Community Discussion: Are You Practicing Awareness Of Your Own Marketing Questions?
-
Good Afternoon Moz Friends!
This week, one of my favorite bloggers in the Local SEO industry wrote a post to celebrate his 5 year blogging anniversary. Phil Rozek has brought an incredible level of knowledge to the industry and one of the things I've most admired about his writing is the consistency with which he tackles common, important problems everyone involved is facing. The tip from Phil's anniversary post that I'd like to discuss with you all this this one, about practicing awareness of the obstacles you encounter in your daily work, for the purpose of investigation and possible public sharing of the solutions you discover:
"Jot down every idea you have, every question you ask yourself that stumps you, and every question someone asks you that stumps you. Those are yourraw materials. You probably won’t write on all of them, but you’ll want the ability to cherry-pick."
As a Moz staffer and a marketer, I can testify to the fact that my brain exists in a whirl of possibilities, questions and a never-ending search for relevant solutions. Never a day goes by in which I don't say to myself, at least once,"I wonder why that's like that? Why doesn't this work? How do I do that? What is that? Why don't I get that?" or something similar about a new product, new technology, Google issue, customer issue, industry issue or what have you.
What I've learned is that if I have a question about something that I can't instantly resolve, chances are, I'm not the only one who has that question. If you're a blogger, a copywriter, an email marketer, a social marketer, if you can solve a common problem, you have just discovered something to share.
_But,_if you're not practicing mindfulness, little questions that arise in the course of an 8 hour day can come and go. They can simply get lost. This is why I value Phil's common sense suggestion of jotting each mental query down as it arises. A spreadsheet seems like a great idea for this task. Just think of how many talking/sharing points you could accumulate in a month ... and how that could translate into blog posts, newsletters, tweets, etc.
Now, I'd like to ask if you've come up with a method for capturing your own thought process when questions arise so that you don't lose track of what might be some of your best queries and ideas. If you have tips to share, the community could really benefit! Thanks!
-
Nice! Thanks for confirming, Andy.
-
Hi Miriam,
It's the one that was on the phone. Does everything I need
-Andy
-
Hey Andy!
Another very cool suggestion. Is the voice recorder something that came out-of-the-box with your phone, or is it an app you installed? I like your method very much!
-
My phone is constantly attached to me, more so than the ability to write anything down, so on the home-screen, I have my voice recorder. I say what I need to and then rename it. Takes me 2 seconds and means I forgot nothing - even when I am offline or have limited internet access.
The files stay there until they are no longer required.
-Andy
-
Hey Bas!
This is definitely the kind of thing I'm hoping our community will contribute to the discussion. Sounds like Todoist is really working well for you, and I like you point about how you can jot this stuff down quickly enough that it's not then distracting you from the work at hand, knowing you can return to it later. Cool!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your strategy.
-
Hi Miriam,
Since i always have my phone around, that has proven to be a perfect tool. I use the Todoist-app, Google Drive/Docs-app and the camera. These have proven to be invaluable (i believe that is how you say that in English..) to me!
When a new idea or a solution comes to mind, i rarely have a computer at hand. Or i might be working on a completely different thing or project.
Now I just have to open the app that seems to be the easiest and voila: i've captured the idea.
In the next couple of days i will always run into the image i took, the note in Todoist or the mention in Drive. At that point i usually have the time to write it down in my agenda to plan some time to really start working on the idea.
In the mean time i find myself finetuning the idea. And thinking how useful this idea actually is. It might seem like a great idea at 1.30 in the morning. But does it still after a couple of days? Doesn't have to be!
So: capturing the idea apparently makes my mind realise it can relax and doesn't have to hold on to this idea. And the other ideas that came up in the past. I think that is what people call 'mindfulness'.
Instead of draining myself, these apps help me stay focussed at the task that i'm being paid for now. While not losing potentially great ideas and allowing me to pick them up at a later moment in time.
For instance: today i have several categories in Todoist and Drive. Ranging from business goals, possible blog posts to possible birthday presents. I might not need some of these for quite some time. But when I do, I know I have captured the most ideas that came to mind. And they are there for when I'm ready. I like that thought.
Hope you can use some of this for your discussion!
Bas
-
I think it also depends on your learning style too but its just easier to keep a small notepad with me while im at work or in meetings. Whenever I get an idea its easy to jot ideas down or sketch stuff out without opening documents.
-
Nice, Jordan. And funny how good old pen-and-paper can still sometimes be easier than opening .docs, typing things, etc. I like your common sense approach.
-
I find it useful to keep a small notebook with me at all times that I can easily keep in my back pocket. It makes it easier to write down any questions or ideas that come to mind and then later transfer it to ms one note or an evernote account to review it later.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Adwords Forecasting Question
Hi Guys, First time question. I'm going to be creating some Adwords search campaigns. When I create these campaigns I will be targeting specific post codes in London. I've checked this and all is fine. However I need to forecast costs for my client before creating the campaigns. Google Keyword Planner only allows me to forecasts volume and CPC costs for London, it doesn't allow me to drill down any further than this. What would be the best way to try and forecast costs for these postcode specific campaigns? Even if its using a third party tool. Or is it just not possible? Thanks Dan
Local SEO | | jazzydan0 -
Internation SEO question
I have a domain in the UK with ccTLD ending in ac.uk our website is www,metfilmschool.ac.uk and it ranks really well in the UK, we also own metfilmschools.com and we want to improve our SEO in the USA? Should I use the ccTDL domain and create a subdomain or should I use the .com domain? Also. because both sites are in English what are the best practices not to duplicate content and avoid being penalized by Google? Thanks Cassio
Local SEO | | cptrevisani0 -
Spaces between Letters and Numbers SEO question
This is a fun one - Example: Mercedes Benz is pushing to have all of there vehicle models to coincide with the world branding such as the "C300" is supposed to be "C 300" and the "E300" is supposed to be "E 300"... I have a few issues here as when I use Voice Search for "Mercedes Benz C 300" there is no way (that I know of) to add a space between the number and letter. In addition, when searching for the "C 300 for sale" Google corrects the text with "Did you mean: C300 for sale". I am seeking a way to accommodate both versions of the models WITHOUT adding the both C300 and C 300...etc. to the text on web pages. OR will Google eventually change the model names over time as Mercedes-Benz regulates the new U.S. naming convention. Tough question - any thoughts? Thank you for your help -
Local SEO | | MBS-MBA0 -
Community Discussion: Miriam's 2017 Local SEO Predictions ... And Yours?
I want to start this thread by thanking everyone in our community who has started and contributed to great threads this past year. You guys are an inspiration! I want to offer up a few predictions for the Local SEO industry in 2017 and ask you to contribute your own: Attribution will be big in 2017. Google will roll out a more thorough set of attributes in the GMB dashboard as we move forward through the new year. We'll see further rollout out of paid packs in service industries in which Google can play the middle man role. Free-packs won't be gone by the end of the year, but there will be fewer of them. Even SMB local businesses will have to start to tackle the ramifications of voice search. Local SEO will continue to merge with traditional, offline marketing. Local business websites will still matter, but Google will continue to do all it can to keep users within layers of its own local product, and some people will find this maze a bit bewildering. Reviews will finally be recognized as an integral facet of citations, rather than as something separate from them. Now, please, look into your own crystal ball and share your predictions with the community. What are your predictions for Local SEO in 2017? I'd love to know. And, while I'm at it, please let me wish each of you a busy and profitable new year in our exciting industry!
Local SEO | | MiriamEllis4 -
Local SEO Best Practices for 2,000+ 'location' service area business
Hi Moz Community! We operate a business where we have a network of 2,000+ technicians around the country who help people repair their mobile phones. These techs do the fixing at the customer's location, making them service area businesses. Even after scouring all of the go-to places on local SEO, I'm struggling to find best practices for this type of situation - the fact that our techs are operating in service areas presents a number of challenges. The biggest one, it seems, is that inevitably service areas are going to overlap. When I talked to a Google rep on this he said this "might" cause our locations to get de-listed and we'd just have to test and find out. Other challenges include the fact that we cannot bulk upload the service areas of our techs, and we cannot bulk verify - meaning there is a ton of work to do at our scale. Any suggestions on where to go to find resources on this specific topic, or an example of someone doing this well we can model? Thanks everyone!
Local SEO | | JohnGroves1 -
How to market locally for a national brand?
I just got a new client that offers travel information for cities throughout the US and Canada. They have a specific page set up for most locations. I want to promote each page for that community, but the task is very daunting, as you could imagine. It's almost like having a separate client in each city. I've optimized the title tags, meta descriptions, content and so forth, but that's not enough. Engaging in a backlinking and social media strategy for each location is insane - I wouldn't have enough time in the day. Looking for off page promotional ideas that can be scaled nationally. Does anyone have a similar situation with a national brand, or any ideas you'd like to share?
Local SEO | | Masbro1 -
How is it possible to create unique content (never blogged or discussed before) content on common topics? Is it practically possible?
It is a common advise by all seo experts to write unique and useful content in the articles or blog posts. How is it possible to find unique topics when thousands of small business owners blog on similar business? Is it really possible? Any advise on this.
Local SEO | | govi0 -
Does this tactic fall into the Local SEO best practice?
Hi Mozzers, I have a client who serves the entire San Francisco bay area but has only one physical location. He asked me if he should get different addresses by renting out offices in different cities so he could use that for a better localization of his business. Thanks for letting me know!
Local SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0