558: DATA. The SECRET Sauce of Success, with Andy Crestodina - a podcast by Michael ONeal and Unemployable Co-Hosts

Andy Crestodina is a cofounder and the strategic director of Orbit Media Studios, an award-winning web design company, which has completed more than 1,000 successful website projects. He is a top-rated speaker at national conferences who is dedicated to the teaching of marketing. His favorite topics include search engine optimization, social media, analytics, and content strategy. He has written more than 100 articles on content marketing topics. He lives in Chicago.

I met Andy at Social Media Marketing World, and his presentation blew me away.  Google Analytics could very well be the “secret sauce” for most of our businesses.  Listen closely to this one.

Summary:

Michael discovered Andy’s presentation on Google Analytics at Social Media Marketing world and knew he had to have him on the show.  Andy studied Chinese at University of Iowa and believes that true Chicago pizza is a “bread and cheese casserole”. In 2008, he realized he’d come full circle with his teaching and had become a content marketer. He instructs in the gentle art of data driven empathy—how to use analytics and conversions to learn what your customers need and how to give them more of what they want.

From killer techniques for repurposing the questions that you answer to an entire process from idea to research to finished blog (check out his work on the lifespan of websites discussed in this episode), this show is packed with information that will help you dive into the data on your website, understand it, and use it to grow.

Many of the great marketers are teachers.

Timestamps:

10:00: The first generation of web design was 1994(ish) in the days of flash, php, mysql. Andy is second generation.

11:04 – Orbit Media Studios began as an interactive comic book publishing. Wired Magazine covered them, though the company failed. He quit his job as an IT recruiter, and with the same partner, they reincorporated with the name and built websites. Gradually built from there.

14:00 – In the beginning the web was its own niche, and now there are specialists in every category.

17:34 — It’s easier to find a client than to find a full time employer.

19:35 — Print design has a hard time transitioning to web and later mobile, because they didn’t think about the added dimension of where the mouse goes and how the person navigates.

20:40 — Andy originally was going to teach Chinese. On weekends he was an architectural tour guide. In 2008, he realized the power of content and started publishing. The moment he realized that he was a content marketer and he’s a teacher, so he has come full circle.

24:25 — Andy was on a Skype call with Ian Clary and discussing what happens when people ask you questions. He sees it as a benefit because it’s an opportunity for him to learn, then teach it to a broader audience.

27:25 — For years Andy BCC’d himself and put emails he sent into a folder for blog topics. He moved them into a Google Doc and had 92 pages of content that he’d written answering people’s questions. So save the questions you answer one-on-one, categorize them, and then refine them in order to create blog posts and content. He estimates that he saved 40 hours at least.

Never waste a good conversation by having it in private.

30:50 — Take those answers you have written and search SEMRush.com for the top ranking sites, find a page in Quora, and answer the question there. Immediately you’ve turned this show into a high ranking page. The bigger purpose is repurposing.

33:00 — COPE = Create Once Publish Everywhere

35:00 — Build relevance around what you’re doing with a “how to” by creating “how not to”. Michael discusses his new campaign for Art of the Interview. This also makes a great Lead Magnet.

38:30 — The top marketing websites have a lifespan of 2 years 8 months between redesign. There are a lot of people having super successful websites that are 3-5 ...

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