Robin Thicke’s Shocking Reveal to Gentry Thomas about Lil Wayne on “Masked Singer”. 29 Jan 2025, 10:52 am

Robin Thicke recently joined Gentry Thomas on an episode of “Backstage Pass” to talk about the season 12 finale of The Masked Singer.

During the interview, after reflecting on the success of the show where he serves as a panelist, Robin was asked which contestant surprised him the most when their identity was revealed.

His answer? “Definitely Lil Wayne.”

Thicke explained that despite having seven collaborations with Lil Wayne, he failed to recognize his voice on the show. He added:

“The fact I didn’t recognize his voice, I lost all credibility and have regret.”

Therefore, check out everything Robin Thicke said on “Backstage Pass with Gentry Thomas” below.

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The Encouragers™ The Radio Rally™ podcast. 19 Apr 2023, 2:42 am

The more people you get out and meet, the more experiences you bring to a variety of people, the more opportunity you create. That’s it

Gentry Thomas

April 17, 2023 –> Hear directly from Gentry Thomas, founding partner of Radio Customs (parent company that owns Shaq Fu Radio, Muddy Country Radio, Podcast Playground and Audio Swamp) as we talk openly about the role of failure in success, about raising investment money, about hard work and behind the scenes work that makes new products become brands TODAY. We talk about intermingling with the famous and what they won’t give you along with what you must bring to play at their table. If you want to go backstage on what it takes to have successful, profitable online radio, this is your episode. If you run a local radio business and you want to grow the value of your products and brands, this is your episode. If you want to understand what willingness and risk look like, this is for you. Learn the value of experience, the power of celebrity and the growth behind hard work. Come on board for the win!

It’s just time to learn from someone like Gentry and to be encouraged by what is possible, that YOU may not even think is possible. I promise – it’s in this episode. We talk about success, online radio, podcasting, growing business, getting sponsorships, fame, failure, learning and growth and – if you are smart – you’re listening to this podcast to help you and encourage YOUR SUCCESS in radio (whatever form that takes for YOU). Learn, grow, self-encourage, get the right mentor. 

Get. Encouraged. Are you ready?

25 Top Places to Publish Your Content and Market Your Business 28 Mar 2023, 6:50 pm

If you’re still only publishing your content in a single place, you’re missing out on a huge amount of exposure, visibility and results you could otherwise enjoy…

Still only publishing your content in a single place? If so, you’re missing out on a huge amount of exposure, visibility and results you could otherwise be achieving.

To give your content the greatest chance of success, you need to publish it as widely as possible across a whole network of different content sites.

This involves repurposing content – in other words, creating new versions of the original content – to suit the specific platform you’re publishing on.

For example, let’s imagine your content is currently in the form of a blog post. Here are some examples of how you might repurpose it:

– Into an article such as this. Often they will be quite a bit shorter than the original post. Depending on the site it’s published on, it may not use the same amount of visual imagery.

– Into a presentation for publication onto say SlideShare.

– Into a video for YouTube. If you’ve already created a presentation, the easiest way is to use that as the basis of a video.

– Into multiple Tweets spread out over time, taking some of the key takeaways from the post.

– Similarly into one or more updates for other social networks.

I’ve mentioned a couple of key sites already where you can publish your content. There are of course many others.

Here’s a full listing of 25 such publishing platforms and content websites, starting with…

1. Your Blog

Your own blog should be central to your whole content marketing strategy. Through regularly publishing high quality content, you build credibility, authority and traffic.

Plus each post forms the basis for quality repurposed content you can then publish elsewhere.

Thanks to built-in audiences, these other sites can attract much higher engagement levels. This can also lead to your content spreading virally and reaching thousands you wouldn’t otherwise reach.

3. Twitter

As already mentioned, multiple Tweets can be scheduled to go out over time, using different key points from content you publish elsewhere.

2. Facebook

Each time you publish a new post – or publish content to some of the other sites listed here – schedule one or more updates for Facebook. Use an image such as your post’s Featured Image to boost engagement levels and click-through.

4. LinkedIn

Similar to Facebook, one or more updates can be scheduled out over time, linking back to the original content. You’d generally do this through your Company Page.

5. Pinterest

If you’re using a Featured Image whenever you publish to your blog, you can easily re-use it as the basis of a post on Pinterest, linking back to your blog. You can also post videos and SlideShares directly to Pinterest.

6. Google+

Google+ can be good for micro-blogging, where you create a longer synopsis of your content than you might do on say Facebook. Or even a series of posts based on the original content.

Publish content to your personal profile, your business page, and to different communities you are a member of in order to widen your reach.

7. Instagram

Instagram is gaining popularity with marketers, as it can have much higher engagement levels than Facebook. Try reposting your blog post’s Featured Image or perhaps infographics you can post here as well as say Pinterest.

8. Medium

Medium was created by a couple founders of Twitter, and designed to use all the best bits of the other social networks. As such, it can be a powerful place to publish your content.

9. Tumblr

A microblogging and social networking site, Tumblr is one of the top 10 most popular sites in the United States.

Posts will generally need to be visually-appealing to get tood results. Experiment with say publishing an excerpt from your blog post with some images, and then linking back to your blog for the full post.

10. SlideShare

One of the top 200 websites in the world, and can give you a lot of exposure quickly. Simply create a presentation based on a blog post, and upload to the site.

As already mentioned, the presentation can also be used as the basis of a video for publication on…

11. YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine just behind Google, though most marketers focus mostly on Google.

By regularly repurposing content as videos, you can build up your presence here and take advantage of all the additional traffic and exposure it can give you.

12. Vimeo

Another site you can upload your video to for additional visibility.

13. LinkedIn Pulse

Because it taps into LinkedIn’s network, good content is readily shared and can easily reach thousands within just a few days who you wouldn’t otherwise be in front of.

14. Google Images

You can’t submit images here directly, but by using images within your blog content for example, it can still deliver some additional traffic for you.

Here are some tips, which also help your SEO in general:

– Reference your domain name within your blog post’s Featured Image.

– Be liberal in your use of images within blog posts, while ensuring they add additional value to the visitor.

– Use keywords in the names of your images.

15. Your Email List

All your content gives you ample material with which to stay in touch with your email list and keep your business front of mind. Re-use your content within a regular ezine, linking to the relevant content and driving up your engagement stats.

16. Other Ezines

Find ezines in your niche that readily publish content from contributors. Often you’ll find such content is added to a related website too. For example, I’ve been regularly published in ezines going out to hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

17. Guest Post on Other Blogs

Contact relevant blogs in your niche to see if they accept guest posts – many blogs do. This can give you valuable additional exposure.

Rather than create content from scratch, save time by creating a new, unique version of a post that’s already on your blog.

18. Printed Publications

Don’t forget offline opportunities to publish your content. Think about businesses that offer printed newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and so on.

19. Forums

Relevant forums can be a great place to publish your information. You’re not trying to sell anything, just attract people to you through your information.

Be sure to check out the forum’s rules and simply aim to add value. Contribute regularly for example by reusing some of the content you’ve created before. Link back to posts or other content where it’s relevant and helpful to do so.

20. Amazon

Think about repurposing blog posts as say content for the Kindle. For example, you can periodically create ebooks based on a collection of posts you’ve already published.

21. iTunes – Podcasts…

Content already on your blog can easily be repurposed into podcast content. Use a regular podcast to reach and grow an engaged and loyal audience who might not otherwise come into contact with you.

22. Reddit

Post content to subreddits related to your niche. You’ll find subreddits have their own rules, so make sure you abide by them, but good content can end up reaching thousands in this way.

23. Quora

Search for questions and topics on Quora on which you have created content. Post answers in which you deliver a lot of value within Quora itself, but then link back to your content elsewhere for further information.

Answer other questions without any links to give some balance, while also helping to build your profile and attract followers.

24. Yahoo! Answers

Similar to Quora in some ways, but a less sophisticated user base. Approach in a similar way to Quora by fully answering questions and linking back to other content for further information.

However, you do firstly have to spend some time on the site getting involved. You can only add links once you are at Level 2 or above.

25. Google Web Search

Of course, your content is ‘published’ on Google Web Search, similar to other sites. You don’t control your ranking, and therefore how visible you are, but you can heavily influence it.

For example:

– Focus on creating value for the visitor. The more value you create, the more visibility you’ll be rewarded with on Google.

– Publish content on other sites around the web, such as those here. That increases your exposure, leading to more links to your content and higher overall authority.

– Focus on building your social networks. This can again encourage links to your content. Plus more views for content such as videos and presentations can give them higher search rankings.

Finally…

Try republishing content to just a handful of your preferred sites from the list above. By doing it regularly, you’ll see your results really start to build.

Does it work? You’re reading this, aren’t you?

9 Reasons To Use A Podcast For Content Marketing 9 Dec 2022, 11:20 am

Creating useful content for your audience is your number one job when it comes to creating your content marketing strategy.

A simple way to create more content is to start a podcast. Podcasts are helpful because they give your audience a new way to connect with you and get to know you. Plus, you can establish yourself as an industry leader, making content production useful for your audience and you. That’s a win-win.

1. Connect with Your Audience on a New Level

When you host a podcast, you will connect with your audience differently than if you have only a text-driven blog. You can speak to them more directly and show your personality better, and you can connect with them longer and wherever they are.

2. Your Audience Can Listen on the Go

A really awesome feature about podcasts is that your audience can listen to your podcast from anywhere at any time. They could listen on a run, while cleaning the house, driving in the car, or in any number of other locations. You can be with them on a regular basis as they live their lives.

3. You Can Share Longer Content with Your Audience

When your audience reads a blog post, they won’t stick around most of the time if the post is too long. But, when you have a podcast they will listen to useful information for a lot longer than they will spend reading. You can have an hour-long podcast easily. You can provide a lot of information in an hour.

4. Interview Movers and Shakers

Industry leaders like to be interviewed on podcasts. If you have an appropriately-niched podcast, you can invite them to be interviewed on your show. When you get to know and connect with leaders like this, you start being seen as a leader. Some people call it the “Oprah Effect”.

5. Get Invited to More Events to Speak

As you stick to your podcast on a good schedule, providing entertainment, information, engagement, and useful information to your audience while connecting with industry leaders, you’re going to notice that you eventually start getting invited to speak at events and on other podcasts. This will build your audience bigger and faster.

6. A Great Way to Repurpose Content

If you’re stuck for content ideas, a podcast will end all that. As you create even one podcast, it will become fodder for blog posts, eCourses, and other content if you repurpose it. Plus, you can repurpose content that you already have for your podcast.

7. Stand Apart from Your Competitors

There are far more blogs than there are podcasts. More than likely there aren’t as many who have blogs and podcasts. This will make you stand out against your competition and help you jump ahead.

8. You’ll Give Your Business a Voice

You’ve probably heard that you need to find your “business voice”, but sometimes that can be harder than you think. But, if you have a podcast, your personality on the podcast will become your business’s voice.

9. It’s Easy to Get Started (and Inexpensive)

Today, starting a podcast that sounds super-professional doesn’t take a lot of money. Most of the technology is probably on your mobile phone already. But, the best thing to do is start, and build from there when you feel you need more.

A podcast provides on-demand and targeted content that your audience is looking for. It’s free for your audience, they can listen to it on the go and allows you to connect with your audience much better than text-based media. To learn how easily you can start your own podcast, download a free checklist, Podcasting For Beginners, at https://jonallo.com/podcasts

SEO Trends for 2023 to Help You Grow Your Website Traffic 9 Dec 2022, 10:29 am

The end of the year is a time for reflection, both personally and professionally. 

And if you deal with search engine optimization (SEO) on a daily basis as we do, then now is the perfect time to reflect on SEO trends for 2023 and consider what changes you should make to your SEO strategy to ensure you stay on top of the search results. 

But even if you don’t deal with SEO the way we do, if you own a business, you’re going to want to think about this. 

Because if you’re not visible on the search engines, and your website is buried in a heap of competitors, then you’re probably not going to be very successful over the next year. 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of business owners out there who don’t have a firm grasp of these concepts, and even those who, dare I say, don’t even know what SEO is. 

So, for those of you who have no idea about SEO, I’ll give you a little refresher. 

Search engine optimization is simply the process of attracting organic (free) traffic from the search results in search engines and other sources. 

At this point, some of you are probably saying, “Okay.   But why is this important to me?”

Well, if someone starts typing keywords into a search engine that are relevant to your business, then you want them to see your site right away, and this requires you to rank high within the search results. 

You see, if your business doesn’t appear high up in the organic search results, then potential clients won’t even know you exist, and they’ll probably go to a competitor instead. 

But there’s more to SEO than just traffic, and the purpose of optimizing your site isn’t just to increase your website traffic.   Ideally, it should help you to boost your qualified traffic, which is traffic made up of people who are actually interested in the products and/or services you have to offer. 

Now that you know all this, it should astound you that some of my clients have even been wondering if search engine optimization is still relevant.   And the answer I always give them is a resounding yes!

With many of us still avoiding brick-and-mortar stores, and the vast majority of Canadians choosing to shop online, SEO is still highly relevant, and if anything, after the pandemic, it’s become more relevant than it ever has been. 

For example, according to data from Statista, in 2021, more than 27 million Canadians shopped online, which is an increase of 1.  5 million since 2020. 

Statista SEO bar graph

This number is projected to continue to climb over the next several years and is expected to increase to more than 30 million by 2025. 

So, as you can see, search engine optimization isn’t going anywhere, and business owners who choose to ignore SEO will be doing it to their own detriment. 

So, if you’re planning out your SEO strategy for 2023, and you’re wondering what the latest SEO trends are, then you should definitely keep reading. 

Because in this article, I’m going to explore the three SEO trends for 2023 that I believe will be most impactful over the coming year. 

READ: Google’s Latest AI Update for 2022: What It Is, How It Works, and How It Can Affect Your SEO

Googles-2022-AI-Update-What-It-Is-How-It-Works-and-How-It-Can-Affect-Your-SEO

Having a deep understanding of SEO requires knowledge of Google’s ever-changing algorithms. 

These processes determine what it will take for a website to have a high ranking in search engine results, and knowing how they work can give you a huge advantage when it comes to your SEO. 

This stuff can get pretty complex, so it’s not for everyone, but if you want to dive deep into the world of SEO, you should definitely check it out. 

This article explores Google’s latest algorithmic update, including what it is, how it works, and the effect it can have on your SEO. 

Read more here. 

The 3 Most Impactful SEO Trends for 2023 Artificial Intelligence The basis of any solid long-term SEO strategy has always been high-quality content. 

Without it, you’ve got a slim chance of bringing any visitors to your site or keeping those visitors on your site for any length of time, and they’re not likely to share your content either. 

In case you didn’t know, all these things are important to SEO, because in order to determine your ranking in the search results, search engines look at many different factors, including how much traffic your site is getting, how long those visitors are staying on your site, and how often your site is being linked to by other websites or shared on social media. 

But you can’t just put a few blogs on your site and call it quits.   It just doesn’t work like that. 

Search engines like Google love fresh content, and they reward websites that regularly post new content with higher rankings. 

But creating a consistent stream of content is much easier said than done, and with everything else a business owner has to take care of, it can be pretty much impossible to keep up. 

This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. 

Especially over the last few years, AI content generation tools like Jasper, ContentBot, and CopyAI have been popping up all over the place, leveraging machine learning to help create content. 

These tools use what’s known as natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG) technology to create content with nothing more than a few prompts from the user about things like keywords, tone of voice, or a description of the topic. 

The AI can then take that information and combine it with other data, including the billions of pieces of content available online, to create whatever content you want. 

But keep in mind that this stuff is by no means perfect, and the content these tools pump out tends to be plagued by the same problems as content written by humans. 

This includes things like poor structure and/or grammar, lack of authoritative evidence to back up claims, lack of originality, and lack of valuable information or insight. 

So, while these tools can help to lighten the load for content creators, a human touch will still be required for creativity and quality assurance purposes. 

But for anyone who wants to publish a lot of content, it’s definitely something to consider, and we’re going to continue to see more of this in 2023 and beyond. 

Chatbots Love them or hate them, chatbots are everywhere, and they’re here to stay. 

What’s more, I believe their ubiquity will continue to grow throughout 2023, as they offer so many benefits for business owners, not least in the SEO department. 

But in spite of the abundance of chatbots on websites today, I’m sure there are still plenty of people who have no idea what they are, so let me break it down for those of you who aren’t quite sure. 

The term chatbot refers to a software application that’s designed to simulate conversation with users, in lieu of a live agent. 

Chatbots work by being pre-programmed with responses to any number of questions or concerns from users, and they can also use artificial intelligence to determine what a user is saying and formulate a response. 

These software applications are becoming increasingly popular for many reasons, like being able to significantly reduce operational costs for business owners, and providing more timely responses to users’ queries. 

On the SEO side of things, chatbots are an absolute goldmine.   But why is that?

Well, because chatbots offer a better experience for users by ensuring they can get quick answers to their questions at all hours of the day and night, this can have a positive influence on several SEO-related metrics, such as how quickly users leave your site (bounce rate), how likely they are to return (returning visitor rate), and how long they spend on your site (dwell time). 

In addition, if a user has an overwhelmingly positive experience on your site, they’ll be much more likely to tell friends, family, and followers about it, both by word of mouth, and sharing on social media. 

That being said, I firmly believe that chatbots will be one of the defining SEO trends for 2023, and into the future, as more and more business owners begin to realize that this technology is an essential aspect of their SEO strategy. 

TikTok To be honest, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to get into this, but the fact is, TikTok has become so unbelievably huge that it’s impossible to ignore, no matter what you think of it. 

But many of you are probably asking, “What the heck does TikTok have to do with SEO?”

Well, I’m glad you asked!

The first thing you need to know is just how enormous TikTok actually is. 

According to data from Statista, despite being launched in 2016, by 2021, TikTok had already amassed more than 655 million users. 

Statista TikTok users graph

That may sound like a lot (and it is), but by 2025, that number is projected to increase to more than 955 million, which is nothing short of amazing. 

But aside from its incredibly robust user base, which allows you to reach an absolutely massive number of people, TikTok also offers many opportunities to improve SEO. 

However, the utility of TikTok as an SEO tool will depend on your target audience. 

Data from Statista shows that the vast majority of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34. 

Statista TikTok demographic graph

So, if you’re selling adult diapers, then your audience is definitely not on TikTok, and you shouldn’t waste your time. 

However, if you’re offering anything that’s even remotely interesting to TikTok’s main demographic, then you need to have a presence on this platform. 

Because even though having a TikTok account won’t boost your SEO in and of itself, what it does do is give you the ability to interact with TikTok’s massive user base and gain traffic from people who may never bother to search for you on Google, or any other search engine, for that matter. 

That being said, if you play your cards right on TikTok, it could have a significant effect on your SEO, as it presents a ton of opportunities to get users to click through to your website, helping to boost your organic traffic and drive qualified leads to your site. 

At the same time, TikTok’s algorithm is disturbingly good at serving users the kinds of content they love to watch, so it has the potential to connect you with tons of qualified leads who are actually interested in what you have to offer. 

In addition, it also allows you to stack social signals and gain backlinks, which can also have a positive effect on your SEO, as users interact with you by following your account, sharing your content, liking it, or commenting. 

All things considered, I think businesses incorporating TikTok into their SEO strategy will be one of the most prolific and important SEO trends for 2023. 

Are you completely lost when it comes to SEO? For more than 20 years, we’ve been helping clients connect with the right customers by making their websites more discoverable.   Sign up for a free 60-minute SEO consult to find out how we can help you connect with your ideal customers. 

To your business success, Susan Friesen
Photo by Tobias Dziuba

Shaquille O’Neal’s “ShaqFu Radio” Joins Live365 20 Sep 2022, 10:22 pm

Watch The Outcast Podcast on YouTube 19 Sep 2022, 10:02 pm

The Outcast Podcast has added some cameras and launched a YouTube Channel. Now you cas SEE Ramo G, Tom Kat, Memphis and Gentry. Subscribe to our show and start watching The Outcast Podcast.