Editorial Team

Entrepreneurs

Interview: Discosloth revamps the way businesses use PPC and SEO 0

Hi Gil, and welcome aboard. Today we are going to talk about Discosloth. Discosloth revamps the way businesses use PPC and SEO. So what exactly does Discosloth do, and what is special about it?
Gil: Discosloth specializes in search marketing – specifically helping people get higher visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. When we started, we saw that the PPC (pay-per-click) industry wasn’t very transparent about the way it works. We’re trying to improve that transparency by releasing detailed information about our strategies and establishing a subscription-based model so that companies know upfront how much they’ll need to pay.

I have many questions about what a small business could or should do to promote its products online. But what I noticed most importantly in the last 5 years and we should probably start with is the following statement: 10 years ago it was enough to have a product and make a site for it. Now you have the product you make the site, and nobody visits your site. Is this true?
Gil: That’s totally true. And this is because of the way search or social companies have intentionally siloed their platforms. It’s pay-to-play now: their business model involves making money from directing traffic, so it’s not going to be easy to get free, organic, viral users.

What has changed in the last years? I still have customers that ask me to do a little SEO on their site to be “on the first page of Google,” and while I know that’s no longer the case, what would be a correct answer?
Gil: Google’s algorithms have gotten exponentially smarter over the past few years, and that’s actually a good thing for consumers. The search algorithms are now semantic. They’re intent-based rather than keyword-based, so it’s tough to game. You used to be able to rank on the top position just by cramming your page with keywords. Now, that would bury you in the rankings.

There is the misconception that SEO is a push-button approach, where you pay someone to flick a switch on their site, and they’ll magically start getting orders. Obviously, it doesn’t work this way, so I think the best way to educate your customers is to showcase studies and emphasize that the best growth comes from quality over quantity…not just generating a whole lot of shady backlinks.

I think everybody at some point went through a phase where the content was king. They published content each day, hoping for the best. It got more complicated as we have sites pushing up content like crazy, and a regular business can’t keep up. How does this work?
Gil: For a while, yes, the content was king. But the problem is that people started producing content for content’s sake, rather than really good, quality content that answers their reader’s questions. And when you have literally millions of competitors producing weekly or daily content, you’re just not going to stand a chance. Someone always has a bigger content budget than you, or more writers on staff, or a bigger social audience to amplify that content. That’s why we encourage our customers to have a long-term strategy in place for their search marketing.

All these questions and I haven’t yet asked you who is your typical customer. Who comes to you, and what does a success story look like?
Gil: We focus on medium-sized businesses with an online presence that can be improved by search marketing. Our specific niches are usually in healthcare, travel, and eCommerce, but it’s really just anyone who we think can get increased ROI from improving their online presence. Success to me is helping a client get more money coming in than going out. Once you’ve got that, it’s effortless to scale.

How did you start Discosloth? I think there is a lot of competition in your area.
Gil: There is a lot of competition, which was actually one of the things that I was unsure about when we were starting. But we quickly found out that most people offering AdWords and Bing PPC aren’t specialists…they’re usually generalists, either digital agencies or solo creatives. And so we doubled down to focus on one specific thing and do it well: search marketing! It’s a specialization that has paid off with time.

One thing I noticed is that Google’s or Bing’s advertising interfaces got incredibly complex. Same for Analytics. How can you make something about understanding how things work?
Gil: You’re right; the interfaces have gotten a lot more complicated. But that’s because they’re continually adding new features and techniques. We realized this and found that most of our clients didn’t have a strong grasp of how PPC worked. So we spent a long time – a year, actually – creating a free guide for pay-per-click advertising to help them understand the ins and outs of digital ads. A shameless plug here (it’s really for Anya since she wrote the majority of the guide), but Rand Fishkin of Moz fame read it and said, “if you need a resource for those learning PPC, this is the one.” To us, that was some incredible praise from someone we really respect in the internet industry, and we hope it’s useful to people trying to discover more about PPC.

Let’s have an answer to a ubiquitous question. You have an online shop selling appliances. How can you get ahead of the other sites having the same products like yours?
Gil: That’s a loaded question! The first and most important thing is to make sure your site is perfect: not just a crappy template or a site hacked together by a nephew. But after that, the answer is just to be persistent and keep on keeping on. A long-term strategy will almost always pay off after others give up.

Do affiliates still work?
Gil: Does affiliate marketing still work as a general concept? Yes. Can the average person hack their way into tens of thousands of dollars of revenue with affiliates? Not anymore. That was a fad that worked insanely well for a few years, but space got crowded, and search engines started penalizing low-quality inbound marketing and doorway content. It doesn’t work anymore, but that hasn’t stopped hundreds of gurus selling guides to instant affiliate riches.

What would be an expected outcome using your services?
Gil: To see a good outcome using digital marketing, you’ve got to be in it for the long run and prepare for a lot of testing, incremental changes, and budgets. We’ve taken clients from a negative ROI all the way to a 150% ROI, but it takes months to do so. There’s no magic switch. But it’s definitely possible.

What are the biggest mistakes businesses make when advertising online?
Gil: Not having a defined brand and not knowing who their customers actually are. We’ve had many clients approach us with a preconceived notion of who buys their products and even what they themselves are offering. You can’t sell a $25 bag of single-origin coffee to a grandma, just like you can’t sell a dump truck to a hipster.

Does Facebook work?
Gil: Depends on your vertical. Definitely not for free, so you’ll need to pay to boost posts. If you’re selling impulse, low-margin purchases like t-shirts or gadgets, it works pretty well. But if you’re selling high-cost products that require research, it’s not going to be your best bet. That’s where a Google search campaign comes in.

What would be your most important advice for companies looking to increase their online revenues?
Gil: I really think that companies need to focus on their long-term approach. All too often, companies turn to online advertising to patch holes in their business model. If you’ve got a successful business, it can be made even more profitable by a digital strategy…sometimes by an exponential amount. But if your business isn’t doing well, and you’re trying to go digital as a last-ditch effort to save your income…that’s not going to work out too favorably for you. Digital marketing, whether it’s SEO or PPC, produces some incredibly profitable results for the right people. That’s what we like to help clients achieve!

 
Business Advice

Fighting Entrepreneur Depression, Statistics and More 0

The best entrepreneurs are blessed with drive, ambition, and determination. These same go-getters with their enviable, take-charge personalities are also plagued by mental health issues that interfere with their everyday lives.

Faigy Mayer, 32, a young founder of an app development company, committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a New York City bar. Aaron Schwartz, 26 and a Reddit partner, hung himself. Founder of Ecomom, Jody Sherman, 47, shot himself. Depression knows no age or boundaries, but it does seem to hover over entrepreneurs like a dark cloud.

A recent study shows that 72% of entrepreneurs are affected by mental health problems, and at least 32% of them face two or more mental illnesses. In comparison to an estimated 6.7% of U.S. adults suffering from depression, these statistics are unsettling. The reported numbers are likely lower than the actual percentage of entrepreneur depression. Due to the unfortunate stigma sufferers of mental health issues face, many mental illnesses go unreported and untreated.

What is the Connection?

A key cause of the prevalence of entrepreneur depression is the stress they face on a daily basis. The vast majority of start-ups fail, 10% in the first year and a staggering 70% failing between two and five years. This fact, mixed with the impossibly long weeks, huge workloads, and financial problems facing new businesses, are stressors that lead to entrepreneur depression if left unchecked.

Aside from the factors at the office, home life can have a significant affect on mental health problems facing entrepreneurs as well. The long hours at the office and burden of personal responsibility to your family lead to a lack of sleep, loss of routine, and isolation from your main support group.

The personality that comes along with the entrepreneurial mindset is prone to mental health issues. The impossible goals they set for themselves combined with the nagging feeling of not being enough are a theme among those that admit to experiencing bouts of entrepreneur depression. When entrepreneurs feel behind the curve or that they are not as successful as they should be— no matter how impossibly high they set the bar for themselves— their milestones and victories become disappointments.

Signs of the Spiral

Depression comes in many forms, but there are several symptoms that act as a common threat among most cases. Disruptions in sleep patterns, lethargy, apathy, sudden weight loss or weight gain, and feelings of worthlessness and guilt are all red flags to watch out for.

Bringing Yourself Back

Sleep

Sleep helps you recover from mental and physical exhaustion. Sleep disorders like insomnia contribute to mood changes resulting in edginess and irritability. Taking a break from emails and getting a good night’s rest is essential to recovering from a depressive cycle.

Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins that enhance our self-esteem, confidence, and sense of well-being. It’s a natural mood booster that releases negative feelings of anxiety, depression, and isolation.

Professional Help

Don’t fall victim to the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Sometimes you can’t pull yourself out of the cycle alone. When your depression starts interfering with work, family, and day-to-day life, take the first step and seek assistance from a professional.
Business Advice

Embrace who you are. Make your own entrepreneurial success. 0

It takes a particular personality to be an entrepreneur. To be successful, you need to be a creative self-starter with an unwavering level of confidence and enthusiasm for your own ideas.

The lifestyle isn’t for everyone. There are long hours, hard work, and no promise of success. Failure, frustration, and disappointment loom constantly, and there’s always the chance that you’re investing everything for nothing.

However, with great risk comes great reward. If you have an idea you think is better than what’s already out there, you can cultivate a few characteristics that will help to toughen your skin and prepare you for success.

Motivation

Entrepreneurs put in the long hours and perform the hard work, and often there is no guarantee of a return for a long time. To be successful, they have to know how to organize and allocate their time. Without a boss, it’s up to you to get the work done.

To help yourself stay motivated, set small goals and celebrate when you reach them. While they may seem small when you’re accomplishing them, they’ll help you reach bigger goals down the line.

A Positive Attitude

A positive attitude goes a long way towards helping your business be successful. Maintaining a positive attitude makes a huge difference when you wake up in the morning ahead of a long day of hard work.

Your attitude also sets the tone for how your employees and customers view your business. A negative outlook affects your work and threatens the forward progress of your business. Instead of looking at challenges as obstacles, start seeing them as ways to learn and improve.

Sound Decision-Making

If you want to be a leader, you have to be a decision-maker. While you shouldn’t allow yourself to feel unnecessarily pressured, don’t procrastinate either. Allow yourself enough time to think through the decision, but don’t agonize how people will react when you know the answer.

Staying organized will help make difficult decisions easier. Knowing which tasks need to be completed will allow you to prioritize and avoid making snap judgments or uninformed decisions.

Confidence

Failure goes hand-in-hand with entrepreneurship. When it’s just you at the top, all the burdens and responsibilities rest on your shoulders.

Remaining confident will allow you to feel good about what you’re doing. It helps you take risks, feel more comfortable with your decisions, and overcome challenges.

To boost your confidence when you’re feeling low, think of everything you have accomplished so far. Remind yourself that you are doing what most people can’t or won’t.

Ability to Learn From Failure

Failure comes hand in hand with entrepreneurship. Not all ideas can be great, and that’s just something entrepreneurs have to accept and move on. There’s no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed over business ventures that have gone south.

Learn to take the emotion out of failure. This will allow you to explore the situation logically, see what went wrong, and how you can improve next time.

If you see a business venture heading for failure, don’t be afraid to change course. The most successful business people have made mistakes in their past but kept forging ahead. Instead of failures, view them as learning opportunities.
Business Advice

It’s Never Too Soon to Improve Your Business 0

When you’re a new business owner, it’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed. It’s a stressful and exhausting process and can make you feel like you’re all alone.

Thankfully, there are several steps you can take to combat this feeling. Here are a few basic tips to help you get a handle on your business so you can keep growing and achieving.

Keep on Top of Your Finances

Many business owners don’t prioritize understanding their finances, and this is a big mistake. If you’re not familiar with the daily, weekly, and monthly financial trends happening within your organization, you won’t be able to use any of these tips to improve your business.

If you’re not interested in keeping track of the finances yourself, invest in hiring an accountant or bookkeeper. If you don’t want to hire an accountant, invest in a user-friendly program that allows you to print reports and keep track of your business’ cash flow. Having a clear idea of the money coming in and out of your business is integral to your company’s success.

Invest in Your Marketing Methods

It’s easy to waste money on marketing methods that don’t work for you. Instead of throwing money away, research marketing strategies that fit your budget and will have the biggest return on your investment.

Once you pick one or two tactics, test them out. Trying out only one or two new methods at a time will help you definitively see what works for your business.

A great and affordable way to improve your marketing is to use social media. Facebook, Tiktok, and Instagram are all great platforms for you to get eyes on your business in a fun and high-impact way.

Focus on Customer Relationships

Build your relationships with your clients by listening to them. Please pay attention to their needs and how they respond to your products and services. Try to build and customize your business around those needs.

While doing this takes some time and effort, it’s really an investment. When you respond to your clients by giving them what they ask for, you create customers for life.

Get Organized

When you’re a small business owner, sometimes it feels like you don’t have any time for administrative tasks. Avoid this mentality— there are countless problems you’ll create for yourself if you don’t make organization a priority.

For day-to-day, we suggest creating daily task lists. Morning meetings with your team are also a great way to come together and focus on what you want to get accomplished that day, week, or month.

Appreciate Your Employees

Employees are what keeps your business running. When your employees are happy, they’ll work harder for your business.

To keep your employees happy, recognize and appreciate them when they do a good job. Give them incentives to stay loyal to your company. Good benefits, a pleasant work environment, autonomy, and flexibility are great ways to appreciate your employees.
Business Advice

How fast is your business growing? 0

Is your business expanding past its capacity for growth? Rapid growth can hide weaknesses and shortcomings in your business without you realizing it. The increased sales can be a mirage of success while at the same time enlarging shortcomings.

Here are a few ways to know when your business is growing too quickly and what you can do before it’s too late.

An Increase in Negative Feedback

Keep up with what customers say about your business. If the positive feedback you’re accustomed to has suddenly turned negative, there’s a reason why. Maybe your customer service team needs retraining, or the quality of your product has decreased due to the rapid increase in sales.

Customer complaints are a way to learn from mistakes and improve your business. Listen to them and respond appropriately.

Can’t Keep Track of Finances

As a small business, it’s fairly easy to know where your money is coming from and where it’s going. When your business starts growing out of control, it’s almost impossible to keep track of these finances in your head.

Having a solid understanding of your cash flow is integral to avoiding costly mistakes. One way to manage this is to invest in an accountant or hire a bookkeeper. If you prefer to handle the finances yourself, invest in user-friendly accounting software.

Struggling to Keep Up

If the hours seem endless and the work never-ending, there’s a chance that your company is achieving growth it can’t sustain. Stretching yourself and your employees too thin will spell disaster for a company. It also leads to chaos in your work environment, which can cause good and loyal employees to quit.

When your company is growing too fast, it’s not unusual for good leadership teams to falter where they used to succeed. When your team is small, it’s easy to have a relaxed work environment. However, as your company grows, a laissez-faire attitude won’t suffice.

Avoid this by establishing strong operations and goals from the get-go. Please make sure all of your employees are aware of them and actively work towards them.

Losing Sight of Your Core Values

Growth is great for a business, but not when it comes at the expense of your business’s core values. When your capital is faltering, you’re short-staffed, and your customer feedback is all negative, you are no longer achieving sustainable growth.

If this is happening to your company, take a step back. When the heart and culture of your company is being broken down, your business is at risk.

Sit down with your staff and revisit the core values that encouraged you to start your business. Work with them to remember the initial goals and ideals of your company and take it from there.

Feelings of Burn-Out

A little bit of anxiety is synonymous with entrepreneurship. However, if you’re no longer excited by the prospect of new clients and more business, your company might be growing too rapidly.

Don’t let yourself be fooled by the glamour that comes with ultra-fast growth. If something doesn’t feel right, take a step back and get a handle on your business.

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