you get the most bang for your buck—making your content valuable for a longer period of time. It was a blast chatting with Kate Neuens, SEO Manager at Beyond Identity, about all things content. In this episode, Kate talks about how to create linkable content that serves more than one purpose, how to tie events and holidays to your content to make it evergreen and applicable, and much more. 

Utilizing content marketing as a startup starts with creating valuable content and building a community and audience around it.  It was great chatting with podcast host, author, investor, and company advisor Eric Siu about all things content marketing for startups, his tips on when startups should think about a content strategy, and much more. 

Improving BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) messaging and visuals in marketing is all about understanding the "why," and having the right intention. Krystal Glass, co-founder of Black Creative Group, breaks down how to audit your existing marketing efforts to find areas where improvement is needed, how to embed diversity and representation into your content, and much more. 

Communicating and fixing problems in workflow between different teams in an organization requires identifying the intersection points and being transparent with colleagues. I chatted with the great Tommy Walker, founder of WalkerBots Content Studios, about organizing content marketing to create a better workflow and streamline the content creation process, how to document and pitch these changes, and more.