Neil Patel
Below we have an interview with Neil Patel. Neil Patel is one of the most famous faces in today’s Internet Marketing world, especially when it comes to using social bookmarking websites. He works at ACS SEO, and blogs at ProNet Advertising and QuickSprout.
1. Your blog is one of the most helpful Internet marketing blogs on the Internet. How has it helped grow your Internet Marketing consulting company?
The blog has helped push the consulting firm over the top. It has lead to business deals, new partnership opportunities, and most importantly it allowed us to meet other individuals who needed free help.
2. You seem to talk a lot about social bookmarking websites on ProNet and QuickSprout. How can bloggers use Social Networking and Social Bookmarking websites to promote their blog, besides just submitting stories to Digg or Reddit?
The best way to leverage social bookmarking websites is to get involved with the community. By participating and building friends you can understand what the community is looking for and you as a blogger can then provide that. If you can do this the chances are you will be able to get to the homepage of some of these social sites.
3. On QuickSprout, you talk a lot about personal branding. Can you explain exactly what personal branding is and how a blog can help with personal branding?
Usually when you think about a brand you think about a corporate brand. People also have a brand and there is value associated to their name. In essence personal branding is building up your name in a specific field so that others know about you which makes it easier to get better paying jobs or anything else you may want.
Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with thousands of people. If you can create a successful blog thousands of people will know about you which will help increase the value of your name.
4. You run a weekly podcast on your blog. How has this helped to improve your blog and what advice do you have for bloggers who want to get started in podcasting?
The weekly podcast has helped us provide our readers with another form of content. Some people don’t like reading which is why it is a good idea to provide other forms of content. The podcast has helped bring in a more diverse crowd which increased the popularity of the blog.If you want to create your own podcast I recommend doing a lot of research beforehand. Although it sounds easy, it can become pretty time consuming. If you don’t have much time I recommend finding a production company that will help create podcasts for you.
5. What were your blog’s main traffic sources when you first started out?
My main traffic sources are social media sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon. Social media sites always seemed to drive the most traffic to my blog.
6. Your Internet Marketing company has worked with some big name clients. What advice do you have for bloggers who may want to approach well known companies for strategic partnerships or advertising deals?
Don’t be afraid to hit people up. If you hit up enough people a few deals have to close. The way I go about hitting people up is to provide them with something of value such as free advice.
7. Your company has experienced a tremendous rate of growth over the past few months. What do you attribute to your success?
I am not too sure on what caused us to grow fast. My guess is that it is multiple things such as helping people for free, speaking at industry conferences and leveraging social media sites.
8. What is the number one piece of advice you have for new bloggers?
Don’t give up if your blog isn’t popular within your first week of blogging. It could take months if not years before your blog becomes popular.
One tip that I do recommend is that you comment on other industry blogs because this will increase the traffic coming into your blog. As long as your comments are insightful it should increase the readership of your blog.
