The #1 problem I encounter with business owners and their SEO is lack of understanding about what it is and how they can improve their search engine rankings. While I’ve written a lot of content geared towards those issues (click here to see more), I wanted to give a small list of things anybody can do once a month to help their SEO, even if they have no technical knowledge and limited time. Read on to find out exactly what you can do!
Read MoreLest I make any assumptions, I realize that there is a strong possibility you don’t even know what a 404 page is - let alone why you should pay attention to it! Every website has a 404 page. It’s the landing page for any broken links or misspellings in the URL. For instance, if you visit www.nike.com/1234, the page doesn’t actually exists…and you are quickly redirected to this page instead.
You’ve definitely seen a similar page before on multiple websites, letting you know that you’ve gone somewhere that doesn’t really exist. For most people, this is a standard page that says something like ‘Page not found.’ But what if you could actually use this page to market and brand your business? I’m here to argue that no web page should go to waste - even one that doesn’t technically exist!
Read MoreBusiness owners are always on a budget, and good business owners think hard about how they choose to spend their money. I completely understand, because I’m right there in the trenches with you! When it comes to thinking about one more thing to pay for in regards to marketing, it is understandable to recoil a little bit at the thought. So, does Search Engine Optimization have to be expensive? And is it really worth it?
The short answer: SEO does not have to be expensive to be effective.
Read MoreWhen I first got called a serial side hustler, I was a little taken aback. Owning my own business seems like such a natural way of life right now (it’s been over 4 years since I’ve done anything else!) that I hardly think of it as anything different. And yet, this life I lead was started by a side hustle, a dream that many can relate to, whether you’re working hard to build a retail business, selling oils, or hustling hard online to create a life that you love.
It was with this concept in mind that I talk to Josie from the Josieology Podcast a short time ago, as I relived my experience of growing and launching into both my first and second side hustles - because not too long ago (a year this month!) I finally decided to transition from wedding photography to online marketing as my main focus. What a year it has been…
Read MoreIf you’re here, it may just be because you know that it’s incredibly important to prioritize your Google rankings and search engine optimization, but you’re not exactly sure how you can do that. There’s a lot that goes into SEO, and while some of it is complicated, there are other little changes you can make to dramatically improve your website without hiring outside of your company.
If you’re new to the world of SEO or just want to improve your rankings even a little bit in the days and weeks ahead, here are five SEO tips for any online business that are sure to help you improve!
1) A little update can go a long way…
Read MoreI wrote a few years ago about what a day in my life generally looks like, and it surprisingly turned out to be one of my most popular blogs. Since then, things have changed as business has shifted and Willow has gotten older…and, of course, when she started daycare a little over a year ago. So as an update to what life looks like for me on a day-to-day basis, here’s what I do!
Note: I feel like I have to mention first that I have learned to not adhere to a schedule so strictly that I can’t give myself a little grace, breathing room, or a random day to sleep in here and there. Then the rest of my day can fluctuate as needed.
Morning…
Read MoreI tend to listen to podcasts when I have a little extra time during the day…and, actually, when I feel like I have less time than usual. Let me explain…
When I have more downtime (which, I’ll be honest, is rare), I might sit and listen to a podcast and occasionally take notes. I spend time really focusing on what each word says, and thinking through it all. However, on most days I am rushing from one thing to the next, just trying to fit it all in. On days like that, I turn on a podcast whenever I am doing something with my hands but not my head.
If I’m trying to feed my toddler lunch, there’s almost no way I can listen clearly, but if I’m prepping dinner while she plays outside or I’m making graphics for blogs like this while she naps, I often turn on a podcast. Sometimes, admittedly, my mind wanders and I don’t soak in all the information, but every little bit helps, and I love learning while I’m doing other day-to-day tasks.
So what podcasts have helped me grow as an entrepreneur? Here are the top 3 podcasts I would recommend for any online business…
Read MoreAs I've started to reflect on the last few months and what changes have happened, my initial thought was that nothing really changed in my business. After all, I run my business entirely online, and even local client communication is done via email and phone calls - so what did I even have to change?
Despite that fact, I actually did need to pivot my business in a few different ways, and when I started to really dig in I was surprised at all the things I changed to not only stay afloat, but keep moving forward. Here's what I did:
Read MoreIf you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that blogging is at the core of my business, and I’ve been doing it for years. When I started out, I had no clue how to effectively use blogs to make money or attract new customers, so I just wrote about my life. Fast-forward to today, and it takes a lot longer to craft the perfect blog post…yet it’s 10x as effective as it was before I paid more attention!
Most business owners have no idea how to write an effective blog post, and I often see people writing just to write. While there’s nothing wrong with that (and YAY to those who are creating content regularly!), it’s simply not the best use of your time…and your blogs could be doing SO much more! Before you get started on your next blog, here are the 3 things you should do for every post you write - and I’ll tell you exactly why you should be doing them, too!
Read MoreNow that you know why Search Engine Optimization is so important, your next thought might be, “So what do I do about it?” When I first jumped into the world of finding out about SEO, I was admittedly a little overwhelmed. It seemed extremely technical and a bit over my head. Although at first I felt like I would never understand it, and while there is always more I could learn, I can now confidently say I have a good grasp of the concepts and what it means for small businesses.
There are a lot of different ways you can invest time into improving SEO, but the most basic piece of improving your website for Google is simply content. This is both the copy (words) that are on your website and the new content you are producing and sharing online with your audience. Both are foundational elements to creating and maintaining a robust search presence. So let me break that down just a little!
Read MoreAs a business owner, you’ve got a million things on your plate…you have clients to keep happy, products and services to create, a thousand emails to answer (per DAY!), fires to put out, employees and contractors to deal with…and it’s already tax season again somehow! When it comes to marketing, the big push is to be visible on social media, and for now even that may feel like too much to handle!
Today, I am making a case for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and why it is even more important than social media marketing. Almost every business has a website, but very few business owners prioritize key updates needed to make their business show up on Google to potential customers. These are the top reasons why SEO matters as you consider your online success…
Read MoreIf you’re like me and almost every single person I know, you spent a few hours this Sunday sitting on your couch watching football…or at least, talking with a lot of people who were there for the purpose of watching Super Bowl 54 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. It’s a day that unites sports fanatics and non-football fans alike and, as with most things in life, it inspired my own thoughts about marketing and search engine optimization.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Super Bowl and Search Engine Optimization actually have a lot in common. Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll explain…
Read MoreTrust. It’s one of the top factors to getting people to buy your product or service. The bigger the investment, the more trust you have to earn in order to gain new customers. Besides word-of-mouth, one of the best ways to earn trust online is through reviews. Google, Facebook, and Yelp are some of the top platforms that allow customers to review your services, but there are a million more, and many industry-specific sites. I’m certain that your customers have looked at your online reviews at some point, and if there are crickets there…well, it may have ruined a sale or two.
So what is the best way to get online reviews - especially the good ones? It takes a little bit of strategy and a little bit of time, but increasing the trust factor among potential customers is so worth the investment. Here’s what you need to do:
Read MoreThere are a lot of buzzwords that get thrown around in the world of online marketing, and one of the most popular is “SEO.” Web hosting services claim to have the best SEO out there, companies sell their SEO services, and small businesses obsess over whether their SEO is optimized. But at the end of the day, what is it really? And how can you achieve the best SEO possible?
In its simplest terms, SEO is Search Engine Optimization. It is a ranking given to a website that will push it higher or lower in search results. The ‘gold standard’ of SEO is to be on the very first page of results for a particular search, because the amount of people who visit your website will increase dramatically when yours is the easiest to find…
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