Kendall and Jered’s Tips for Driving Traffic With Educational Content
- Focus on providing readers value through your content and answering their questions.
- Use sites like Quora and Reddit to find ideas for content and poll your potential audience.
- Use different mediums such as podcasts to provide your audience with long-form content.
- Connect with guests and contributors with a large audience when driving traffic with educational content
- Concentrate on formatting blog posts in a way that is easy to read and understand.
- When driving traffic with educational web content, it’s important that you make sure that you’re answering a specific question that your audience has.
Show Notes
- OnePitch helps connect publicists and journalists to offer earned media opportunities to exciting brands and great stories for quality journalists.
- Coffee with a Journalist is a podcast that interviews top journalists about their best tips for getting published in major media outlets. The show is a terrific example of driving traffic through educational content.
- This show is powered by Start It Up’s subsidiary company – content writing service, Rriter.
Full Transcript of this Rriter Chat
Nico Hodel 0:02
Very excited to be talking with Jared Martin and Kendall Aldridge from Onepitch. And I’d love to just start off by hearing a little bit about both of you guys, and what you both are focusing on what your day to day looks like, at one pitch. And if you could give us a little bit of the background on one pitch as well, that’d be very helpful. We’ve used Onepitch in the past both first started up and for writer to great effect. And it’s a pretty amazing platform. So we’d love to hear it from both of you guys. What you’re currently focusing on at one pitch and a little bit about your background. Kendall, if you want to start us off, that’d be great.
Kendall Aldridge 0:47
Yes, so I am the marketing manager here. So we’re a really small team, there’s only five of us. So our duties have a very wide range. And so I pretty much do everything from you know, content, social email, anything kind of under the marketing realm. And I started one pitch at one pitch as an intern almost two years ago. That’s insane as I say it, but it’s really exciting. I think, coming up.
One pitch is we’re completely shifting to something brand new, that’s going to be launching soon. And I think the biggest goal is really just making that streamline process for PR pros and making it as easy as possible, eliminating, you know, those pain points in the best way that we can. So we’re super, super excited for November and to be able to share all that stuff with you guys once we launch.
Nico Hodel 1:43
Very exciting. Sounds like there’s a lot on the horizon.
Kendall Aldridge 1:46
There’s a lot coming on.
Jered Martin 1:48
There’s a lot coming up, you got no idea.
Nico Hodel 1:51
Great.
Yeah, I frequently talked with Jared about how PR is, in some ways stuck in a little bit of a time freeze. It’s a very stodgy industry. And I absolutely love what you guys are doing, bringing new technology into that industry in modernizing it and making it more accessible for everyone removing some of the moats and kind of making good PR and spreading good content through the web more accessible for for businesses as well as journalists.
So absolutely love what you guys are doing. Could you just give me some of your thoughts about what it is that actually makes good web content. So what goes into a web content that is readable, that drives conversions? And that is discoverable online?
Kendall Aldridge 2:43
So I think it really depends on kind of where you’re at. I think for us, like I said, we’re a small team. So making content that’s, you know, covers several different areas, meaning, you know, SEO, we’re adding some graphics in there, we’re making it educational, that’s been the biggest thing. And we went from something that was really interview based where we always had spotlights on people, we took the time to kind of see, you know, we don’t have a lot of money going into advertising. So we took a lot of time to see, okay, where can we get those organic leaves?
And what are they looking at? So that has been that educational content? When you go to Google, you know, you’re either searching like, Where can I get X, Y, and Z food? Or something like that? Or you’re asking a question. So we really honed in on that. And that’s something that we saw was missing. But I think, you know, whether kind of just across the spectrum, if you can give people value in content, that’s going to resonate, and that’s going to be important. So I think the biggest thing is value education and answering questions. That’s been the biggest thing for us.
Nico Hodel 3:53
Okay, I agree more. Yeah, very well put? And do you guys have any tips or tricks for people that are looking for questions or queries online that people might be searching for within their niche that maybe you could be able to target with a piece of content? Do you guys use any tools or techniques for that sort of work?
Kendall Aldridge 4:14
So how we we kind of did this just the odd way, we went straight to Google, and we put in those key topics that we were looking for. And we looked at all of those related search terms. So you know, for example, media relations, you can look and see all of those questions that people are asking what they want to know.
And then you can kind of look at what articles are doing well, and what are those talking about? And then how can you, you know, change that a little bit and make it work for you and for your audience. But I think, honestly, Google has been our best friend. But it’s helpful. You know, it’s free. You can find everything you need, that’s where everyone goes. So that’s, that’s been kind of the place that we found those questions and kind of what People are looking for.
Jered Martin 5:04
you go, um, what I was going to mention Kindle definitely hit the mark in terms of how we kind of identified what to write about. One strategy and technique that we’ve really leveraged over the past few months, has also been going to Reddit, going to Twitter, going to Korra, posting questions that we know people want to know the answers to, and kind of pulling the audience so to speak, to get them to provide some insights.
And so our insights combined with those, you know, we can create a post very easily. But it’s also good content, people are interested to hear what others are doing and how they’re doing it. So it’s real, tangible answers. It’s not just Hey, you know, here’s a statistic from some well known publication, and you got to kind of interpret it in your own way. We’re really trying to drive the narrative, but also, you know, go to our audience who go to our community for some of those answers as well.
Nico Hodel 5:58
Very cool. Yeah, I’ve seen what you guys have been doing with the coffee with a journalist series, been seeing a lot of that content. And it’s really good. Some of the journalists that you guys interview are really insightful. And some of them we’ve actually had at at events in New York. So I see some familiar names. So if you guys want to talk about that, briefly, I’d love to just hear how that series came about and what you guys are trying to accomplish there.
Kendall Aldridge 6:26
I think Jared, you have you have the background on how it came about more than I do.
Jered Martin 6:33
So it’s kind of funny, we were just talking about this, my co founder, Rebecca Bamberger and I, and we, we came up with the podcast last year, this was around January, February time, we launched the first season in March of that same year. And this was right around the time where podcasts were really starting to grow in popularity. There were, you know, the well known ones that were out there, like how I built this, of course, Joe Rogan. But that was really around the time where we saw a lot of brands starting to shift to that channel.
And so we kind of just started it as a side project, we didn’t really have a lot of high expectations, nor did we, you know, think that we would hit 20,000 downloads within a year. And since that point, I mean, we’ve like you’ve said, Nico, we’ve interviewed a ton of great guests, we’ve really tried to hone in as well, kind of similar to this whole content thing. Would to public relations professionals and marketers and communicators want to know, from journalists, what can’t they find anywhere else that’s not in their biography, or that’s not on Twitter.
And that’s really kind of how we’ve designed the interview format, is to ask these questions that you can’t find anywhere else. We’ve had a couple of folks, you know, not only tell us how much they enjoy the show, but even have told us Hey, you know, I’ve connected with x journalist because of I listen to your episode, and I heard what they liked. And I was able to understand how to pitch them and how to really connect with them on just a personal level, not just a professional level. So like I said, our podcast, it’s been one of our strongest marketing vehicles to date, I would say that’s number one, even ahead of our blog content.
And I think part of the reason is just began because we’ve been able to really get some some really great guests on the show, books were really well known not just within, you know, the area of coverage that they have, but they might be well known on Twitter, so they have a really large audience. And really, at the end of the day two, journalists are always talking about other people, but they’re never getting to really talk about themselves.
And that was another reason for us why we wanted to do this is we’re like, you know, journalists have great stories to tell. We’ve all at least most of us at the team have been fortunate enough to sit down and talk with them individually, and heard how compelling you know, they are, I wouldn’t say compelling, but how difficult it is sometimes to do their job, but also how how rewarding it is and the different things that they get to experience. So if I could summarize it, you know, again, we didn’t really have a lot of expectations.
But now that we’ve seen the results that has provided us not just with, you know, leads, but again proving the value of why we’re doing it, and I think we’re on, we have almost hit 50 episodes, I want to say I think we’re almost at like Episode 35 of season two we did 12 in the first season. So we’re pretty excited and really happy to see the metrics and the results that we’ve gotten from it thus far.
Nico Hodel 9:18
Yeah, congrats on all the success you’ve had with that. I’m not surprised at all because you guys do a really good job diving deep into educational content and providing a lot of detail. And that’s something that’s, I think, intrinsically easy to do on a podcast because it so often is long form. certainly possible and written content as well.
But people can’t have come to expect that from the the podcast format. So really, really cool that that you guys have gone into that space. For people listening. I’d love to know your thoughts on what are some of the most common content mistakes.
So Where do people go wrong when publishing content online? And what are some easy ways that they can use to to correct some of those those errors?
Kendall Aldridge 10:10
Honestly, I think for me, and this is something that we realized, but a huge thing is formatting, formatting of how your blog looks, making it easy to read, easily digestible, I think that’s something that we’ve really realized is people want to skim people want to know where to look for what fats. And I think, you know, when you have a blog, that’s just, you know, one text, just straight block, no, you know, molding, I really think that formatting is huge.
But I also think bringing in those key players in your space, so kind of like Jared said, you know, we go to Twitter, and we ask those questions a lot of people are answering back. And that just also establishes that trust and establish that relationship within the blog, people want to keep coming back. So I think when you can really bring in those people and put it in a way that’s digestible, and easy to look at, easy to read, that has value, that’s the best thing.
But I think a lot of people can write blogs, and they don’t have those people, it’s not easy to look at, not easy to read, you know, there’s not other resources there. So that will kind of be my recommendation. What I’ve seen.
Nico Hodel 11:21
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more readability is huge. And both in terms of people being able to digest the content, and also, search engines, being able to quickly collect all the metadata they need from the content, and really know, you know, what it’s focusing on. Thank you guys so much for your time.
And for everything that you you guys are doing. listeners can go and check you guys out at one pitch dot SEO. But if there are any other ways that listeners can get in touch with you online, would love to know how they can connect with you. And anything else that you both would like to add? Certainly, more than welcome.
Kendall Aldridge 12:03
Our DMS on social are always open, we’re always looking at them. So if you have any questions, you can always go there. We love getting them, it gets us really excited. So you can always go there, you can always email us directly. And we’re, we love talking to people we love talking in general. So we’re always, always open for good Convo.
Jered Martin 12:24
And I’ll just add a, again, our podcast coffee with a journalist, you can find us on all the major podcasting networks. Every Tuesday, we launch a new episode, we put a blog out, we’ve got tons of great content about it, we do follow up content, kind of rounding up some thoughts from journalists and things like that. So definitely give it a look if you’re interested in learning more about journalists.
And other than that, I think Kendall mentioned it before, but we’re launching a brand new tool this November. So keep an eye out. We’re gonna be revamping the website pretty soon here. And then we’ll kind of be creating a little countdown and creating some hype on social. So you’ll start seeing some message coming out pretty soon here.
Nico Hodel 13:00
Definitely will keep an eye out for that. And really quick before I let you guys go. The reason that I definitely wanted to speak to you both is because one pitch is a great tool for building backlinks and connecting with journalists that are looking to publish content within your niche.
And so we’ve certainly had great success getting stories published on some really, really quality publications. And building those backlinks in a very natural organic way.
So for anyone that’s interested, please check out one pitch and make it part of your toolset and your arsenal for online content for sure. So with that, um, Let both of you guys go. Really looking forward to the exciting news ahead. And hopefully, we’ll speak again soon.
Thanks for having us, Nico. Appreciate it. Take care.