Kris tells us how he started Ardor Media Factory, provides strategies for improving traffic to our websites, and tells us tactics we can use to manage our brands online.
Today’s guest is Kris Reid, CEO of Ardor Media Factory and Ardor SEO. Back in the day, Kris was a Software Engineer who has worked across the world for variety of companies, from small tech startups to giant conglomerates like Visa.
He took a hiatus from the corporate scene to backpack around the world, and during his tenure as a traveller, he learned the art of Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) and started developing tools to help people rank their websites, which became the genesis for Ardor Media Factory and Ardor SEO.
Kris is also known as the Coolest Guy in SEO. To prove it, he has an offer for the Go and Grow audience. The first thing Ardor does for any customer is a comprehensive website audit. They look at every one of the 200 points that Google uses to rank websites – usually it comes out at 60-80 pages of analysis. Follow this link, fill out the form and you will have a chance to win the free website audit.
We’re going to learn the basics of SEO, how to improve SEO for your websites, and tactics you can use for personal brand management.
In this episode, you’ll learn from Kris:
- 3:25 – Kris explains why he began backpacking around the world, and how that led him to the SEO business
- 5:25 – Backlinks are important to SEO. A backlink is, basically, a hyperlink from one website to another. “The co-founder of Google, Larry Page, he figured the website is like a book. The more people who reference your book, the more of an authority you are in that niche. It’s the same with websites.“
- 6:00 – Kris built software to manage backlink development, and that was how Ardor Media Factor came about
- 7:50 – Ardor Media Factory also has a reputation management service.
- 9:00 – Preemptive brand reputation management involves making sure you have all of your domains and social profiles (to avoid parasite SEO), for yourself and for your business. That protects at least one spot in your google search results.
- 11:35 – How does one get good backlinks?
- Create good content that people want to link to, “but that can be difficult if you’re Joe the Plumber and your content’s not that interesting.”
- Guest posting on other websites (with more authority)
- Look for broken links. For example, if there is an old resource page (like you might find on a University website) with a broken link, and you have an article with the same information, you can reach out and provide your own backlink.
- Look for outdated guides (e.g. “The Best Plumbing Tools of 2014”), and offer to help update it. The blogger gets updated content, you get a new backlink, and everyone wins.
- 15:40 – It takes a lot of time communicating with people, but you’ll get really good quality links.
- 16:35 – There’s a thing called Spun Content, and it will find articles then replace words in them. This can create bad links to your content.
- 17:35 – “SEO comes in two forms: Black Hat (which is like the dark, evil SEO) and White Hat (which is the good, pure that Google loves).”
- 20:15 – “Whoever is building a website should be an expert in their field. If you can write like an expert but put it in layman terms so that people can understand, it should work well.”
- 20:40 – One way to rapidly increase your traffic is to look at all of the key words for which you are on page 2. If you can tweak them and get them onto the first page, you can get a significant amount of traffic.
- 20:55 – The number one spot on Google gets ~33% of traffic, number two gets ~18%, and then it drops off rapidly. The whole second page gets less than 1%.
- 24:30 – The more logical you can make your website, in both structure and content, the easier it will be for users and the easier it will be for Google.
- 26:40 – One of the best things Kris did for business growth was hiring an Operations Manager
- 29:50 – It’s difficult to scale the consultation-driven sales service without hiring more personnel, so Ardor is transitioning back to more of a marketing role. Kris is writing a book on digital marketing to build authority and provide value.
- 33:05 – Make sure to track your metrics and your finances! You may find yourself losing money.
- 35:40 – Quickfire Q&A
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Ardor Media Factory
- Ardor SEO
- Screaming Frog – Broken Link Checker
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (affiliate link)
- Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar (affiliate link)
Answers to Quickfire Q&A:
- If you could chat with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
- “One of the great stoics would be an interesting person to speak to. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor, would be a great place to start.”
- Name a tool, app, or website that you can’t live without and why.
- E-mail, that’s my main communication channel. “As a software engineer, I stay away from technology.”
- Tell us something unique and interesting about you that not many may know.
- “Certainly all of the people that knew me from my corporate career wouldn’t know that I’m probably what they would call a hippie now.”
- What is your favorite business book and why?
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (affiliate link). “A brilliant book, I gave it to all of my managers.”
- Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar (affiliate link). “It’s still fundamentals of the psychology behind sales.”
- What is the top characteristic or trait that you look for in people you work with?
- “I like people with backbone and people that can stand up for themselves.”
- What is something you believe, but few others agree with you?
- “Probably that material stuff is useless. The more you have, the more you have to protect.”
How to contact Kris:
You can find his contact details on our contest page, GoandGrowPodcast.com/Ardor, email him at kris@ardorseo.com, or tweet him @coolestGuyInSEO.
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