A Brighter Web | Grow your business with digital marketing

What is it like to start and run a marketing agency? Our co-host Mickey Mellen invites his co-founder Ali Green to the show to discuss building GreenMellen together. This is a peek behind the curtain of how a digital marketing agency works and what it takes to operate smoothly. Ali Green on GreenMellen's WebsiteAli Green on LinkedInThe E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

Is SEO still relevant to marketers, especially with recent changes with technology? The short answer is yes, and we invited search expert Bobby Kircher to discuss why. Let’s make search optimization practical and achievable for small businesses like yours. Links https://bobbykircher.com/https://papayasearch.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbykircher/

Is your small business struggling with content marketing? In this episode, we invited on our friend Adam Walker to talk about repurposing content for different platforms. These simple tips will help you scale your marketing strategy to reach a wider audience and save time. Links https://adamjwalker.com/https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techtalkyall/https://www.togetherletters.com/https://edgewise.media/https://adamjwalker.substack.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjwalker/

After 60 episodes of the Brighter Web podcast, we're changing things up. Starting in 2024, we're bringing guests to the show and talk about digital marketing topics. We'll be back in a few months with some new, slightly different-sounding episodes.

There’s no shortage of digital metrics to measure, but conversions are perhaps the most important. These are the actions that actually help your business to grow. But how do you measure and improve your conversions online? What are website conversions? What is conversion optimization? Why does conversion matter? How do you get people to convert more? How do you measure conversion rates? Do platforms outside of your website influence conversions?

The internet is about far more than just making money—but that’s certainly something you can do. Content creators have found plenty of ways to earn income from the digital stuff they make. This list is far from comprehensive, but here are 10 big buckets of ways to make money from the content you create online. TeachableSkillshareKajabiPost StatusMighty NetworksPatreonThrough FacebookKickstarterDirectly on AnchorGoogle AdSenseAmazon Affiliate linksYouTube monetization

Effecitve marketing requires an investment. For a business, this means creating and spending a marketing budget. But how much should you spend on marketing, and what return should you expect? There’s no one answer, so let’s examine the right approach. Where do I start with my marketing budget? How much should I be spending on marketing? What categories should I consider? How do I expand my marketing budget?

Digital marketing is useless without personal connections and word-of-mouth referrals. But is networking played out or ripe for you to take advantage of? It all depends on your approach. How does networking help my marketing? What kind of events can I network at? What are some networking best practices? Is it worth sponsoring networking events? What about speaking at events? Should I plan my own networking event?

There are plenty of great and effective digital marketing channels, but there are just as many bad ones. Or at least good channels that tend to be used poorly by lazy marketers. These are our six least favorite marketing channels. Robert’s 3 least favorite Mickey’s 3 least favorite

Technology can make marketing easier for your business. The various software tools your company uses for marketing combine to make a marketing stack. But what tools should you use and how do you build the right marketing stack? What is a marketing stack? The set of tools and technologies that you use to plan, execute, and measure your marketing efforts. What are the different categories to consider? How do you choose the right marketing software? It’s the classic battle of “all in one” (like Zoho) or the best of each different piece. I lean toward the best of each piece but certainly combine when I can. How do you set a budget for your software? In most cases, for a small business, time is a bigger issue than cost. The cost for most of these tools doesn’t exceed perhaps $30/user/mo, but it can add up. Do you need digital tools for everything? YES! At least that’s our opinion.

We’ve talked about several skills marketers need in previous podcast episodes. Now, let’s bring it all together and give an overview of the seven most important skills we all need to hone. Which ones do you need to work on? Related Podcast Episodes Why Writing is the Most Important Marketing SkillProfessional Development Made Simple For Digital Marketers10 Books Every Marketer Should ReadPreparing to Migrate to Google Analytics 4The Future of AI and Digital Marketing

Creating your own marketing channels is a valuable practice. However, you can reach new audiences and gain extra credibility by sharing your content on other people’s platforms. These guest contributions have their own pros and cons, which we’ll discuss here. What do we mean by guest contributions? What kind of content or platforms can you contribute to? What are the benefits to contributing as a guest? What are the downsides? How do you get started with guest contributing?

Marketing has no shortage of acronyms, and B2B and B2C are two of the most important. These represent two large business categories, however, they’re not as different as you might think. Listen in as we compare and contrast these two types of companies (plus a few more). What are the biggest differences between B2B & B2C marketing? Why is it helpful to distinguish between the two? How are these similar? Why do we focus more on B2B? Are there other options beyond B2B & B2C?

Customer testimonials and case studies are everywhere within marketing. But what’s the difference between these two things, and how can your business use them? Let’s unpack how to maximize your customer stories. What’s the difference between testimonials and case studies? Why are both important in marketing? Where can you use each one? How can you source testimonials? What format should your case study take?

We did it—we made 50 episodes of the podcast! Since most podcasts never make it past episode 3, we figured this was a time to reflect back on what we’ve learned so far and how we made it this far. Thank you for being a listener of the Brighter Web Podcast! Most listened-to episodes Some of our favorite episodes Other stuff we talk about

Buzz, buzz, buzz. No, it’s not a bee, but it’s equally as distracting—it’s another digital notification that’s pulling you away from your other priorities. Dealing with digital distractions is a daily dedication, but one we all must definitely deal with. What are digital distractions? What are some examples? Why are these problematic? When should we be wary of distractions? Why does this matter in marketing? How do we deal with digital distractions?

Constantly cranking out new marketing content gets exhausting quickly. Using evergreen content that can be recycled makes the content marketing rat race a little more sustainable. Here’s some approaches for how to create and use evergreen content in your business. What is evergreen content? Why is this beneficial? How do you come up with evergreen topics? What are some examples? How do you use evergreen content?

Online reviews are often trusted more than other forms of marketing because they come from neutral third-party sources. You can’t fully control your brand’s reputation, but you can respond to negative reviews and encourage positive feedback. Why are online reviews helpful? How can you get started taking control of your reviews? What are the most common review sites? What are tips for responding to reviews? How can you encourage positive reviews?

Believe it or not, there’s more to marketing than digital media. Websites can coexist with billboards, and email doesn’t replace direct mail. The best marketers learn how to leverage both of these types of marketing to work together. Why should people care about non-digital channels? What are examples of offline channels to pay attention to? What do offline channels have that digital platforms don’t? What’s the best way to balance offline and online? How can you effectively start to connect offline and online?

If you’ve ever been on the internet, you’ve probably seen some video content—it’s everywhere. Some platforms—like YouTube and TikTok—are completely video based. There’s a reason why video content is so effective, but it’s not that easy or cheap for every business to create quality videos. This episode is your guide to understanding video and where to get started. Why is video so popular with digital content? Why is video difficult to create? What kind of video content should we create? What do I need to start making video content? What are some marketing video tips?