For the last few years, I’ve had a tongue-in-cheek phrase on my official bio that reads: “If you feed him great pasta or great whisky, he’ll give you the cheat code to rank #1 on Google.” It’s mostly there because I dislike standard, overly formal, professional bios. But… not infrequently… someone (often a podcast host
SparkToro’s Statement on Racial Injustice
By SparkToro is a tiny company of just two people, Casey and Rand. Our small size does not preclude us from taking a role nor from an obligation to make the world around us more fair, equitable, and diverse. We are sickened by the persistent, pernicious racism and white supremacy that infects our country. We are
22 Minutes on Audience Intelligence: Slides, Video, & Q+A
By Last week, I was honored to join Jeff Sauer’s superb Data Driven U for a class on audience intelligence. And, thankfully, kindly, Jeff gave me permission to share our class and the subsequent Q+A on this blog. I think it’s invaluable, but frustratingly difficult to understand the answers to questions like: What can I learn
Why Marketing Flywheels Work
By The first few years of my career were awful. Drowning in debt, losing nine out of ten pitches for new business, failing to earn clients. It felt like nothing I did moved the needle until I started my blog and slowly, very slowly… things changed. Gradually, more and more people visited my website (seomoz.org, which
Want Your Content to Succeed? Make it Resonate with the Right Audience (no, not that one).
By You know the stats. 75% of content gets no links. 91% of content earns no Google traffic. 85%+ of content earns fewer than ten social shares. And we’re not even talking about all web content — just those pieces creators produced specifically to earn shares, links, rankings, and traffic. Tragically, much like the US economy,
How to Use Your First Ten SparkToro Searches
By Before SparkToro existed, the process of researching a brand’s audience was a frustrating one. I know, because I helped a lot of friends, especially those pursuing early stage ideas or launching new products. It took forever — usually months, sometimes 6+. The data was always self-reported (which meant it was often wrong). And scale was
How to Create a Launch Outreach List in <10 Minutes
By It’s crunch time. You’ve got an upcoming launch — a big piece of content, new research whitepaper, a brand new feature, product, or service — and you need to earn the attention of the right audience. The obvious channels: your own email list, social accounts, and blog will only get you so far. You need
SparkToro’s Finally Here
By Almost two years ago, Casey Henry and I joined forces on SparkToro in the hopes of solving a thorny, expensive, long-standing problem in the market research world: How to discover the publications & people that influence any group of people online. Though we’re launching at a very scary time in the world, we’re excited to
Read The Room.
By When folks ask me about how best to do marketing right now, my answer is consistently turning into the same three words: Read the room. Imagine you’ve walked into a religious space. This room is sacred to the people inside it. When you speak, whatever you say will be viewed through the context of where
Marketing Right Now Is #$%*ing Hard.
By Over the last couple weeks, I’ve talked to dozens of startup founders, small business owners, and web marketers of all kinds. Folks are scared, and rightfully so. Staring into the face of an uncertain period of quarantining followed by what most estimate will be the worst economic downturn of the last 50 years, and maybe