#even if I tell myself I’m a failure for taking forever to update stuff
Note
Don’t say that! I love your writing so much!!! There’s nothing wrong with sticking to canon, and the way you write all the characters is amazing! You have such great characterization and the way you write emotions is just incredible!
Your writing is absolutely incredible, even if you may not believe it yourself you contribute a lot to this fandom and I know you’ve definitely made some of my awful days better just because I read some of the things you’ve published. Every time I see you post I get excited because I love your content so much!
The things you create are valuable and lovely because they’re yours! They are wholeheartedly and entirely yours! That is what makes them amazing! It makes it unique and beautiful and no one else can make it!
I know it’s hard to believe and your mentality won’t change just because I, one insignificant person you’ve never met, said this, but I hope someday you can believe it.
Until then, I (and so, so many other people, I imagine) will remind you as many times as you need. I hope you have an excellent night and I offer you hugs 🫂
Ohhh anon
I was having a moment of self-doubt and getting frustrated with my writing so I decided to go do something else, and then I come back and see this lovely message that makes me cry 💖
You’re so sweet anon, thank you so much for your kind words. They mean a lot 😭
#it’s just#hard sometimes#to remember people do like what I write#and I know I know I’ve been posting stuff pretty regularly lately#but like#I truly haven’t updated any of my longer stuff in what feels like forever#and that really depresses me because I feel like I’m letting people down#even though I know I should take my time#I guess it just makes me frustrated I can’t keep to a regular schedule even though other people seem to manage it fine#idk#plus how I stick generally close to canon#I guess it’s just hard to remember people enjoy that and don’t mind waiting#even if I tell myself I’m a failure for taking forever to update stuff#but all that to say#I really appreciate you anon <3 thank you#answers from the floor#anon
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Where no one knows your name
How many times is a person meant to make new friends?
When I moved into an apartment in DC with an absolutely iconic girl from Craigslist, I wrote in my journal, “you never know when you’ll meet your next bridesmaid.” Charmingly juvenile, as I was 24 years old. Ironic, as I never had any bridesmaids. And embarrassing, knowing I wrote something that’s surely been embroidered on a bachelorette party t-shirt by now.
My point was: you can meet people you fall in love with anywhere, anytime, assuming your heart (and calendar) are open.
Now my heart and calendar are open and I am one of Elizabeth Bennet’s sad sisters, cloying and desperate for attention while everyone at the ball ignores me.
Meeting people here is unnerving and hapless and eye-clawingly vulnerable. My first new friend told me she was moving away in a few months. Do you invest deeply in hopes of another faraway friendship? Do you just go back to waving as you pass on the street? I like this girl! What an embarrassing thing to have to say to someone! Do you just invite people to every and anything like a lunatic? I can’t even remember to call the people I am forever-and-ever in cahoots with.
I’m also deeply bound by what I’ll call the Movie Trap: say it’s 3pm during not-a-pandemic, and you get the urge to see a movie. You look at the showings, and there’s one you really want to see at 7:15. You think to yourself, “I should make an effort,” and you text a friend.
“Hey, you wanna go see This Cool Movie at 7:15 tonight?”
No one ever says yes. Don’t give me an example of when someone has, because it’s always one of these answers:
“Oooh, I’m actually seeing it with Kate tomorrow - wanna come?”
“Can we go to the 9pm showing? Stuck at work.”
“Yeah but let’s see Movie You’ll Fucking Hate instead.”
Now maybe I’m just lighting flares guiding you to the worst parts of my personality, but this drives me nuts. No, Liz, I don’t want to go tomorrow. I want to go tonight. At 7:15. So I can be in bed by 10. And you’d have to drag my dead body and prop open my eyes to get me to see something like Marriage Story in theaters.
The Movie Trap is a big reason I usually hang out by myself, or I make plans weeks in advance. (Don't I sound like a blast.) Just the idea of being like, “I like you! Wanna hang out in October?” makes me want to collapse into a puddle of sad adulthood. Which is why on Friday at 4:30pm, when a girl I’d met a week prior asked if I wanted to grab a drink, I just said yes. I put on a pretty dress, did my makeup, put stuff in a purse, and drove the 25 minutes to town.
It was really fun! And how novel to have new contacts in my phone like “Maggie blue house” and “Jess concert friend” — a throwback to the days of “Greg guy on L train” and “Devon ad party.” The very concept of not knowing someone’s last name or even needing it, and a year from now updating their contact info and smiling at your origin story.
But for the most part, no one is in our phones. In terms of phone numbers collected, here is the list:
Two friends we knew prior who thank god you guys exist.
New friend who is moving away.
New friend who is game to drink tequila and ride mountain bikes.
Neighbor-not-yet-friend who I really fucking like and am not sure how to cross hang-out threshold with.
Not to say there aren’t any other prospects or people I’m platonically gaga over, but I don’t have their phone numbers. There are honestly a lot of people like this because when you live in a small town (and you’re from the Midwest) you say “oop, sorry” to every person/object you bump into, and you say “hi :)” to every person you see. These are the rules. If I drive by you and don’t wave, it’s because I was so deep in a daydream I probably shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. This isn’t acceptable, because in our urgency to tattoo our vaccination status on our foreheads so we can make friends, it turns out just driving by someone can be a viable strategy.
A few days ago, a man was driving by our kitchen window and then our driveway, and then he reversed back up to the kitchen window and started waving.
Ben went outside — it was that kind of wave. The man had seen from his car a smokejumper emblem on the back of a truck in our driveway.
“Hey, are you a smokejumper?”
We aren’t. But my dad was, and he was in town visiting, accompanied by the emblem on the back of his truck. The guy said we should drink sometime. Numbers were not exchanged. We’ll call that a node, because it’s not quite a connection. And it’s mainly nodes, waiting to be connected, to have relevance.
But first, no matter who you’re trying to befriend, you have to answer everyone else’s Do I Care Quiz. The quiz is employed by 93% of locals to determine how they feel about you existing within their personal 50-mile radius. The first question is non negotiable:
1) Are you visiting?
Variations on this question include “how long are you in town?” or “what brings y’all to town?” or my least favorite and most insulting, “did you just finish Jeeping?” I know I have blonde hair and say y’all, but how dare you. (Also, to be clear, you can own a Jeep, customize your Jeep, mod out your Jeep, and love your Jeep, but you’re not Jeeping until you drive too fast through a tiny town so you can hurl your Jeep over a mountain pass without ever getting out of it.)
So the answer to “are you visiting” is “no, I live here.” Which brings us to the next question, my favorite for how loaded the gun, kneeling in the grass, scope on, target locked it is.
2) Are you part-time or full-time?
The first time I answered this question, I didn’t realize it was essentially like asking how someone voted in the 2020 election. The judgment was cocked and ready and the palpable relief/joy/or at the very least, tolerance, exuded by answering “full-time” was like when the sun comes out from behind the clouds on a 40 degree day. I was fine, but wow that does feel better.
The third question though does not have a standard hoped-for answer. This is where nodes turn to connections turn to phone numbers.
3) What brings you here?
It seems like the best possible answer would be saying you work in town, and you’re going to begin construction on displaced-worker housing to ensure the people who run this town can actually live in it. We’d have everyone’s phone number. Saying you’re a writer who works remotely and bought a house from a legendary and beloved local who could no longer afford it is really something you keep to yourself.
But in the interest of making friends, I just word vomit my entire history. We might as well find out at the onset if I make your eyes roll back into your skull. Not at all threatening that all it takes is a single social signal misinterpreted to be the absolute death knell of my ability to make friends in a town of some 1400 adults.
In fact, I’ll share one such interaction. I was hiking with Cooper, about 5 miles by foot away from my house. I was on a trail, crossing a sloped meadow, and a group was traversing up the hillside to the trail. I said hi, where y’all coming from. One girl answered and we talked about the trail. She eyed me up and down.
“Did you just move here?”
“I did!”
“I served your family last week,” she said.
“Oh,” that phrasing. “Must have been my in-laws.”
“Heard you bought Jack’s house. Such a bummer when locals like that are forced out.”
“We didn’t even know about his house,” I said. “We were looking at another house and he asked his realtor if he could get us to come see his house. We just loved it, and him!” She had no emotional reaction to this.
“You moved from California?” she asked. (Dangerous question.)
“Yeah, got these sea level lungs, haha,” attempting to disarm with humor was a failure, “but couldn’t be happier to be out of California.”
“It’s not like this all year. Winter’s really hard here, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
“Well California’s the last place I lived, but I’m not from there. I’ve lived in brutal winters. At least Colorado gets sun!” I laugh with cloaked loathing.
“It’s different when you live at altitude,” she said, like no human aside from her had ever been literally anywhere. “Are you trying to go around?” She indicated the path behind her.
“No, y’all go ahead, just gonna wait to give you your space. I’m sure you’re faster than me.”
“K, good luck making it to the lake."
Maybe she was thirsty. Maybe she was hungover. Maybe she just has vicious delivery, but it felt like every blade of grass was leaning against the wind to listen. She was with four other people and not one of them said a word. I left that interaction not wanting to see another human ever again.
But that interaction, and her intimate knowledge of exactly which house I lived in, made me want to decorate like we lived in a gingerbread house, all candy canes and plum drops, screaming to any passerby that we’re friendly. One of the mayor’s first questions to me was “what are you going to do to the house?” There are rules here about what your house can look like, and I kept emphasizing we bought the house because we loved it, not because we wanted to change everything about it. And now, instead of wanting to decorate the interior, I want to put up shades so we don’t contribute to light pollution, I want to hang a sign by the water spigot saying “grab some if you need” for hikers and mountain bikers, I want to paint a sign for the wild mint by our door that says, “I mint to tell you to take some,” because our neighbors were openly panicked they wouldn’t be able to just grab mint from the cabin’s garden anymore.
Without question, COVID makes things harder. Dinner parties feel like dares. Dropping cookies off at someone’s house feels invasive. Grabbing a drink feels like the ultimate sign of trust. But at least we have nodes who can connect who can think to invite us and who can see that despite having lived in California, we’re not all that bad.
In the meantime, I’ll be painting signs about water and mint, hoping to garner the benefit of the doubt from the so beautifully, earnestly, and waiting-to-see-if-you’re-worth-it doubtful.
Subscribe to the newsletter at tinyletter.com/keltonwrites — high altitude relocation and renovation in a tiny mountain town.
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MDZS fic ideas
Things I’d love to see in Mo Doa Zu Shi fanfiction. These are my notes for things I have told myself I am not allowed to write. I’ve read...so many fics for this fandom, like most of the archive, and I’m sad that I’m pretty much at the point of rereading/waiting for updates. These ideas have been swimming around in my head that I have no time to write, so PLEASE someone take them and gimme some new words to read, I beg you. Of course, end goal should be wangxian in some way, because otherwise WHAT IS THE POINT, but I don’t have time to write these, so...here you go. Please let me know if you use them. I wanna read these, but I don’t have time to write them, so maybe someone else will want to.
*Time Travel AU in which WWX goes back and for some reason tells Madame Yu all the bullshit that’s gonna happen, so they team up and fix all the things. I just...really want Mama Yu to like WWX thanks. And dear god, LET JC BE HAPPY! I need so much more resolution on that front. Even the book did not satisfy me. I WANT MY BOYS TO GET ALONG! And I want Mama Yu to not be awful and abusive to WWX! I mean she had reasons for being salty but uh that is NOT good justification for the shit she pulled with WWX. Also, hell, let Jiang Fengmian get his core melted and have Madame Yu run the sect. WE NEED FEMALE REP.
*Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze live so WWX gets to grow up with his parents. He meets LWJ as a rogue cultivator or something idk. This would make a fun oneshot.
*LWJ’s mother lives! Honestly, I just want happy Lan-fam. Can I get that please? Just how much would it change the dynamic of the story if LWJ’s father led the sect properly and his mother wasn’t locked away in a goddamn building and actually got to spend more time with her kids? I am forever salty that we’ll never know why Mama Lan killed her hubby’s teacher or w/e. Somebody GIVE ME SOME REASONING.
*WWX gets taken in and claimed as heir by Wen Ruohan...and WWX doesn’t learn that their ways are wrong until he’s at least a teen (perhaps when sent to train at the Cloud Recesses?) and realizes how the other Sects really feel about them. Give him some convoluted morals that he has to unlearn. Make Wen Xu and Wen Chao hate him for being chosen over them. Change Wei Wuxian/Wei Ying into Wen Ying/Wen Wuxian and have it be a secret that he’s not actually a Wen. Have WWX actually not want the Wen Sect destroyed because despite how messed up its people are, not all of them are bad--mostly just those in power (it still baffles me that the other clans just DESTROYED an entire sect, like I know the Wens burned Lotus Pier but DAMN that’s cold!) Even some kind of variation where WWX influences Wen Ruohan and his children’s evil mindset would be really interesting. Otherwise, can you imagine WWX with Chenqing on the Wen side? Ouch. Also, this sticks WWX with Wen Ning and Wen Qing early on and I LOVE THEM, so there’s that.
*WWX doesn’t come back after his first death, and LWJ achieves immortality because he’s stubbornly still looking/waiting for WWX. Two centuries pass (we’re going to ignore any technological advancements and replace them with cultivation advancements or something) and LWJ ends up befriending a nice lady cultivator who falls for him, and even though he only considers her a friend, he agrees to marry her. They have 1 very stubborn gay daughter (only from consummation sex which brings up a boatload of other problems) who somehow stumbles across a reborn!WWX with all his memories--daughter is hella bitter that her father clearly does not return her mother’s affections and that he is apparently pining for someone who is so long dead that people don’t actually remember his name (ie - people remember Yiling Laozu but not that his name was Wei Wuxian). But without knowing who he is, the daughter ends up liking WWX until she finds out the truth about who he is and drama ensues. Can you tell I’ve wanted to write this one so badly? I mean I could just about draft an outline, but I HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY ORIGINAL NOVEL I’M SORRY.
*Time Travel AU in which Yanli alone gets a do-over with all the future knowledge and fixes everything just by being her amazing self. I feel like she’d be a really keen manipulator.
*The story from NHS’s pov. I wanna read all his manipulations and him putting them into place. Is there anything like this out there? Because oh my GOD I wanna know what’s going through his head sometimes. I really, really do!
*Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning - AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS WOULD BE AN ENTERTAINING SHIP? Just...I sort of tolerate the JC/LXC and JC/NHS pairings because they’re commonly used, but honestly, I’m not crazy about either one. However, WN is such a sweetheart and JC is such a hothead and there is so much opportunity for drama there. Also, in some cases depending on timeline...WN is, yunno, a corpse--a fixable thing if you weave in WWX’s involvement and make him and JC get along again. GIVE ME THAT. Like I don’t read much other than wangxian focused fic, but I would read the hell out of this (also you could easily balance those two pairings).
*Somewhere in the waiting gap, LWJ is given three tasks by a deity of some sort who promises to bring WWX back if he completes him...but these tasks have to UTTERLY go against LWJ’s character and completely destroy his reputation as Hanguang Jun. Honestly, this could go cracky or painfully dark.
*No idea how, but Mo Xuanyu manages to bring WWX back fully in-tact and they both get to live. WWX of course takes MXY under his wing, and together they avoid the notice of even LWJ for a lot longer than WWX did in canon. I would love to see them figuring out the whole JGY plot in the background and LWJ tailing them around just a little too late to the party each time a major event goes down until finding out in some kind of dramatic finale that WWX has been back for a while. I have yet to see characterization for MXY that I really like. Most people make him either ridiculously whiny or so much like WWX that they may as well be the same character. :/ So, uh, maybe a different approach? I mean MXY is allowed some complaints, he’s had a rough time of things, but come ON.
*Lan Wanji never finds Wen Yuan and poor widdle Shizui manages to survive into adolescence living on his own in the burial mounds...accompanied by the fragmented ghost of his Xian-gege who very slowly is pieced back together by A-Yuan, who has sort of naturally started using demonic cultivation and somehow develops a heroic reputation as a rogue cultivator. Why? Because he’s Shizui, and Shizui is SO PURE OK? Maybe he has a fascination with LWJ, even though his memories of Rich Gege are kind of fuzzy. Shizui matchmakes his two ridiculous dads. Oh and inquiry doesn’t work on WWX cuz his soul is shrouded by the resentful energy in the burial mounds.
*The Wen clan burns the Cloud Recesses to the ground around the same time WWX has lost his parents, but LWJ somehow escapes. Reportedly, everyone in GusuLan is now dead, but he somehow ends up in the same town as WWX. They meet and bond immediately. Maybe LWJ saves WWX from the dogs. Anyway, JFM never finds WWX, so he and LWJ grow up together in poverty, eventually teaching themselves cultivation and night hunting, until their fame grows so much that they catch the attention of the Wen clan (or something). Have them ridiculously dedicated to each other, already in love and thinking of themselves as cultivation partners. I want their bond to straight-up shock people. LET THEM BE SHAMELESS. LWJ would have to have a fake name and wear something other than white.
*LWJ and WWX figure out their relationship stuff a lot sooner and end up building a proper sect in the burial mounds. I want LWJ wearing WWX’s colors. I want demonic cultivation to work hand-in-hand with regular cultivation. I want them to find artifacts or books or something in the burial mounds indicating a civilization used to be there that also studied demonic cultivation, or maybe they actually find some long forgotten god/dess of demonic cultivation who empowers them in exchange for worship.
*LWJ was not whipped for protecting WWX, he was imprisoned for life, not in GusuLan, but in some godforsaken prison that is so intense no one in the clans really likes to talk about it. I want him flung into some hellprison with ghosts and demons, where only his cultivation keeps him alive (and relatively sane) for that decade-ish gap until WWX’s fragmented ghost somehow finds him. Of course, WWX realizes LWJ loves him, which triggers in WWX a want to finally come back to life. He finds a way back to the living world and rains hell upon the people who decided it was a good idea to imprison LWJ until someone finally tells him how to get to the prison. He frees LWJ and helps him recover while all the JGY stuff is going on the background. Wangxian returns to the cultivation world in time to stop that catastrophe. (Before LWJ is imprisoned, he makes LXC promise to take care of A-Yuan of course!)
*WWX gets flung into the burial mounds and embraces demonic cultivation, but realizes he has somehow bound himself to the awful place and can’t leave. Over time, he lures stragglers and refugees to the mounds, where he welcomes them to stay and live safely. Outside, the Sunshot Campaign is a failure and what remains of the sects bow in subservience to the Wen clan. Inflicted with some permanent disabilities from the war and left to run GusuLan now that his brother and uncle are dead (sorry Xichen), Lan Wanji never gets the chance to go looking for WWX. Thirteen years pass and WWX has absorbed so much resentful energy from the burial mounds that he is practically a part of it. Finally, he is able to leave, but the world he finds is much different from the one he remembers, and his health fades fast when he is outside of the mounds. Somehow, WWX figures out that demonic cultivation doesn’t damage the body/soul/temperament if somehow counterbalanced properly with a golden core--and since he doesn’t have one, he and LWJ do a soulbond thing so that their cores (WWX: demonic and LWJ: golden) balance each other. Then he can take on the Wens.
I could literally whip out ideas nonstop, but these are the big ones that have been just...beating on the walls of skull trying to get out. Of course, they don’t always account for everything, so more thought is needed. Anyway, if you write any of these, please let me know so I can read them, and of course a shoutout would be nice. c: My username on ao3 is the same as here. Enjoy~!
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Over the past two days, I’ve been asked to do a eulogy. Twice.
But I’ve always been a writer, not a speaker. And this one might be a bit late, but it’s still better than never.
(this one’s for my dad.)
My grief is quiet.
No pictures, no black profile picture. No check-ins or emotional updates.
Well. Maybe just this one.
My grief is quiet, like me. It’s quiet, like the man I am mourning. It’s quiet, like how most of my memories between us are.
It was loud, his last night here at home. There was a tribute party for him, to celebrate instead of lament. He would have loved it. All these people came to pay tribute, to enjoy his music, his lessons, his memory. We didn’t even have to ask.
Even after passing, he’s the one getting the job done.
I started writing this after the party, after finishing compiling a playlist to send him off. It’s got some of his favorites. Some of my biases. And then some new ones I think we would have found quite nice. He’s a man of taste and he’d click his tongue at me if I picked anything substandard. I’d have clicked my tongue at myself if I had picked anything lame.
God, he raised me to be such a nitpicky little shit like him.
Now it’s quiet again, after we’ve laid him to rest. It’s almost one in the morning, we’ve all retired from the day we’ve had, and it’s so quiet I can hear myself think.
This how I remember him. This is how I remember us: quiet. Thinking. Comfortable in the silence.
I’ve been grieving in this silence, because that’s how he and I have always done things.
It’s not the same.
It’s not the fucking same without you, Pa.
But this is how I remember us.
I remember us sitting in silence in the car. He’ll put on some music and he wouldn’t complain about me singing out loud as long as I’m in tune and the lyrics are right.
I remember us sitting in silence working on separate stuff. I’m either writing or drawing. He’s doing any of the hundreds of things he’s always busy doing. We never have to talk. We’re fine as we are.
I remember me calling him to the school to sit with me in an office as I get reprimanded for an essay I wrote. I remember how after that, we were quiet, and it’s not because he’s disappointed in me. It’s because he’s angry on my behalf, because I’ve done nothing wrong and I shouldn’t have had to apologize for having thoughts of my own.
It always amazed me how someone so slow to anger was always so quick to come to my defense.
I remember me calling him to pick me up because I feel sick. I had asked him to please bring me a jacket and he didn’t know where to find one of mine, so he handed me one of his. I never gave it back. He never asked me to. It’s mine, forever, now.
This is how he loved me. This is why I love him.
I love him because while my mother taught me how to be proud and stubborn for myself, he taught me how to be humble and selfless for others. All my life I’ve been told that I’m smart, and that I got it from him, but I’ve never found it hard to brush that off because that’s not what matters. I’d rather be called kind, than smart. That’s thanks to him.
I love him because he’s the reason why I’m unafraid to learn new things. He’s the one who showed me that if you want something done, you can find a way to do it. You’re never too late to join the game. Ego is bullshit and will drag you down rather than pull you up. If you have questions, search. If you want to learn, study. If you need help, ask. If you mess up, backtrack and try again. His lessons were always so simple but hell if they don’t always push you far enough to get where you have to go.
That’s him, you see. You ask him to take you somewhere and he drops you off safe and sound.
I love him because he taught me how to look at something and with respect still say “I can do that too.” Because he looked at me that one night, on my 18th birthday and said, “We can do this, right?” To which I nodded, but then he smirked and followed that up with, “Actually, wait, we can do this and do it BETTER.”
It’s that sort of quiet confidence that I could only dream to achieve.
(Also, that’s how we got the photobooth.)
((I still stand that he got fed up with the substandard service so of course he had to show everyone how it’s done.))
(((If you think I got my rare bouts of pettiness from my mother? Think again.)))
But mostly, I love him because I have bad days, and he’s one of the few who can make them better.
I have days when I wake up crying because my brain thinks it’s cool to do a replay of all the things that make me feel inadequate and wrong. My brain betrays me on these days, makes me think I’m all alone and unloved and damaged beyond repair, using voices of people I know and love, from conversations I’ve had with them before.
(Depression sucks, kids.)
On these bad days, what pulls me out of my head is the fact that I never hear his voice with the others.
On my bad days, what helps me breathe again is the fact that no matter how every single person who matters to me thinks I’m a giant failure, there’s one left who never ever judged me no matter how much of a disaster I am.
He knew me so well, he knew everything I am capable of and more - and yet he had never once asked anything of me that I couldn’t give him.
I love him for that.
I love him because during my worst days, my rock bottom, he saves me from myself.
That’s how we were. That’s both how we love. Quietly.
(Except when the music’s good.)
((Then again, it always was, with him.))
So I grieve. In silence.
Because we spent our last Christmas in the hospital, and while my siblings were in tears, he told them, “Don’t do that. Look at your Ate Alison. She’s just cool.” - and I just grinned like an idiot and gave him finger guns. Because he said I’m cool. I didn’t tell him that I’m probably only so calm because I must’ve ran out of tears from crying the day before, when we were told that we’d be lucky to have even three to six months more with him.
I mourn quiet because he’s a person who takes care of people. Shit, he took care of so many people. And I want to take care of all these people and to do that I gotta compartmentalize. How do you hold someone together when you’re falling apart yourself? So no. Nope. I keep going, forward.
I keep calm because my dad is a man who embodied grace under pressure. He’s a troubleshooter. A problem-solver. When there’s a problem, he doesn’t panic, doesn’t freak out. He steels himself and then looks for a solution. He carries on.
For someone like me with a crippling fear of failure, of being a disappointment, that meant the difference between breaking apart and holding myself together.
There’s no bump in the road too big if you know how to take a second to look around and breathe.
But, goddammit, sometimes it’s still so hard.
Because I thought we’d have more time. Yes, I had known and understood that we had been on borrowed time. I knew it would be a hard haul. I just didn’t know it would be this this fast. I had braced myself for a longer battle and even that was cut short.
I’m not sad, not anymore. I’m not even angry. The night he left, I took a moment alone to breathe deeply and say “Fuck.” and then that’s it, that’s the anger, past. Right now, I just feel lost.
Pa, this is the biggest fucking bump in my road so far.
But. You know me, and again - you never gave me anything I couldn’t handle.
So go ahead. Do you. Don’t worry about me. You know I’ll be fine.
My grief is quiet. Like me, like you. Like us.
I won’t let this break me open and apart.
You taught me better than that.
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Update
Hello, tumblr.
It’s been a while, isn’t it? I know I haven’t been posting stuff since, like, forever.
I realized a long time ago that posting relentlessly every time I feel something, shouldn’t be a pattern I’m comfortable with. Although the urge is there, but that would mean I’m a slave to my emotions, yet again. I’m not that kind of person anymore.
Yes, maybe I should’ve just rolled with it, but I know it doesn’t mean I have to wallow away on the internet trying to vent out every emotion I have. Despite my self-control taking over my decisions recently, I’ve been actually really honest with myself with what I feel, with the most self-aware state I’ve ever been. I recognize my roller coaster of emotions for the past few years, but that doesn’t mean I’m stuck in a perpetual loop of succumbing to them. I felt them, but eventually I overcame them.
After everything that has happened to my life, I realize that making jokes about depression and anxiety isn’t funny anymore until you’re crying at 5am driving home questioning where did you go wrong. Those moments where you have no desire to eat or sleep because you’re crying yourself to sleep. Moments wherein you literally can’t breathe anymore because of hyperventilation that happens out of nowhere (because of certain emotional triggers). The opportunities to fulfill your dream career you just passed by because you’re so unsure of yourself. Sprinkle that in the past two years, and you got yourself a broken person.
But oddly enough, I thrived in finding humor in my despair. I laughed it off as if nothing makes sense anyway and nobody cares. I knew how to put up an act that I was okay, it was super easy. I was full of self-pity because I didn’t find my worth anymore, that it wasn’t worth it to get “help” (as they usually say) because I’m an utter failure in every aspect of my life.
My view of the world was eventually covered in ill cynicism and apathy. I’ve been in a place where I cared a lot about so many people close to me. And even if their selfish actions hurt me a ton, I still had hopes they are good people inside and my care for them will eventually help them grow. I learned that you can’t change people, they are who they are willing and deciding to be. All I wanted was everyone to be ok and be happy, but I never knew the cost of pleasing and trying to change people, was destroying myself and my identity. It was unhealthy.
I never trusted anyone anymore, nor cared about anyone anymore. Apathy became my trademark and faked every bit of kindness I show to people. Nobody is worth my care or concern. I convinced myself it was a necessary compromise for people not to realize I’ve already “snapped” out.
It took me a long time to realize the truth: that there are people who still cared. I never recognized them, because I was so full of hurt about everything that has happened. I realized there are still genuine people out there that know who I am and accept me. They never stopped hoping I would get myself back up on my feet and be “me” again. Unconditional love that I have written off as non-existent, there in my plain sight. And their actions have led me to believe maybe it’s God telling me that everything’s going to be alright. That I’m not defined by my past, but it’s just a context of who I’m going to be. Maybe His plan for me isn’t a dead end of failure, after all. Maybe that’s enough to comfort me for now.
I’m still waiting for the light at the end of this tunnel.
P.S. I just want to share something my friend showed me, and I think it speaks to me on a level I have never seen before. It’s beautiful. Worth a quick view. :)
youtube
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When they ask me what I liked best, I’ll say it was you.
It’s been a long time since I wrote and it’s time for an update. Live has been an incredibly mixed bag, full of skyrocketing highs and hell-deep lows. The paradox that is live is still challenging me with the lemons it tries to throw at me and I am still not any better at making lemonade.
As usual, lots of what has happened has centred around men. I guess it’s fair to say that I have come to terms with the biggest feelings in me always being evoked by men. No matter what other amazing things happen, my mind and heart only seems to care about that one thing. For the past one and half years that I’ve been single I tried hard to teach myself to be content on my own. To not seek for affection and validation from men and just be happy and strong on my own. But maybe it’s a fool’s errand I’m running. Maybe it is better to allow myself to recognize that what I am seeking is love. Not any kind of love. But the deep, sincere and passionate love you see in movies. It’s no coincidence that when I feel depressed I turn to watch movies or TV shows in which the story is built around two people deeply caring for each other with such passion that nothing can keep them apart.
The sort of love Romeo feels for Juliet, Jamie feels for Claire and Seth feels for Maggie. And come to think of it, all of these are examples where their love is not meant to be – Juliet falling in love with the rivalling family’s son, Claire falling in love with Jamie, a man 200 years her junior and Maggie falling in love with Seth the Angel. All of them overcome incredible obstacles between them to be together.
Watching these movies makes me weep. Because deep down I know that there is a high chance that I will die and never have felt the kind of love these characters feel for each other. And then I get angry and mad at myself for being so naïve and stupid to chase after fairytales.
Does love like that exist in real life? I know not one real life example. Not one. So, it seems I am setting myself up for failure and yet, what can I do. The heart demands what the heart demands.
It also seems that this is a reason why I keep falling for the unlikely lover. The Swiss scoundrel musician, the Brazilian passionate forever bachelor.
There is one lover I haven’t told you about. His name is Nate and he is also quite the unlikely lover. We matched on Tinder and at first I was certain I matched with a fake profile. He had only one image but that packed a punch. We started texting and that’s all we did for 2 weeks since I was traveling. When I got back home we decided to meet – he kind of invited himself to my place suggested I cook something. He came, and besides the fact that he didn’t seem to like the food I had cooked we also didn’t exactly hit it off conversation wise. It became clear quite quickly that we had huge differences in values – him having had a conservative Muslim upbringing in Egypt and me having been brought up very liberal. There was mention of his marriage having been arranged and sometimes he would start sentences with “in my religion we do...”. At some point during the evening I was certain I should send him home; but, we both had had some beers and he had come by car and since he was hot after all and I was needy I thought to myself “might as well”.
Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in the past year. The sex was out of this world not just because I finally seemed to have found someone who put my pleasure over his own. But he just also clearly knew what he was doing. The way he touched me, held me in his strong arms, kissed me. It was so full of passion that it took me quite by surprise. That first night, we had sex for hours and after that he stayed the night and we fell asleep tired, in each others arms.
That was back in September. 8 months ago. We have been dating ever since. Not very seriously in the sense that we are not boyfriend and girlfriend and have never had “the talk” in which we defined our relationship. But somehow it just worked for both of us. He has a complicated family life – technically still married and has two kids but is trying to get a divorce which, let’s just say is neither a very common nor a very easy thing to do in his culture. And me, not really wanting a relationship cause “hey, I’m an independent woman now” and also traveling a lot. So, we have been meeting every so often, usually every 2-3 weeks. And every time, we meet we have a fantastic time together. We cook together, laugh, watch football or a movie and still, each time, have incredible sex.
He is also the first guy who does not fool around. With that I simply mean that he doesn’t make things more complicated than they need to be. When he reads my message, he replies. As soon as he’s read it. That might not sound like a big deal but it actually is. Because for some reason all my earlier encounters ALWAYS took their time replying. Often having me wait for days and the replying in an ambigous way. He doesn’t do that. He doesn’t play. He is straight forward, honest and when I ask for example “when will we meet again” he says things like “honey, you tell me when you have time and I will make it happen”. I appreciate that a lot in him. I can also tell that he is an incredibly loving father to his children and just generally a good guy.
Which really isn’t what I expected when I first saw him. Why? Because he is insanely good looking and the first impression you might get is that he is a total player. I’ve stayed sceptic all throughout us dating but not a single time has he given me any reason to believe that he’s playing with me or using me. At least not more than I am using him. And knowing quite a bit about his family life I know for a fact that he wouldn’t even have time to date other women as well.
He is super sensual and caring and lying in his arms has been the rock that kept me sane over these past months where depression and burn out have been taking quite a toll on me again. But we both always knew our time together had an expiration date and a short while ago we found out about that date. The second of June. That’s when he will move back to Egypt and although I keep telling myself that I am not in love with him, it will crush my heart.
But if he is so amazing, why am I not in love with him you might ask. Well, remember those differences in values? That is a real thing. And although he is a truly good human being, he for example is very narrow minded when it comes to for example immigration and matters around sexual orientation. It’s just the way he’s been brought up. Not sharing the same values on such crucial world views is, I believe, what keeps me from truly falling in love with him. Looking at it one way, I guess that’s a good thing.
p.s.: I will keep editing this story over the next few weeks, our last weeks together.
Edit 1: After having been 3 weeks apart, we met last night. We had dinner together and then things moved to the bedroom pretty quickly. I don’t know if it was the fact that we hadn’t seen each other for a long time, or the fact that we both now that the end of our relationship is near but it almost seemed like our love making was even more passionate which is not something I thought possible. The embrace we were in was so strong it almost took my breath away. After many hours, we went to sleep. Usually I first fall asleep in his arms but then for comfort I turn around playing “little spoon”. I fell into a light slumber when I suddenly noticed he was stroking my hair, my cheek, my shoulder. Somehow it felt like the most loving and caring way I have ever been touched. I will never forget it.
Edit 2: Well... this didn’t exactly end as I expected and I’m not even sure what happened. I’ll just lay it out for you and you can make up your own mind as to what went wrong here.
So... after our last meeting which went really well and the fact that I knew he was leaving soon anyways, I kind of felt like I can let my guard down. Which only meant that I was a bit more forthcoming in expressing the fact that I’d like to see him as much as possible before he leaves. I wrote to him that I had only one wish before he left and that it was that we’d spend one full night and day together, without me having to go to work in the morning or him having to pick up his kids. His response was super sweet, he said that yes for sure we will manage because he is also tired of rushing away first thing in the morning and he also “needs this”. All fine and dandy. He then said that he will try and get a day off from the kids on the weekend so we could be together. That was on a Monday. By Wednesday evening I still hadn’t heard from him and so I texted him - here is the conversation
What you need to know, is that he will move to Egypt with the kids but his ex wife (”that woman”) will not follow until a few months later. So what my message was trying to express was just surprise that she would care about her kids so little that she’d rather go to her cousin than spend time with her kids while she still can.
Either way, I did not respond to his last message as I was pissed off about him telling me off by saying “let me deal with it my way”. I was pissed because over the past months I had been incredibly understanding, patient and tolerant about his situation with his ex and him having to cancel meetings last minute due to stuff with the kids etc. Fact is, his situation with his ex is so fucked up that not a lot of women would have made up with that shit. But I did, so I didn’t need him telling me to let him deal with it his way.
So I didn’t reply. And neither did he. That conversation happened on Wednesday. He did not text to confirm if we would meet on the weekend or not. He did not message me at all. For a week. I then saw a post on his instagram that he was on his way to the Netherlands. And I was gonna go to Croatia the following weekend. So this then confirmed, that the only day we would still see each other would be the public holiday before the weekend he was leaving. Although I even had my doubts about that since I knew he had to pack and empty his apartment etc.
But the point was... here we were, having a few last chances to spend time together and you decide to be an asshole and not text me.
Of course I thought if I should text him, if I’m over reacting. But no... I was super clear about what it was I wanted - see him. And I wasn’t the one not having time. So the ball was definitely in his court.
So one lonely and sad Wednesday evening I decide to re-download Tinder. Just to pass time and see what’s out there. And guess who I came across. Mr. “let me deal with it my way”.
Now again, you might say “well you were on Tinder too”. But the reason why I think this is a bit different is because I will still spend time in this country while he is leaving in two weeks... I had been on Tinder every so often and never ran into his profile anymore and this was a new profile, with very recent images, so he had to have set it up recently.
It stung. Badly.
I did what I always do in situations like this, which is be dramatic. I removed him from my Instagram, unfollowed him and deleted all messages.
And that’s it. End of story. Never heard from him. He’s leaving in 5 days.
I was quite sad for a while because it could have ended with love and respect for each other. But it all went to shit instead. Most of all I felt stupid because I truly thought he cared about me in some way.
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Monsters and Men vs Bleed and Evolve: Why change?
I’ve spoken a lot about Monsters and Men, our previous forum and name, and I realized I should have made an entry like this sooner. Basically, I want to address what’s with all the change and why.
I’ve already covered some topics, like how enemies are starting to become their own mechanic instead of having to stat out new characters, essentially, every time you want to beat something up. How starting gear got a bit of a change with the pokemon zodiac, and other things as well. I’ll try not to re-cover those topics here.
Story time!
When I started Monsters and Men, it was because I fell in love with tabletop rpgs and had no one to play them with. My cousin, who was the only Dungeon Master I knew, decided he hated running games and abruptly stopped. I turned to the internet, but knew I wanted something specific, that I didn’t want to reinvent my old forum Chasing Our Spirits, because when I look back on it, it felt like a colossal failure to me. I wanted something similar though. I wanted to take pokemon and “ruin” it so to speak, then mash it together with tabletops. Pokemon has always been my biggest love of any sort of fandom, ever since I was very, very young, and Pokemon Yellow came out. I got a Gameboy Color just for that, and it took me hours to figure out how to leave the first house because I was a dumb kid. I sobbed when the batteries died in my Gameboy and I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t play anymore. I watched the Pokemon anime whenever I could, I even went so far as to demand the Pokemon mac and cheese shapes over any other kind of shapes (the shapes are the best tasting and you won’t convince me otherwise).
I joined a few other pokemon roleplays after Chasing Our Spirits was closed down, and realized it still wasn’t fitting what I needed. That eventually spurred me into making my own again. I tried to delve into the world of tabletop rpgs, of which I was completely new to. A lot of my cousin’s rpgs were improvised on the spot, with little to no mechanical involvement. Anywho, I contacted my old friend Amissa, who I knew from back when I started this whole mess, with a little rp in a pokemon collectible's roleplay section on their forums. The roleplay was Shadow over Alleos, which I also consider a disaster, but it did teach me a few things.
We started working on what would become Monsters and Men. She had more experience than me with tabletops at this point, but I spearheaded the mechanics, thinking that I could get by with what research I did on FATE and Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying System.
Oh how wrong I was.
It became abundantly clear to me immediately after we opened in beta that we weren’t attracting people who wanted to tell a story where dice played a role. They wanted to “win” the roleplay, and quickly broke my system to make themselves very powerful. Being young and naive, it took me a while to figure out how to put my foot down and start trying to fix things, not to mention my social anxiety making it difficult for me in general. But slowly, I kept trying to fix things, and improve them. Members largely came and went, though we had a few who stuck by our side (thank you guys, you have no idea how much that meant to me).
But I still felt like I was only band-aid fixing everything. I didn’t know enough about tabletops to really fix the system in a way that wasn’t tedious to use (our later system) or completely easy to break (our earlier system). While the later system made things harder and more threatening, the fact that you had to go through useless skills to make better ones and then drop the old useless ones actually made zero sense and I don’t know why I kept running with it.
In addition, I had the luxury of seeing a few sites try to mimic my system and watched how the system fared there. I kept coming to the same conclusion though: something needs to change. A lot of things need to change.
Let me show you the problems I had and how I’m addressing them:
Problem: Skills are tedious to use because so many of them are garbage.
Solution: Revamp the skill system entirely. I’ll go over how we almost completely changed skills at a later date when I’m sure I have more of it figured out, and more testing is done, but suffice it to say, I launched myself into research. I started backing rpg manuals on Kickstarter, I asked for them for Christmas, I went out and bought them and began to hoard them. I read them cover to cover, things ranging from Pathfinder to Dungeon World to Fireborn. I’m still in this process, making sure that I’m not missing anything, to make sure that things are ready to go and hopefully in better shape this time when we re-open.
The problem with the old system was that skills had to be “Generalized”, then you could “branch” a skill when it reached a certain rank to “Specialized” which could do more cool things, and then “Unique/Expertise” which could do the best stuff, but you had to level all of those skills individually. Instead of being useful, it just created a step ladder of skills that you never came back down from.
Problem: Enemies take forever to stat up and it makes combat slow to a crawl and makes people (like me) not want to post ever.
Solution: At first, my solution was that I was going to improve the skill system. However, when I figured one out that I liked, I ran into the issue that it would be impossible to do without a second person. And impossible to automate, even if I paid the big bucks to someone to develop it for Xenforo. Not to mention paying them to maintain it through updates!
So then it clicked, as I said in the last entry...Why did the two systems have to be the same? Who said? Well, they were wrong. I’ll give you guys an update on the new enemy system soon, I promise!
Problem: Equipment is either too powerful, or not powerful enough.
Solution: Tear it up and start anew. I’ve been through so many different equipment systems I can’t even remember a lot of them. But the one I have right now I’m pretty satisfied with. I hate to say it again, but stay tuned! I’ll go over the new system soon.
Problem: Pokedex (and wiki pages in general) pages were all over the place.
Solution: Fuck it, make a new wiki. Start fresh. (Noticing a pattern in how I solve these issues?) It will, of course, suck to move all of that information over, but we’re changing so much to begin with that it’s not even worth trying to fix up the old wiki.
Problem: Lore is all over the place, or not covering things that people need.
Solution: Hand it to our local lore nerd lorekeeper Aurora. She’s extremely passionate about the setting of Bleed and Evolve, and I trust her completely with it. We have a pretty great connection when it comes to what we want out of the world of Cimmeria, and I know she’ll give it her all. I really want Cimmeria to feel like a living, breathing world you can immerse yourself into and be completely taken away. Did you ever want to know how much metal and what kind of metal 100 scrap traditionally is? Weight included? We got you covered.
Problem: There’s no good way to restrict certain types of characters (escaped pokemorphs, ect).
Solution: Meta currency, my friends. Separate from scrap, which is in-game currency, the meta currency “Diamonds” will be gained from different activities, like being a Storyteller. Diamonds can be exchanged for access to a rare character type, like an escaped pokemorph.
Problem: Quests are very same-y and boring.
Solution: Change the system! You can see what I did in an earlier entry, but the short answer is that the whole system needed to be gutted. We had it automated on Monsters and Men, but I would trade it in a heartbeat for what it is now.
What’s the bottom line answer to the question I asked in the title? We changed because I hated the direction we were going. We changed because it wasn’t working, it was time for something new. And we changed because I knew more this time around. There are so many different reasons why we rebranded as Bleed and Evolve, but one of them was because I wanted to shed some of the problems Monsters and Men had. Not to forget about them, but to start anew. We needed to make way for something better.
On that note, I think I’m going to stop this entry here. Stay tuned for more Developer Diaries, possibly one tomorrow as an update to The Enemy Turn!
- Thief
#pokemon roleplay#dark pokemon#pokemon rp#tabletop rp#pokemon tabletop#gritty pokemon#bleedandevolve#forum rp#forum roleplay
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When We Collide (Part 33)
Authors Note: To celebrate my 20th birthday which is today (July 31st) I’m sharing another update of When We Collide. This isn’t just a normal update but a special once since this is written in Luke’s point of view! I hope you will enjoy this chapter as it was a bit different from my normal style and thank you so much for the birthday wishes! I’m happy to wake up every single day to your messages, your positivity and your kindness! Happy birthday to me!
Pairing: Assistant!Y/N/CEO!Luke
Rating: NC-17
Masterlist: Here
Summary: He is the definition of high class smart ass, swimming in Dom Pierre Pérignon champagne and has never seen the shadow of poverty. She is underprivileged, lives in a messy dorm room on sale and struggles working as an assistant after being thrown out of college. But how will they collide when Luke makes Y/N pregnant after a drunkenly one night stand
When We Collide on Wattpad
“Great Luke, great. Just seriously great. What a way to pick the straw.”
I shook my head in disbelief and sincerely tried my best to not stumble upon my long legs. It was like they had turned into jelly and I had no idea where they were carrying me.
The biggest failure of the new year so far.
Ask me all you want, I can’t give you a proper answer. What happened? How did this happen? Did I have control of my words? None of it, and if you ask me god how I just wished I could rewind everything back.
It was like my legs knew where they were dragging me but I had no idea how to cope with it. I knew just exactly well where I was heading and it was a luck that I had a plan because it was too cold to just stay outside. It would only take five minutes for me to take the drive and within seconds I would be in the heat again.
My already rosy cheeks were met by the cold wind as I headed outside. Had it always been this cold? Everything seemed so warm inside but it was like it was not appreciated enough. I could have sworn I had a scarf in the car but I was left with disappointment.
Speaking of disappointment? Who was the biggest one tonight? Definitely me.
Call it all the ugly words you wanted, I would take them all in. Not because I was ignoring it but because I felt every single insult sink in. Letting it spread from my mind and down to my stomach to form that knot that always seemed to arrive once I had done something that wasn’t right.
Wasn’t that what life was about? Trying to figure out what to do and what was right and wrong. I was always trying to find the limit but this time I had crossed the line.
Sure saying that banging Holly was the worst one to date but there was only one mission for it. I was trying to trying to realize what was going on in my head because the days up to the event, it was all cloudy and not properly thought through.
I was aware that it was a stupid choice to do it, the alcohol was definitely affecting but it was never an apologize to anything. People saying that the alcohol was the blame will always be the worst in my book, not only because it’s the lamest excuse ever but it’s only a coverup for something you’re not proud of.
I knew of my actions, I knew just exactly well what was going on. But at that point it wasn’t about Holly, it was about realizing what in the world was going on with myself.
The last couple of weeks, actually months I had been feeling weird. Sure, everything had changed since the announcement of the pregnancy but now we were close to the third trimester and it wouldn’t make any sense if I still had that weird pit in my stomach.
I was trying to block out the feelings, the things that were going on in my head because I wasn’t used to them. I wasn’t used to the sudden commitment, I wasn’t used to suddenly caring because that was how easy my life had went so far.
How hard was it to try finding someone as a CEO? Pretty easy if you ask me but not someone who would truly love you.
With all the perks and what else good to offer it wasn’t hard finding someone to love you. But the question always was, would this be true love or would it just be someone to use you for the benefit? You can always say that you love someone without meaning it and to be that thing suddenly had much more importance than to others.
I was always trying to come across someone that would take my mind off anything else. Trying to find someone that wouldn’t just be there for everything that I could offer, but to meet someone who actually preferred to see the actual side of me.
But that also meant suddenly showing a side I had never shown before. The sensitive one, the one that’s suddenly vulnerable and not obvious to the crowd. I had never showed this side of myself because committing to someone meant showing all the different sides, even the horrible and nasty ones.
It was a part of my life to push people away. It was the reason why everyone left and I’m sure as hell aware that Y/N thought of that too. Even if she wished it so sincerely she would never survive one moment in my mind.
Because I couldn’t think of nothing else but her.
It was weird at first but as time started to grow the more she was a part of it. I couldn’t recall or think how it had happened but it was like no matter what I did she would always be there. She was there when I would sleep, when I would hover over my desk in confusion or obviously sitting at work and looking at her sit more than ten meters away from me.
It was like no matter what I did I couldn’t brush her off.
It was hard to call it something because I never know what the feeling of love will be. I didn’t want to believe it in, specifically because I had never actually explained the reason for it.
No matter what I did she would never fully understand the concept of why I was acting like I did.
Being young and in love was not something huge. It was something that was so common and I was also in that state of mine. Falling in love with someone is so dangerous because they have you wrapped around your finger. They have your heart and they can do anything they want with it.
I had only been in love once and it was completely ruined for me.
You know that feeling where you believe you can take on the world. That nothing can stop you and you just know that the person you’re with love you with all her heart and that is it going to be the two of you forever.
That was the feeling I had. That was the feeling I was carrying day for day to realize that it all in the end came to the money.
I was left in disbelief. I was left to realize that the first girl I had ever loved was a cheater, someone only using me for the benefit and simply just letting me carry her around without knowing the truth behind it.
To me, it showed that girls were snakes, just as worse as the boys could be.
It made me distant myself from everything and everyone. Sure I could be pooling in a wave of girls but none of them would ever proper speak to me. Not because I wasn’t interested but because I knew with my profession you wouldn’t see the truth in people.
It’s so easy to lie nowadays and that’s what I’m carrying with. Even if I know it will destroy me in the end.
I was so nervous to knock on the door but I knew that I had too. It was late at night but I knew that the person hiding behind the door would be awake. It was a part of his job to always stay awake when I needed him.
I almost felt small when I had finally done it. It was like my fingers were bruising by the otherwise small touch against the wooden door frame but it was only because I was shaking so much. I wasn’t sure if this was the right idea, I could easily run and hide but not this time. I knew I had fucked up and the only person I knew who to talk to was-,
“Luke?”
The confusion was written on Ashton’s face, his curls were sticking to every direction possible and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Of course he wasn’t expecting visitors to arrive and he seemed pretty tired but once he noticed it was me his eyes widened.
“What is wrong? Is it Y/N?” He asked fully awake and scratched the small bit of sleep that had spread in the corner of his eye.
“I’ve fucked up. Big time.”
It was like I didn’t need to say more. Ashton was quick to open his door and invite me in to the apartment that was not really familiar to me.
I had heard Y/N describe it a few times, how she had managed to make a small cut in the wooden floor but never actually admitted it to Ashton. She was pretty embarrassed by her small clumsy failure but had never dared to tell him. She was only admitting it to me because the guilt was almost biting her up.
“Yeah, Y/N owes me a new floor.” Ashton suddenly said, noticing how I was staring like it was what I was searching for and I was trying not to smile.
“I’ll pay for that.”
“Just like everything else you do for her.”
I knew he wasn’t trying to sound bitter but neither did I want to comment on it. I could imagine how much she must have been backtalking me, explaining how much she hated when I spoiled her because it wasn’t something she stood for. She loved her independence, she loved doing stuff that she earned her own way.
“Is that why you’re here? You ran out of money?” Ashton asked and walked into the kitchen while I slowly leaned against the couch not really knowing what to do with myself.
“Ashton listen I’m not here to have a battle I’m here to talk about Y/N. I know she’s probably said some horrible things about me and she has the right to it but now I’m asking you for forgiveness to actually make up for my mistakes.”
Ashton stopped in track from standing in front of his kitchen counter and looked down at his hands for a second. I wasn’t sure if he was going to continue the insults or change his mind but he sighed heavily.
“I know. It always takes two to a fight and despite I know that you’re one hell of an ass I also know you have a heart. It just takes some time to bring it out from you. Tea?”
I nodded my head in agreement and fell down to his couch. I wasn’t sure what kind of brand it was, most probably IKEA but I was find with it. It had a very comfortable and it had a blanket that I could recall to be egyptian. More maybe just IKEA again. I wasn’t sure.
“I’ve actually got something fancy for your ass. I think it’s from Elizabeth Arden or something green tea.”
“Elizabeth?” I asked just to hear if what I heard was correct and he nodded his head in agreement.
“Would you like some sugar, milk, anything?” He asked while opening a drawer and I nodded my head in agreement.
“Sugar would be fine.” I replied and considered I should stand up and held him but he seemed to not need it.
While he finished boiling the water over the stove and prepare the tea I took a look around his room. It wasn’t large and there was clothes scattered everywhere I assumed it was after his week with his siblings. They could be kind of rough at times and to try clean your clothes would be a hard task when something happened all the time.
“You play drums?” The words seemed to fall past from my lips without realizing and I looked at him with a quivered eyebrow.
“Oh yeah… It’s just an old hobby of mine.” He shrugged and lifted the two mugs from the counter, “I play when I have the time, when I feel inspired and when I know my neighbors are being to annoying. It’s kind of a way to have a sweet escape.”
“I know how it feels.” I nodded my head in agreement and this time it was his turn to quiver an eyebrow.
“I play the piano and guitar. Occasionally sing. Only in the shower mostly. It’s kind of a hobby of mine as well when I don’t yell at people for not doing what I say or buy helicopters.” The last thing was said with a wink in the eye but it wasn’t my intention to be rude or anything which Ashton caught easily.
“Funny Hemmings.” He commented and took a seat on the opposite couch of mine.
I silently laughed but it was replaced with a frown when I came back to reality. Ashton noticed my face expression change and so did his, he was very quick to ask again.
“Please remind me again why you’re here.”
“It’s about Y/N..”
It was an obvious statement and I quietly fiddled with the mug between my fingers. It was a very hot surface but with all the mixed emotions I had it was the last thought I shared. I was almost numb to me.
“I said some stupid things earlier on. Or more likely I’ve said some stupid things but it’s all because I’m scared of everything it was like everything hit me at once after the lamaze class. And no I don’t regret it because I needed this wake up call and I’ve been walking around for weeks preparing for everything but it wasn’t until the end of that class that it hit me hard.”
“That you like Y/N?”
It was silence that fell upon the room by Ashton’s words, but he was straight forward with his attitude. I almost clutched onto the mug with hot liquid and looked at him with wide eyes but I didn’t say anything.
“No becoming a father.” I tried to remain calm in my voice but it was hard because of the coughs.
“Luke there’s no need of denial. I know that you love her and it’s scarring you that she might not like you back.”
I swore if I could be the most confusion person in life this would be it. It was like I was driven onto a road I had no idea where was leading and even though I had just taken a sip of my tea my throat felt more dry than ever. It was almost burning.
“That’s not the point.” I shook my head and needed to change the subject. This wasn’t something I wanted to talk about right now.
“The point is that I disappointed her more than I ever have today. I wasn’t supposed to say the things, I didn’t mean all of them but I was so scared they ran past my mouth before I got the chance to control it. I know that I can’t take words back but you’ve seen her in her most vulnerable state and I’m begging you to help me out with this. I know we don’t always get along and I’m not here to say that I will pay you more I’m here because I’m more desperate than ever and you’re the one who can save me.”
I could tell that Ashton did not expect what I was saying. He didn’t even need the full story to understand what was going on. This was the edge of messing everything up and somehow he was the one to change it all, only if he wanted to.
“I’m not pressuring you to anything but this is something so important I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried doing anything I can to prove everything to her, I’ve even started doing the cleaning in the house to make it proud but even though I know it has worked to make us grow closer it’s not something she will she as me asking for her forgiveness.”
“But what do you need help with?” Ashton asked carefully and scratched his light stubble that reminded me I hadn’t shaved mine for days.
“I don’t know! Proving to her…” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence because it wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have right now. It was something that was in the back of my mind but i didn’t want to think about it, it was just pushed away.
Ashton looked down at me carefully but he was having something on his mind. Either he thought that I was being a mess and completely stupid right now or he thought that I was just really not taking the hint. I was, after all, lacking in a bit situation awareness when it came to her.
“You don’t need to prove anything to her, you don’t need to tell her everything you know about her neither do you need to buy everything that she needs. The only thing you have to do is show that you’re there for her. That you’re there for the baby, that you’re there for when she needs you because she is in one of her most vulnerable states and she can’t do it alone. She cannot do this without you, Luke.”
Living a life where things were so easy to buy I was always taught that less was never more.
But hearing Ashton say these words changed my mind completely. I knew always doing the simple things was what pulled me forward with Y/N and somehow I was always there when she needed it but I wasn’t there to actually let her feel I was there.
“You know Ashton I always believed that you hated me after figuring out that I was the father of Y/N’s baby.” I managed to say after some thinking and he nodded his head in agreement.
“I did.” He honestly said and we both looked down at our feet.
It was the first time it was actually spoken out loud between us. He had known for months that I was the father while I had walked around not being aware that someone besides Y/N knew it. When she told me that she had announced it to him it wasn’t even because I could become sad or angry. I understood her situation and trusted that he would keep her by the word.
Of course that didn’t change my feelings for Ashton, on the contrary. I knew he was hired to protect her of all costs after getting the diamonds because I never knew what would happen to and in the case she needed protection.
I was aware that their friendship had grown to the point of most probably falling for each other but I actually surprised to see that it didn’t go any further after they lived together. And also that she hadn’t changed her thought about him when she moved back to my place.
“I thought you were horrible I thought that she deserved nothing else but to get away from you. You treated her terribly, you didn’t understand the concept of taking care of someone else and the only one on your mind was yourself. You were too self-centered and along with Holly you didn’t cause anything else but trouble. I didn’t think she deserved any of that you treated her.”
I listened carefully word by word and couldn’t avoid the pit in my stomach. God how much she have felt so horrible I almost couldn’t bare it in my heart.
“But you know what? I’ve always listened to what Y/N says I’ve always taken her side and always taken her word over my own. So I learned that even a jerk can have a heart. It just takes some time to pull it out from him. And it takes the right person to prove that there’s love inside of someone. And that’s the thing with everyone, we all have flaws. You’ve been raised differently, you’ve been raised into the man that doesn’t need to show love. You do the opposite when you’re scared because you’re scared of ruining how you’re feeling only based on my bad experiences. But let me tell you something Luke. Don’t be the reason that’s she’s crying. Be the only reason why she’s smiling.”
By those particular words I looked up at blinked twice. The twist in my stomach was gone and the urge to stand up was like a craving. I was tripping on my feet.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to say thank you or not but the hug I gave Ashton seemed to be enough. He was a bit disturbed at first but when I felt him politely hit me twice in the shoulder I moved away with a small smile.
“I can’t change the world, I can’t change my old actions but I can change her mind?”
“Just do the right.” Ashton said as the last thing and followed me towards the door.
I didn’t even get the chance to finish my tea but it was long forgotten. I wasn’t sure for how long I was out but it had almost felt like five minutes. The ride back to the penthouse apartment seemed to take forever even in my fast car.
It wasn’t even with fear I took the long ride up the elevator. In fact I was so impatient I almost considered taking the stairs. But that also meant I would be completely out of breath when I showed up and I couldn’t let that happen.
Not that I had anything planned to say. I had no idea what I was about to do but the only thing that was on my mind was to get back to her as fast as I possibly could.
My heart skipped a beat once I was into the apartment it was like silence hit me at once. I had been running on the adrenaline and the noises around me it all became quiet when I walked inside and saw her.
She was sitting right where I had left her with tears streaming down her eyes it was like she had never stopped. She was clutching onto a white blanket on the couch but she almost dropped it to the ground when she weakly turned around by the sound of the door opening.
None of us said anything for a full minute as I took her all in. It was almost as if she didn’t believe I was standing there like she was just imaging it in her mind.
“L-,Luke?” She could barely let the question out and I swore under my breath I could feel my heart getting shattered.
She didn’t get the chance to say anything before I filled in the steps between us. She was still sitting on the couch stunned, her eyes were red and puffy but I still thought she was more beautiful than ever.
I could tell that she wanted to ask what was going on the confusion was written on her face. But I didn’t say anything. There wasn’t a proper word for this, there wasn’t a proper apology because things couldn’t be cured by words.
When we collide things break. But it’s time to pick up the broken pieces.
“I’m here.” I whispered as I sat down on the couch and wrapped my arms around her.
She was shivering but I in doubt if it was if she was cold. She was quick to press her cheek against my chest I had expected a bit of resistance but this was where she needed to be. It was what she had been needing since the long minutes I had left her.
“I’m right here.”
#HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE#5sos#5sos imagine#5sos imagines#5sos preference#5sos preferences#5sos au#5sos aus#5sos fanfiction#5sos fanfictions#5sos writing#5sos writings#5sos writer#5sos author#5sos story#5sos stories#5sos smut#5sos smuts#5sos writerings#5sos jaa#5sos blurb#5sos blurbs#5sos stroys#5 seconds of summer#5 seconds of summer preference#5 seconds of summer preferences#ceo!5sos#ceo!luke#5 seconds of summer imagine#5 seconds of summer imagines
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12:45 PM
Wow. I haven’t been on here in forever. I miss tumblr being a thing. All these other social networks will ever quite be as great, in my opinion. I came here to look a fashion pics, maybe reblog some and get some inspo but of course I fell down a rabbit hole and ended up reading some of my old posts, and now here I am crying! Lol. I am one final and one (horrible) paper away from being at the halfway point to becoming a lawyer and I am MF TIRED. I woke up this morning very depressed and sad and not wanting to study or do anything tbh, but reading the post I wrote after graduation where I was hella struggling studying for the LSAT kind of re-motivated me just now. To update my invisible followers, I did end up taking a year off (LMAO) and I did feel like the ultimate failure bc of it (silently) but it ended up being the best decision I could’ve ever made, and I ended up getting accepted to a top 25 school. Thank you Jesus!!! I have also since competed in two state pageants and placed in the top 10 twice. I’ve made some new friends and have travelled to some amazing countries. My friends are getting married and starting families, and I am still with the same guy who I love v much. All in all, I have so much to be grateful for, so much. And it’s so wild to me. Sometimes I’m shocked I even made it this far, but through it all, these last two years have been crazy tough for me. While doing all those great things, I’ve felt isolated, depressed, lonely, sad af, unsure, anxious— literally all kinds of awful feelings, but somehow I’m still here. Right now, I’m not having the best day. I woke up this morning and cried and I’m taking the day to myself to just study and try to forget about all the external worries I have so I can focus and get through finals. Life is not easy at all rn, but I hope it will be worth it. I hate talking about my feelings to people in general (not all the time, but most times) because I almost always regret it after. Sure, it feels good temporarily, but more and more I just don’t think people understand me. They may relate to what I’m going through, or give me advice, but I don’t think anyone really gets IT if that makes sense. I try so hard not to think this way though because I know it’s negative and toxic, but judge away. I’m not perfect. I’m a work in progress. The good thing is, I realize what it is that is holding me back and making me feel so shitty, and I’d say about 90% of the time it’s me. CHILL TF OUT SIS! I constantly have to tell myself that it’s not that deep and to not take things so personally, also to hold myself accountable for my actions or lack thereof. But fuck it, I won’t take all the blame. The other 10% of the time, it’s other ppl. Why ppl gotta be so awful sometimes? And unnecessarily too. Andddd it’s ppl that are your “friends” lmao, WILD. But nah, it’s still semi my fault for even letting others make me sad by giving them power to have that type of effect on me. It’s not even necessarily overt shit that gets to me, it’s the underlying stuff that I always peep that grinds my gears. And it just hurts bc I keep it in and try not to talk about it so I can forget, but it always comes back up. Anyways, on a more positive note, it’s ironic I decided to open the app and read my last post today bc I am again (hopefully) in the same position— meaning I am about to start over and do something new! I have a GREAT opportunity that is soooo close I can taste it, but it’s not official yet. Regardless, I’m claiming it. It WILL be mine and I hope this next year is everything I could ever dream of and more. We boutta enter the roaring 20s bitches! I’m so stoked. We stan a new decade!! I pray nothing but good vibes upon anyone reading this and myself the next time I decide to log in! I hope I’m somewhere killin it by then lol. Anyways, this was nice. Getting all this out felt amazing, so I’m going to take some deep breaths, workout to release some energy, and finish this fucking paper before it becomes the death of me (the gag is, it already has🥴). Bye for now tumblr.
1:05 PM— 12/14/2019
xoxo Nwando💜
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The way fandom characterizes certain characters...
Bothers me. I usually don’t speak out much against this stuff, preferring to ‘rectify’ these kinds of issues with fics of my own, and my own take on these certain characters. Characters that the fandom, for whatever reason, has decided that they don’t like and will portray them as terribly as possible.
Now, most of the time, this is done by warring ships. Those, I don’t particularly care about. Shipping wars have lasted forever, and I will easily write a fic or two about this kind of thing to fix my inner disquiet.
Parents, on the other hand, are the other. And this makes it so much harder for me to personally fix. I don’t know if it’s because fanfiction is written by a large number of young people, or what, but it’s clear that some of these authors can’t seem to recognize that problematic parental figures are not always abusive pieces of garbage with no redeeming qualities.
I have mommy issues the size of Texas. I know this. It’s typically the reason why, in my original work, the mother figures in my works are never the problem parent. It hits too close to home. I write what I wish I could have had. Which is probably depressing and a little pathetic, but it is how I’ve coped for a very long time.
I read an embarrassing amount of fanfiction. Typically because I am super Gay(TM) and have to depend on either dead ships (fucking bury your gays trope can go light itself on fire in a fucking dumpster) or crack ships. Either way, I’ve gotten ridiculously good at perusing and finding virtually anything I could possibly imagine by learning the most common ways people tag, summarize, or title their works. Usually, I will go into a specific fandom, read through the most recently updated stuff first, then get into the most kudos’d/favorited stuff next, then go into character tags, and then finally start searching additional tags or search terms for things that didn’t quite cure my itch for certain topics. This typically takes me a period of two weeks or so. After I’ve exhausted everything I could imagine, was interested in, or what was available, I leave for about four to six months, and then come back to start the process all over again.
Like I said, I read a shit ton of fanfiction. And I learn how the fandom thinks in broad strokes. There are fandom versions of certain characters. They are, for the most part, in character, but there’s this odd ‘fandom’ spin that writers of fanfiction have either created themselves or have latched onto and that thing will permeate throughout the entire section of the fandom. Be it a quote, behavior, or personality. One example would be Maggie, in a shit ton of fics, will find some way to mention that she’s a “detective, Danvers. I detect.” Like it’s her motto rather than a witty one-liner she said one episode and never mentioned again.
But that’s the most minor example of this issue. The most extreme would be the way the fandom characterizes Eliza Danvers. Now, I know her past. I know that she was hard on Alex. It was a plot arc that hit uncomfortably close to home for me. A mother who is far too hard on her eldest child and charges said child to take care of their younger sibling(s) to the detriment of their own well-being. It is a form of emotional abuse. One that I have, unfortunately, lived myself. Also the sheer, crippling fear of failure or of being a disappointment to said mother that Alex feels is another plot point that hits too close to the mark for me. The fact that Eliza acted as she did is not the issue I have with her role in fanfiction.
No, I have a huge problem with how most writers completely ignore her character arc and her continuing development with Alex and act as though she is still as awful as she had ever been at her worst. A low point that we only get the barest of glimpses of on screen in season 1. It’s maddening. Why? Because if my mother ever looked me in the eye and told me that she was proud of me and made a mistake in how she’s been treating me for the past several years, and then took steps to fix the problem, I’d fucking.... Shit, I don’t even know, guys. I’d be fucking ecstatic, to say the least. Because Eliza Danvers has been working on easing up on Alex. You can see it in what little we get of her in season 2.
(I may have also searched high and low for Alex and Eliza scenes on YouTube in order to find out if their relationship did indeed get any better. It did, btw.)
We can see the start of this in season 1, first of all, when Eliza breaks Myriad’s control over Alex by telling her how proud she and Jeremiah are of her. Without framing that pride around Kara. She specifically spoke only about Alex in that scene.
Season 2 Thanksgiving is rather telling in that Alex is still stressed out by her mom. And I don’t think that is because of any particular ugliness Eliza has shown her recently. Mostly because of her continuing actions in this season, but one also has to consider that, perhaps, Alex only got drunk in order to come out to her mom because she was emotionally scarred. This kind of trauma just doesn’t evaporate overnight. For god’s sake, Alex is like 27-28 and she still has a crippling fear of disappointing her mother. That’s not healthy, and it’s not something that will fix itself over a short period of time. I do not think Alex acted as she did because Eliza is still trying to be as hard on her as she used to be. (Not that I think she immediately turned perfect either, but that she has likely been working on being better.) But that’s not going to make a difference on the kind of emotional toll it has taken on Alex over the past 14 years.
And this suspicion of mine is further supported by just how freaking great Eliza was when Alex did actually come out to her. Eliza made some very specific word choices in that conversation. Alex has forever had an inferiority complex as far as her mother is concerned, but also as a more general flaw in her character. Eliza specifically calls her exceptional for a reason. I think she’s perfectly aware of how terrified Alex was to come out to her. For one thing, if she missed that Alex was really fucked up on Thanksgiving, then she’s super fucking blind because an infant could have spotted how hammered Alex was. And I think she did, because Eliza says that she knew Alex had been trying to tell her something. Not us. Not everyone at Thanksgiving. Her. Then there is the fact that Alex was moved to tears over her coming out, and that she had to choke out her fears that Eliza wouldn’t accept her. I mean, you can’t be any more clear than that in giving your parent the message that ‘you’ve made me really fucking terrified over whether or not you even love me.’ Eliza has proven to be very observant over these past two seasons. I don’t think she missed that firework display of insecurity that Alex set off there.
Then there’s the Danvers Family Reunion dinner in 2x14. First, we have Eliza giving Maggie a hug right off the bat, didn’t even blink an eye. I have no doubt that the only reason Alex went through with her extremely quick, yet hesitant, kiss on Maggie’s cheek right before that was because both Kara and Eliza supported her. She was stressed about Jeremiah in that scene, not Eliza, and I think that speaks for how their relationship has improved since her coming out. In that same episode, after Mon-el acts like an ass and accuses Jeremiah a few minutes later, Maggie is the first to bring Alex down from her anger, but if you watch Alex throughout the whole background of that scene, specifically as Jeremiah is walking Mon-el out, Alex is being comforted by Eliza. Again, more support that things are better between them. Alex could have easily stuck with Maggie in this scene. TV rarely does anything by accident. Eliza and Alex in the background together in this scene was done deliberately and it was developing their relationship further through body language. Specifically, I believe Eliza and Alex were facing each other, and Eliza was rubbing Alex’s arm in comfort. Doesn’t get much more clearer than that.
(Also, who the fuck accuses somebody of suspicious activity at their fucking family reunion? I know I’m behind in Supergirl, I’ve honestly not watched a ton of Mon-el simply because he is not a lesbian nor a sister of someone on this show. I am not about to unilaterally label him as a terrible person or anything because I know next to nothing about him. But for real. This scene gave me a bad taste in my mouth for him. Time and place, dude. Presumably, you at least have J’onn’s phone number. Call him up after dinner and share your concerns. Privately. Away from Jeremiah’s celebrating family. Jesus Christ.)
Anyway, the next thing I’m aware of, as far as Eliza scenes are concerned, is when Jeremiah goes through with the betrayal. She rushes into the DEO, and goes to Alex to comfort her. Kara is conspicuously absent in their conversation. She’s having her own conversation, but Alex was just in that same conversation with Kara. She was called away by Eliza by name. Eliza didn’t call out for both Kara and Alex. Just Alex. Because she probably knew that Alex would take Jeremiah’s betrayal much harder than Kara would.
I don’t know. I see this a lot. The 1OO have fanfic writers shitting on Abby. Vampire Academy has folks dumping on Janine. It seems parents are a sore spot for most folks. Trust me, I get it, but personally? I prefer to see these relationships improve, as they do in actual canon. (At least as far as Supergirl and VA are concerned. I have no idea about Abby and Clarke’s relationship because I didn’t get far enough in to find out.) Because it gives me a bit of catharsis that, even if it’s fiction, at least somebody is improving their relationships with their mothers. Because God only knows how much I want that for myself.
Whether its stories that repeatedly have Eliza holding Alex to ridiculous standards, standards she’s seemed to have abandoned for the most part in canon, or if it’s a high-school AU and they make Eliza really fucking homophobic (???? Like, that didn’t even happen in the show? Where does that come from????), there’s a lot of hate out there for her. And it bothers me. Because it’s extremely unlikely that I will be able to write something of my own over this subject in Alex’s voice. That’s the only way I’d be able to do it (because it would be Alex’s POV that I’m the most familiar with on this subject), and if I tried to go through with it, it would bring up a shit load of emotions that I am currently not able to deal with at the moment. This is a rare occurrence for me. I’m not used to having this kind of idea in my head and not being able to actually sit down and write it. I’ve compartmentalized a lot of shit I feel about my own mom, and even writing this rant has got me thinking too much about our relationship and the disappointment I know she will feel towards me very soon.
Okay, end of that paragraph. Can’t get into that. I don’t know. I don’t expect this to change anything. People will write what they will. I guess I’m wondering if I’m the only one who even thinks about this. I’ve been on a fic binge, I’ve seen this phenomenon a lot recently and it’s hit close to home and I’m feeling a bit fatigued over it. I harp on my less than perfect relationship with my mom enough in real life. I guess it feels more like a punch in the gut when I’m reading fanfic, have gotten like six chapters in, and suddenly “LOOK! LOOK HOW TERRIBLE THIS CHARACTER’S PARENT IS! aREN’T THEY THE WORST????” Like, yeah, I guess.... Because these scenes are almost always over the top. There’s no nuance. No one sticks up for anyone. It’s typically a scene of the parents just shitting on the kid, and geez. As if I don’t already live that. I suppose this is how some people vent, but ohhh. It’s definitely not how I do it.
Maybe I’m just a tad more sensitive about this than usual.
#Supergirl#Alex Danvers#Eliza Danvers#A rant about how fic writers ignore the development between these two#like their relationship is not at dumpster fire anymore#do people see these scenes and ignore them??#Or forget??#Again this is another rant
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Prompt List
Hey guys, I am up for writing requests for all my fandoms (Supernatural, Teen Wolf (Derek Hale only), The Originals (Elijah Mikaelson only) or Game of Thrones (Jaime Lannister only).
Here is a list I generates, please feel free to request multiple or ones not listed!
UPDATE: I have added in more that I stole from @persuasivus :) The new ones are BOLDED
Don’t leave me”
I have something to tell you”
I only have a month left with you so I’m trying to make it count.
I fell in love and now I don’t want you to go but it’s too late.
‘I’m already dead’’
I got you hurt so I completely cut off all ties to keep your safe
You would always randomly pull me up to dance or just gently hold me while swaying but now I’m standing here alone
” I mean I know I’m supposed to kill you but you’re kind of hot”
The First and Last Time (title)
“Not all love is gentle. Sometimes it’s gritty and dirty and possessive, sometimes it’s not supposed to be careful or soft at all. Sometimes it feels like teeth.”
“A soulmate is: Well, it’s like a best friend, but more. It’s the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else. It’s someone who makes you a better person. Actually, they don’t make you a better person, you do that yourself because they inspire you. A soul mate is someone who you carry with you forever. It’s the one person who knew you and accepted you and believed in you before anyone else did or when no one else would. And no matter what happens, you’ll always love her. Nothing can ever change that. Make sense?”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“I swear it won’t happen again.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“You can’t keep doing this.”
“I’m going to take care of you, okay?”
“You can’t die. Please don’t die.”
‘’You did what?!”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Don’t ask me that.”
“I might have had a few shots.”
“What’s with the box?‘’
“Say it!’’
“I could kiss you right now!”
“Are you done with that?”
“Are you still awake…?”
“Excuse you?”
“This is all your fault!”
“I shouldn’t be in love with you.”
“I could kill you right now!”
“Just admit I’m right.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“That’s irrational.”
“Just pretend to be my date.”
“Are you really going to leave without asking me the question you’ve been dying to ask me?”
“When you love someone, you don’t just stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy… even then. Especially then!”
“I think I’ve been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again.”
“I’m not going to apologise for this. Not anymore.”
“That’s almost exactly the opposite of what I meant.”
“It must be hard with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line.”
“Can I sit here? The other tables are full.”
“You weren’t supposed to laugh!”
“This is, by far, the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
“I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.”
“These stars are nothing compared to the ones I’ve seen in your eyes.”
“Before I do this, I need you to know that I have always loved you.”
“Did I say that out loud?”
“Do you think they could have loved me?”
“Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy.”
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow.”
“I am not losing you again!”
“I don’t know why I’m crying.”
“I had a nightmare about you and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“I just need to be alone right now.”
“When I picture myself happy… It’s with you.”
“I made a mistake.”
“I may be an idiot, but I’m your idiot.”
“I need you to forgive me.”
“I see the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking.”
“I think I’m in love with you and that scares me half to death.”
“I’m flirting with you.”
“I’m not good enough for you.”
“I fell in love with my best friend.”
“I’m sorry, what? I keep getting lost in your eyes.”
“I’m up to the challenge.”
“I’ve been in love with you my entire life. Ever since the day I first met you.”
“I’m yours.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”
“If you go anywhere near them, you’ll have to deal with me!”
“It’s okay to cry…”
“What do you mean? It’s exciting!”
“Talk to me.”
“Look at me—just breathe, okay?”
“Look, I don’t have much time, but I wanted to say I love you.”
“Oh my god! You’re in love with them!”
“Well, this is where I live.”
“We finish it the same way we started—together.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“You are the single best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“You deserve so much better.”
“You don’t have to stay.”
“You don’t know you the way I do.”
“You fainted, straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”
“You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you.”
“You shouldn’t have even been there!”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
“Teach me?”
“We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you want to stop and feel the rain?”
“Looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while.”
“Just once.”
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“I got you a present.”
“Hey! I was gonna eat that!”
“See, now, what that so bad?”.”
“You’re the best part of me.”
“I don’t want to think about what I’d be like without you.”
“Can I hold your hand?”
“Let’s move in together.”
“It’s a real shame nobody asked for your opinion.”
“What time is it?”
“Just wait a second.”
“Here, let me.”
“You’re so cute when you pout like that.”
“Hold me back!’
”I don’t care what they said, it doesn’t mean shit!”
I adore you.”
Do I look like I give a fuck?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you again for taking advantage of my compassionate and forgiving nature! How dare you.
Me? Overreacting? Probably.
I used to be passive aggressive, but now I’m aggressively passive. Don’t mess with me kiddo. I’ll be right here. I’ll fucking forgive you.
A: What are you doing? B: Avoiding. A: Avoiding what? B: Everything.
This was impulsive. Probably shouldn’t have done it. WHO CARES?
You’re really cute and it’s ruining my life because I think about kissing you all the time.
A: It’s okay, I’m not mad. A (5 mins later): Actually? You can go to Hell.
I hate people who get personally offended when I’m in a bad mood, like ‘I’m not mad at you (name), I’m mad at the world!
A to A: Bitch, if you actually applied yourself in like…anything, you’d be dangerous ,damn my lazy ass.
I don’t know what I’m feeling, but there’s a lot of it.
Not to dictate your life, but drop your shitty friends.
That sounds like responsibility and I want no part in it.
Why am I better than everyone? Jesus, life’s hard.
A: How do you make someone holy? B: You beat the hell out of them.
A: I’m amazed of how insignificant we actually are. B: Not me, I’m important.
If anyone can do it, then someone who isn’t me can do it.
In the old days of one week ago things were different. Now look at us - slightly older than we were back then, other clothes and such.
I’m not going to claim that I know everything, I’m simply going to act like it.
You have to “see it to believe it”, so as long as I’m not looking I don’t have to believe in anything.
I’m visualising a powerful mystical energy at the moment.
If I don’t learn anything from my mistakes then I don’t have to consider them mistakes in the first place.
Why the hell is there always this one weak bitch in the group that isn’t down with murder? No offence though.
A: If you ever feel stupid, or weak, or powerless, just remember that I, am not. B: Thanks. A: You’re welcome.
I wanna do dirty stuff with you like farming.
A: What are you reading? B: 10 tips for beautiful hair the Government doesn’t want you to know. A: What the fuck?
A: I’m tired of these constant near-death experiences. B: (opinional) don’t be a whiny bitch, bitch.
God has a favourite comedy tv series and it’s called “my life”.
Sometimes all you can say is “yikes” and then just move the fuck on.
Why is everyone having their mid-life crisis at like 19?
It’s a beautiful day to give me money, honey.
Women aren’t complicated, you’re just dumb.
Well this social situation isn’t going the way I acted it out in the shower.
No offence, but my favourite hobby is staying hydrated and beautiful.
I’m actually pretty cool if you give me like 5 tries to get it right.
Today I’m feeling cloudy with a chance of sarcastic.
Be prepared to add a cute emoji next to my name in your contacts list because you’re gonna love me.
A: Babe, I’m not grabbing your boob, I’m grabbing your heart. B: That’s my right boob though. A: Babe.
Every machine is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough.
What makes me feel like a failure the most is when I can’t remember the answet to a Harry Potter trivia question.
I hate it when I’m really nice…And then people are just not that nice? Like what the fuck.
Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.
Is your name candle? Because I wanna blow you.
So, was that just awkward eye contact, or were we checking each other out?
You know, having feelings is ruining my reputation of being a heartless bitch.
My turn ons? Well I don’t know, maybe some fucking common sense.
I may seem like an angry person on the surface, but deep inside I’m actually angrier.
I ship me and that boat.
Listen. I did mean to make you upset and I do think your opinions are shit. But you’re still my friend so it’s okay.
Because my two moods are like glitter and death.
My kink is closing the fucking bathroom door, because no one wants to see you fucking pee!
If I go to Hell I’m gonna constantly torture everyone by continuously asking if it’s hot in here or is it just me.
Oh my God are you seeing this shit?
Graduated top of my class from Hogwarts school of bitchcraft and misery.
A (shows up at your door 10 years after we had an argument): aND ANOTHER THING
I’ll betray all of you in the Hunger Games.
Well, well, well, if it isn’t my old friend, the dawning realisation that I fucked up real bad.
I’m a screamer. Not sexually, just life in general.
I’m not racist, I hate everyone equally.
Tell me I’m cute or something, so I can roll my eyes at you, but then blush when
I think about it later.
You know when your hair is greasy and it makes you feel so bad about yourself?
And your entire life. Everything is awful because my hair is greasy.
True love is having a crush even when he got a haircut you know.
Emotions? You know, I just push my tear back into my eye and tell it “Not now, you little bastard!”.
Are we gonna hold hands, or what?
My soul leaving my body, but with one of those slide whistle sound effects.
A: I love you. B: What if I got a bowl cut?
I should really stop planning my future around being rich or famous…but I can’t.
I’m aggressively thinking about having sex with you and trying to keep a straight face at the same time. Do you know how hard that is?
My opinion is no.
Did you fall from heaven, because so did Satan.
What to hear a fairytale? Once upon a time you weren’t such a little bitch.
Which is messier - my life or my hair?
How can you face the problem when the problem is your face?
Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to know what THE FUCK IS GOING ON.
Read a girl who dates books.
My hands are cold let me put them in your pants.
I’m sorry, you must be at least level 4 friend to unlock my tragic backstory.
My therapist once told me that I have this obsession with seeking revenge…we’ll see about that.
You have lips, I have lips…interesting.
Do my dark undereye circles and unwashed hair turn you on?
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30 THINGS I LEARNED BEFORE TURNING 30
by: Taylor Swift © @taylorswift @elle
1. I learned to block some of the noise. Social media can be great, but it can also inundate your brain with images of what you aren’t, how you’re failing, or who is in a cooler locale than you at any given moment. One thing I do to lessen this weird insecurity laser beam is to turn off comments. Yes, I keep comments off on my posts. That way, I’m showing my friends and fans updates on my life, but I’m training my
brain to not need the validation of someone telling me I look . I’m also blocking out anyone who might feel the need to tell me to “go die in a hole ho” while I’m having my coffee at nine in the morning. I think it’s healthy for your self-esteem to need less internet praise to appease it, especially when three comments down you could unwittingly see someone telling you that you look like a weasel that got hit by a truck and stitched back together by a drunk taxidermist. An actual comment I received once.
2. Being sweet to everyone all the time can get you into a lot of trouble. While it may be born from having been raised to be a polite young lady, this can contribute to some of your life’s worst regrets if someone takes advantage of this trait in you. Grow a backbone, trust your gut, and know when to strike back. Be like a snake—only bite if someone steps on you.
3. Trying and failing and trying again and failing again is normal. It may not feel normal to me because all of my trials and failures are blown out of proportion and turned into a spectator sport by tabloid takedown culture (you had to give me one moment of bitterness, come on). BUT THAT SAID, it’s good to mess up and learn from it and take risks. It’s especially good to do this in your twenties because we are searching.
That’s GOOD. We’ll always be searching but never as intensely as when our brains are still developing at such a rapid pace. No, this is not an excuse to text your ex right now. That’s not what I said. Or do it, whatever, maybe you’ll learn from it. Then you’ll probably forget what you learned and do it again.... But it’s fine; do you, you’re searching.
4. I learned to stop hating every ounce of fat on my body. I worked hard to retrain my brain that a little extra weight means curves, shinier hair, and more energy. I think a lot of us push the boundaries of dieting, but taking it too far can be really dangerous. There is no quick fix. I work on accepting my body every day.
5. Banish the drama. You only have so much room in your life and so much energy to give to those in it. Be discerning. If someone in your life is hurting you, draining you, or causing you pain in a way that feels unresolvable, blocking their number isn’t cruel. It’s just a simple setting on your phone that will eliminate drama if you so choose to use it.
6. I’ve learned that society is constantly sending very loud messages to women that exhibiting the physical signs of aging is the worst thing that can happen to us. These messages tell women that we aren’t allowed to age. It’s an impossible standard to meet, and I’ve been loving how outspoken Jameela Jamil has been on this subject. Reading her words feels like hearing a voice of reason amongst all these loud messages out there telling women we’re supposed to defy gravity, time, and
everything natural in order to achieve this bizarre goal of everlasting youth that isn’t even remotely required of men.
7. My biggest fear. After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months. There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe. My fear of violence has continued into my personal life. I carry QuikClot army grade
bandage dressing, which is for gunshot or stab wounds. Websites and tabloids have taken it upon themselves to post every home address I’ve ever had online. You get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things. Every day I try to remind myself of the good in the world, the love I’ve witnessed and the faith I have in humanity. We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears.
8. I learned not to let outside opinions establish the value I place on my own life choices. For too long, the projected opinions of strangers affected how I viewed my relationships. Whether it was the general internet consensus of who would be right
for me, or what they thought was “couples goals” based on a picture I posted on Instagram. That stuff isn’t real. For an approval seeker like me, it was an important
lesson for me to learn to have my OWN value system of what I actually want.
9. I learned how to make some easy cocktails like Pimm’s cups, Aperol spritzes, Old-Fashioneds, and Mojitos because…2016.
10. I’ve always cooked a LOT, but I found three recipes I know I’ll be making at dinner parties for life: Ina Garten’s Real Meatballs and Spaghetti (I just use packaged bread crumbs and only ground beef for meat), Nigella Lawson’s Mughlai Chicken, and Jamie
Oliver’s Chicken Fajitas with Molé Sauce. Getting a garlic crusher is a whole game
changer. I also learned how to immediately calculate Celsius to Fahrenheit in my head. (Which is what I’m pretty sure the internet would call a “weird flex.”)
11. Recently I discovered Command tape, and I definitely would have fewer holes in my walls if I’d hung things that way all along. This is not an ad. I just really love Command tape.
12. Apologizing when you have hurt someone who really matters to you takes nothing away from you. Even if it was unintentional, it’s so easy to just apologize and move on. Try not to say “I’m sorry, but...” and make excuses for yourself. Learn how to make a sincere apology, and you can avoid breaking down the trust in your friendships and relationships.
13. It’s my opinion that in cases of sexual assault, I believe the victim. Coming forward is an agonizing thing to go through. I know because my sexual assault trial was a demoralizing, awful experience. I believe victims because I know firsthand about the shame and stigma that comes with raising your hand and saying “This happened to me.” It’s something no one would choose for themselves. We speak up because we have to, and out of fear that it could happen to someone else if we don’t.
14. When tragedy strikes someone you know in a way you’ve never dealt with before, it’s okay to say that you don’t know what to say. Sometimes just saying you’re so sorry is all someone wants to hear. It’s okay to not have any helpful advice to give them; you don’t have all the answers. However, it’s not okay to disappear from their life in their darkest hour. Your support is all someone needs when they’re at their lowest point. Even if you can’t really help the situation, it’s nice for them to know that you would if you could.
15. Vitamins make me feel so much better! I take L-theanine, which is a natural supplement to help with stress and anxiety. I also take magnesium for muscle health and energy.
16. Before you jump in headfirst, maybe, I don’t know...get to know someone! All that glitters isn’t gold, and first impressions actually aren’t everything. It’s impressive when someone can charm people instantly and own the room, but what I know now to be more valuable about a person is not their charming routine upon meeting them (I call it a “solid first 15”), but the layers of a person you discover in time. Are they honest, self-aware, and slyly funny at the moments you least expect it? Do they show up for you when you need them? Do they still love you after they’ve seen you broken? Or after they’ve walked in on you having a full conversation with your cats as if they’re people? These are things a first impression could never convey.
17. After my teen years and early twenties of sleeping in my makeup and occasionally using a Sharpie as eyeliner (DO NOT DO IT), I felt like I needed to start being nicer to my skin. I now moisturize my face every night and put on body lotion after I shower, not just in the winter, but all year round, because, why can’t I be soft during all the seasons?!
18. Realizing childhood scars and working on rectifying them. For example, never being popular as a kid was always an insecurity for me. Even as an adult, I still have recurring flashbacks of sitting at lunch tables alone or hiding in a bathroom stall, or trying to make a new friend and being laughed at. In my twenties I found myself surrounded by girls who wanted to be my friend. So I shouted it from the rooftops, posted pictures, and celebrated my newfound acceptance into a sisterhood, without realizing that other people might still feel the way I did when I felt so alone. It’s important to address our long-standing issues before we turn into the living
embodiment of them.
19. Playing mind games is for the chase. In a real relationship or friendship, you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t tell the other person how you feel, and what could be done to fix it. No one is a mind reader. If someone really loves you, they want you to verbalize how you feel. This is real life, not chess.
20. Learning the difference between lifelong friendships and situationships. Something about “we’re in our young twenties!” hurls people together into groups that can feel like
your chosen family. And maybe they will be for the rest of your life. Or maybe they’ll just be your comrades for an important phase, but not forever. It’s sad but sometimes when you grow, you outgrow relationships. You may leave behind friendships along the way, but you’ll always keep the memories.
21. Fashion is all about playful experimentation. If you don’t look back at pictures of some of your old looks and cringe, you’re doing it wrong. See: Bleachella.
22. How to fight fair with the ones you love. Chances are you’re not trying to hurt the person you love and they aren’t trying to hurt you. If you can wind the tension of an argument down to a conversation about where the other person is coming from, there’s a greater chance you can remove the shame of losing a fight for one of you and the ego boost of the one who “won” the fight. I know a couple who, in the thick of a fight, say “Hey, same team.” Find a way to defuse the anger that can spiral out of control and make you lose sight of the good things you two have built. They don’t
give out awards for winning the most fights in your relationship. They just give out divorce papers.
23. I learned that I have friends and fans in my life who don’t care if I’m #canceled. They were there in the worst times and they’re here now. The fans and their care for me, my well-being, and my music were the ones who pulled me through. The most emotional part of the Reputation Stadium Tour for me was knowing I was looking out at the faces of the people who helped me get back up. I’ll never forget the ones who stuck around.
24. I’ve had to learn how to handle serious illness in my family. Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again. It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else. My mom’s cancer is a real problem. I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress, and prayers to real problems now.
25. I remember people asking me, “What are you gonna write about if you ever get happy?” There’s a common misconception that artists have to be miserable in order to make good art, that art and suffering go hand in hand. I’m really grateful to have learned this isn’t true. Finding happiness and inspiration at the same time has been really cool.
26. I make countdowns for things I’m excited about. When I’ve gone through dark, low times, I’ve always found a tiny bit of relief and hope in getting a countdown app (they’re free) and adding things I’m looking forward to. Even if they’re not big holidays or anything, it’s good to look toward the future. Sometimes we can get overwhelmed in the now, and it’s good to get some perspective that life will always go on, to better things.
27. I learned that disarming someone’s petty bullying can be as simple as learning to laugh. In my experience, I’ve come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously. A few years ago, someone started an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the internet. The fact that so many people jumped on board with it led me to feeling lower than I’ve ever felt in my life, but I can’t tell you how hard I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans. It’s the Stadium Tour equivalent of responding to a
troll’s hateful Instagram comment with “lol.” It would be nice if we could get an apology from people who bully us, but maybe all I’ll ever get is the satisfaction of knowing I could survive it, and thrive in spite of it.
28. I’m finding my voice in terms of politics. I took a lot of time educating myself on the political system and the branches of government that are signing off on bills that
affect our day-to-day life. I saw so many issues that put our most vulnerable citizens at risk, and felt like I had to speak up to try and help make a change. Only as someone approaching 30 did I feel informed enough to speak about it to my 114 million followers. Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders, and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric. I’m going to do more to help. We have a big race coming up next year.
29. I learned that your hair can completely change texture. From birth, I had the curliest
hair and now it is STRAIGHT. It’s the straight hair I wished for every day in junior high. But just as I was coming to terms with loving my curls, they’ve left me. Please pray for their safe return.
30. My mom always tells me that when I was a little kid, she never had to punish me for misbehaving because I would punish myself even worse. I’d lock myself in my room and couldn’t forgive myself, as a five-year-old. I realized that I do the same thing now when I feel I’ve made a mistake, whether it’s self-imposed exile or silencing myself and isolating. I’ve come to a realization that I need to be able to forgive myself for making the wrong choice, trusting the wrong person, or figuratively falling on my face in front of everyone. Step into the daylight and let it go.
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How to go freelance: need-to-know advice from creatives who made it
Once you’re free from the bubble of uni, the “real world” of the creative industry can seem daunting, and going it alone can be even more so. For many creatives, however, it’s the freedom they’ve been craving, a chance to finally show the world what they’re made of, and many establish a solid career having never stepped into a “normal” job.
Take these four successful freelance creatives: Owen Gildersleeve, Emily Stein, Sister Arrow and Jack Sachs. They’ve made it, and they have some great advice for how you can too, from practical tips to ideas for getting your creative momentum rolling.
http://www.itsnicethat.com/features/the-graduates-2017-advice-how-to-go-freelance-170517?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intsocial
Sister Arrow
Be yourself
Make the stuff you really want to make and put it out into the world. ‘Self promo’ in the social media sense can be a bit soulless in my opinion. Who cares? Everyone’s promoting something. Spend your time and energy making the work, then think of where you can get people to see in its most appropriate setting. Whether that’s in print publishing, an online platform, film screening, exhibition, a workshop… the format should relate to the content. Then talk to the people there about it. In person. Don’t ever be afraid to talk about yourself and your work. As long as you are asking questions too, then you will have great conversation and people will be interested in what you do and are passionate about.
Be knowledgable. Learn as much as you can, all of the time, forever. The more you read, watch, see, observe, listen to, the more you will understand the world and what your role is in it. Context is everything.
Practice drawing lines. Over and over. Understand the control you are capable of, and work with that.
Manage your Money
Be upfront with yourself about your finances. Don’t hide from your bank account. Initially, expenditure needs to be as low as possible on all non-allowable expenses items (see this government guide). However, you should be able to assess when it is a good time to invest in yourself and your studio practice. Working on rubbish equipment that slows you down is sometimes necessary but not economically sustainable in the end. Better to get in (manageable) debt and and have a fast computer that doesn’t beachball or crash every five seconds.
Buy people stationery and books for presents because then you can put it on expenses. Make sure your holidays are work-related, like, you are doing essential research or going to a meeting when you’re there (aren’t you??!)
Get friends and family to buy you non-allowable items like clothes and toiletries for your presents. Spend your own money on equipment and materials and subscriptions. Or save it. You will need a back-up fund for if you get sick or injured or out of work.
File all of your receipts weekly. I never do this because I’m stupid and don’t listen to my own advice.
Don’t ever stop.
Art, illustration, design, animation – it’s a long game. Focus on the horizon.
Find out what your ‘thing’ is; what do you most care about in the world? What makes your heart beat fast and get you excited? Your work should be centred around this thing. Then you will always be motivated to do it.
Be brave.
Take risks and believe in yourself.
If opportunities arise, even if you aren’t completely certain you have all of the requirements for the job, go for it. Anything technical you don’t know can probably be learnt via online videos in your evenings, while on the job. Ring the most reliable person you know and ask them for help or advice if you’re feeling unsure.
Tell yourself how great you are, and how great you are going to be. Even if the evidence doesn’t quite match up yet. It will ;-)
Owen Gildersleeve
There are a few bits of advice that I give to any students who I meet during university visits and talks, mainly based on things I stumbled across over the years and mistakes I made. The first is the importance of having a website and getting your work out there: nobody will know who you are or what you’re capable of unless you have something to show them. Sometimes people feel their work isn’t worthy enough to be shown to people, but it’s always surprising the good things that people are able to see in your work from a fresh perspective.
It also came as a surprise to me the types of people that can stumble across your work. My first commission came in from the New York Times during my second year of university off the back of a personal project I’d put on my site. I would never have thought that those guys would be looking at my work at that stage!
The second thing I really recommend is to get out there and meet people face-to-face. It’s such an important thing to make personal connections, not just with potential clients but with other people in your field. This then helps you to build a community and support network who you can call upon when you need help, or if you are just looking to bounce around ideas or let off some steam. This is extremely important when you leave university as it’ll help you transition from student life, where you are constantly surrounded by your peers, and in turn will hopefully allow you to feel part of wherever you settle.
Jack Sachs
It sounds obvious but getting in touch with people you want to work with is really important when you’re starting to freelance. It’s never that hard to find an art director’s email to introduce yourself and show them what you do. Avoid emailing their personal accounts or turning up at their homes. I’ve watched film/art directors find people to work on jobs just by going through their inbox and looking at emails like this so it definitely works, and even if you don’t get a response you’re still in their inbox and they’ve looked at your work.
In terms of your work I think it’s really good to maintain a personal practice alongside your professional one. They end up informing each other and help to keep the other fresh and fun. Also I think art directors are more interested in work you’ve done for yourself and not another client as it’s easier for them to imagine it working for their job without another client’s stamp on it.
Emily Stein
Money vs. Creativity
After I finished college I worked part-time in a photo studio and assisting various photographers to make enough money. I think it’s really important that whatever work you get to support you, it will benefit or inspire your own work in some way. It is really easy to take on too much other work to make money, but this can end up taking up so much time that our own practice drops further and further into the background. So, I guess it’s about finding a balance between making money and making your own work so you can build a portfolio and start getting it out there.
Collaboration with people you admire is a brilliant thing to do too. Get together with an art director or graphic designer whose work you love and make something together.
Presence
When it comes to making a website, keep it clean and simple, something that you can update easily rather than having to pay someone or wait for someone else to do for you. I use Cargo Collective and it’s really easy.
Getting a studio
I got a studio as soon as I could, as there is nothing more depressing than working at home. Even if it’s a desk share and you have 2-3 days a week in the studio, at least you can get in somewhere with other creatives who you can bounce ideas off and you don’t feel like you are alone in the world, sitting at a desk by your bed in your PJs at 1pm.
Challenges
When I first went freelance I expected to get somewhere quickly and if I didn’t, I felt I was a failure. I wish I could go back and tell myself the truth. It has taken me years to survive from doing my “work work”, and it is a real privilege to be able to do this, but it’s not something just to expect will happen. It may take years, a lot of heartache, and constant self doubt, but if you are your work and are passionate about what you do there is no other option and making a living from doing that is an amazing thing that most people don’t get to do and will take time.
Also, be prepared to chase and chase people. Don’t expect anyone to get back to you! They are busy, it isn’t personal. Expect disappointment after disappointment on the way, this way when it happens it won’t get you down. Don’t be discouraged, never give up!
If you’re after more advice and insight into the creative industries, sign up to Lecture in Progress – It’s Nice That’s new sister company, which was launched to inspire, inform and empower emerging talent with information on the workings of the creative world.
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 285
youtube
Click on the video above to watch Episode 285 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.
Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.
The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.
Announcement
Live. Cool. Hey everybody, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is Episode 285 All right, we’re getting there. We’re getting close to 300 that’s pretty awesome. I bet we’re gonna blink our eyes It’s gonna be 400 and then 500 after that, who knows? Hump Day hangouts forever and ever when we reach Episode 1000 I’ll probably be in my Walker but maybe we’ll still be doing it because uh, Alright, moving past that back into reality gonna say hi to the guys real quick we got some announcements the Battle Plan version 4.0 came out today so if you haven’t yet go pick that up Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com we also got some really good deals. We got some awesome bonuses in there I’m not going to read them out to you. You guys can find them at Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com. With that said, let’s start here on my left I see Bradley first. So Bradley, you’re up man. How you doing?
I’m good. I’m happy bear. Uh, you know, happy that the Battle Plan for is out. It’s much more condensed and simplified shear than the previous versions, I think, I think it makes it a lot easier for people because basically just walk through the bundles and why it’s important and how it applies for pretty much any sort of project now, which makes it a lot easier because I mentioned this in one of the Facebook live videos I’ve done but to, you know, announce that it was coming out that the problem before was that we had, you know, talked about all the different components and things that you would we suggest or recommend to get results, but the problem was that, you know, most of the time, people would skip steps and not implement everything. And then they’d say, Oh, this didn’t work.
And upon further investigation, we’d find out that they didn’t do everything. And so when we set out to update Battle Plan for 2020, we decided that well, first of all, we had the product bundles and MGB but, and we did that on purpose. But that’s what we really wanted to kind of promote is why those bundles are the way that you know why we have them set up so that you don’t miss anything. It just makes it so much easier. And so the Battle Plan is a hell of a lot more simplified and simple is good. It doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. It just means it’s easy to implement based upon the Battle Plan. So certainly recommend anybody to go pick that up if you haven’t yet. Definitely. And I think what you said about being simple I think I’ll pass it off to Marco next because Marco, what do you want to say about stuff is easy and simple? I think, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not simple, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Yeah.
It’s not easy. Because a lot of hours work. Blood, sweat, and tears went into this thing. It’s not as if we just one day out of the blue said, oh, let’s do an SEO Battle Plan. A lot of thought into that, although it’s whittled down so so that even a person who’s not in it in the industry can understand it. It’s not easy, but the way that we’ve simplified it makes it so much better for you guys to just go in order.
I mean, if you guys don’t have the time to go through all of our training, you should still be a member of one of our groups. I mean, without question, because then you can come in and tag us personally in the Facebook group and ask the question directly, one of us will jump in and help you answer the question. Right at that moment, you don’t have to wait once a week to maybe get into a hump day hangout and get into a question. And maybe we have time to answer the question. No, we focus on our people, our paying members, that’s the way it has to be I mean, with Marco Baby got to eat man. And so, dude, that’s the way it’s got to be. But let me go back to the Battle Plan. It’s simplified. It’s whittled down. It’s going there and take action. And let me tell each one of you guys and I’m going to do it myself. Pat yourself on the back. No, no, because I had my mastermind meeting yesterday, my mini mastermind.
And what we did was just go over, I guess as an encouragement, because it’s accountability is an encouragement to one another, and people started showing their results and I’m like, holy crap.
These guys are ranking in a metropolitan area for like 1012 million people. Number one, number one for the market level keyword. I’m not talking about long tails, because long tails I think are unbelievably easy to rank for. But we’re talking about the market level keyword where the money is guys. So not only was he showing that then that I get, you know, Ed gal, Bradley.
Yeah, I think you know him personally, I know him personally also, but he’s ranking for the market level keyword in his area. And then another one of our mastermind members, who’s killing it for an attorney, Attorney Seo we all know how difficult that is correct.
Truck accidents, wrongful death, you name it, it criminal law, and the guy has his clients. Number one. I got another guy showing he’s getting massive results from whatever he’s doing. He’s in Colorado, by the way. I know you love coffee. You guys all love Colorado.
But he’s getting unbelievable results. Okay, how are they doing this shit? How? Okay Yeah, I’m the master of subtlety Guess how the fuck did doing? Take a guess
I’ll leave it at that.
Well, Marco you know we left out one very important thing. How’s the weather down there? Can you tell it’s actually cloudy now? This overwhelming with brightness today this is what passes in Costa Rica for cloudy and we are in the middle of the rainy season it was beautiful this morning in the array. It’s a little cold, right? Cold for me it’s 72 degrees. So but you guys in the sky outside the US like 2022 it’s chilly. Can you feel it feeling your balls when you get older? That’s tough. Well, I’m glad you suffer through that for the rest of us.
Hernan, how you doing man?
Good man, I’m muted. And now humbly says that you need to go get the Battle Plan because better plan 4.0 it’s out. So you need to go get it. So I’m really excited about that man really excited about you know, the fourth version of the Battle Plan and it’s been getting better and better and better as we go by. So really excited about that really excited to be here. Did you call that thing? humpy happy man. Yeah.
Wow. That’s awesome. All right, Chris. How about yourself, man? How you doing? Yeah, I’m actually proud and happy that it’s warmer than in Costa Rica here.
That’s a new one. And regarding the Battle Plan,
I also have bad news for some people. I’m not sure if they’re gonna be sad or like upset or so. But
I mean, like, rarely actually mentioned it already. And I’m gonna hit that. It’s like, I usually do. The question is like,
Do you mean that I have to spend more money after I purchased the Battle Plan to actually execute it?
And the quick answer is, Yes, you will. If you want to execute all the steps, you will have to spend more money to actually get the results. But as Marco said, it’s gonna be like the really good results and not some longtail bullshit keywords where you actually don’t need our Battle Plan for that stuff. So, yeah, blowing it out here. Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah. And also always come back to you know, you got time or money and hopefully start leaning towards bringing in more money reinvest that start doing that stuff. That’s what we’ve done. That’s where we see the fastest growth and you know, sometimes if you don’t, then you roll up your sleeves and you can do it yourself. But as soon as you can, you know, you bring on the team to do it, you automate it and you do what you can. So I think Chris has a really good point. Well, it’s mindset, isn’t it? Yeah. Okay.
So guys, how much money do I have to spend? No, you’re already starting off on the wrong foot. That’s the powerful mindset. The powerful mindset says that you’re making an investment in your future into what it is that you’re going to do into being successful. And yes, of course, there are failures along the road to success, use those as a stepping stone. As I mentioned, in our portfolio, I’ve 29 in my portfolio 2019 presentation. So you take that as a stepping stone, but the whole, the whole thing is, invest on yourself, because the only way that you’re going to grow your agency, the only way that you’re gonna make money online, is if you actually learn how to implement methods that are already successful. Not because somebody is telling you that they’re successful, because you can come into our mastermind, of course, you have to be a paid member and talk to the people in there who are killing it and say, Well, you know who here is successful, I bring you into my mini mastermind, and let you see who’s successful. I’ll show you case studies that that show success.
But it’s taking that first step is okay, let me It’s 17 bucks. That’s all it is. And you can spend more depends on how far you go down the funnel. But that’s all it is initially. From there, yes, you do have to spend because we spent a whole lot of money creating the bundles, the ID page, the SEO PowerShell I’m not gonna go into detail. Guys, if you don’t know what it is going to mg y b dot CEO, look it up. It’s all explained in there. But it’s an investment. So who isn’t willing to like if you know, Okay, I’m gonna get it to at least a two to 213 to one four to one return on my investment. If If I go and take action because the key here is it’s such as getting the Battle Plan and reading it and saying, Okay, let me see what I can do. No, no, it’s going and do it. Do the do that we do.
That successes right there. Give you the keys to the kingdom give you the keys to the kingdom guide.
Whether you take the key, and you have to go put it in the fucking login, turn the key man, please. I don’t know what else to say, man. I’m done. All right. Good follow up, Marco. I think this is interesting. And maybe we could do this with mastermind members, I might talk on my next one on my next mastermind webinar, or we could potentially maybe for 2xyouragency as well, but it’s getting with people. I think we’ve all been there at one point in our life, I’ll only speak for myself. And I know I’ve heard Bradley talk about this, though, is taking on projects, you know, and learning the hard way where, you know, the price didn’t make sense. Like, Hey, I got this client, they’re bringing in, they’re paying me 500 bucks a month. But you didn’t do the math to say is this worth my time? And so getting into the details that that is important, and you can learn, you know, the tough way. But you know, sometimes going through that beforehand, and then saying, Hey, does this project even make sense for me to try to do some SEO for this person? And then realizing too late, like, No, it isn’t, or it’s your own project and you realize, I’ve invested 200 hours of my own time and this is gonna make me 50 bucks a month. What the hell am I doing?
Are that an important skill to have with any of this?
Yeah, also, like on the affiliate case study that I did, like, I don’t know, one and a half years on the old Battle Plan, not the new one.
I think within like the first three weeks, I doubled my investment, and like by now I think at 22, as you hire, I don’t have the exact numbers in mind. But like, it definitely pays off if you actually if you sit down and actually executed step by step and doodle. Cool. Well, with that said, we do have some questions. So if you guys want to find out about worry list SEO, if you want to get faster results, you don’t want to worry about updates or algorithms go grab the Battle Plan and battleplan.semanticmastery.com. So with that, you guys, should we get other questions. Let’s do it. Grab the screen.
Confirm that you guys are seeing it. Roger.
Okay, let’s see. There we go.
All right. It looks like a reset.
What Would You Do Differently In Your Digital Marketing Agency Once The Economy Starts Back Up After The Pandemic?
Looks like we’re going to start with one of the questions from Wayne. Okay, yeah, this was posted in the free Facebook group. And it’s a great question. So thank you for this way. And he says, In light of what has happened to business confidence due to the pandemic, what would you do differently in your agency business once the economy starts back up, and consumer confidence goes back to normal?
This can almost be viewed as a sort of reset to clarify, maybe it’s not buyers confidence in agencies per se, but buyers confidence in themselves and their ability to make good buying decisions. And I think that’s a great question.
I know something that I’ve thought a lot about recently, over the past month or so, is how to like how I’m going to do that how I’m going to start prospecting again for in my case Tree Service contractors. Once this, although there’s a lot of Tree Service contractors still working right now let me explain what I’m about to say.
One of the things I want to do is reduce my rates, at least initially. So perhaps, and the reason I say that is because a lot of business owners are a bit gun shy right now or hesitant to spend money and at least from business owners that I’ve talked to, because they’re hurting for money, now their revenue has either completely disappeared or significantly dropped. And so when the economy gets back to normal, it’s going to be some quite some time before we ever get back to fully normal. But when it starts to open back up and Revit, you know, business strategy, business transactions start to pick up in volume picks up and everything else. I think they’re gonna I think, at least my opinion is that people are going to be a lot more hesitant to spend money, or if they do, they’re going to want some sort of assurances and that kind of stuff. Now, again, this is speculation, my assumption of what’s going to happen so forth. For me personally, one of the things that I’ve been doing for the last about six weeks. I started to get started on it about six weeks ago, but I’m actually talking about this in the mastermind. For the last several mastermind webinars that I’ve hosted, that I’m trying to process, you know, systematize, much of the complex work that I have always done myself so that I can outsource that or delegate that to somebody that’s paid four or $5 an hour versus my own time. So in other words, whenever I take on a new client. I’ve always done the onboarding in most of the setup myself. So because of that, I charge a very high setup rate or setup fee for new clients, typically in the neighborhood of $3,000 on the front end, and then you know, anywhere between 1000 to 1500 dollars a month for like Tree Service contractors, for example. But that’s the reason I base my setup fee is because I know how much work I put into the actual setup setting up a new website or restructuring an existing site, optimizing GMB, setting up all the entity assets, the SEO shield, essentially syndication network, all that stuff, getting the content marketing schedule or plan developed for my blogger, I do all of that myself or have been throughout my entire career. And so I charge a lot for that because it takes me in a lot of time to do all that setup work. And the reason I’ve never delegated that before was that it is so complex, the amount of work that goes into all the setup that I do that I’ve never wanted to take the time to develop processes for all of that well, because of the 2xyouragency training, the Double Your Agency training.
I talk about setting up systems and I have for much of my business, but that portion of it, the onboarding and the setup for new clients, I’ve always done myself and so I always charged accordingly because it’s my time that I’m investing into it, and it gets done well and it works for the client like it produces results. But again, it’s a lot of my time. And so I want to be compensated for that. And so I charge that sort of a fee. So one of the things that I’ve been striving to do and again, it was I, I was prompted to do this because of the 2xyouragency training was I wanted to systematize even that we talked about it in the training guys. And I got this from Adam. And it’s, it’s been ingrained into my head now. But automate, delegate or eliminate, right, so if I can’t automate the setup, I want to delegate it or eliminate it entirely. In this case, I want to learn I want to delegate it. So I’ve been working for the last month really started about six weeks ago, but for the last month, I’ve been working on trying to systematize my onboarding and setup processes, and it’s an enormous amount of work. In fact, when I first learned how to develop standard operating procedures or SLPs, that the first time I learned the first thing that I systematized was building syndication networks that later became Syndication Academy.
So it took me three months to develop those processes. Now I’m better at developing processes. But this is an enormous amount of work as well. And so I’ve spent a month and more anywhere between 10 to 15 hours a week, for the last month developing these processes. And the reason I’m doing that is so that I can remove myself from that process. And I can delegate that to a virtual assistant that I pay in the Philippines, for example, for $5 an hour good wage. So now I can take an onboarding fee that I would set up for you that I would typically charge roughly $3,000 for and I may be able to reduce that in half, and still produce a really good return or revenue for my agency, but at the same time, I’m only paying, you know, a fraction of that out to have it done. And I have all of my time still. Does that make sense? So I can actually And not only that but because I have slps I can also bring on more people to delegate to so I can increase volume. In other words, I can take on more clients because it’s not a finite amount of time that I have to invest in setup and onboarding because I can just bring on more personnel to delegate additional work to because of the SOPs, standard operating procedures are there.
So for me what I’ve been striving to do that so that I can reduce my onboarding rate or my setup fee, number one, number two, I probably am going to be reducing my retainer, my monthly retainer fee as well. And I mentioned this in the Facebook group is my comment. There’s a couple of things I’ve been kicking around one would bring them on at a reduced initial rate, but get a pay like a results-based pay increase or retainer increase based upon the type of results that I can, that I know that I’ll be able to produce for them. So for example, it might be the first three months or once we heard it, you know, first three months or at a certain rate, because that’s typically about how long it takes for me to get significant results anyways, or some sort of threshold or milestone that gets hit a number of leads generated traffic, you know, number of traffic, whatever, traffic level or whatever. And then the rates go up from there, or something that I just took on for the case study that I’m conducting in the mastermind for my mastermind webinars, I recently brought on a new Tree Service contractor who’s buying leads for me on a pay per lead basis at a discounted rate for my typical rates. But it’s interesting because he does, he’s not paying me a monthly retainer. He’s just paying me for leads but I’m actually working on building his assets up, well, his brand through my assets, but I’m building his brand up. And it’s working really well.
In fact, I’m turning really good revenue over from this new Tree Service contractor right now, because of that, what just so you guys understand what I’m saying? Meaning I’m building up his brand, through my assets through the domain, everything else that I purchased for his company, right. So in other words, I own the asset with his branding on it, and I’m building it up and he’s paying for the leads that are coming out on a pay per lead basis. So there’s that or there’s another type of arrangement could be a revenue share something like that. So that they’re, they understand that you’re, you’re going to your revenue is tied to their success. Does that make sense? So in that’s kind of how I’m going to be approaching it first being able to reduce my rates initially, by removing myself from the process entirely, which will make my agency more efficient and more scalable to begin with. But then also, you know, giving them some sort of incentive to sign up with me so that I can start to show results, and then increase my monthly retainer as a result of, you know, either certain milestones that are hit or a certain timeframe, or whatever the arrangement is, or like I said, the pay per lead model, where they’re buying leads from me even though I’m building their brand instead of like, going out and creating my own generic pseudo brands that are lead generation assets or do some sort of revenue share model that makes sense.
So that’s personally how I’m going to be handling it. And again, I’ll be talking a lot about this in the mastermind. That’s specifically why I’m trying to systematize my agency processes right now, so that, you know, I can scale and I can share it with the rest of the mastermind members as well. So, Max, just hears what some of you guys are doing Hernan and I really like that approach Bradley because kind of it takes the burden out of the business owner right? When it comes to you know, paying you a monthly retainer for your services. And some of these guys might be coming out pretty beat up after this, you know, this situation, this economy, whatever, some of them might be right on top, but some of them might be coming up pretty beaten up. So I think that having some sort of either revenue share or success model embedded in your retainer, maybe charge a little bit less, but then you have some sort of either revenue share or profit share.
In my case, I run ads. So it makes sense, it makes sense to have some sort of profit share after ad spend. And that makes sense because it helps business owners like understand that they can, you know, they can actually pay you while the business is going back to where it was before. So having some sort of success, and then it sets you up for success as well. Because if you really hit a home run, then you will end up getting paid a lot more than just your retainer, right, which is the whole point. So I really, I really like that idea of the kind of, you know, making it like a no brainer, taking out all of the risks from the table, and then it helps you getting creative with the way you’re structuring your deals. And, and also, you know, I would definitely consider hiring somebody to do most of the grunt work while you are effectively focused on, you know, the high-level stuff or the creative stuff, right? But then the rest, you can systematize that you can do processes and all of that. So, I really agree with it. I really love what you’re doing there.
Chris’s young mind, I would probably spend a little bit of time having a discussion usually doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes. Last Word of bottlenecks was like, for example, if it’s just a physical store, and they didn’t have like an econ store or something online set up.
They could have made sales that way. So like, in the best case, I can refer them to somebody and get a cup out of that as well a little bit and help them to get set up. So in case something else happens that is similar to that or a second or third wave might happen. I hope it’s not but like, you never know.
They are prepared, you know, and they don’t have to shut down completely, but they can still get sales and stuff.
The rest I pretty much agree with what has been said already.
Marco.
This is really interesting. I mean, I really like this question. Like how do you restore back
Unknown Speaker 24:00
In Scott buyers confidence in themselves, I thought that’s a difficult one because you’re talking about how do you get into that person’s head and talk to them about their ability to make good buying decisions. All you can do is establish confidence and good rapport between you and the client. I mean, that’s what will take care of this having that, that that confidence in you, that you can produce the results that you say you’re going to get guys gonna drop a bundle on you. Whether it’s 500, if it’s a bundle, to a lot of people, or 50,000, that’s a bundle to other people. It’s all relative, that that ton of money that that bundle of money is relative to the person that spending the money. If that person if you can show that person that they can have confidence that you because you’re going to produce results. Either you’ve gotten results before and you can just show it you can just go in. I talked to a prominent attorney last week with a couple of others guys that I’m working on a project and I talked to a guy who’s dropping a bunch of money, we’re talking millions of dollars in Google ads and wants to turn his focus elsewhere. And so what I’m going to charge these two people, this attorney, and this guy who’s doing the Google ads and wants to go after the niche, another way, is what Well, you’re going to have to pay me like it doesn’t matter. At this point, if it’s a local client who’s having a hard time because he hasn’t done a Tree Service job, let’s say in four or five, six months, I understand that.
The way that I’m doing is I’m already dropping prices. For example, I have a couple of attorneys I’m already helping, Whose call volume dropped. And so I did drop the fee. While this goes on, as soon as it opens up, I know it’s gonna be a train wreck. People are gonna go crazy. accidents are gonna start to happen again, cause you’re gonna come back so the fees go back up. And they Oh, they go back up not only to where they formerly work, but they will also increase by a percentage to make up for the break that I gave them, it’s gonna they’re gonna make, again a bundle of money. The same thing with with with the new attorney that I’m taking on, we might bring him in at a reduced fee initially. But then as things, they gain traction and people like I hate to say, but people start having massive accidents. Again, it’s a bunch of money. And so this, this is all to me, right, the weight and the way that I’m looking at this. It’s whether you can instill that confidence in your ability to produce the results that these people are going to need moving forward. And that’s the conversation that you need to have with that person. Whether it’s a phone call, whether it’s that one on one once that this thing clears up and letting that person know that I’m the person that can get you the results that you want. I mean all of us have had that conversation with a client.
Yeah, I know that you’ve been screwed by other SEO agencies. I’m not that SEO is in here call these people. They can vouch for me or you came to me because someone referred you to me because I got the results. So you already know that there’s a pre-conference that’s called already established to some extent. Now you can either screw that up or work with it and close the deal. How you close that deal? Well, Bradley, Bradley, Hernan, and Chris, have given you guys some really good ideas. I don’t generally take local clients at that price. But if I mean, if that’s what it took, if it took bringing somebody in at a reduced rate, and as volume increases, your monthly fee is totally tied to that percentage increase that I’m totally for that it’s not the way that I’m doing because I don’t really do it at that hyperlocal level. I don’t focus on that. But I can totally see your point of view.
And how you would do it. And at the same time, I can also see it just totally going in there and convincing that person that you’re the person to be trusted with their livelihood because that’s what it is.
Adam, you’re the last one yet. One more thing, prices will go up anyways, like just seeing about, like all the money that has been given out and like they break the business set. So you can definitely expect like after things are working again, that there will be a price increase. Yeah. Because the purchasing power is less on the money.
So when Yeah, I agree. Good question. And I’m going to talk more about the consulting agency side of things, not the buyer competent side directly. For that, I think, you know, I’m not an economist, maybe an armchair one. And all I can say is, you know, I know myself and I know people have different sides or different feelings about this. My gut feeling is you know, I can only speak to what I’m going to do and I know I’m not going to be spending more money than usual in the near future right to me that goes against what I believe is safe and good for me and my loved ones. And I think a lot of people think that but again, that’s just me I’m not that’s not Adams verified theory or anything. So what I’ll do is lean back I think something that we talked a lot about it POFU Live, Herna talking about it a lot Bradley has or branding yourself more than ever. That’s something I’m focusing on. And I got this started slowly over the last few months. And now it’s really built up steam in the sense that like, it’s something I’m focusing more on. And I see that there are several reasons why for myself, it’s one you know, you’re helping yourself, while at the same time you get to help others and you can do this in any niche in the industry at any level. I don’t do local generally. But I mean, of course, you can help others locally, right. You know, if you’re doing local marketing, you could be doing local marketing meetups on Zoom. You could be helping the local builders as they begin, you know, needing to start prospecting. Again, if they’ve been on restrictions, I mean, there’s all sorts of stuff you can do, I’m not going to beat a dead horse there.
Obviously, videos right now are really important. And again, if you can, once things are safe again in person or doing zoom calls, and I also look at this as a good time to find out what you and I really like doing. You know, if you enjoy teaching others about it, maybe that’s something you could move more into. And like who you really like, start, start building up that prospecting engine, even if it’s already in place. Just kind of, you know, streamlining and doing whatever you can and looking at what you really want to focus on moving forward. So that’s something that I’m taking very seriously and I want to get that going because that it can be at times it feels like a heavy flywheel to get moving. But once you start that moving, you just keep doing it a little bit from time to time consistently, and that really starts paying off.
Secondly, Bradley talked about this, so did Hernan but streamlining your operations and as Bradley said just once per week, I really do. You know, I think everyone should do this once per week, ask yourself what you can automate delegate or delete. Just set a time and do it write it down on a scrap of paper. It doesn’t have to be rocket science, right? But you’ve got to set that time aside. And if it works, like I think it will then keep doing it. If not, you know, this isn’t some set and stone rule. It’s not working for you don’t do it. But you know, for 99% of the people out there, I guarantee you, this is going to be a potential game-changer for you. And then last but not least, I love this quote, I did an interview with a guy named Matt Barnett. He’s the founder of bon giorno, which is an app that Bradley introduced me to and he said, you know, automate the process, not the relationship. And I think we’re seeing that even more now that people are having to work remotely. You know, automating as much of the process as you can, but then really building those relationships as business owners as consultants as agency owners. That’s, that’s been important and I mean, bonds euro is a tool, and if there’s another tool use it, but I just use this as the example that has been a game-changer for me down to like the tactical level, like it’s fun because it helps build the relationship. But a great example is earlier this morning, I had approved a call. And when that happens, I get the phone journal notification pops up, hey, Adam, send the video to so and so. I recorded it. I had seen what they said I approved their message and I was like, you know, hey, it’s Adam. I’m looking forward to talking tomorrow. If you got any other background information on your project, let me know, you know, I’d really like to make the most of our call. It sounds like you got something interesting here. And they have given me a real short description like most people do when they fill out forms. I send that off, I get back a four-page email from this guy and he’s got just this mine, you know, really interesting project. All of the juicy details. He told me what he liked about his vendors. He told me what he fucking hated about his vendors. He’s telling me, you know, just under the hood, you know, all the details. And you know, all that took me was literally 20 seconds. So, I think that again, going back to that automating the process, not the relationship so I can put that 20 seconds in, it’s real. And the rest is taken care of for me, which nobody cares about anyways, nobody cares that there’s a program that sent the email they just care that I cared enough to, you know, say hi and ask them what’s really going on. So you mean to tell me that video emails work to wow your prospects and then ultimately your clients as well. It’s true and it has a very high engagement rate.
That’s funny.
Yeah, I’m telling you guys that’s how I primarily communicate with all of my clients. I mean, I do jump on the phone with them occasionally and we chat back and forth via email but almost every month I’m sending a video email to my clients just going over their monthly reports and again, I say the same product we sell guys it’s the same method you know, we practice what we preach video lead gen system, that’s how I do all my prospecting and it works really well and that starts the whole like, it builds rapport without us even conversing, right that makes sense on video, email, you can literally build rapport with the prospect before you ever communicated with them and like in real-time,
And so again, I also use video emails for communicating with prospects after like four clients once they become clients, and they love it. I’ve gotten so many comments over the years now from clients that say that they love that. Because they, you know, they know what’s going on at all times. And it’s like Adam said, I’m building that relationship, even if we’re not literally talking back and forth, it’s still building that rapport because they’re, it’s like they get to know me and all that other kind of stuff. It works really well. And the other.
You know, the other part of that is that, you know, I talked about this into your agency, what Adam just said is, when you’re also prospecting, it’s, you got to think about it guys like so much of the sales training out there is sales training about how to sell a product or a service and it’s almost like a one and done like, that’s why there’s hard closing, like hard closing techniques that people try to teach you in sales programs and all this other shit and I found that that is it usually pushes people away.
For the type of services that we sell as digital marketers, we’re selling a relationship, not a product or a service. Yes, there’s a product or a service attached to the relationship but the thing is we’re going to be intimately involved with their business. And we have to develop that relationship and that rapport with the business owner or our point of contact at the business in order for us to create that relationship that’s going to be long-lasting, if that makes sense because we’re going to be communicating with them on a regular basis and we are tied to the success of their business it’s really important to develop that relationship strong upfront that strong rapport upfront and also to maintain that relationship so I totally agree with it without him just said
alright, so we can go jump on the next question was a fantastic question. Wayne, thank you for that. Let me get to the next one.
Difference Between Battle Plan 4.0 And 2XYourAgency
Okay, this one is from the free Facebook group as well from Cliff he says what’s the difference between the Battle Plan 4.0 and 2xyouragency? Well, the Battle Plan 4.0 is like how to get results with building up an entity and how to get results with a search google search primarily. It’s basically a step by step plan for how to get results with any type of web project that makes sense to your agency about how to build your agency and how to grow your agency, and how to, you know, again, scale it, prospecting and sales as part one. Part two is how to get reliable, consistent, repeatable results without you have to do all the work. And part three of 2xyouragency training is all about how to scale your operation. And that’s so there’s a big difference between Battle Plan 2xyouragency Battle Plan is about how to get results with a particular online or web project to extra agencies how to build, grow and scale your agency, your agency without doing all the work yourself. So anybody wants to comment on that?
Oh, it’s perfect.
Are There Are Any SEO Practices You Need To Keep In Mind Before A Domain Goes Live To The Public?
Okay, Muhammad’s up what’s up Muhammad? He says, Hey, guys, a car dealer client of mine has been getting a new website built and they’re just about to live to the domain. And your guys’ advice. I made sure they would perform proper redirects from the old links beyond that, is there anything I should do once a new website goes live? I have a power shield in place for this client and I just bought a few mg y v link building and embed orders aimed at the ID page our way as a GMB, do I keep going, as usual, seeing as the domain is the same.
Yes, far as I know, the only other thing I might do would be to do a site, you know, a domain change, or whatever. And, you know, you can in Search Console, you can tell Google that the new site is over here, if that’s what is the same domain or push it live. Now it looks like it’s the same. It’s on the same domain. So yeah, I don’t I can’t see anything else. Marco, do you have anything else more? No, I don’t see anything else other than once this is all done and once the link building has cycled through that first time, you’ll take a look at the data, see where the money is gonna be. You’ve been at this long enough Mohammed not to understand where the money is in that niche and
You might have to isolate the top market level keyword for that category in the niche. And then that is just adding an error page to the G site inner drive stack, of course, with a corresponding inner site, money site page, excuse me, and then pushing power to that to rank everything in the niche. And yes, it’s that simple, but it’s not easy.
Should You Assign The ID Page As @ID Designation In A Local Business Organization Schema?
So next question from Muhamed and says, regarding local business organization schema, the @ID page, with the @ID designation should always be the ID page, right? Yes. And actually, it’s not supposed to change it’s supposed to be like, in other words, where do you point to should remain consistent Now, don’t get me wrong when I’m starting a new project as I’m waiting for the ID page to be built. For example, I might use this domain website URL as the ID page so that I can get the main site up and the structured data and stuff like that, but typically once you have the asset and place the ID page, you can change the elements on the ID page. But you should always point to the same UI, right?
At least that’s my understanding of it. Do I have that right, Marco? Yeah, that’s what Google says. But it’s not necessarily so because you can have multiple @ID. And no, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the @ID paid doesn’t have to be the s3. It could be an organization page on your website. That’s the @ID. Mohammed, again, it’s simply an identifier of where your company’s information is right where this organization is and everything related to the organization and then the entity loops. What it simply does is it catches the bot in everything related to the organization which is your syndication network, your drive stack, G site GMB. Now, anything related to you can even include citations in there. But no, it doesn’t have to be it should it be like no. Once you set it Bradley is right, Google’s recommendation is you leave it. But you can have multiple @IDs, you can identify multiple nodes. That’s all you’re doing. Let’s call them places so people don’t like misinterpret what a node is different places that are being identified as places where you can find information about this organization or this local business.
Yeah, I know that my screen is paused because I’m trying to dig into something for it in Google ads for a minute to show. One of the upcoming questions guys just stands by one minute. I it’s a question coming up on Google ads that I want to share something with.
Standby, just a minute, guys. I typically don’t do this on all day Hangouts. But it’s a great question and I want to show this
standby one minute, I promise.
Okay,
Yeah. All right, let me start the screen share again.
Get rid of that. All right.
All right, sorry about that. We’ll come back to that one when we get to it. Alright, so this one, maybe What’s up, baby? He’s here every week now asking multiple questions.
That’s funny. All right.
Is It Okay To Publish A Post On Two Different Silos?
So he says, hey guys, can I post on two different silos? Don’t it should be in one silo it, you should really, if your keyword research is done right, and you structure your silos properly, a post should only go on one silo, right? Whatever is the most appropriate silo, keyword set. Does that make sense? Now, if there’s some reason or another that you want to direct a reader, a visitor, you know somebody that’s looking at the content to, you know, a, another silo or another post within a silo, another page within another silo. You can do that with just an internal link, just nofollow the link but you don’t want to put the same post in two different silos, that’s two different categories. Right? And it just, it doesn’t really make sense to do so. And it also causes some funky things in WordPress when you do that. So I don’t recommend it. Does anybody else have anything else to say about that? No, no, it’s a no. Okay.
Should You Assign SameAs Attribute To The Branded Properties?
Number two, should the branded property properties have sameAs attribute like the money site? If you can inject structured data into them? Yeah, you can. Because remember, you can use the same schema type, whether it’s local business, organization, Corporation, whatever it is, you can use the same schema type in your web tools as well. So for example, you know, just like Mohammed was asking in the previous question, your ID page could, you know, if you’re using local business structured data, for example, the ID designation could be pointing to wherever you placed your ID page, and that would be the same no matter what local business structured data or schema was on any one of your web twos for the ones that you can add that to not all of them, you can do most
Then you can’t actually, unless Marco knows how to wait for a way to hack it in that I’m unaware of, for the most web tools, you’re not able to actually add structured data. But when you can, yes, you can, you can add that in as well. But you have to have access to the HTML, right to be able to do that the HTML header mainly too, right? Yeah. And be careful, because you want to create a parent-child relationship. But you don’t want to do it the opposite way. You don’t want your tier one branded, to in any way be taken as the parent and something else to be the child. Because then you could now create a lot of confusion. And you don’t want to do that not at the code level. Guys, don’t mess with the quote unless you know what you’re doing.
Example Of A Complex Silo
Number three, can you show an example when it’s necessary to use a complex silo? Well, yeah, I mean, you know, for example, is a great one. One of our mastermind members was talking I’m not gonna name any names, but was talking about a glass repair company. And they were asking about, you know, how to structure silos on a glass repair company.
For a glass repair company website, and they had an auto glass, residential glass, commercial glass, but then underneath, so that would be a top-level category. So that would be you know, if it was a simple silo structure, it would be posted directly underneath each one of those categories, right. So that would be the category slash post structure, which is a simple silo structure, meaning it only goes two levels deep in the silo itself, but for example, under you know, I don’t know, residential glass repair, being one silo, the top-level silo so that if you’re going to do is for various subcategories underneath that silo. So for example, residential glass repair could have window repair, a sliding glass door inst or door installation, glass door installation, right. So those could each be subcategories of residential glass repair. Does that make sense? So each one of those now for example, like glass window repair, it could have that could be a subcategory. And then you could add posts underneath that, right. So you could add depth to the window repair subcategory, which is ultimately part of the residential glass repair, primary category, or top-level category, excuse me. So that makes sense. So for example, and then like maybe glass installation, residential glass installation, and then you could have as posts right to add depth to that which glass installation residential glass installation could be a subcategory of residential glass repair, I’m just using that as an example. I don’t know that niche so I’m kind of pulling this out of the air. But you know, you could have window installation and or door and glass door installation, sliding door installation, French door installations, that makes sense. Each one of those could be individual posts to add depth to that particular subcategory. Okay, so that’s just an example. It doesn’t matter refresh redirect.
Does A Meta Refresh/Redirect Be Considered A Backlink?
does meta refresh/redirect is considered a backlink? Yes. From the original source. Yes. So if you redirect a URL through a redirect to whatever your target is it will pick up as a backlink. Is that correct? Does anybody want to know that? It’s a response code, all 300-330-1302 308 400 500. It’s a response code. It’s interaction in HTTP now, but the way that I understood anything linking to that page that’s being 301 would be considered the length, but the meta refresh and the 301 and three or two, those are simply response codes. They’re not backlinks. Right now and right, I get that, but I thought I thought he was asking if you redirect something to it, does the redirect become a backlink? So the original URL that is redirected does become a backlink? Yes, that’s what I was at was answering. But yes, you’re right. A reader. A meta refresh or a redirect is not a backlink. It’s just a redirect to wherever HTTP header code. Tom says if this isn’t the right forum for this question, please write in the appropriate place. Okay. This is the question I was going to show you.
Advice On Running Ads For Lawyer Lead Gen Videos
Tom says I purchased your YouTube ads training being a complete novice to ads. Fantastic course, by the way. Thank you, Tom. He says, any advice on running ads for lawyer lead gen videos? For example, how would you go about putting ads in front of people who need a divorce attorney? Okay. Well, Tom, if you go through the entire training, you should know that you can use in-market audiences, which is what I highly recommend or custom intent audiences. So what I did was I pulled up in one of my Google Ads account here just to show you for example, if you come into let’s go to browse and if you look at in-market life event and custom intent audiences now I’m looking at a display campaign display in YouTube ads, very similar audiences in-market audiences. There are some slight differences, but there are there they’re very very similar.
Okay, so I have the display campaign right now. But if we could take a look at in-market life events and custom intent, you can go into in-market audiences and you can look for Business Services, maybe look for legal. I don’t know if they have a separate one for legal. But you could look for Business Services maybe. And see if there’s something in there for legal. My point is to go through the different in-market audiences, preferably I’d start there and see, and again, there’s a lot of them. So you just have to start clicking through the different categories, and then clicking down are the dropdowns to expand them and see if you can find one for lawyers. I don’t do anything for lawyers. I was just hoping to find an in-market audience for lawyers, and they’re very well maybe, but I’m not going to click through all of these. I just wanted to point out that this is where you would start, look, try to find an in-market audience because then you can set your geographic targeting, and you can select an in-market audience to were that only the people that are going to see your ad are only going to be people that are specified in a geographic area that you set your targeted locations, as well as Google, has determined that they’re in the market for lawyer services, or for you know, Attorney services, whatever. So I would start there, if you can’t find one, create a custom intent audience. So again, all that all the custom intent audiences, and I can’t go too deep into it, but as go develop a really robust keyword list of all of the types of keywords that somebody that it would be cert would be in need of that type of attorney would be searching for. And that that becomes the keyword list that you add to a custom intent audience, then you can also Well, for YouTube, you can’t do use URLs. But for the Display Network, you can also go out and grab like competitor URLs, and like legal type advice, you know, websites where they talk about, you know, the process of personal injury law or something like that. You can grab things URLs like that even YouTube video URLs that talk about
These things and put them in the custom intent audience list as well, because that’s the criteria that Google uses. Essentially, when you create a custom intent audience, what you’re doing is you’re creating a bucket that you want Google to fill with people that meet the criteria that you set up with your targeting criteria through the custom intent audience. So if you grab a bunch of keywords that people would be searching for. And then you know, engaging with content that satisfies or answers those types of queries. You put those types of search queries or keywords, essentially phrases into the custom intent audience, and then Google says, Okay, this person in your case, what was your name? Tom?
Yeah, Tom wants a bucket of people that are actively or recently engaging with content around these types of keywords or this type of content, right. And so it will automatically start to fill that bucket, so to speak with people that meet that criteria within a specific geographic if it’s for local within a specific target geographic area, and they are known to Google as having a recent interest, right in that, in that particular you know that that type of content, which means they’re likely in-market for that, and that’s their custom intent. Does that make sense? So and it works well, but it’s not if you’re going to use a custom intent audience, unlike life events or in-market audiences, where Google already knows that they’re in the market. For those with a custom intent, it takes a little while for the ad campaign to learn, right? It uses machine learning AI and such that, when you first set it up, you’re probably going to have some shitty results. Don’t worry about it, let the ads run and the machine learning will take over and we’ll start to refine the targeting to where it gets better and better if that makes sense. So just again, Custom intent audiences work really, really well. I’ve been testing them a lot over the last few months, and they work really well but they take a little
But it’s time for them to mature for the machine learning to kind of really learn through what you said is the criteria is a good question. Anybody else? comment on that? How about you Hernan, you do a lot of stuff with ads?
He might be busy.
Okay, I’m gonna keep moving.
Any advice? Okay, wait a minute. For example, how would you go about putting ads in front? Yeah, I already answered that. Since Google doesn’t allow negative life event targeting, I couldn’t see an obvious way to target their audience as you did in the training. Okay, yeah. Again, use custom intent audiences, then that’s the best way to do it. And with YouTube, you can only add keywords, at least for now, which is fine. And more equals better, in other words, but more as long as irrelevant. So don’t use more general or broad keywords that would add that aren’t specifically relevant to the type of project you’re trying to, you know, the people that you’re trying to target because that will skew your results and give you less, your ads won’t perform as well in other words, so you want to build a really robust keyword list for YouTube ads that are specifically around that particular like and remember put yourself in the like in the shoes of somebody that would be in need of you say it was personal injury attorney or whatever and divorce attorney excuse me, put yourself in the shoes of somebody going through a divorce is looking for an attorney and try to think of it that way and develop a keyword list based around that. Does that make sense? that it works really well.
Is It Okay To Use The Description In The IFTTT Recipe For The Branded Network In YouTube Syndication?
Okay, next BB is up again. On YouTube syndication for the branded network. Is it okay to use the description in the recipe?
No, I don’t recommend that. YouTube an RSS of money site gets syndicated there. So you mean the description in the recipe? I’m not you mean? Take the YouTube video description and syndicate that out. Ah, you know, it depends on how you Okay, the blanket statement I’m going to say no, because
As soon as I say, yeah, it’s okay to do that people are going to go out. And I’ve seen a lot of people’s YouTube descriptions that are absolutely spammy as can be because they put a big block of keywords or they put a shit ton of External links and all of that kind of stuff in their video description. That’s fine. If you want to spam your video description and on YouTube. It’s okay, it’s perfectly fine. But when you start to syndicate your description out to the networks, if it’s it’s a real spammy description, then it’s likely that those accounts the web two accounts that you’re syndicating to get terminated. How do I know that? Because I’ve had it happen many, many times, which is specifically why we developed the recipes or the applets and IFTTT the way that we did. Because when you’re just syndicating the video itself, and perhaps a link back to the video, or to a playlist or to a channel or a combination of those, then it’s fine. It’s very rare that I’ve ever had a web two terminated from that type of a syndicated description or from the applet. In other words, the description that the applet publishes, but when I in the past when I’ve done full YouTube Video Description syndication along with the video, I’ve had many, many times web two dot o account shut down. And it’s mainly because the video description was a bit spammy. So just be careful if you’re going to syndicate the YouTube description, just be sure that the video description is not spammy doesn’t contain a shit ton of External links and all that kind of stuff. Okay.
Is There A Faster Way To Write A Press Release For A New Post?
See, number two, is there a faster way to write a press release for a new post?
Yeah, have us do it. I mean, I don’t know what you’re asking there. You know, I, whenever my bloggers created published a post that’s going to be also promoted through a press release. They just go submit the press release or the details for the blog post to the through MGYB. Basically, for the end press Release writers write the press release. We don’t any of us write our own press releases. And I don’t encourage any of you to do that. So I don’t know what else to tell you on that one. Can someone use Fiverr gigs? Can we just copy 500? From the words for the new posts? And that’s it? No, you can’t do that. I don’t know, if any, well, you can probably find some PR distribution services that would allow you to do that, but we won’t. In fact, we won’t even take a press release from self-written press releases, they have to be written by the press release writers at press advantage. And we do that intentionally because they know how to get the best results from the content that syndicates through their distribution network. Okay, so I would highly encourage you to allow the press release whatever press release distribution service you’re using, probably as a press release writing service. Most all of them do now, let those writers do the writing for you. Okay.
Can Someone Use Fiverr Gigs Or SEO Clerks For Building Links To RYS And IFTTT Properties?
Can someone use Fiverr gigs or SEO clerks for building links to the RYS and IFTTT properties? Again, you can. We don’t recommend it. But you can. So he says he’s needing non-English spam links. Marco, what do you say about that?
Yeah, like, I haven’t done it. And so, uh, yeah, we’ve used Fiverr gigs before, but that’s just the test drive sites and key sites. They take it like a champ. I wouldn’t throw it at my tier one branded. I’m not doing that. Because it just, it’s not gonna look, well, you. It’s your brand. Why would you want to spend your brand I know that we say we call the drive second g site part of tier one branded, but it’s not really. That’s tier two, tier two links coming into everything that you’re doing everything else. And then we filter everything through that tier two, which brings in traffic, it brings in a whole lot of activity, relevance, trust, and authority, which makes it de facto, tier one. It’s just it’s not really by rule. It’s not a tier one. It’s just the fact that he went right by facts.
Because of the use, and so understanding that why would you want to spam your tier one branded properly? If you’re going to try to test do it with the drive second t site in them in between everything, and you should be okay.
There you go.
Can We Use A Press Release In English Sites With English Posts To A Non-English Site?
Okay, maybe we’re gonna move on because we only got two more minutes. And those were many too many questions again, but I do want to answer can we develop or is it in the pipeline of packages and MGYB to non-English sites? No, it’s not and we will not we don’t plan on doing that. That’s not even for future plans. Isn’t Marco, know that the man has to be there and we see we see these one-offs every once in a while. If we saw them often. Then we’d say okay, there’s a demand for it. We need to meet the demand, or we need to find a way. But it’s not even at that stage where we’re considering finding a way.
Does Semantic Mastery Trainings Have Step By Step SOPs?
Okay, Rob’s up says besides the Battle Plan, do any of your items or training contains step by step SLPs. Uh, yeah, the mastermind is where I share slps all the time. But to be clear, guys, I share my standard operating procedures, but they’re specific to my agency. I mean, there are some things that can be that are generic enough that they can be applied to, you know, your own business as well. And I share those in the mastermind all the time because I get requests like that in the mastermind. That’s what the masterminds for, by the way, for that kind of stuff.
But for example, all the agency processes that I’ve been working diligently on for the last month, really about six weeks, but for the last month, I’ve really put a lot of effort into it in time and such.
You know, I’m sharing those with the mastermind members, but again, they’re specific to my processes, and it’s more or less to share so that you guys have mastermind members, I mean, have a template or a, you know, a guide, essentially something that they can use to build their own processes. I don’t expect my processes for my agency to work for your business.
But I do share them so that other people have like kind of a template that they can go out and develop their own processes. The problem is, even when I share the processes I know, you know, eight, eight out of 10 people that I share them with in the, you know, even in the mastermind, they look at them, they’re like, Oh, this is awesome, but they never actually, you know, use them or build their own processes, or at least my understanding is, it’s very rare. There are only a few people that I know that actually really developed, fully developed sfps. And that’s where the bottleneck is, for the most part, guys. It’s a lot of work developing SLPs. It really is. It’s a ton of work. And that’s why most people don’t do it. But once it’s done, especially if you do them very detailed, and I love the process. In fact, I’ve got an open right here in my tab because I was working on that earlier today again, but you can once you develop really intricate processes, you can delegate even the most complex subtasks. In other words, you can outsource it because as long as your processes your SOPs are detailed enough, you can take anything that you think, Well, no, I don’t want to say anything. Because some things do require judgment analysis, you know, that kind of stuff that only comes with experience. But for the most part, even things that are really complex can be delegated with a proper SAP. Right? And so again, I share mine in the mastermind often, when people request things, I will often create them, but they’re specific to my business. And I always want to disclaim that right up front, just to say, look, you know, I’ll give you an example. But you’re gonna have to obviously, customize it specifically for your own business. Okay. All right. So last question. Oh, yeah, in a second. But because we’re missing something that really big here. Our training is step by step over the shoulder video. And then you should be developing your own processes, from those videos to apply to whatever it is that you’re doing. Some of the training is as simple as, get a VA in there, to reproduce whatever’s being done, and that’s it.
RYS Academy and RYS Academy Reloaded the VAs, that’s their training, go watch the videos, build me a drive stack, then we’ll discuss the drive stack to see where it is that you went off where it is that maybe you improve it, because that happens also. So that and then that goes into the training that goes into there into the videos. So there’s always an improvement process. But it all starts with that over the shoulder training so that you don’t have to go through all these intricacies that you often have to go through by building an SLP. Should you build Yes, by all means, but start with over the shoulder training so that you can do your own.
What SEO Items Provide Biggest Boasts That Should Be Done On Every Site?
All right, the last question, because we’re actually a little bit over but we’ll answer this and we’ll wrap it up. He says if my focus is local SEO there are so many items known to contribute to local SEO such as citations, map embeds, driving directions, geotag images, press releases, Google stacks, etc. Can anyone prioritize what items provide the biggest boost that should be done on every site as opposed to items that can be left off and only completed for today?
Competition. Yeah, and I would say and I’m curious to hear what Marco’s responses. But I would say on page entity, build the entity which the SEO shield is all about. So make sure you’re on pages tight SEO shield, so all the entity assets, right connect all your entity assets the way that we teach. And then it’s the ongoing external stuff or off-page stuff like link building, embed, embeds, and embeds and link building mainly, content marketing is what I consider part of on-page but it’s also part of off-page because of syndication. And also, with press releases, I consider that content marketing, but that’s really an external source that’s building links back to the entity or entity assets. So again, for me, it’s on-page SEO, the SEO shield. So that’s essentially establishing and building up the entity. And then it’s a matter of link building embed gigs and consistent content marketing. That’s and a lot of my local projects. We don’t build citations. It depends on how the GMB was created if it was spam, GMB listing, we don’t do citations and we still get ranked. So citations aren’t absolutely critical. If it’s a valid GMB location, you can absolutely and should build citations. But if it’s not, I omit that. So what do you say Marco, at the local level, you have to have a schema, you have to get that schema and that’s part of your homepage. If you’re not doing that, then you’re just like the rest of the competition, which most people will ignore. That’s how to get a leg up if you do it right. So that’s part of your if your SEO is right, and your entity site then everything else comes on off-page. And part of your entity, of course, is built off paid, @ID drive stack g site, and the companion syndication that was well that’s all bundled free. The only thing that’s necessary after that would be press releases and make building embeds and link building. Which then did that I mean, that’s, that’s what works, the magic that’s what brings everything all of the power into whatever it is that you’re trying to do and you pop it into the three-pack.
Sweet. Well, thanks, everybody for being here. See you guys next week. Don’t forget to go pick up Battle Plan for Dotto.
See everyone. Bye everyone, guys.
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 285
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Announcement
Live. Cool. Hey everybody, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is Episode 285 All right, we’re getting there. We’re getting close to 300 that’s pretty awesome. I bet we’re gonna blink our eyes It’s gonna be 400 and then 500 after that, who knows? Hump Day hangouts forever and ever when we reach Episode 1000 I’ll probably be in my Walker but maybe we’ll still be doing it because uh, Alright, moving past that back into reality gonna say hi to the guys real quick we got some announcements the Battle Plan version 4.0 came out today so if you haven’t yet go pick that up Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com we also got some really good deals. We got some awesome bonuses in there I’m not going to read them out to you. You guys can find them at Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com. With that said, let’s start here on my left I see Bradley first. So Bradley, you’re up man. How you doing?
I’m good. I’m happy bear. Uh, you know, happy that the Battle Plan for is out. It’s much more condensed and simplified shear than the previous versions, I think, I think it makes it a lot easier for people because basically just walk through the bundles and why it’s important and how it applies for pretty much any sort of project now, which makes it a lot easier because I mentioned this in one of the Facebook live videos I’ve done but to, you know, announce that it was coming out that the problem before was that we had, you know, talked about all the different components and things that you would we suggest or recommend to get results, but the problem was that, you know, most of the time, people would skip steps and not implement everything. And then they’d say, Oh, this didn’t work.
And upon further investigation, we’d find out that they didn’t do everything. And so when we set out to update Battle Plan for 2020, we decided that well, first of all, we had the product bundles and MGB but, and we did that on purpose. But that’s what we really wanted to kind of promote is why those bundles are the way that you know why we have them set up so that you don’t miss anything. It just makes it so much easier. And so the Battle Plan is a hell of a lot more simplified and simple is good. It doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. It just means it’s easy to implement based upon the Battle Plan. So certainly recommend anybody to go pick that up if you haven’t yet. Definitely. And I think what you said about being simple I think I’ll pass it off to Marco next because Marco, what do you want to say about stuff is easy and simple? I think, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not simple, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Yeah.
It’s not easy. Because a lot of hours work. Blood, sweat, and tears went into this thing. It’s not as if we just one day out of the blue said, oh, let’s do an SEO Battle Plan. A lot of thought into that, although it’s whittled down so so that even a person who’s not in it in the industry can understand it. It’s not easy, but the way that we’ve simplified it makes it so much better for you guys to just go in order.
I mean, if you guys don’t have the time to go through all of our training, you should still be a member of one of our groups. I mean, without question, because then you can come in and tag us personally in the Facebook group and ask the question directly, one of us will jump in and help you answer the question. Right at that moment, you don’t have to wait once a week to maybe get into a hump day hangout and get into a question. And maybe we have time to answer the question. No, we focus on our people, our paying members, that’s the way it has to be I mean, with Marco Baby got to eat man. And so, dude, that’s the way it’s got to be. But let me go back to the Battle Plan. It’s simplified. It’s whittled down. It’s going there and take action. And let me tell each one of you guys and I’m going to do it myself. Pat yourself on the back. No, no, because I had my mastermind meeting yesterday, my mini mastermind.
And what we did was just go over, I guess as an encouragement, because it’s accountability is an encouragement to one another, and people started showing their results and I’m like, holy crap.
These guys are ranking in a metropolitan area for like 1012 million people. Number one, number one for the market level keyword. I’m not talking about long tails, because long tails I think are unbelievably easy to rank for. But we’re talking about the market level keyword where the money is guys. So not only was he showing that then that I get, you know, Ed gal, Bradley.
Yeah, I think you know him personally, I know him personally also, but he���s ranking for the market level keyword in his area. And then another one of our mastermind members, who’s killing it for an attorney, Attorney Seo we all know how difficult that is correct.
Truck accidents, wrongful death, you name it, it criminal law, and the guy has his clients. Number one. I got another guy showing he’s getting massive results from whatever he’s doing. He’s in Colorado, by the way. I know you love coffee. You guys all love Colorado.
But he’s getting unbelievable results. Okay, how are they doing this shit? How? Okay Yeah, I’m the master of subtlety Guess how the fuck did doing? Take a guess
I’ll leave it at that.
Well, Marco you know we left out one very important thing. How’s the weather down there? Can you tell it’s actually cloudy now? This overwhelming with brightness today this is what passes in Costa Rica for cloudy and we are in the middle of the rainy season it was beautiful this morning in the array. It’s a little cold, right? Cold for me it’s 72 degrees. So but you guys in the sky outside the US like 2022 it’s chilly. Can you feel it feeling your balls when you get older? That’s tough. Well, I’m glad you suffer through that for the rest of us.
Hernan, how you doing man?
Good man, I’m muted. And now humbly says that you need to go get the Battle Plan because better plan 4.0 it’s out. So you need to go get it. So I’m really excited about that man really excited about you know, the fourth version of the Battle Plan and it’s been getting better and better and better as we go by. So really excited about that really excited to be here. Did you call that thing? humpy happy man. Yeah.
Wow. That’s awesome. All right, Chris. How about yourself, man? How you doing? Yeah, I’m actually proud and happy that it’s warmer than in Costa Rica here.
That’s a new one. And regarding the Battle Plan,
I also have bad news for some people. I’m not sure if they’re gonna be sad or like upset or so. But
I mean, like, rarely actually mentioned it already. And I’m gonna hit that. It’s like, I usually do. The question is like,
Do you mean that I have to spend more money after I purchased the Battle Plan to actually execute it?
And the quick answer is, Yes, you will. If you want to execute all the steps, you will have to spend more money to actually get the results. But as Marco said, it’s gonna be like the really good results and not some longtail bullshit keywords where you actually don’t need our Battle Plan for that stuff. So, yeah, blowing it out here. Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah. And also always come back to you know, you got time or money and hopefully start leaning towards bringing in more money reinvest that start doing that stuff. That’s what we’ve done. That’s where we see the fastest growth and you know, sometimes if you don’t, then you roll up your sleeves and you can do it yourself. But as soon as you can, you know, you bring on the team to do it, you automate it and you do what you can. So I think Chris has a really good point. Well, it’s mindset, isn’t it? Yeah. Okay.
So guys, how much money do I have to spend? No, you’re already starting off on the wrong foot. That’s the powerful mindset. The powerful mindset says that you’re making an investment in your future into what it is that you’re going to do into being successful. And yes, of course, there are failures along the road to success, use those as a stepping stone. As I mentioned, in our portfolio, I’ve 29 in my portfolio 2019 presentation. So you take that as a stepping stone, but the whole, the whole thing is, invest on yourself, because the only way that you’re going to grow your agency, the only way that you’re gonna make money online, is if you actually learn how to implement methods that are already successful. Not because somebody is telling you that they’re successful, because you can come into our mastermind, of course, you have to be a paid member and talk to the people in there who are killing it and say, Well, you know who here is successful, I bring you into my mini mastermind, and let you see who’s successful. I’ll show you case studies that that show success.
But it’s taking that first step is okay, let me It’s 17 bucks. That’s all it is. And you can spend more depends on how far you go down the funnel. But that’s all it is initially. From there, yes, you do have to spend because we spent a whole lot of money creating the bundles, the ID page, the SEO PowerShell I’m not gonna go into detail. Guys, if you don’t know what it is going to mg y b dot CEO, look it up. It’s all explained in there. But it’s an investment. So who isn’t willing to like if you know, Okay, I’m gonna get it to at least a two to 213 to one four to one return on my investment. If If I go and take action because the key here is it’s such as getting the Battle Plan and reading it and saying, Okay, let me see what I can do. No, no, it’s going and do it. Do the do that we do.
That successes right there. Give you the keys to the kingdom give you the keys to the kingdom guide.
Whether you take the key, and you have to go put it in the fucking login, turn the key man, please. I don’t know what else to say, man. I’m done. All right. Good follow up, Marco. I think this is interesting. And maybe we could do this with mastermind members, I might talk on my next one on my next mastermind webinar, or we could potentially maybe for 2xyouragency as well, but it’s getting with people. I think we’ve all been there at one point in our life, I’ll only speak for myself. And I know I’ve heard Bradley talk about this, though, is taking on projects, you know, and learning the hard way where, you know, the price didn’t make sense. Like, Hey, I got this client, they’re bringing in, they’re paying me 500 bucks a month. But you didn’t do the math to say is this worth my time? And so getting into the details that that is important, and you can learn, you know, the tough way. But you know, sometimes going through that beforehand, and then saying, Hey, does this project even make sense for me to try to do some SEO for this person? And then realizing too late, like, No, it isn’t, or it’s your own project and you realize, I’ve invested 200 hours of my own time and this is gonna make me 50 bucks a month. What the hell am I doing?
Are that an important skill to have with any of this?
Yeah, also, like on the affiliate case study that I did, like, I don’t know, one and a half years on the old Battle Plan, not the new one.
I think within like the first three weeks, I doubled my investment, and like by now I think at 22, as you hire, I don’t have the exact numbers in mind. But like, it definitely pays off if you actually if you sit down and actually executed step by step and doodle. Cool. Well, with that said, we do have some questions. So if you guys want to find out about worry list SEO, if you want to get faster results, you don’t want to worry about updates or algorithms go grab the Battle Plan and battleplan.semanticmastery.com. So with that, you guys, should we get other questions. Let’s do it. Grab the screen.
Confirm that you guys are seeing it. Roger.
Okay, let’s see. There we go.
All right. It looks like a reset.
What Would You Do Differently In Your Digital Marketing Agency Once The Economy Starts Back Up After The Pandemic?
Looks like we’re going to start with one of the questions from Wayne. Okay, yeah, this was posted in the free Facebook group. And it’s a great question. So thank you for this way. And he says, In light of what has happened to business confidence due to the pandemic, what would you do differently in your agency business once the economy starts back up, and consumer confidence goes back to normal?
This can almost be viewed as a sort of reset to clarify, maybe it’s not buyers confidence in agencies per se, but buyers confidence in themselves and their ability to make good buying decisions. And I think that’s a great question.
I know something that I’ve thought a lot about recently, over the past month or so, is how to like how I’m going to do that how I’m going to start prospecting again for in my case Tree Service contractors. Once this, although there’s a lot of Tree Service contractors still working right now let me explain what I’m about to say.
One of the things I want to do is reduce my rates, at least initially. So perhaps, and the reason I say that is because a lot of business owners are a bit gun shy right now or hesitant to spend money and at least from business owners that I’ve talked to, because they’re hurting for money, now their revenue has either completely disappeared or significantly dropped. And so when the economy gets back to normal, it’s going to be some quite some time before we ever get back to fully normal. But when it starts to open back up and Revit, you know, business strategy, business transactions start to pick up in volume picks up and everything else. I think they’re gonna I think, at least my opinion is that people are going to be a lot more hesitant to spend money, or if they do, they’re going to want some sort of assurances and that kind of stuff. Now, again, this is speculation, my assumption of what’s going to happen so forth. For me personally, one of the things that I’ve been doing for the last about six weeks. I started to get started on it about six weeks ago, but I’m actually talking about this in the mastermind. For the last several mastermind webinars that I’ve hosted, that I’m trying to process, you know, systematize, much of the complex work that I have always done myself so that I can outsource that or delegate that to somebody that’s paid four or $5 an hour versus my own time. So in other words, whenever I take on a new client. I’ve always done the onboarding in most of the setup myself. So because of that, I charge a very high setup rate or setup fee for new clients, typically in the neighborhood of $3,000 on the front end, and then you know, anywhere between 1000 to 1500 dollars a month for like Tree Service contractors, for example. But that’s the reason I base my setup fee is because I know how much work I put into the actual setup setting up a new website or restructuring an existing site, optimizing GMB, setting up all the entity assets, the SEO shield, essentially syndication network, all that stuff, getting the content marketing schedule or plan developed for my blogger, I do all of that myself or have been throughout my entire career. And so I charge a lot for that because it takes me in a lot of time to do all that setup work. And the reason I’ve never delegated that before was that it is so complex, the amount of work that goes into all the setup that I do that I’ve never wanted to take the time to develop processes for all of that well, because of the 2xyouragency training, the Double Your Agency training.
I talk about setting up systems and I have for much of my business, but that portion of it, the onboarding and the setup for new clients, I’ve always done myself and so I always charged accordingly because it’s my time that I’m investing into it, and it gets done well and it works for the client like it produces results. But again, it’s a lot of my time. And so I want to be compensated for that. And so I charge that sort of a fee. So one of the things that I’ve been striving to do and again, it was I, I was prompted to do this because of the 2xyouragency training was I wanted to systematize even that we talked about it in the training guys. And I got this from Adam. And it’s, it’s been ingrained into my head now. But automate, delegate or eliminate, right, so if I can’t automate the setup, I want to delegate it or eliminate it entirely. In this case, I want to learn I want to delegate it. So I’ve been working for the last month really started about six weeks ago, but for the last month, I’ve been working on trying to systematize my onboarding and setup processes, and it’s an enormous amount of work. In fact, when I first learned how to develop standard operating procedures or SLPs, that the first time I learned the first thing that I systematized was building syndication networks that later became Syndication Academy.
So it took me three months to develop those processes. Now I’m better at developing processes. But this is an enormous amount of work as well. And so I’ve spent a month and more anywhere between 10 to 15 hours a week, for the last month developing these processes. And the reason I’m doing that is so that I can remove myself from that process. And I can delegate that to a virtual assistant that I pay in the Philippines, for example, for $5 an hour good wage. So now I can take an onboarding fee that I would set up for you that I would typically charge roughly $3,000 for and I may be able to reduce that in half, and still produce a really good return or revenue for my agency, but at the same time, I’m only paying, you know, a fraction of that out to have it done. And I have all of my time still. Does that make sense? So I can actually And not only that but because I have slps I can also bring on more people to delegate to so I can increase volume. In other words, I can take on more clients because it’s not a finite amount of time that I have to invest in setup and onboarding because I can just bring on more personnel to delegate additional work to because of the SOPs, standard operating procedures are there.
So for me what I’ve been striving to do that so that I can reduce my onboarding rate or my setup fee, number one, number two, I probably am going to be reducing my retainer, my monthly retainer fee as well. And I mentioned this in the Facebook group is my comment. There’s a couple of things I’ve been kicking around one would bring them on at a reduced initial rate, but get a pay like a results-based pay increase or retainer increase based upon the type of results that I can, that I know that I’ll be able to produce for them. So for example, it might be the first three months or once we heard it, you know, first three months or at a certain rate, because that’s typically about how long it takes for me to get significant results anyways, or some sort of threshold or milestone that gets hit a number of leads generated traffic, you know, number of traffic, whatever, traffic level or whatever. And then the rates go up from there, or something that I just took on for the case study that I’m conducting in the mastermind for my mastermind webinars, I recently brought on a new Tree Service contractor who’s buying leads for me on a pay per lead basis at a discounted rate for my typical rates. But it’s interesting because he does, he’s not paying me a monthly retainer. He’s just paying me for leads but I’m actually working on building his assets up, well, his brand through my assets, but I’m building his brand up. And it’s working really well.
In fact, I’m turning really good revenue over from this new Tree Service contractor right now, because of that, what just so you guys understand what I’m saying? Meaning I’m building up his brand, through my assets through the domain, everything else that I purchased for his company, right. So in other words, I own the asset with his branding on it, and I’m building it up and he’s paying for the leads that are coming out on a pay per lead basis. So there’s that or there’s another type of arrangement could be a revenue share something like that. So that they’re, they understand that you’re, you’re going to your revenue is tied to their success. Does that make sense? So in that’s kind of how I’m going to be approaching it first being able to reduce my rates initially, by removing myself from the process entirely, which will make my agency more efficient and more scalable to begin with. But then also, you know, giving them some sort of incentive to sign up with me so that I can start to show results, and then increase my monthly retainer as a result of, you know, either certain milestones that are hit or a certain timeframe, or whatever the arrangement is, or like I said, the pay per lead model, where they’re buying leads from me even though I’m building their brand instead of like, going out and creating my own generic pseudo brands that are lead generation assets or do some sort of revenue share model that makes sense.
So that’s personally how I’m going to be handling it. And again, I’ll be talking a lot about this in the mastermind. That’s specifically why I’m trying to systematize my agency processes right now, so that, you know, I can scale and I can share it with the rest of the mastermind members as well. So, Max, just hears what some of you guys are doing Hernan and I really like that approach Bradley because kind of it takes the burden out of the business owner right? When it comes to you know, paying you a monthly retainer for your services. And some of these guys might be coming out pretty beat up after this, you know, this situation, this economy, whatever, some of them might be right on top, but some of them might be coming up pretty beaten up. So I think that having some sort of either revenue share or success model embedded in your retainer, maybe charge a little bit less, but then you have some sort of either revenue share or profit share.
In my case, I run ads. So it makes sense, it makes sense to have some sort of profit share after ad spend. And that makes sense because it helps business owners like understand that they can, you know, they can actually pay you while the business is going back to where it was before. So having some sort of success, and then it sets you up for success as well. Because if you really hit a home run, then you will end up getting paid a lot more than just your retainer, right, which is the whole point. So I really, I really like that idea of the kind of, you know, making it like a no brainer, taking out all of the risks from the table, and then it helps you getting creative with the way you’re structuring your deals. And, and also, you know, I would definitely consider hiring somebody to do most of the grunt work while you are effectively focused on, you know, the high-level stuff or the creative stuff, right? But then the rest, you can systematize that you can do processes and all of that. So, I really agree with it. I really love what you’re doing there.
Chris’s young mind, I would probably spend a little bit of time having a discussion usually doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes. Last Word of bottlenecks was like, for example, if it’s just a physical store, and they didn’t have like an econ store or something online set up.
They could have made sales that way. So like, in the best case, I can refer them to somebody and get a cup out of that as well a little bit and help them to get set up. So in case something else happens that is similar to that or a second or third wave might happen. I hope it’s not but like, you never know.
They are prepared, you know, and they don’t have to shut down completely, but they can still get sales and stuff.
The rest I pretty much agree with what has been said already.
Marco.
This is really interesting. I mean, I really like this question. Like how do you restore back
Unknown Speaker 24:00
In Scott buyers confidence in themselves, I thought that’s a difficult one because you’re talking about how do you get into that person’s head and talk to them about their ability to make good buying decisions. All you can do is establish confidence and good rapport between you and the client. I mean, that’s what will take care of this having that, that that confidence in you, that you can produce the results that you say you’re going to get guys gonna drop a bundle on you. Whether it’s 500, if it’s a bundle, to a lot of people, or 50,000, that’s a bundle to other people. It’s all relative, that that ton of money that that bundle of money is relative to the person that spending the money. If that person if you can show that person that they can have confidence that you because you’re going to produce results. Either you’ve gotten results before and you can just show it you can just go in. I talked to a prominent attorney last week with a couple of others guys that I’m working on a project and I talked to a guy who’s dropping a bunch of money, we’re talking millions of dollars in Google ads and wants to turn his focus elsewhere. And so what I’m going to charge these two people, this attorney, and this guy who’s doing the Google ads and wants to go after the niche, another way, is what Well, you’re going to have to pay me like it doesn’t matter. At this point, if it’s a local client who’s having a hard time because he hasn’t done a Tree Service job, let’s say in four or five, six months, I understand that.
The way that I’m doing is I’m already dropping prices. For example, I have a couple of attorneys I’m already helping, Whose call volume dropped. And so I did drop the fee. While this goes on, as soon as it opens up, I know it’s gonna be a train wreck. People are gonna go crazy. accidents are gonna start to happen again, cause you’re gonna come back so the fees go back up. And they Oh, they go back up not only to where they formerly work, but they will also increase by a percentage to make up for the break that I gave them, it’s gonna they’re gonna make, again a bundle of money. The same thing with with with the new attorney that I’m taking on, we might bring him in at a reduced fee initially. But then as things, they gain traction and people like I hate to say, but people start having massive accidents. Again, it’s a bunch of money. And so this, this is all to me, right, the weight and the way that I’m looking at this. It’s whether you can instill that confidence in your ability to produce the results that these people are going to need moving forward. And that’s the conversation that you need to have with that person. Whether it’s a phone call, whether it’s that one on one once that this thing clears up and letting that person know that I’m the person that can get you the results that you want. I mean all of us have had that conversation with a client.
Yeah, I know that you’ve been screwed by other SEO agencies. I’m not that SEO is in here call these people. They can vouch for me or you came to me because someone referred you to me because I got the results. So you already know that there’s a pre-conference that’s called already established to some extent. Now you can either screw that up or work with it and close the deal. How you close that deal? Well, Bradley, Bradley, Hernan, and Chris, have given you guys some really good ideas. I don’t generally take local clients at that price. But if I mean, if that’s what it took, if it took bringing somebody in at a reduced rate, and as volume increases, your monthly fee is totally tied to that percentage increase that I’m totally for that it’s not the way that I’m doing because I don’t really do it at that hyperlocal level. I don’t focus on that. But I can totally see your point of view.
And how you would do it. And at the same time, I can also see it just totally going in there and convincing that person that you’re the person to be trusted with their livelihood because that’s what it is.
Adam, you’re the last one yet. One more thing, prices will go up anyways, like just seeing about, like all the money that has been given out and like they break the business set. So you can definitely expect like after things are working again, that there will be a price increase. Yeah. Because the purchasing power is less on the money.
So when Yeah, I agree. Good question. And I’m going to talk more about the consulting agency side of things, not the buyer competent side directly. For that, I think, you know, I’m not an economist, maybe an armchair one. And all I can say is, you know, I know myself and I know people have different sides or different feelings about this. My gut feeling is you know, I can only speak to what I’m going to do and I know I’m not going to be spending more money than usual in the near future right to me that goes against what I believe is safe and good for me and my loved ones. And I think a lot of people think that but again, that’s just me I’m not that’s not Adams verified theory or anything. So what I’ll do is lean back I think something that we talked a lot about it POFU Live, Herna talking about it a lot Bradley has or branding yourself more than ever. That’s something I’m focusing on. And I got this started slowly over the last few months. And now it’s really built up steam in the sense that like, it’s something I’m focusing more on. And I see that there are several reasons why for myself, it’s one you know, you’re helping yourself, while at the same time you get to help others and you can do this in any niche in the industry at any level. I don’t do local generally. But I mean, of course, you can help others locally, right. You know, if you’re doing local marketing, you could be doing local marketing meetups on Zoom. You could be helping the local builders as they begin, you know, needing to start prospecting. Again, if they’ve been on restrictions, I mean, there’s all sorts of stuff you can do, I’m not going to beat a dead horse there.
Obviously, videos right now are really important. And again, if you can, once things are safe again in person or doing zoom calls, and I also look at this as a good time to find out what you and I really like doing. You know, if you enjoy teaching others about it, maybe that’s something you could move more into. And like who you really like, start, start building up that prospecting engine, even if it’s already in place. Just kind of, you know, streamlining and doing whatever you can and looking at what you really want to focus on moving forward. So that’s something that I’m taking very seriously and I want to get that going because that it can be at times it feels like a heavy flywheel to get moving. But once you start that moving, you just keep doing it a little bit from time to time consistently, and that really starts paying off.
Secondly, Bradley talked about this, so did Hernan but streamlining your operations and as Bradley said just once per week, I really do. You know, I think everyone should do this once per week, ask yourself what you can automate delegate or delete. Just set a time and do it write it down on a scrap of paper. It doesn’t have to be rocket science, right? But you’ve got to set that time aside. And if it works, like I think it will then keep doing it. If not, you know, this isn’t some set and stone rule. It’s not working for you don’t do it. But you know, for 99% of the people out there, I guarantee you, this is going to be a potential game-changer for you. And then last but not least, I love this quote, I did an interview with a guy named Matt Barnett. He’s the founder of bon giorno, which is an app that Bradley introduced me to and he said, you know, automate the process, not the relationship. And I think we’re seeing that even more now that people are having to work remotely. You know, automating as much of the process as you can, but then really building those relationships as business owners as consultants as agency owners. That’s, that’s been important and I mean, bonds euro is a tool, and if there’s another tool use it, but I just use this as the example that has been a game-changer for me down to like the tactical level, like it’s fun because it helps build the relationship. But a great example is earlier this morning, I had approved a call. And when that happens, I get the phone journal notification pops up, hey, Adam, send the video to so and so. I recorded it. I had seen what they said I approved their message and I was like, you know, hey, it’s Adam. I’m looking forward to talking tomorrow. If you got any other background information on your project, let me know, you know, I’d really like to make the most of our call. It sounds like you got something interesting here. And they have given me a real short description like most people do when they fill out forms. I send that off, I get back a four-page email from this guy and he’s got just this mine, you know, really interesting project. All of the juicy details. He told me what he liked about his vendors. He told me what he fucking hated about his vendors. He’s telling me, you know, just under the hood, you know, all the details. And you know, all that took me was literally 20 seconds. So, I think that again, going back to that automating the process, not the relationship so I can put that 20 seconds in, it’s real. And the rest is taken care of for me, which nobody cares about anyways, nobody cares that there’s a program that sent the email they just care that I cared enough to, you know, say hi and ask them what’s really going on. So you mean to tell me that video emails work to wow your prospects and then ultimately your clients as well. It’s true and it has a very high engagement rate.
That’s funny.
Yeah, I’m telling you guys that’s how I primarily communicate with all of my clients. I mean, I do jump on the phone with them occasionally and we chat back and forth via email but almost every month I’m sending a video email to my clients just going over their monthly reports and again, I say the same product we sell guys it’s the same method you know, we practice what we preach video lead gen system, that’s how I do all my prospecting and it works really well and that starts the whole like, it builds rapport without us even conversing, right that makes sense on video, email, you can literally build rapport with the prospect before you ever communicated with them and like in real-time,
And so again, I also use video emails for communicating with prospects after like four clients once they become clients, and they love it. I’ve gotten so many comments over the years now from clients that say that they love that. Because they, you know, they know what’s going on at all times. And it’s like Adam said, I’m building that relationship, even if we’re not literally talking back and forth, it’s still building that rapport because they’re, it’s like they get to know me and all that other kind of stuff. It works really well. And the other.
You know, the other part of that is that, you know, I talked about this into your agency, what Adam just said is, when you’re also prospecting, it’s, you got to think about it guys like so much of the sales training out there is sales training about how to sell a product or a service and it’s almost like a one and done like, that’s why there’s hard closing, like hard closing techniques that people try to teach you in sales programs and all this other shit and I found that that is it usually pushes people away.
For the type of services that we sell as digital marketers, we’re selling a relationship, not a product or a service. Yes, there’s a product or a service attached to the relationship but the thing is we’re going to be intimately involved with their business. And we have to develop that relationship and that rapport with the business owner or our point of contact at the business in order for us to create that relationship that’s going to be long-lasting, if that makes sense because we’re going to be communicating with them on a regular basis and we are tied to the success of their business it’s really important to develop that relationship strong upfront that strong rapport upfront and also to maintain that relationship so I totally agree with it without him just said
alright, so we can go jump on the next question was a fantastic question. Wayne, thank you for that. Let me get to the next one.
Difference Between Battle Plan 4.0 And 2XYourAgency
Okay, this one is from the free Facebook group as well from Cliff he says what’s the difference between the Battle Plan 4.0 and 2xyouragency? Well, the Battle Plan 4.0 is like how to get results with building up an entity and how to get results with a search google search primarily. It’s basically a step by step plan for how to get results with any type of web project that makes sense to your agency about how to build your agency and how to grow your agency, and how to, you know, again, scale it, prospecting and sales as part one. Part two is how to get reliable, consistent, repeatable results without you have to do all the work. And part three of 2xyouragency training is all about how to scale your operation. And that’s so there’s a big difference between Battle Plan 2xyouragency Battle Plan is about how to get results with a particular online or web project to extra agencies how to build, grow and scale your agency, your agency without doing all the work yourself. So anybody wants to comment on that?
Oh, it’s perfect.
Are There Are Any SEO Practices You Need To Keep In Mind Before A Domain Goes Live To The Public?
Okay, Muhammad’s up what’s up Muhammad? He says, Hey, guys, a car dealer client of mine has been getting a new website built and they’re just about to live to the domain. And your guys’ advice. I made sure they would perform proper redirects from the old links beyond that, is there anything I should do once a new website goes live? I have a power shield in place for this client and I just bought a few mg y v link building and embed orders aimed at the ID page our way as a GMB, do I keep going, as usual, seeing as the domain is the same.
Yes, far as I know, the only other thing I might do would be to do a site, you know, a domain change, or whatever. And, you know, you can in Search Console, you can tell Google that the new site is over here, if that’s what is the same domain or push it live. Now it looks like it’s the same. It’s on the same domain. So yeah, I don’t I can’t see anything else. Marco, do you have anything else more? No, I don’t see anything else other than once this is all done and once the link building has cycled through that first time, you’ll take a look at the data, see where the money is gonna be. You’ve been at this long enough Mohammed not to understand where the money is in that niche and
You might have to isolate the top market level keyword for that category in the niche. And then that is just adding an error page to the G site inner drive stack, of course, with a corresponding inner site, money site page, excuse me, and then pushing power to that to rank everything in the niche. And yes, it’s that simple, but it’s not easy.
Should You Assign The ID Page As @ID Designation In A Local Business Organization Schema?
So next question from Muhamed and says, regarding local business organization schema, the @ID page, with the @ID designation should always be the ID page, right? Yes. And actually, it’s not supposed to change it’s supposed to be like, in other words, where do you point to should remain consistent Now, don’t get me wrong when I’m starting a new project as I’m waiting for the ID page to be built. For example, I might use this domain website URL as the ID page so that I can get the main site up and the structured data and stuff like that, but typically once you have the asset and place the ID page, you can change the elements on the ID page. But you should always point to the same UI, right?
At least that’s my understanding of it. Do I have that right, Marco? Yeah, that’s what Google says. But it’s not necessarily so because you can have multiple @ID. And no, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the @ID paid doesn’t have to be the s3. It could be an organization page on your website. That’s the @ID. Mohammed, again, it’s simply an identifier of where your company’s information is right where this organization is and everything related to the organization and then the entity loops. What it simply does is it catches the bot in everything related to the organization which is your syndication network, your drive stack, G site GMB. Now, anything related to you can even include citations in there. But no, it doesn’t have to be it should it be like no. Once you set it Bradley is right, Google’s recommendation is you leave it. But you can have multiple @IDs, you can identify multiple nodes. That’s all you’re doing. Let’s call them places so people don’t like misinterpret what a node is different places that are being identified as places where you can find information about this organization or this local business.
Yeah, I know that my screen is paused because I’m trying to dig into something for it in Google ads for a minute to show. One of the upcoming questions guys just stands by one minute. I it’s a question coming up on Google ads that I want to share something with.
Standby, just a minute, guys. I typically don’t do this on all day Hangouts. But it’s a great question and I want to show this
standby one minute, I promise.
Okay,
Yeah. All right, let me start the screen share again.
Get rid of that. All right.
All right, sorry about that. We’ll come back to that one when we get to it. Alright, so this one, maybe What’s up, baby? He’s here every week now asking multiple questions.
That’s funny. All right.
Is It Okay To Publish A Post On Two Different Silos?
So he says, hey guys, can I post on two different silos? Don’t it should be in one silo it, you should really, if your keyword research is done right, and you structure your silos properly, a post should only go on one silo, right? Whatever is the most appropriate silo, keyword set. Does that make sense? Now, if there’s some reason or another that you want to direct a reader, a visitor, you know somebody that’s looking at the content to, you know, a, another silo or another post within a silo, another page within another silo. You can do that with just an internal link, just nofollow the link but you don’t want to put the same post in two different silos, that’s two different categories. Right? And it just, it doesn’t really make sense to do so. And it also causes some funky things in WordPress when you do that. So I don’t recommend it. Does anybody else have anything else to say about that? No, no, it’s a no. Okay.
Should You Assign SameAs Attribute To The Branded Properties?
Number two, should the branded property properties have sameAs attribute like the money site? If you can inject structured data into them? Yeah, you can. Because remember, you can use the same schema type, whether it’s local business, organization, Corporation, whatever it is, you can use the same schema type in your web tools as well. So for example, you know, just like Mohammed was asking in the previous question, your ID page could, you know, if you’re using local business structured data, for example, the ID designation could be pointing to wherever you placed your ID page, and that would be the same no matter what local business structured data or schema was on any one of your web twos for the ones that you can add that to not all of them, you can do most
Then you can’t actually, unless Marco knows how to wait for a way to hack it in that I’m unaware of, for the most web tools, you’re not able to actually add structured data. But when you can, yes, you can, you can add that in as well. But you have to have access to the HTML, right to be able to do that the HTML header mainly too, right? Yeah. And be careful, because you want to create a parent-child relationship. But you don’t want to do it the opposite way. You don’t want your tier one branded, to in any way be taken as the parent and something else to be the child. Because then you could now create a lot of confusion. And you don’t want to do that not at the code level. Guys, don’t mess with the quote unless you know what you’re doing.
Example Of A Complex Silo
Number three, can you show an example when it’s necessary to use a complex silo? Well, yeah, I mean, you know, for example, is a great one. One of our mastermind members was talking I’m not gonna name any names, but was talking about a glass repair company. And they were asking about, you know, how to structure silos on a glass repair company.
For a glass repair company website, and they had an auto glass, residential glass, commercial glass, but then underneath, so that would be a top-level category. So that would be you know, if it was a simple silo structure, it would be posted directly underneath each one of those categories, right. So that would be the category slash post structure, which is a simple silo structure, meaning it only goes two levels deep in the silo itself, but for example, under you know, I don’t know, residential glass repair, being one silo, the top-level silo so that if you’re going to do is for various subcategories underneath that silo. So for example, residential glass repair could have window repair, a sliding glass door inst or door installation, glass door installation, right. So those could each be subcategories of residential glass repair. Does that make sense? So each one of those now for example, like glass window repair, it could have that could be a subcategory. And then you could add posts underneath that, right. So you could add depth to the window repair subcategory, which is ultimately part of the residential glass repair, primary category, or top-level category, excuse me. So that makes sense. So for example, and then like maybe glass installation, residential glass installation, and then you could have as posts right to add depth to that which glass installation residential glass installation could be a subcategory of residential glass repair, I’m just using that as an example. I don’t know that niche so I’m kind of pulling this out of the air. But you know, you could have window installation and or door and glass door installation, sliding door installation, French door installations, that makes sense. Each one of those could be individual posts to add depth to that particular subcategory. Okay, so that’s just an example. It doesn’t matter refresh redirect.
Does A Meta Refresh/Redirect Be Considered A Backlink?
does meta refresh/redirect is considered a backlink? Yes. From the original source. Yes. So if you redirect a URL through a redirect to whatever your target is it will pick up as a backlink. Is that correct? Does anybody want to know that? It’s a response code, all 300-330-1302 308 400 500. It’s a response code. It’s interaction in HTTP now, but the way that I understood anything linking to that page that’s being 301 would be considered the length, but the meta refresh and the 301 and three or two, those are simply response codes. They’re not backlinks. Right now and right, I get that, but I thought I thought he was asking if you redirect something to it, does the redirect become a backlink? So the original URL that is redirected does become a backlink? Yes, that’s what I was at was answering. But yes, you’re right. A reader. A meta refresh or a redirect is not a backlink. It’s just a redirect to wherever HTTP header code. Tom says if this isn’t the right forum for this question, please write in the appropriate place. Okay. This is the question I was going to show you.
Advice On Running Ads For Lawyer Lead Gen Videos
Tom says I purchased your YouTube ads training being a complete novice to ads. Fantastic course, by the way. Thank you, Tom. He says, any advice on running ads for lawyer lead gen videos? For example, how would you go about putting ads in front of people who need a divorce attorney? Okay. Well, Tom, if you go through the entire training, you should know that you can use in-market audiences, which is what I highly recommend or custom intent audiences. So what I did was I pulled up in one of my Google Ads account here just to show you for example, if you come into let’s go to browse and if you look at in-market life event and custom intent audiences now I’m looking at a display campaign display in YouTube ads, very similar audiences in-market audiences. There are some slight differences, but there are there they’re very very similar.
Okay, so I have the display campaign right now. But if we could take a look at in-market life events and custom intent, you can go into in-market audiences and you can look for Business Services, maybe look for legal. I don’t know if they have a separate one for legal. But you could look for Business Services maybe. And see if there’s something in there for legal. My point is to go through the different in-market audiences, preferably I’d start there and see, and again, there’s a lot of them. So you just have to start clicking through the different categories, and then clicking down are the dropdowns to expand them and see if you can find one for lawyers. I don’t do anything for lawyers. I was just hoping to find an in-market audience for lawyers, and they’re very well maybe, but I’m not going to click through all of these. I just wanted to point out that this is where you would start, look, try to find an in-market audience because then you can set your geographic targeting, and you can select an in-market audience to were that only the people that are going to see your ad are only going to be people that are specified in a geographic area that you set your targeted locations, as well as Google, has determined that they’re in the market for lawyer services, or for you know, Attorney services, whatever. So I would start there, if you can’t find one, create a custom intent audience. So again, all that all the custom intent audiences, and I can’t go too deep into it, but as go develop a really robust keyword list of all of the types of keywords that somebody that it would be cert would be in need of that type of attorney would be searching for. And that that becomes the keyword list that you add to a custom intent audience, then you can also Well, for YouTube, you can’t do use URLs. But for the Display Network, you can also go out and grab like competitor URLs, and like legal type advice, you know, websites where they talk about, you know, the process of personal injury law or something like that. You can grab things URLs like that even YouTube video URLs that talk about
These things and put them in the custom intent audience list as well, because that’s the criteria that Google uses. Essentially, when you create a custom intent audience, what you’re doing is you’re creating a bucket that you want Google to fill with people that meet the criteria that you set up with your targeting criteria through the custom intent audience. So if you grab a bunch of keywords that people would be searching for. And then you know, engaging with content that satisfies or answers those types of queries. You put those types of search queries or keywords, essentially phrases into the custom intent audience, and then Google says, Okay, this person in your case, what was your name? Tom?
Yeah, Tom wants a bucket of people that are actively or recently engaging with content around these types of keywords or this type of content, right. And so it will automatically start to fill that bucket, so to speak with people that meet that criteria within a specific geographic if it’s for local within a specific target geographic area, and they are known to Google as having a recent interest, right in that, in that particular you know that that type of content, which means they’re likely in-market for that, and that’s their custom intent. Does that make sense? So and it works well, but it’s not if you’re going to use a custom intent audience, unlike life events or in-market audiences, where Google already knows that they’re in the market. For those with a custom intent, it takes a little while for the ad campaign to learn, right? It uses machine learning AI and such that, when you first set it up, you’re probably going to have some shitty results. Don’t worry about it, let the ads run and the machine learning will take over and we’ll start to refine the targeting to where it gets better and better if that makes sense. So just again, Custom intent audiences work really, really well. I’ve been testing them a lot over the last few months, and they work really well but they take a little
But it’s time for them to mature for the machine learning to kind of really learn through what you said is the criteria is a good question. Anybody else? comment on that? How about you Hernan, you do a lot of stuff with ads?
He might be busy.
Okay, I’m gonna keep moving.
Any advice? Okay, wait a minute. For example, how would you go about putting ads in front? Yeah, I already answered that. Since Google doesn’t allow negative life event targeting, I couldn’t see an obvious way to target their audience as you did in the training. Okay, yeah. Again, use custom intent audiences, then that’s the best way to do it. And with YouTube, you can only add keywords, at least for now, which is fine. And more equals better, in other words, but more as long as irrelevant. So don’t use more general or broad keywords that would add that aren’t specifically relevant to the type of project you’re trying to, you know, the people that you’re trying to target because that will skew your results and give you less, your ads won’t perform as well in other words, so you want to build a really robust keyword list for YouTube ads that are specifically around that particular like and remember put yourself in the like in the shoes of somebody that would be in need of you say it was personal injury attorney or whatever and divorce attorney excuse me, put yourself in the shoes of somebody going through a divorce is looking for an attorney and try to think of it that way and develop a keyword list based around that. Does that make sense? that it works really well.
Is It Okay To Use The Description In The IFTTT Recipe For The Branded Network In YouTube Syndication?
Okay, next BB is up again. On YouTube syndication for the branded network. Is it okay to use the description in the recipe?
No, I don’t recommend that. YouTube an RSS of money site gets syndicated there. So you mean the description in the recipe? I’m not you mean? Take the YouTube video description and syndicate that out. Ah, you know, it depends on how you Okay, the blanket statement I’m going to say no, because
As soon as I say, yeah, it’s okay to do that people are going to go out. And I’ve seen a lot of people’s YouTube descriptions that are absolutely spammy as can be because they put a big block of keywords or they put a shit ton of External links and all of that kind of stuff in their video description. That’s fine. If you want to spam your video description and on YouTube. It’s okay, it’s perfectly fine. But when you start to syndicate your description out to the networks, if it’s it’s a real spammy description, then it’s likely that those accounts the web two accounts that you’re syndicating to get terminated. How do I know that? Because I’ve had it happen many, many times, which is specifically why we developed the recipes or the applets and IFTTT the way that we did. Because when you’re just syndicating the video itself, and perhaps a link back to the video, or to a playlist or to a channel or a combination of those, then it’s fine. It’s very rare that I’ve ever had a web two terminated from that type of a syndicated description or from the applet. In other words, the description that the applet publishes, but when I in the past when I’ve done full YouTube Video Description syndication along with the video, I’ve had many, many times web two dot o account shut down. And it’s mainly because the video description was a bit spammy. So just be careful if you’re going to syndicate the YouTube description, just be sure that the video description is not spammy doesn’t contain a shit ton of External links and all that kind of stuff. Okay.
Is There A Faster Way To Write A Press Release For A New Post?
See, number two, is there a faster way to write a press release for a new post?
Yeah, have us do it. I mean, I don’t know what you’re asking there. You know, I, whenever my bloggers created published a post that’s going to be also promoted through a press release. They just go submit the press release or the details for the blog post to the through MGYB. Basically, for the end press Release writers write the press release. We don’t any of us write our own press releases. And I don’t encourage any of you to do that. So I don’t know what else to tell you on that one. Can someone use Fiverr gigs? Can we just copy 500? From the words for the new posts? And that’s it? No, you can’t do that. I don’t know, if any, well, you can probably find some PR distribution services that would allow you to do that, but we won’t. In fact, we won’t even take a press release from self-written press releases, they have to be written by the press release writers at press advantage. And we do that intentionally because they know how to get the best results from the content that syndicates through their distribution network. Okay, so I would highly encourage you to allow the press release whatever press release distribution service you’re using, probably as a press release writing service. Most all of them do now, let those writers do the writing for you. Okay.
Can Someone Use Fiverr Gigs Or SEO Clerks For Building Links To RYS And IFTTT Properties?
Can someone use Fiverr gigs or SEO clerks for building links to the RYS and IFTTT properties? Again, you can. We don’t recommend it. But you can. So he says he’s needing non-English spam links. Marco, what do you say about that?
Yeah, like, I haven’t done it. And so, uh, yeah, we’ve used Fiverr gigs before, but that’s just the test drive sites and key sites. They take it like a champ. I wouldn’t throw it at my tier one branded. I’m not doing that. Because it just, it’s not gonna look, well, you. It’s your brand. Why would you want to spend your brand I know that we say we call the drive second g site part of tier one branded, but it’s not really. That’s tier two, tier two links coming into everything that you’re doing everything else. And then we filter everything through that tier two, which brings in traffic, it brings in a whole lot of activity, relevance, trust, and authority, which makes it de facto, tier one. It’s just it’s not really by rule. It’s not a tier one. It’s just the fact that he went right by facts.
Because of the use, and so understanding that why would you want to spam your tier one branded properly? If you’re going to try to test do it with the drive second t site in them in between everything, and you should be okay.
There you go.
Can We Use A Press Release In English Sites With English Posts To A Non-English Site?
Okay, maybe we’re gonna move on because we only got two more minutes. And those were many too many questions again, but I do want to answer can we develop or is it in the pipeline of packages and MGYB to non-English sites? No, it’s not and we will not we don’t plan on doing that. That’s not even for future plans. Isn’t Marco, know that the man has to be there and we see we see these one-offs every once in a while. If we saw them often. Then we’d say okay, there’s a demand for it. We need to meet the demand, or we need to find a way. But it’s not even at that stage where we’re considering finding a way.
Does Semantic Mastery Trainings Have Step By Step SOPs?
Okay, Rob’s up says besides the Battle Plan, do any of your items or training contains step by step SLPs. Uh, yeah, the mastermind is where I share slps all the time. But to be clear, guys, I share my standard operating procedures, but they’re specific to my agency. I mean, there are some things that can be that are generic enough that they can be applied to, you know, your own business as well. And I share those in the mastermind all the time because I get requests like that in the mastermind. That’s what the masterminds for, by the way, for that kind of stuff.
But for example, all the agency processes that I’ve been working diligently on for the last month, really about six weeks, but for the last month, I’ve really put a lot of effort into it in time and such.
You know, I’m sharing those with the mastermind members, but again, they’re specific to my processes, and it’s more or less to share so that you guys have mastermind members, I mean, have a template or a, you know, a guide, essentially something that they can use to build their own processes. I don’t expect my processes for my agency to work for your business.
But I do share them so that other people have like kind of a template that they can go out and develop their own processes. The problem is, even when I share the processes I know, you know, eight, eight out of 10 people that I share them with in the, you know, even in the mastermind, they look at them, they’re like, Oh, this is awesome, but they never actually, you know, use them or build their own processes, or at least my understanding is, it’s very rare. There are only a few people that I know that actually really developed, fully developed sfps. And that’s where the bottleneck is, for the most part, guys. It’s a lot of work developing SLPs. It really is. It’s a ton of work. And that’s why most people don’t do it. But once it’s done, especially if you do them very detailed, and I love the process. In fact, I’ve got an open right here in my tab because I was working on that earlier today again, but you can once you develop really intricate processes, you can delegate even the most complex subtasks. In other words, you can outsource it because as long as your processes your SOPs are detailed enough, you can take anything that you think, Well, no, I don’t want to say anything. Because some things do require judgment analysis, you know, that kind of stuff that only comes with experience. But for the most part, even things that are really complex can be delegated with a proper SAP. Right? And so again, I share mine in the mastermind often, when people request things, I will often create them, but they’re specific to my business. And I always want to disclaim that right up front, just to say, look, you know, I’ll give you an example. But you’re gonna have to obviously, customize it specifically for your own business. Okay. All right. So last question. Oh, yeah, in a second. But because we’re missing something that really big here. Our training is step by step over the shoulder video. And then you should be developing your own processes, from those videos to apply to whatever it is that you’re doing. Some of the training is as simple as, get a VA in there, to reproduce whatever’s being done, and that’s it.
RYS Academy and RYS Academy Reloaded the VAs, that’s their training, go watch the videos, build me a drive stack, then we’ll discuss the drive stack to see where it is that you went off where it is that maybe you improve it, because that happens also. So that and then that goes into the training that goes into there into the videos. So there’s always an improvement process. But it all starts with that over the shoulder training so that you don’t have to go through all these intricacies that you often have to go through by building an SLP. Should you build Yes, by all means, but start with over the shoulder training so that you can do your own.
What SEO Items Provide Biggest Boasts That Should Be Done On Every Site?
All right, the last question, because we’re actually a little bit over but we’ll answer this and we’ll wrap it up. He says if my focus is local SEO there are so many items known to contribute to local SEO such as citations, map embeds, driving directions, geotag images, press releases, Google stacks, etc. Can anyone prioritize what items provide the biggest boost that should be done on every site as opposed to items that can be left off and only completed for today?
Competition. Yeah, and I would say and I’m curious to hear what Marco’s responses. But I would say on page entity, build the entity which the SEO shield is all about. So make sure you’re on pages tight SEO shield, so all the entity assets, right connect all your entity assets the way that we teach. And then it’s the ongoing external stuff or off-page stuff like link building, embed, embeds, and embeds and link building mainly, content marketing is what I consider part of on-page but it’s also part of off-page because of syndication. And also, with press releases, I consider that content marketing, but that’s really an external source that’s building links back to the entity or entity assets. So again, for me, it’s on-page SEO, the SEO shield. So that’s essentially establishing and building up the entity. And then it’s a matter of link building embed gigs and consistent content marketing. That’s and a lot of my local projects. We don’t build citations. It depends on how the GMB was created if it was spam, GMB listing, we don’t do citations and we still get ranked. So citations aren’t absolutely critical. If it’s a valid GMB location, you can absolutely and should build citations. But if it’s not, I omit that. So what do you say Marco, at the local level, you have to have a schema, you have to get that schema and that’s part of your homepage. If you’re not doing that, then you’re just like the rest of the competition, which most people will ignore. That’s how to get a leg up if you do it right. So that’s part of your if your SEO is right, and your entity site then everything else comes on off-page. And part of your entity, of course, is built off paid, @ID drive stack g site, and the companion syndication that was well that’s all bundled free. The only thing that’s necessary after that would be press releases and make building embeds and link building. Which then did that I mean, that’s, that’s what works, the magic that’s what brings everything all of the power into whatever it is that you’re trying to do and you pop it into the three-pack.
Sweet. Well, thanks, everybody for being here. See you guys next week. Don’t forget to go pick up Battle Plan for Dotto.
See everyone. Bye everyone, guys.
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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 285
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Announcement
Live. Cool. Hey everybody, welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is Episode 285 All right, we’re getting there. We’re getting close to 300 that’s pretty awesome. I bet we’re gonna blink our eyes It’s gonna be 400 and then 500 after that, who knows? Hump Day hangouts forever and ever when we reach Episode 1000 I’ll probably be in my Walker but maybe we’ll still be doing it because uh, Alright, moving past that back into reality gonna say hi to the guys real quick we got some announcements the Battle Plan version 4.0 came out today so if you haven’t yet go pick that up Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com we also got some really good deals. We got some awesome bonuses in there I’m not going to read them out to you. You guys can find them at Battle Plan dot semantic mastery.com. With that said, let’s start here on my left I see Bradley first. So Bradley, you’re up man. How you doing?
I’m good. I’m happy bear. Uh, you know, happy that the Battle Plan for is out. It’s much more condensed and simplified shear than the previous versions, I think, I think it makes it a lot easier for people because basically just walk through the bundles and why it’s important and how it applies for pretty much any sort of project now, which makes it a lot easier because I mentioned this in one of the Facebook live videos I’ve done but to, you know, announce that it was coming out that the problem before was that we had, you know, talked about all the different components and things that you would we suggest or recommend to get results, but the problem was that, you know, most of the time, people would skip steps and not implement everything. And then they’d say, Oh, this didn’t work.
And upon further investigation, we’d find out that they didn’t do everything. And so when we set out to update Battle Plan for 2020, we decided that well, first of all, we had the product bundles and MGB but, and we did that on purpose. But that’s what we really wanted to kind of promote is why those bundles are the way that you know why we have them set up so that you don’t miss anything. It just makes it so much easier. And so the Battle Plan is a hell of a lot more simplified and simple is good. It doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. It just means it’s easy to implement based upon the Battle Plan. So certainly recommend anybody to go pick that up if you haven’t yet. Definitely. And I think what you said about being simple I think I’ll pass it off to Marco next because Marco, what do you want to say about stuff is easy and simple? I think, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not simple, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Yeah.
It’s not easy. Because a lot of hours work. Blood, sweat, and tears went into this thing. It’s not as if we just one day out of the blue said, oh, let’s do an SEO Battle Plan. A lot of thought into that, although it’s whittled down so so that even a person who’s not in it in the industry can understand it. It’s not easy, but the way that we’ve simplified it makes it so much better for you guys to just go in order.
I mean, if you guys don’t have the time to go through all of our training, you should still be a member of one of our groups. I mean, without question, because then you can come in and tag us personally in the Facebook group and ask the question directly, one of us will jump in and help you answer the question. Right at that moment, you don’t have to wait once a week to maybe get into a hump day hangout and get into a question. And maybe we have time to answer the question. No, we focus on our people, our paying members, that’s the way it has to be I mean, with Marco Baby got to eat man. And so, dude, that’s the way it’s got to be. But let me go back to the Battle Plan. It’s simplified. It’s whittled down. It’s going there and take action. And let me tell each one of you guys and I’m going to do it myself. Pat yourself on the back. No, no, because I had my mastermind meeting yesterday, my mini mastermind.
And what we did was just go over, I guess as an encouragement, because it’s accountability is an encouragement to one another, and people started showing their results and I’m like, holy crap.
These guys are ranking in a metropolitan area for like 1012 million people. Number one, number one for the market level keyword. I’m not talking about long tails, because long tails I think are unbelievably easy to rank for. But we’re talking about the market level keyword where the money is guys. So not only was he showing that then that I get, you know, Ed gal, Bradley.
Yeah, I think you know him personally, I know him personally also, but he’s ranking for the market level keyword in his area. And then another one of our mastermind members, who’s killing it for an attorney, Attorney Seo we all know how difficult that is correct.
Truck accidents, wrongful death, you name it, it criminal law, and the guy has his clients. Number one. I got another guy showing he’s getting massive results from whatever he’s doing. He’s in Colorado, by the way. I know you love coffee. You guys all love Colorado.
But he’s getting unbelievable results. Okay, how are they doing this shit? How? Okay Yeah, I’m the master of subtlety Guess how the fuck did doing? Take a guess
I’ll leave it at that.
Well, Marco you know we left out one very important thing. How’s the weather down there? Can you tell it’s actually cloudy now? This overwhelming with brightness today this is what passes in Costa Rica for cloudy and we are in the middle of the rainy season it was beautiful this morning in the array. It’s a little cold, right? Cold for me it’s 72 degrees. So but you guys in the sky outside the US like 2022 it’s chilly. Can you feel it feeling your balls when you get older? That’s tough. Well, I’m glad you suffer through that for the rest of us.
Hernan, how you doing man?
Good man, I’m muted. And now humbly says that you need to go get the Battle Plan because better plan 4.0 it’s out. So you need to go get it. So I’m really excited about that man really excited about you know, the fourth version of the Battle Plan and it’s been getting better and better and better as we go by. So really excited about that really excited to be here. Did you call that thing? humpy happy man. Yeah.
Wow. That’s awesome. All right, Chris. How about yourself, man? How you doing? Yeah, I’m actually proud and happy that it’s warmer than in Costa Rica here.
That’s a new one. And regarding the Battle Plan,
I also have bad news for some people. I’m not sure if they’re gonna be sad or like upset or so. But
I mean, like, rarely actually mentioned it already. And I’m gonna hit that. It’s like, I usually do. The question is like,
Do you mean that I have to spend more money after I purchased the Battle Plan to actually execute it?
And the quick answer is, Yes, you will. If you want to execute all the steps, you will have to spend more money to actually get the results. But as Marco said, it’s gonna be like the really good results and not some longtail bullshit keywords where you actually don’t need our Battle Plan for that stuff. So, yeah, blowing it out here. Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah. And also always come back to you know, you got time or money and hopefully start leaning towards bringing in more money reinvest that start doing that stuff. That’s what we’ve done. That’s where we see the fastest growth and you know, sometimes if you don’t, then you roll up your sleeves and you can do it yourself. But as soon as you can, you know, you bring on the team to do it, you automate it and you do what you can. So I think Chris has a really good point. Well, it’s mindset, isn’t it? Yeah. Okay.
So guys, how much money do I have to spend? No, you’re already starting off on the wrong foot. That’s the powerful mindset. The powerful mindset says that you’re making an investment in your future into what it is that you’re going to do into being successful. And yes, of course, there are failures along the road to success, use those as a stepping stone. As I mentioned, in our portfolio, I’ve 29 in my portfolio 2019 presentation. So you take that as a stepping stone, but the whole, the whole thing is, invest on yourself, because the only way that you’re going to grow your agency, the only way that you’re gonna make money online, is if you actually learn how to implement methods that are already successful. Not because somebody is telling you that they’re successful, because you can come into our mastermind, of course, you have to be a paid member and talk to the people in there who are killing it and say, Well, you know who here is successful, I bring you into my mini mastermind, and let you see who’s successful. I’ll show you case studies that that show success.
But it’s taking that first step is okay, let me It’s 17 bucks. That’s all it is. And you can spend more depends on how far you go down the funnel. But that’s all it is initially. From there, yes, you do have to spend because we spent a whole lot of money creating the bundles, the ID page, the SEO PowerShell I’m not gonna go into detail. Guys, if you don’t know what it is going to mg y b dot CEO, look it up. It’s all explained in there. But it’s an investment. So who isn’t willing to like if you know, Okay, I’m gonna get it to at least a two to 213 to one four to one return on my investment. If If I go and take action because the key here is it’s such as getting the Battle Plan and reading it and saying, Okay, let me see what I can do. No, no, it’s going and do it. Do the do that we do.
That successes right there. Give you the keys to the kingdom give you the keys to the kingdom guide.
Whether you take the key, and you have to go put it in the fucking login, turn the key man, please. I don’t know what else to say, man. I’m done. All right. Good follow up, Marco. I think this is interesting. And maybe we could do this with mastermind members, I might talk on my next one on my next mastermind webinar, or we could potentially maybe for 2xyouragency as well, but it’s getting with people. I think we’ve all been there at one point in our life, I’ll only speak for myself. And I know I’ve heard Bradley talk about this, though, is taking on projects, you know, and learning the hard way where, you know, the price didn’t make sense. Like, Hey, I got this client, they’re bringing in, they’re paying me 500 bucks a month. But you didn’t do the math to say is this worth my time? And so getting into the details that that is important, and you can learn, you know, the tough way. But you know, sometimes going through that beforehand, and then saying, Hey, does this project even make sense for me to try to do some SEO for this person? And then realizing too late, like, No, it isn’t, or it’s your own project and you realize, I’ve invested 200 hours of my own time and this is gonna make me 50 bucks a month. What the hell am I doing?
Are that an important skill to have with any of this?
Yeah, also, like on the affiliate case study that I did, like, I don’t know, one and a half years on the old Battle Plan, not the new one.
I think within like the first three weeks, I doubled my investment, and like by now I think at 22, as you hire, I don’t have the exact numbers in mind. But like, it definitely pays off if you actually if you sit down and actually executed step by step and doodle. Cool. Well, with that said, we do have some questions. So if you guys want to find out about worry list SEO, if you want to get faster results, you don’t want to worry about updates or algorithms go grab the Battle Plan and battleplan.semanticmastery.com. So with that, you guys, should we get other questions. Let’s do it. Grab the screen.
Confirm that you guys are seeing it. Roger.
Okay, let’s see. There we go.
All right. It looks like a reset.
What Would You Do Differently In Your Digital Marketing Agency Once The Economy Starts Back Up After The Pandemic?
Looks like we’re going to start with one of the questions from Wayne. Okay, yeah, this was posted in the free Facebook group. And it’s a great question. So thank you for this way. And he says, In light of what has happened to business confidence due to the pandemic, what would you do differently in your agency business once the economy starts back up, and consumer confidence goes back to normal?
This can almost be viewed as a sort of reset to clarify, maybe it’s not buyers confidence in agencies per se, but buyers confidence in themselves and their ability to make good buying decisions. And I think that’s a great question.
I know something that I’ve thought a lot about recently, over the past month or so, is how to like how I’m going to do that how I’m going to start prospecting again for in my case Tree Service contractors. Once this, although there’s a lot of Tree Service contractors still working right now let me explain what I’m about to say.
One of the things I want to do is reduce my rates, at least initially. So perhaps, and the reason I say that is because a lot of business owners are a bit gun shy right now or hesitant to spend money and at least from business owners that I’ve talked to, because they’re hurting for money, now their revenue has either completely disappeared or significantly dropped. And so when the economy gets back to normal, it’s going to be some quite some time before we ever get back to fully normal. But when it starts to open back up and Revit, you know, business strategy, business transactions start to pick up in volume picks up and everything else. I think they’re gonna I think, at least my opinion is that people are going to be a lot more hesitant to spend money, or if they do, they’re going to want some sort of assurances and that kind of stuff. Now, again, this is speculation, my assumption of what’s going to happen so forth. For me personally, one of the things that I’ve been doing for the last about six weeks. I started to get started on it about six weeks ago, but I’m actually talking about this in the mastermind. For the last several mastermind webinars that I’ve hosted, that I’m trying to process, you know, systematize, much of the complex work that I have always done myself so that I can outsource that or delegate that to somebody that’s paid four or $5 an hour versus my own time. So in other words, whenever I take on a new client. I’ve always done the onboarding in most of the setup myself. So because of that, I charge a very high setup rate or setup fee for new clients, typically in the neighborhood of $3,000 on the front end, and then you know, anywhere between 1000 to 1500 dollars a month for like Tree Service contractors, for example. But that’s the reason I base my setup fee is because I know how much work I put into the actual setup setting up a new website or restructuring an existing site, optimizing GMB, setting up all the entity assets, the SEO shield, essentially syndication network, all that stuff, getting the content marketing schedule or plan developed for my blogger, I do all of that myself or have been throughout my entire career. And so I charge a lot for that because it takes me in a lot of time to do all that setup work. And the reason I’ve never delegated that before was that it is so complex, the amount of work that goes into all the setup that I do that I’ve never wanted to take the time to develop processes for all of that well, because of the 2xyouragency training, the Double Your Agency training.
I talk about setting up systems and I have for much of my business, but that portion of it, the onboarding and the setup for new clients, I’ve always done myself and so I always charged accordingly because it’s my time that I’m investing into it, and it gets done well and it works for the client like it produces results. But again, it’s a lot of my time. And so I want to be compensated for that. And so I charge that sort of a fee. So one of the things that I’ve been striving to do and again, it was I, I was prompted to do this because of the 2xyouragency training was I wanted to systematize even that we talked about it in the training guys. And I got this from Adam. And it’s, it’s been ingrained into my head now. But automate, delegate or eliminate, right, so if I can’t automate the setup, I want to delegate it or eliminate it entirely. In this case, I want to learn I want to delegate it. So I’ve been working for the last month really started about six weeks ago, but for the last month, I’ve been working on trying to systematize my onboarding and setup processes, and it’s an enormous amount of work. In fact, when I first learned how to develop standard operating procedures or SLPs, that the first time I learned the first thing that I systematized was building syndication networks that later became Syndication Academy.
So it took me three months to develop those processes. Now I’m better at developing processes. But this is an enormous amount of work as well. And so I’ve spent a month and more anywhere between 10 to 15 hours a week, for the last month developing these processes. And the reason I’m doing that is so that I can remove myself from that process. And I can delegate that to a virtual assistant that I pay in the Philippines, for example, for $5 an hour good wage. So now I can take an onboarding fee that I would set up for you that I would typically charge roughly $3,000 for and I may be able to reduce that in half, and still produce a really good return or revenue for my agency, but at the same time, I’m only paying, you know, a fraction of that out to have it done. And I have all of my time still. Does that make sense? So I can actually And not only that but because I have slps I can also bring on more people to delegate to so I can increase volume. In other words, I can take on more clients because it’s not a finite amount of time that I have to invest in setup and onboarding because I can just bring on more personnel to delegate additional work to because of the SOPs, standard operating procedures are there.
So for me what I’ve been striving to do that so that I can reduce my onboarding rate or my setup fee, number one, number two, I probably am going to be reducing my retainer, my monthly retainer fee as well. And I mentioned this in the Facebook group is my comment. There’s a couple of things I’ve been kicking around one would bring them on at a reduced initial rate, but get a pay like a results-based pay increase or retainer increase based upon the type of results that I can, that I know that I’ll be able to produce for them. So for example, it might be the first three months or once we heard it, you know, first three months or at a certain rate, because that’s typically about how long it takes for me to get significant results anyways, or some sort of threshold or milestone that gets hit a number of leads generated traffic, you know, number of traffic, whatever, traffic level or whatever. And then the rates go up from there, or something that I just took on for the case study that I’m conducting in the mastermind for my mastermind webinars, I recently brought on a new Tree Service contractor who’s buying leads for me on a pay per lead basis at a discounted rate for my typical rates. But it’s interesting because he does, he’s not paying me a monthly retainer. He’s just paying me for leads but I’m actually working on building his assets up, well, his brand through my assets, but I’m building his brand up. And it’s working really well.
In fact, I’m turning really good revenue over from this new Tree Service contractor right now, because of that, what just so you guys understand what I’m saying? Meaning I’m building up his brand, through my assets through the domain, everything else that I purchased for his company, right. So in other words, I own the asset with his branding on it, and I’m building it up and he’s paying for the leads that are coming out on a pay per lead basis. So there’s that or there’s another type of arrangement could be a revenue share something like that. So that they’re, they understand that you’re, you’re going to your revenue is tied to their success. Does that make sense? So in that’s kind of how I’m going to be approaching it first being able to reduce my rates initially, by removing myself from the process entirely, which will make my agency more efficient and more scalable to begin with. But then also, you know, giving them some sort of incentive to sign up with me so that I can start to show results, and then increase my monthly retainer as a result of, you know, either certain milestones that are hit or a certain timeframe, or whatever the arrangement is, or like I said, the pay per lead model, where they’re buying leads from me even though I’m building their brand instead of like, going out and creating my own generic pseudo brands that are lead generation assets or do some sort of revenue share model that makes sense.
So that’s personally how I’m going to be handling it. And again, I’ll be talking a lot about this in the mastermind. That’s specifically why I’m trying to systematize my agency processes right now, so that, you know, I can scale and I can share it with the rest of the mastermind members as well. So, Max, just hears what some of you guys are doing Hernan and I really like that approach Bradley because kind of it takes the burden out of the business owner right? When it comes to you know, paying you a monthly retainer for your services. And some of these guys might be coming out pretty beat up after this, you know, this situation, this economy, whatever, some of them might be right on top, but some of them might be coming up pretty beaten up. So I think that having some sort of either revenue share or success model embedded in your retainer, maybe charge a little bit less, but then you have some sort of either revenue share or profit share.
In my case, I run ads. So it makes sense, it makes sense to have some sort of profit share after ad spend. And that makes sense because it helps business owners like understand that they can, you know, they can actually pay you while the business is going back to where it was before. So having some sort of success, and then it sets you up for success as well. Because if you really hit a home run, then you will end up getting paid a lot more than just your retainer, right, which is the whole point. So I really, I really like that idea of the kind of, you know, making it like a no brainer, taking out all of the risks from the table, and then it helps you getting creative with the way you’re structuring your deals. And, and also, you know, I would definitely consider hiring somebody to do most of the grunt work while you are effectively focused on, you know, the high-level stuff or the creative stuff, right? But then the rest, you can systematize that you can do processes and all of that. So, I really agree with it. I really love what you’re doing there.
Chris’s young mind, I would probably spend a little bit of time having a discussion usually doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes. Last Word of bottlenecks was like, for example, if it’s just a physical store, and they didn’t have like an econ store or something online set up.
They could have made sales that way. So like, in the best case, I can refer them to somebody and get a cup out of that as well a little bit and help them to get set up. So in case something else happens that is similar to that or a second or third wave might happen. I hope it’s not but like, you never know.
They are prepared, you know, and they don’t have to shut down completely, but they can still get sales and stuff.
The rest I pretty much agree with what has been said already.
Marco.
This is really interesting. I mean, I really like this question. Like how do you restore back
Unknown Speaker 24:00
In Scott buyers confidence in themselves, I thought that’s a difficult one because you’re talking about how do you get into that person’s head and talk to them about their ability to make good buying decisions. All you can do is establish confidence and good rapport between you and the client. I mean, that’s what will take care of this having that, that that confidence in you, that you can produce the results that you say you’re going to get guys gonna drop a bundle on you. Whether it’s 500, if it’s a bundle, to a lot of people, or 50,000, that’s a bundle to other people. It’s all relative, that that ton of money that that bundle of money is relative to the person that spending the money. If that person if you can show that person that they can have confidence that you because you’re going to produce results. Either you’ve gotten results before and you can just show it you can just go in. I talked to a prominent attorney last week with a couple of others guys that I’m working on a project and I talked to a guy who’s dropping a bunch of money, we’re talking millions of dollars in Google ads and wants to turn his focus elsewhere. And so what I’m going to charge these two people, this attorney, and this guy who’s doing the Google ads and wants to go after the niche, another way, is what Well, you’re going to have to pay me like it doesn’t matter. At this point, if it’s a local client who’s having a hard time because he hasn’t done a Tree Service job, let’s say in four or five, six months, I understand that.
The way that I’m doing is I’m already dropping prices. For example, I have a couple of attorneys I’m already helping, Whose call volume dropped. And so I did drop the fee. While this goes on, as soon as it opens up, I know it’s gonna be a train wreck. People are gonna go crazy. accidents are gonna start to happen again, cause you’re gonna come back so the fees go back up. And they Oh, they go back up not only to where they formerly work, but they will also increase by a percentage to make up for the break that I gave them, it’s gonna they’re gonna make, again a bundle of money. The same thing with with with the new attorney that I’m taking on, we might bring him in at a reduced fee initially. But then as things, they gain traction and people like I hate to say, but people start having massive accidents. Again, it’s a bunch of money. And so this, this is all to me, right, the weight and the way that I’m looking at this. It’s whether you can instill that confidence in your ability to produce the results that these people are going to need moving forward. And that’s the conversation that you need to have with that person. Whether it’s a phone call, whether it’s that one on one once that this thing clears up and letting that person know that I’m the person that can get you the results that you want. I mean all of us have had that conversation with a client.
Yeah, I know that you’ve been screwed by other SEO agencies. I’m not that SEO is in here call these people. They can vouch for me or you came to me because someone referred you to me because I got the results. So you already know that there’s a pre-conference that’s called already established to some extent. Now you can either screw that up or work with it and close the deal. How you close that deal? Well, Bradley, Bradley, Hernan, and Chris, have given you guys some really good ideas. I don’t generally take local clients at that price. But if I mean, if that’s what it took, if it took bringing somebody in at a reduced rate, and as volume increases, your monthly fee is totally tied to that percentage increase that I’m totally for that it’s not the way that I’m doing because I don’t really do it at that hyperlocal level. I don’t focus on that. But I can totally see your point of view.
And how you would do it. And at the same time, I can also see it just totally going in there and convincing that person that you’re the person to be trusted with their livelihood because that’s what it is.
Adam, you’re the last one yet. One more thing, prices will go up anyways, like just seeing about, like all the money that has been given out and like they break the business set. So you can definitely expect like after things are working again, that there will be a price increase. Yeah. Because the purchasing power is less on the money.
So when Yeah, I agree. Good question. And I’m going to talk more about the consulting agency side of things, not the buyer competent side directly. For that, I think, you know, I’m not an economist, maybe an armchair one. And all I can say is, you know, I know myself and I know people have different sides or different feelings about this. My gut feeling is you know, I can only speak to what I’m going to do and I know I’m not going to be spending more money than usual in the near future right to me that goes against what I believe is safe and good for me and my loved ones. And I think a lot of people think that but again, that’s just me I’m not that’s not Adams verified theory or anything. So what I’ll do is lean back I think something that we talked a lot about it POFU Live, Herna talking about it a lot Bradley has or branding yourself more than ever. That’s something I’m focusing on. And I got this started slowly over the last few months. And now it’s really built up steam in the sense that like, it’s something I’m focusing more on. And I see that there are several reasons why for myself, it’s one you know, you’re helping yourself, while at the same time you get to help others and you can do this in any niche in the industry at any level. I don’t do local generally. But I mean, of course, you can help others locally, right. You know, if you’re doing local marketing, you could be doing local marketing meetups on Zoom. You could be helping the local builders as they begin, you know, needing to start prospecting. Again, if they’ve been on restrictions, I mean, there’s all sorts of stuff you can do, I’m not going to beat a dead horse there.
Obviously, videos right now are really important. And again, if you can, once things are safe again in person or doing zoom calls, and I also look at this as a good time to find out what you and I really like doing. You know, if you enjoy teaching others about it, maybe that’s something you could move more into. And like who you really like, start, start building up that prospecting engine, even if it’s already in place. Just kind of, you know, streamlining and doing whatever you can and looking at what you really want to focus on moving forward. So that’s something that I’m taking very seriously and I want to get that going because that it can be at times it feels like a heavy flywheel to get moving. But once you start that moving, you just keep doing it a little bit from time to time consistently, and that really starts paying off.
Secondly, Bradley talked about this, so did Hernan but streamlining your operations and as Bradley said just once per week, I really do. You know, I think everyone should do this once per week, ask yourself what you can automate delegate or delete. Just set a time and do it write it down on a scrap of paper. It doesn’t have to be rocket science, right? But you’ve got to set that time aside. And if it works, like I think it will then keep doing it. If not, you know, this isn’t some set and stone rule. It’s not working for you don’t do it. But you know, for 99% of the people out there, I guarantee you, this is going to be a potential game-changer for you. And then last but not least, I love this quote, I did an interview with a guy named Matt Barnett. He’s the founder of bon giorno, which is an app that Bradley introduced me to and he said, you know, automate the process, not the relationship. And I think we’re seeing that even more now that people are having to work remotely. You know, automating as much of the process as you can, but then really building those relationships as business owners as consultants as agency owners. That’s, that’s been important and I mean, bonds euro is a tool, and if there’s another tool use it, but I just use this as the example that has been a game-changer for me down to like the tactical level, like it’s fun because it helps build the relationship. But a great example is earlier this morning, I had approved a call. And when that happens, I get the phone journal notification pops up, hey, Adam, send the video to so and so. I recorded it. I had seen what they said I approved their message and I was like, you know, hey, it’s Adam. I’m looking forward to talking tomorrow. If you got any other background information on your project, let me know, you know, I’d really like to make the most of our call. It sounds like you got something interesting here. And they have given me a real short description like most people do when they fill out forms. I send that off, I get back a four-page email from this guy and he’s got just this mine, you know, really interesting project. All of the juicy details. He told me what he liked about his vendors. He told me what he fucking hated about his vendors. He’s telling me, you know, just under the hood, you know, all the details. And you know, all that took me was literally 20 seconds. So, I think that again, going back to that automating the process, not the relationship so I can put that 20 seconds in, it’s real. And the rest is taken care of for me, which nobody cares about anyways, nobody cares that there’s a program that sent the email they just care that I cared enough to, you know, say hi and ask them what’s really going on. So you mean to tell me that video emails work to wow your prospects and then ultimately your clients as well. It’s true and it has a very high engagement rate.
That’s funny.
Yeah, I’m telling you guys that’s how I primarily communicate with all of my clients. I mean, I do jump on the phone with them occasionally and we chat back and forth via email but almost every month I’m sending a video email to my clients just going over their monthly reports and again, I say the same product we sell guys it’s the same method you know, we practice what we preach video lead gen system, that’s how I do all my prospecting and it works really well and that starts the whole like, it builds rapport without us even conversing, right that makes sense on video, email, you can literally build rapport with the prospect before you ever communicated with them and like in real-time,
And so again, I also use video emails for communicating with prospects after like four clients once they become clients, and they love it. I’ve gotten so many comments over the years now from clients that say that they love that. Because they, you know, they know what’s going on at all times. And it’s like Adam said, I’m building that relationship, even if we’re not literally talking back and forth, it’s still building that rapport because they’re, it’s like they get to know me and all that other kind of stuff. It works really well. And the other.
You know, the other part of that is that, you know, I talked about this into your agency, what Adam just said is, when you’re also prospecting, it’s, you got to think about it guys like so much of the sales training out there is sales training about how to sell a product or a service and it’s almost like a one and done like, that’s why there’s hard closing, like hard closing techniques that people try to teach you in sales programs and all this other shit and I found that that is it usually pushes people away.
For the type of services that we sell as digital marketers, we’re selling a relationship, not a product or a service. Yes, there’s a product or a service attached to the relationship but the thing is we’re going to be intimately involved with their business. And we have to develop that relationship and that rapport with the business owner or our point of contact at the business in order for us to create that relationship that’s going to be long-lasting, if that makes sense because we’re going to be communicating with them on a regular basis and we are tied to the success of their business it’s really important to develop that relationship strong upfront that strong rapport upfront and also to maintain that relationship so I totally agree with it without him just said
alright, so we can go jump on the next question was a fantastic question. Wayne, thank you for that. Let me get to the next one.
Difference Between Battle Plan 4.0 And 2XYourAgency
Okay, this one is from the free Facebook group as well from Cliff he says what’s the difference between the Battle Plan 4.0 and 2xyouragency? Well, the Battle Plan 4.0 is like how to get results with building up an entity and how to get results with a search google search primarily. It’s basically a step by step plan for how to get results with any type of web project that makes sense to your agency about how to build your agency and how to grow your agency, and how to, you know, again, scale it, prospecting and sales as part one. Part two is how to get reliable, consistent, repeatable results without you have to do all the work. And part three of 2xyouragency training is all about how to scale your operation. And that’s so there’s a big difference between Battle Plan 2xyouragency Battle Plan is about how to get results with a particular online or web project to extra agencies how to build, grow and scale your agency, your agency without doing all the work yourself. So anybody wants to comment on that?
Oh, it’s perfect.
Are There Are Any SEO Practices You Need To Keep In Mind Before A Domain Goes Live To The Public?
Okay, Muhammad’s up what’s up Muhammad? He says, Hey, guys, a car dealer client of mine has been getting a new website built and they’re just about to live to the domain. And your guys’ advice. I made sure they would perform proper redirects from the old links beyond that, is there anything I should do once a new website goes live? I have a power shield in place for this client and I just bought a few mg y v link building and embed orders aimed at the ID page our way as a GMB, do I keep going, as usual, seeing as the domain is the same.
Yes, far as I know, the only other thing I might do would be to do a site, you know, a domain change, or whatever. And, you know, you can in Search Console, you can tell Google that the new site is over here, if that’s what is the same domain or push it live. Now it looks like it’s the same. It’s on the same domain. So yeah, I don’t I can’t see anything else. Marco, do you have anything else more? No, I don’t see anything else other than once this is all done and once the link building has cycled through that first time, you’ll take a look at the data, see where the money is gonna be. You’ve been at this long enough Mohammed not to understand where the money is in that niche and
You might have to isolate the top market level keyword for that category in the niche. And then that is just adding an error page to the G site inner drive stack, of course, with a corresponding inner site, money site page, excuse me, and then pushing power to that to rank everything in the niche. And yes, it’s that simple, but it’s not easy.
Should You Assign The ID Page As @ID Designation In A Local Business Organization Schema?
So next question from Muhamed and says, regarding local business organization schema, the @ID page, with the @ID designation should always be the ID page, right? Yes. And actually, it’s not supposed to change it’s supposed to be like, in other words, where do you point to should remain consistent Now, don’t get me wrong when I’m starting a new project as I’m waiting for the ID page to be built. For example, I might use this domain website URL as the ID page so that I can get the main site up and the structured data and stuff like that, but typically once you have the asset and place the ID page, you can change the elements on the ID page. But you should always point to the same UI, right?
At least that’s my understanding of it. Do I have that right, Marco? Yeah, that’s what Google says. But it’s not necessarily so because you can have multiple @ID. And no, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the @ID paid doesn’t have to be the s3. It could be an organization page on your website. That’s the @ID. Mohammed, again, it’s simply an identifier of where your company’s information is right where this organization is and everything related to the organization and then the entity loops. What it simply does is it catches the bot in everything related to the organization which is your syndication network, your drive stack, G site GMB. Now, anything related to you can even include citations in there. But no, it doesn’t have to be it should it be like no. Once you set it Bradley is right, Google’s recommendation is you leave it. But you can have multiple @IDs, you can identify multiple nodes. That’s all you’re doing. Let’s call them places so people don’t like misinterpret what a node is different places that are being identified as places where you can find information about this organization or this local business.
Yeah, I know that my screen is paused because I’m trying to dig into something for it in Google ads for a minute to show. One of the upcoming questions guys just stands by one minute. I it’s a question coming up on Google ads that I want to share something with.
Standby, just a minute, guys. I typically don’t do this on all day Hangouts. But it’s a great question and I want to show this
standby one minute, I promise.
Okay,
Yeah. All right, let me start the screen share again.
Get rid of that. All right.
All right, sorry about that. We’ll come back to that one when we get to it. Alright, so this one, maybe What’s up, baby? He’s here every week now asking multiple questions.
That’s funny. All right.
Is It Okay To Publish A Post On Two Different Silos?
So he says, hey guys, can I post on two different silos? Don’t it should be in one silo it, you should really, if your keyword research is done right, and you structure your silos properly, a post should only go on one silo, right? Whatever is the most appropriate silo, keyword set. Does that make sense? Now, if there’s some reason or another that you want to direct a reader, a visitor, you know somebody that’s looking at the content to, you know, a, another silo or another post within a silo, another page within another silo. You can do that with just an internal link, just nofollow the link but you don’t want to put the same post in two different silos, that’s two different categories. Right? And it just, it doesn’t really make sense to do so. And it also causes some funky things in WordPress when you do that. So I don’t recommend it. Does anybody else have anything else to say about that? No, no, it’s a no. Okay.
Should You Assign SameAs Attribute To The Branded Properties?
Number two, should the branded property properties have sameAs attribute like the money site? If you can inject structured data into them? Yeah, you can. Because remember, you can use the same schema type, whether it’s local business, organization, Corporation, whatever it is, you can use the same schema type in your web tools as well. So for example, you know, just like Mohammed was asking in the previous question, your ID page could, you know, if you’re using local business structured data, for example, the ID designation could be pointing to wherever you placed your ID page, and that would be the same no matter what local business structured data or schema was on any one of your web twos for the ones that you can add that to not all of them, you can do most
Then you can’t actually, unless Marco knows how to wait for a way to hack it in that I’m unaware of, for the most web tools, you’re not able to actually add structured data. But when you can, yes, you can, you can add that in as well. But you have to have access to the HTML, right to be able to do that the HTML header mainly too, right? Yeah. And be careful, because you want to create a parent-child relationship. But you don’t want to do it the opposite way. You don’t want your tier one branded, to in any way be taken as the parent and something else to be the child. Because then you could now create a lot of confusion. And you don’t want to do that not at the code level. Guys, don’t mess with the quote unless you know what you’re doing.
Example Of A Complex Silo
Number three, can you show an example when it’s necessary to use a complex silo? Well, yeah, I mean, you know, for example, is a great one. One of our mastermind members was talking I’m not gonna name any names, but was talking about a glass repair company. And they were asking about, you know, how to structure silos on a glass repair company.
For a glass repair company website, and they had an auto glass, residential glass, commercial glass, but then underneath, so that would be a top-level category. So that would be you know, if it was a simple silo structure, it would be posted directly underneath each one of those categories, right. So that would be the category slash post structure, which is a simple silo structure, meaning it only goes two levels deep in the silo itself, but for example, under you know, I don’t know, residential glass repair, being one silo, the top-level silo so that if you’re going to do is for various subcategories underneath that silo. So for example, residential glass repair could have window repair, a sliding glass door inst or door installation, glass door installation, right. So those could each be subcategories of residential glass repair. Does that make sense? So each one of those now for example, like glass window repair, it could have that could be a subcategory. And then you could add posts underneath that, right. So you could add depth to the window repair subcategory, which is ultimately part of the residential glass repair, primary category, or top-level category, excuse me. So that makes sense. So for example, and then like maybe glass installation, residential glass installation, and then you could have as posts right to add depth to that which glass installation residential glass installation could be a subcategory of residential glass repair, I’m just using that as an example. I don’t know that niche so I’m kind of pulling this out of the air. But you know, you could have window installation and or door and glass door installation, sliding door installation, French door installations, that makes sense. Each one of those could be individual posts to add depth to that particular subcategory. Okay, so that’s just an example. It doesn’t matter refresh redirect.
Does A Meta Refresh/Redirect Be Considered A Backlink?
does meta refresh/redirect is considered a backlink? Yes. From the original source. Yes. So if you redirect a URL through a redirect to whatever your target is it will pick up as a backlink. Is that correct? Does anybody want to know that? It’s a response code, all 300-330-1302 308 400 500. It’s a response code. It’s interaction in HTTP now, but the way that I understood anything linking to that page that’s being 301 would be considered the length, but the meta refresh and the 301 and three or two, those are simply response codes. They’re not backlinks. Right now and right, I get that, but I thought I thought he was asking if you redirect something to it, does the redirect become a backlink? So the original URL that is redirected does become a backlink? Yes, that’s what I was at was answering. But yes, you’re right. A reader. A meta refresh or a redirect is not a backlink. It’s just a redirect to wherever HTTP header code. Tom says if this isn’t the right forum for this question, please write in the appropriate place. Okay. This is the question I was going to show you.
Advice On Running Ads For Lawyer Lead Gen Videos
Tom says I purchased your YouTube ads training being a complete novice to ads. Fantastic course, by the way. Thank you, Tom. He says, any advice on running ads for lawyer lead gen videos? For example, how would you go about putting ads in front of people who need a divorce attorney? Okay. Well, Tom, if you go through the entire training, you should know that you can use in-market audiences, which is what I highly recommend or custom intent audiences. So what I did was I pulled up in one of my Google Ads account here just to show you for example, if you come into let’s go to browse and if you look at in-market life event and custom intent audiences now I’m looking at a display campaign display in YouTube ads, very similar audiences in-market audiences. There are some slight differences, but there are there they’re very very similar.
Okay, so I have the display campaign right now. But if we could take a look at in-market life events and custom intent, you can go into in-market audiences and you can look for Business Services, maybe look for legal. I don’t know if they have a separate one for legal. But you could look for Business Services maybe. And see if there’s something in there for legal. My point is to go through the different in-market audiences, preferably I’d start there and see, and again, there’s a lot of them. So you just have to start clicking through the different categories, and then clicking down are the dropdowns to expand them and see if you can find one for lawyers. I don’t do anything for lawyers. I was just hoping to find an in-market audience for lawyers, and they’re very well maybe, but I’m not going to click through all of these. I just wanted to point out that this is where you would start, look, try to find an in-market audience because then you can set your geographic targeting, and you can select an in-market audience to were that only the people that are going to see your ad are only going to be people that are specified in a geographic area that you set your targeted locations, as well as Google, has determined that they’re in the market for lawyer services, or for you know, Attorney services, whatever. So I would start there, if you can’t find one, create a custom intent audience. So again, all that all the custom intent audiences, and I can’t go too deep into it, but as go develop a really robust keyword list of all of the types of keywords that somebody that it would be cert would be in need of that type of attorney would be searching for. And that that becomes the keyword list that you add to a custom intent audience, then you can also Well, for YouTube, you can’t do use URLs. But for the Display Network, you can also go out and grab like competitor URLs, and like legal type advice, you know, websites where they talk about, you know, the process of personal injury law or something like that. You can grab things URLs like that even YouTube video URLs that talk about
These things and put them in the custom intent audience list as well, because that’s the criteria that Google uses. Essentially, when you create a custom intent audience, what you’re doing is you’re creating a bucket that you want Google to fill with people that meet the criteria that you set up with your targeting criteria through the custom intent audience. So if you grab a bunch of keywords that people would be searching for. And then you know, engaging with content that satisfies or answers those types of queries. You put those types of search queries or keywords, essentially phrases into the custom intent audience, and then Google says, Okay, this person in your case, what was your name? Tom?
Yeah, Tom wants a bucket of people that are actively or recently engaging with content around these types of keywords or this type of content, right. And so it will automatically start to fill that bucket, so to speak with people that meet that criteria within a specific geographic if it’s for local within a specific target geographic area, and they are known to Google as having a recent interest, right in that, in that particular you know that that type of content, which means they’re likely in-market for that, and that’s their custom intent. Does that make sense? So and it works well, but it’s not if you’re going to use a custom intent audience, unlike life events or in-market audiences, where Google already knows that they’re in the market. For those with a custom intent, it takes a little while for the ad campaign to learn, right? It uses machine learning AI and such that, when you first set it up, you’re probably going to have some shitty results. Don’t worry about it, let the ads run and the machine learning will take over and we’ll start to refine the targeting to where it gets better and better if that makes sense. So just again, Custom intent audiences work really, really well. I’ve been testing them a lot over the last few months, and they work really well but they take a little
But it’s time for them to mature for the machine learning to kind of really learn through what you said is the criteria is a good question. Anybody else? comment on that? How about you Hernan, you do a lot of stuff with ads?
He might be busy.
Okay, I’m gonna keep moving.
Any advice? Okay, wait a minute. For example, how would you go about putting ads in front? Yeah, I already answered that. Since Google doesn’t allow negative life event targeting, I couldn’t see an obvious way to target their audience as you did in the training. Okay, yeah. Again, use custom intent audiences, then that’s the best way to do it. And with YouTube, you can only add keywords, at least for now, which is fine. And more equals better, in other words, but more as long as irrelevant. So don’t use more general or broad keywords that would add that aren’t specifically relevant to the type of project you’re trying to, you know, the people that you’re trying to target because that will skew your results and give you less, your ads won’t perform as well in other words, so you want to build a really robust keyword list for YouTube ads that are specifically around that particular like and remember put yourself in the like in the shoes of somebody that would be in need of you say it was personal injury attorney or whatever and divorce attorney excuse me, put yourself in the shoes of somebody going through a divorce is looking for an attorney and try to think of it that way and develop a keyword list based around that. Does that make sense? that it works really well.
Is It Okay To Use The Description In The IFTTT Recipe For The Branded Network In YouTube Syndication?
Okay, next BB is up again. On YouTube syndication for the branded network. Is it okay to use the description in the recipe?
No, I don’t recommend that. YouTube an RSS of money site gets syndicated there. So you mean the description in the recipe? I’m not you mean? Take the YouTube video description and syndicate that out. Ah, you know, it depends on how you Okay, the blanket statement I’m going to say no, because
As soon as I say, yeah, it’s okay to do that people are going to go out. And I’ve seen a lot of people’s YouTube descriptions that are absolutely spammy as can be because they put a big block of keywords or they put a shit ton of External links and all of that kind of stuff in their video description. That’s fine. If you want to spam your video description and on YouTube. It’s okay, it’s perfectly fine. But when you start to syndicate your description out to the networks, if it’s it’s a real spammy description, then it’s likely that those accounts the web two accounts that you’re syndicating to get terminated. How do I know that? Because I’ve had it happen many, many times, which is specifically why we developed the recipes or the applets and IFTTT the way that we did. Because when you’re just syndicating the video itself, and perhaps a link back to the video, or to a playlist or to a channel or a combination of those, then it’s fine. It’s very rare that I’ve ever had a web two terminated from that type of a syndicated description or from the applet. In other words, the description that the applet publishes, but when I in the past when I’ve done full YouTube Video Description syndication along with the video, I’ve had many, many times web two dot o account shut down. And it’s mainly because the video description was a bit spammy. So just be careful if you’re going to syndicate the YouTube description, just be sure that the video description is not spammy doesn’t contain a shit ton of External links and all that kind of stuff. Okay.
Is There A Faster Way To Write A Press Release For A New Post?
See, number two, is there a faster way to write a press release for a new post?
Yeah, have us do it. I mean, I don’t know what you’re asking there. You know, I, whenever my bloggers created published a post that’s going to be also promoted through a press release. They just go submit the press release or the details for the blog post to the through MGYB. Basically, for the end press Release writers write the press release. We don’t any of us write our own press releases. And I don’t encourage any of you to do that. So I don’t know what else to tell you on that one. Can someone use Fiverr gigs? Can we just copy 500? From the words for the new posts? And that’s it? No, you can’t do that. I don’t know, if any, well, you can probably find some PR distribution services that would allow you to do that, but we won’t. In fact, we won’t even take a press release from self-written press releases, they have to be written by the press release writers at press advantage. And we do that intentionally because they know how to get the best results from the content that syndicates through their distribution network. Okay, so I would highly encourage you to allow the press release whatever press release distribution service you’re using, probably as a press release writing service. Most all of them do now, let those writers do the writing for you. Okay.
Can Someone Use Fiverr Gigs Or SEO Clerks For Building Links To RYS And IFTTT Properties?
Can someone use Fiverr gigs or SEO clerks for building links to the RYS and IFTTT properties? Again, you can. We don’t recommend it. But you can. So he says he’s needing non-English spam links. Marco, what do you say about that?
Yeah, like, I haven’t done it. And so, uh, yeah, we’ve used Fiverr gigs before, but that’s just the test drive sites and key sites. They take it like a champ. I wouldn’t throw it at my tier one branded. I’m not doing that. Because it just, it’s not gonna look, well, you. It’s your brand. Why would you want to spend your brand I know that we say we call the drive second g site part of tier one branded, but it’s not really. That’s tier two, tier two links coming into everything that you’re doing everything else. And then we filter everything through that tier two, which brings in traffic, it brings in a whole lot of activity, relevance, trust, and authority, which makes it de facto, tier one. It’s just it’s not really by rule. It’s not a tier one. It’s just the fact that he went right by facts.
Because of the use, and so understanding that why would you want to spam your tier one branded properly? If you’re going to try to test do it with the drive second t site in them in between everything, and you should be okay.
There you go.
Can We Use A Press Release In English Sites With English Posts To A Non-English Site?
Okay, maybe we’re gonna move on because we only got two more minutes. And those were many too many questions again, but I do want to answer can we develop or is it in the pipeline of packages and MGYB to non-English sites? No, it’s not and we will not we don’t plan on doing that. That’s not even for future plans. Isn’t Marco, know that the man has to be there and we see we see these one-offs every once in a while. If we saw them often. Then we’d say okay, there’s a demand for it. We need to meet the demand, or we need to find a way. But it’s not even at that stage where we’re considering finding a way.
Does Semantic Mastery Trainings Have Step By Step SOPs?
Okay, Rob’s up says besides the Battle Plan, do any of your items or training contains step by step SLPs. Uh, yeah, the mastermind is where I share slps all the time. But to be clear, guys, I share my standard operating procedures, but they’re specific to my agency. I mean, there are some things that can be that are generic enough that they can be applied to, you know, your own business as well. And I share those in the mastermind all the time because I get requests like that in the mastermind. That’s what the masterminds for, by the way, for that kind of stuff.
But for example, all the agency processes that I’ve been working diligently on for the last month, really about six weeks, but for the last month, I’ve really put a lot of effort into it in time and such.
You know, I’m sharing those with the mastermind members, but again, they’re specific to my processes, and it’s more or less to share so that you guys have mastermind members, I mean, have a template or a, you know, a guide, essentially something that they can use to build their own processes. I don’t expect my processes for my agency to work for your business.
But I do share them so that other people have like kind of a template that they can go out and develop their own processes. The problem is, even when I share the processes I know, you know, eight, eight out of 10 people that I share them with in the, you know, even in the mastermind, they look at them, they’re like, Oh, this is awesome, but they never actually, you know, use them or build their own processes, or at least my understanding is, it’s very rare. There are only a few people that I know that actually really developed, fully developed sfps. And that’s where the bottleneck is, for the most part, guys. It’s a lot of work developing SLPs. It really is. It’s a ton of work. And that’s why most people don’t do it. But once it’s done, especially if you do them very detailed, and I love the process. In fact, I’ve got an open right here in my tab because I was working on that earlier today again, but you can once you develop really intricate processes, you can delegate even the most complex subtasks. In other words, you can outsource it because as long as your processes your SOPs are detailed enough, you can take anything that you think, Well, no, I don’t want to say anything. Because some things do require judgment analysis, you know, that kind of stuff that only comes with experience. But for the most part, even things that are really complex can be delegated with a proper SAP. Right? And so again, I share mine in the mastermind often, when people request things, I will often create them, but they’re specific to my business. And I always want to disclaim that right up front, just to say, look, you know, I’ll give you an example. But you’re gonna have to obviously, customize it specifically for your own business. Okay. All right. So last question. Oh, yeah, in a second. But because we’re missing something that really big here. Our training is step by step over the shoulder video. And then you should be developing your own processes, from those videos to apply to whatever it is that you’re doing. Some of the training is as simple as, get a VA in there, to reproduce whatever’s being done, and that’s it.
RYS Academy and RYS Academy Reloaded the VAs, that’s their training, go watch the videos, build me a drive stack, then we’ll discuss the drive stack to see where it is that you went off where it is that maybe you improve it, because that happens also. So that and then that goes into the training that goes into there into the videos. So there’s always an improvement process. But it all starts with that over the shoulder training so that you don’t have to go through all these intricacies that you often have to go through by building an SLP. Should you build Yes, by all means, but start with over the shoulder training so that you can do your own.
What SEO Items Provide Biggest Boasts That Should Be Done On Every Site?
All right, the last question, because we’re actually a little bit over but we’ll answer this and we’ll wrap it up. He says if my focus is local SEO there are so many items known to contribute to local SEO such as citations, map embeds, driving directions, geotag images, press releases, Google stacks, etc. Can anyone prioritize what items provide the biggest boost that should be done on every site as opposed to items that can be left off and only completed for today?
Competition. Yeah, and I would say and I’m curious to hear what Marco’s responses. But I would say on page entity, build the entity which the SEO shield is all about. So make sure you’re on pages tight SEO shield, so all the entity assets, right connect all your entity assets the way that we teach. And then it’s the ongoing external stuff or off-page stuff like link building, embed, embeds, and embeds and link building mainly, content marketing is what I consider part of on-page but it’s also part of off-page because of syndication. And also, with press releases, I consider that content marketing, but that’s really an external source that’s building links back to the entity or entity assets. So again, for me, it’s on-page SEO, the SEO shield. So that’s essentially establishing and building up the entity. And then it’s a matter of link building embed gigs and consistent content marketing. That’s and a lot of my local projects. We don’t build citations. It depends on how the GMB was created if it was spam, GMB listing, we don’t do citations and we still get ranked. So citations aren’t absolutely critical. If it’s a valid GMB location, you can absolutely and should build citations. But if it’s not, I omit that. So what do you say Marco, at the local level, you have to have a schema, you have to get that schema and that’s part of your homepage. If you’re not doing that, then you’re just like the rest of the competition, which most people will ignore. That’s how to get a leg up if you do it right. So that’s part of your if your SEO is right, and your entity site then everything else comes on off-page. And part of your entity, of course, is built off paid, @ID drive stack g site, and the companion syndication that was well that’s all bundled free. The only thing that’s necessary after that would be press releases and make building embeds and link building. Which then did that I mean, that’s, that’s what works, the magic that’s what brings everything all of the power into whatever it is that you’re trying to do and you pop it into the three-pack.
Sweet. Well, thanks, everybody for being here. See you guys next week. Don’t forget to go pick up Battle Plan for Dotto.
See everyone. Bye everyone, guys.
Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 285 published first on your-t1-blog-url
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