Working Remote During COVID-19, Content Writing Tips & More with Miranda Miller [PODCAST]

“Taking those breaks and mentally resetting becomes really important. When you’re trying to multitask from home and you have all of this stuff going on around you, it’s important that you can compartmentalize and tune some things out. And then I think having video calls with the people you’re working with whenever you can is important… It’s important that we still have face-to-face communication, and that if there are difficult things you need to talk about or issues you want to get resolved, you have those verbal and visual cues too so it’s not just words on paper that could be maybe read a little more harshly than they’re intended. So keep having video calls through this time.”

One person in SEO you better know about is Miranda Miller.

She started out as a copywriter for some of the web’s first marketing gurus in 2004 and eventually landed bigger roles for some well-known brands in the industry.

While she’s gone in-house with different groups at some points in her 15-year career, she’s been working remotely for most of that time.

“I feel like we are the most practiced hermits on the planet,” she says.

She’s putting her extensive remote work experience to good use as she and other industry figures just launched Get Remote Ready, a place to access the services of experienced remote business owners and consultants to help businesses shift to a remote work environment.

In today’s edition of The Search Engine Journal Show, Miranda shares much-needed practical insights on working remote, her thoughts on writing and content marketing, and some inspiring stories from her career.

About Miranda Miller

Miranda Miller is a Digital and Content Marketing Consultant and Strategist for small to mid-sized businesses.

She’s a prolific business and marketing ghostwriter and experienced SEO practitioner. Some of her clients have included WordStream, Vizion Interactive, and Quark Expeditions.

In the past, she has been the Lead News Writer for Search Engine Watch, where we had the chance to work together. She was also an editor for a while over at ClickZ.

She won to Travel Weekly Silver Magellan Award for Best Cruise Industry Blog for her client, Quark Expeditions.

Currently, Miranda is a contributor for Search Engine Journal.

Listen to this episode for some interesting takeaways on working remotely, writing and marketing.

Show Notes

• The Coronavirus situation has caused an “avalanche.” Companies who have never even imagined that they could go remote are forced to do so. This is going to be the new normal for the next several months. [4:33]
• The big adjustments that people who are used to going into an office will have to make over the next couple of weeks or even longer. [5:51]
• How can people get involved with Get Remote Ready? [8:33]
• Miranda’s remote working tips for staying productive: “The most important thing is your mindset and developing routines that work for you.” [9:13]
• On managing stress – whether personal or client-related. [12:44]
• Advice for people managing a virtual workforce for the first time: “Shift to a more output-based mindset… You want to have those instructions in place to help them work effectively and be productive, but we don’t want to micromanage at all.” [14:56]
• What marketers and consultants can tell clients who are looking to make budget cuts in marketing. [17:03]
• “This is the time to step back and really look strategically at what is this going to look like in the future and what opportunities can we take advantage of right now.” [20:23]
• What led Miranda into the world of SEO 15 years ago? [21:24]
• On working for Search Engine Watch: “I think the mentality that I learned [at Search Engine Watch] about journalism, which has extended into all kinds of business journalism that I do now, is you don’t have to be first, you should try to be the best… It’s better to for the quality to be there in your content, you don’t have to be the fastest or the first.” [26:18]
• Miranda says there is always going to be a challenge with people who want to get rich quick and don’t see that there’s long-term value in producing quality content. [27:46]
• The time she scaled up, Miranda didn’t really enjoy having 6-8 writers in her team. That was five years ago. Now she enjoys being a bit choosy with clients – making sure their values are aligned. [29:52]
• How does she define success for her clients? [31:11]
• Her favorite content campaign was for a travel brand where she blogged about beautiful destinations and awesome activities. [36:37]
• When it’s not a good fit: “If something’s telling you not to take that contract, it probably could turn into a nightmare, so resist the temptation and send them somewhere else.” [38:06]
• Miranda’s tips for writing better content: Write an outline first then let it sit for a few days. Give yourself enough time and also a bit of freedom to not write in a linear way. It doesn’t have to start with the introductory sentence and end with the perfect conclusion. [39:56]
• On dealing with writers’ block and what to do when you don’t feel like writing. [42:36]
• Her favorite SEJ piece that she wrote? “10 Ways to Get Multiple Organic Page 1 Google Rankings” [44:53]
• How does she approach ghostwriting projects? [45:57]
• In the past, she had to ask a male colleague to have to make the presentation for some clients because they’re not going to buy into her recommendations just because it came from a woman. [48:51]
• What’s working well for clients in the content world? [54:11]
• The common mistakes people are doing when it comes to their content strategy. [55:25]
• Current resources she’s using to remain up to date on all things digital marketing and SEO. [56:59]
• If she wasn’t in search or marketing, Miranda says she would probably be a baker. [58:33]
• If she could go back in time to give her younger self some advice, it would be: “You don’t have to take this same path as everyone prescribed.” [58:53]
• Miranda considers this as the best piece of career advice: “Be a unicorn and a sea of donkeys.” –Larry Kim [1:00:26]
• The worst piece of industry advice she’s still hearing? Anytime something is dead – whether it’s email or SEO or whatever. [1:03:07]
• How can newcomers achieve longterm success in our industry? [1:04:05]
• The things that excite her the most in SEO and content marketing right now: voice search, image search, and multimedia storytelling. [1:05:25]
• Miranda’s take on ranking for featured snippets now that there’s de-duplication. [1:07:42]
• What’s next for Miranda Miller? [1:08:57]

Links from the Episode

How to connect with Miranda Miller:

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Miranda-Miller.com

• Miranda Miller on Search Engine Journal
• Get Remote Ready
• 13 Ways Businesses Can Use SEO & Marketing to Combat Coronavirus Impact (Search Engine Journal)
• 10 Ways to Get Multiple Organic Page 1 Google Rankings (Search Engine Journal)
• Search Engine Journal
• Digital Nomad Girls (Facebook Group)
• Sisters in SEO (Facebook Group)

People Mentioned

• Steve Wiideman
• Tracy Ingram
• Jim Hedger
• Kristine Schachinger
• Jenny Halasz
• Bruce Clay
• Jonathan Allen
• Larry Kim

This podcast is brought to you by Ahrefs and Opteo.

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Image Credits

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita