Good Morning Onward Nation…I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation. And today’s episode is going to be a solocast…where it’s just you and me exploring a topic at some real depth — something helpful — so you can build and scale your business. So let’s dive in.
Much has changed since I wrote The Small Business Owner’s Handbook to Search Engine Optimization in 2009.
Google now has a longer and more complicated recipe of factors it uses to rank you and your competitors as you attempt to earn the attention of your prospects and customers.
And many of the factors within Google’s list are not properly setup within the typical small business website.
That means fewer leads and perhaps less opportunity to generate higher sales.
All of which makes it important — for you as the business owner — to know some of the fundamentals to SEO. Not so you can do the work — but so you can establish expectations for your team — and then audit their results.
So for today’s solocast — I am going to share with you what is, in my opinion, one of the biggest, most expensive money draining mistakes business owners make. And that mistake is being too passive regarding the amount of traffic the website for their core business is attracting. And that number should be 60 percent of your total traffic — so 60 percent, Onward Nation, of your website’s traffic should be coming from organic search — a combination of Google, Bing, and other search related sources.
Full show notes available here: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/stephen-woessner-solocast-episode-80
Jason Hsiao is the co-founder and chief video officer of Animoto, an award-winning online video maker that makes it easy for anyone to create professional-quality marketing videos. Animoto is a certified partner with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and the Small Business Administration and give it unique insight into the changing social media and business landscape -- which may be why more than 1-million businesses around the world are already using Animoto to create marketing videos. Prior to founding Animoto, Jason was a producer for MTV Networks and Comedy Central.
David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written 5 books, advised 900+ firms, and keynoted conferences in 30+ countries. His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, BusinessWeek, and Inc. Magazine. He lives in Nashville, TN. His work has also been featured in the NY Times, where he was referred to as the expert’s expert.
Michael Stallard is a former Wall Street executive who left the Street 15 years ago to found the Connection Culture Group, a leadership training firm and focuses on improving workplace cultures. He’s a keynote speaker and expert on how effective leaders boost human connection in cultures to improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations. Michael is also the author of two books, "Connection Culture" and "Fired Up or Burned Out.”
After traveling the world, David Osborn returned home to Austin, Texas broke and unemployed...at the age of 26. Though his travels may not have yielded wealth, they instilled the key motivation that he brings to every part of his life -- to create it freedom. David began to test his entrepreneurial merits and the results were nothing short of remarkable. In less than 10 years, David built one of the top real estate brokerages in the world, founded over 50 companies, and became the best selling author of “Miracle Morning Millionaires” with co-author, Hal Elrod.
Craig Clark is the CEO of Momentum Consulting — a consulting firm that guides organizations and their leaders in the areas of personal accountability and personal performance by developing and implementing successful strategies. He has spent the past 30 years becoming a foremost expert on the science of human dynamics in the business world and believes that the only reliable approach to produce breakthroughs at any level is to ask, “How do I see myself in the world and amongst others?”
Barbara Turley is an investor, entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of The Virtual Hub — a business she started by accident that exploded in the space of 12 months to become one of the leading companies that recruits, trains, and manages virtual assistants in the digital marketing and social media space for businesses who need to free up time and energy.
Jakob Heuser is the Owner and Principal of Lead SV — a consulting firm that develops custom learning and development solutions for engineering organizations and the teams they impact...with the goal of helping them retain their talent. Jakob has over 15 years experience leading people in both technical and management roles and loves the intersection of people and engineering and the challenges that emerge from that relationship.
Ed Molitor has spent the last 26 years developing his leadership skills and helping people, teams, and organizations become the best versions of themselves while coaching college basketball at the highest level, succeeding in one of the most competitive mortgage markets in the country...Chicago...and serving as VP of Operations in an industry-leading recruiting firm where he specialized in consulting clients and placing former, exiting, and retired military candidates in jobs throughout the country. Ed is also host of the podcast, The Athletics of Business.
Asha Saxena is a director for several for-profit companies. She served as CEO of ACULYST Corp., a Healthcare Data Analytics Firm, built an eCommerce Company and served as a CEO of Future Technologies Inc., an international data management solutions firm for twenty years. Asha is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, where she teaches Big Data Analytics and Entrepreneurship courses for graduate students and is a keynote speaker on big data. She is also the host of the Dive With Data podcast.
JT McCormick is the President and CEO of Scribe Media, a publishing company that’s created an entirely new way for you to write a book. The company has worked with nearly 1,000 authors, and was recently ranked in their category as the #2 best company to work for in Austin and #4 in their category for all of Texas. JT is also the author of “I Got There: How I Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Achieve the American Dream.”
Carol Tuttle is a teacher, speaker, online influencer, and pioneer in the field of personal development. She’s the best-selling author of five books including her newest entitled, “Mastering Affluence,” releasing nationwide this fall. For over 25 years, she has supported hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with her life-changing books and online learning programs.
Good Morning — I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation. I’m excited to share today’s episode with you because my hope is that’s going to helpful to you in a couple of different ways.
So here’s the first way…
This episode loops back and connects with the video we aired last week on our Predictive ROI YouTube channel where I shared some insights around how to create content while you’re running your business.
I know you’re busy. I know you have a compressed schedule. I know there are not enough hours in the day to lead your team, take great care of clients, devote yourself to your family, your community, and the myriad of other roles and responsibilities that are important and you want to show for as your best self.
And through all of that…you’re being encouraged to create weekly, if not daily, cornerstone content that firmly plants your flag — your point of view into solid ground — which becomes your thought leadership — and to do that in such a way it drives revenue back into your business.
Seriously…how is there possibly enough time in a day or week to get it all done? And yet it is possible — with the right framework in place.
Here’s what I mean.
Full show notes available here: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/stephen-woessner-solocast-episode-79
Nicole Holland is a podcast guesting authority who has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and The Huffington Post, as well as countless podcasts and virtual productions. She is often called upon to share her expertise with business owners throughout the United States and Canada who are interested in leveraging modern marketing strategies in order to increase their visibility, likability, and credibility.
Over the past two decades, Jon Tota has established himself as a pioneer in online education for corporate training. He began his career on Wall Street in sales and technology positions at PaineWebber and UBS. Then after years as a business analyst to some of the largest firms in financial services, Jon co-founded Edulence in 2002 to develop online training solutions for corporate educators. He now spends his time focused on discovering the best experts and helping them turn their knowledge into a subscription business on Knowledgelink.
Don Barden is a speaker, author, professor, and advisor. He is also someone who practices what he preaches. Don is the owner and managing partner of 3Ci – an Atlanta-based business and technology consulting firm employing over 300 people, diversified into leadership training, financial sales consulting, and technology staffing. His books are published in over 39 countries, including The Perfect Plan – revolutionary outcome of his 10-year global research study to discover what the world’s top performing business leaders and sales professionals do differently. And Don was awarded the distinction of being named one of The Top 30 Most Transformational Leaders 2017 in North America, by John Maxwell.
Mary Shores is the founder and CEO of Midstate Collection Solutions — which has collected more than $40 million to date for its clients. As a speaker, entrepreneur, and CEO, she teaches business owners how to fearlessly create their own realities and reach their full potential by using her groundbreaking “Words That Work System.” Mary is also author of the book, “Conscious Communications: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Harnessing the Power of Your Words to Change Your Mind, Your Choices, and Your Life.”
John Oechsle is the President and CEO of Swiftpage — providing digital marketing and CRM solutions that help businesses grow, including Act!…their flagship and industry-leading software. He has an over 30-year track record of building highly profitable and sustainable revenue growth for emerging companies and established global leaders, including DigitalGlobe, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Land America Financial Group, and Kellogg Company.
Mike Compton is the co-founder and executive producer of Three Chairs Productions, a video production and marketing company that specializes in broadcast, online, and digital content serving a variety of regional and national clients. They help with the production of a client’s content, as well as manage, measure, and optimize video to drive greater results. Mike is passionate about producing strong creative videos that are engaging, stimulating, and empowering.
Our special encore guest today is Mitch Russo. In 1985, Mitch co-founded Timeslips Corp, which grew to become the largest time tracking software company in the world. Timeslips was later sold to Sage and Mitch went on to run all of Sage U.S. as Chief Operating Officer, a division with over 300 people. Later, Mitch joined Chet Holmes and Tony Robbins and together created Business Breakthroughs International, a company serving thousands of businesses a year with coaching, consulting, and training services. Today, Mitch helps companies with courses and training programs to get their students to complete their programs and be more successful. Now...you may remember Mitch and the wisdom he shared during Episodes 340 and 368. If you haven’t listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 340 and 368 to your list of vital priorities.
Jay Owen is the Founder and CEO of Design Extensions, a digital agency he started at the age of 17 — while still in high school — and continues to run today. His goal is to help businesses grow online, become more efficient through online marketing, and to create a better image and brand for themselves and their companies. Jay is also the host of the “Building a Business That Lasts” podcast, where he interviews other business owners who have over 10-years of experience and want to share their stories to help others.
Greg Gray is the Founder and CEO of Gray Solutions where he is a leadership and business consultant. He has a background in lean methods, project management, strategic planning, business development, operations management, and human capital. Greg and his team specialize in providing mentoring, training, and coaching to people and organizations in the industries of agriculture, manufacturing, franchising, biotechnology, textiles, services, insurance, and network marketing. He is also the host of the new podcast, “Business Owner Freedom.”
Jordan Harbinger has always had an affinity for social influence, interpersonal dynamics, and social engineering...helping private companies test the security of their communications systems. He then spent several years abroad in Europe and the developing world, including South America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, and speaks several languages. He has also traveled through war-zones and been kidnapped...twice. He’ll tell you...the only reason he’s still alive is because of his ability to talk his way into...and out of...just about any type of situation.
Tom Kulzer is the founder and CEO at AWeber, a leading small business email marketing software, where he is actively involved in the company's strategic direction, growth, and evolution. Over the company's 20-year history, Tom has nurtured it from a small start-up to a robust organization serving over 100,000 customers, all without public or venture funding. He laid the foundation for AWeber while working at a computer hardware firm in the mid-90s where he realized sales prospects were falling through the cracks due to the lack of proper follow up. By automating the delivery of personalized follow-up emails to prospects, company-wide sales skyrocketed, and sales associates had additional time to spend pursuing new prospects.
Tracey Wozney is the founder and director of Taking Shape, a non-profit organization whose mission is to grow young leaders who impact others Here, Near and Far. She is the publisher of the STAR Leadership youth leadership curriculum program that is used by over 35 affiliate dance studios, youth clubs, and organizations throughout the nation. Tracey has recently launched a mission camp organization serving children in Port au Prince, Haiti where young leaders serve on a global front. Tracey is also a business owner of dance schools in rural Missouri for over 25 years and is an Enterprise member with Misty Lown’s More Than Just Great Dancing studio owner coaching program...and you may remember Misty as our guest here on Onward Nation for Episode 80 and 544.