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What Works With SEO Right Now and Why No One Does What You Want

written by Robert Bruce
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What Works With SEO Right Now and Why No One Does What You Want

I deleted a bunch of crap on my laptop yesterday.

It was all stuff I’d been thinking might be useful someday. Apps, folders, documents, etc.

Call it minimalism, call it OCD, whatever. I like to work simply, and only with the tools that actually work for me.

SEO, content marketing, email marketing, these can all seem to be very complicated responsibilities of the modern online publisher. But, with a few good tools — and one “killer app” in particular — you’ll be on your way.

This stuff isn’t easy, but getting down to what actually works is fairly simple.

So let’s do just that …

Also, Brian writes a big check, and Sonia turns down the Executive title “Creedence Clearwater Officer.”

In this episode Brian, Sonia and I discuss:

  • Why good SEO is like getting the hot girl in high school
  • The super-secret, embarrassingly simple, copywriting tip that converts
  • Is your product your best marketing? It had better be …
  • Why SEO is way more than good keyword math
  • Why most ad agencies can’t sell their way out of a paper bag
  • The 2 words that get you 4 times more Retweets

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other listening options:

The Show Notes:

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s Chief Copywriter and Resident Recluse.

P.S. – Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways we can help you:
  1. Copyblogger Academy - Our community gives you 9 full-length marketing courses (over 30 hours of education total), ongoing education, expert Q&A, and more. Join 1500+ members inside.
  2. Content Coaching - If you want hands-on assistance with your content, SEO, social media, or personal brand, we’d be happy to help. Hit that link and enter your information to learn more.
  3. Newsletter Sponsorship - We'll put your product, service, or lead magnet in front of at least 30,000 people. We'll also help you write persuasive copy for it. Fill out the form to see if we're a good fit.
  4. Digital Commerce Partners - If you want us to fully manage your blog and SEO, you can hire our agency partner, who applies our exact methodology. Fill out this form to apply for our program.

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Reader Comments (33)

  2. The three of you are having way too much fun over there at Copyblogger.com. Quality content will never die! Thank you for your simple SEO mantra this morning–it makes my day!
    😉

  3. Can I just say THANK YOU for bringing back the podcasts? I will have to listen when I am doing one of in my rituals – driving, making green juices or stretching …. It helps me be creative and think about new ideas when I listen then rather than on my computer. Robert, thank you for being a fantastic host (and I am very hard to please, trust me ;))!

  4. Good SEO, as you said in the podcast, does start with good content. That headline is the most important part though. Not only does it have to contain your keywords for the SE, but it has to be written in a way to get your customers to click on it. I’ve found that writing it so it matches the personality style of your prospects is the biggest secret in getting click-throughs.

    • Headlines are critical, I agree, but if what’s on the other side of the click doesn’t work for the audience, there’s no point in ranking for the term.

      There are a lot of potential points of failure. 🙂

      We talked quite a bit about headlines in last week’s show, in case you missed it.

    • Unfortunately, a lot of professional SEOs are still keyword stuffing and buying bargain-basement links rather than promoting really good content — because creating really good content is hard, and they think their customers will balk.

      For me it goes back to the line I quoted from the Steve Jobs article — do you deserve to rank on page one for Google with that particular piece of content? If the answer is yes, then you’re ready to optimize — not before.

  6. I totally agree with Sonia. It’s amazing how many website’s we come across that are still trying to “stuff” and “swap” their way to the top. Buying 10k profile links for $50 should cause a giant red light to come on… Just like our parents always told us, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

    To this day, I still find that quality, useful commenting on industry blogs (such as this) continues to be a solid way to build highly relevant links – regardless if they’re do-follow or not.

    Guest blogging is fantastic. Strategic press releases. It’s fine to outsource certain link building activities to qualified company with proven results, but manual is still – and always will be – the best way to go 🙂

  7. Another great podcast.

    I’d guess that SEO folk don’t like the idea of writing great content as a strategy is that it requires human effort, not automation… and your customers can see and read great content.

    The beauty of all of this is that if you write great content, you’ll never be “algorithmed out”. Your content is good, your links are authentic.

    The magic is that there is no magic.

    By the way, when are you going to start bundling your software products together into the CopyPress Suite or something?

    You are a highlight of my week.

    Thanks,

    Steve

  9. Koombah yah my lord Koombah yah… Koombah yah my lord, Koombah yah. Good shit Brian, and Robert the Bruce.

  11. As far as i know content is king in internet marketing. If you have engaing and informative content then everyone is going to enjoy the reading. But writing rock solid content (engaging content) is not an easy task to do. If you able to write rock solid content then 80% of seo task is completed. Now all you have to do is just make a way for people to reach at your rock solid content by using old school or new school seo techniques….like directory submission, guest post, blog carnivals etc…

    Really great podcast Robert, brian, sonia.. Robert you’re really a very good host… You rocks robert 🙂

  12. I was dying to read this article but I’m in a cubicle and playing it really isn’t an option. Do you have the key points that can be taken from this (I caught a few from reading the user comments). Being a long time journalist, great headlines and even better copy is the ONLY thing I know how to do. I don’t understand the keyword thing or backlinks that some are bringing up.

  13. I enjoyed listening to the audio. For some time, I’ve been hoping that Google and the other search engines would learn to distinguish well-written content from garbage that is created exclusively to generate traffic. Hopefully, they are getting closer to reaching that elusive goal. Thanks!

  14. Hey, where was the funky intro music!?!?

    The perfect spot came right after the second time Brian said he wrote his wife a check. But it wasn’t there.

    Still a great podcast guys – one of my favorites so far!

  15. I am listening right now and I am already in. Content, content content…..unique, interesting, well written content is crucial and it is that content that starts to generate the natural link building and buzz around your site.

    Thanks for the post Robert!

  16. That audio-clip runs for about 22 min., it’s very inspiring and filled with practical pointers. I learned a lot from you guys. Keep in mind, it’s IM for Smart People. Good conversation, rocks!

  17. I saw that article on Steve Jobs and SEO and immediately thought: SKIP! Maybe I should learn to recognize author names a little more… This one sentence in particular though “You have to feel that the content you create belongs on that first page of Google”, well that’s just gold right there.

    Uh, and am I the only one left searching through the show notes, links and comments trying to figure out what this one “killer app” is?

  22. I love these podcasts and gain such valuable information from them. HOWEVER. it was brutal listening to the beginning of this audio. Sounded like someone was unwrapping paper for the first 5 minutes. Just saying

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