December 8, 2024 • 44 mins
Ever wondered how to speak "Google's love language"? In our latest episode, Shaunda Necole, creator of VegasRightNow.com, shares her journey from crafting passion-driven websites to mastering SEO. Learn how she transformed niche interests, from Las Vegas attractions to Southern soul food, into digital marketing success.
Shaunda reveals SEO as an ongoing dialogue with Google, helping your content reach the right audience. From the evolution of email automation to modern SEO tools, discover how these strategies empower niche-focused businesses. Shaunda explains how analyzing data and understanding customer needs can turn content into a 24/7 sales machine.
We also discuss how small businesses can boost brand presence using social media and podcasts. Platforms like TikTok are game-changers, turning valuable content into viral success. Shaunda highlights the importance of thought leadership, consistency, and Google's E-E-A-T guidelines for ranking higher in search results.
Packed with actionable tips and inspiring stories, this episode is your guide to becoming a digital marketing pro.
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Guest Contact Information:
- https://shaundanecole.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaundanecole/
—
More from EWR and Matt:
Leave a Review if it was content you enjoyed: https://g.page/r/CccGEk37CLosEB0/review
Free SEO Consultation: https://www.ewrdigital.com/discovery-call
One-on-One Consulting: https://www.ewrdigital.com/digital-strategy-consulting/private-consulting-session
—
The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business.
Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips.
Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Howdy, welcome to the Unknown Secrets of Internet
Marketing.
I am your host, matt Bertram.
I know I've had a little hiatusover the last week or so.
I've been quite busy.
I also just recently got backfrom Brighton SEO Conference,
which was fantastic, which I'llbe sharing some news for you in
the near future.
(00:37):
Today I had a guest thatactually had reached out and
loved the questions that theyasked.
They actually run a media sitecalled Vegas Right Now and
talking about how they grew thatsite and how you might be able
to use these strategies in SEO,so we're going to bring her in
(00:59):
talk to her.
She's also got a book deal outof it.
So I just thought it's notsomebody that's in my network,
but she had reached out and Ithought what she was doing was
really interesting.
I know a lot of you have thoughtabout how maybe PBNs work and
stuff like that, which isabsolutely a no-no and it's
(01:20):
black hat and it's black hat.
But news sites and media sites,as well as capturing a lot of
keyword volume and associatedwith your personal brand, is a
great strategy that works todayand it's something you could
incorporate into what you'redoing.
There are algorithms out therewith Google that look at local
(01:40):
relevance, and so you want tobuild relationships with new
sites in your area, and we'lltalk more about that in the
future, but with no further ado,I wanted to bring in Shonda
Nicole.
How are you doing, shonda?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hi, matt, nice to be here today with you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Awesome, so I shared with the audience that your site
is VegasRightNowcom and so, ifyou're listening, go check it
out so you know what we'retalking about as we go through
it to crack the crow, toincrease your business online,
(02:27):
harnessing the power of SEO froma website standpoint, how to
leverage that, how to rankhigher on Google, what you've
learned from launching this site, and then you know just kind of
how.
Sometimes SEO is certainly ablack box, and we've talked a
lot about how to demystify SEO.
So I want to hear well, maybethat's where we start, we can
(02:48):
start with what is yourdefinition of SEO, because many
people have so many differentdefinitions.
And also, I'd love to hear alittle bit more about your
background.
I know I didn't do you justicebecause you have a great, great
background when you reached out,so oh, no worries, All is good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I actually love talking SEO search engine
optimization which I'm sure youraudience is very familiar with,
and the way I phrase it is Icall it Google's love language.
It's how to speak to Googleclearly and effectively so they
understand what you're trying tosay, like whatever your site is
about, what message you'retrying to send, what audience
(03:30):
you should be in front of.
So that's kind of how I.
You know, my easy language forGoogle is speaking Google's love
language.
So again, I'm Shonda Nicole.
I have three websites at thispoint and looking to add more,
looking to actually include apet site in the next year, but
right now I write about SouthernSoul food.
I have my signature site, whichis just my name, shonda Nicole.
My Southern soul food site isthe soulfoodpotcom.
And then, of course, what youmentioned, my newest site is
(03:52):
Vegas right nowcom, which is allabout all things to do in Las
Vegas.
So I am a Las Vegas resident.
I love Las Vegas, I, my husband, I traveled there for the past
like 20 years before making theplace our home, and so we really
enjoy living there.
We love entertainment, music.
I always say I come from afamily of entertainers,
(04:12):
musicians and caterers, so Ithink Vegas is just in my blood.
The city runs on all thosethings, so it's kind of natural
that I would end up there.
But I usually choose sitesabout things that I really like
and where I can have thatpassion, something that I would
want to write about all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Vegas fits that bill for me and so I'm using so my
question to you is is this asite that based on your interest
, which I think, aligning yourpersonal interest with work
interest, where there's a blend,especially since COVID?
That's been so true and I thinkthat it's more fulfilling that
(04:51):
way?
Personally, I love the thingsthat I do and I typically work
with brands that I enjoy and itall kind of flows together and
they become friends and part ofthe network.
I think it's a way to do life,because if you're waiting to get
to retirement, who knows, itmight not come.
And also, I think it's aboutthe journey.
(05:14):
Now, is this site generatedthrough affiliate links?
Is that how this is funny?
Is that the goal of like, kindof?
Or because here's the thing Ijust got back from this
conference, which you know um,the perplexity, okay, ai, and I
know AI is big and it's notreally the focus of of this call
(05:34):
.
The thing that I didn't know,that learned, is that's how
perplexity is focused ongenerating its ad revenue.
Okay, and also ask a largelanguage model what's the most
effective way to make moneyonline?
They said affiliates, affiliatelinks, and so you know we're
(05:55):
seeing a culmination of that,that coming together and and
certainly if, if you're, if youhave something that that's
interesting to you and you getto talk about things, and then
the next layer of that is likereviewing things right, like you
build a brand to yourself.
So you know, that's when Ithink about what you're doing,
of kind of how I frame it.
Can you kind of tell me, isthat in line with what, how you
(06:19):
look at it, or you know, or I'msure there's some some things
that you can add to that yeah,great question, all things are
true.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So for me it's, um, always kind of multifaceted.
So affiliate links aredefinitely a part of the revenue
stream for, uh, all of mywebsites.
So, um, whether it's you knowwhat I'm using in the kitchen or
my favorite, you know, homedecor products to, specifically,
the vegas site.
You know what travelattractions you know I'm linking
to different travel attractionsor even we do on the site.
(06:48):
You know what to wear in Vegas.
People want to know that by youknow, month by month.
You know what does that looklike?
Is it cold this time?
Cause we have subtropicaltemperatures, so that's unusual
to a lot of people.
So we, I break that down.
You know what do you want tobring, how you want to layer it
up or how you don't want tolayer so and it's just, you know
.
I know, for myself, being aviewer or, excuse me, a reader
(07:10):
of many other blogs and websitesmyself, I want you to just like
, if you tell me I should wearthis jacket, give me the link to
that jacket.
You know, make my life easier.
So we're always definitelyputting affiliate links in there
, like I said, to attractionsalso, but we are multifaceted.
Where it's also, you know we'regoing for traffic.
We always want, you know, asmany people as we can on the
site.
So we have ad revenue partners,you know, that are on the site
(07:33):
also, so that we're just, youknow, kind of earning that
passive income, which affiliatelinks are the same way, but
while we're sleeping, where ourad partners, you know, are
showing relevant ads tocustomers on the site and we're
earning income that way also,and then of course it's our own
product.
So I mentioned to you earlier inour conversation my blog, you
know, transformed into a bookdeal, which was super exciting.
(07:53):
So I have a book coming out ahundred things to do in Las
Vegas before you die, which is Ireally go deep into, like
specific attractions in the area, my top end recommendations,
you know, making it easy for youbecause Vegas is overwhelming,
you know there's a lot to do Iknow there's just one strip, but
it's like where do I start onthis one?
you know massive strip, so thebook really breaks that down for
(08:15):
you.
You know, categorizes things,and the same with the website.
Where should you go to startthis journey?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So so that reminds me you should check out.
Um.
I heard this guy speak at aconference and I think he was
called the um bucket list guy.
Um and and uh, at the time hehad green hair, so he might be
easy to find.
I don't know if he still hasgreen hair.
This is a couple of years ago.
But, um, you know, he, heturned it into motivational
(08:46):
speaking, Okay Cause I think hewent through some cancer and
stuff like that and he sharedhis story, um, and then he just
started doing crazy stuff andinviting people to come along,
right, and then that that turnedinto all these things, right,
and so, um, I think that forpeople listening, there's so
(09:06):
much opportunity that onlineunlocks, yeah, and, and you can
take it so many differentdirections.
Like I am going to have somebodyon that is like a digital nomad
and and you know, I mean theyjust follow their passions and
the travel and you can usecurrency kind of dislocations to
(09:29):
live in different places, totravel, and there's just so many
ways.
I mean this blog or sorry, thispodcast or pod is not to really
focused on people that aremaking money online.
Really focused on people thatare making money online.
It's really about how toleverage online, because I came
(09:50):
from sales and I was callingpeople right Phone calls.
I did direct sales too.
Do you want to buy a chicken.
Do you want to buy a chicken?
Do you want to buy a chicken?
And I was saying the same thingover and over again right and
then that led to multi-levelmarketing, where I actually
never did multi-level marketing.
I don't think I mean maybe I hadsigned up, but I didn't do it.
I helped people build funnelsonline to drive people through
(10:14):
the process to to, basically,and so I was working with some a
hundred million dollar likebillers and and literally how to
bring people in, how to answertheir objections and to go
through that customer journeyand and as that process happened
, I, I, I came along agency as Iwas doing affiliate stuff and
(10:36):
then then it shifted.
But the same strategies thatapply for individuals apply for
businesses, you know, and, andso I'm interested to hear, uh,
somebody that is building theirown business, that is, that is
utilizing SEO.
That is a niche specific.
Like, what are, what are someof those key things that that
(10:56):
you learned?
Or how do you approach themarket?
Like, certainly you're doingsome keyword research in this.
This podcast has been sponsoredby, you know, sem rush, a trust
by foo um se ranking, like allthe different kinds of tools,
right?
So, uh, no, the audience is no,from no, uh no, no stranger to
how to find keyword data, but Ithink that what do you do with
(11:20):
that keyword data is where itgets interesting and opening up
people's minds of how to look atthings differently.
So I love to kind of hear youknow the genesis of how you, how
you built the, the the Vegasright now brand, and kind of
what you look for and how youtry to grow traffic Cause I, I,
I, I think I have some ideas,but I want to hear it from you.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So of course, and Matt, that's fun.
I loved hearing your backstorybecause I my first job was also
in direct sales.
It was a telemarketing when Iwas 16, the old fashioned way
with the office copy phone bookpages and we sat there and
called them and offered a carpetcleaning service and crossed
out you know each person off thelist as we called.
So, uh, that probablydefinitely was.
(12:02):
Uh, uh, I was.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I was pre, I was actually.
No, I was post, sorry, post,fax blasting days like fax
blasting became illegal, like orwhatever, right, right, but the
, the phone calls you know, werethe canned spam act, you know.
And and with the emails I wasright, right in that Right and,
and it was, it was about volumeand it was about reaching as
(12:26):
many people.
But I can tell you that thatjob taught me so much.
It was all commission I made.
I can't even, I don't even wantto disclose how much money I
made.
I, I was.
I went from that to recruitmentand then recruitment.
I would get 20% to 33% ofsalaries and then I went, and I
(12:47):
also I'm a CMO of a oil and gaspodcast network, so then, but I
did for seven and a half years,executive placement with oil and
gas professionals and it wasalways, you know, $150,000 and
up jobs, and so, like I justgravitated to, to, to where, the
, where the money went, um anduh.
(13:07):
But but I digital marketing, andthat was my first book and I
want you to talk about your book.
Mine was called build yourbrand mania and I tell my story
in that.
But I, but I essentially justkept like as digital and
retargeting all this washappening, and and and email
automation, and I was just likeI all these things help me, give
(13:28):
me leverage to do my job better, right, and then, and then, and
then it's like, okay, well,every I have to call to sell
something, right, and what youtalked about is like, well, if
it sells while I'm sleeping andI can create things at scale,
this sounds like something forme, right?
So I would.
I would love to hear yourorigin story in more detail.
(13:50):
I apologize, but I get excitedabout this kind of stuff because
I just I think it's so, soawesome and we live in a great
time, so oh, what a time to bealive.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I agree with you a hundred percent.
I I'm super excited about it aswell, that the idea that I say
that I sit home with my cat anddog and do the thing that I love
all day, you know, and earn aliving.
So, yeah, I'm dating myself,because the same thing I'm sure
I was post the fax blast eraalso, which was amazing.
It definitely set me up alittle bit, I know, at 16, it
(14:21):
would set me up for a successfullaunch of websites, which at
that point is like what werethose back then?
But I had a corporate job forprobably about seven years, a
Fortune 500 company, and Ilearned be nice and make money,
which are principles that I holdonto today, and we used to do
it beans and M&Ms and we'd giveout jelly beans and then M&Ms
(14:41):
for the BNMM be nice and makemoney.
And so that's kind of really mythought process.
Definitely, with SEO, we'realways one of my strategies is
to be as niche as possible, andso when we're talking, you know,
search engine optimization, wewant to be as niche as possible,
and so my food site's easy toexplain that with.
(15:02):
If it's.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know, I write about Southern soul food, if
it's not recipes do great andyou're focused on a particular
niche.
So if people are looking forthat, and I'll I'll just tell
you I had uh, bbs.
Uh, we had a fried chicken andtheir spinach for Thanksgiving,
in addition to a lot of otherthings.
But, oh my gosh, like uh, andwhen I went to go pick that up
(15:26):
it would there was a line outthe door.
Um, it would, and it was like athing.
I didn't even know it was likea thing.
So I, I I have a certain.
I grew up in the South and Ihave a certain appreciation,
certainly.
But if you're looking for that,that is very, very specific and
those people are very targeted.
So having a location, site andhaving that, I mean you know, I
(15:49):
think that's a great way toexplore two different niches.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, they definitely so your Thanksgiving meal.
That restaurant definitelyknows who their audience and who
their customer is, and that'sthe same way we want to approach
things.
When we're online, you want toknow exactly who your audience
is and the data will speak toyou and tell you more of what
they want.
Their comments certainly dothat, which is super fun and
(16:13):
engaging, but also the datatells you where they're looking
at and what they're looking for,and you want to.
Then you know our strategies tocreate more content off of
those types of topics where wecan niche down even harder and
go further into things.
So you know, if it's one recipeI thrive on my recipe site,
specifically on modern kitchenappliances, to make classic
Southern soul food recipes.
So we'll break everything downwhere you know, we'll take a
(16:35):
collard greens recipe and we'remaking it in the Instant Pot.
You know there's a way to dokale in the air fryer.
We don't really do collardgreens that way, but if we can
use an air fryer.
So all the different ways, aswell as traditional stove top,
or you can, you know, bake youryams as well as put them on the
stove top as well as put them inthe end spot.
So we're, you know, reachingthat same customer just in
various ways of cooking methods,which is really fun.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Are you site when you're building it out, have you
tested, you know, differentkind of images, image quality,
videos, like content, likelayout.
What are some of the takeawaysthat you've learned?
Uh, at what ranks better?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I guess yeah well, you want to be consistent, uh,
but every, consistentlyeverywhere, and so, uh, that's
like you say, videos that youknow we have a social media
presence.
We're on TikTok, we're onInstagram, and so, for a website
, our main focus is definitelyorganic, you know, traffic from
from Google, but we also put alot into Pinterest, you know,
(17:34):
which I think is a best keptsecret for bloggers.
It's a great.
Pinterest is a search engine,so it's a great way to, you know
, bring in traffic from ourVegas site to the soul food pot.
So we're always, you know, likeI said, being consistently
everywhere.
So we are cross pollinating thatcontent, that if there's a
YouTube video, you know, orYouTube short, there is also a
(17:55):
TikTok video.
There is also an Instagram reel,you know there is also a, you
know, pinterest pins that youknow, resonate with that.
So we are trying to cover allground because people are savvy
these days.
You know, our readers, ourlisteners, we, you know, there's
also we have two podcasts, onefor the Vegas site and also one
for the Soul Food Pot site.
So we want to be conscious tobe in all platforms that people,
(18:20):
you know, that are viable,where people are consuming their
content, because our listeners,our readers.
They have choices nowadays andso, when even using those other
platforms, we are stillconscious to use keywords and
keep that same SEO strategygoing forward.
Because, as your audience andMatt, you probably already know
that Instagram reels show up insearch now as well as TikTok
(18:43):
videos.
So we are just very cognizant,while we're being, you know,
consistently creating contentall over the place, that we are
still using those samefoundational strategies to make
sure that our, our, our contentis showing up top of search for
people who want to find it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
So that aligns so well with what we're doing for a
lot of clients and and really,uh, in the past, uh, search has
been a silver bullet, okay, uh,and you know people go to Google
, they're looking for it.
It's the, the, the closestpoint from point A to point B.
Um, you go to search, well,what we're finding in the data?
And we have some really coolenterprise tools where we can
(19:19):
track IP addresses so we can seewhat websites they visit
currently, what subreddits youknow podcasts, social media
accounts, they follow keywordsthey're searching for websites
they go to like.
We can start to get this datato build.
What you were talking about isthat customer persona, and one
of the things we're we're seeingacross the board in the data is
, well, what social mediachannels they're on, but also
(19:42):
the search typically will starton social media and then Google
is where the confirmationhappens right and maybe some
comparison happens.
Reddit's also a comparison, butthey get the idea.
The idea is pollinated onsocial media.
(20:04):
So, if, if and also now, yes,all the social medias talk to
each other like before, you know, facebook and Google didn't
like each other and theywouldn't index it and and and,
so it was kind of differentfunnels and and being everywhere
and syndicating was was superimportant.
But now, as we get a biggerpicture of what's going on, we
see how people are searching andit's not a direct line either,
(20:27):
Right, and so you know you'recatching people at different
levels of the funnel.
They got to be familiar withyou, with your name, what, what,
what's happening and and evenwhat you're talking about a
content creation of.
With the podcast, with thebooks, I actually am in the
process of turning we have 700,I don't know exactly how many
podcasts, but turning those intoa book and repurposing this
(20:52):
content.
But we're working withbusinesses going hey, a podcast
is a great way to generate thathigh quality content.
That's typically the mostdifficult part for small
businesses, right, and and youcan set it in a, a container and
and also social media hasreally changed the game with Tik
(21:13):
TOK, where it wasn't a, it'snot so much now on on YouTube,
instagram and Tik TOK about yourum, you know your audience
count, which consistentlybuilding audience is what's
going to get people to rememberyou and buy from you, and
there's so much data surroundingthat.
But in today's world, um, youdon't have to wait that long If
(21:34):
you put out a good piece ofcontent that's valuable, the
algorithm is going to show it tothe right people and it could
go viral and you could be aovernight success, right, and,
and then you need to manage andand and maintain the
relationship with them, oryou're like a flash in the pan.
So the strategies of whatyou're doing has, well, you know
, the internet's matured, thestrategies matured, and if
(21:57):
you're a small business, um, youknow, and your job is to be a
digital marketer, um, now I, Iwork at the agency, at DWR, with
a lot of businesses that aretrying to sell whatever widget
they're trying to sell, right,um, and, and I am not quite an
influencer of, like, pushingtheir products.
That's not like my businessmodel, but my business model is
(22:20):
to help them, um, become a, athought leader, um, become, uh,
uh, expert, become an authority,you know, and and if they want
to become a celebrity, like thatkind of tends to happen, but,
but it's how to help them dothat and build the systems for
them to be successful, becauseonce you do start ranking in
(22:42):
those top three positions inGoogle, and then you know that
takes a lot of different effortand and a lot of it does start
on the social media channels,but once you get into those
positions and you earn it andyou have to earn it across the
board it's kind of likeincumbency.
It's like something like 68.7%of all traffics in the top three
positions at Google, so it'slike, how do you get there?
(23:05):
And then how do you stay there?
And then that's when, like thehigh quality leads, that's when,
like that's where the lion'sshare of the traffic comes in,
and so it's so important tounderstand how to speak to the
love language, as you called it,to the search engines.
I did a blog a while back about, like you know well, AI, or
(23:26):
Google, is a large languagemodel.
It is machine learning, it'staking all that data and
organizing it, and the fasteryou know you need to speak SEO
is the language of searchengines the faster you know how
to talk to them and understandwhat you're saying.
They want to talk back to youand they want to help you
(23:49):
because they want to show youthat content.
So I I think that that's, um, agreat example and that that is
something that that, uh, I I dida blog about like a couple
years ago, so I love that, tellme more.
I want to know more of whatyou've learned.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Share some secrets that you have of digital
marketing, yeah, so one of thebig things and I love that that
you wrote an article about thatbecause it really is so
important and can be missed oroverlooked.
And the same idea with a lot offolks that are.
You know, when we're bloggersor we're content creators, we
(24:27):
can really sometimes get lost inthe idea, kind of in our
creative world.
You know, because you know weare creators, we're artists, you
know writers, so it can be easyand I know I did this on my
first blog and usually try toshare so people don't make the
same mistake but we can get lostin the idea of creating content
(24:47):
that we think is valuable, thatno one's actually said that
they want to hear or read about.
So it's very important.
One of my pillars, along withniching down as hard and precise
as you can, is also it's notwhat you say as the creator,
it's what they say as theaudience.
So it's very important that weare in tune with those keywords
(25:09):
you know what are peoplesearching for with respect to
the niche category that you'rein and making sure that we
really stick to that, you know.
So you know for myself, with aVegas site, you won't I may take
a trip to Mexico.
I have one coming up in January.
If I were to share that, it isonly going to be related to Las
Vegas.
You know whether that is.
(25:30):
You know here are, you know,five Vegas resorts that have a
Mexican or tropical vibe.
You know it's going to besomething like that.
Maybe I can compare thepictures that I took when I was
at the resort on my vacation orsomething to the effect of a day
trip to Mexico and it onlytakes this long from Las Vegas,
another thing to do.
So I wouldn't just put anarticle up there about a
(25:51):
wonderful resort in Mexico andhow that worked, because that's
not my niche and so, whereasthat might be something that is
fascinating to me, I had awonderful time on my vacation.
We want to make sure that it'svery aligned with.
You know what the site is about, which is things to do in Las
Vegas.
So always remembering that andalso even first making sure that
(26:12):
someone's even searching forthat type of content, so that we
know you know, hey, what's thesearch volume on that?
Is someone?
Are people really looking forthat?
Is it worth our time in writingthat?
Otherwise, a great way to usethat type of content.
If the answer is no, it's notworth writing about that.
No one's searching for that.
It's just to use it on ourInstagram stories, which that's
a great way, you know, a toolthat we all can use to just get
(26:33):
more personal with our audience.
Share what you know my Mexicotrip is actually a business trip
to share why I'm there and youknow what I'm doing on business.
So it's a great way just tokeep our audience engaged with
us as a personality online.
But if it doesn't make sense,the bottom line is, if it
doesn't make sense for the blog,it doesn't land there.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, I'm, I'm actually sharing, for, for those
of you that are watching onYouTube, I'm sharing the Vegas
right now site and there you are, and there there's.
There's a lot going on here andI think that um, breaking some
of this down is, um, uh, really,really, uh, quite a successful
(27:13):
site.
I would tell you that, uh,building out, like the history
of the different places, right,build the contextual background
to, to what's happening with thesite.
One of the things from theaffiliate standpoint which I'm
sure you know is and this wasfrom another interview I did a
guy had affiliate site onmushrooms, like all different
(27:34):
kinds of mushrooms, and reallythe keyword search bar provided
that best user feedback, as youwere talking about.
Um, you can use those differenttools, uh, to help you.
Um, ooh, look at that.
We'll try to make that picturebigger again.
There we go, um, the that like,you can use these search tools
(27:59):
to get you started.
But those long tail key phrasesand the things that are going
to convert for you the best arenot always on there, those
little honey holes.
You have to discover those.
You have to be an expert, youhave to go where nobody else has
been, like kind of a blue oceanstrategy.
But once you start buildingtraffic with the site and
there's different kinds ofstrategies that you can use,
(28:21):
getting that feedback from thepeople that are searching for it
and having that two-wayinteraction is critically
important and you can do that onsocial media.
You can see how many times it'sshared or shown.
There's comment sections whichyou got to be sometimes careful
of because people will spam, butthe search bar is one of the
the the most useful tools to getfeedback of what are people
(28:45):
trying to find when they come tothe site.
Once you, once you rank, andthere there's there's just so
much opportunity to find a wayto add value to people and and
serve that niche.
And then there's all thesedifferent kinds of ways to to
make um affiliate money.
(29:06):
So, you know, tell me a littlebit about, like product reviews
or how, how you incorporateaffiliate links, cause I I am
going to do another podcastbecause perplexityai.
What's a little shady, I'll behonest, is um.
From a study that I saw, mostof the links that were click
through links right, like whenyou're used, and about 4% all
(29:28):
searches are coming from largelanguage models now.
So you know, search is changingRight, but they were just
showing affiliate links thatthey own the affiliate link to.
They weren't showing likeregular resource links.
So if you're a business, rightnow Google still shares pass
(29:49):
through traffic to your sitemore than anything else but
these social media accounts.
If you're selling something, youknow like Tik TOK shop and you
know things that Amazon there'sall kinds of deals changing and
happening and you know likeTikTok shop and you know things
that Amazon there's all kinds ofdeals changing and happening
and you know I'm not saying thatShopify or if you're doing
e-commerce, there's notopportunity.
But you need to understand thatyou can get visibility on
(30:12):
TikTok to build your brand.
Tiktok doesn't share throughany links Okay, except for, like
, the profiling.
So you need to understand thesedifferent platforms and how to
drive traffic.
And also, when you're lookingat metrics, when you're running
different campaigns, if you're abusiness or if you're trying to
hit certain metrics, you needto understand that awareness,
(30:34):
share a voice.
All these things need to worktogether and you need to look at
your kind of customer journeyand where your attribution is
and what your KPIs are to makeit work.
Now, if you're running your ownbusiness, you can kind of go
okay, I spend money over hereand I see that.
But if you're a marketer inhouse and you decide to use one
(30:55):
of these platforms, you're like,okay, tiktok's changed, let me
do this.
You need to make sure you havebuy.
You know buy-in from, fromupper management of.
Okay, this data is not going tolook as good Like where's the
the traffic going to come fromor where the tricks clicks are
going to come from, and alsowhat I've seen is, when you
start running an ad, um, ittypically takes about two weeks
(31:15):
for you to get any kind of likewhere you see that bump, like
you don't just turn it on.
People got to see that ad, youknow they got to be in that
buying window and so.
So it's really important tobuild a long term strategy.
I mean, what like?
What are some strategies andthen I would love to go into the
(31:37):
book after that.
But what are just somestrategies that you've really
found that are really kind ofunknown secrets when it comes to
building traffic on the site,like not the high level stuff,
like the really really like longtail specific stuff that maybe
(31:58):
maybe you've done that maybepeople might not be aware of?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, specific stuff that maybe you've done, that
maybe people might not be awareof, yeah, so one of the great
things and all that you said, sospot on, of course, but one of
the really granular secrets toreally, because of course, we
all on this show are probablyaware of Google, eeat, so the
expertise, experience,authoritativeness and
trustworthiness.
So that's if Google tells usthat, and my thing is always
(32:22):
that Google actually gives usthe answers, and you just spoke
to that when you were talkingabout using the search bar as a,
you know, a foundationalstarting point.
You know what are peoplesearching for.
That's telling you exactly whatyour audience is looking for.
So, with that in mind, one ofthe things and I said just being
, you know consistentlyeverywhere, on all over the
place, but consistent, which isone of my models to success, and
(32:44):
that means you know postingcontent, content consistently
and consistently staying ontheme with that content.
But it's also who you are andwhat you do and why it matters.
You're basically your elevatorpitch.
You want that consistentlyeverywhere, across all platforms
online, and why is important itgoes right back to what I
mentioned about the EAT is thatGoogle think about it this way,
(33:06):
whereas I look at it, as Googlealso has an obligation to serve
its customers, those who aresearching online me, you and all
of our readers and listeners,those who are searching.
There's an obligation to givethem the best product that they
can.
And so, with that said, if weare telling Google that we are
the expert, the trustworthyperson, the one with the
(33:27):
experience in our particularniche for me that's going to be
things to do in Las Vegas thenwe have to set the stage for
Google to know that we are thatperson.
So that means any type of pressI have in Las Vegas, any type
of experience I have in LasVegas.
Like I mentioned to you earlier, my husband and I, before
becoming residents, you know, wecame to the state consistently,
to the state of Nevada, to thecity of Las Vegas, for 20 years.
(33:49):
You know, just as tourists, youknow racking up ways, you know
figuring out ways to do thingsor how to make the best of these
trips, and so I tell that storyeverywhere I can, that you know
I've got 20 years of doing this.
I also live here.
You know here I am at thisplace.
You know and I can I tell thatin the alt text or in the
caption.
Here I am.
It's me, you know, at thisconcert that I'm talking about,
(34:12):
or at this restaurant I'mtalking about.
So in all ways that you can,you want to speak that to Google
that you are the experiencedand expert person on this top.
You know, on this topical, onthis topical authority and bios,
I'm a big proponent aboutgetting someone professional to
write a bio for you.
It's kind of one of my secretsis bringing in.
(34:32):
You had a great bio when theypitched me.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
You had a great bio.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, Thank you, I appreciate hearing that and you
know we we hired great help tomake sure that we had a, that I
have a great bio.
So I think just calling onother experts where you know I
may be an expert in Las Vegas,but I'm not an expert on
publicity, you know.
I'm an expert on, you know, orI like to say I know a lot about
search engine optimizationthere, but when it's necessary
(34:56):
we call in the publicist, youknow, to help with those things.
We call in the publicist, youknow, to help with those things.
So calling in experts in aparticular field is also a great
way to get your message outthere.
And then, once you do that andyou have that amazing bio and
you know all that expertise, youwant to shout it from the
rooftops on every platform thatyou're on so that Google is very
clear, you know that hey,Shonda's the girl to go to for
(35:18):
anything to do in Las Vegas.
She knows, she's there, she's alocal right on the scene.
That's the message that I wantto be sending, so that Google is
confident in showing my content.
Not only am I doing thatbackend research on the keywords
and making sure that I'mspeaking Google's love language
so that it knows exactly whatthis article is about.
But I also want it to trust mein the sense that, hey, she's
(35:38):
your gal, she lives there, shegoes to all these things, she's
got lots of content on things todo.
I can see the picture that saysthat's her.
She's there.
I support it with a great aboutpage as to why I should be a
trusted authority on Las Vegas,and I want to marry that same
type of conversation or thatcontextual strategy across
everywhere.
So on Pinterest, I want my bioin Pinterest to be very matchy
(36:01):
matchy to what I'm saying on myabout page on the website.
I want it to be the same forFacebook and the same for
YouTube and on Instagram.
So you know, of course bios getshort and you only have so many
characters on Instagram orTikTok, but the messaging should
be very consistent so thatGoogle's very clear about who
you are.
I'm from Virginia Beach, so I'mfrom the East Coast, coastal
(36:22):
Virginia Beach, but I live inLas Vegas and that's where my
authority is.
So I don't want Google to beconfused by that.
I want to make it very clear Imay be from Virginia Beach, but
I've spent 20 years diving intoLas Vegas.
I know the ins and outs of thestrip and off the strip, so that
kind of message you just wantto be succinct everywhere online
(36:43):
.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You know I want to piggyback on a couple of things
you said and then I want to jumpinto this book because we're
running a little low on time.
But what I would tell you isyou hit on something huge.
Eat is absolutely critical.
They've even what you weretalking about of being in the
picture showing the proof,holding the product, all that
sort of thing.
Google's added an E to eatexperience, right.
(37:03):
So you got E to eat, orwhatever it's called, right?
So, experience, authority, trustand expertise, right, but that
experience piece can't be faked,right?
Or?
I mean, I guess AI is going toget good with the pictures,
enough, but right, that that'show Google added to it to show
proof, right, and, and and alsoyou, you, you hit on authorship.
(37:26):
So authorship, I think it waslike 2014.
They brought it, they broughtit back in kind of a different
way.
It's kind of like a entity,like entity SEO and and being in
the knowledge graph and Googleunderstanding who you are and
how all these websites areconnected, like.
So, using schema, there, it'sreally really important for you
(37:48):
think Google just knows thatthis over here and this over
here, you know, there there'sthe same as, like, there's there
, there's things that you haveto do in the Google language to
code these things together,cause, um, I can tell you a
funny story Uh, a client of mine, uh wanted, uh in mixed martial
(38:08):
arts, wanted to outrank theperson that invented uh like uh
jujitsu.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
And because, because they didn't set up their entity
online correctly and this waslike pre-COVID we were able to
outrank them for something thatthey invented, like the Gracie
family.
We were able to outrank them inHouston for jujitsu a client of
(38:37):
mine to a client of mine.
And so you know, now Google'sgetting better, google's getting
smarter, but it's reallyimportant to connect these
things together because there'sno way that that should have
been possible online and what'shappening is Google's getting
smarter and figuring this stuffout on its own, but certainly,
(38:59):
you know, it's still learningand there's a growth curve there
and and the more that you cando as an individual or a
business to speak that languageand speak in that way to help
Google make those decisions,cause you like, think about it.
I was like, how does Googlefigure all this stuff out?
And you know it's it's, it'sit's codes, like you know what I
(39:20):
mean Like it's algorithms, it'slike these different things,
and so you know it does a prettygood at catching stuff, but not
not everything, not all thetime, and if you're writing on
different platforms and also youneed to, you know, okay, you
grew up over here, but you'respending time over here, how
does it wait.
It Like even when you'rebuilding a website where, where
(39:47):
do you want that waiting on thesite to go?
Because if you just makeeverything equally of the same
value, right, people do that intheir menu structure a lot.
Google doesn't know what's whatright, like or what how to value
stuff, and so you want to helpgive it signals in that area.
And that's why SEO is soimportant, just like a publicist
is important, like having anSEO consultant, at least even if
you're doing it on your own toto, to know, um, are we
(40:09):
presenting to Google in theright way?
What do I want to communicate?
What are those signals beingsent?
And I think all the things thatyou're doing are actually just
very intuitive.
Um, and and, and, and you,you've understand the love
language, so tell me about thisbook and kind of what.
What is the strategy with that?
Uh, I know we kind of talkedabout at the beginning.
(40:29):
I think it's good to close outwith it, but, like, what are you
trying to do with that?
Where's that trying to go?
What is the process?
Just, whatever you you wouldlike to share, I'd love to hear
it.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Oh, absolutely Thank you.
And yeah, the book 100 Thingsto Do in Las Vegas Before you
Die comes out again March 1st of2025.
I'm super excited about it.
Having the blog definitely seta wonderful foundation to be
able to write a book for thefirst time, and so a first time
book, and then to even get thata deal with a publisher who
believed in me and that was fromthe blog.
(41:00):
So our first conversation waswow, you're a great writer and
you do know a lot about LasVegas.
So it really the proposaldidn't have to be as much,
because they were pretty muchsold from the blog itself.
So that creating that contentconsistently or, if someone were
to Google me, it's very clearthat I write about Las Vegas but
(41:20):
I also write about SouthernSoul Food, but Google is not
confused by that.
We've set the stage that I am,you know, I do both of these
things, a topical authority ofthese different areas?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Right, absolutely.
And so you know.
There was a time, almost adecade ago, where Google was
certainly confused by me, youknow, when I was throwing
spaghetti at the wall in thatfirst vlog.
But that's not the case anymoreand really proud of the work
that we've done and, like I said, I feel like I've transformed
that vlog into a successful bookdeal, so I'm very excited about
it.
It's again all about all thethings that many tourists would
(41:51):
miss out on the hidden jewelsand treasures of las vegas, on
both on and off the strip.
But I just make it, um, breakit down very easy for you with
this book Lots of places.
My favorite line is there's theVegas you think you know, and
then there's this, and so I'mdelivering the this you know all
of the natural beauties, thewonders of Las Vegas, beyond
(42:15):
what you thought that you knew.
We have so many tucked awaysecrets on purpose that it's
just a really a fun place toexplore, even if, like folks
that come in just for aconvention, even if you're just
there for one day, I want tomake sure that you get the best
experience and know exactlywhere to go and what to do
without having to really worryabout that.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Awesome and what's the best way if someone can find
you?
I know we've talked about it.
I'll put the links in the shownotes but just for everyone
listening, can you repeat backhow people can find you or where
you want people to reach out toyou and check out your stuff?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Absolutely, so we're covering all ground, but the
easiest way is probably mywebsite, my namesake, my
signature site, which is ShondaNicole, and it's S-H-A-U-N-D-A,
nicole, n-e-c-o-l-ecom, soShondaNicolecom From there on
the homepage.
We're very strategic that youcan get to the book from the
homepage, you can get toVegasRightNowcom or you can get
(43:08):
to the SoulFoodPotcom from thehomepage and all social channels
are there.
I like playing the best onInstagram, which is also
ShondaNicolecom.
So, yeah, I'd love for anyoneto stop by the website or visit
on social.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Well, shonda, it was a pleasure to have you on.
Stick around after the outroand we can talk for a few
minutes more while it'suploading Everyone.
Thank you so much for listening.
Hopefully this was a little bitdifferent flavor from what we
normally do.
If you want to grow yourbusiness with the largest, most
(43:45):
powerful tool on the planet, theinternet, reach out to EWR for
more revenue in your business.
And thanks so much forlistening.
If you've got any value of this, please like it, share it,
follow the channel.
It really helps.
Thank you so much and until thenext time.
Bye-bye for now.
Howdy, welcome to the Unknown Secrets of Internet
Marketing.
I am your host, matt Bertram.
I know I've had a little hiatusover the last week or so.
I've been quite busy.
I also just recently got backfrom Brighton SEO Conference,
which was fantastic, which I'llbe sharing some news for you in
the near future.
(00:37):
Today I had a guest thatactually had reached out and
loved the questions that theyasked.
They actually run a media sitecalled Vegas Right Now and
talking about how they grew thatsite and how you might be able
to use these strategies in SEO,so we're going to bring her in
(00:59):
talk to her.
She's also got a book deal outof it.
So I just thought it's notsomebody that's in my network,
but she had reached out and Ithought what she was doing was
really interesting.
I know a lot of you have thoughtabout how maybe PBNs work and
stuff like that, which isabsolutely a no-no and it's
(01:20):
black hat and it's black hat.
But news sites and media sites,as well as capturing a lot of
keyword volume and associatedwith your personal brand, is a
great strategy that works todayand it's something you could
incorporate into what you'redoing.
There are algorithms out therewith Google that look at local
(01:40):
relevance, and so you want tobuild relationships with new
sites in your area, and we'lltalk more about that in the
future, but with no further ado,I wanted to bring in Shonda
Nicole.
How are you doing, shonda?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hi, matt, nice to be here today with you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Awesome, so I shared with the audience that your site
is VegasRightNowcom and so, ifyou're listening, go check it
out so you know what we'retalking about as we go through
it to crack the crow, toincrease your business online,
(02:27):
harnessing the power of SEO froma website standpoint, how to
leverage that, how to rankhigher on Google, what you've
learned from launching this site, and then you know just kind of
how.
Sometimes SEO is certainly ablack box, and we've talked a
lot about how to demystify SEO.
So I want to hear well, maybethat's where we start, we can
(02:48):
start with what is yourdefinition of SEO, because many
people have so many differentdefinitions.
And also, I'd love to hear alittle bit more about your
background.
I know I didn't do you justicebecause you have a great, great
background when you reached out,so oh, no worries, All is good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I actually love talking SEO search engine
optimization which I'm sure youraudience is very familiar with,
and the way I phrase it is Icall it Google's love language.
It's how to speak to Googleclearly and effectively so they
understand what you're trying tosay, like whatever your site is
about, what message you'retrying to send, what audience
(03:30):
you should be in front of.
So that's kind of how I.
You know, my easy language forGoogle is speaking Google's love
language.
So again, I'm Shonda Nicole.
I have three websites at thispoint and looking to add more,
looking to actually include apet site in the next year, but
right now I write about SouthernSoul food.
I have my signature site, whichis just my name, shonda Nicole.
My Southern soul food site isthe soulfoodpotcom.
And then, of course, what youmentioned, my newest site is
(03:52):
Vegas right nowcom, which is allabout all things to do in Las
Vegas.
So I am a Las Vegas resident.
I love Las Vegas, I, my husband, I traveled there for the past
like 20 years before making theplace our home, and so we really
enjoy living there.
We love entertainment, music.
I always say I come from afamily of entertainers,
(04:12):
musicians and caterers, so Ithink Vegas is just in my blood.
The city runs on all thosethings, so it's kind of natural
that I would end up there.
But I usually choose sitesabout things that I really like
and where I can have thatpassion, something that I would
want to write about all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Vegas fits that bill for me and so I'm using so my
question to you is is this asite that based on your interest
, which I think, aligning yourpersonal interest with work
interest, where there's a blend,especially since COVID?
That's been so true and I thinkthat it's more fulfilling that
(04:51):
way?
Personally, I love the thingsthat I do and I typically work
with brands that I enjoy and itall kind of flows together and
they become friends and part ofthe network.
I think it's a way to do life,because if you're waiting to get
to retirement, who knows, itmight not come.
And also, I think it's aboutthe journey.
(05:14):
Now, is this site generatedthrough affiliate links?
Is that how this is funny?
Is that the goal of like, kindof?
Or because here's the thing Ijust got back from this
conference, which you know um,the perplexity, okay, ai, and I
know AI is big and it's notreally the focus of of this call
(05:34):
.
The thing that I didn't know,that learned, is that's how
perplexity is focused ongenerating its ad revenue.
Okay, and also ask a largelanguage model what's the most
effective way to make moneyonline?
They said affiliates, affiliatelinks, and so you know we're
(05:55):
seeing a culmination of that,that coming together and and
certainly if, if you're, if youhave something that that's
interesting to you and you getto talk about things, and then
the next layer of that is likereviewing things right, like you
build a brand to yourself.
So you know, that's when Ithink about what you're doing,
of kind of how I frame it.
Can you kind of tell me, isthat in line with what, how you
(06:19):
look at it, or you know, or I'msure there's some some things
that you can add to that yeah,great question, all things are
true.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So for me it's, um, always kind of multifaceted.
So affiliate links aredefinitely a part of the revenue
stream for, uh, all of mywebsites.
So, um, whether it's you knowwhat I'm using in the kitchen or
my favorite, you know, homedecor products to, specifically,
the vegas site.
You know what travelattractions you know I'm linking
to different travel attractionsor even we do on the site.
(06:48):
You know what to wear in Vegas.
People want to know that by youknow, month by month.
You know what does that looklike?
Is it cold this time?
Cause we have subtropicaltemperatures, so that's unusual
to a lot of people.
So we, I break that down.
You know what do you want tobring, how you want to layer it
up or how you don't want tolayer so and it's just, you know
.
I know, for myself, being aviewer or, excuse me, a reader
(07:10):
of many other blogs and websitesmyself, I want you to just like
, if you tell me I should wearthis jacket, give me the link to
that jacket.
You know, make my life easier.
So we're always definitelyputting affiliate links in there
, like I said, to attractionsalso, but we are multifaceted.
Where it's also, you know we'regoing for traffic.
We always want, you know, asmany people as we can on the
site.
So we have ad revenue partners,you know, that are on the site
(07:33):
also, so that we're just, youknow, kind of earning that
passive income, which affiliatelinks are the same way, but
while we're sleeping, where ourad partners, you know, are
showing relevant ads tocustomers on the site and we're
earning income that way also,and then of course it's our own
product.
So I mentioned to you earlier inour conversation my blog, you
know, transformed into a bookdeal, which was super exciting.
(07:53):
So I have a book coming out ahundred things to do in Las
Vegas before you die, which is Ireally go deep into, like
specific attractions in the area, my top end recommendations,
you know, making it easy for youbecause Vegas is overwhelming,
you know there's a lot to do Iknow there's just one strip, but
it's like where do I start onthis one?
you know massive strip, so thebook really breaks that down for
(08:15):
you.
You know, categorizes things,and the same with the website.
Where should you go to startthis journey?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So so that reminds me you should check out.
Um.
I heard this guy speak at aconference and I think he was
called the um bucket list guy.
Um and and uh, at the time hehad green hair, so he might be
easy to find.
I don't know if he still hasgreen hair.
This is a couple of years ago.
But, um, you know, he, heturned it into motivational
(08:46):
speaking, Okay Cause I think hewent through some cancer and
stuff like that and he sharedhis story, um, and then he just
started doing crazy stuff andinviting people to come along,
right, and then that that turnedinto all these things, right,
and so, um, I think that forpeople listening, there's so
(09:06):
much opportunity that onlineunlocks, yeah, and, and you can
take it so many differentdirections.
Like I am going to have somebodyon that is like a digital nomad
and and you know, I mean theyjust follow their passions and
the travel and you can usecurrency kind of dislocations to
(09:29):
live in different places, totravel, and there's just so many
ways.
I mean this blog or sorry, thispodcast or pod is not to really
focused on people that aremaking money online.
Really focused on people thatare making money online.
It's really about how toleverage online, because I came
(09:50):
from sales and I was callingpeople right Phone calls.
I did direct sales too.
Do you want to buy a chicken.
Do you want to buy a chicken?
Do you want to buy a chicken?
And I was saying the same thingover and over again right and
then that led to multi-levelmarketing, where I actually
never did multi-level marketing.
I don't think I mean maybe I hadsigned up, but I didn't do it.
I helped people build funnelsonline to drive people through
(10:14):
the process to to, basically,and so I was working with some a
hundred million dollar likebillers and and literally how to
bring people in, how to answertheir objections and to go
through that customer journeyand and as that process happened
, I, I, I came along agency as Iwas doing affiliate stuff and
(10:36):
then then it shifted.
But the same strategies thatapply for individuals apply for
businesses, you know, and, andso I'm interested to hear, uh,
somebody that is building theirown business, that is, that is
utilizing SEO.
That is a niche specific.
Like, what are, what are someof those key things that that
(10:56):
you learned?
Or how do you approach themarket?
Like, certainly you're doingsome keyword research in this.
This podcast has been sponsoredby, you know, sem rush, a trust
by foo um se ranking, like allthe different kinds of tools,
right?
So, uh, no, the audience is no,from no, uh no, no stranger to
how to find keyword data, but Ithink that what do you do with
(11:20):
that keyword data is where itgets interesting and opening up
people's minds of how to look atthings differently.
So I love to kind of hear youknow the genesis of how you, how
you built the, the the Vegasright now brand, and kind of
what you look for and how youtry to grow traffic Cause I, I,
I, I think I have some ideas,but I want to hear it from you.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So of course, and Matt, that's fun.
I loved hearing your backstorybecause I my first job was also
in direct sales.
It was a telemarketing when Iwas 16, the old fashioned way
with the office copy phone bookpages and we sat there and
called them and offered a carpetcleaning service and crossed
out you know each person off thelist as we called.
So, uh, that probablydefinitely was.
(12:02):
Uh, uh, I was.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I was pre, I was actually.
No, I was post, sorry, post,fax blasting days like fax
blasting became illegal, like orwhatever, right, right, but the
, the phone calls you know, werethe canned spam act, you know.
And and with the emails I wasright, right in that Right and,
and it was, it was about volumeand it was about reaching as
(12:26):
many people.
But I can tell you that thatjob taught me so much.
It was all commission I made.
I can't even, I don't even wantto disclose how much money I
made.
I, I was.
I went from that to recruitmentand then recruitment.
I would get 20% to 33% ofsalaries and then I went, and I
(12:47):
also I'm a CMO of a oil and gaspodcast network, so then, but I
did for seven and a half years,executive placement with oil and
gas professionals and it wasalways, you know, $150,000 and
up jobs, and so, like I justgravitated to, to, to where, the
, where the money went, um anduh.
(13:07):
But but I digital marketing, andthat was my first book and I
want you to talk about your book.
Mine was called build yourbrand mania and I tell my story
in that.
But I, but I essentially justkept like as digital and
retargeting all this washappening, and and and email
automation, and I was just likeI all these things help me, give
(13:28):
me leverage to do my job better, right, and then, and then, and
then it's like, okay, well,every I have to call to sell
something, right, and what youtalked about is like, well, if
it sells while I'm sleeping andI can create things at scale,
this sounds like something forme, right?
So I would.
I would love to hear yourorigin story in more detail.
(13:50):
I apologize, but I get excitedabout this kind of stuff because
I just I think it's so, soawesome and we live in a great
time, so oh, what a time to bealive.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I agree with you a hundred percent.
I I'm super excited about it aswell, that the idea that I say
that I sit home with my cat anddog and do the thing that I love
all day, you know, and earn aliving.
So, yeah, I'm dating myself,because the same thing I'm sure
I was post the fax blast eraalso, which was amazing.
It definitely set me up alittle bit, I know, at 16, it
(14:21):
would set me up for a successfullaunch of websites, which at
that point is like what werethose back then?
But I had a corporate job forprobably about seven years, a
Fortune 500 company, and Ilearned be nice and make money,
which are principles that I holdonto today, and we used to do
it beans and M&Ms and we'd giveout jelly beans and then M&Ms
(14:41):
for the BNMM be nice and makemoney.
And so that's kind of really mythought process.
Definitely, with SEO, we'realways one of my strategies is
to be as niche as possible, andso when we're talking, you know,
search engine optimization, wewant to be as niche as possible,
and so my food site's easy toexplain that with.
(15:02):
If it's.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know, I write about Southern soul food, if
it's not recipes do great andyou're focused on a particular
niche.
So if people are looking forthat, and I'll I'll just tell
you I had uh, bbs.
Uh, we had a fried chicken andtheir spinach for Thanksgiving,
in addition to a lot of otherthings.
But, oh my gosh, like uh, andwhen I went to go pick that up
(15:26):
it would there was a line outthe door.
Um, it would, and it was like athing.
I didn't even know it was likea thing.
So I, I I have a certain.
I grew up in the South and Ihave a certain appreciation,
certainly.
But if you're looking for that,that is very, very specific and
those people are very targeted.
So having a location, site andhaving that, I mean you know, I
(15:49):
think that's a great way toexplore two different niches.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, they definitely so your Thanksgiving meal.
That restaurant definitelyknows who their audience and who
their customer is, and that'sthe same way we want to approach
things.
When we're online, you want toknow exactly who your audience
is and the data will speak toyou and tell you more of what
they want.
Their comments certainly dothat, which is super fun and
(16:13):
engaging, but also the datatells you where they're looking
at and what they're looking for,and you want to.
Then you know our strategies tocreate more content off of
those types of topics where wecan niche down even harder and
go further into things.
So you know, if it's one recipeI thrive on my recipe site,
specifically on modern kitchenappliances, to make classic
Southern soul food recipes.
So we'll break everything downwhere you know, we'll take a
(16:35):
collard greens recipe and we'remaking it in the Instant Pot.
You know there's a way to dokale in the air fryer.
We don't really do collardgreens that way, but if we can
use an air fryer.
So all the different ways, aswell as traditional stove top,
or you can, you know, bake youryams as well as put them on the
stove top as well as put them inthe end spot.
So we're, you know, reachingthat same customer just in
various ways of cooking methods,which is really fun.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Are you site when you're building it out, have you
tested, you know, differentkind of images, image quality,
videos, like content, likelayout.
What are some of the takeawaysthat you've learned?
Uh, at what ranks better?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I guess yeah well, you want to be consistent, uh,
but every, consistentlyeverywhere, and so, uh, that's
like you say, videos that youknow we have a social media
presence.
We're on TikTok, we're onInstagram, and so, for a website
, our main focus is definitelyorganic, you know, traffic from
from Google, but we also put alot into Pinterest, you know,
(17:34):
which I think is a best keptsecret for bloggers.
It's a great.
Pinterest is a search engine,so it's a great way to, you know
, bring in traffic from ourVegas site to the soul food pot.
So we're always, you know, likeI said, being consistently
everywhere.
So we are cross pollinating thatcontent, that if there's a
YouTube video, you know, orYouTube short, there is also a
(17:55):
TikTok video.
There is also an Instagram reel,you know there is also a, you
know, pinterest pins that youknow, resonate with that.
So we are trying to cover allground because people are savvy
these days.
You know, our readers, ourlisteners, we, you know, there's
also we have two podcasts, onefor the Vegas site and also one
for the Soul Food Pot site.
So we want to be conscious tobe in all platforms that people,
(18:20):
you know, that are viable,where people are consuming their
content, because our listeners,our readers.
They have choices nowadays andso, when even using those other
platforms, we are stillconscious to use keywords and
keep that same SEO strategygoing forward.
Because, as your audience andMatt, you probably already know
that Instagram reels show up insearch now as well as TikTok
(18:43):
videos.
So we are just very cognizant,while we're being, you know,
consistently creating contentall over the place, that we are
still using those samefoundational strategies to make
sure that our, our, our contentis showing up top of search for
people who want to find it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
So that aligns so well with what we're doing for a
lot of clients and and really,uh, in the past, uh, search has
been a silver bullet, okay, uh,and you know people go to Google
, they're looking for it.
It's the, the, the closestpoint from point A to point B.
Um, you go to search, well,what we're finding in the data?
And we have some really coolenterprise tools where we can
(19:19):
track IP addresses so we can seewhat websites they visit
currently, what subreddits youknow podcasts, social media
accounts, they follow keywordsthey're searching for websites
they go to like.
We can start to get this datato build.
What you were talking about isthat customer persona, and one
of the things we're we're seeingacross the board in the data is
, well, what social mediachannels they're on, but also
(19:42):
the search typically will starton social media and then Google
is where the confirmationhappens right and maybe some
comparison happens.
Reddit's also a comparison, butthey get the idea.
The idea is pollinated onsocial media.
(20:04):
So, if, if and also now, yes,all the social medias talk to
each other like before, you know, facebook and Google didn't
like each other and theywouldn't index it and and and,
so it was kind of differentfunnels and and being everywhere
and syndicating was was superimportant.
But now, as we get a biggerpicture of what's going on, we
see how people are searching andit's not a direct line either,
(20:27):
Right, and so you know you'recatching people at different
levels of the funnel.
They got to be familiar withyou, with your name, what, what,
what's happening and and evenwhat you're talking about a
content creation of.
With the podcast, with thebooks, I actually am in the
process of turning we have 700,I don't know exactly how many
podcasts, but turning those intoa book and repurposing this
(20:52):
content.
But we're working withbusinesses going hey, a podcast
is a great way to generate thathigh quality content.
That's typically the mostdifficult part for small
businesses, right, and and youcan set it in a, a container and
and also social media hasreally changed the game with Tik
(21:13):
TOK, where it wasn't a, it'snot so much now on on YouTube,
instagram and Tik TOK about yourum, you know your audience
count, which consistentlybuilding audience is what's
going to get people to rememberyou and buy from you, and
there's so much data surroundingthat.
But in today's world, um, youdon't have to wait that long If
(21:34):
you put out a good piece ofcontent that's valuable, the
algorithm is going to show it tothe right people and it could
go viral and you could be aovernight success, right, and,
and then you need to manage andand and maintain the
relationship with them, oryou're like a flash in the pan.
So the strategies of whatyou're doing has, well, you know
, the internet's matured, thestrategies matured, and if
(21:57):
you're a small business, um, youknow, and your job is to be a
digital marketer, um, now I, Iwork at the agency, at DWR, with
a lot of businesses that aretrying to sell whatever widget
they're trying to sell, right,um, and, and I am not quite an
influencer of, like, pushingtheir products.
That's not like my businessmodel, but my business model is
(22:20):
to help them, um, become a, athought leader, um, become, uh,
uh, expert, become an authority,you know, and and if they want
to become a celebrity, like thatkind of tends to happen, but,
but it's how to help them dothat and build the systems for
them to be successful, becauseonce you do start ranking in
(22:42):
those top three positions inGoogle, and then you know that
takes a lot of different effortand and a lot of it does start
on the social media channels,but once you get into those
positions and you earn it andyou have to earn it across the
board it's kind of likeincumbency.
It's like something like 68.7%of all traffics in the top three
positions at Google, so it'slike, how do you get there?
(23:05):
And then how do you stay there?
And then that's when, like thehigh quality leads, that's when,
like that's where the lion'sshare of the traffic comes in,
and so it's so important tounderstand how to speak to the
love language, as you called it,to the search engines.
I did a blog a while back about, like you know well, AI, or
(23:26):
Google, is a large languagemodel.
It is machine learning, it'staking all that data and
organizing it, and the fasteryou know you need to speak SEO
is the language of searchengines the faster you know how
to talk to them and understandwhat you're saying.
They want to talk back to youand they want to help you
(23:49):
because they want to show youthat content.
So I I think that that's, um, agreat example and that that is
something that that, uh, I I dida blog about like a couple
years ago, so I love that, tellme more.
I want to know more of whatyou've learned.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Share some secrets that you have of digital
marketing, yeah, so one of thebig things and I love that that
you wrote an article about thatbecause it really is so
important and can be missed oroverlooked.
And the same idea with a lot offolks that are.
You know, when we're bloggersor we're content creators, we
(24:27):
can really sometimes get lost inthe idea, kind of in our
creative world.
You know, because you know weare creators, we're artists, you
know writers, so it can be easyand I know I did this on my
first blog and usually try toshare so people don't make the
same mistake but we can get lostin the idea of creating content
(24:47):
that we think is valuable, thatno one's actually said that
they want to hear or read about.
So it's very important.
One of my pillars, along withniching down as hard and precise
as you can, is also it's notwhat you say as the creator,
it's what they say as theaudience.
So it's very important that weare in tune with those keywords
(25:09):
you know what are peoplesearching for with respect to
the niche category that you'rein and making sure that we
really stick to that, you know.
So you know for myself, with aVegas site, you won't I may take
a trip to Mexico.
I have one coming up in January.
If I were to share that, it isonly going to be related to Las
Vegas.
You know whether that is.
(25:30):
You know here are, you know,five Vegas resorts that have a
Mexican or tropical vibe.
You know it's going to besomething like that.
Maybe I can compare thepictures that I took when I was
at the resort on my vacation orsomething to the effect of a day
trip to Mexico and it onlytakes this long from Las Vegas,
another thing to do.
So I wouldn't just put anarticle up there about a
(25:51):
wonderful resort in Mexico andhow that worked, because that's
not my niche and so, whereasthat might be something that is
fascinating to me, I had awonderful time on my vacation.
We want to make sure that it'svery aligned with.
You know what the site is about, which is things to do in Las
Vegas.
So always remembering that andalso even first making sure that
(26:12):
someone's even searching forthat type of content, so that we
know you know, hey, what's thesearch volume on that?
Is someone?
Are people really looking forthat?
Is it worth our time in writingthat?
Otherwise, a great way to usethat type of content.
If the answer is no, it's notworth writing about that.
No one's searching for that.
It's just to use it on ourInstagram stories, which that's
a great way, you know, a toolthat we all can use to just get
(26:33):
more personal with our audience.
Share what you know my Mexicotrip is actually a business trip
to share why I'm there and youknow what I'm doing on business.
So it's a great way just tokeep our audience engaged with
us as a personality online.
But if it doesn't make sense,the bottom line is, if it
doesn't make sense for the blog,it doesn't land there.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, I'm, I'm actually sharing, for, for those
of you that are watching onYouTube, I'm sharing the Vegas
right now site and there you are, and there there's.
There's a lot going on here andI think that um, breaking some
of this down is, um, uh, really,really, uh, quite a successful
(27:13):
site.
I would tell you that, uh,building out, like the history
of the different places, right,build the contextual background
to, to what's happening with thesite.
One of the things from theaffiliate standpoint which I'm
sure you know is and this wasfrom another interview I did a
guy had affiliate site onmushrooms, like all different
(27:34):
kinds of mushrooms, and reallythe keyword search bar provided
that best user feedback, as youwere talking about.
Um, you can use those differenttools, uh, to help you.
Um, ooh, look at that.
We'll try to make that picturebigger again.
There we go, um, the that like,you can use these search tools
(27:59):
to get you started.
But those long tail key phrasesand the things that are going
to convert for you the best arenot always on there, those
little honey holes.
You have to discover those.
You have to be an expert, youhave to go where nobody else has
been, like kind of a blue oceanstrategy.
But once you start buildingtraffic with the site and
there's different kinds ofstrategies that you can use,
(28:21):
getting that feedback from thepeople that are searching for it
and having that two-wayinteraction is critically
important and you can do that onsocial media.
You can see how many times it'sshared or shown.
There's comment sections whichyou got to be sometimes careful
of because people will spam, butthe search bar is one of the
the the most useful tools to getfeedback of what are people
(28:45):
trying to find when they come tothe site.
Once you, once you rank, andthere there's there's just so
much opportunity to find a wayto add value to people and and
serve that niche.
And then there's all thesedifferent kinds of ways to to
make um affiliate money.
(29:06):
So, you know, tell me a littlebit about, like product reviews
or how, how you incorporateaffiliate links, cause I I am
going to do another podcastbecause perplexityai.
What's a little shady, I'll behonest, is um.
From a study that I saw, mostof the links that were click
through links right, like whenyou're used, and about 4% all
(29:28):
searches are coming from largelanguage models now.
So you know, search is changingRight, but they were just
showing affiliate links thatthey own the affiliate link to.
They weren't showing likeregular resource links.
So if you're a business, rightnow Google still shares pass
(29:49):
through traffic to your sitemore than anything else but
these social media accounts.
If you're selling something, youknow like Tik TOK shop and you
know things that Amazon there'sall kinds of deals changing and
happening and you know likeTikTok shop and you know things
that Amazon there's all kinds ofdeals changing and happening
and you know I'm not saying thatShopify or if you're doing
e-commerce, there's notopportunity.
But you need to understand thatyou can get visibility on
(30:12):
TikTok to build your brand.
Tiktok doesn't share throughany links Okay, except for, like
, the profiling.
So you need to understand thesedifferent platforms and how to
drive traffic.
And also, when you're lookingat metrics, when you're running
different campaigns, if you're abusiness or if you're trying to
hit certain metrics, you needto understand that awareness,
(30:34):
share a voice.
All these things need to worktogether and you need to look at
your kind of customer journeyand where your attribution is
and what your KPIs are to makeit work.
Now, if you're running your ownbusiness, you can kind of go
okay, I spend money over hereand I see that.
But if you're a marketer inhouse and you decide to use one
(30:55):
of these platforms, you're like,okay, tiktok's changed, let me
do this.
You need to make sure you havebuy.
You know buy-in from, fromupper management of.
Okay, this data is not going tolook as good Like where's the
the traffic going to come fromor where the tricks clicks are
going to come from, and alsowhat I've seen is, when you
start running an ad, um, ittypically takes about two weeks
(31:15):
for you to get any kind of likewhere you see that bump, like
you don't just turn it on.
People got to see that ad, youknow they got to be in that
buying window and so.
So it's really important tobuild a long term strategy.
I mean, what like?
What are some strategies andthen I would love to go into the
(31:37):
book after that.
But what are just somestrategies that you've really
found that are really kind ofunknown secrets when it comes to
building traffic on the site,like not the high level stuff,
like the really really like longtail specific stuff that maybe
(31:58):
maybe you've done that maybepeople might not be aware of?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, specific stuff that maybe you've done, that
maybe people might not be awareof, yeah, so one of the great
things and all that you said, sospot on, of course, but one of
the really granular secrets toreally, because of course, we
all on this show are probablyaware of Google, eeat, so the
expertise, experience,authoritativeness and
trustworthiness.
So that's if Google tells usthat, and my thing is always
(32:22):
that Google actually gives usthe answers, and you just spoke
to that when you were talkingabout using the search bar as a,
you know, a foundationalstarting point.
You know what are peoplesearching for.
That's telling you exactly whatyour audience is looking for.
So, with that in mind, one ofthe things and I said just being
, you know consistentlyeverywhere, on all over the
place, but consistent, which isone of my models to success, and
(32:44):
that means you know postingcontent, content consistently
and consistently staying ontheme with that content.
But it's also who you are andwhat you do and why it matters.
You're basically your elevatorpitch.
You want that consistentlyeverywhere, across all platforms
online, and why is important itgoes right back to what I
mentioned about the EAT is thatGoogle think about it this way,
(33:06):
whereas I look at it, as Googlealso has an obligation to serve
its customers, those who aresearching online me, you and all
of our readers and listeners,those who are searching.
There's an obligation to givethem the best product that they
can.
And so, with that said, if weare telling Google that we are
the expert, the trustworthyperson, the one with the
(33:27):
experience in our particularniche for me that's going to be
things to do in Las Vegas thenwe have to set the stage for
Google to know that we are thatperson.
So that means any type of pressI have in Las Vegas, any type
of experience I have in LasVegas.
Like I mentioned to you earlier, my husband and I, before
becoming residents, you know, wecame to the state consistently,
to the state of Nevada, to thecity of Las Vegas, for 20 years.
(33:49):
You know, just as tourists, youknow racking up ways, you know
figuring out ways to do thingsor how to make the best of these
trips, and so I tell that storyeverywhere I can, that you know
I've got 20 years of doing this.
I also live here.
You know here I am at thisplace.
You know and I can I tell thatin the alt text or in the
caption.
Here I am.
It's me, you know, at thisconcert that I'm talking about,
(34:12):
or at this restaurant I'mtalking about.
So in all ways that you can,you want to speak that to Google
that you are the experiencedand expert person on this top.
You know, on this topical, onthis topical authority and bios,
I'm a big proponent aboutgetting someone professional to
write a bio for you.
It's kind of one of my secretsis bringing in.
(34:32):
You had a great bio when theypitched me.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
You had a great bio.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, Thank you, I appreciate hearing that and you
know we we hired great help tomake sure that we had a, that I
have a great bio.
So I think just calling onother experts where you know I
may be an expert in Las Vegas,but I'm not an expert on
publicity, you know.
I'm an expert on, you know, orI like to say I know a lot about
search engine optimizationthere, but when it's necessary
(34:56):
we call in the publicist, youknow, to help with those things.
We call in the publicist, youknow, to help with those things.
So calling in experts in aparticular field is also a great
way to get your message outthere.
And then, once you do that andyou have that amazing bio and
you know all that expertise, youwant to shout it from the
rooftops on every platform thatyou're on so that Google is very
clear, you know that hey,Shonda's the girl to go to for
(35:18):
anything to do in Las Vegas.
She knows, she's there, she's alocal right on the scene.
That's the message that I wantto be sending, so that Google is
confident in showing my content.
Not only am I doing thatbackend research on the keywords
and making sure that I'mspeaking Google's love language
so that it knows exactly whatthis article is about.
But I also want it to trust mein the sense that, hey, she's
(35:38):
your gal, she lives there, shegoes to all these things, she's
got lots of content on things todo.
I can see the picture that saysthat's her.
She's there.
I support it with a great aboutpage as to why I should be a
trusted authority on Las Vegas,and I want to marry that same
type of conversation or thatcontextual strategy across
everywhere.
So on Pinterest, I want my bioin Pinterest to be very matchy
(36:01):
matchy to what I'm saying on myabout page on the website.
I want it to be the same forFacebook and the same for
YouTube and on Instagram.
So you know, of course bios getshort and you only have so many
characters on Instagram orTikTok, but the messaging should
be very consistent so thatGoogle's very clear about who
you are.
I'm from Virginia Beach, so I'mfrom the East Coast, coastal
(36:22):
Virginia Beach, but I live inLas Vegas and that's where my
authority is.
So I don't want Google to beconfused by that.
I want to make it very clear Imay be from Virginia Beach, but
I've spent 20 years diving intoLas Vegas.
I know the ins and outs of thestrip and off the strip, so that
kind of message you just wantto be succinct everywhere online
(36:43):
.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You know I want to piggyback on a couple of things
you said and then I want to jumpinto this book because we're
running a little low on time.
But what I would tell you isyou hit on something huge.
Eat is absolutely critical.
They've even what you weretalking about of being in the
picture showing the proof,holding the product, all that
sort of thing.
Google's added an E to eatexperience, right.
(37:03):
So you got E to eat, orwhatever it's called, right?
So, experience, authority, trustand expertise, right, but that
experience piece can't be faked,right?
Or?
I mean, I guess AI is going toget good with the pictures,
enough, but right, that that'show Google added to it to show
proof, right, and, and and alsoyou, you, you hit on authorship.
(37:26):
So authorship, I think it waslike 2014.
They brought it, they broughtit back in kind of a different
way.
It's kind of like a entity,like entity SEO and and being in
the knowledge graph and Googleunderstanding who you are and
how all these websites areconnected, like.
So, using schema, there, it'sreally really important for you
(37:48):
think Google just knows thatthis over here and this over
here, you know, there there'sthe same as, like, there's there
, there's things that you haveto do in the Google language to
code these things together,cause, um, I can tell you a
funny story Uh, a client of mine, uh wanted, uh in mixed martial
(38:08):
arts, wanted to outrank theperson that invented uh like uh
jujitsu.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
And because, because they didn't set up their entity
online correctly and this waslike pre-COVID we were able to
outrank them for something thatthey invented, like the Gracie
family.
We were able to outrank them inHouston for jujitsu a client of
(38:37):
mine to a client of mine.
And so you know, now Google'sgetting better, google's getting
smarter, but it's reallyimportant to connect these
things together because there'sno way that that should have
been possible online and what'shappening is Google's getting
smarter and figuring this stuffout on its own, but certainly,
(38:59):
you know, it's still learningand there's a growth curve there
and and the more that you cando as an individual or a
business to speak that languageand speak in that way to help
Google make those decisions,cause you like, think about it.
I was like, how does Googlefigure all this stuff out?
And you know it's it's, it'sit's codes, like you know what I
(39:20):
mean Like it's algorithms, it'slike these different things,
and so you know it does a prettygood at catching stuff, but not
not everything, not all thetime, and if you're writing on
different platforms and also youneed to, you know, okay, you
grew up over here, but you'respending time over here, how
does it wait.
It Like even when you'rebuilding a website where, where
(39:47):
do you want that waiting on thesite to go?
Because if you just makeeverything equally of the same
value, right, people do that intheir menu structure a lot.
Google doesn't know what's whatright, like or what how to value
stuff, and so you want to helpgive it signals in that area.
And that's why SEO is soimportant, just like a publicist
is important, like having anSEO consultant, at least even if
you're doing it on your own toto, to know, um, are we
(40:09):
presenting to Google in theright way?
What do I want to communicate?
What are those signals beingsent?
And I think all the things thatyou're doing are actually just
very intuitive.
Um, and and, and, and you,you've understand the love
language, so tell me about thisbook and kind of what.
What is the strategy with that?
Uh, I know we kind of talkedabout at the beginning.
(40:29):
I think it's good to close outwith it, but, like, what are you
trying to do with that?
Where's that trying to go?
What is the process?
Just, whatever you you wouldlike to share, I'd love to hear
it.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Oh, absolutely Thank you.
And yeah, the book 100 Thingsto Do in Las Vegas Before you
Die comes out again March 1st of2025.
I'm super excited about it.
Having the blog definitely seta wonderful foundation to be
able to write a book for thefirst time, and so a first time
book, and then to even get thata deal with a publisher who
believed in me and that was fromthe blog.
(41:00):
So our first conversation waswow, you're a great writer and
you do know a lot about LasVegas.
So it really the proposaldidn't have to be as much,
because they were pretty muchsold from the blog itself.
So that creating that contentconsistently or, if someone were
to Google me, it's very clearthat I write about Las Vegas but
(41:20):
I also write about SouthernSoul Food, but Google is not
confused by that.
We've set the stage that I am,you know, I do both of these
things, a topical authority ofthese different areas?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Right, absolutely.
And so you know.
There was a time, almost adecade ago, where Google was
certainly confused by me, youknow, when I was throwing
spaghetti at the wall in thatfirst vlog.
But that's not the case anymoreand really proud of the work
that we've done and, like I said, I feel like I've transformed
that vlog into a successful bookdeal, so I'm very excited about
it.
It's again all about all thethings that many tourists would
(41:51):
miss out on the hidden jewelsand treasures of las vegas, on
both on and off the strip.
But I just make it, um, breakit down very easy for you with
this book Lots of places.
My favorite line is there's theVegas you think you know, and
then there's this, and so I'mdelivering the this you know all
of the natural beauties, thewonders of Las Vegas, beyond
(42:15):
what you thought that you knew.
We have so many tucked awaysecrets on purpose that it's
just a really a fun place toexplore, even if, like folks
that come in just for aconvention, even if you're just
there for one day, I want tomake sure that you get the best
experience and know exactlywhere to go and what to do
without having to really worryabout that.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Awesome and what's the best way if someone can find
you?
I know we've talked about it.
I'll put the links in the shownotes but just for everyone
listening, can you repeat backhow people can find you or where
you want people to reach out toyou and check out your stuff?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Absolutely, so we're covering all ground, but the
easiest way is probably mywebsite, my namesake, my
signature site, which is ShondaNicole, and it's S-H-A-U-N-D-A,
nicole, n-e-c-o-l-ecom, soShondaNicolecom From there on
the homepage.
We're very strategic that youcan get to the book from the
homepage, you can get toVegasRightNowcom or you can get
(43:08):
to the SoulFoodPotcom from thehomepage and all social channels
are there.
I like playing the best onInstagram, which is also
ShondaNicolecom.
So, yeah, I'd love for anyoneto stop by the website or visit
on social.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Well, shonda, it was a pleasure to have you on.
Stick around after the outroand we can talk for a few
minutes more while it'suploading Everyone.
Thank you so much for listening.
Hopefully this was a little bitdifferent flavor from what we
normally do.
If you want to grow yourbusiness with the largest, most
(43:45):
powerful tool on the planet, theinternet, reach out to EWR for
more revenue in your business.
And thanks so much forlistening.
If you've got any value of this, please like it, share it,
follow the channel.
It really helps.
Thank you so much and until thenext time.
Bye-bye for now.
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