Neil Patel’s Best Marketing Tips in One Place (with videos)
If you’re not following Neil Patel, then I guarantee you that your marketing isn’t as good as it could be.
Neil is THE. MAN. when it comes to all things online marketing, SEO, and traffic growth.
He offers a ton of actually usable marketing advice, and best of all, he gives it all for free through in-depth blog posts, YouTube videos, and tools like Ubersuggest — a keyword tool that helps you strategically focus on creating the most effective content.
But there’s one problem… with so much valuable information on the web, it’s hard to keep track of all his advice in one place.
That’s why I’ve compiled my favorite YouTube videos from Neil’s channel and listed the steps, tips, and tactics he’s shared in each by topic.
AAAAAAAND as an added bonus, I even created a cheatsheet of the best advice and key takeaways that I think are the most relevant and simple to implement in your business. (Click here to download your copy.)
Notice I said “simple,” not “easy.” Neil’s strategies aren’t rocket science, but they do take work. You should only pay attention to what he says if you’re actually ready to follow through.
I’ve used his advice to get results for my clients, and now I’m doing it again for my new site after relaunch. I know that if you take even a fraction of his stuff and execute it on a consistent basis, you’ll see results, too.
Note: I’m not at all affiliated with Neil or any of his companies past or present. I’m just a huge fan who wants to share his teaching with you. I’m telling you, it works.
Jump to these sections:
When you're just getting started
How to Setup a Corporate Blog
Step 1: Don’t just blog about your product. Instead, talk about the problems your customers are facing and HELP people.
Step 2: Set up a domain like this: www.yourdomain.com/blog
Step 3: Who’s the voice of the blog? Showcase their photo and bio on an author page.
Step 4: Create a rubric to create standards for your content. Use a conversational tone, break up content with subheadings, write in short paragraphs, conclude with a question, and respond to comments.
Step 5: Crank out a lot of content: 1-3x per week to start. It’s about quality, not quantity!
How to Write a Blog Post from Start to Finish
Step 1: Start with a great title. Your headline will determine whether people actually read your content!
Step 2: Hook people with a bold statement in the introduction.
Step 3: Use subheadings and short paragraphs to make the body of your blog post easy to skim.
Step 4: Link out to other people to increase authority.
Step 5: End your conclusion with a question. People who are engaged are the most likely to buy from you.
Step 6: When you link out to other people (step #4), send them an email and ask them to share your content.
6 BEST Digital Marketing Tools to Grow Your Business Online
Tool 1: Google Analytics to track which traffic sources end in conversion.
Tool 2: Ubersuggest to get search traffic rankings.
Tool 3: Google Search Console to optimize your most effective content.
Tool 4: Crazyegg to track how people interact with your website.
Tool 5: Subscribers to send push notifications and get people back to your site.
Tool 6: HubSpot to integrate marketing with sales.
When you need to increase blog traffic
How to Generate 10K Visitors From a Brand New Blog in Under 6 Months
Step 1: Leverage the Skyscraper Technique. Type your competitors’ domains into Ubersuggest to see which content is performing best for them. Then create something that’s 5-10x more detailed!
Step 2: Email all the people you linked to in your article and ask for a share.
Step 3: Put your competitors’ URLs into Buzzsumo, look at all the people in that space who share that content, and email them to let them know you wrote something similar.
Step 4: Collect emails with opt-in forms using tools like HelloBar, LeadPages, or ConvertKit (that’s the one that I use).
Step 5: Collect push notifications subscribers with a tool like Subscribers.
Step 6: Send out an email blast and push notification every time you publish a new blog post. Neil recommends posting 2-3x times per week if you have the bandwidth!
The Fastest Ways to Bring Traffic to a New Website
Tip 1: Partner with other content creators. Do a joint webinar or podcast, or interview people for an expert roundup post.
Tip 2: Offer something valuable through giveaways, contests, and promotions. Don’t forget to collect emails!
Tip 3: Use a tool like Subscribers to enable push notifications on your site.
Tip 4: Experiment with paid ads. You can search around for $50-100 in coupons in Google Ads to get started.
Tip 5: Contribute guest posts to other blogs. Build relationships with guest writers and ask them to introduce you to the editor of that site.
Tip 6: Leave detailed comments on other blogs in your niche.
6 Tips to Writing an Amazing Blog Post That Drives a TON of Traffic to Your Website
Tip 1: Write in a conversational tone by using words like “you” and “I.”
Tip 2: Only 20% of people will click through your headline to read the rest of your post. Use BuzzSumo to see the most shared content in your space and study what makes those headlines effective.
Tip 3: Create educational blog posts that teach someone what to do in order to solve a problem.
Tip 4: Write content that’s trendy and up to date.
Tip 5: Leverage different media formats (e.g. infographics, video, podcasts).
Tip 6: Cite your sources!
When you need an SEO boost
How to Do SEO For A Tiny Site With No Backlinks
Step 1: Create hard-hitting content.
Put your competitors’ URLs into Ubersuggest to see their most popular pages and the keywords each page ranks for. Then leverage the Skyscraper Technique to create even better content (i.e. more thorough, custom graphics) and integrate those keywords.
Step 2: Invest at least 50% of your time promoting that content — 80% if you can. Use Ubersuggest to see who’s linking to your competitors’ content.
First, email those people and tell them what your content covers that the original content missed. Second, use search.twitter.com to see every person who tweeted out the original content and ask them to share yours. Third, email everyone you link out to in your article and ask them to share.
Step 3: Nurture a following. Respond to comments on your blog, social media, and YouTube as much as possible.
Step 4: Build a network of content promoters by keeping track of who’s willing to share and link to your content. That way you know how to go back to every time you create a detailed guide.
Step 5: Use the backlinks report in Ubersuggest to keep track of your competitors’ new links. When people have linked to someone else’s content recently, that means they’re open to linking to you TODAY.
How to Build 41,142 Backlinks From One Simple Hack
Step 1: Type popular industry keywords into Ubersuggest and look for the highest-performing content. It’s best if it’s data driven.
Step 2: Use Canva or Infogram to make an infographic with that data — and cite your source! Have 5-6 points that flow together and tell a story.
Step 3: Go back to Ubersuggest and look at all the people who linked to the original content. Then email them and tell them about your infographic.
Step 4: Publish the infographic on your site and create an embed code with a tool like wp-embed-code-generator.
8 Things to Remove From Your Website Immediately If You Want to Rank on Google
Step 1: Refresh outdated content by updating content that’s performing well and removing content that isn’t.
Step 2: Get rid of pages with “thin content” by updating them with more in-depth content or using 301 redirects to send visitors to better pages.
Step 3: Remove excessive or irrelevant ads. These hinder the user experience and can affect load time.
Step 4: Stop using automated content. Google wants a personal, valuable experience.
Step 5: Don’t use intrusive pop-ups or “interstitials.” Save them for exit pop-ups and collect leads with in-text content upgrades and lead magnets.
Step 6: Remove irrelevant internal links in your posts to improve user experience.
Step 7: Publish new and fresh content rather than duplicate content on topics that have been beaten to death.
Step 8: Stop linking to websites with spammy websites and domain links. Only include links that are truly relevant to the user.
When your email marketing strategy is new
How to Build an Email List Fast and for Free
Tip 1: Give away a self-discovery or assessment (e.g. quizzes, audit tools, calculators).
Tip 2: Create highly-engaging evergreen webinars.
Tip 3: Use exit-intent popups.
Tip 4: Use in-text lead magnets (aka content upgrades).
Tip 5: Communicate with your audience once per week, scrub your list once per month, and sell to your audience once per month.
2 Ways to Grow Your Email List Fast
Strategy 1: Exit popups (bonus: use a GIF in the background showing what you’re going to give them)
Strategy 2: Content upgrades (mention them in the first 2-3 paragraphs of your blog)
4 Steps to Increase Your Email Open Rates
Step 1: Warm up internet service providers to avoid people’s spam boxes.
Step 2: Use casual subject lines that feel like something a friend would send.
Step 3: Scrub your email list and remove people who consistently don’t open.
Step 4: Send text-based emails without a bunch of fancy HTML.
When you need a social media marketing strategy
How to Start Social Media Marketing
Step 1: Pick the best platform to start — and ONLY one. LinkedIn is great for B2B, Instagram targets younger demographics, and YouTube is an obvious choice if you love creating videos.
Step 2: Start creating content by completing your profile. Then check out your competitors to see what’s working well for them and what’s not (pro tip: use Buzzsumo to see industry trends). That will give you an idea of where you should focus.
Step 3: Build a connection by responding to people on social media and adding value.
Step 4: Don’t go for follower count! It’s all about the connection, engagement, and relationship.
Step 5: Wait 3-6 months before promoting your business if you’re just starting out.
How to Breakthrough and Get Your First 1000 Followers on Facebook for Free
Step 1: Invite all your friends to like your fan page.
Step 2: Find all the competing fan pages out there.
Step 3: Study those competitor pages to see which posts are getting the most likes and shares.
Step 4: Find similar content on Google and share it to your page (images and videos work best).
Step 5: Go to your fan page insights and add all the competing fan pages to track which posts are getting the highest engagement. Then share those to your page.
Step 6: Share content from your own website.
7 Social Media Hacks That’ll Make Your Business Grow Faster
Tip 1: Respond to every comment and encourage momentum by asking another question.
Tip 2: On LinkedIn specifically, keep sentences very short and make sure people click “see more.”
Tip 3: 2-3x times per week, share content that doesn’t promote your business.
Tip 4: Leverage stories on Facebook + Instagram every day. “Swipe up!”
Tip 5: Tell followers on each platform to follow you on other platforms!
Tip 6: Use exit popups (but just for desktop).
Tip 7: Create video content.
When you need content marketing tips
Content Marketing When You Have No Traffic
Tactic 1: Leverage infographics by typing keywords into Ubersuggest and looking at the highest-performing “Content Ideas.” Then take that content, create an infographic based on that content, and cite your source!
Put it on your website and head back to Ubersuggest to see who linked to the original article. Send each of them an email telling them about your infographic.
Tactic 2: Create a roundup list. Type keywords into Ubersuggest and look at popular articles in “Content Ideas.” Do a roundup post like “101 [Keyword] Resources You Can’t Live Without.”
Link to them and have a paragraph or two describing each article. Look at all the people who linked to those articles and the site owners of the original content, then email them to tell them about your post.
Tactic 3: Leverage Q&A sites. Find the most popular Quora posts in your niche. This will give you long-tail keywords you need to rank for.
Combine that data with search results from AnswerThePublic, plus the keyword results from entering the Quora domains into Ubersuggest, and create thorough content that answers the questions people are asking.
5 Techniques to Promote Your Content When You Don’t Have Any Money
Technique 1: Answer questions on Quora and link out to your blog when it’s relevant.
Technique 2: Go live on social media. Live audiences are the most engaged!
Technique 3: Use video teasers to build up demand for your content.
Technique 4: Answer questions on social media. Respond to help people out.
Technique 5: Leverage direct outreach by letting people know when you’ve linked out to them and ask them to share.
How to Promote Your Content When You Have No Followers
THE step: Link out to relevant sources, then email them and ask for a share. This is how Neil has grown blogs from scratch each and every time!
When you have time for an in-depth course
SEO Unlocked
Content Marketing Unlocked
Instagram Unlocked
YouTube Unlocked
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