We created a list of interesting questions and interviewed TOP marketers. Hope these answers will help to understand the main trends in digital marketing and find some hacks those improve your efficiency.
This is an interview with Mike Gingerich.
Mike is President of Digital Hill Multimedia, a web development & marketing agency. He is a noted international motivational and business speaker. Mike’s passion is to see businesses and people grow into their highest potential. Mike has the unique ability to dive deep quickly, understanding businesses, social networks and trends, and integrating strategies for success. Mike has a Master’s in Organizational Development and Leadership, and a proven track record of providing innovative digital and social strategy consulting for businesses.
Mike also hosts a regular podcast for small business digital resourcing at HalftimeMike.com. He lives with his family in the eastern city of Lancaster, PA, and heads to the beach whenever possible!
1. How many years of experience in digital marketing do you have?
12 years
2. In which branch of digital marketing do you have the strongest skills?
Facebook marketing and web lead capture.
3. What projects are you proud of?
Launching TabSite.com contest platform in the early stages of Facebook Pages and see it grow to have over 30,000 users across the world.
4. What is your most profitable project?
TabSite.com
5. What motivates you most of all?
Seeing businesses and people have “aha moments” where they step into their full potential and operate with confidence and excellence.
6. Most likely you always have more tasks than you have time. How do you prioritize your plans?
Manage day-to-day details while always blocking out weekly time for the longer range important projects to be worked on and moved forward. As well, delegate and empower whenever possible!
7. Do you divide projects for money and for fun?
Not so much in my digital world. I’m looking to add value and earn a living in the digital space. My fun space is fitness, running and triathlons, outside of the digital world.
8. Do you have consulting experience? Who are your clients? What problems do they have most of all?
Yeah, I do a fair amount of consulting and that is a strength in my background and master’s degree. I do a lot of small business consulting on startup, website and social media audits, leadership growth and planning, and also digital marketing strategy consulting. Many come when they simply don’t know what to do next or they are busy in other areas running the business and need someone else with expertise to help in these areas noted.
9. Which 3 tools do you use most of the time (analytics or SEO tools)?
Should I say social media tools? Seems like I am in Hootsuite all the time! I do spend a lot of time in Google Analytics and SEMrush as well.
10. What are the TOP-3 errors you made in the beginning of your digital marketing career?
Putting out too much free content without a pathway way to email list growth and paid content was a big error. I’d say as well in the client consulting it was not asking for enough time and money to do the job right. I was overworked and underpaid. Finally, I think not moving to WordPress early enough to utilize many of the efficiencies it can help with in terms of SEO plugins and site speed.
11. Which SEO strategy do you like the most and why?: To start a lot of projects and wait some time to see Google’s reaction or to start a 1-2 projects and work with them from the beginning?
I like to go the route of 1-2 projects and test the results. I think you need to test your theory and it is a waste to push out a load of projects if the theory behind them is faulty.
12. Which strategy do you like the most and why?: To work in a niche with less money but face low competition or to work in big markets with high competition?
I think the saying is right that there is “riches in the niches.” I’m for being uncommon, finding a niche and maximizing dollars there. I think you need to find the edge that is different and yet not too far out. When people see they are missing something they will come to the niche.
13. Which method of education do you prefer and why?: To take some courses before you start practicing or to start practicing first and then taking some courses?
I consume information online. I’m a massive blog reader and inhale information so I prefer to learn that way skip the courses! The only courses I’m a part of are the ones I teach.
14. Which ranking factors are currently the most undervalued in SEO (in your opinion)?
I think you need to focus on quality content above all, ensure you are mobile friendly, have the site secure with https protocol, and focus on site speed.
15. How do you see the future of SEO (in 5 years)?
Ha! I can’t even predict 3 years out it changes so fast! I think right now we are learning about site speed as a result of site changes due to GDPR. We are removing scripts and cookie tracking and sites are blazing fast! This will force changes to analytic tools in the future.
16. What do you think about promoting a couple of websites in one niche in order to monopolize the top of the SERP?
It takes effort but if you have the people power and system to do this, it’s a valuable strategy.
17. Have you used ppc traffic sources in your projects (adwords, facebook etc.)? For which purpose?
Absolutely. Paid advertising is very important today as a way of getting in front of the right target audience. I’ve used Adwords to find people searching for a particular product/service, and Facebook to get discovered by target audiences.
18. Nowadays almost every company uses email marketing. And each of us receive hundreds of emails that aren’t of interest to us. What do you think about the future of email? Which companies have a bigger chance of keeping this method as one of the most effective?
Email is here to stay at least for the next few years! The companies that can personalize their messages and be creative with their style and find a niche in the way they write will win in this area. Be uncommon!
19. Did you ever buy/sell websites? How successful were your transactions? How do you estimate the cost of the website?
I have not.
20. Which marketing/seo blogs do you like most of all and why?
I read the Yoast blog on SEO, WooCommerce blog for e-commerce practices and tips, and follow a bunch of social media and new media blogs including NOW Marketing Group, Social Chefs, and the Buffer Blog.
21. Which type of job do you like the most and why?: Fulltime employment, freelance, your individual projects etc.?
I need to have freedom and autonomy. I’m more of a Millennial in a Generation X body. I like to control my world, my projects, and my time so I look for roles where I can work collaboratively but also with freedom and autonomy.
22. What advice can you give those who are just starting their career in digital marketing?
Jump in! Just volunteer where you can to get experience. You must be willing to learn, adapt, and shift quickly. Those who want a manual will get left behind because it changes too fast. Think like an owner; think like an entrepreneur; and think like a freelancer. Always answer the question, “How can I add value here?” to get yourself started and contributing.
