Mediavine On Air

On this episode of Mediavine On Air, we've got SEO experts Joshua Unseth and Morgan McBride for you. They're here to answer your frequently asked questions and share tactics they've implemented that have resulted in growth in both traffic and revenue. Learn the most effective way to find the best keywords for your site, how many posts you should be putting out a week and much more!

Helpful Resources

Cornerstone Content — A blog post about the foundation of a blogger's content strategy.SEO Like A CEO Series — A blog and video series that discusses strategies for improving a website’s SEO.Charleston Crafted — Morgan's Site.Simple SEO Keyword Research Course — Morgan's SEO Course.Theory of Content — Joshua's Podcast.Mediavine's Content Upgrade Challenge: A 3-part optimization challenge for improving your ad revenue.

Transcript

**The RPM Challenge has been rebranded as the Content Upgrade Challenge**

[THEME MUSIC] JENNY GUY: Hello, everyone. Welcome. It's hard to believe, but it is Thursday already. You're almost through the week. It is August 15th. We're almost through the summer.

I'm Jenny Guy. I'm the marketing manager for Mediavine. We provide full-service ad management for content creators. And if you aren't aware, if you haven't been looking at your calendar closely, you wouldn't know, but the countdown to Labor Day is on. And it means that our second annual Summer of Live is winding down-- sad face. I know.

Not to worry though. After today, we've still got two more episodes left. And we are spending all of our last few weeks on-- and all of our energy, all of our time, all of our content is to giving you as many monetization strategies and tips as we possibly can.

Just to give a little shout out here, over 1,000 of you have already watched last week's episode on affiliate marketing, which is super exciting. And I have got a Black Eyed Peas' kind of feeling that this week's episode will top those numbers. Because why?

Because we are talking about the topic and all topics for anyone looking to earn in the digital space. There is one acronym to rule them all-- SEO, search engine optimization. Whether you're filled immediately with excitement or dread, the word "SEO" gives every influencer all the feels.

I've got two amazing guests here that are going to drop all their knowledge on you and make you an SEO ninja in no time. So I'm going to start introducing them now. I'm so grateful that they're here.

First, Morgan McBride is a Mediavine publisher with Charleston Crafted, where she and her husband Sean blog about crafting their dream home in Charleston, South Carolina. They've been blogging since 2012, but often felt like their traffic was falling into that big black hole of the internet, never to be seen or heard from again. After joining Mediavine in August of 2018-- happy one year, Morgan--

MORGAN MCBRIDE: Thank you.

JENNY GUY: --Morgan dove headfirst into learning about SEO strategy. She has more than tripled Charleston Craft's organic search traffic in less than a year. And it continues to grow. She also recently launched her Simple SEO Keyword Research course that helps bloggers pick the best keywords to target for SEO sources. We will talk about that a little bit more later. And one of her primary resources that she uses for SEO education is co-hosted of by my next guest, who I will introduce here in one second. Morgan, thank you so much for joining us today.

MORGAN MCBRIDE: Yeah. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. I'm excited to be here.

JENNY GUY: Yay. We're so happy. I've been looking forward to it too.

MORGAN MCBRIDE: You're sweet.

JENNY GUY: My next guest is the co-host and co-creator of the Theory of Content podcast. He's also an SEO expert from way back in the day. In fact, he started his career as an SEO consultant-for-hire and is now the director of marketing for AlarmGrid.

He has worked to optimize the sites for numerous brands,

Every year, Q1 rolls around and high Q4 RPMs drop. Brad Hagmann and Amber Bracegirdle are here to help with advice on how to mitigate the damage. Learn why this RPM drop occurs industry-wide and how you can turn this negative into a positive by planning your content for the following year. This episode is packed full of tips for your optimizing your blog.

Helpful Resources

Ad Revenue By The Seasons — Learn when your ad revenue will likely be the highest.What is Q1 — A guide for the best practices for dealing with the Q1 slump.Why All Traffic Doesn’t Monetize the Same — Find out what you can do to monetize your traffic better.The Mediavine Content Upgrade Challenge: A 3-part optimization challenge for increasing your ad revenue.Create by Mediavine — A Plugin for recipes, lists, how-to guides and craft instructions.Best Days of the Year (2021): Ad spend insights, includes a printable calendar!

Transcript

**The RPM Challenge has been rebranded as the Content Upgrade Challenge**

[MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: [LAUGHS] Kicking off with that fun sound, we are here, everybody. It is December 12. So it's 12/12/2019. This is Teal Talk. I am your host, Jenny Guy. I'm Mediavine's Director of Marketing.

And we are excited for a very fun show today. I have two incredible guests from the Mediavine staff here to talk about maybe not our most fun topic, but one that is necessary and that we can do everything possible in our power to protect against, and mitigate the damage.

So, right now, we're in the midst of Q4. It's the happiest time of the year. We're making all the money, all of the dollars, all the advertisers are spending. And then we go to January 1. And it feels like we take a leap off a cliff.

So I brought a couple of experts in here to help us get prepared for that, to winterize ourselves from the scariness that is Q1 1st. We have meet our Mediavine Co-Founder. It is Amber Bracegirdle. She is the Managing Editor of Food Fanatic. And she is here with us.

Hi, Amber. Welcome back.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: Hello, thank you so much. Good to be here, guys.

JENNY GUY: We haven't had you on in so long.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: I know.

JENNY GUY: I don't know why it's been so long, but it's so good to have you.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: Well, I was supposed to be on that one this summer that Josh jumped in for me because I wasn't feeling well. And, I mean, we got the Beanie Babies out of that. So--

[LAUGHTER]

JENNY GUY: I could never forget that, the Beanie Baby Live. It was a special time for us all.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: It really was.

JENNY GUY: And then for his first time ever on a Mediavine Live appearance, we have BRAD HAGMANN, Brad from the Internet, B-rad, our Vice President of Ad Operations.

Brad, welcome.

BRAD HAGMANN: Hello. Thank you for having me. I've been begging to get on this show forever.

JENNY GUY: You have.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: He lies.

BRAD HAGMANN: So it's is lovely to be here.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: He's lying.

JENNY GUY: He's always-- always trying to get on this show. And I had to say no so many times. And, finally, I said, fine. You seem to know something about ads. I'll let you on the program.

BRAD HAGMANN: There you go.

JENNY GUY: Brad, so you're something-- we're going to start here because you've never been on. And I'm going to capitalize on it. You are basically Mediavine royalty. So if you could tell us what does the Vice President of Ad Ops do? And what kind of your trajectory was at Mediavine? Because your job has been a little fluid over-- since we've become full service ad managers.

BRAD HAGMANN: Royalty, wow.

JENNY GUY: Yeah.

BRAD HAGMANN: That's a great introduction.

JENNY GUY: Yeah.

AMBER BRACEGIRDLE: I agree with that

BRAD HAGMANN: I mean, so honestly, the answer is, like, most days, I don't even know. It's sort of a joke, but not really. But, you know, with the speed of change in this industry,

UPDATED: November 18, 2021

Black Friday is a crucial time as a content creator. We looked to see how different the numbers were in Q4 compared to the rest of the year, and it's... big.

But in order to capitalize on Black Friday, it's not just about the content you're putting out. Your site has to be optimized too.

In Mediavine On Air Episode 1, originally published in April 2021, CEO Eric Hochberger shares his top optimization tips for maximizing earnings during Q4. In this episode you'll hear about which posts to prioritize, the easiest site-wide changes to make, how ad density works and so much more.

These tips are always relevant, even outside of Q4!

* Editorial note: Since the airing of this episode, "Grow.me" has been rebranded to "Grow." *

Important Links:What is Q4? — Learn what Q4 is and why it’s a crucial time for many website owners.Content Upgrade Challenge — A 3-part optimization challenge for your top blog posts.Holiday RPM Trends — A holiday focused Behind the Numbers with Brad.How to Capitalize on Holidays as a Content Creator — Key tips on how to make the most of Q4.

Transcript:

**The RPM Challenge has been rebranded as the Content Upgrade Challenge**

[MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Today is Thursday, November 19 and you're watching Mediavine's Teal Talk: the show about the business of content creation. I'm your host, Jenny Guy, director of marketing, and so thankful for you, our audience, all year round. Hello, everyone. OK. What isn't up for debate is that we are only-- oops I meant to say-- I skipped a paragraph in my intro. Next week is Thanksgiving, guys. It's a huge national holiday. We could easily spend an hour debating the wisdom of large gatherings and masks, but that is not the show. Also, please wear a mask.

As I was saying, though, what isn't up for debate is that we are only a little over a week away from the biggest revenue days of the year for content creators, Q4, and in particular, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are known as a magical time for RPM's. And my guest today is here to ensure that your content is fully optimized and ready to perform from next week through the rest of Q4, and beyond. That's right, it's our CEO, Eric Hochberger, joining me live from beside a palm tree in Florida. Hey, Eric.

ERIC HOCHBERGER: Hey, Jenny.

JENNY GUY: OK, everybody let's say hi to the Mediavine commander in chief in the comments, and let us know how optimized you're currently feeling with your content. Have you already gone for teal, you've done the RPM challenge and you're just waiting for the money to start rolling in? Or are you feeling a little overwhelmed, hashtag 2020, and you're wondering where to start. Tell us where you are in that. And Eric, OK. Before we dive into all the moneymaking talk, do a little Scrooge McDuck from Ducktails, let's give a little background information. Why is Q4 such a big deal? Why does everyone love it so much, why is it such a huge thing for revenue?

ERIC HOCHBERGER: Yeah, we actually have an awesome blog post on this that we can link to in the comments that will better explain this, but basically there is more people trying to buy ads during Q4 than any other time of the year and that's for a few reasons. One, it's the end of a lot of people's fiscal budget, so a lot of companies tie their fiscal year to end in the end of December, same as the calendar year. And most importantly, because of the holiday known traditionally as Black Friday is the day that most retail businesses turn profit, so it's going from red to black, it's where the name comes from. Literally that's when they start making money. So same thing kind of happens on a lot of digital internet is that a lot of retail and sales all hop in then, and it happens to coincide with people are buying like a lot of holiday gifts.

And so when more people are trying to buy ads, it's an auction. So they have to end up spending more money in order to buy the same l...