April 2020

BUSINESS: HOW ARE YOU PREPARING?

We are all sharing thoughts and opinions on the current sequestering situation, but we haven’t seen many people sharing what they’re actually doing. Are you OK? How are you responding to the current situation? Let us know. We read, reply and share every email (with your permission).

Brian Dean, CEO of Backlinko, shared how he’s preparing for a time when the “Ali ali entry, free free free” call is given–childhood speak for “Come out, come out where ever you are.”

Dean’s Action items:

I’m working on a new piece of “big content” for later this year
I’m doubling down on building my email list
I’m learning new business skills (UX design and PPC)
I’m improving old content (mostly replacing old visuals with new versions)
I’m creating systems for hiring and onboarding contractors

Putting a temporary pause on publishing new blog content

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with publishing right now. So if you have a blog, YouTube channel or podcast, stick to your normal schedule.

The issue isn’t “publishing, it’s “promoting.” It’s a tricky time to promote content. The world’s attention is elsewhere. And considering that the Backlinko team and I spend 30+ hours on every post, I don’t want that effort to go to waste. Which is why I decided to put a temporary pause on publishing new content.

Instead we are…

Taking advantage of opportunities

If you look hard enough, you may find a handful of opportunities. For example, Facebook CPMs are down 75%. Google Adwords is 50% cheaper than a few weeks ago. The flip side is that people aren’t buying like they normally would.

But they DO want content. In fact, content demand has probably 5x’d in the last few weeks. Which means that now is a great time to build your audience and email list with ads. I’m tripling down on Facebook ads right now. And I’m seeing cheap CPMs.

Improving the process

Now is the PERFECT time to do the sort of boring stuff that makes your business more efficient. We’re using this time to create an organized system in Notion. That way, we can move content from “draft” to “ready to go” much faster.

Business as usual

Two weeks ago, I made a video for our core staff. The gist of that video was:
We’re in a fortunate position. This crisis shouldn’t change the work that we do all that much.

Giving back

I’ve made a sizeable donation to help health care workers on the front lines. I also contributed to a non-Covid cause to support people that are making the world a better place.