Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #37 With Rand Fishkin
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Rand Fishkin is the founder of SparkToro, a PR-style software company that helps people create better marketing by making the publications, people, and sources that influence a certain audience more transparent to organizations. Previously, he was the co-founder, CEO and Wizard of Moz.com, a multi-million dollar software and content company that was based on his own writing and ramblings while learning SEO in the early 2000s.
In addition to his extremely popular posts and Whiteboard Friday videos, Rand is also an author with a number of titles under his belt, most notably Lost & Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. Always more supportive of others than he is of his own accolades and success, he notes in his “official bio” that he is most proud of his prominent appearances in his wife Geraldine DeRuiter’s first book, All Over the Place.
What You’ll Learn About Writing This Week:
- Getting addicted to writing five nights a week for two years
- Why you should write in the language your audience uses for better SEO and headlines
- How important it is to write posts that get engagement rather than ones that just chase keywords
- Creating content that helps your readers accomplish and solve their problems
- Building a compelling story and a narrative around your brand to make an impact with your marketing
- Using a path of Audience Intelligence in your writing
- Finding your “area of passion” in order to discover compelling content that inspires your own writing (even if it’s an entirely unrelated topic from your industry)
Mentioned in This Episode (Links and Resources!):
- SparkToro
- Moz.com
- Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Guide to the Startup World
- All Over the Place by Geraldine DeRuiter
- Dreamweaver
- Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #19 with Geraldine DeRuiter
- Everywhereist.com
- SlideShare Presentation: “Why Content Marketing Fails”
- SlideShare Presentation: “Demand Creation”
- VerveSearch
- Lisa Myers’ SlideShare channel
- Geraldine’s Washington Post article on bullying
- Toggl
- Whiteboard Fridays video series
- Citylab.com
- Rand’s Dungeons & Dragons article
- Oddly Satisfying subreddit
You Can Find More of Rand and His Writing On:
Tweetable Quotes From This Episode:
- “People search uses specific terms and phrases, so it’s wise to use the same language that your audience uses.” – Rand Fishkin
- “Building demand through telling your story, and through brand associations and narratives, is crazy powerful.” – Rand Fishkin
- “Think about sending a pitch as submitting a job application: You need to tell an editor HOW you’re an awesome match.” – Rand Fishkin
- “[Reading] keeps you sharp, keeps you thinking outside your own specific world, and exposes you to lots of kinds of writing.” – Rand Fishkin
Thanks to our Season 3 sponsor: Coworker.com
About the Author Elisa Doucette
Elisa Doucette is a writer and editor who works with professional writers, entrepreneurs, and brands that want to make their own words even better. She is the Founder of Craft Your Content, and oversees Client Strategy and Writing Coaching. Her own writing has been featured in places like Forbes, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Yahoo! Small Business, and The Huffington Post, among others. She also hosts the Writers' Rough Drafts podcast here on CYC. When she isn't writing, editing, or reading words, she can usually be found at a local pub quiz, deep in a sun salutation, or binging TV shows for concept ideas and laughs.