Interview with SEPH CADIZ

Today I am adding publish fifth interview in the series of interviews on EASKME.com. We have already published interviews with Steve Counsell from SteveCounsell, Jeffrey Romano from WPlighthouse, Alex Young from Smallbiztrends and Interview with Paul Manwaring. Today we are going to publish interview with a Digital Marketing Director. H.I.M Founder, SEPH CADIZ. 

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Please share about yourself and your story to enter in blogging? 

I always had a passion for the written word. From an early age I recognized how good I was at jotting ideas down, presenting them, and entertaining a room. Then, I found Myspace.

I started blogging on Myspace: posting up cool conversations; acoustic videos; and really discovering what it's like to be a part of a huge online community.

While in University I started my own greeting card label: writing; designing; and marketing greeting cards to local shops. These greeting cards to this day are in local shops and my parents still get cheques in the mail for me at my old home.
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After accumulating my body of work I landed a job as an editorial director at EveryGuyed and the rest is history. From there I freelanced for a long time; writing for various agencies as an seo consultant, content marketer, web developer and social media marketer.

The first startup I partnered up with was bought out by Buytopia; my second startup continues to grow bigger each year: the Canadian Wireless Trade Show is the biggest wireless network in Canada. Right now, I'm working with BusinessVibes is a startup looking to fill a void across all major business sectors and they are doing something really special.

How the idea to make your own blog came in your mind? How you found the right people to develop it and what big obstacles you faced? 

The first blog I came up with was for Myspace; cool hunting and documentation, basically creating a time line for myself before time line.

Then I started a greeting card business while in University and it covered environmental issues. Each greeting card highlighted a seasonal celebration while also offering detachable bookmarks.

At the start, it was all 100% original content. As the business started to grow I looked to crowd source the content.

Unfortunately I left for the big city and landed a new job.

A big obstacle many bloggers face today is marketing and being able to technically create sites and content. Today bloggers can find software as a service (saas) products like Pictochart or Instagram or Hootsuite to help create and market content.

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Another obstacle was source discovery and aggregation. I believe every blogger or content marketer should invest time with Feedly to help aggregate all of their content into one spot; managing all sources in one hub to help plan out each month.

If you hate marketing, you're not a blogger. Marketing is also half the battle in blogging. Signing up for all the major and popular social media networks, local directories and up-and-coming search engines is tedious work.  I suggest bloggers use social media tools like Hootsuite or Onlywire -- even investing in a digital assistant.

Can blogging really change someone`s life? 

This is a great question. I do think writing in general can change someone's life: why?

Writing helps structure your thoughts. It helps polish off your life story and help you build a confident voice.

If you want an engaging personality, learn how to tell a story. Personality is all about being able to tell stories.

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Blogging will help you uncover your writer's eye; paying attention to fine details; transforming the ordinary into the extra-ordinary. If you blog, you will tap into this eye, and nurture the ability to carve out your life story; giving writers an opportunity to self-reflect and offer an opinion on trending topics, news, and most importantly -- life.

What are your favorite Internet marketing tools?

Anything that expedites the marketing process, link building process, analytics. I love SEMRush, Hootsuite, or Onlywire. And there a few reasons why I love these tools:

1) SEMRush does a great job doing a quick analytical overview

2) Hootsuite does a great job pushing out content and reporting social results

3) Onlywire does a great job at pushing content across 50 sites at once.

What is your daily schedule? and how do you maintain your tasks? 

The early bird gets the worm friend. When I was content marketing at a junior level, I'd wake up at 5 am just to get the best stories. I'd publish  no later than 6 am and watch all the hits roll in (one of my Apple rumors got 1000+ hits in less than 30 seconds).

Then I read popular headlines until 7: 30 am while riding a stationary bike, then send out emails until 9 am. From 9 am  - 12 pm I plan out the day for each digital department. Lunch.

Blogging have different definition for different person. What is it for you?

The proper definition of 'blog' is 'weblog.'

In the early 2000s, blogging carried a lot of stigma. It was frowned upon by many established publications.

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Now, it's almost insane for a business or publisher to ignore.

Blogging is essentially your newsroom, your brand.

In an era with millions of copycat brands, your blog is a way to differentiate yourself from the other guy.

It's also an easy way to boost seo, social media, and build your email list. In essence, blogging is your brand. The writers who you choose to hire are your brand. They are the personalities brand loyalists look to and come back for.

Blogging is bait.

Which are your favorite blogs? 

I have favorite blogs across all different verticals. I follow a lot of tech blogs simply because a lot of the businesses are cutting edge and will forecast the trends in the consumer products market. But in this particular case the best blogs for digital marketing are:

1) quicksprout

2) Moz

3) copyblogger

4) inboundmarketing

5) social media today

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How much time do you spend on social media promotion and SEO of your blog? 

There's an interesting quote floating out there in the Internet today. "Content is king, social media is the queen, and she wears the pants."

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Half of the battle is getting your content in the right hands. I know some content marketers who invest more in marketing than writing content. I recommend at least 50% of your time should be spent marketing if you can't afford 75%

How much time do you spend for blogging daily? 

If you're running a business blog, I say hire someone full time or a professional agency to do the content marketing for you.

If you're just blogging based on interest, I'd set a quota for at least 4 a month. This totally depends on what your goals are as a blogger and brand.

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Message for Readers:

My message for the readers of this blog and beginner bloggers: write, write, write, write, write, write, write. Follow and read as many books find your favorite writers and live by their words. Create something everyday and push it out on social media and find out what works. When you find out what works, you'll be able to scale for others.

This was a great interview with SEPH CADIZ. I also wish him best of luck and bright future. So if you still waiting to start a blog, I must say you should start it right now. Waiting don`t give any result.

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