Woj Kwasi, Author at WojCast

Ian Lurie: A Future-Proof Broken Record (Episode 9)

January 16, 2018

A Future-Proof Broken Record - Interview with Ian Lurie

What do you do to get your copy right? Mastering the art of communication is more important than ever if you hope to capture and hold onto a modern audience that is literally drowning in content.

There’s nothing wrong with being spoiled with choices, as long as the options are of the highest standard and our guest, Portent’s Ian Lurie, has the insights to help you write premium content.

Join our heroes on Episode 9 of WojCast as they attempt to wax poetic with one of the kings of content. Ian’s wealth of experience has made him the self described, “broken-record” of basic rules and principles of marketing that if followed correctly will turn into future-proof gains over time.

Ian Lurie Quotes

"What’s consistently worked is what’s always worked in marketing and as you know, I’m a broken record on this. You need a clear message, well communicated and well executed. You know, it used to be that well-executed meant fantastic TV, print, radio campaigns, but now well executed means visible in search, usable, and very fast." (3:29)

"If we are professional communicators, we are the ones who can most impact the level of discourse everywhere and by communicating messages more effectively, and I don’t care if you’re communicating it about briefs, or politics or whatever, you know, pretzels. The better you communicate the more you impact the overall way people communicate with each other." (9:25)

"Really it’s not the mistake that screws you, it’s what you do after the mistake that can get you in trouble."
(11:33)

Key Takeaways

Whole-brain marketing (7:14)
Establishing an authentic voice in marketing (8:11)
Future-proof marketing practices (13:03)
ClearLink acquires Portent (17:50)
A use for random affinities and mixed metaphors (18:40)

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Jason Acidre – Linking with the Sage (Episode 8)

January 9, 2018

Linking with the Sage - Interview with Jason Acidre

Any gaming fans in the house? Ever considered testing your superior hand eye coordination skills in the business world? Put down the controllers and join our masterclass in link building on episode 8 of WojCast with Xight Interactive's Jason Acidre. He’s a former pro-Counter Strike player turned digital marketing superstar.

In our interview he talks about the challenges of transitioning from pro-gaming to digital marketing and running his internationally acclaimed business from the Philippines.

In the competitive world of outreach, Jason shares some of the philosophical principles that allow his approach to remain so effective and keep also him feeling great in the process.

No cheat codes necessary this round, Wojcasters. Join our heroes Woj and Bobby Bot for a link session with the sage.

(No Counter Strike competitors were injured in the making of this episode)

Jason Acidre Quotes

"I guess that’s the main thing about outreach is you really have to be more focused on the human side of the practice itself other than the science." (5:00)

"The ones who can really get tons of links are the ones who break something. Like, discovered something and are the first to publish it. They become the instant resource for that particular thing." (18:45)

Key Takeaways

The anatomy of a successful agency (11:40)
Jason's content-based link building battle plan (15:52)
The future of marketing (23:14)
What Jason's studies have to teach us about the role of empathy (27:28)

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Jon Cooper & Paddy Moogan – I Link Therefore I Am (Episode 7)

December 26, 2017

I Link Therefore I Am (Cogito Ergo SEO) - Interview with Jon Cooper and Paddy Moogan

Bottom's up: we're shouting a round of link juice - and it's a double! WojCast is happy to present Episode 7 featuring the lords of links, Jon Cooper and Paddy Moogan. Add to your digital arsenal with a double dose link lesson from two of the best in the business.

Our heroes Woj and Bobby Bot find out how the young Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO turned a Uni passion project into a full time hustle, eventually developing a scaled link building campaign he would share with the world.

Jet-setter and Aira co-founder Paddy Moogan drops in as well to talk about his New Zealand sabbatical, writing the book on links and transforming into a living breathing meme.

Will the art of links assist Bobby Bot on his empathy quest? Take a break from familial bliss and find out on the latest edition of WojCast.

Quotes

"If Matt Cutts is saying ‘they’ve got many, many years left in them’, as much as he hates links himself, and link-spam, which he is actively fighting, that means something. It means it’s still the basis of their algorithm." (18:45)

"I think ultimately you’ve got to think about the stuff that Google will never want to penalize and ultimately that comes back to having a website that deserves to get links." (35:30)

Key Takeaways

How to weird out a business mogul (0:34)
Industry trends and seizing the moment (3:44)
Low-cost, good-quality link building tactics (27:18)
A Kung-Fu break (35:07)
Holding onto dreams, being in gratitude & trusting the process of our lives (33:25)
How to give content the "Mum Test" (45:11)

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Dr. Pete Meyers – The Brave New World of SERPs (Episode 6)

December 19, 2017

The Brave New World of SERPs - Interview with Dr. Pete

Are you struggling to understand search engine results pages? Check in with the good Doctor of Moz, Peter Meyers who joins the crew on episode 6 of WojCast to take the lid off the mystery of international search by sharing the results of some of his game-changing research.

Join our heroes Woj and Bobby Bot as they dig deeper with the search scientist to understand what the future will look like as Google goes beyond ten blue links.

80% of search engine results pages change every day, so now’s the time to assess how frequently we produce content, how creative our strategies are in digital and how we are tracking in the new era of visibility.

In typical Dr. Pete fashion, his interview is filled with insights, Twitter-worthy quotables and plenty of actionable takeaways for fellow mad data scientists.

The Doctor is in!

Dr. Pete Quotes

Listen to Dr. Pete deliver a crash course in international SERP’s, content creation tips and the art of infographics:

"The nicest thing I hear about MozCast is when people just basically say, ‘Thank you for letting me know I’m not crazy’ and that’s really gratifying." (6:50)

"I don’t think [Google] know. They know that’s what we need. We need small screens, we need voice. How do you monetize a voice answer if there’s no SERP? They don’t know and they have to figure that out." (14:31)

"You can’t do everything for Google and complain about Google, and then build a site that doesn’t sell a product and doesn’t make money. That’s self-defeating." (16:33)

Key Takeaways

A brief history of the good doctor (2:02)
MozCast's SERP flux research (5:38)
Google's expertise bias (9:13)
Mobile-first in search design (13:10)
The first thing every Search Scientist needs to know: not all SERPs are created equal (27:55)
What Dr. Pete can teach us about digital empathy (28:30)

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Gary Illyes – From 28K to Reinventing Search (Episode 5)

December 12, 2017

From 28K to Reinventing Search - Interview with Gary Ilyes

Does pondering the inner workings of Google keep you awake at night? In the fifth episode of WojCast, our heroes Bobby and Woj talk to Google’s own webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes. When he isn’t working side by side with the search lords arranging the collective knowledge of humanity into a infinite potentially self-aware interactive digital library, you can find Gary helping (or trolling) users on Twitter, dishing out Google’s guidelines and best practices so that all of humanity’s great ideas can be found online.

In this interview we travel back to Gary’s first memory of the internet and trek all the way back to the future-present where he finds himself speaking regularly on behalf of one of the planet's most powerful companies.

Join Woj and Bobby as they wrestle with the greater ramifications of AI in search and try and figure out how Google ticks while simultaneously using advanced machine learning to score Bobby Bot a blind date with destiny. Google it!

Gary Illyes Quotes

Listen to Gary Illyes breakdown some of the Google basics (or secrets) and why organising humanity’s collective information is such a big deal:

"Our goal was always to provide the most relevant results to our users and that hasn't changed over the years." (3:40)

"In general, I hope that publishers will try hard to create high quality sites instead of trying to sell Viagra in a Canadian casino without a prescription." (4:00)

"So we continuously try to throttle the bots that are scraping our results, and we sometimes even mess with the search results just to screw them." (13:34)

"If we disclose stuff about the core ranking algorithm, then we would be in deep crap." (17:15)

Key Takeaways

The making of a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst (2:03)
Google and transparency (17:13)
Mobile apps, mobile websites or AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)? (18:53)
Google and the Internet of Things (24:08)

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Larry Kim – Swimming Up WordStream on a Unicorn (Episode 4)

December 6, 2017

Swimming Up WordStream on a Unicorn - Interview with Larry Kim

In the fourth episode of WojCast, our heroes Bobby and Woj talk to WordStream’s founder and digital marketing expert Larry Kim about how he started his business from the ground up and what it takes to excel at software development, PPC and unicorn level content creation.

The remarkable growth of WordStream is impressive, even by tech standards. By attracting a team that is as deep into thought leadership, hacks and ideas as he is, Larry has created the go-to source for knowledge and inspiration for all things digital marketing.

Join Woj and Bobby and learn the formula for creating one of a kind content and learn the secret to promoting it so that your unicorn gets the attention it deserves.

Larry Kim Quotes

Listen to Larry Kim uncover the secrets of creating unicorn level content, conquering pay per click advertising and scaling the industry leading business WordStream.

"I'm allergic to doing stupid things over and over again ... I want to write a program that does it for me." (2:52)

"Running a venture-backed business is kind of challenging... it's like you jumped off a cliff and have to build the parachute as you're falling." (6:48)

"Why would you create something if not to promote it?" (13:29)

"WordStream didn't start out with millions of page views... we started out with zero. It doesn't matter how much effort you do, it's more about the consistency." (17:13)

"By definition only 1% of your stuff is going to be the top 1% of your stuff." (18:00)

Key Takeaways

The challenges of growing a venture-backed business (6:46)
Making success part of company culture (9:58)
Content curation is the most leveraged form of marketing (12:10)
The art of content promotion (13:42)
The art of creating unicorn level content (17:45)
What Larry's building with Chatbots at MobileMonkey (24:30)
Larry's little fake news experiment with big implications (25:25)

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Mike King (Part 2) – Mike Ain’t Gonna Drop (Episode 3)

November 28, 2017

Ain't Gonna Drop - Interview with Mike King (Part 2)

In the third episode of WojCast, Woj gets us caught up with the latest power moves from the SEO superstar, Mike King.

Many things have changed for Mike since Woj first sat down with him 5 years ago. Today he is in charge of his own inbound marketing company iPullRank, he resurrected a digital space for the Hiphop community with an online record store Undergroundhiphop.com and he just created his own cryptocurrency. Oh! - and he’s just become a father. All in a day’s work for Mike King.

Tune in to find out how Mike is able to continue to grow as a professional innovator and meet the new challenges of leadership while still holding true to his Hiphop roots.

Mike King Quotes

Listen to Mike rap with Woj and Bobby Bot about the challenges he has to face as a business leader and learn some of his pro tips on running a dream machine:

"I wanted to start an agency because I wanted to build a crew of people that can effectively do anything and any time we have good ideas we can just execute on them." (7:17)

"I want to build an outlet to people that are getting older and still have that love for Hiphop." (10:30)

"I want the story. I don't want the media trained story. I want the meat of it." (29:38)

"A comprehensive marketing plan is basically all channels. You can't just do organic, you can't just do paid." (38:50)

Key Takeaways

Inbound Avengers assemble! How Mike built his dream team at iPullRank (7:00)
SEO, Hiphop and the better user experience (10:45)
Death to clickbait (26:58)
Mike's guide to machine learning (42:42)
How listening to Jay Z can help you create marketing personas (52:34)
How Rand Fishkin and Marty Weintraub continue to inspire Mike (57:24)
The Skratch ICO - Initial Coin Offering - is in the works (1:03:40)

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Mike King (Part 1) – Inbound Marketer Without A Pause (Episode 2)

November 21, 2017

Inbound Marketer Without a Pause - Interview with Mike King (Part 1)

In the second episode of WojCast, Woj digs into his interview archives to share a conversation he had 5 years ago with an up-and-coming SEO superstar, Mike King.

In this interview Mike describes his journey from grinding as a rapper in New York City’s underground Hiphop scene to establishing his career in SEO.

Mike’s interview reveals some of the challenges he had to face as an artist transitioning into a new role at iAcquire and the what his unique skill sets brought to the table.

Woj and Bobby put Mike to the test with a new challenge they call “Mike-Guyver”. Will he pass the test? Listen to find out.

Mike King Quotes

Listen to Mike rap with Woj and Bobby about life mastering two of his passions - Hiphop and SEO.

"You put more into music than you get out of it ... everything resonates in inbound marketing." (6:08)

"I was really big on my rhymes being able to stand alone, without a beat. And I’m still like that – I want everything I say to mean something." (7:24)

"I feel like I kind of have an unfair advantage in that respect because I’ve had to explain thoughts that rhyme and be clever, and now it’s just like, oh, I just got to talk." (9:15)

"Make good content, build good links, and it’s business as usual." (16:08)

Key Takeaways

How Mike discovered Hiphop culture. (3:51)
The challenge in finding the balance between his art and his career in SEO. (6:08)
Developing his holistic SEO approach at iAcquire. (10:07)
A lesson on internal linking structures. (16:36)
How MC Hammer's search engine helped Woj discover Mike King. (19:30)
Using Mr. Men to up your marketing game. (19:36)
Mike's new cryptocurrency - Skratch - that's unlocking hidden revenue for music makers. (19:40)

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Lewis Howes – Hustle (Episode 1)

November 14, 2017

You Matter - Interview with Lewis Howes

In this debut episode of WojCast, Woj introduces the world to his sidekick Bobby Bot, an artificial intelligence itching to learn all he can about humanity and the value of empathy.

What better teacher than Woj's first guest, Lewis Howes. He is the creator of The School of Greatness and curator of incredible self-improvement and leadership lessons.

During Lewis's interview, you'll be taken on his journey, from his struggles with an uncertain future after injury derailed his path to professional football to the creation of his globally respected brand and the life-changing conversations he has been able to document with his inspiring podcast series.

Lewis Howes Quotes

Hear Lewis speak with Woj and Bobby about personal growth, the importance of structure and gratitude:

"I just want to continue to grow and learn and do something that's really fulfilling from me, and that's learning from the best." (9:24)

"We create freedom in structure ... scheduling in the things that are important." (15:00)

"Every single day there is something magical that happends ... start, finish and process the entire day with gratitude." (34:42)

Key Takeaways

Meet Bobby Bot (0:39)
How to be great in all the areas of your life (7:19)
The role sport plays in dealing with stress (10:10)
Lewis talks about his latest book, The Mask of Masculinity, inspired by a very personal journey to understand the roles men cast themselves in and how it holds them back (27:54)
Holding onto dreams, being in gratitude & trusting the process of our lives (33:25)

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Wojcast Trailer – Episode 0

October 29, 2017

I’m Woj Kwasi, founder of Kwasi Studios. Join me in conversation with some of the world’s digital elite and leading entrepreneurs to undercover the secrets to their business and online success, including: How to overcome adversity to build a thriving business, mastering authenticity and discovering the power of digital empathy.