In today’s episode, Melissa sits down for a (virtual) drink with Devesh Khanal of Grow & Convert. After Melissa pours her coke and Devesh his coffee, Devesh shares about himself and his current work. He is one of the two co-founders of Grow & Convert, a content marketing agency currently transitioning into an SEO agency that is content-focused. He explains why the majority of content available actually sucks. A pain point of his own company recently has been how difficult it is to hire competent product content writers. Most blog content writing is actually just beginner level coverage on the topic, but nothing in depth. Product writing needs to get into the details of what makes you better and stand out. In order to do this, the writer has to know the product inside out. Devesh blames the Google algorithm first and foremost for making the least interesting content most available and popular. Chasing high traffic keywords will almost always keep you at the beginner level.
Grow & Convert spends the beginning of their engagements with new customers interviewing customer-facing clients within the organization. Understanding the customer psychology as best as possible is the ebay way to address their pain points. Pain point SEO has 2 tiers: what customers would Google if they were looking for your product vs. what they might happen to Google and later come across your product. When you run out of these high traffic keywords, the organization should begin to ask themselves what the product-related pain points of their customers are. The vast majority of marketing budgets get wasted in things that don’t generate ROI. First and foremost are the preferred search partners, display network and other marketing banners, especially for lesser known businesses. The other way they waste money is in the content they decide to publish.
The goal Grow & Convert advocated for is using SEO as a backbone. Then, begin with your own list of about 30 of your highest ROI keywords. These keywords should address the painpints of your customer base. Then, go one by one and analyze what the search generates on the first page to better get inside the psychology of the customer’s searches. After this, you should consider what your company will bring to the table and address that topic in your next content piece. The search intent is inevitably going to have a product-related intent within it. Thus, organizations will have to sell themselves and set their offerings apart from their competitors. Once you begin to publish content pieces using this method, views and traction will start to come. Their biggest philosophy is to have one page for every keyword Devesh reveals that the majority of general purpose link building is totally useless. If you have not identified the keywords which have the highest probability of producing customers or a page on each of these keywords, then there is no use in link building. Before ever link building, it is crucial that the organization has built other useful resources and content first and foremost. Links are useful and a factor in the Google algorithm. The kind of link building Devesh dislikes is that which doesn’t identify keywords or have specifically tailored content for them.
Next, Devesh speaks to how Grow & Convert writes content that actually converts. They spend a surprising amount of the page deeply selling client’s products compared to what traditional content writers are used to. For them, the vast majority of the writing is dedicated to giving a detailed dive into their client’s product. They think of it as if they were to take portions of the sales team pitch and put it directly on the page. Their content structure is very careful on problem solutions, selling the benefit behind each feature and differentiation. Their posts first resonate with the customer and then provide them with a solution for their specific pain points. So, how can you know if a great agency partner will deliver on their promises? Devesh warns listeners not to rely on what they have done in the past. Rather, you should have a conversation with them to better understand how they would work if you were to pay them. In closing, Devesh offers his final words of wisdom for listeners who are bootstrapped founders focused on driving growth and profitability. First, you can’t market a bad product. It is also not hard to do a product market fit. Second, when it actually comes time to market, you don’t have to be on every channel.
0:55 - Welcome to this episode, in which host Melissa interviews Devesh Khanal.
8:33 - Why do so many SEO agencies suck?
19:00 - Grow & Convert’s business strategy.
24:46 - How the vast majority of the marketing budget gets wasted.
35:12 - Step by step guide on creating effective marketing.
42:50 - How to know when link building is useful.
45:35 - How Grow & Convert structures articles to actually convert.
53:03 - Evaluating for a great agency partner.
56:15 - Devesh shares final words of wisdom for listeners.
Welcome to the ProfitLed podcast, where we discover proven growth strategies for bootstrapped entrepreneurs from the people who have done it before to help you accelerate your business! The ProfitLed podcast is brought to you by eWebinar, the leading automated webinar tool, and hosted by eWebinar Cofounder and CEO, Melissa Kwan.
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