Bradley Spencer Interview Pt. 1

I’m doing a two-part interview series with Columbus, Ohio based WordPress SEO & Affiliate Marketing buff Bradley Spencer. I have “known” Bradley approaching two years now. I reached out to him as part of my personal branding social and SEO marketing strategy and we have been exchanging content and sharing trade secrets since then.

Here is part one of the two part series, I hope you find this Q & A informative!

Alex: What are the most common mistakes people make with their WP blog?

Brad: I think you can break this up into 2 parts, the Technical side and the Content side.

From a content perspective, I think Bloggers should focus on having at least one call-to-action that is really prominent on their site. If you are blogging for a cause then make sure that it’s easy for your readers to get involved. If you are selling something, make sure it’s easy to buy that thing. Basically, if someone likes your blog, make it easy for them to take the next step… whatever that is.

From a technical perspective, I think it’s important to have a fast-loading and clean site. The devil is in the details and the almost subconscious smoothness and planned out user experience in a good site is what keeps people coming back (in my humble opinion). So I suggest taking a look over your site and making sure that it’s very user friendly. Have some friends use it and give you feedback. It’s tough to hear but very helpful.

Alex: What has been the best lead source for you for WordPress & SEO clients — SEO? SMM? PPC? Email Marketing?

Brad: I’ve only done SEO, so that has been the best for me.

I have a growing email list, but I can never think of anything to write to the email subscribers so it’s just a stagnant list. Because of the extra step required in email marketing, I think it’s a burden for a lot of people. I can personally empathize with that.

PPC always struck me as something that needed more babysitting than I wanted to do. When I started working in this field I wanted to live on a Sailboat and work remotely, so anything that required daily check-ins wasn’t an option. Although I still am no where near living the sailboat life, I still try to avoid business models that require that much intervention.

I’ve never done much Social Media Marketing. Because in my company I am the brand, it might be hard to say whether SMM is a good investment. By that I mean it would be tough for me to measure what effect my social media presence has on my business. Currently another project I’m working on has started a Facebook and twitter which will be less personal and easier to track its effects. I’m interested to see how they come back.

Alex: What do you think about Google Instant?

Brad: As a user, I don’t like it much. It feels jumpy and like someone trying to finish my thought.

However, the Google I know has tested it and likely has a good reason (or long term plan) for implementing it.

For webmasters who want to rank better, I think the rules are still the same. I wrote about the Effects of CTR on your site’s rankings in 2008 and I still think it’s very important… maybe even more so now with Instant Search.

Check back in the next couple weeks for part 2. Special thanks to @thatbradleyguy