When I started Good Morning Gwinnett is was a way for me to be a contributor to my community.  I love what I do so much that I want to put most of my focus on the show and making it better.  Towards the end of 2020 I decided that I wanted to grow the show into a brand.  I knew the next step in that evolution was to incorporate video.  Now I'm not a stranger to video, but I must admit that I have become spoiled not having to worry about if my hair is done or bother putting on makeup.

I realized that if I wanted to scale the way I envisioned I was going to have to start live-streaming.  So, Monday I went live for the show for the first time.  I gotta tell you that I was a little bit afraid and don't ask me why, because I don't really know.  When I woke up I thought to myself, that I will wait and not go live today and just start tomorrow, but something in my head said, "No" you're going to start today and I said okay and I went live.  

After the episode was over, I felt so proud of myself.  I had worked all weekend setting up my video player to run video ads during the song break and making sure that I and the music could be heard on each device.  Everything worked fine, but I still almost did not go live on Monday.  After doing so I felt so empowered.  

I'm looking forward to scaling the business now.  I've a video player that plays ads during the songs.   The show is live streamed on Facebook and Roku.  I will be adding more live stream platforms starting next week one of which is YouTube.  This is an exciting time for me and Good Morning Gwinnett.  I also got an offer from The Hype Magazine to produce my Thursday person where I will be interviewing locals in their studios which is super high tech taking the show to another whole level.  So things are moving in the direction of my desire and I am looking forward to see what will unfold next.

It's Talk Tech Tuesday!  In this episode of GMG I'm joined by Chris Hood, CEO of The Conversion Mill.  Today we're talking about how to leverage video SEO to help you grow your local business.  This continues are series on SEO.  I know that many of you want to grow your business into a global business, but why not start at the local level first.  

Chris shares with us some of the strategies you can use to help you make sure that your video ranks well in the search engines.  He also talks about whether you should self-host your video on your website or use a third party hosting company to host your video.

I hope you enjoy this episode and remember that Chris joins me the first Tuesday of each month to talk tech and to help your grow your local business.

​Welcome back. Welcome back. So, listen, it's talk business Tuesday, and we're going to talk about podcasting because, um, one of the things, you know, I love is podcasting and I think that, um, I talk about podcasts and a lot, but sometimes people don't know why they should start a podcast. So, I'm going to give you a few reasons today.
 
Why I think you should start a podcast, especially if you're a business owner. So. And I'm going to be talking about podcasts and the light, and I'm going to be doing trainings all over Georgia in the next few months. So, I'm going to be all over the place talking about this because it's powerful. So, when you think about podcasts and a lot of times, if you're not a podcast or you think if you think of podcasts as a form of entertainment, right?
 
So, when you think of it that way, it's like, Oh, I listen to podcasts on the business side. If you're a business owner, if you have a message to share, if you're a nonprofit, if you're a ministry, this could be a perfect platform for you to get your message out there to the masses. Right. Good morning when that is in over a hundred company countries around the world.
 
So even though my, my show is locally focused, I'm here in Gwinnett County. I talk to people around the world because people want to know about what's going on in Gwinnett County. Believe it or not, because when their County is a beautiful place to live. And I talk about it all the time, we have an amazing school system.
 
We have great leadership. And I talk about that all the time. We're growing. We're right outside of Atlanta, which is a major Metro here. And so, I talk about that all the time. Why? Because I love it. And so, what made me get into podcasts and well, When I moved to Georgia, I thought about going into politics and I've always thought about going into politics.
 
But when I came here and I actually spent some time in a few meetings, I realized that it's not a good use of my time right now. I want to do something different. I want to do something where I ain't fighting with the people on my, on me. In my party. Cause that's what was happening. That's pretty much what turned me off.
 
Like we were in a meeting and we spent about three hours trying to determine where a comma was going to go in a sentence. And um, and then they had a fallout and then, and then people quit, and I was like some sitting there thinking. Wait a minute. Cause these people were like, really, they were really seasoned in politics.
 
Right. I was brand new and I'm sitting there watching this go down. I think I was eating some potato chips, or some carrot sticks or something with some dip and I'm sitting and I'm watching this go down and I'm watching them literally like get. Physically like mad, like angry, because they were trying to figure out how to put a sentence.
 
And one person said it should be this way. The other person said to me that, Oh, it was horrible. And I left that meeting that day. And that was probably about mine. That might have been me. Fourth meeting at that point. And I was like, yeah, this is not for me. This is this. Not, not now, maybe later when I'm more mature in the space.
 
When I learned more about what it takes, I'm going to go through, I'm going to go through one of the academies. Um, but I, I just haven't found the time to do that yet. And, um, I just realized that, nah, that's not, that's not it, that's not it. Um, and so I went back to my love. I went back to podcasts. I was like, no, I'm going to start a podcast called Good Morning Gwinnett.
 
And I just, I just started it. I started in December 2018 and I'm almost at 500 episodes. And so, you know, it's a powerful platform and because I've started this, it has opened up so many doors for me and I'm, I'm sure it's going to open up even more doors. So, here's the thing. Why should you start a podcast?
 
You heard my story of why I started mine. Why shouldn't you start one? What if you're a business owner? The first reason is it gives you a lot of exposure. A lot, because remember this, I talk on this microphone once a day, four days a week for about an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. Right. That message goes out to thousands of people I talk live.
 
So, the platform that I use is speaker. When I go live, sprinkler puts it out to everybody that I'm talking live. I don't even have to do nothing, but turn my microphone on, cue up my music, come up with my stories for the day and start talking. That's all. That's all I do. I pay spree good. $20 a month to do all of this stuff.
 
I just said it's freaking Dan takes my show, send it out. Live, send it syndicated to iHeart radio syndicated to Apple podcasts, syndicated to Google podcast, syndicated to Deezer, syndicated to Stitcher, syndicated to SoundCloud, syndicated to be YouTube syndicate to Facebook. It sits, I pay $20. Y'all $20 a month.
 
So as simple to set up. It's inexpensive to run. It's a good way to get your message out there. If you are a business owner, I don't care if you have a product or service, this is a great platform to help you get your message out there. So, let's say for instance, you sold socks, right? You could call it; you can launch a podcast called sock stories.
 
Now, here's the thing. If you're doing interesting things with those soft, let's say for instance, you're kind of like Tom shoes, right? Or what's a Bumble socks. Bumba is one of the companies that Damon John runs and, and times shoes y'all know the story about how he started Tom shoes for every pair of shoes, you get a pair, get donated for every pair of socks.
 
You buy a pair of Bomba, a pair get donated. You can tell us; you can have a podcast called sock stories. I know that sounds crazy, but guess what? People collect, suck socks are collectibles for some people they I'm telling you, go in there and look the look up sock collectors. I guarantee you there's some people out there who collect socks and you can interview those people on your show.
 
Right? You could talk about why they collect socks or why they collected a certain sock. Right? Put the story out there. And then at the end of each show, you know, you say, Hey, if you look for a great pair of socks about be sure to go over to my sock company.com. Yeah, that's a great way for you to put your name out there.
 
It is a great way for you to connect with people. So, if you're a business owner that is a great way to help you market your business and build a brand good morning, go net is a brand. It is a brand that I'm on a, on a mission to take to a million dollars. Right. When I started, it was just my podcast and it was my way to connect to my community.
 
It was my way to be a voice in the community politics wasn't going to be at right now. I was like, okay, not yet. I'm not ready for that yet. I don't have the temperament quite yet. Um, so let me do something that I actually love that could really benefit the community. Let me share news about what's going on in and around Gwinnett County, but then let me invite other people in from other places.
 
So, when that County can meet them, So it's like a two-fold with me. What, what's your thing? And it's easy to come up with something when I tell you here's the thing, though. If you're not going to be committed to it, don't do it. Don't do it. If you say, you know what, I know I need a podcast for my business.
 
I know I have a message. I know my ministry could benefit from a podcast. I have a client, her ministry, her podcast is called bleeding in the dark. And this is how we came to this conclusion. I met her at eight. We were going to get out. We were going to, we had to go to compliance training because I'm an insurance license agent.
 
She's a licensed agent. We had to go compliance training. That's when we met, had never met before. We were at compliance training for our licensing to make sure I licensed state enforced, even though I don't write hardly write any life insurance. Um, I, I still keep my license and tech. Because I never know when I may need to write a policy for somebody.
 
Um, anyway, so that's how we met. And so, we were talking and she's like, you know, I'm wanting to start a podcast. And so, we, we do the consultation and everything, and she's like, yeah, she's a minister. And she said, you know, I want to have the medicines. I want to have the leaders because they, you know, they stand at the pulpit and they, they, they talk about the message and behind closed doors, they're bleeding in the dark.
 
And I said to her, that's the name of your podcast? And she was like, that's genius. And I thought that was a great podcast because she, she ministered to leaders like herself and she said, they get up there on Sunday and they give this great message. And then they close the door and they're crying and they are bleeding in the dark.
 
They're bleeding in the dark. And so, the name of her podcast is called bleeding in the dark, but she has a ministry called by faith global ministry where she does a lot of good work. Like they just took sent transfer trucks of water to. Um, to Mississippi because they had a storm and it messed up the water system.
 
She collected, I'm talking about 18 wheelers, y'all full of water and she lives in Georgia and they took that water to, to Mississippi. And they're still taking water because people are still donating water, but her podcast and her ministry is benefiting from that. I'm still working with her right now, because she's going to be launching a streaming TV channel for her park for a ministry.
 
Why? Because she can go on there and she could put her message out there, be her podcast via her TV channel to millions of people around the world who may want to donate to her organization. She's a ministry. Now you may not be a ministry, but you may have a nonprofit. Put your message in front of people so they can hear it.
 
Yes. You may be in Georgia. Heck you may be in Maine, but you got to message. You got message. You need support. Talk about it, share with the world, put it out there so people can support you. And one of the best ways to do that is with a podcast inexpensive to get started, simple, to get started, simple to syndicate.
 
All you got to do is put in the effort and the commitment. So, you know what I'm going to get up on Tuesday and I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna talk every day, every Sunday at 6:00 PM afternoon. And I'm gonna talk for seven minutes. I'm gonna do a set lists and there are podcasts out there right now that are one minute one.
 
And now you may say what that can I say in a minute? You can say a lot in a minute. If you know what you're talking about, that that's what I'm going to tell you. If you know what you're talking about, you can condense it to one minute. One-minute segments, right? And guess what you can do, you can take that podcast and then you can put it over on Amazon flash briefings, and now people can listen to you because now you're not only, not only are you on your podcast platform, syndicated all over the place.
 
Now you'll Amazon. So podcasting is powerful. So, backs. Let me, let me just, um, summarize this. Why don't you want to start a podcast? Why you should start a podcast. Simple to get started. Inexpensive to get started. Let’s you get your message out to the world. Lets you show that you're an authority in your area helps you build your brand.
 
Those are some reasons to start a podcast, all right, going to my last song of the day and I'll be back and give you my words of inspiration for the day. Stay tuned.
 
welcome back. Welcome back. So listen guys, that's all I got you to gay, but before I go, I want to give you my word of inspiration. And here goes someone sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree along a long time ago. Hmm, let me say that again. Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
 
Warren buffet said that, let me tell you something. Somebody is waiting for you to step up right now and share your message. They need the inspiration that you've gone through. They need to know that, you know what, I'm going through this now, but I can come out, plant that tree for somebody, share, start your podcast.
 
Somebody is waiting for you to share your story. Somebody wait for you to inspire them. Somebody is waiting for you to share your poetry with them. Somebody is waiting for you to share your cooking tips with them. Somebody who's waiting for you to show your books, to share their bookstores. Somebody is waiting for you to share your dark collection with them.
 
Let me tell you something, Georgia. Doesn't talk about this much, but she has a doll podcast called in the Dow world. That podcast is taken off like gangbusters. And she said to me that wasn't my intention. It wasn't your intention, but it was God intention. Some people love her. Somebody, somebody she says she had, they have like fans.
 
Right. I don't even know if I have fans on good morning with Nick, but they have fans. And she was able to, I think, talk to one of her fans or it was something that lady was like, Oh my God, I'm so excited. Her husband was excited because they got the lady, got his hands to talk to her. Why? Because she was waiting for them.
 
She was waiting for them to share their story. She was waiting for them to share that passionate about dolls.  started a doll company. In.
 1999, the big, beautiful doll company. That's how she knew, but she was a doll collector long before I was even thinking about dolls. I'm still not a doll collector.
 
She collects doll. So she loved dolls. Me personally, I just got a few hundred dollars a week in vintage. I got them around the house. You know, they're not in the cases hundred dollars in cases, she take care of my, and the boxes in plastic. She's a doll collector, she's a dog lover. And so it only made sense when they launched in the dog world, she and her friend, her partner, Tammy, but they just did it because it was something that they love.
 
Tammy has $4,000. She's a doll collector. Judy has their doll collectors. It made sense. And because of that passion, they put together a podcast called in the DOL world. They later turned the podcast into video. So now they have a channel on noise and a channel on YouTube called in the DOL world. And they have 700, 400 followers because people love that show.
 
People were waiting for them. Now they're like celebrities in their industry. They got doll awards for the doubtful in a dial world podcast. Let me tell you some podcasts and as a powerful platform, that's a tree that you need to plan. So somebody can sit in the shade later, but you plant your tree.
 
That's all I got for you today. Listen, thank you for listening. It could be anywhere in the world. We just spent the last hour and three minutes with me and I appreciate you and love you to life for that. Be sure to golden. Good morning with net. If you miss any episodes of this show and listen to the past episodes there.
 
And also if you feel in your heart, The support, the show, click on shop and just buy something. That's going to help support the show and helped me keep it going. Also be sure to share the show with your friends. We have an app it's called the good morning. Good net app. If you've got an Android phone or Apple phone, there's an app in the app store for good morning.
 
Good Morning Gwinnett. Download the app and share that with the friends. Also be sure to follow me on Apple podcasts, find your favorite two episodes and give it five stars. Appreciate you and love you for that as well. If you want to follow me on Facebook, you can do so by going to good morning Gwinnett on Instagram.
 
Good morning, and on the Twitter at GMGwinnett. When that I'll be back again tomorrow at 10:00 AM God willing. Thank you so much for listening. Stay safe out there. Keep your mask on and tell your family and friends you love them. And until next time y'all know what it is. Make it a great day. Bye y'all. You've been listening to good morning Gwinnett.
 
Make sure to tune in Monday through Thursday at 10:00 AM Eastern time to find out what's happening around Gwinnett. If you like this episode, subscribe now and share with your friends to learn more about noise media network. Visit www.noisemedia.us.

​www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com  Today is Talk Tech Tuesday and I'm joined my co-host Chris Hood.  Last month we talked about how SEO could help you drive traffic to your site.  In this episode we will continue the conversation because SEO so important for us to rank in Google and other search engines.  The more we show up in the local search engines, the better our chances are of growing our business.  It's my goal to have Chris help us small business owners learn how to drive more local traffic to our business.  Chris is the "SEO Master" and he knows his stuff and is happy to share with you the things you can do to increase your traffic locally.  I know that we all want to build global brands, but why not start with the low hanging fruit which is hanging in your own backyard.

This episode focused on keywords.  A lot of times we here that we should be using targeted keywords, and many of us have know idea what keywords will help us move the needle on our website traffic.  Not only do not have an idea about our keyword, we should also be trying to rank for that keyword.  What the heck does that mean and how can we get started?  Well in this episode, Chris will breakdown exactly what a keyword is.  He will also talk about what keywords you should try to rank for and which ones you should stay away from.  He shares some of the tools that you can use to help you find keywords that going to help you in the search engines, so that your site gets more local traffic because of SEO.  

So get you a cup of sweet tea, a pen and pad and get ready to take notes, because this episode is filled with many value bombs as John Lee Dumas like to say.

Enjoy!
Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey Bell-Kearney, The Backyard Branding Fairy

You're listening to good morning, a division of noise media network, hosted by Audrey bell, Kearney sharing stories about people and places around beautiful Gwinnett County. And beyond Monday through Thursday at 10:00 AM.

Morning, good morning. All my goodness out there when Atlanta and I'll be around, we're listening to the sound of my voice. It's a lovely day here in Gwinnett County, a little breezy, 46 degrees going up to a high of 53, but it's pretty nice. I've been out early this morning. I, all I needed was a light jacket, which is kind of cool.

I got to tell y'all something real quick. So my husband grandmother passed away. I think it was Sunday, Sunday or Saturday and she's in Jersey. And so I've been like really What's it about like rain and cold? Well, I got to go to Jersey Thursday. Yep. I'm leaving. I'm flying out to Jersey for the funeral.

And I had to go buy a coat yesterday because I don't have a coat because all I have is sweaters because even on our coldest days, I don't go out of the house pretty much. And so so, and we don't have a whole lot of cold days here in Georgia. Like we have some cold ones, but not like, not like going to Jersey.

So I got to go to Jersey. Thursday. And I had to go out and buy a coat. And my brother, they had given me a lane Bryant gift card in 2017. I lost the car twice. I've finally found it last year and I put it in my dress. I'm going to put it right here. I didn't really lose it. It was in the house. And what, but you know how you lose stuff in house wasn't it was in the house.

And I finally found it last year and I put it in a drawer and I said, okay, I'm going to go and buy me something. You know, lane Bryant had pretty nice clothes and I forgot about it again last year. And I don't think it was even last year. It was year before last in 19. I found that, so it still, that was two years ago.

So I been had to give cards. Y'all a $75 gift card since 2017. It is now 2021. And I thought about it. ESS said, you know what? I'm going to take that gift card to go buy me a coat while I get the lane Bryant's up in Snellville, they had one coat y'all I'm talking about for real, it was one coat. It was the one sale.

It was crazy. It was one coat hanging on the rack. It was a code that I actually like, and it was a coat in my actual size. And I said, thank God it was. So I said to myself, how weird is that? That I would find this, keep my car, go, go to lane Bryant. They have one, literally there was one coat and the girl said, what do you want to shop for something else?

I was like, Nope. I can't only when it's cold and it was sitting right there and I liked the coat. That was a crazy thing. It was like, I didn't even have to think about it. Like, Oh, that's a nice coat. It was one and it was in my size. That was the craziest thing to look. Let me tell you something, you know, and I know the guy we'll work it out the way it's supposed to work out.

And I was like, wow, that is crazy. But anyway, I got to go to Jersey on Thursday. I wish I was going for, for a better reason, but you know, this is a part of life and this is what it is. So I'm going to Jersey Thursday. My friend told me yesterday, it's cold. She's like, nah, it's really cold. You need a coat, which I knew that already.

It's February. Well, it's March now. And listen, cause there's going to be cold all the way through may. So I already knew that I spent plenty of years being cold, like in April, like, man, I can't believe it's snowing in April. Well, yeah, because that's the kind of stuff Jersey does anyway. Happy to be here with you today.

Happy Tuesday, everybody today is listen to this. Listen, listen, today is national banana cream pie day. Yeah. Banana cream pie day. Ooh. I don't even know banana cream pie tastes like I don't really like banana pudding. So, I can't even imagine what, but I like bananas, but I don't like banana anything except for banana nut bread.

That's the only thing I think I like bananas and I don't like banana pudding. Like I would eat the cookies out of banana pudding. So I don't even know a banana. Cream pie tastes like life probably tastes good though. Maybe the way today is national banana cream pie day. So if you like banana cream pie, get your fix.

Don't get too much. Cause that's a carb. That's I know bananas is the fruit part, but all the rest of that stuff is probably a nice car. All right. I'm excited. I'm excited. And the reason I'm excited today is because I started something called talk business Tuesday. So y'all know I've been talking business on Tuesday.

Well, the first Tuesday of every month, we're going to talk tech. And so I'm so happy that my friend Chris hood is going to be my guest every Tuesday, every first Tuesday of the month to talk about technology and how you can use technology to make your life your business easier. Because listen, what I'm telling you right now, technology is not going anywhere.

When you can walk up to your refrigerator and ask for the direction to where you got to go. That's technology. And that's what we are like their refrigerators out there that have computers built right into the front of the, of the, of the refrigerator. So don't think we're getting away from technology, but see my goal right now.

It's to bring you the best of the best people along with myself, to help you navigate business and navigate life and leverage all the things that we know. Chris is amazing when it comes to this technology thing, we're going to be talking about local SEO later. I know I've been an entrepreneur for 24 years, so I know a little something, something about starting and running a business and failing.

I can tell you all of that. You know, when you got too many things, too many eyes and fire, I would tell you all of that, you know, and also I want you to follow me on my journey of building this beard, this beer company or spirits company. I got a name for it. So, you know, maybe some other things coming down the pike with the beer, but it's a spirits company, you know And I want you to take, look, follow me and Chris bylaw journeys, let us help you do your thing.

Let us help you dream. Most of all, let us help you dream, right? Because a lot of times, as you want to do something, but you're afraid. I want you to come along with me and dream. So as I build this beer company, I want you to dream about the things you want to do. And then jump on here. Asks us a question like, listen, I'm trying to listen.

There's a way for you to chat with me on, on good morning. Gwinnette I don't know if you guys know that if you go to my speaker, I did a little look for good, good morning, Ned on Spreaker. There. Isn't a way for you to chat live with me while I'm on the air. Now here's the thing I'm normally talking so much.

I may miss the chat, but if I know people are tuning in, because they have a question, Tony asked your question right on, on speaker. So that's frequent S P R E K. E r.com and look for good one and with net, and there's a chat feature there, cause I'm on live four days a week. Chris is going to be here on the first Tuesday of every month, talking about technology and how to leverage that, to grow you, to make your life easier and grow your business.

I'm going to be talking about business. I'm going to give you some. So when that news, now I'm going to tell you what's going on around when that first, and then we're going to come on and we're going to talk tech and talking business on Tuesdays. And then on Thursdays, I bring you another amazing guest every Thursday, where you get to hear their stories, their journeys about what they're doing, whether they'd be community leaders or business owners or activists or politicians or government officials that's on Thursday.

So. My goal for this show that always make it better. And I got to tell you this I'm going to be launching a new podcast cause she brews. So check, be looking out for that. I'll give you more information about that soon, soon as I get everything in place and that's probably going to be launching the next couple of weeks, she bruise and that's all about me learning how to brew beer.

Yes, because I'm watching the breakfast beer for good morning Gwinnett. So I got a lot going on, but I'm happy and excited about it and I'm glad you tuned in everyday. Right. So let's go ahead and get on with our horoscopes brought to you by notice the Mike a thousand for today, March the second. Yes, it is.

We're going to kick it off like we always do. And that is with Aries. Get friends to help you with. Part with the preparations. If boredom has set in find a new and unique direction that offer interesting friendships, your ability, your ability to dazzle others with their unique and innovative ideas will attract attention.

I'm talking about that right now. Listen areas. You got a unique. The innovative idea. Don't be afraid to go and tell people. Here's the thing though. You want to protect your idea. So before you go talking about them, I'll get you some NDAs. That's a non-disclosure agreement. Put it on the table, especially me.

Think it's something that's really, really good, and somebody can swipe up. And still, now that being said, there are really no original ideas out there for real. They'll just waste the way people think about things. And then you may come along and make that thing better. But in any event, protect yourself.

So get your NDA and put it in place. Terrorists out there sports events should entice you. You can make a difference. If you offer help at functions that involve children, keep an eye on your weight. We listened to ours, I'm listening. I hit a plum so far this morning. I'm going to drink a protein shake when I get off the phone, watch and wait, keep an eye on your way, because one of them, things that, that I know for a fact in life is you only have one life.

You only have one body, so you want to try to make it as healthy as possible. Now I have been. I have been guilty of not doing that, but I can tell you the last three years I've been doing my very, very best to be healthy. I've lost a lot of weight because I had surgery. I had gastric bypass in 2018. I've kept it all up.

Thank God. And now I'm working harder to drop the last 35 pounds that I want to lose. I'm going to be too skinny. Y'all, you know, I don't want to be, I want to be skinny at all. Actually. I know some people like, Oh my God, you still fat. Yep. I am. And I want to keep some of my curves. So that's why I only got 35 pounds left.

And I'm cool with that. I'm almost cool with being where I am right now. But the last 35 pounds, I'm going to get it off. So I'm working hard to get the last 35 pounds off. 91st, 120 pounds came off really easy because of the surgery. This last 35 years kicking my butt. I got to put in some real effort with this women.

It's okay. I'm I'm getting forward. All right, Jim, and I don't let them blame. You take some time out. You need a change of pace. Listen, don't let them blame you. Put your hand up and say time out, time out, take some time out and go do something different. Go to the park. The Sunday was so beautiful. It was 80 degrees here.

Sunday is 49 and it's going to be 49 today. Crazy. Right. But Sunday was 80. And when I tell you, people are out in the park, it was so many people out of the park. I just kind of drove by because it was a lot of books. It was beautiful. Go, I can get you some sunshine today. And now you'll be on my side of the world and Georgia here, Jim and I it's kind of cloudy.

So you may not be able to get any sunshine, but you can get a lot of fresh air, a lot of brisk cool, fresh air. That's me thinking about that. It makes me feel good. Cancer plus passion will be your only answer. You should be able to get involved in an interesting proposition today. You probably aren't getting straight answers to your questions.

Oh my God. I don't even want to talk about questions. I asked some questions and I got my head chewed off. So I'm just saying to myself, you know what, I'm not asking any questions. I don't give a crap. Whatever it is is what it is. So here's the thing, cancer. You probably aren't getting straight answers to your questions and you probably won't, especially if you ask to certain people and you just won't.

So just give it up. Don't even, don't even stress yourself out, just, you know what, you're not going to get the right answer. You're not going to hit the answer you're looking for because those people don't know how to communicate well. And so you're not going to get it. So don't even stress yourself out cancer just don't.

Leo, the great outdoors will allow you to teach juncture. Some of the things you learned when growing up, you will be entertained and intrigued by the logic foreigners possess. All right, you need some excitement in your life and meeting new people in exotic destinations will certainly satisfy your desires.

Ooh, I need some excitement in my life. Yeah. My company though, this beer company is exciting me. Just the thought of me coming up with it, the ideas. So I was talking to someone yesterday and he told me I got to go to a flavoring company to get the flavors that I want in my complaint flavor. So I'm going to document all this y'all so y'all can see me walk through this process.

They tell him I had to go to a flavor and company so I can put my, so they can mix up my flavors and, you know, do the doses. Right. I'm like, wow, really? So I feel like a chemist almost. I'm so I'm excited about it. Burgo do your own thing. Don't wait to give anyone fuel for the fire. You may feel a need to make changes to your loan, to your legal documents, do your own thing.

Don't even worry about and Virgo, just do your own thing. Don't even sweat it. All right. I'm going to sign. We'll be right back after the sun to bring you more of the horoscopes. And then we're going to talk a little bit about the news, and then we're going to talk to Chris. They tell them

What are your favorite songs? Y'all I got some favorite songs that I play on this show and that is one of them. I'm seeing it just rocking to the beat cause that's a cool beat. So there's a girl Orangeville, caring and giving you the daily harvest goes, brought to you by notice Sharjah Michael Theisen is going to pick it up with Burgle.

I'm not Virgo Libra. I'm like, I'm all happy Libra. You have the stamina and determination to succeed, you can make a huge difference to children. If you're able to put yourself in their shoes, you'll be able to close any deals successfully. All right, Libra, you got the determination to seed and everything you touch today is going to succeed.

So if you're trying to close the deal, today is a day. Go ahead and make it happen, baby. Scorpio. Don't let domestic problems interfere with your objectives. You will meet new romantic partners. If you get involved in seminars or travel, you may have personal problems, but professional duties might be pressing.

All right, listen, don't let domestic problems interfere with your objectives. You know, just put that junk on the back burner. And I dare this junk. Okay. Take care of speakers, speak your mind, say what you gotta say, and then don't sit there and dwell on it. Cause sometimes you can be in an argument and fight by yourself domestically and nothing gets done.

Trust me Sagittarius take on position to offer on the job training or pay for courses related to the business. Yes. You can anchor, you can hang other quickly today, avoid overspending on items for your home being observer before getting involved. Listen, take a position that offered a job on the job training when I had a job and that's been a very long time ago, I would always take the on the job trainings.

Right. I was always learning. I'm still always learning. I'm always learning something. That's why I'm so excited to have Chris on me this morning, because he's going to be talking. I shouldn't, I shouldn't have Thai dish today's episode talking SEO with Chris Hood because, and I think I'm going to, I'm going to go back and retitle that because he has given me so much stuff about SEO and we're in, it's going to take me 52 weeks to get through everything on this list.

So we may be talking SEO with Chris hook for the next 52 weeks or 50. Cause I'm going to take a week off. Matter of fact, I won't be here on Thursday because no, I wouldn't be here Thursday. I don't fly to, after I get off the show. Yeah, I did that purposely to make sure I could talk to you guys, but anyway, let me keep it moving.

Cause I, Chris will be on, in like two minutes. It's Capricorn, am I on Capricorn? Yeah, Capricorn, try to mix, try to mix business with pleasure while traveling opportunities for travel and communication are evident. You need to take a long, hard, look at yourself and your personal situation. Take a long hard look at yourself.

I do that every day. I look at myself everyday like this Akina, what can I approve? Improve about me today? Not the world, not the people I live with me. What can I improve about me? Take a long hard look at yourself today, Capricorn and see what it is. You can make better about yourself. Not nobody else.

Just you Aquarius, try to find another time to present work ideas today. Do what can we, what can help them, but don't neglect your own family opportunities to get out with clients are your best interest. All right. And that's Chris Shaw.

Hello. Well, good morning. Give me one minute, Chris. One minute and we'll be ready to start. I'm excited. This is so funny, right? So I, my show is live and anything could happen on this show so I can figure out how to turn the ringer. Also, it didn't ring in the show. So my listens got to hear the phone ring and that's okay.

My next time y'all, I'll figure it out, but today I want to make sure I bring Chris on in the meantime. I'm going to finish up the horoscopes and then we're going to talk, we're going to talk some SEO. That's what I should have tied to show SEO. Sit tight care of some almost finished. All right. What was that acquire?

Use core dummies. Find time to present work ideas today. All right. Do what you can to help them, but don't neglect your own family opportunities to get out with clients or colleagues were being your best interest. Yes, don't neglect. Listen, you can help people, but remember you have a family at home Aquarius, so don't neglect your family.

I get it. We want to be good to everybody, but you got a family at home too. So just remember that because that'll come back and bite you in the butt last but not least my fellow fish Pisces, your devotion will be persuasive. You must take care of health problems that have been lingering. I literally would do wonders.

Listen, I'm trying to be good to myself and I suggest you do the same. Listen, take care of yourself. We get one body. We get one life, take care of yourself. And trust me when I know a little rest would do wonders. I know I, when I get on, because Sunday is my rest day. Y'all could tell I have a good Sunday, cause I come in Monday and I'm talking to life that's because I had a good Sunday.

All right. That's all the hardest scripts I got through the day. I'll be back again to Martina and to bring him over to harvest costs, brought to you by notice jobs and Michael Theisen. Now let's get on with our show. I'm so happy, Chris hood. Thank you so much for coming on here and talking tech on Tuesday with me.

Oh, absolutely. It's my pleasure. I'm I'm really excited to try to share some knowledge and help some businesses out and and answer any questions that anybody might have about you know, marketing technology or for software in general, or you know, how to have to drop more traffic to their website for their business.

You know, anything, everything, you know, we have a motto here. We're, we're always happy to help. And so this is just one of our many ways of trying to do that for, for local businesses. Thank you. So listen, I met Chris last year when I opened up the noise factory studio. I was only there for a good two months y'all before COVID hit.

And just w it just sent me running because I was so afraid to be anywhere around anybody, because I had lost my uncle, like right after I came from pod Fest. And then a two weeks after that, I lost the best man in my wedding. And of course y'all already know. I lost my mom earlier this year, so to COVID, so I was running scared, so I shut my studio down and I didn't get to see Chris again, but he did reach out to me on a platform called Alignable and we reconnected.

So I'm so glad that we reconnected. So Chris, tell people about a little bit about what you do, cause I know. So Chris and I are going to be talking tech with Chris sent me all this stuff about SEO, and I was like, it's going to take me 52 weeks to get through just SEO, which is a good thing. But before we get into SEO today, tell us a little bit about your company and what you do.

Sure. So I run a small digital marketing agency right out, out of the tequila, Georgia. And we handle really all aspects of Of of online marketing and you know, we collectively, we call ourselves as a conversion mill. I've got about 12, 15 people on my team actively right now handling everything from search engine optimization paid search ad optimization and management, email marketing.

We one of the things that I think I'm most passionate about is conversion optimization. Hence the name of the company, the conversion mil, and they, a conversion is, is just simply, you know, anytime a user takes some type of desired action on your website, whether that's you know, signing up for, for receiving an email newsletter or.

Placing a phone call or even completing an order, you know, on your, on your website. Any of those actions can be considered conversions based on, you know, what type of business and what type of website you have. And in our goal is to maximize the number of conversions that a business gets through their, through their website.

It's also about, you know, we do a lot with branding and in awareness with a lot of our campaigns. And and then we also do some software development website design mobile application development and a, and a good bit with CRMs which is simply just a tool to help manage you know, your accounts and your leads and give yourself teams kind of a.

An organized way to manage all of the leads they're working in and via the people who they have to, to contact. On a regular basis. So, you know, in a nutshell, pretty much anything that you can do online to promote your business or sell your products and services with it. So my show, this, this show talks to a lot of Local business owners and small business owners and solo preneurs.

And I think a lot of times they are so busy trying to figure out how to just make the business. They have flow to trying to figure out how to market and grow the business. It's like, it's like the second thing, you know, next to trying to keep the doors open and keep the lights on and keep the website up.

So we're going to talk, we're going to talk about SEO, but I want you to explain to people first what SEO is. And then the first step that a business. Should take when it, when they even thinking about essay. Cause I know you sent me an extensive list and I was like, Oh my God. I don't even know what questions to start.

So I'm going to let you tell us what are the foot well, first of all, what is SEO? And second of all, where to even start as a small business, especially a small business with a limited budget, you know they may not be able to hire you cause I don't know what size businesses you work with, but a lot of these are small business owner, mom and pop stores and solopreneurs.

And. Startups. So they may not even be able to hire you. And the other thing too, they may not even be able to get around to doing all this stuff. So how can they even get it done when it's just them? I know there's a lot, so you could break it down. So, so that's, that's a problem that is common with, with so many entrepreneurs, especially in the, in the early years is, you know, we have to wear so many hats and it's not just about, you know, selling our product.

You know, it's, it's, it's doing, you know, all the relations and, and, you know, managing your supply chains and keeping your doors open and employees, you know, showing up on Tom and there's, there's just so many facets to running a business that you know, it's, it's hard to make sure that you've got a handle on everything sometimes.

And and that's where, you know an agency or, you know, partner like us or anybody there's, I mean, You know, there's, there's tons of great great agencies out there that specialize in all different types of, of work, but you know a good agency yeah. Is going to take. A lot of those tasks, like SEO, managing your website, building your ad campaigns, things like that off of your plate.

So then, you know, as a business owner, you can work on you know, making sure that that your actions are staying in line with your vision for the business. And that bills are getting paid and customers are getting serviced, you know, and all that. So I know that I'm a little biased in saying it, but I really think that you know, it's important for us as entrepreneurs to find good partners, to help us, you know, take on these, these tasks so that we can focus on the things that, that matter to us and the things that we're passionate about in our business and not have to worry about all the minutia of.

You know, do I have my Google, my business listing up to date? That's something that that, that you can easily offload to someone else to make sure that they have it done. You know, so you don't have to, you know, if I'm trying to sell ice cream out of my ice cream shop, I don't care to learn all the ins and outs of sea air.

Right. I just want to know that it's done so that customers know how to fund So, so again, you know, whether it's whether it's a company like the commercial though, or any of the other great agencies out there, you know, I, I highly recommend as a business owner to find that ideal partner for your business and that, and make sure that they are actually doing the things to help drop customers and revenue to and in search engine optimization or SEO is really one of the, kind of be the key components of.

Making a website actually ordered for your business. Se stands for search engine optimization and there's there's a lot of different facets to search engine optimization. There's a lot of different things that can be done. A lot of different specialties within search engine optimization that we'll kind of get into.

And today I really wanted to focus on local SEO and But I think, you know, in order to have to understand that we have to kind of understand search engine optimization on a higher level, right. And searching you're not innovation is really just the, the tactics that we use to try to make our website rank higher on search engine results pages, whenever a user searches for something that's related to.

Our business or our products or the services that we're trying to sell. So, you know, I'll always like to go back to the, to the ice cream shop example, you know, if I'm, if I'm running an ice cream shop, you know, and I want people to come find by new you know, flavor of the month or whatever, you know, Type of ice cream that I'm trying to sell in my local area.

There are certain keywords that that people can type into Google or, or being, or whatever search engine that they choose to use to try to find products that I'm selling. Right. And the idea is, you know, as a business owner, I want to show up first, whenever somebody new searches for chocolate ice cream or chocolate ice cream columns, are you.

Something like that. And so there was a lot of different, different tactics and strategies that we can use to help make sure that our website shows up above our competitors at top of the page on page one of Google, whenever somebody searches for that that keyword and mostly the last CEO kind of takes it a step further.

And where SEO, you know, we're trying to. We're trying to show up as high as possible for keywords that are related to us, local SEO really kind of narrows down the the search window, kind of if you will, to to people who are local within a certain radius of my brick and mortar store. So the idea with local SEO is to is to show up to.

Searchers, you know, looking for my products or services business within say like a 15 mile radius or within the city limits, you know so that we can, and actually drove people to come to the website, found out about us and then traveled to our brick and mortar to actually get our goods or services.

So in a nutshell, again, you know, local SEO is really geared towards driving people to the, like physically to the business. And what's interesting is, you know, there are literally millions upon millions of searches done on Google every single day. And 46% of all searches that happen on Google have some type of.

Of what we call it, local intent, which just simply means that this is someone within our service area who is looking to buy a product or service. So nearly half of all searches, people are looking for something to, to to, to learn more about a local business, whether you know, their product or service or what have you.

And then. 29% of all these searches in the search results page, there will be a maps Google maps listing that actually shows the user where your business is physically located. So they you know, they're doing their local search and in one step they knew exactly where you're at. If you rank high enough.

You know, I'm sorry. I got so funny. And I just wanted to say this real quick. So I did, I did the whole, I started out doing SEO when I got the studio, so I wanted people to find me. I made sure I did the Google, my business. I put all this stuff in. Right. And I forgot what software I was using some software.

I forgot what it was, but yeah. It would go and check everything and to come back. And I had like, all these red marks, like, Nope, that's wrong, that's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. It was crazy. It was like a, it was like a checkup. And so I thought I had did all these things. Right. But when I could tell, when I, what I tell you, what I can tell you guys, is this the littlest thing, like a zip code how you, if you put S T versus street, like you show up so many crazy ways.

And I was like, Oh, that's that doesn't match. That doesn't mean it was like red, everywhere. It's like. You went to school and you got an F on it on a, on a term paper. So that's what my that's my, my, my SEO look like. So what Chris is telling you is some good information. So I'm sorry. I just wanted to jump in and say that.

Cause I was thinking about that and I was like, you had just messed that whole thing up. Yeah. And so that's, that's actually a, a big part of local SCA strategy. What, what you just described is what we call a nap. Or the name, address, phone number citations that we list for our businesses and, and Google.

You know, they go out to these different directories and different websites where you can list your business. So like things like your Google, my business listing, or your being places for business listing, or your Yelp listing your Facebook business page listing in Google and other search engines, actually look for.

Consistency between all of these listings. So there's literally like thousands of places where you can go and list your business online and get a back link, you know, to your, to your website to try to help draw traffic. But what you just touched on is super, super important. If, if I have all of these listings, if I have my business listed on, you know, 150 different other websites, right.

But there are small inconsistencies between all of those listings, maybe you know, maybe a phone number is outdated or my address is outdated or you know, or there's, there's some other type of inconsistency in the listing. Maybe in in, in one I listed my business with LLC at the end and on another listing.

I didn't include that all those little inconsistency use. Start to kind of create this the sense of like doubt it for search engines, that this information is correct, or even worse that this business is legitimate. So it's very, very important that everywhere you go to list your business you know, this, these directories, or like I say, like Google, my business and Facebook pages and things like that.

It's it's, it's critical that we have all of our key information. Updated and correct across all of those listings, because if the Google is out in the, they search all of these other websites and they say, you know that you know, my ice cream shop is listed, but the website is, is, is link is broken or the phone number is different or, you know, whatever.

Then they're, they're less likely to, to trust those listings. And, but. And by, by not trusting those listings as much as they could or should, then I'm not going to rank as high in the search engine results pages. Whenever somebody does a search for my business or for a product that I'm trying to sell. So, Chris, and again, so now.

I know that's all good information. I know that I've tried to do it. And you know, I went to a company and they helped me get it right. And then I had to move out of my, out of my studio. So it was probably all wrong again. But for. For the small businesses listening right now. What are some of the first steps that they can do to actually get, get the, just get that, but let's say the citations part, right.

Because I know that's the part I looked at before. I got a report dog and it was like all wrong. Like I, and it's literally like one had a different phone number. Maybe two of them had the same crazy, like phone numbers was a big thing. And so even though both of those phones will ring because they are still active numbers, they didn't match up.

So I got a, I got a red flag for that and not, not right. So where can a small business even just, I know, I know, listen, guys, we're going to be talking about this. A lot more because to me, this is one of the most important things I know you have, you know, Facebook marketing and all this other stuff. And we're going to probably talk about that later on, down in a different episode.

But right now we wouldn't give you a starting point to start where you can on the budget that you're on. So what will be some of those starting points where they are right now? Absolutely. So there's a couple of really great tools out there to help make sure that we have all of our, our citations accurate, incorrect.

A couple of those tools Yext. There's probably one of the bigger ones. And with the X tool you can actually go in and type in your website address and they'll actually go out and crawl all of these. These other known directories that might have your business listing publish and they'll come back with a report to show you you know, the different sites where you're listed or where you're not listed.

And in any inconsistency you use in your business listing, and then. You know, you can go through one by one and update or add your information to all those directories. There's a number of tools out there like that. Like I say, Yext is probably one of the bigger and more well-known ones. And it's a good, it's a good tool for, for doing a quick check to see where you're at and and how you're listed.

But before I would even do any of that, my recommendation would. The, to make sure that you have your business listed correctly and in about three or four key areas make sure that you have a Google my business page that is going to be the linchpin of everything that you do. And we need to make sure that we have everything correct there because you know, that's a tool by Google.

That that is designed specifically for the esteem local businesses. So they, they put the most, Google puts the most room you know, weight in ranking factors based on what's in your Google maps business profile. So it's imperative that we have, you know, that, that listing, if we, if we're not on Google, my business, Honestly, when it comes to search results, you may as well not agree.

You know, I just want to jump in real quick and every time you hear somebody talk about ranking, right? They never said it. Hey, I'm gonna show you how to rank on the bank. I'm going, gonna show you how to rank on Yahoo. It's always, let me show you how to rank on Google. Why? Why is it Microsoft? And y'all are still pretty big.

Aren't they? So why, why is it just Google or cause you never had anybody say that. I want to get you to the top. You know, the number one spot on Google. I never heard anybody say Bing or Yahoo or any other, I don't even know if there are any search engines other than those three. Yeah. So that's a great question.

Google We, you know, in the United States are so ingrained in Google that is, is actually become a bird. You know you commonly hear people say, Oh, I Google this or go Google, you know, whatever. And what they mean is, you know, go to Google search engine type in what you're looking for and find the information that you need.

And one of the reasons why that is Google owns about 80% of the search share on the web in the United States. So what that means essentially is about 85 out of a hundred searches that happen. Happened on Google. Wow. And, and Microsoft has done a decent job of, of trying to, to recapture some of that search share.

They, they kind of stay around the the 13 to 15% Market share for search and then everybody else like Yahoo dog pile what's a web crawler duck, duck go all these other guys. They're, they're all good. Searchings in as well, but they just, for whatever reason, haven't been able to break into the market to take down, you know, the, the big Google.

So. So that's why, you know, we, we don't really hear a whole lot about about being, you know, nobody says, Hey, good being right. And that's why they just don't have nearly as much of the market share when it comes to search. So a lot of times when you hear people talk about SEO and what they need to do to improve their, their rankings, they're talking about.

Specifically improving their rankings with Google because they, they own that lines share of, of the search. Wow. That's pretty cool. And I'm you, right? I've never heard anybody say go big me. That's true. Yeah. So, so Google my business. That's the first place to start and I, and I think that's that's that?

Well, now we know why it's really important. 85%. That's a lot. So you talking about the other two may have three and 4% of the market share or seven to 8% of the market share. So. That's that's pretty strong. Now let me ask you this, with that being said, is there an opportunity because there are not a, a lot of people searching on there to niche it down better.

If you go in and get listed in like being and, and, and Yahoo, or it doesn't make sense to just do it. Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's, that's another great question. So what's really interesting is even though Google owns. 85% of the search share. Like we know we can improve your visibility, quality you know, with, with Google, whether it's going to have an impact on our business.

Being has a lot of similar tools. As as Google does. So where Google has Google my business, you know, where we can list our business profile and everything from our location to our hours of operation and stuff like that being has a similar, so we'll call it being places for business, where we can do you know, list our, our business and our products and services with them.

Now, one thing that's interesting, we might get more traffic and more You know exposure for Google, but you know, research has shown, shown that people on baiting are actually more inclined to, to buy and take action. Then the vast majority of users that, that bond is through Google, which is kind of interesting.

So, so it does make sense, you know, to make sure that you're listed in both places, you know, And then all of our information is correct in both areas, because even though, you know, Google, we may get more exposure with you. Yeah. We are, we're likely to get you know, more actual, like direct action results from listings on, on being, or even Yelp, you know, if it's a certain type of business and even our Facebook business page, you know, so So again, yeah, even though Google owns, you know, the vast majority of search share is it's definitely important that we make sure that we are listed in all of these other areas as well.

You know, the key ones, in my opinion, really being you know, the being places for business listing. So we need to make sure we're there Yelp, you know, to, to make sure that w that we have claimed our business listing with them. And that everything's correct over there. Also with our, our Facebook business page.

And I've seen a lot of people confuse a, a Facebook page with just setting up a second profile. And there, there, there's some really important distinctions that that needs to be made between a, a profile and a business page on Facebook. A personal is not going to do a whole lot of good And profiles are set up really just like our own personal news feed, you know where we, where we go out and we connect with all of our friends and all that.

Whereas with a a Facebook page for business you know, we actually get the benefits of those, you know, that, that nap listing, you know, the name, address, and phone number. And and also we can expect, you know, Create ads to our page on Facebook to try to reach a new audience. So there's two, two different, two different things you needed to, or types of accounts with Facebook.

And we need to make sure that we are actively creating a Facebook page and not just another profile for our business. And then I think, I think those are gonna be our biggest like starting points as far as getting our businesses listed. Okay. Quick question for you. So I know you said local SEO is getting more towards the brick and mortar, but if you're a consultant and you don't actually have a brick and mortar, you do all your, you know, your meetings at Starbucks.

Would that not benefit you as well? Oh, man, you're asking all perfect questions today. So, so yes. So, you know, if, if I were a, kind of a, a consult new mat, right? So like exactly what you said. Like, I conduct all my meetings either at Starbucks or I go to some type of like co-work space or or I just go to my client's office you know, I don't need to, to advertise a location.

Google has actually made accommodations for that with Google, my business and in being has as well. They both in both cases, we can actually choose to not publish a physical location. And instead, what we do is we tell Google and being what our service area is. So, you know, if I'm a traveling consultant I can go in and I've still got to put in my address so that Google is being verified on me.

But instead of you know, having that listing maybe it's my home address that you use instead of having that show up in the search results or the maps? Whenever somebody finds me online, I can just simply say I service all when it, or her, all of Georgia or all of Atlanta, whatever, whatever my my service radius should be.

You know, I can I can set that within those accounts. So that then, you know, Google still knows that I'm relevant for any search or who's who's in Gwinnett County looking for a business consultant. Oh, cool. That's cool. I didn't know that. So I, and I just thought about that, cause I know that, you know, I hear a lot of people want to do local marketing, local SEO, local marketing, and so.

When you said local SEO is geared towards the brick and mortar, I'm like, well, that kind of counts out a lot of people. No, let me ask you this because I'm, I'm sitting here and I'm listening and I'm, I'm kind of like a, do it yourself kind of person that, well, let me say this. I've been a solo preneur for so long.

I have become a do it yourself kind of person. However, listen to this guys, if you need, if you're, if you're trying to grow the business, you're going to have to bring people on your team. Maybe not full-time, but you need to bring them on per project or per, you know, per event or whatever it is you're trying to do.

So that being said, I know that there's somebody that isn't going to go to JAKKS and they're going to go to Google my business. They're going to do Yelp. They're going to do big for places and they don't do Facebook pages. They don't do it all. They going to go do it themselves, but there's somebody listening right now.

Chris is saying, I don't know how to do any of that. Right. No, I do. I want to do any of that. Do you have like start-up packages for people just to get started and how do you, how do you, first of all, who do you work with? Who do you work with? Small, medium micro businesses. Who do you work with? So over the years, we've kind of developed a a niche of, of working with.

You know, what's considered traditionally small to medium sized business. So businesses that have anywhere from 15 to about 200 employees. And we, we do a lot with with manufacturing and processing that said, though, you know, I'm passionate about helping small business period, you know, so mom and pop.

You know, the, the guy who just has a, has a dream and needs to get started, you know I really enjoy know fighting for the small guy. And, and, and hearing, you know, what kind of vision people have for, for this thing that they're passionate about, and then working with them on, you know, their budget, their timeline, you know, to, to, to make this a reality.

So it's, you know, I hate to throw numbers out there because everything we do is slightly custom. There is no cookie cutter you know, like stamp that I can, I can say, Oh, well, you know, you're a, you're a startup, so it's going to cost you this. And you know, we'll have it done in six weeks, unfortunately.

Yeah. You know, every business is unique as the individual who had the vision that started up to begin with. Right. And, and it could be that they only want help with, with you know, managing a Google ads account, or they only want help with you know, integrating a CRM into their email marketing, you know, or things like that.

So it, I really liked to, you know, with, with any. With any consult that I do listen, you know, and, and see, you know, how it, how it is. We're aware where we can have the highest amount of impact for the customer. And and then based on that conversation, you know, and what what either tools they need or what software they need developed, or, you know, what's What campaigns they need launched, you know, then we'll, we'll work on a work without a budget and and buildup.

So that'd be and said there, I mean, you know, if you go talk to you know, to either us or really any agency you know, you, I would, I would say, be prepared. To have a, a startup or an onboarding investment. And that can vary depending on how much you already have set up yourself. If you already have a Google, my business listing and a Facebook page, and all of these things already set up, you already have Google analytics installed on your website and you already have a search console account.

You know, and, and all that kind of stuff, then your onboarding fee is going to be significantly, significantly less than if you had nothing. Right. But I would, I would say, you know, expect, you know, that initial, onboard AP to be some more in the neighborhood of 1500 and up, depending on what what all has to be done to get you up to best.

Practices standards, right. And then and then depending on, you know, what type of work needs to be done you know, I would say expect some, you know, it's a budget somewhere between 500 and off, depending on what, you know, per month. On what all needs to be done. If all you're doing is is looking for someone to help you with email marketing, it might be a little bit less, you know, depending on you, do they need to create templates, you know, for your account.

And is it going to be, you know, unique content every every week or every month? Are they going to have to write, you know, the the content or something you're going to provide, you know, all those things kind of go into determining what the, the final, you know, monthly price is going to be. And you know, so not to discourage anyone, you know, or or, or, or you know, make it seem out of reach.

It's just, you know, there's. Quite honestly, a ton of work to gaze into, you know, whether it's SEO or email marketing or you know, conversion optimization. But I would say that those are probably, you know, realistic you know, numbers for onboarding and for, you know, a monthly retainer know service based on you know, I would say.

A minimal amount of work that would need to be done to get that client up to the best practice standards. And then, you know, actually embark on doing the work, you know, each month. And, and again, depending on, you know, the, the amount of services that they want each month, it can go up from there, you know?

I could tell you for me, I, you know, I've been a soap note for so long and it took me and I've always had somebody to kind of help me do something along the way. But as I move into a phase where I'm trying to scale right now, I know that I need people on my team. You know that I can go to and say, Hey, listen, I need you to handle this, or I need you to let me just handle the things that I like.

I don't know if I told you Chris and I probably didn't, but I so good morning when that is my love. Right. I love wanting to go net, right. Launching a beer, a breakfast beer. And so people probably think I'm nuts and probably am, but to me, It's always about, what's gonna make people really want to get involved with good morning grenade.

What's going to make people rally around as a community program. What's going to show people what's possible for them. That's why I'm so happy to be doing talk tech Tuesday once a month. Uh, You and I do talk business Tuesday, every other, every Tuesday after that. Because I think people need to understand, you know, if you have a dream, you can do the dream.

I've launched plenty of dreams by myself, but to scale a dream. And make it outlive you, you're going to need a team of people. And so we know Chris, and I know that technology is not going anywhere. It's going to be here forever. It's not going anywhere. It's probably going to be more technology than people, pretty soon.

It's not going anywhere. So if you're thinking about, you know, scaling a business, you need to put people in place. And here's the thing. I know a lot of you guys are startups. I know that, but you have to really sit down for a second. So, you know what. What is it that I'm trying to do? And what is it that I'm willing to give up to do that thing?

When I first started my very, I called him my real business. I gave up my job, literally not had a baby. You know, I had bad credit and I was like, I'm going to follow this dream. And I did. I w people thought I had lost my mind. I was working at Verizon. I was making good money. And they was like, you going to give up your dream, you're going to complete your job when you nuts.

And I did. I took a paper route, Chris, I actually slung papers. At three o'clock in the morning, I would go pick my papers up on the paper Depot and go to people's houses with my flashlight and put their papers on their front porch, because I was so dedicated to the dream. Now I'm at the point in my life where I want to scale.

And so I know I need to bring on people who are experts like Chris and doing the things that they did. I don't have time to learn SEO. I know that's a whole nother business by itself. I don't have time to learn all of that. I'm trying to learn how to manufacturing beer right now.

You know what I'm saying? And even with that, even with that, I will not be the master brewer. There's a master brewer. Who's walking me through what I need to understand, so he can, he can brew my beer, you know? So you have to put people in place if you're trying to scale. And I know some of those numbers sound frightening, but here's the thing you got to ask yourself.

Are you willing to give a vacation as, so you can get a good SEO plan and in place, I'm just asking the question. Cause I did that for years. I gave it all up because I was chasing my dream and listen, I will do that to this day. So Chris, I'm so excited. You were here with me this morning. I know you're coming back next month, the first, the first Tuesday of the month.

But before then, where can people reach out to you? Sure. So yeah, anybody is welcome to get in touch with the direct. And one thing that I was going to say is to kind of piggyback on on your, your great story. Yeah, it is a lot of work and technology is not going anywhere anytime soon. And it would be ridiculous for, for someone who's starting up or looking to scale, to expect to learn everything that they need to know.

To do digital marketing. It's a lot of work and if you're not passionate about it, you're not going to do a good job. You're not going to do, you're not going to see it through. And, and you're going to get frustrated. And because of, because you felt like you failed, right. And that's in, I've been in the same, same shoes that you walked in, you know, to, to get this thing started.

You know, I left a really great hop and job. And because, because I felt like this was my calling, you know, and all that to say, you know, don't let the numbers area that we talked about, you know, we're from digital marketing, because I'm passionate about, about what I do and the services at offer and advice is always going to be free, you know?

So if somebody wants to reach out to me with questions on, like, how can I get my, my left side to rank higher? I'm going to give you the play-by-play on what we can do to, or what, what they can do, you know, themselves to to, to help get started on the right foot, even if they can't afford you know, services at that time, you know, I'm never gonna, never gonna shut the door on somebody and say, Oh, you can't afford the invoice.

So I can't help you. Like I say, you know, our, our motto here is, is we're always happy to help. And, and that's one thing that I really pride myself on. So if anybody wants to get in touch, you know, to talk about SEO or paid search or email marketing or conversion optimization, sell them on Amazon, you know, any of these things they can reach out to me direct they can reach me at Chris C H R I s@theconversionmill.com.

Or they can go to the website and You know, and check out all the the resources that we have there, which is just simply the conversion mill.com and you know, and like don't hesitate to, to pick up the phone and, and call or or email, you know, send a carrier, pigeon, whatever they gotta do to to get in touch and then get their questions answered because, you know, without a, a good person on your team, helping navigate all this kind of stuff, it's scary.

You know, because there's so much that can be done and there's so much so much, you know, questionable or bad information out there online on how to get you know, how to improve your rankings or, you know, improve your conversion rate or you know, optimize your ad campaigns and things like that.

So, Like I say, we're, we're always here to help. Always look forward to, to anybody that has, you know, questions about how to get more traffic to their website, how to get more feet through the door. I, I love those conversations and I love seeing you seeing businesses succeed. What we do, isn't easy, whether it's sell an ice cream or digital marketing services or, you know, anything in between, you know, running a business is not easy.

It's always great to have a good team backing you up. And if all we do for, for people who call in is give them advice on first steps, then I'm happy with that. You know, I just want to see people succeed at what they loved. Thanks. Nice. Listen, I'm going to be calling you. Cause I am, you know, I, and listen, he said there's a lot of stuff out there that you can do.

There's a lot of stuff out there. You can do bad. Trust me. I've done a lot of it, so I can tell you that right off the gate. But I will be calling to set up my consultation because I really do want to put a plan in place. Moving good morning with net to the next level. I have really big goals.

That's why I'm watching this whole beer thing. And that's exciting though, that, you know, launching a product is exciting. So I'm doing that, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna shoot your email, Chris, and I don't know what your schedule is like next Wednesday. I gotta go. I gotta go to Jersey and freeze for a couple of days.

And then I'll be back. But next Wednesday, I'm going to see if you were available next Wednesday. So I can, are you still at paradigm? Yep. Okay, good. Good, good. So I'm going to send you a a message email shortly. So we can sit down and talk about, you know, how to, what I need to budget for what I need to do.

And so you guys can help me because I'm so serious about scaling this business. Y'all till it keeps me up at night and when it keeps you up at night, you know, you're onto something, right. Do you know, you're on to something. I got a headache right now. Cause I was up half the night thinking I thought I was asleep, but I was actually thinking but thank you so much for getting, being my guests.

And I looked so forward to talking to you next one, then bring you back so people can get to hear more about what they need to be doing too in the digital marketing space to grow the business. And, and so thank you so much for just sharing so much great information. Listen guys, he gave you four steps to get started.

You can get started on your own. Google my business. Yep. Being places for business on your Facebook plate, your Facebook business page, if all that sounds overwhelming to you, just call Chris. You see he saying he's looks and we're here to help everybody. He said, that includes you. Don't try to do it all by yourself.

It's hard. And you could be doing something else that you really love versus trying to figure out how the algorithm is looking at a link. I'm just trying to help. I'm just trying to help you. I'm just trying to help you. I think you nailed it. You said it a whole lot more concise and I think better than I did.

So look, cause I got to go. I'm going to go to my last song and then I'll be back and keeping my word of inspiration for the day. But thank you again, Chris. Have a wonderful day. You too. Thanks for having me. I'm really looking forward to doing this each each month. I think tech Tuesday is going to be a lot of fun for us and hopefully help a lot of people out there.

I agree. Thanks a lot. Talk to you soon. Okay. Bye. Bye. I listened God and going into my last song, I'll be right back after this song and give you my word of inspiration for the day. So stay tuned.

Everyone knows. Keep calling him. Fuck's wrong.

I could say I was finally the truth.

welcome back. Welcome back. So listen guys, that's all I got for you today, but before I go on and give you my word of inspiration here, it goes to accomplish great things. We must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe. Ah, let me say that again to accomplish great things. We must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe Anatoly.

Fran said that. And he was absolutely right. Listen, you gotta be able to, if you want to accomplish anything great, you gotta be able to act. You gotta be able to dream. You gotta be able to plan, but you must. Above all else. Believe you have to believe. Like you can act, you can plan, you can dream it, but if you don't believe it, it's not going to happen.

You can make all the notes, you can build all the websites, you can go running every day. But if you don't believe that, what, that, that thing, believing that, that thing that you're trying to accomplish, that it can happen. It's not gonna happen. I'm telling you, like, I'm telling you, I look at, I look at all the things I've done, right?

The things that I truly, truly, truly believe that they're sitting in front of my face. I truly believed in that doll. I brought it to light Georgia tonight. I truly wanted to write the books they have written. Right. But there are other things that I say I want to do. There are things that I say I want to do, and I write them out and I make plans.

I do to do lists and nothing happens. You know why? Because one, I'm not probably very passionate about it. And two, I truly don't believe in it. See, I had to learn that I had to look at where I was and say, okay, why is this not happening for you? Oh, because you truly don't believe in it. Right. And that happens a lot to a lot of people and they want to know why they're not moving there.

You're not moving because yes. You put the action in place. Yes. You're doing all these things. You're going to the networking events. But do you really believe in it, like really. Cause you're doing a lot of stuff, but nothing is happening. It's probably because you really don't believe in it because once you believe in it, you start to do all the right things.

A lot of times you just doing a lot of stuff, but it's that stuff, the right stuff. You know what I'm saying? So to accomplish anything great. You must act must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe. Listen, I want to thank Chris hood for joining me today. Tech Tuesday tech talk Tuesday.

I'm excited about that. That is a new segment on the Good Morning Gwinnett show. And I did not get to the news, but I promise you I'll bring you some news tomorrow. I want to, I want to have a show that empowers. I want to have a show. That is the essence of who I am. I am a giver. I'm that person I want to empower and inspire you to live your best life, doing the things that you absolutely absolutely love.

The things that make you get out of bed every day. Like good morning, when that does, for me, I want you to feel that it feels good that you want to make it better. You know, I can make good morning when it better. There are a lot of businesses who listen to the show. There are a lot of business owners who have been on this show.

And so I know some of the struggles they have. So to be able to bring an expert on, to talk about SEO and digital marketing, I'm excited about that. I'm excited about that. Yes. I will be giving you some news on Tuesday, Mondays and Wednesdays. You may not get a hold of on Tuesdays. I'm here. You're going to get news on a tech talk Tuesday.

Chances are you're not going to get any news. You're going to get all tech talk, but that's okay. Talk business Tuesday when it's just me. I'll give you the news first and we'll talk business afterwards. But when Chris come on, as you can see, we're going to be talking tech for the whole. The whole 40 minutes, 45 minutes, maybe a little bit longer.

So I want to thank Chris hood again from Conversion Mills for being my co-host on Talk Tech Tuesdays. I'm looking forward to next month. Talk, take Tuesday because I'm sure we're going to have a lot to talk about. Because I tell you all the lists he sent me was crazy. I'm like, okay, seriously, we're not going to get to all of this.

And in one conversation, this is a 52 week. We need 52 months to get it through all this stuff, but we want to break it down. So you understand that one of the things about anything about digital marketing and business, right? When people break it down to you get to understand the better I was talking to my uncle, this one, then I'm going to go.

I was talking to my uncle this morning and I was explaining something to him. And he said to me, did you explain it to the person like that? Because I guess I expo. And I was like, no, and I'm not going to because here's the thing I did what I was supposed to do. I'm not going to go back and explain it again.

And that's not me being me. That's the person not thinking that they're not thinking. Right. And even though I've said what I had to say, they're still not thinking. And I don't know if it's, they're not thinking they just don't want to do it and that's cool. That's your thing. So I explained something to him and he was like, well, did you call her and explain that to her?

And I was like, no, and I'm not going to, you know So, anyway, I shared all that to say, listen, dream big dreams. Thank you so much for listening. You could be anywhere in the world, just in the last hour and 13 minutes with me. And I appreciate your loving to life that, you know, I love this show and I love coming to you.

And I'm looking forward to bringing you better guests, more guests, not better guests, more great guests. Every every Tuesday, every Thursday. We going to talk about good stuff. That's going to inspire you. So if you ain't Gwinette County, or if you in China, if you in Japan right now, All UN Jersey. I want you to be able to listen to the show and get something that's going to help you or the people that you love have a better life and empower you.

I love you, gospel. Listen, you could have been anywhere, but you spent it with me. Be sure to follow me on Facebook at good morning with follow me on Instagram. A good one to go there and follow me on the Twitter at GM Gwinette. Also go to Apple podcast. Find your favorite two episodes, your favorite two episodes and give it five stars.

You can also download the app from the app. So whether you've got an Android or Apple phone, we got a good morning when that app for that. So be sure to download the app from the app stores. I'll be back again tomorrow at 10:00 AM God willing, listen, stay safe out there. Hug the people you love and tell them you love them.

And until next time y'all make it a great day. Bye. Now you've been listening to good morning. Go in it, make sure to tune in Monday through Thursday at 10:00 AM Eastern time to find out what's happening around Gwinnett. If you liked this episode, subscribe now and share with your friends to learn more about noise media network.

Visit noise media.us.

Last Friday I had the opportunity be interviewed on DealCasters hosted by Jim Fuhs & Chris Stone.  This wasn't your typical interview.  It was an Amazon Live interview.  Now I know you might thinking what the heck is Amazon live and I can tell you it is amazing.  So Chris and Jim used StreamYard to bring me into their show to talk about Alexa and how I'm using it to build my podcast brand for Good Morning Gwinnett.  They both asked me questions on this Amazon live feed, but what was amazing about this was that it was all done live from the Amazon website.  The next amazing thing about this interview was that they put my books in the carousel from the Amazon book store and asked me questions about the reason I had written the books.  This was cool.  I felt like I was on Home Shopping Network promoting my products.  People who were watching the show and there were 1800 people watching live, could just click on my books and purchase them.  

Man I was so supped up about this interview and the amazing things Amazon is doing in the live streaming industry.  Having the capability to go live and sell my books right from the live stream is so cutting edge.  I can't wait to see what Amazon rolls out next in this space.  

I added a link of the replay from the live stream for you to take a look.

Many of you who are reading this article are solopreneurs. Being a solopreneur can not only be lonely, it can also be difficult to grow because you are the one doing everything.

I'm a solopreneur, but I do have help. I have a producer that book the guest for my show and this is a huge help for me. But I realized that I need even more help, so I was in a meeting today with another podcaster and we were discussing how we could collaborate. We came up with some really good ideas. What also came out of that meeting is an administrative assistant who will handle all of the administration tasks that neither he nor I have the time to do. This will be a huge help for the growth of both our businesses. So if you can't afford to bring on a team you should ask yourself who can I collaborate with.

This is not my first time collaborating. I just finished up a great collaborative venture that helped me to pull through financially in my business when many other businesses were closing their doors. This was a 6 month partnership that worked out wonderfully for all involved. I had no idea that Covid-19 would stop us dead in our tracks but it did, but because of the collaborative partnership my business did not miss a beat. Well outside of the fact that I had to close down The Noise Factory which I had just opened and may some day open again when the demand for podcast production calls for it.

Here are the 5 things that are crucial to the success of any collaboration:

• Trust
• Respect
• Willingness To Compromise
• Empowerment
• Effective Communication

You want to make sure that you collaborate with someone who will bring something to the table and you need to be bringing something to the table as well.

I hope you found this article helpful.

Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey

Some business owners may think that writing an ebook is hard or that ebook marketing is dead. Well I want to assure that writing an ebook is not that hard and that ebook marketing is a live and a great way to create credibility for you and your business.

So let's talk about some ways to create an ebook. First thing you should know is that if you have any kind of skill set you can turn that into an ebook. I've written 7 books of which 4 of them are on Amazon as printed books and ebooks. I write about things that I know. When I write the first thing I do is create my book cover, because this leads me down the path of what I will put in the book. Now everyone has their own way of doing things. When it comes to writing books I need to see the end product first. Then I create an outline for what will go in the book. Almost all of my books are at least 75 pages. Which is great, because people are busy and don't want to read a 300 page book. I have a book right now that I believe is probably a great book, but it is over 300 pages I will probably never read it, because I don't have the time.

Another good thing about writing an ebook is that you can repurpose content that you already have and expand on it. You will probably have enough content for an ebook. I just recently launched my new podcast called Impact Marketing. I already know that this will be turned into a book, so I'm very intentional about the topics I share on the podcast. I make sure that the podcast is at least 10 minutes because every one minute in audio is about 130 written words, so 10 minutes of audio will be about 1,000 to 1,300 words. Most ebooks are about about 25 pages which is about 5,000 words. I know that I'm writing books, but I could easily break down my podcast into 3 or 4 episodes and turn those into ebooks. As I write this I just may do that. Anyway, once you've written your ebook announce it to the press and also share it on your social media. People still love to read and ebooks are a great source of not only education, but also entertainment. For some it's a way to relax. As a business owner ebooks are a great way for you to create credibility and exposure for your business.

Now if you still need more information about how to create an ebook, I know for a fact that there is a ton of information out there for you to study. If you can't find a resource to help you let me know and I will schedule a class on how to get it done.  In the meantime if you want to learn how to self-publish check out my book on self-publishing by Clicking Here.

I hope you found this article helpful.

Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey

I've been working on driving more traffic to my podcast website and I found that SEO has been working out well for me. My goal was to post 3-5 times a week on the site. I took a look at my analytics and saw that my website traffic was up 300% with 95% of that traffic coming directly from Google. SEO and content are critical to increasing the traffic to your website. It is not enough just to have a website you have to work hard at driving traffic to that site. There are many ways to do this, but I decided on content and SEO to be the strategies that I would use. Of course you can use Facebook ads or PPC to increase your traffic to your site a little faster, but you will have to pay for that traffic. I decided to go with good old free.

Here are 3 ways to drive free traffic to your website:

For those on a shoestring budget, free traffic is definitely the way to go. Even if you have a steady cash flow, the potential of free traffic sources in bringing you extra eyeballs shouldn’t be overlooked.
Free traffic is essentially drawing visitors to your site without having to pay for advertising fees.

There are several ways to draw free traffic to your site, such as:

-Article Submission
-Search Engine Optimization
-Offline Traffic Methods

Article submission basically involves submitting articles related to your niche topic to high traffic article directories so that people searching for information will find your articles, which leads them to your website through an author’s resource box.

Search engine optimization is the art of getting your page to the top of Google or Yahoo’s search engine by targeting high search volume “keyword phrases”.

Offline traffic methods deal with promoting one’s website through offline methods such as banners, flyers, direct response marketing and name cards.

Article marketing was one of the most widely used traffic generation methods in the past, and still is widely used today. 

Here are some links to article directories that will allow you to submit articles.

• www.HubPages.com
• www.ArticleAlley.com
• www.SelfGrowth.com

I use to submit to article directories a lot back in the day, but now I post my articles on my own website. Another great place to post articles is on www.medium.com. You can get a lot of traffic back to your site if you are posting as an authority. Posting to all of these different places takes time that is why I prefer to post on my own site and every now and again I post on LinkedIn. Now I will say that I think LinkedIn can be very good for posting articles and I am looking at post more articles there in the near future.

​I know that I only talked about article marketing here and of course there are way more than 3 ways to drive free traffic to your website, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with too much content.

I hope you found this article helpful.

Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey