SEO for busy people

SEO

May 30

Whenever I give presentations on website topics to groups, I can practically guarantee that at least one question about SEO - Search Engine Optimization - will come up.

It’s not hard to understand why. After all, the theory goes: if we tweak a few magical and mysterious things on our website, Google will put us on page 1 of the search results, and effectively send us eager clients and easy money.

And every week, we get email solicitations from companies (some legit, some not), promising to help us with this. It must be true! It must work, if only we knew how. We’d be fools to ignore this juicy business source, right?

Well, hmm, not so fast…

I invite you to consider 3 important things:

Does your ideal client or reader turn to Google, when they’re looking to buy what you provide? It’s vital that you ask your best, favorite customers, if they do in fact use a web-based search for expertise or books like yours. It’s perfectly possible that referrals or friends’ recommendations are more important to them. The higher the price tag, the more luxury and bespoke the service, and the more “personal” it is (such as mental and physical health, or delicate matters), the more likely it is they’re asking their network who’s best, not Google. For authors, this study from Penguin Random House has eye-opening information about how your readers discover books.
When you ask people how they found you (and I hope you do), is Google sending you quality leads? I get plenty of website traffic from Google, and I welcome those folk with free and affordable DIY resources, but almost all of my amazing, favorite, 1:1 clients - those who recognize my expertise and are willing to pay for it - come through other methods. In other words, it’s about the quality of your website traffic, not just quantity.
Even if search is a key tool for your type of work, I worry that devoting too much time to sitting at your desk tweaking web settings is a lazy, shy, not-taking-responsibility approach to building your business. Google is not your fairy godmother. It’s exceptionally rare for you to crack the algorithm, then sit back and watch sales fall into your lap, especially if you’re trying to actually run your business at the same time. My concern is the focus on SEO steers you away from the tough, scary work of habitually getting out there* and making vital connections either with your ideal audience, or with people who know them.

* “Out there” can mean online too: I’m talking about you being proactive in identifying and finding the people who’ll want your work.

Can you guess that this 3-part answer is never very popular?

At some point in our writing or business journey, many of us have swallowed the marketing messages that growth should be easy, that we deserve it, and that we shouldn’t have to work like stink to get it.

In other words, folks like you nod when I give my fairy godmother answer, but still want the magic SEO advice.

Sigh. OK. I get it. If there’s even half a chance that Google will send you the people who pay your next rent or mortgage bill, it’s worth making some effort.

But I strongly encourage you: unless you have great evidence already that search is working well for you, or you’re in a highly niche business (for example, “curing behavior issues in two-year-old racehorses”, not “life coaching for stressed women”), or you’re primarily a local business where search is indeed a super-handy thing, don’t put all of your mental energy into pleasing Google.

Instead, take the simplified SEO route for busy people, as follows:

Accept that the algorithm changes, and you can’t possibly keep up. Since the very earliest days of search engines, people have been trying to “game” the Google algorithm. (Remember keyword stuffing, that unattractive habit of plastering certain words all over your website? Ugh.) Guess what? Google has a lot of resources devoted to staying one step ahead. And their people are really, really smart. Don’t chase your tail by aspiring to put one over on the brains from Mountain View. You can’t.
What doesn’t change: the algorithm rewards websites that are relevant, helpful, and fresh. So write useful material, that your audience engages with, and don’t let it get stale. Remember, it’s a hugely valuable exercise to find out what your community wants to know. Check out They Ask, You Answer for more tips on this (affiliate link).
Do check your website on mobile. If it’s more than a few years old, it might be ghastly on a small screen. If it’s been built (or overhauled) more recently, it should be fine. But do make sure: Google takes a dim view of websites that are not mobile-friendly.
Dig into your analytics: notice what’s currently popular on your website, and is sending you traffic. But view that through the lens, too, of whether this is core content, sending you the type of leads you want. Learn from this. If you’re getting found for the wrong reasons, there’s little point chasing more of the same.

For example: in one of my previous creative lives, I wrote and published light-hearted Anglophile fiction. But, my most popular web page listed British food sources in the USA. Most Google searchers wanted that, not my novels! This harks back to my very first point in this post, that avid readers were not using Google to discover their next book.
Do some keyword research. You don’t have to keep flogging this, but an hour spent poking around on Answer the Public and inside Google’s own tool is time well spent. Remember, your “keywords” can and should be short phrases, too. Getting found in your niche is always easier than getting found broadly. And you’ll probably be surprised that phrases you think are ideal might reveal poor search volumes, compared to a similar expression.
Related: Best SEO tools for beginners
Name your images, specifying “alt” (alternative) text if possible. Not only is it an essential help for visually impaired website visitors, but remember that search engines can’t read images. So you have to give them a hint, by explaining the important words that describe your photo or image. If you’re promoting something, don’t just upload the whole flyer as an image on your site: search engines can’t enjoy it like humans can. So, always break it down into actual text, if possible.
Keep an eye on your analytics, but don’t obsess. Remember, I want you getting in front of your audience in other (scarier?) ways, not sitting at your desk changing meta-data and telling yourself you’re “doing marketing”.
Stay authentic. Write for your reader, and talk to them. The moment you catch yourself structuring an article or web page with Google in mind, you’ve stepped onto a slippery slope. In my opinion, one of the reasons you might find marketing “icky” is because you’re trying to conform to a should, instead of simply sharing the aspects of your business you truly enjoy.
Submit your sitemap to Google. This is a simple file, usually created automatically by your website tool, that helps the search robot understand the structure of your website. For example, mine is at paulinewiles.com/sitemap.xml This gives Google a nudge to visit, and helps it know what to look at. Once you know the address of your sitemap, submit it to Google. If you’re already registered with Google Search Console, this takes less than a minute, and it’s well worth doing, especially after you’ve made any structural changes to your site.

For my 1:1 website clients, I also make extensive use of the excellent SEO settings in Squarespace. There’s a great checklist here to guide you, if you’re managing your own Squarespace SEO.

Want to learn more? There are further excellent resources for SEO here, provided by Yoast.

And what about SEO for your blog?

Before we dive into specific blogging tips, remember that blogging as a marketing strategy needs to fit into your overall business as something you love to do, that your clients love to read. I believe that blogging solely to please Google will burn you out. And if your audience no longer spends time browsing blogs, I encourage you to reach them somewhere else.

That said, if blogging is a cornerstone of your marketing plan, then it can certainly bring significant traction when done consistently. (Sorry, no lucrative shortcuts here!)

I reached out to award-winning lifestyle blogger April J. Harris for the following SEO blog expertise.

April has built impressive website traffic through blogging consistently, with dedication and a clear understanding of what her audience enjoys, including recipes and lifestyle posts. When it comes to building SEO success through your blog, April says:

Choose good keywords and mention them (authentically) 3-4 times in each post.
Use descriptive subheadings. These help guide your reader, but the robot looks at them too.
Use good quality photos, not badly lit or fuzzy.
Check the ideal size for photos, recommended by your blog platform, so they load efficiently.
Include internal links to keep readers engaged on your site for longer.
Use external links to reference a related expert article, but preferably one that’s using different keywords.

With almost 20 years of blogging experience under her belt (!) April now provides coaching on how to blog for your business. She’ll spend 1:1 time with you and your blog, showing you how to use it to promote your business, create community and increase sales. Find out more here.

In Conclusion

SEO can be a helpful source of website traffic, but don’t pin all your hopes on it.
Know what your audience needs, and understand what they’re searching for.
Be useful, be relevant, be authentic.