Lauren Busby

As you scale DTC - customer acquisition costs will increase...AND you'll make more $. Revenue growth doesn't come from acquisition growth - it comes from retention. Stacking customers is how we help build multiple 8 figure brands. So focus on increasing order value - it won't be impacted the next time Instagram goes down... #dtc #customeracquisition #shopify #digitalmarketing #facebookads #googleads #tiktokads Everything Bagel

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Google was caught, again, lying to everyone about SEO signals. I'm sure you saw the headline by now. However experienced SEOs weren't tricked. Our tests have always been the truth tellers. Hopefully your SEOs weren't surprised either. If they were, you may need an upgrade. This stuff is very hard. I preach about entities, CRO, usability, all this stuff for a reason. I preach about building SEO campaigns around all this. If you hire amateurs, who are not truly up to speed, you pay more in the long run. I've been watching the market slip into cheaper and cheaper economy SEO services. This is a key reason why that should have never happened. If you think these thoughts have value for others, please repost. Maybe we can turn this industry around and save businesses a ton of future heartache.

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I rarely see brands do this for new product launches 👇 1. Landing page with new product offering 2. Email/SMS capture forms 3. Email/SMS flows triggering from landing page sign ups The conversions you'll see from this are insane 🚀

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7 Surprising Ways to Rouse Your Hibernating Email Subscribers Tip #2. Get personal (but not too personal) to capture attention Tip #3. Say it like you mean it: Be bold and unfiltered Get all 7 tips here >> https://lnkd.in/d6hcfF-Z

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Here's 7 different tactics to help improve your CPM on Youtube... AKA how to improve your total ad revenue A thread🧵👇🏼 1. Geographic Location Listed on Your Channel - Where are your viewers (or your economic spending of your viewers) based in? Different locations produce different spending habits of advertisers. 2. Age of Audience How much buying power does your audience have? How much spending power do they have? Know your audience and view them through the lens of the advertiser. Would they want to advertise on your channel? 3. Niche or Industry Are you in a profitable niche on Youtube? There is PLENTY of opportunity on Youtube, but is there anything out there to show you that your niche is profitable in this space? 4. Seasonal Change in Certain Niches If you're wondering why your CPM goes up and down, maybe something you are looking at are seasonal changes within your niche. Example: maybe your a gym channel where January 1 roles around and you'll see higher CPM due to new year, new me type of season. 5. Types of Ads Placed on Video When you're monetized on Youtube, you're able to select what type of ads placed on your videos. We check them all because not every ad is pushed in total. More ads are more opportunity, let Youtube figure it out 6. Made for Kids Content If your content is for kids. Check the box. Plain as that. If you have a kids channel, you'll make less ad revenue due to the nature of child privacy laws. Don't sweat it though. If you can put out great kids content, you still have the opportunity to create income. 7. Videos Safe for Viewing The content of your videos can drive your CPM down. If you have questionable content in your videos, ads may not even be able to put in your videos. Examples are inappropriate language, adult content, violence, shocking content, harmful ads, recreational drugs, controversial issues, demeaning content, etc. Here's the bottom line and hopefully some encouragement. Ad revenue is important. There

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Is putting in all the work for SEO worth it when it seems like it's taking FOR-EH-VER to see your site in search results?? The answer? 1000% YES! (I know, you can't have more than 100%, but just give me this one.) SEO is a LONG GAME. (So is all content marketing, but that's for another post...) Writing QUALITY content on your website/blog and optimizing it with great keywords will pay off big time in the long run. Google needs to get to know you. Google does not get to 3rd base on a first date! Being consistent and educating the internet on what you do and why it matters will train Google and all the other search engines (yes, people still use AskJeeves.com) to recognize you as an AUTHORITY. You need to be an authority for Google to suggest your site when people search for keywords related to what you do. So it looks like this: Write good content -> Keep writing good content -> Google recognizes you as an authority -> Keep writing good content -> Google suggests your content to people searching for answers that you provide -> Keep writing good content -> REPEAT FOREVER! Want to learn more? Listen to the latest episode of my and Dan's podcast called, "When will my SEO start working???" LISTEN: https://lnkd.in/gFZ7VYnG I'd love to hear what you think about it. What topic would you like us to cover in a future podcast? Reply here to tell me!

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𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙪𝙣: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙙𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙩 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧. Shout to HubSpot and the Hustle team for dropping this fun nugget near the bottom of this morning's newsletter. Drop your public profile URL in and let the program analyze you. Let it see right into your soul. I got 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙩 -- what about you? https://lnkd.in/gdNm_gHc

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One of the hardest lessons everyone in SEO ultimately learns is that output is not the same as outcome. The other way to understand this frame is this: traffic does not equal revenue. When you look at any business activity (including SEO), the easiest thing to measure is the input. Keyword research. Number of content pieces. Number of backlinks. Optimising site speed. Inputs are within your control, but you can not be 100% sure if the success will follow. So you look at the output. Rankings for specific keywords. The growth in traffic. Your indexation metrics. CTRs. This still does not mean you are in the clear. The SEO specialists must ultimately deliver the outcome: “revenue”. You can drive tons of traffic without any needle-moving impact on revenue—one of the reasons many businesses are disappointed by agencies and SEO in some cases! That is why I insist that working backwards from business goals is the only way to build a successful SEO strategy. You simply CAN'T iterate your way to business outcome. As an agency, it is a question you MUST ask the clients: how did we impact revenue? That is the North Star. As I remind myself every day, we are in the business of delivering outcomes, not output. What is the NUMBER you are most proud of?

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If you've ever worked with Google Analytics, you know it's pretty much the gold standard for tracking website performance data... But let's be real: its interface and reporting features aren't exactly straightforward or easy to use. Even just getting basic data about how visitors are accessing and using your website can feel like a treasure hunt. And don’t get me started on setting up the advanced event and conversion tracking or creating your own custom reports with multi-dimensional data. It took me a long time to get a handle on these tools, and for most business owners and marketers, it probably feels like you need to be a Data Scientist in order to extract those nuggets of insight. 🤔 It's also quite surprising that such essential, easy-to-digest information isn't available out of the box in Google Analytics. You could make the argument that the type of data insights each bueinsss needs is just too unique for Google to pre-set these reports, but I've been working on the web for over 20 years now, and I think there's a baseline of valuable info that *most* businesses want (need!) to have easy access to. 📊 That's why I've been diving into Google Data Studio (now called Google Looker Studio) during my workcation. My goal was to create a custom analytics dashboard that leverages the power of Google Analytics and surfaces the most crucial data in a clean, simple-to-understand format. The dashboards I have been working on are based on what I know businesses need from their web analytics—leading to clear, actionable insights. 🤝 Soon, I'll be sharing these tools with our clients so they can make more informed decisions about their website and marketing investments. And I'll be sure to post more about the process as I go. Stay tuned! #GoogleAnalytics #GoogleLookerStudio #DataStudio #DataDriven #MarketingTools #WebAnalytics #WebDev #SmallBusiness #WordPress #AgencyLife #Workcation

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I was wrong about local SEO. Yes - you read that right. I can admit when I am wrong. I used to bash local SEO because I thought it was a waste of time. But as Google's SERPs have changed, so has my opinion on local search. 1. Local SEO is easier... Ranking in the Maps pack is far easier than the traditional SERPs. You don't have to worry about building a ton of expensive links or content, you can hire a VA to follow a simple checklist and get results within weeks. 2. Local SEO is faster than traditional SEO... Our agency works in one of the most competitive client types on the internet (personal injury lawyers) and we're able to move local rankings within weeks (sometimes even days). 3. The results are better... When you localize any search in Google (i.e. dentist near me), the Maps Pack dominates organic real estate. From working with over 100 local law firms this past year, our data shows that Maps Pack results drive 50% more leads than traditional SEO results. Local SEO is the one of the best offers right now for agencies. I put together a video covering the most important local SEO ranking factors right now, and how your agency can turn these into a highly profitable service for clients. ***LINKS IN THE COMMENTS*** What do you think the top 3 local SEO ranking factors?

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Some challenges with SEO consulting in the age of HCU and SGE: 1. While we'd love Google to be more transparent about how it works, they are likely not going to be; or at best, they are not going to be specific-enough to give us much that is actionable. 2. While a lot of us SEO types help Google by helping site owners make it easier for Google to find the good stuff & reduce the bad stuff, I am guessing this is not a KPI Google prioritizes; or at least not one it prioritizes above KPIs like "make money" or "increase Google usage." 3. We get paid to figure out how Google works well enough for our knowledge to positively impact a client's business. When we don't know how it works well enough for us to do so - often the best we can do is read the tea leaves & provide evergreen advice (cut the page bloat, improve the content, etc.), which may benefit our clients in the long run. Understandably, this is not helpful to clients with short-term KPIs, but it's the game we are playing. I can't tell you how many sites we have worked on that tanked, did nothing for 6 months, then came back stronger than ever. 4. There are plenty of short-term ways to get around sites that have been hit by HCU, or at least sites that appear to have been. One of our more enterprising clients that lost about 90% of their organic traffic, relaunched their site on a new domain sans a lot of the issues we pointed out were likely hurting them (au revoir Vignette ads and ai-generated descriptions). They haven't recovered all the lost traffic, but organic traffic to the new domain is growing rapidly. I am going to guess this won't last, but hey, beats standing around waiting for a new algo to come around. I know SEOs who are seeing some kind of recovery (may be hit by HCU or not - probably not) by playing around with backlinks and such, but are not publicizing it for obvious reasons. 5. I am relatively confident site owners hit by HCU who can hold their breath will see some relief (perhaps as early as the day after Reddit's first earnings call), but there will be plenty who suffocate before then. Most SEOs I know emphasize to clients SEO cannot be your only/main customer acquisition channel. But times like these underscore just how much a successful SEO program subsidizes the cost of other channels. Reminds me of that quote about how when the tide goes out you can see who's naked... 6. Maybe this is a good thing as it will shift site owners' perspectives to longer-term thinking? Case in point, a site we told like six years ago that they need to reduce the millions of low-value URLs is actually going to start doing so after getting slammed by HCU. They made a lot of bank by not doing so and holding their breath during previous algo rollercoasters, but they don't want to make that bet again. TLDR - big shout out to all the white hats, black hats, grey hats, & no-hats who have been sharing SEO knowledge. It takes an SEO village...

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I spend a significant amount of time repairing broken conversion events in paid media platforms. Here are the top 5 culprits: 1. Website changes (design updates, domain changes) 2. CRM changes 3. GTM changes (often related to 1 and 2) 4. Trying to run an old Google Analytics tag 5. Integration with tech partner is broken All 5 require conversations with other people on other teams to diagnose, troubleshoot, and fix. The best media managers are those that understand and work well with their media teammates.

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Warning signs your email marketing is going to be hard. Very hard. Do you know why your email campaigns aren't delivering the results you want? If you're nodding your head in frustration, the top reason is likely this: You know that without a good grasp of how your email marketing works behind the scenes, it's tough to figure out what needs fixing. It's like trying to bake a cake without knowing what ingredients you need. You might have a killer design and great copy, but if the technical stuff isn't on point, your emails won't hit the mark. Here's the thing: email marketing success is all about nailing the technical side of things. We're talking about 3 big areas: 1. Automation (sending the right emails at the right time).  2. Segmentation (splitting up your email list based on what people like), and  3. Deliverability (making sure your emails don't end up in the spam folder). If you're not an expert in these areas, creating emails that get the best possible results can feel like mission impossible. But don't worry, you've got options. Not great, but still. Instead of trying to optimize your campaigns without the technical know-how, send your email list a free trial of your product or service with no strings attached. Believe it or not, about half of the people who get a free trial actually use it. Imagine a 50% conversion rate.....The point is, if you want to see real results from your email marketing, you need EXPERTISE. That means teaming up with someone who knows automation, segmentation, and deliverability like the back of their hand. Someone who can take a good, hard look at your email setup. Show you exactly what needs to change technically. With that kind of expertise in your corner, you can send emails with confidence. They’re going to hit the bullseye every time. So, if you're ready to give your email marketing a major boost, don't be afraid to bring in the big guns. With the right expertise on your side, you'll be amazed. Your emails will start getting the results you've been dreaming of. Catch you later, Jay P.S. Got email tech questions? Book a free 20-minute, no sale, no pitch call. Remember, your email marketing needs to make it dead simple for your ideal subscriber to say yes. Let's work together to make that happen. #emailmarketing #digitalmarketing #conversioncopywriting

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Google documents leaked?! SEO is so much more than keywords. A week after major Google events such as GML, API warehouse documents were shared and mostly verified for authenticity with @randfishkin (SparkToro) from anonymous sources. The files provide correlations (not necessarily causation) with data about SEO and PPC positioning/ranking factors. PPC you say? Well, yes. @Navahhopkins also has thoughts on how the Ads can benefit and support SEO. And Mike King of iPullRank has a great introduction to the possible SEO correlations after he spent part of his holiday weekend studying the documents. Caveat: The documents don't include weighting factors, so there is not direct causation. Unless you regularly read patents, most marketers and business people won't be able to take advantage of the leaked info based on the complexity and breadth of the information. The biggest thing you can take away is our industry is so much more than keywords. Sift through the articles I will link below. Start with recognizing things like NavBoost, trending and Hot topics, clickstream data, user interaction data, spam signals, and more. Pretty impressed with the care and focus that is going into understanding and cautiously interpreting this information. https://lnkd.in/gJivET5t

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I hear a lot of “Local SEO is too complicated." - WRONG! Think of local SEO as setting up your digital storefront: 1️⃣ Your Google Business Profile is your shop window. Keep it clean, updated, and inviting. 2️⃣ Local citations are like business cards scattered around town. Ensure they're consistent. 3️⃣ Reviews are your reputation on Main Street. Encourage happy customers to spread the word. 4️⃣ Local content is your community involvement. Show you're part of the neighborhood. 5️⃣ On-page optimization is your in-store signage. Make it clear what you offer and where. It's that simple! Need help getting started? I'm offering free 30-minute consultations this week to discuss your local SEO strategy. DM me “1:1” to book your slot. #localseo #freeconsultation #yourlocalsearchally

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