You might have even heard of content writing.

But how have those two things been mushed together, and what the heck is it?

In this article, I’ll explain exactly what an SEO content writing service is. And more importantly, how SEO content writing can be an absolute gamechanger for your business.

Firstly, what is an SEO content writing service?

An SEO content writing service is the process of creating content for your website that helps you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).

The company or freelancer who offers this service will usually create content in the form of blog articles (just like this one).

Some companies can also create guest posts that are added to other websites (not just the client’s website). The aim of this is to increase the number of backlinks to your website, increasing your authority in the eyes of Google.

What does an SEO content writing service include?

At the heart of it, an SEO content writer should be able to produce compelling content written in your tone of voice and style.

The content should be highly engaging and get your reader to take action. This is the same for all content writers, whether they specialise in SEO writing or not.

So what’s the difference between an SEO content writer and a content writer?

The main difference is in the extra ‘stuff’ included within the SEO content writing service and the overall aim of the content.

An SEO content writer should have a deep understanding of SEO. They should know how to optimise your content for your chosen keywords and phrases (without it sounding like a repetitive mess!)

They should know how to get you ranked on Google and advise you on the best ways to do it.

What is the goal of SEO Content Writing?

Just like content writers, SEO content writers should create compelling, engaging content that users love to read.

If you use an SEO content writing service you should expect the overall goal of the content to focus on website traffic and search engine rankings.

Any good SEO content writing service should:

• • Increase your search engine rankings for a variety of keywords
  • Increase your website traffic
  • Increase your backlinks from high-authority websites

As stated in Search Engine Journal, the main issue with SEO content writing services is often they focus too much on rankings but don’t know how to convert that traffic into customers.

Are you thinking of hiring a company or freelancer to help you with SEO content writing? It’s a good idea you look for a company that can create compelling copy that converts AND help you rank on search engines.

What are some key elements an SEO Content Writing Service could include?

Writing is just a part of what makes a successful, high-ranking blog. There’s actually a lot more that goes on behind the scenes.

Some SEO content writing services will include:

Keyword research

SEO content writing services may also include keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of finding out what topics and specific keywords and phrases people are searching for around your products and services.

If someone is doing this on your behalf, they will identify the topics you can realistically rank for that get a healthy number of searches each month. If they offer this as part of the SEO content writing service, then they’ll go ahead and write the content based on this research. Simple.

Content strategy

SEO content writing services are primarily focused on getting more traffic to your content via search engine rankings.

But good SEO content writing services should also focus on the entire buyer’s journey. It shouldn’t just be about getting people through the door (or finding you from Google), you also want to convert people too.

That’s why some SEO content writing services also offer content strategy as part of the service. They’ll help you form a strategy that guides people through the entire customer journey–from finding you to buying from you. This means they may create some content that isn’t designed to get website traffic, it’s designed to convert people into paying customers.

On-Page Optimisation

Some SEO content writing services will include on-page optimisation as part of the service. This means they’ll upload the content for you and ensure it’s optimised and formatted correctly for SEO. For example, they’ll optimise your URL, title tag, imagery, meta description and select your categories and tags.

This will increase your chances of ranking in search results. Optimising your content for your keywords is only part of what will help it rank, a lot of work also has to happen on your website itself too!

If you want to learn how to do this yourself, check out our article on how to optimise your blog post.

Measuring success

Some companies will track your search engine rankings as they continue to create content for you. They’ll also track things like the number of backlinks to your website, website traffic and leads coming through the site.

This is helpful as you can see what is working and what isn’t working so well and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Creating imagery

Some SEO writers or companies will even create bespoke imagery and optimise it for search engines. Some will also use stock image websites and ensure these are optimised for search engines too.

Who offers SEO content writing as a service?

There are a few types of freelancers or companies that offer SEO content writing as a service. And they all differ slightly in price, process and approach.

1. SEO Content Writers

These are typically freelance writers who have knowledge and experience in SEO. They are able to write blog articles and optimise them for search engines.

Some of them will offer keyword research as part of their service, which means they will research the topics, keywords and phrases that your audience is searching for.

Others won’t offer keyword research. They will ask you what keywords or phrases you’d like to rank for or what you think people are searching for. They’ll then optimise your blog post for these keywords and phrases.

Many don’t upload your content to your website and optimise your SEO settings. They will leave that part to you. But some will write things like the meta description for you, leaving you to add that to your website.

Some may upload the content to your website if it’s a platform (or content management system) they are already familiar with. There are a lot of different website platforms, and writers tend not to have knowledge of them all (nor should they need to!)

A quick overview of SEO Content Writers and what they do

Generally, this is what SEO content writers do and/or specialise in

• They are professional writers, often with experience in writing for business
• They have knowledge of SEO
• They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
• Some will offer keyword research as part of the service
• Often they don’t upload your content to your website
• Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Content Writer?

SEO Content Writers can typically charge anywhere between £250 – £1000+ per blog article. I know that’s wildly different amounts!

I also understand that this can sound expensive. But remember, both writing and SEO are highly-skilled work, and it’s likely that the SEO content writer has a lot of experience and expertise. Plus, it will take them time to research and write each article. Hence the price tag!

2. SEO Agencies

Many SEO agencies offer content writing as part of the service. This is often part of a broader service where they’ll also offer things like keyword research, an SEO audit, technical SEO, improving your website’s performance, and increasing backlinks to your website.

Some agencies will outsource the content writing they do for clients, as writing isn’t their specialism. Some will have in-house writers.

SEO agencies are highly focused on getting traffic to your website, and as many are not expert ‘writers’, you may find they place less emphasis on your brand voice and style. The content is merely a means to an end, and that end is website traffic.

They will usually upload your content to your website and optimise it for search engines, but may not have the skills required to create fancy graphics.

A quick overview of SEO Agencies and what they do

• They are experts in SEO and focus on all aspects of SEO (such as technical SEO or increasing backlinks)
• They may outsource content writing or have writers in-house
• They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
• They will offer keyword research
• They will upload and optimise your content
• Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Agency for this service?

They are usually more expensive than SEO content writers. A lot of SEO agencies have 6-month contracts and prices will vary from £1000 – £10,000+ per month (if they’re a pretty decent agency). And the more content they create generally the more expensive it is.

Remember that’s not just for creating content, that’s for an entire SEO service.

We know of a lot of great SEO agencies, but we also know that there are a lot of problems in the industry too. If you’re thinking of hiring an SEO agency, you might want to check out our article on the problems with SEO agencies.

3. Blog Management Agencies

This is where we sit.

Blog management agencies are less well known than content writers or SEO agencies, but they do similar things.

A blog management agency does exactly what it says, they manage every aspect of your blog. That means everything from keyword research and strategy, to content writing and creating imagery.

If they have a focus on SEO (like we do), they should hit the balance between creating compelling content and ranking on search engines.

Some of them will also be able to advise if there’s anything technically on your website that will hinder your rankings (like us!)

They may also write guest blog posts in order for you to build your backlinks to your website, building your authority with Google.

A quick overview of Blog Management Agencies and what they do

• They are expert writers and can write in your tone of voice and style
• They understand content strategy and should create content that helps people go through the entire buyer’s journey – from finding you to buying from you
• They should do keyword research for you
• They will upload your content to your website and optimise it for you
• They are knowledgeable in SEO
• Some (like us) should be able to create custom graphics for your blog posts
• Many don’t understand technical SEO (such as website speed, mobile-friendliness, broken links etc) so they can’t advise on that

How much does it cost to hire a Blog Management Agency?

There aren’t that many blog management agencies out there, and the ones that do offer this service don’t give a price unless you get on a call with them (annoying).

But a blog management agency would usually sit between an SEO content writer and an SEO agency.

We charge a minimum of £1397 per month for our blog management service.

Is an SEO Content Writing Service right for you?

Whether you choose an SEO content writer, SEO agency or blog management agency, SEO content writing can have HUGE benefits for your business.

Not only can you use that content to rank on search engines and deliver traffic to your website, but you can also repurpose it across your social media channels too. In fact, I can get 4-8 LinkedIn posts just from one blog post! You can learn more about how to repurpose a blog post here.

So yes, it’s an investment, but for many businesses, you’ll certainly see a good ROI from it.

And don’t forget to check out our SEO blog writing service for more information.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?  appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

We’ve all heard that we need to produce valuable, in-depth content and that ‘content is king’.

And that’s absolutely true. But if you tried it in practice, you also know how time-consuming content creation and can be. Plus, let’s not forget that your prospective customers and clients are busy. Just because you’ve shared a piece of your awesome content once, it doesn’t mean they’ve seen it!

So here’s something a content strategy you may have not considered – content repurposing.

In this blog post, we are going to share 6 different ways for you to repurpose a blog post (and save yourself a hell of a lot of time in the process!).

But first thing first…

What is Content Repurposing? 

Content repurposing means taking a piece of content that you’ve previously created and turning it into something that you can reuse and re-share somewhere else. Easy, right?

Repurposing can take many forms. You can record a YouTube video or a podcast episode and turn that into a blog post. Or you can take sections from a blog post and share them as a series of social media posts. You can even pull out interesting quotes from a piece of content and create beautiful graphics, memes, or infographics out of them. That’s repurposing too!

When it comes to content repurposing, you have plenty of options, but we always recommend that you start with a blog post first.

And here’s why…

Why Repurpose a Blog Post? 

We tell all our clients and members to have a ‘website first’ mentality.

Are you now wondering what that even is? Well, fair enough.

It’s simple, really. It means you create content for your website first and then slice and dice it however you like and repurpose it into different pieces. And once you have repurposed it, you can share it in different formats and on other platforms, like your email list or social media, for example.

But why start with your website?

Because the more content you share on your website, the more chances you give yourself to rank on Google for different keywords. And that gives you opportunities of being found by your ideal customers or clients.

Pretty cool, right?

We think so.

Because if you don’t publish content for your website first, you’ll miss out on all those search engine searches that could easily land more and more people on your website. If you want to read more about how creating content helps you drive traffic to your website, head over to our article, SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

But the blog post is the foundation of your content strategy – it’s where it all starts.

So now that you’ve got some amazing blog posts, what can you do with them?

1. How to repurpose a blog post onto LinkedIn 

The great thing about creating a longer piece of written content first (and that’s your blog post!) is that you can then easily take sections of it and create 5-10 individual posts that you can share on social media.

We use this method from Content Writer Sara Bussandri to repurpose our blog posts on LinkedIn, but it works for Facebook or your Instagram feed too.

All you need to do is to grab a section of your blog post (a teaching, a lesson, or a key point you want to share) and ‘dress it up’ for the social media platform you’re sharing it on.

Using Sara’s method, to put your post together, you need:

• A ‘hook’ – an interesting line or question that will stop people in their tracks. You want them to quit scrolling and read your post.
• A short introduction to your topic. Why are you talking about this today? Why does it matter to your audience?
• The lesson or point you want to make. This can be taken directly from your blog post. If it works, copy and paste. If not, rephrase and summarise.
• A conclusion or question to encourage your audience to engage with your post. You want people to comment on your post, as that tells LinkedIn that your content is interesting and popular. And in turn, it will be shown to more people.
• And finally, some hashtags. These work as keywords. If someone searches for a particular term or follows the hashtags you’ve used, they will see your content pop up in their feed.

LinkedIn posts are limited to a maximum of 1,300 characters, so you’ll have to break your blogposts down and repurpose the content.

An Example of a Blog Post Repurposed into a LinkedIn Post

Below, is an example of how we turned a blog post about creating a lead generating website, into a LinkedIn post. The main part of the LinkedIn post (the 3 key steps to get leads on your website) comes from this blog post. Every time we write a blog post we also write up 5-8 LinkedIn posts too. This is because the blog post is fresh in our minds and it makes it a much faster process!

Repurposing Your Blog Post Into A LinkedIn Article

But nothing stops from you sharing longer articles on LinkedIn.

You can either create a LinkedIn article out of your entire blog posts or use parts of it and encourage your readers to go and read the full version on your website. Publishing articles on LinkedIn can help with your brand awareness and visibility. And it’s also a great way to build relationships with your connections.

If you want to find out more about creating LinkedIn articles, our awesome member Louise Brogan wrote this piece: How to Create LinkedIn Articles That People Will Read and Share.

Repurposing your blog post into a LinkedIn Carousels

We don’t ordinarily see LinkedIn as a visual platform. But this recent article from Content Repurposing Expert, Amy Woods at Content 10x, was really interesting! Amy talks about how you can repurpose your content into a ‘LinkedIn carousel’ which is multiple images that you need to swipe through. These images tell a story or explain something. And they work incredibly well on LinkedIn. This isn’t something we’ve tried before but it’s on our to-do list after reading the article!

2. How to repurpose a blog post on Instagram posts and Stories 

Compared to LinkedIn, Instagram is a much more visual platform. So if you are going to repurpose your blog post content for Insta posts or Stories, you need images!

When we repurpose content for our Instagram account, we create graphics out of the content. We use templates from Viral Marketing Stars to help us, which can be customised with your brand colours and fonts in Canva. They’re designed to generate engagement and grow your following and have been working really well for us. 

Obviously, if you’re posting on your Instagram feed, you also need some written content to go with your image. The graphic will capture your audience’s attention and stop them from scrolling, but the text in your post is your chance to encourage them to engage with your content and go and check your website.

So make sure you write a unique and engaging post to introduce your blog content. You don’t want to just tell them to click on the link in your bio! You can use the same tips we shared for creating LinkedIn posts to write your Insta posts too.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post to an Instagram Post…

Below was one of several graphics we made based on our blog post, what to put on your homepage. As you can see the image doesn’t just say, ‘hey we have a new blog post!’ It gives people some actual advice (such as the 8 things you should include on your homepage).

3. Repurposing your blog post into a Podcast 

Your blog post can also be turned into a podcast. So once you’ve written your blog posts and organised all your thoughts on a particular topic, it’s easy enough to record a podcast episode out of it.

You can either record yourself as your read out your article like a script and then upload your audio file onto your podcasting platform, or you just use your blog post as a starting point and guideline. Instead of reading, you talk your audience through it naturally. And that will become your podcast episode.

Awesome, right?

If you don’t have a podcast show already, you may have a few other things to think about, including equipment, graphics, etc. To find out more about how to start your own podcast, check out this article from Colin Gray, a.k.a. The Podcast Host, How to Start a Podcast: Every Single Step for 2021.

And if you are a podcaster and your content creation machine starts with podcasting rather than with your website, you can fix that. Your podcast episodes can also be turned into blog posts that you can publish on your website to drive more traffic to it. For more information on how to do this, check out this blog post from Content Writer Sara Bussandri, How to turn your podcast episodes into blog posts.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into a podcast episode…

We took a blog post on how to create the perfect website and transformed it into a podcast episode called: The 6 Elements That Make a Successful Website. Both contain the same 6 key elements that make a successful website. And both break these 6 elements down.

The podcast and blog post are both similar, only one is written and the other is spoken. So if you have blog posts and you’re planning to start a podcast, remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel! You have plenty of content on your blog that you can transform into podcast episodes.

4. Using your blog post within an email 

Your blog posts can also be used to share content with your email list.

Again, we recommend that you don’t just send out an email that reads,

“Hey! I’ve written a blog post. Here’s the link. Go over and read it!”

Honestly? No.

You won’t get a lot of people who actually go and click on that link to read your awesome blog post.

Think about it – if someone’s trusted you enough to give you their email address it’s because they liked what they saw on your website, and they wanted more of it. So your email needs to deliver some value!

You want your lovely subscribers to learn something from your email, so don’t just ‘link drop’. When you put your email together, include at least some of the content from your blog post. Pull out the most important or interesting points, for example.

Obviously, you can still give them a link to it, but we’re talking about repurposing here. So ideally you want to use your blog content in the newsletter and give your audience the information they’re after.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into an email newsletter

As we said, you can’t just link to your blog post in your emails. It’s good to actually give some content within the email itself. In this example, from our bi-weekly newsletter, The Jam Sandwich, we break down just one point from our blog post, The Ultimate Guide to SEO.

We go in-depth on this one point and ask people if they want to read the whole blog post. But the point is, they will have learnt something even if they don’t go on to read the whole post.

5. Create a lead magnet out of your blog post 

Another way to repurpose your blog posts is to create content upgrades or lead magnets.

A content upgrade is a piece of content that you offer to your readers as a bonus or as additional information in exchange for their email address. It’s basically a lead magnet that goes with your blog posts.

Why add bonus content to your blog posts? Because that way you can capture email addresses and turn anonymous website users into subscribers. And once you have those people on your list, you can then nurture that relationship, offer value, and hopefully, one day turn that subscriber into a loyal customer.

Cheatsheets, checklists, or guides work really well as content upgrades, and you can create them yourself with very little effort using a free resource like Canva.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into a lead magnet

You can find a content upgrade example in our blog post, The Ultimate Guide to Generating More Leads From Your Website. Right in the middle of our article, we have a call to action that invites our readers to download our 10-minute Lead-Gen Guide.

6. Use your blog post in a presentation 

And last but not least, you could also repurpose a blog post into a presentation. Once you have a series of nicely designed slides, there’s a lot you can do with them.

For example, you could:

• Upload the presentation as a Document on LinkedIn.
• Give a talk at a networking meeting, an industry event, or inside a private membership.
• Share your content during an online webinar on social media (for example, in a Facebook live).
• Upload the slideshow onto your YouTube channel.
• Talk through it and record a Loom video that you can then upload onto your website.
• Use the content in a paid training session or workshop.

As you can see, there’s a lot you can do with your content, and it all starts from a blog post!

Want some help with consistent blogging?

Thinking up fresh new content for your website, social media, your newsletter, and any other marketing channels you might be active on is so difficult! But hopefully, you can see now why we advocate creating content for your website first. Repurposing your blog posts will make your life easier and save you time too.

And if you’d like some accountability, our next 90-day Content Challenge (or 90DC for the cool kids) kicks off on the 17th May 2021. We encourage you to create a fresh piece of content every week for 13 weeks. It can be any type of content you like, but if you create and publish blog posts, imagine how much you could get out of 13 pieces of content in terms of traffic to your website and repurposing opportunities!

When you join the 90DC you get:

• Accountability.
• A dedicated feedback channel.
• A Private community group.
• Weekly training.
• SEO and Content Marketing courses.
• Content Strategy Planning sessions.
• And even Canva blog post image templates.

All for only $297 for the full 90 days! Or you can join our membership for just $59 per month and get access to the challenge and so much more You can sign up for the 90DC here. See you there!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to Repurpose a Blog Post (and Save Yourself So Much Time!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

If you want to access our 30-minute Content Marketing Planner, you can download it here.

Have you downloaded it yet?

Are you ready to get planning?

Then let’s go.

Step 1 – list all your services

First things first, start by listing all the services you offer. Don’t miss this step because it will give you a structured way to come up with lots of content ideas. Once you’ve got this list, you can then think of content ideas for each of your services.

Step 2 – put yourself in your ideal customers’ shoes

Let me ask you a question. What’s the one thing you did before you made your last big purchase?

I bet you searched for whatever it was on Google.

As savvy consumers, we always do our own research before we buy anything. A study from Google found that 70% of buying decisions are made before the customer even contacts the business for the first time! And that’s because people research before buying – we all want to make informed decisions and avoid wasting our time and money.

So if you put your business owner’s cap back on, how can you help your ideal clients to make informed choices?

Step 3 – use content marketing to educate your clients about your business

Our advice? Stop sharing ‘fluff’ content about your latest awards or office move, and, instead, create a good combination of these two types of content.

• Traffic content. This is content that drives traffic to your website. It’s what people directly search for on Google. It’s content that answers a particular problem, question or need that your ideal customers or clients might be having. And in providing the best answer to their question, you’re attracting visitors to your website. They may not be ready to buy just yet, but they could be in the future.
• Conversion content. This is not necessarily content that people would search for on Google. But it’s something that your ideal customers or clients would pay attention to it if they were already on your website or interested in working with you. Think about people who follow you on social media and regularly visit your blog, previous clients, or subscribers on your email list, for example.

With these definitions in mind, you should then plan your content ideas around 6 key topics:

1. Price.
2. Problems.
3. Comparisons.
4. ‘The best’ content.
5. Reviews.
6. ‘How to’ content.

These topics come from the book They Ask You Answer, by Marcus Sheridan. You may have heard us talk about this book before (especially if you’re in our membership or listen to our podcast), and that’s because his teachings have literally transformed our business and the way we use content marketing to generate leads and sales. To read more about that, head over to our post: How to 10x Your Website Traffic.

So let’s get into the 6 topics.

1. Price

Price is the one thing we all want to know about when we do our research. We want to find out how much something costs before we commit to buying it – no matter how big or small the purchase is!

So how can you relate this back to your business?

• Write about the price of your products and services.
• Talk about the costs related to your industry and where you sit within it.
• Discuss what can make the price of your service go up and down.

Here are a few examples of the price-related content we’ve created over time:

• How much does it cost to build your WordPress website?
• Why the cost of your website might increase during the build?
• Why We’re Increasing Our Web Design Prices.
• Why are we so expensive?

2. Problems

No product or service, company, or industry is perfect. So instead of burying your head in the sand and denying that there are any problems in your area of work, tackle your customers’ problems (or ‘perceived problems’) head-on. Being honest and upfront about this helps you build trust and authority with your audience. And ultimately, that’s what helps you convert your audience into buyers!

How do you do this?

• Talk about a problem in your industry and specify how you’re different.
• Create content around something that’s personal to you and your business. For example, we’re a small web design agency, and some big companies might be worried about working with us. So we pre-emptied our prospective clients’ concerns by writing the piece: Why Are We So Cheap? Working with us vs a Larger Agency.

Acknowledge your clients’ objections, show them that you understand them, and advise them on the best course of action. What’s there not to love?

3. Comparisons

This type of content helps your prospective clients decide whether they should buy a certain product or service or another one. Or whether they should buy from this company or that company. It’s all about comparing two products or services (or two companies) directly against one another.

Here’s an example of how we did this in our business: Janet Murray’s 2020 Social Media Diary & Planner vs Jammy Digital’s 90 Day Challenge Workbook.

The reason why you need to create this type of content is that your clients always have a choice! And while doing their research, they’ll come across your competitors too. So why not be the person who acknowledges this choice and helps them make an informed decision? They’ll certainly appreciate you for it!

Of course, directly comparing your products or services against someone else’s can be one of the scariest and most difficult things you’ll ever have to do in your content marketing. But the key is to approach the topic in an unbiased way. Take yourself out of your business and think about what will benefit your customer or client. Put yourself in their shoes, look at the products or services as objectively as you can, and use your knowledge and experience to guide your audience towards making the best possible decision.

So here’s what you could compare:

• Similar products or services.
• Different industry methodologies or tools.
• Companies or businesses (including yours).

Don’t miss the opportunity to be the creator of this type of content – it’s a genuinely helpful thing to do for your audience!

4. ‘The best’ content

When we invest in anything, we want the best for our needs, don’t we? That’s the reason why we do all this research in the first place!

The trouble is that this type of content is often published by independent websites, which means your products or services (or your company) may not be mentioned (and simply because the creators of the content don’t know you!). So why don’t you produce this type of content yourself?

This might mean that you have to mention the competition, but it’ll work in your favour because people will find you on Google!

Want to know how we know? Because we did this! We wrote the article Top 10 Best Web Design Companies in Manchester in 2017. And years later, we still rank on the first page of Google and have received a lot of business directly from this post over time!

So how can you do this?

• Evaluate other people’s work – their products and services. Talk about what they do, but also about what you do and how you are different.
• Go into detail about why you’ve picked the companies you’ve chosen and what criteria you used to rate them.

This type of content is also incredibly helpful if you ever need to recommend another company to someone who isn’t the right fit for you, or in case you’re fully booked and can’t take on any extra clients at the moment. (Great position to be in, right?).

5. Reviews

Just like product or service comparisons, reviews are often done by independent websites. But you can be the business who reviews products and services in your industry and help your customers and clients make informed buying decisions.

You can review:

• Other companies in your industry.
• Specific products.
• Industry-specific tools.

The key here is to be honest and helpful to your reader. Not every single product or service you sell is suitable for everyone. So focus on the fact that you only need to attract your ideal audience. As for everyone else, they’re not your target audience – and that’s fine!

When you think about it, all you’re doing here is offering great customer service. If you were to walk into a shop, you probably wouldn’t want the help of the salesy or pushy member of staff. You just want the salesperson who comes across as helpful, unbiased, shows a deep understanding of the products or services they sell, and has your best interests at heart. And that’s what content marketing should do for you – it should act as the best customer service person for your business!

6. ‘How To’ content

Although Marcus Sheridan (who came up with these topics) talks about the Big Five, he also says that the sixth type of content that business owners should consider creating is ‘How To’ content, which is ideal for generating traffic to your website.

Think about it from a user perspective. We type ‘how to’ into Google all the time! Creating this type of content is good for showcasing your knowledge and expertise and providing your reader with something useful at the same time – teach people how to do what you do or how to find the right products or services in your industry.

But at the same time, don’t shy away from letting them know that if they need any help, you can be the person who makes their to-do list a little lighter.

Join our community and take part in the 90-day Content Marketing Challenge

So there you have it – the exact steps you need to follow to plan lots of ideas for content in 30 minutes! And if you’d like some accountability or help when it comes to creating that content, we are running a 90-day content marketing challenge in our community – Make Your Mark Online.

Our members produce one piece of content each week, and we provide tailored feedback. We run the challenge 3 times a year, so if this sounds like something you’d want to find out more about, head over to Make Your Mark Online and sign up!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to Plan 50 Pieces of Content in 30 Minutes appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

In this super practical podcast episode, we’re going to tell you exactly how to produce over 50 pieces of content in just 30 minutes.

You’ll probably want to grab a pen and paper for this episode, or better yet, download our content planner which will help you.

In this episode, you learn…

• How to relate your content to the products or services that you offer
• The type of content that delivers more leads and sales
• The six key topics you need to cover in your content
• How to get in front of people searching on Google
• Why you need to view your content as a customer service tool
• How to create over 50 pieces of content in just 30 minutes by following along to this episode

Stitcher| iTunes | Radio Republic | Soundcloud

In this super practical podcast episode, we’re going to tell you exactly how to produce over 50 pieces of content in just 30 minutes.

You’ll probably want to grab a pen and paper for this episode, or better yet, download our content planner which will help you.

In this episode, you learn…

• How to relate your content to the products or services that you offer
• The type of content that delivers more leads and sales
• The six key topics you need to cover in your content
• How to get in front of people searching on Google
• Why you need to view your content as a customer service tool
• How to create over 50 pieces of content in just 30 minutes by following along to this episode

Resources

Content Planner

Marcus Sheridan’s They Ask, You Answer

Facebook Group

Website Buyer’s Guide

Why We’re Increasing Our Prices 

Top 10 Best Web Design Agencies in Manchester

Our 90 Day Challenge Workbook vs Janet Murray’s 2020 Social Media Diary

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post Ep 40- How to Plan 50+ pieces of content in under 30 minutes appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

What’s a Learning Centre?

Have you ever come across a Learning Centre on someone’s website? Maybe, just like on our website, you may have spotted a menu item called ‘Learn‘.

The term Learning Centre is something we originally picked up from Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask You Answer. Since then, we’ve not only built one on our website, but we’ve created Learning Centres for our clients too.

First thing first, what’s a Learning Centre?

With the information all in one place, it becomes really easy for your website visitors to find your content and consume it in the way they prefer. Literally, at the click of a button.

If you regularly create any type of content (be it blog posts, podcast episodes, videos, PDFs, etc.), you’ll need a Learning Centre.

Problems with a Blog

A website blog in the traditional sense is a page on your website that houses all of your written content. It’s a fantastic way for you to generate traffic to your site and show your visitors how knowledgeable you are. However, when it comes to accessibility and relevancy of content, a website blog poses a few problems.

1. Your latest piece of content isn’t always relevant to your website visitors

If someone lands on your website today and clicks on your blog, they might see a blog post about a topic that’s relevant and interesting to them. But someone else who happens to find your website on the same day might feel that your latest article isn’t helpful.

And what do you think they’re going to do when that happens?

Click away.

Sadly, they’ll never find out that only a few weeks prior you had published something that was exactly what they were after!

Because of the way a blog is set up, you (the business owner) cannot pick and choose what type of content is displayed when you want it to. Different visitors may want different information from your website. And because your website blog displays your content in reverse chronological order, it may not always be easy for your readers to find posts that are relevant to them.

2. People don’t like clicking through lots of pages

As much as we’d like to think that our website visitors will click onto the next available page of our blog until they find what they’re looking for, the reality is that not many people will do that.

Think about it. When you’re online, do you ever click on the second or third page of the Google search results?

Probably not.

And if people don’t take the time to wade through pages of content when it comes to Google, are they likely to do that on your website? Chances are they might miss that epic piece of content that you took weeks to create and is now collecting dust on the fourth page of your blog, where no one will see it.

3. Older posts don’t tend to perform as well

People presume that older posts are less accurate. This is something that’s been shown over and over again. When you type something into Google and see results from 2014, you’re not likely to click on them. Not if you have the option to access something that was produced later.

You may have content on your blog that’s evergreen and still relevant. But people will just assume that because it’s older it’s not as accurate. And they will skip through that.

4. You can’t showcase your best content

The other problem you have with a blog is that it doesn’t allow you to showcase your best content.

We know what our best content is. And we also know what content drives people to get in touch with us. But with a typical website blog that displays your content in reverse chronological order, your prospective customers and clients aren’t able to access your best content unless you organise it differently.

And this is where a Learning Centre would come in handy and solve all of these issues.

Should a Learning Centre replace your blog?

We’ve given you so many reasons why a blog in the traditional sense doesn’t do your content much justice, that you’re now probably thinking you should swap out menu items and have a Learning Centre instead of a blog.

No, you shouldn’t.

Please keep your blog.

Do not get rid of your blog under any circumstances.

And here’s why.

Yes, a blog might display your content in reverse chronological order, but people still access content via your blog because a blog is what they know. A Learning Centre, on the other hand, is still a new concept to a lot of people. If you swap your blog out for something that a lot of your visitors haven’t heard of before, you may not get as many clicks on your content. And you don’t want that.

So keep your blog in the main menu item, and then find a place to put a Learning Centre page as well. If you don’t want to call it Learning Centre, ‘Learning Zone‘, ‘Learn‘, or ‘Information Centre‘ are also good alternatives. Whatever you want to call it, as long as you use it as a way for your visitors to access your content in a nice, easy-to-use way, you’ve got one.

To give you an idea of how we encourage our visitors to use our Learning Centre on our website, have a look at our Home Page. As you scroll down it says ‘Visit our Learning Centre’, and it links to our blog, our videos, and our articles.

How do you create your own Learning Centre?

The answer will be slightly different according to what it is that you do. The Learning Centre page for an e-commerce shop will be different from a service provider’s, for example.

But all learning centre’s should be:

• User-friendly
• Give people content in a way they like to consume it.
• Easy for people to filter through your content.

You can create a learning centre based on what your target audience needs and what you offer, but here are some examples of what you can include.

1. The search field

This is the single most important element of a Learning Centre. A search field is a place where your readers can type in a word or a phrase to find out more information about a specific topic.

When your readers search for something in this field, they’ll be returned with all the relevant pieces of content that relate to that topic. This doesn’t just include blog posts. If you have podcast episodes or video content on your website, this can be displayed as well.

From a design point of view, your search field is the biggest part of your Learning Centre. It’s right there at the top of the page, or ‘above the fold’ as we say. You don’t want people to miss it.

Plus, it’s a great handy feature for you as the business owner. We use it all the time to quickly find our own content and signpost people to it!

Example of a Learning Centre search field

We can’t talk about a learning centre without, of course, talking about Marcus Sheridan. On his company website, River Pools, he provides the reader with everything they’ll need to make an informed buying decision when buying a pool. For people to search through all his content (and there’s a lot of it), River Pools provides an easy search field. You can even use it to filter down by resource or topic.

2. Links to popular topics

Another element you want to include in your Learning Centre page are links to popular topics.

Let’s say someone is browsing your website, but they don’t yet know what you do and how you help people. Sure, you have a search field at the top of the page, but at this stage, they’re not entirely sure what they should be searching for.

So how can you help your users?

You can help by giving them some prompts.

And you do that through the links to popular content you provide.

Example of links to popular topics on a Learning Centre

This is a great example of a learning centre for an ecommerce website by Picture Frames Express.

They break down their learning centre by particular topics, which the customer or potential customer can easily sift through. It’s all their helpful information in one place.

3. The ‘Most Common Questions’ section

This is the bit where you answer the questions that people ask you on a regular basis. Having some of the answers on this page means that when someone decides to get in touch with you, they’re already familiar with the way you work. It’s a bit like the self-serve checkout! It’s great for your users, and it saves you time.

If you don’t yet have a lot of content on your website, consider using an FAQ plugin or an accordion-type setup to display your most common questions. That way, when a reader clicks on the question, the website just shows them the answer with a couple of lines of text.

Example of ‘Most Common Questions’ on a Learning Centre

Rachel from All Things Inc has over 1250 blog posts teaching people all about internal communications. Rachel joined our membership community, Make Your Mark Online, and made use of our free, plugin, learning centre template. We LOVE what she’s done. Especially the section ‘Most Common Questions’. She answers each question on this section with a link to an in-depth article. Really helpful stuff.

Example of ‘Most Common Questions’ on a Learning Centre

Another great example of this is from Debbie Ekins who produces amazing content for Eagle Leisure, a hot tub and spa supplier. Eagle Leisure answer their readers’ most common questions with links to blog posts and videos – an amazing way of delivering excellent customer service.

4. Give people access to the different types of content you provide

Do you offer content in a variety of different formats? For example, do you share articles on your blog but also have a podcast or a series of videos? Then give people the choice to consume your content in whichever way they prefer.

The worst thing you can do on your website is to just show the content in one format (or in the format that you prefer) because that may not be the way some of your prospective customers or clients like to consume it. Some people prefer video. Others prefer reading. And vice versa.

Example of ‘Most Common Questions’ on a Learning Centre

On our website, we offer our readers the opportunity to consume our content in different ways. Now, this sounds like a lot of work, but we actually repurpose a lot of our content into different formats. For example, this blog post was previously a podcast episode!

5. Include links to recent content

Another element you might want to include on your learning Centre page is recent content. So, for example, you could include links to your three most recent posts, podcast episodes, or videos.

This isn’t always necessary, especially if you already have a lot of content. But if you’re still building your content library, this is definitely a nice-to-have.

Example of ‘Most Recent Content’ on a Learning Centre

We loved designing Superfast IT’s website. They provide IT support to business and have so much helpful content on their website. They list their most recent blog articles on their learning centre, encouraging people to click through.

Reading resources

This is a section where you can add any guides, tools, or resources you want people to be able to access. So if you have any free giveaways, this is the place to showcase them on your website. Otherwise, your visitors might miss them. This is a great opportunity for you to add value to your readers but also potentially build your email list.

Example of ‘Free Resources’ on a Learning Centre

We love Yva’s learning centre over at Content Boost. Yva uses her reading resources as lead capture tools on her learning centre page. The design is fab, and it’s really easy to access them all in one place.

Your Best Resources

By selecting your best resources, you’re directing your reader to your best converting content. This could be more information about how you work or a particular product. Of course, it’s got to be helpful, but it’s a good idea to highlight these pieces of content.

Sara also joined our membership community, and made use of our free, plugin, learning centre template. We love how she’s highlighted her best resources here. Her blog post series, advising people how to batch write their blog posts, is so helpful! But she’s also featured information about why you should hire Sara, and more about podcast repurposing (a service Sara offers). This is a smart way of offering helpful content that also sells you at the same time.

Would you like a FREE Learning Centre template?

As most of you know, we run a monthly membership called Make Your Mark Online (or MYMO for short). This is our signature membership community where we help personal brands build and grow a successful business website.

Recently, we’ve done something really special for our members. We built them a Learning Centre template free of charge that they can just plug into their website and customise to match their branding and preferences. It literally takes two minutes to do this. And of course, we have a video inside our membership walking our members through how to set it all up, step-by-step.

If you’re interested in becoming a member, the doors for the membership are currently open! It’s been amazing to see so many of our members get great results with their websites since they joined in October last year. So if you want to find out more, check out our membership, and we’ll see you on the inside!

Over to you

Have you ever heard of a learning centre before? Is this something you’ll consider doing now? We’d love to know your thoughts!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post What is a Learning Centre and why do you need one on your website? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Transitioning from a traditional business to a personal brand: what you need to know

Transitioning from traditional, service-based business to a personal brand can seem super-scary.

Often, we’re afraid to get out from behind our logos and let our audience get to know the real us.

When you have a personal brand, you can build trust, charge more for your services and become an authority in your industry.

In this episode, we look at how you can transition into a personal brand and what how your website should reflect this.

In this episode, we’ll cover…

• • Why someone would want to transition into a personal brand
  • What are the risks in becoming a personal brand
  • How someone can transition into a personal brand effectively
  • How someone should change their business name/domain name

Time Stamps: In a rush? Get to the section you need to below!

3.40 – Why would someone want to be a personal brand? 
5.05 – Neil Patel: I wish I never built a personal brand – what’s our take on this?
6.16  – What are the risks involved in transitioning into a personal brand?
6.45 – Changing the name of your business without warning your clients
8.20 – How cutting your services entirely might cause issues
12.10 – Issues with changing your niche
12.45 – Difficulties selling your personal brand
15.00 – How might someone transition into a personal brand?
16.23 – Try to avoid changing your niche
17.30 – How would someone change their name domain name?
19.12 – Putting your face on the website
22.10 – Having a personality

Useful Resources and Links

Neil Patel: I Wish I Never Built a Personal Brand

Jammy Digital SEO webinar 

What To Do Next

Thanks for listening to our episode. If you found this episode useful, please feel free to share it via social media using the links above.

If you want to know about search engine optimisation (SEO), website conversions, content marketing and website copy, then join our FREE Facebook Group.

We would love it if you subscribed to our podcast and left us an honest review. This helps us reach more people and produce more podcast episodes.

If you have any questions about this episode or you want us to cover something new, then contact us on hello@jammydigital.com or leave a comment at the bottom of the page!

• • Join Our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe and review
  • Contact Us

Episode Transcript Below

Lyndsay:           Welcome to episode seven of the Make Your Mark Online Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about how to transition your business into a personal brand and why you might want to do this. Before we get into the show, we wanted you to know we are running a free online workshop all about SEO for personal brands. Truth be told, the stuff we’re going to be talking about in the workshop will be valuable to most businesses. This is taking place on the 6th of September 8 P.M. or 3 P.M. EST, and it’s going to be really good, isn’t it, Martin?

Martin:             Yeah. It’s going to be absolutely awesome. You’re not going to want to miss it, but it is kind of worth pointing that we’re in 2018, so it is this year. If you’re watching in sort of two years time-

Lyndsay:           Oh yeah. Good point.

Martin:             … you probably missed it. Put your diary away, but yeah, we’re really excited about it. It’s one of the most common topics that we get asked about SEO and we wanted to make sure that this was our first proper webinar.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. We’ve sort of joined a few free webinars, haven’t we, Martin?

Martin:             Yeah, in the past.

Lyndsay:           Over the past five years. We have noticed sometimes it can be sort of 45 minutes of sales pitch and then five minutes of actual actionable tips. This is something on this webinar we really wanted to avoid. We really want to give you guys real actionable tips that you can takeaway and you use in your business straight away. We’re going to be giving you a workbook about a week before the webinar goes live, so you can actually work through that on the actual webinar itself. It will be really actionable, really juicy for you.

Martin:             Yeah, definitely. We don’t actually have anything to sell you right now anyway, so that’s why it’s just going to be content-driven. I mean obviously you already know about the membership and we’ve got a wait list for that, but other than that, we don’t have anything to pitch here. That’s why we’re focusing the majority of this time just giving you valuable tips.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. Exactly. You do actually have to register for the webinar because there are limited spaces available. If you just head to jammydigital.com/webinar, add your name and email on the page, and we’ll send you your unique link to join the webinar. That’s all you need to do. Head over there now if you can and let’s get on with the show. Before I begin the actual show, Martin, we both had really bad colds this week. I was kind of hoping that for this podcast I would have like sexy Phoebe Buffay voice.

Martin:             I think you do definitely. I could just imagine you singing Smelly Cat.

Lyndsay:           This is Martin sweet talking. No.

Martin:             Hopefully our listeners have actually seen Friends before. Otherwise, that’s not really going to make sense.

Lyndsay:           They’re going to be so confused right now.

Martin:             Yeah.

Lyndsay:           I sound a bit more like a squeaky frog I think.

Martin:             You’ve given me a cold, which is just glorious.

Lyndsay:           I like to share. Today we’re going to be talking about transitioning from a service-based business to more of a personal brand. That’s right, isn’t it?

Martin:             Yeah. This is a common concern that quite a few of our clients have had in the past. It’s the idea of transitioning from a traditional type business, maybe a freelancer or a service-based business where you’ve really kind of had your logo stand in front of your face really, and actually moving more into a personal brand can be a bit concerning. You’re not sure if you’re going to lose clients. You’re not sure if they’re going to sort of like the switch. All these kind of things go through our heads and that’s kind of why we wanted to do this episode. We wanted to kind of go through these and see if there’s any actual validation there if you need to worry at all.

Lyndsay:           I mean why would someone even bother doing this? It seems like a lot of work just to transition. What are the actual benefits of it?

Martin:             Well, I think it’s kind of the benefit of a personal brand really, which is very, very powerful. I mean you want to stand out. There’s so many businesses out there who hide behind a logo. It’s a lot more easier if you stand out if you are a person. Few businesses are just too scared to sort of get out and say, “We are the expert and we’re prepared to stand in front of you and show you our face and be more of a personal brand.”

Lyndsay:           It makes you more memorable, doesn’t it?

Martin:             You see, we’re built to connect with people. It’s what we do. We see faces all the time. Being on a personal brand website, it allows you to connect with that person more and feel like you … You have a little bit more rapport with a person if you can actually see what they look like. It’s amazing, especially when we get phone calls all the time and they say, “Hi. Can I speak to Martin? Can I speak to Lyndsay,” and having that face on your website is extremely powerful.

Lyndsay:           Yup, definitely.

Martin:             Maybe you want to offer coaching and consulting, maybe you want to speak on stage, all these different types of scenarios, that’s how a personal brand can help really. You can charge higher fees because people want to deal with you as the expert. I don’t think anybody would argue that being a personal brand isn’t more beneficial to your business. It just is. We’ve seen it time and time again. I know we read an article this week about Neil Patel who sort of brought up the question really about … Yeah.

Lyndsay:           That was a really interesting one actually because he said that he sort of regretted building a personal brand. I think that was more and we’ll come onto this later sort of risk involved with building personal brand is that it’s attached to you and your name. There can be sort of disadvantages to that, but we’ll come to that a little bit later. For anyone who is listening, perhaps go and check that article out because yeah, I mean we talk about the advantages of a personal brand, but we also want to talk about the disadvantages of it as well.

Lyndsay:           It’s not just clear cut that it’s the most amazing thing ever, but we’ve certainly seen I think from our clients that the benefits do outweigh the disadvantages.

Martin:             Oh yeah, definitely. Personally, from my perspective, I suppose that kind of article was maybe a little bit click bait. Maybe he doesn’t actually believe it, but he has an opinion about the pros and cons to it essentially. That’s more of what the article is. Without the article, we wouldn’t even be discussing it. Without him being a personal brand, we wouldn’t be discussing it.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. Okay. Since we’ve talked about the risks, what are the risks involved with sort of building a personal brand?

Martin:             Okay. I don’t actually think there are a lot of risks involved with becoming more of a personal brand because you’ve already got the business behind you. You’ve already got a steady stream of customers hopefully and becoming more of a personal brand can only benefit you. However, there are a few technical reasons that you might want to be careful. For instance, if you change the name of your business completely without warning your clients, maybe you go from webdesignservices.com to martinhuntbach.com and you don’t tell your clients that that’s happening, then it might actually cause a little bit of a disconnect.

Martin:             I’m not saying there would be a problem, but if you don’t tell people and somebody googles the name of your business and it’s not there anymore, then that’s a problem, but it’s not from a customer sort of mindset perspective. They’re not going to be that bothered, but not telling them might sort of … Warning signs might flash really.

Lyndsay:           Okay. That’s quite interesting. Yeah. I think obviously it’s best to sort of tell your clients in advance if you are changing the name of your business. If they’re used to dealing with you everyday, then they’re not going to be bothered so much that you’ve changed your name to you because they know it’s you anyway. Yeah, I think that most clients …

Martin:             Just about informing them. Just about being upfront about it really.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             The same goes for your domain name. If you do change that domain name, from a technical standpoint, people are not going to be able to find you online as easily. That’s why it’s important that if you change your name, you change your business and things like that, you really do want to be careful about how you go about it. It comes down to planning. It comes down to communication. Like I said, most people don’t mind if you are becoming more of an expert and you’re putting your face on your website and you’re offering different types of services. They just care if you don’t tell them because it just wouldn’t make sense to somebody.

Martin:             Well, cutting your services entirely might cause problems. If you’ve got clients paying you for a certain service each month and you want to keep them happy, just by swapping your services entirely from one day to the next, it might concern a few people if they’re continuing to pay you. Well, it’s like, “Are they still offering this service anymore?” That’s why we kind of suggest that people drip feed new services in potentially.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. We find this a lot with people who want to sort of transition from a done for you into a more of a coaching role, a consorting role, more speaking, more that kind of business. They do need to change their services slightly. I mean even from a business point of view, you can’t just switch completely from one to the next because you’ve got to kind of slowly build one and then sort of face the other one out. You kind of got to think about it that way anyway, haven’t you?

Martin:             Yeah. I mean we got a little bit of experience in this. Although we are personal brands, we very much stand behind Jammy Digital as the agency, but we actually did this with a service that we have and had and still have clients paying us for SEO, but we stopped selling SEO. That’s another thing that you need to be aware of. If you stop services entirely, then you may have to have some quite difficult conversations with some clients. Maybe you’re taking them clients off your retainer, maybe you stopped dealing with that service entirely, or maybe you are stopping to advertise that service, but you’re still keeping your existing clients on.

Martin:             At any given stage, as long as you speak to your clients about it, you’ll probably be okay.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. We actually wrote a blog post, didn’t we, actually saying why we stopped selling SEO. I actually at the time thought, “No one’s really going to be bothered,” but people actually did read it and take the time with some wine. I think that’s quite a good way of dealing with it. If you’re really open and upfront about why you’re perhaps transitioning or changing your services, if you’re open and upfront about it and say why, then people are a lot more understanding, aren’t they? They actually find it quite interesting. I was really surprised at how many people actually read that blog post and commented or got in touch with us.

Martin:             That’s the thing. If you do it secretive, then that’s the problem.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             If you are quite like smoke and mirrors about it, then that’s when people will be like-

Lyndsay:           Hiding like a ninja.

Martin:             …”Don’t you offer SEO? I can’t see on your website at all now.” Yeah, it can be a bit concerning, but again it all comes back to communication. It’s more of a business decision that you have to make if you are cutting services because you’re talking about money, you’re talking about income, you’re talking about all of the extra stuff that comes with it. Be careful of that without the communication.

Lyndsay:           As well, you need to make sure that you still tell people that that was a service that you did because it actually works in your favor. If you’re say going from a done for you service into consulting, you need to tell people that you’ve had 10-15 years experience of actually doing this for companies, of actually making a change in their business, and actually have a proven track record of actually doing the thing that you say you can advice people about. It’s a know about thing that you’re saying that you transition from this into this. Don’t hide it.

Lyndsay:           Actually be proud of it and say that’s what you’ve done before. This is what you do now, but you’ve got this experience under your belt.

Martin:             Too many people start businesses. Everybody’s a coach these days. I mean it’s nice to actually know that somebody out has done it there like Lyndsay said-

Lyndsay:           Yeah, exactly.

Martin:             … because so few people have and just say that they’re an expert, and everybody’s a social media expert these days. It’s a real positive.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. Sometimes it’s nice to know that that person has got 10 years of actually doing it for businesses and it’s really worked for them. Okay. Is there any other things, any other risks that might be involved with this?

Martin:             I think kind of leading on from that one really is if you change your niche entirely, rather than just chopping services off and swapping them about, if you change your niche entirely when you become a personal brand, then you’re essentially starting from scratch again. You need to know that. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing occasionally. If that’s the avenue you want to take, then go for it, but just be aware. If you’re dealing with solicitors one day and then you decide to deal with estate agents, then you’ve got to start from square one really. Building up that audience again is going to be vital.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. I think the one sort of final thing really is kind of what Neil Patel touched upon in his article was that he found it more difficult I think to sell his personal brand. I think if you’re building businesses just to sell them, then maybe a personal brand isn’t the right direction. Most clients that we speak to are more passionate about the big … They really want to kind of have it forever type thing. They don’t envisage sort of selling them.

Lyndsay:           That’s not to sell that they won’t do at some point, but I suppose if you’re building businesses up just to kind of sell them on, then maybe a personal brand sort of business isn’t right for you, although it kind of does work for helping to build a business up. It’s kind of like that catch 22 really. You’re sort of stuck with it. As you said, it is harder to sell because if I’m selling lyndsaycambridge.com, no one else can take that on really but me.

Martin:             No, because no one spells Lyndsay the way that you do.

Lyndsay:           No one spells Lyndsay the way that I do, so it’ll be impossible for starters.

Martin:             My name would be impossible.

Lyndsay:           No one would know that, Martin.

Martin:             I can’t even spell it.

Lyndsay:           No. Neither could I.

Martin:             It’s basically the reason you didn’t take my name when we got married.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. I don’t know how to spell that.

Martin:             Nope. Not worth it.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. Yeah, that’s a major sort of downside to it. However, one of the plus sides to having your name attached to your business is that that follows you wherever you go. If you want to set up a new business, all the contacts that you’ve made, everything that you build up through your content marketing through your name, everything attached to that actually follows you. If you want to set up something new, then that audience knows who you are. They know of your reputation. They know how good you are, and they’re going to follow you wherever you go. That’s a great thing.

Martin:             Yeah, it definitely is. It’s true. I mean people search for people on the internet these days, don’t they? I mean what happens when somebody googles your name? It’s nice to know that there are lots of different things that have happened in the past. Maybe you’ve had guest posts here, here and everywhere and you’ve appeared on podcasts and you spoke on stage. Nobody googles the name of your business unless it’s really, really memorable. I think it’s important, that personal brand. We’re not really debating whether or not you should move into a personal brand. We’re just kind of going through the concerns really.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             I think we definitely covered a few of those concerns if our listeners have them.

Lyndsay:           Definitely. Okay. Say if someone is quite committed then to transitioning into a personal brand, how might they do this quite well? How might they do this effectively?

Martin:             I think once you’ve listened to what we’ve just been talking about, hopefully a few of the concerns have sort of gone really because you shouldn’t really be that concerned. You have free reins really to do what you want to with your website. We do have kind of a set strokes really on what you could do. One of them is try introducing the services bit by bit. We spoke about this a little bit. We’ve actually done this recently with our website. We’re just offering the membership coming up soon. We’ve not got rid of any services and we don’t intend to, but we have moved our website around a little bit to make room for it.

Martin:             If you are wanting to change direction and become more of a personal brand, maybe offer coaching, speaking, things like that, just add the new pages to your website. Introduce them gradually, rather than to just get rid of everything and swap it all out. That might scare your visitors. Introduce services bit by bit. That’s one of the tips that we have.

Lyndsay:           Okay. That’s a really good point. What else can you do then to transition effectively into a personal brand?

Martin:             Well, most people don’t change their niche when the transition into a personal brand. If you are offering marketing services for solicitors and now you’ll be marketing advice to solicitors, then use the same language. If you have a big bold statement that says what you do, then tweak things rather than start from scratch again. Just be careful. That’s all. That’s all I would say. Just use your website as what it would be if you were to speak to that person on the phone.

Martin:             “Hi, Mr. Customer. Up until now we’ve been offering services to help you with so on,” whatever it might be, “And now we are also offering advice and coaching. I just wanted to make you aware we are having a change around with our website.” If you are that concerned, then have that conversation with somebody, but use your website to do the talking as well. I’m not saying you have to justify that you are offering coaching, but if you have those clients who are paying you a certain amount a month, they are the bread and butter of your business, then feel free to have a conversation with them and use the same sort of language that you would on the phone call on your website as well.

Lyndsay:           Okay. That make sense. I actually have a question for you, Martin.

Martin:             What?

Lyndsay:           What would you do about a domain name? Say if someone had, like you said, like webdesignservices.com, that’s an awful name-

Martin:             Yeah, it is.

Lyndsay:           … or speakingcoach.com or whatever, would you advise that they change their domain name? Is the risks of doing that … How would they go about doing that?

Martin:             That is one of the things that pops up, whether or not you keep your business name and you just become more of a personal brand, or whether or not you set up a brand new website all together. If you do change the business name and you change the domain name, make sure you speak to your web designer or your SEO company and make sure that they’re aware of it, so that if somebody does type in your business service website, it redirects to your personal brand type website.

Lyndsay:           Because you don’t want to lose any traffic, do you?

Martin:             Exactly. That’s really important. You can set up redirects and make sure that when somebody types into Google or finds that on search results, they’ll automatically get redirected to the website that you want.

Lyndsay:           That’s good because I think a lot of people are really scared to think of using that traffic. Yeah, I think that’s really good advice. They make sure they have someone there to help them with that transition.

Martin:             Yeah, exactly. There’s probably too much on that topic to cover in this episode, but it is important that you don’t just set up from scratch again and don’t tell anybody. Really we’re talking about sort of transitioning your current website into a personal brand, but you can change your domain name whenever you like. You just have to make sure that you tell Google Webmaster Tools or Search Console and you actually set it up on your website. Like I said, there’s a lot to it, but it’s important that if you do, you are redirecting people.

Lyndsay:           Okay. Good point. Okay. Is there anything else that we need to do perhaps with our websites to make that transition a little bit more clear?

Martin:             If you are becoming more of a personal brand, then that means you’re going to have to show images of yourself on your website. Up until now you might not have done that or you might just have a meet the team page. Part of becoming a personal brand is people knowing what the hell you look like. Show your face. You’re going to have to make sure that you are owning that on your website.

Lyndsay:           Okay. It’s interesting actually that you said the meet the team page because I think a lot of people really struggle with, “It’s my personal brand, but I actually have a team of people behind me.” Maybe they use a team of freelancers. Maybe they have staff. How does that play into it because they’re not just one person? How does that work?

Martin:             Well, like I said, people connect to people. This is why it’s important to show images of yourself, but it doesn’t mean you can’t show your team as well. Maybe you show a couple of images of yourself on the homepage, but one of the images might be you with your team. You have to understand that people, they want to know that there are people behind a business because it’s more trustworthy and they can connect to it. We know that. You’re the captain of the ship and people don’t mind if you have a crew behind you as long as you are the expert and you are the leader as well. You can be a personal brand, but also have lots of people in the team. Look at people like Richard Branson for instance.

Lyndsay:           Well, yeah. That’s a really good point actually because I think that a lot of people when transitioning to personal brand, they do worry that they’re going to lose that credibility, particularly if they work with sort of larger companies or really corporate companies. They think, “Are they going to think that I’m just like a freelancer? Are they going to think I’m too small?” That’s a really good point, sort of you’re the captain of the ship type thing. If you try and get that across, then that should put people’s mind at ease.

Martin:             It all comes back to communication. I mean if you have those clients, those five or six clients, that your business can’t live without, then have a chat with them. You can even make a positive out of it because there is a positive and say, “By the way, we’re also offering coaching services as well. If you are wanting anything from us, generally people hire us on an hourly basis or a monthly retainer basis. I do a bit of speaking on stage. The website’s getting a bit of a makeover, so I’d love to know what you think.”

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             Just by saying that, having that conversation, people don’t care. They don’t because they want to work with you because you are the expert.

Lyndsay:           I think that’s a really good point. When people do work with large sort of corporate businesses, they kind of make them into something that they’re not because you still have to deal with whoever you’re dealing with within that business. They’re still working with a person and they still know that they deal with you day in, day out. There shouldn’t be really anything to worry about.

Martin:             Yeah, but the great thing about a personal brand and making sure that you are the personality that is leading that ship, you get to have a real personality as well. Your clients know you quite well and they get to know your little personality quirks. It’s okay for that to come across. Occasionally what we think is if we don’t have a personal brand business and we have a traditional business with a logo and we might even write about ourselves in third person, which is never a good idea.

Lyndsay:           No, don’t do that.

Martin:             But when you actually step out and people actually know that you are the person who is behind the business, people connect with you more anyway, but you get to be yourself more. You get to have certain content your website that you might not have done before. You’re able to connect with people. It just all comes back to when you have a personal brand and it’s done effectively. You do generally have a better sort of connection with your website visitor.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. We find that personal brands find sort of their website much easier, especially writing content because then they kind of write it … They write it in first person, but they kind of can put that personality into it, which is a lot harder to do when you’re kind of a business brand rather than a personal brand. I think that’s a really good point actually that you can actually start to have a real personality actually within your business and people start to get to know you and who you are. That’s a really good point.

Martin:             Definitely. It’s really important as well and we always talk about the C word, we always talk about content.

Lyndsay:           I didn’t you were going to say that.

Martin:             Sometimes I like to surprise you. We have content on our websites that can do a lot of the talking for us. That’s why we created our SEO blog post, which was why we stopped selling SEO services. We’ll continue to do that for any transition that we make in our website. You show your blog posts and you show a podcast episodes, if we decided to stop doing this podcast for instance, which we’re definitely not doing because we love it, but if we did, we’d probably have an episode where we said why we’re stopping the podcast and what we’re doing instead, but we’d always use the content to communicate what it is that we’re doing.

Martin:             The last thing you want to do is just do it and hope that people don’t notice because people will and they just won’t tell you about it. They might just start visiting your website or they might just hire somebody else for instance. All about being open and honest.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. Most people are so understanding, aren’t they?

Martin:             Mm-hmm (affirmative). They really are.

Lyndsay:           They get why you’ve made certain decisions. They just get totally behind you. I think it actually further builds trust, doesn’t it, rather than stops any trusts.

Martin:             Yeah. Because you are a personal brand, this is a really nice side effect that we found when we’ve been offering coaching and consulting and things, is that your existing clients will see you in a new light. They’ll see you in this kind of, “Oh, they’re in demand. They’re exclusive.” It has a real positive impact on how your current customers view you, as well as the new customers as well. That’s the power of having a personal brand is that exclusivity. It’s that okay, they know what they’re talking about and I’m prepared to pay for it.

Lyndsay:           Yup, definitely. That’s a really nice point to end on, and I think we’ve really highlighted the sort of benefits of a personal brand. If you are thinking of transitioning, don’t be scared about it. If you do need help, just come and join us in our Facebook group if you need advice on that. I’ll pop the link to that in our show notes as well so you’ll be able to join us. Ask us some questions about it because I think a lot of people find it really scary, don’t they?

Martin:             Yeah.

Lyndsay:           We’ve only have seen sort of clients get a real benefit out of it. Not just clients actually. Just people that we’ve talked to in general have told us that they’ve seen real benefits from doing it. Hopefully you’ll have a really good transition into a personal brand. That was episode seven. I hope you found it useful. Just before you go, don’t forget to register for our SEO webinar, which takes place on the 6th of September. Like I said, spaces are limited. If you don’t turn up early, you might not get a space. Make sure you turn up nice and early with your workbook and pen at the ready.

Lyndsay:           Just go to jammydigital.com/webinar. We’ll see you next time on the Make Your Mark Online Podcast.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Ep 7 – How to Transition into a Personal Brand appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Do you really need to redesign your website?

It’s certainly tempting, especially when you’re encountering problems with your current site.

However, redesigning your website could cost you thousands or, if you’re doing it yourself, months and months of work.

There are times when a redesign is essential. But other times, you may just need to tweak and test your website to solve the problem.

In this episode, we look when is the right time to redesign and when tweaking and testing might just do the trick.

In this episode, we’ll cover…

• • Why it’s tempting to redesign your website
  • When you absolutely should redesign your site
  • When tweaking and testing might solve your website problems
  • What you can do to tweak your website to get more traffic
  • What you can do to tweak your website to get better conversions

Time Stamps: In a rush? Get to the section you need to below!

1.05 – Redesign vs Website tweaks – why are we talking about this?
2.47 – Identifying the issues you’re having with your website
3.52 – When should a company redesign their website?
4.15 – You can’t polish a turd!
5.34 – Why you need to redesign your website if you’re having real technical issues
8.35 – Repositioning your business and redesigning your website
09.58 – When should you just tweak your website?
11.50 – How to improve your traffic without a redesign
14.31– Why content marketing can save you a redesign
17.55 – Short-term strategies to improve your traffic
18.54 – How to improve website conversions without a redesign
20.14 – Big Bold Statement and website conversions
21.45 – Signposting and website conversions
24.54 – The copy on your website and website conversions

Useful Resources and Links

Content Marketing Academy 

Waitlist for Membership Community

What To Do Next

Thanks for listening to our episode. If you found this episode useful, please feel free to share it via social media using the links above.

If you want to know about search engine optimisation (SEO), website conversions, content marketing and website copy, then join our FREE Facebook Group.

We would love it if you subscribed to our podcast and left us an honest review. This helps us reach more people and produce more podcast episodes.

If you have any questions about this episode or you want us to cover something new, then contact us on hello@jammydigital.com or leave a comment at the bottom of the page!

• • Join Our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe and review
  • Contact Us

Episode Transcript Below

Speaker 1:        Welcome to the Make Your Mark Online podcast where we help personal brands build and grow a successful business website. Please welcome your hosts, husband and wife team, Martin and Lyndsay.

Martin:             Welcome to episode six of the Make Your Mark Online podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about … It’s about whether or not you should redesign your website or whether or not you should tweak a few things on your website. So it’s a really interesting discussion actually and we’re looking forward to this because it is a question that pops up quite a lot. Now, before we get into the show. Just wanted to remind you that we have just launched our wait list for the Make Your Mark Online membership, so we’re really excited. We’re going to be taking all of the knowledge and experience that we have and actually packaging it up in a membership community. So feel free to go to jammydigital.com/wait and add your name to the list and we will let you know as soon as it’s ready. So let’s get into the show. Okay. So Lyndsay, redesign versus website tweak. Why are we talking about this? Why is it so important that we cover this in an episode?

Lyndsay:           Well, I mean we say redesign versus website tweak, but the majority of people when they encounter problems with their website, whatever those problems might be, automatically go to redesign as the only option available to them. I think it’s because … It’s quite an attractive solution isn’t it? You know it’s going to make some sort of impact and it’s quite an attractive project to take on. Yes, it becomes very appealing, a redesign, but sometimes it’s not the best option for you. Sometimes, it can just act as a distraction in your business. A redesign could cost you thousands of pounds with an agency or a freelancer. It could cost you 6 or 12 months or as we’ve experienced some of our clients, even 18 months of their own time. It’s a big project to take on and it can often, as I’ve said, act as a distraction from your business.

Martin:             Yeah. We’ve seen that for ourselves. It’s funny though. Because we know from experience that your website never stops. It’s never finished, so you’re always going to be making tweaks anyway I suppose. So what we’re really talking about here is actually having the decision to make, whether or not you actually move forward with a full redesign or whether or not you focus entirely on tweaks, but you can’t just kind of half arse it in way. We’re talking about making a decisive step in your business, aren’t we?

Lyndsay:           Yeah.

Martin:             And sometimes you are in that sort of crossroads really, that fork in the road where it’s just, “Should I go this way? Should I go this way?”

Lyndsay:           I think what it is about is identifying the issues that you’re having with your website. That is the step that most people miss. So they don’t know what’s going wrong with their website. They might not be sure or they might not have thought about it. All they think is, “I need to redesign it and that will fix all my problems.” You need to take stock really of what the actually problems with your website are and identify those issues because you may find even if you redesign the website, you’ve still got those problems anyway.

Martin:             That’s true, yeah.

Lyndsay:           So it’s a real difficult one. So that step needs to take place before you either decide to redesign or you need to decide to actually just make some tweaks to it and see, sort of test what works.

Martin:             Okay. And I suppose it doesn’t actually matter whether or not they are a small kind of one-man band or they’re a big kind of company.

Lyndsay:           No, not at all. It applies to anyone really who’s thinking, “Well, my website isn’t working. It needs to be better. What can I do?” Yeah, this applies to all people that are in that situation.

Martin:             Okay, okay. Fantastic. Okay. So let’s sort of throw a few examples out there. So when would a company need to redesign their website? So we’re talking about one versus the other. Let’s just say they’re at that fork in the road and they deciding, should we do one, should they do another. When should a company redesign their website?

Lyndsay:           Well, I think there’s some sort of clear indicators that you should redesign your website. One is if you absolutely hate it.

Martin:             Yeah.

Lyndsay:           That’s always …

Martin:             That’s a clear sign.

Lyndsay:           It’s a good, good idea to redesign it.

Martin:             It makes you physically sick.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. You look at it and you think, “Oh, my God. I cannot share this with anyone. This is just awful. It looks like it’s been designed by a three-year-old in 1994.” Yeah. I think quite a few people do have … We call it website shame. Which really holds them back. They don’t want to put their website on the business cards or they don’t want to give anyone their website URL, and they kind of have that shame about their website and how it looks. And that’s a clear indicator that yes, you do need a sort of redesign. You need-

Martin:             Yeah. Just a blank canvas really.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. You need to look at it. You either need to go to an agency who will make it a lot better for you or a freelance web designer or you need to look at maybe doing it yourself with a much better looking template or something like that. But there are … Yeah. There are plenty of ways for you to make it better, but yeah, that is definitely one way I’d say.

Martin:             You can’t just tweak away ugly can you?

Lyndsay:           You can’t. Well, as my mother would say, “You can’t polish a turd.” So …

Martin:             Good point.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. If you’ve got a turd of a website, unfortunately, you can’t polish that.

Martin:             That’s what we should title this episode.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, “You can’t polish a turd.”

Martin:             “Polish a turd.” Okay, perfect. So yeah, that’s a clear sign. No argument there. What other reasons might there be for someone to feel the need to redesign the site rather than tweak.

Lyndsay:           Another one perhaps … Perhaps you’re even happy with the design, but … We have a lot of clients come to us that have designed the websites themselves. They’re okay with the design. It’s not the best but they’re okay with it, they can [inaudible 00:05:52] it, but the sort of technicalities behind the website just aren’t up to scratch.

Martin:             Yeah, We’ve seen this a lot.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. So the framework might be out-of-date. They might be using Flash. They might be using a website builder that just does not do what they need it to. They might be sort of taking … The website might be taking too long to load. They might be sort of fueled by about 100 plugins that all need updating and things like that. I think when you start to build a website yourself and you get bigger as a business, you start to keep adding things onto it. Adding and adding and adding. And trying to create these solutions to problems you’re having with your website by sort of having a plugin there or bringing something in there. And all of sudden, it becomes this giant monster of a website that takes so long to load because there’s just so many things happening and you need an expert to come in really and sort of build something bespoke, that really is tailored to your business and works technically as well.

Martin:             Okay, I see. Even if you like your website … And we see this a lot with a lot of the sort of more established businesses. They’re very much afraid of the fact that … “Okay. I’ve got a lot powering this website. I’ve built it over the past five years.” You might have built it yourself and your business now has changed and it’s doing really well, but you’re just afraid that if you pull it out, if you swap it over to something else or you start messing with it, it’s a bit like the Jenga set and it just kind of collapses underneath. So I understand why people are a bit concerned, but you can’t have a website like that. You can’t rely on the fact that, “Okay. All of these plugins are just going to work out. Everything’s going to be fantastic, hunky-dory.”

Lyndsay:           Yeah, exactly.

Martin:             So even if you like your website, if it’s powered or it looks as though it’s been built on … It’s a house built on sand, then it’s time to sort of rethink it.

Lyndsay:           Absolutely, absolutely. And I think this is … Yeah. Like you said, it’s more of an issue with perhaps more established businesses that are sort of looking for more bespoke solutions. They’ve perhaps had a little bit more money to invest in those kind of solutions as well where technically, they need something really a bit more bespoke for them. For new business owners, this may not be as much of an issue because you’re starting out, your website should be quite light and it should be quite easy to use. You shouldn’t have too much powering it. But yeah, definitely for more established business owners that have sort of piled on over the years. These random things to sort of help their website function and yeah, it becomes a bit of a … Like we said, a bit of a monster.

Martin:             It’s a bit of a time bomb as well, ain’t it? Because at some point, something’s going to go wrong.

Lyndsay:           Yup, yeah.

Martin:             And whether you like it or not, you’re not really going to have a choice at that point, so …

Lyndsay:           Exactly, exactly.

Martin:             Okay. So what other scenarios might there be if somebody does really need to redesign?

Lyndsay:           I think often we have people come to us as well that have really repositioned themselves or really want to kind of reposition themselves and their business. So a lot of people come to us and they’ve ran with sort of a very much a company-based business and they want to become sort of more personal brand, or someone’s audience might shift slightly. There’s lots of different reasons, but when you get those shifts, you’re looking at probably a rebrand. You need to look at the redesign. You might need to look at the technicalities of the website and what sort of-

Martin:             Functionality, yeah.

Lyndsay:           … features and functionality you might need.

Martin:             Might completely change altogether.

Lyndsay:           Exactly, exactly. So that’s another case where we would probably say a redesign is going to work for you. Definitely.

Martin:             Yeah, okay, okay. So three solid reasons there. So if our listeners actually can identify with any of those, then that’s a clear, clear indication that they should be looking at a redesign rather than just a tweak.

Lyndsay:           Yes. Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             All right.

Lyndsay:           So yeah, definitely. I would say just some are probably ugly website, technical problems that you’re having with your website.

Martin:             Yeah. Site speed problems, all that kind of stuff.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. Exactly, yeah. And then if you’re completely sort of repositioning yourself as a business, yeah, those are the three where I’d say you probably do need to look at a redesign.

Martin:             Okay. So let’s flip it then. So what about if somebody is … They have a website and they’re not quite ready to redesign it or maybe they’re just not sure if they should. What scenarios might they be looking at? What kind of position would their business be at?

Lyndsay:           Yeah. It’s an interesting question actually because often we talk to people and they don’t even consider any other option but redesign. So it’s not even as if there’s a fork in the road sometimes with people. And we say, “Just kind of hold your horses really, what actually is the issue?” You’ve got to look at certain things about your website. So if you like the design of your website, you’re quite happy with it, it’s working for you at the moment, if you don’t have any major, major technical issues, then what are the other problems that you’re having? And that usually comes down to traffic. So you’re not getting enough traffic to your website or you’re not getting enough conversions. So what we mean by that is you’re getting traffic maybe to your website but you’re not converting that traffic into sales or leads or …

Martin:             Phone calls or email opt-ins.

Lyndsay:           Exactly, exactly.

Martin:             All that kind of stuff.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. So those are two key things where I think if that’s the major problem with your website and if you’re happy with all the other aspects of it, that might be a position where I’d say, “Well, hang on a second. You may not need to redesign. You may not need to invest months, perhaps years of your time or invest thousands in a web design agency or a freelancer to do this for you.”

Martin:             Okay. That makes sense. I do feel as though part of the reason people jump on the redesign sort of bandwagon is because they’re not sure what they should tweak.

Lyndsay:           Yes.

Martin:             So that’s part of the problem when we’re talking about website redesign versus tweak. It’s clear what a website redesign is, which is probably why a lot of people jump on that one.

Lyndsay:           Yeah.

Martin:             But what do we actually mean when we’re talking about tweaks? Have we got any sort of examples of things that we can make changes to our website that will actually improve someone’s website? Even if they’re considering a redesign in the future, maybe even three, four, five months, what can they do in the meantime now to tweak the website to see if that solves their problem?

Lyndsay:           Right. Well, I think certainly with traffic … So you’re not getting enough traffic and that’s one of the key problems that people have. Now, firstly, you need to identify that you’re not getting enough key traffic. The best way to look at that is to look at your sort of analytics and see sort of what’s happening there. Your Google analytics is the best place to look at that.

Martin:             Yeah. There might be technical issues that your tracking code might not be set up straight.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. And we’ve seen that before-

Martin:             [inaudible 00:12:35], yeah.

Lyndsay:           … where people’s Google Analytics tracking codes are improperly set up.

Martin:             Of course. We’ve seen websites that should be getting tens of thousands of visitors a month that are barely scrapping a thousand, then clearly that’s not because of their website. It’s because certain things aren’t set up straight. So it might not even be a tweak. It might just be an adjustment and a quick fix here and there. And if you spend five grand on a redesign when all you had was a little bit of tech problem, so-

Lyndsay:           Yup. That’s a bit of a disaster.

Martin:             Yeah. It is definitely important to give your website a bit of a service and maybe get someone to look under the-

Lyndsay:           Yeah. Look under the hood.

Martin:             … [body 00:13:04] really and have a look.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. So say you’ve identified, “Okay. I’m not getting enough traffic to this website.” Then, it may not be a website problem at all. It might be something to do with how you’re getting traffic to your website. So website design and website build as the famous phrase was, “Build it and they will come”, doesn’t actually work anymore. You can build the most beautiful, wonderful, technically advanced fantastic website in the world, but if you’re not getting people to it by using certain marketing strategies and methods, then it’s completely pointless. So you might need to look at things like content marketing, your social media marketing. You may need to look at doing on-site and off-site SEO and PR, and things like that to actually bring traffic to your website. Redesigning your website will not impact your traffic. It may do if you’ve built something on it, say [so your 00:14:02] crappy Flash website and it’s really not performing on search engines, it might increase the traffic, but you still need to put that effort in yourself and actually bring traffic to your website.

Martin:             It’s true and that’s not so much as a tweak as opposed to marketing.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. That’s marketing.

Martin:             That’s basic marketing.

Lyndsay:           Yes, yeah.

Martin:             It’s true. Okay. So if it’s marketing, then we’re talking about actually going through and from a content marketing perspective, actually really going into depth about questions that people ask. It’s about providing epic content. It’s a case of do you really want to spend thousands on a new redesign and be in the same position in 6 months, 12 months time when all you really needed to do was spend a few months writing some epic content and you’ll get [inaudible 00:14:48] traffic to your website. Or tweaking the different SEO elements or the titles and things that we’ve covered in previous episodes.

Lyndsay:           It’s taking that time that you were going to redesign your website and actually put it into something else and-

Martin:             It is the … I kind of just want to slow things down a second because this is something that I really want our listeners to understand. When we have the opportunity to work with clients, whether that’s … Maybe they’ve got a website critique from us. Maybe they’re just asking us questions. Maybe we’re doing a full redesign. Under almost all circumstances, when people come to us and they say, “We’re not getting enough traffic. We want to throw thousands at it and we want to just optimize it and get loads of visitors to our website”, the number one biggest differentiator from a website that’s successful and a website that isn’t is not the little technical aspects. It’s content. Content marketing is so important. So many times people come to us and they’re like, “What colors should my buttons be?” And, “Should I have my image here or should I have my image here?” Or, “Should I have five stars here?” It’s about showing Google that your website is incredibly valuable. And the websites that have true success are the websites that understand that spending the time to write great content and provide awesome resources, that is what will reward you with traffic.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. I totally agree. I think before you get down to the real nitty-gritty of, “Should I make this button green or orange? What will work better for conversions?” And things that … Before we start to get in the nitty-gritty of that, you need to get the basics right. You need to think, “Okay. Well, I need to actually pull people in. I need to create a great content marketing strategy.” And we always … I always give a shout-out to this guy because he’s just amazing, but we absolutely live by Chris Marr’s rules. He runs Content Marketing Academy. We’ve seen a massive improvement in our business since we’ve started, since we’ve joined his membership and we started content marketing, haven’t we?

Martin:             Just start it, folks, [in 00:16:48] on it and making it count. And like I say, it’s just a case of when you truly believe in your products and services, you should be able to create content about that. Tell people who don’t know who you are, who don’t understand the services that you offer. Actually go to town and create a list of amazing content that they’re going to find helpful, they’re going to find useful. This, we could talk about content marketing forever-

Lyndsay:           Yeah, we could.

Martin:             … and we’re probably going to cover it in lots of other episodes, but this kind of the … Sort of the separate element to all of this is content solves a lot of problems. So whether or not you need to redesign, whether or not you need … Without content, you are going to see limited results and that’s kind of what we want to get the point across really, so …

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. Content marketing is very much a long-term strategy, isn’t it, Martin?

Martin:             Yeah, definitely.

Lyndsay:           Although, we actually saw results after sort of three months really. So it’s a not a very, very long-term strategy but certainly over a period of 3 to 12 months, we’d recommend that you really sort of get into it. But are there any short term things that people can do to perhaps see why they’re not getting enough traffic or perhaps increase their traffic? Is there any way people can sort of quickly look at that or try and solve that problem?

Martin:             Yeah, of course. So there might actually be a technical issue. So yeah, if traffic is the problem and you’re not sure what to tweak, I would just make sure you’ve added your website to Google Webmaster Tools or Search Console as it is today. Actually check to make sure all your tracking is set up properly. There’s lots of reasons that you might not be feeling like your website’s working, even though you might be, you just haven’t got the tools and the data to prove that it is. So you want to make sure that all the technical stuff is there. Hire someone, maybe pay 50 to 100 pounds for somebody to take a deep dive into your website to just confirm that everything’s okay. So from a traffic point of view, obviously there’s the content marketing [everything 00:18:44], but you need to make sure the technicalities are in order as well.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, okay. Definitely. So there’s sort of one long-term strategy there and then a few sort of quick things for you sort of check. So another issue that people have with their website where we say, “Hang on a second. You might not need a redesign” is with website conversions. So say you’re happy with the design and the technicalities of your website. You’re happy with where you’re positioned in your business, nothing needs to change on that front. Say you’re getting plenty of traffic, however which way, through content marketing or SEO, but let’s say that traffic is not converting into leads and sales. This is not a particular point where you need to think about redesign. You may have to redesign in the future, but I wouldn’t do that yet without first doing a few things and changes to your website to see if that makes any difference. Because you may spend 5, 10, 15 grand on a new website and that may increase conversions, but you might have been able to achieve that anyway on your own website without doing it, without spending that money in the first place. Again, same if you’re spending your time doing it. Just focus on those little tweaks that you can make that perhaps could increase conversions and just test to see first if that works because that can obviously save you a lot of time and money.

Martin:             Yeah. So have we got any kind of quick ways that people can do that, go through the website? Maybe they do decide to redesign in the future, but at least they can do a few bits now.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, definitely. I think one of the main things that we see that really sort of helps conversions or helps people getting in touch with you is the big bold statement as we call it. We actually did a podcast episode about this on episode five of our podcast, so the previous one. If you want to go and listen to that where we teach you exactly how to write a big bold statement. Essentially, it’s the first sort of sentence, summary statement that people see when they land on your website. It should be on the homepage in the first third and it should really clearly state what it is you do and how it is you help, and so many businesses forget this completely. It’s just bonkers really because it’s such an easy way to sort of increase conversions. I think a good way of seeing whether this is a problem as well is to check your bounce rate on Google Analytics. Are people landing on your website and hitting that backspace button because they’re either confused or they’re just not in the right place?

Martin:             Yeah.

Lyndsay:           And-

Martin:             Definitely a problem.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, it is definitely, definitely a problem. And I think that is one very, very clear solution to that. If you’re vague about what you do on your website, people are not going to be … Not going-

Martin:             Not going to stick around on it.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. They’re not going to convert into sales and leads. So I think you need to look at your website and think, “Is it clear what I do?” So another thing people get very wrong on their website is signposting. Now, what we mean by that is we mean sort of clearly directing people where you want them to go on your website. If someone is confused about where they should go next, then that’s not going help in terms of conversions because you’re not going to get them to the page that they need to see. You’re not going to get them to the place where you can read more about the product or service that is for them. So signposting is a very easy way to actually increase conversions because you’re sort of directing your traffic where you need to go.

Martin:             Okay. So yeah, we’re talking about call to action, actually having buttons and direction, actually pointing people. Actually imagine that you are taking people into your restaurant and you’re sort of directing people, “Go this way. Go this way.” And actually organizing your website like a well-oiled machine, actually pointing them in the right direction so that they can self-serve. Actually, this is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t click through to other pages on your website, because you don’t make it obvious enough. It might be a really appealing offer. You could be giving away free money, but unless you actually make it obvious enough, then people aren’t actually going to go through to another page. That’s why we see nice big bold buttons next to the big bold statement sometimes. Think about what it is that you want your user to do.

Lyndsay:           Yeah. This is particularly important if you offer more than one service, which a lot of companies obviously do. If you offer sort of three, four, five different types of services aimed at different types of people, then you need to clearly signpost on your website where these people should go and make it very, very clear. It sounds obvious but it’s amazing how many people don’t do that. We are so involved in our businesses and our websites that we assume other people just kind of can grasp what we’re trying to tell them, but you need to really clearly direct people. Yeah. It’s just the same as sort of having a map really of your website. You need to make sure that it’s very, very clear.

Martin:             It’s all about user experience at the end of the day and if you don’t think about users first … This is why businesses where they just shout about themselves and, “We do this and we do this.” Sometimes, those websites don’t work very well. It’s because when you consider your users … And this is something you can do straight away to actually tweak your website and see if it improves it. Actually give yourself a call to action or a signpost to where you want them to go. On every available page on your website, actually direct people, where is the next logical step you want me to go. And if you can keep these people on our website for longer, then we build up more trust, build up more credibility. Maybe they’ll fill out a form on our website or give us a call. So that’s something you can definitely do straight away.

Lyndsay:           Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And then there’s one … We’re talking very broad strokes here. Because we’re talking about conversions and this is probably something that we’re going to go into more depth later on in our podcast series. But yeah, these are more sort of quick things. And I think the final thing, this final sort of major thing is the copy on your website.

Martin:             Yeah. This is something you could definitely change straightaway.

Lyndsay:           Exactly. Yes, yeah. Now, it’s maybe the most fun thing to do depending if you like to write or not, but it is incredibly important for conversions. I’ve seen websites with very little copy and it looks like someone hasn’t taken the effort really to sort of write it. And some websites where there’s way too much copy and it’s all over the place. It’s not structured right. There aren’t any headings to tell you what the next paragraph is about. There’s so much that you can do with copy. And we do actually have a podcast episode about sort of your tone of voice for personal brands that might help, but certainly you need to think about your copy and how you’re appealing to your target audience, how you’re speaking to them, making it focused on exactly the service and product that you’re selling. There’s so much that you can do with copy. You really need to take sort of some time to look at that because it could make a huge, huge difference to your website and could potentially save you cost or time in redesigning it.

Martin:             Okay, yeah. So we’ve got a few great tips there. We’ve got check your tech issues, just in case that’s what’s causing the problems. We’ve got the big bold statement that’s really important as well. These are things that you can tweak on your website now. Test, see if they’re working, change your copy around a little bit.

Lyndsay:           And then look at your signposting as well.

Martin:             Yeah, look at your signposting. So even if you do decide to redesign your website in three, four, five months, whenever, at least do these things first, work out if it makes any difference and if it doesn’t, then that might be a situation where you’ll actually say, “You know what? I’ve tried it. I’ve done some research. I’ve created a big bold statement. I’ve shared it in the Facebook group” with us and we’ve said it’s good. And you’ve done all those things but it’s still to quite working, then it might be time to look at a redesign.

Lyndsay:           Exactly, exactly.

Martin:             Cover yourselves first by making those quick [win 00:26:59] fixes.

Lyndsay:           Absolutely, yeah. I totally agree. I think … Hopefully, we haven’t put you off completely from redesigning because yeah, at some point, you may need to redesign your website. And we always recommend every sort of three or four years anyway to sort of have it refreshed, whether you do it yourself or you go to an agency or freelancer, but certainly it’s not the answer to all problems. Sometimes, the problems can still remain there if you do redesign and haven’t identified what the problems are with your website in the first place.

Martin:             That’s great, yeah. If you can just take one thing from this episode, it’s a redesign is not necessarily going to solve all your problems, so … Perfect. Great. Okay. So we hope you enjoyed this episode. If you’re not a part of our free Facebook group, and we spoke about it briefly in this episode, go to jammydigital.com/facebook and join the community. Introduce yourself, tell everybody who you are, what you do and throw your name in the hat for a free website critique. We’re still doing these at the minute. I’m not sure how long we’re going to be doing it for. If you throw your name in, we will add you to the list. It’s not a competition. We’ll just get through them as we get through them.

Lyndsay:           Yup, we will. We always make sure we do.

Martin:             Yeah. And we really love it. And don’t forget to add your name to the wait list if you are interested in improving your website. Everything we’ve just been talking about in this episode, we are going to go through in our new membership.

Lyndsay:           Absolutely, yeah. We’ll be talking, obviously, about SEO and conversions and sort of your brand and things like that. So yeah, certainly we’ll be covering that in the membership. Yeah, definitely.

Martin:             Plus, we’ll be helping you redesign it if you want to redesign it if that’s the outcome that you’ve got from this episode, so … Perfect. So we hope you found this episode useful and we’ll see you next time on the Make Your Mark Online podcast.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Ep 6 – Should You Redesign or Tweak Your Website? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Your Big Bold Statement should be the first thing users read on your website. It’s super important, and yet so many businesses fail to get it right.

In this episode, we look what a Big Bold Statement is and we’ll be covering the nine different ways you can create one.

In this episode, we’ll cover…

• What is a big, bold statement?
• Why you need a big, bold statement?
• Where should a big, bold statement go?
• The nine different ways you can create a big, bold statement

Time Stamps: In a rush? Get to the section you need to below!

1.00 – What is a big, bold statement?
1.38 – Why is it important?
3.50 – Where should a big, bold statement go? 
6.21 – 1. Ask a question
8.11 – 2. State a promise
9.05 – 3. The unique Identifier
10.38 – 4. The power statement
15.12 – 5. Use a customer testimonial
16.54– 6. The exact statement
18.22 – 7. Who you help
20.09 – 8. Who you help+
20.08 – 9. Guarantee

Useful Resources and Links

Michael Port

Waitlist for Membership Community

What To Do Next

Thanks for listening to our episode. If you found this episode useful, please feel free to share it via social media using the links above.

If you want to know about search engine optimisation (SEO), website conversions, content marketing and website copy, then join our FREE Facebook Group.

We would love it if you subscribed to our podcast and left us an honest review. This helps us reach more people and produce more podcast episodes.

If you have any questions about this episode or you want us to cover something new, then contact us on hello@jammydigital.com or leave a comment at the bottom of the page!

• • Join Our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe and review
  • Contact Us

Episode Transcript Below

Lyndsay: Hello, and welcome to episode 5 of the Make Your Mark Online podcast. So, in today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about a big, bold statement. What one actually is, and why it’s so, so important for your website. But before I get on with the show, I just want to let you know that we have a really, really exciting announcement to make-

Martin: Yeah, we do.

Lyndsay: We will make the exciting announcement at the end of the podcast show.

Martin: So exciting.

Lyndsay: It’s really exciting.

Martin: It’s like Christmas in August.

Lyndsay: It’s like Christmas level of excitement, yeah, definitely. So please do listen to the show all the way through and listen to our exciting announcement at the end, because we are super excited to tell you about it. Okay, so let’s go on with the show.

What is a Big Bold Statement?

Lyndsay: So, firstly, Martin, what is the big, bold statement? What on Earth do you mean when you say that?

Martin: Yeah, you’re probably scratching your head, really, trying to work out what it is. I’ve never heard of it before, and there’s good reason for that, because we made it up. There’s plenty of ways to explain what it is, and people use different sort of jargon to explain it. You may have heard it as a value proposition or a you statement, for instance. But essentially, what we mean is, it’s your big, bold message. It’s your big, bold statement for your website visitors. Essentially, it just really defines what it is that you do so your visitors know exactly where they are, and if they’re in the right place.

Why is it Important We Have a Big Bold Statement?

Lyndsay: Okay, so why is it important that we have one of these big, bold statements, then? What’s it for? What do we use it for?

Martin: Well, we’ve obviously been reviewing lots of websites in our free Facebook group, and one of the main issues we’ve found is that people find it very difficult to actually explain what they do on a basic level. So we’ve got the opportunity when we’re doing these reviews, to review them for ten minutes, and we get what they do from crawling through the website. Problem is, your visitors and your potential customers, they’re not spending that much time. They’re spending three or four seconds on your website. So that’s why it’s so important to have a clear, defining, big, bold statement so that they’re immediately aware of where they are, what services you have, do you have the solution to their problem, and whether or not they should even care, or if they should just hit the back button. Because we want to get rid of the people on our website that aren’t going to deliver a customer. We don’t want to waste their time, they don’t want to waste our time. It’s just about getting to the bottom of it and making it abundantly clear who you are and why they should care.

Lyndsay: Okay. Well, that absolutely makes sense. And like you said, we have reviewed quite a few websites, and a lot of them it’s really unclear what it is that you do. And to think, when we’re in our business, we just don’t understand sometimes what it’s like for the end user, because we understand in and out what our business is about. But when someone’s on your website, if you don’t explain it clearly, and we always say, don’t we, explain it like you’re talking to a five year old, what it is that you do. If you don’t explain it like that and then potentially you could lose people because they don’t understand what it is that you offer.

Martin: Yeah, and you don’t want them working for it. You don’t want them spending brain calories trying to work out what exactly it is that you do. We know from experience that people are just not interested in spending more time on a website trying to uncover what you do. We’re not playing crystal maze here, we’re not trying to work out what you do, it’s not a puzzle. We just need to know if you are the person-

Lyndsay: Do you get a prize?

Martin: You do, yeah. But yeah, just need to define it.

Where Should the Big, Bold Statement Go?

Lyndsay: Okay, so we know that we need a big, bold statement. Where should it go on our website, then?

Martin: The main place that you want people to see the big, bold statement, or the best place for it, is in the top third of your website. You’ll have people call it above the fold, or the top third, or the first third. It’s the first thing that you can see when you get to your website, or any website. So, your laptop will only show you a certain amount of the page until you have to scroll down the page. This is where it needs to go, it needs to go in that top section so that somebody sees it before they need to scroll. This is what we call the hero section, or the slider section, or the feature area. Lots of different ways to explain what that area is. But that’s where your big, bold statement needs to go.

Lyndsay: Okay, brilliant. So we’ve established sort of what a big, bold statement is, we’ve sort of said where it should go. So my next question is, how on earth do we actually put together a big, bold statement? Because it sounds like a really difficult task. I mean, you’ve got to sum up your whole business in essentially, what, one sentence?

Martin: Yeah, exactly. You don’t want too many words to be able to convey what it is that you do, otherwise you’re just reading a paragraph. You may as well have a big block of text.

Lyndsay: Yeah.

Martin: So it needs to be a few words long. It can be a sentence, we’re talking. Sort of ten words long is probably okay, 10 to 15 at the most. Any more than that, then you’re getting into a paragraph territory. And people just want to see at a glance. They want to be able to look at it and understand what it is that you do. One of the main points, and we’re gonna give you a few tips here to come up with your own big, bold statement, essentially by the end of this episode, other than our very exciting news, you’re actually going to be able to create your own big, bold statement. We’re gonna give you nine different examples of how you can use it in your business and you can essentially just fill in the blanks. So it’s very sort of tip-driven, this episode.

Biggest Mistakes with a Big, Bold Statement

Martin: One of the biggest mistakes people make, before we move on to the examples, is they make it too vague. They make it too fluffy.

Lyndsay: Ah, I’ve got the solutions to your problems, statement.

Martin: Yeah, and we can help you prosper. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything, does it? But so many people use this sort of vague statement.

Lyndsay: I love that one.

Martin: They’re just so fluffy.

Lyndsay: Yeah, yeah. Definitely.

Martin: It’s just not effective at all.

Lyndsay: Don’t use the word prosper. Don’t use the words problems, solutions.

Martin: No, no, exactly.

Lyndsay: Okay, so that sounds really good then. So, like you said, you had some tips about how to actually put one of these things together. Walk us through that, what would you recommend first?

Big Bold Statement One: Ask a Question

Martin: Okay, so tip number one, it’s a really, really easy one. And it’s ask a question. So let’s just say somebody gets to your website. And we’re gonna use an example throughout all of these nine examples, which is let’s say you’re a speaking coach. So you help people with their presentations and speaking on stage. So in the essence of asking a question, you might say, “Does the thought of public speaking make you want to cry?” So, that’s an example which it kind of pulls at people’s … That’s a concern that a lot of people have. You’re asking a question to illustrate what it is that you do. It’s a nice, simple, easy way that anybody, no matter what business you’re in, you can ask the question, “Are you struggling with your website?” That’s what we might say. “Does the thought of updating WordPress plug-ins scare the crap out of …” Like, you can use it in anything. It’s just a question-

Lyndsay: Yeah, absolutely.

Martin: You’re asking your visitor a question. That’s the important thing, we are speaking directly to the visitor. It’s not about us, necessarily. It’s about them, and that’s why a question’s so good, because psychologically, you want to answer it.

Lyndsay: Yeah, I was just about to say, I think people, when they read a question like that, they’re like, “Oh my God, yes. I am terrified of public speaking,” or they kind of, they start to agree with you.

Martin: It’s that head nod. You want people to be yes, nodding their heads, as they read your website.

Lyndsay: Yeah, and it automatically says, “Okay, I understand your problem. I understand the issue you’re facing,” and then you go on, the rest of the website is how I’m gonna fix it. Okay, that’s good.

Martin: It’s a great way, need more speaking gigs. You can do it, you can think of hundreds and hundreds of them. But ask the questions that you know your ideal customers have been asking themselves.

Lyndsay: Okay. So, that’s a really good tip. So what other things have you thought of, then, as well?

Big Bold Statement Two: State a Promise

Martin: Okay, so we’ve got state a promise. So when somebody comes to your website, what is a promise that you want them to be aware of? And again, we’re avoiding fluffy marketing lingo. This is your promise to your visitors. So for instance, the speaking example would be, “Feel more confident on stage in five weeks or less,” or “The only speaking course you’ll ever need.” This is you illustrating what you do by promising something to your visitor. This is a nice sort of psychological way for you to say, “Come to me, I’m the expert.”

Lyndsay: Yeah, I can see how that’s really appealing, actually. Because if you promise someone that they’re going to be confident on stage in five weeks or less, that’s a really powerful thing and people think, “Okay, well, I can really see the benefit now of what you do,” that’s really, really great.

Big Bold Statement Three: Unique Identifier

Lyndsay: So we’re now on to the third recommendation of what you should do with a big, bold statement. What would that be?

Martin: This is called the unique identifier. So this is essentially what makes you unique. So if you want to take something about you and about the service that you offer, about your business, and you have maybe a very specific niche or something that differentiates you, then you can intertwine this within your big, bold statement. So let’s say, for example, you’re a public speaker to the stars, or you’re a public speaking coach to the stars. That means you have kind of a niche, but it’s a unique identifier. And that way, you’re able to differentiate yourself, it’s as simple as that.

Martin: Or for instance, if you have your own program and you have your own methods to teaching people whatever it is that you do, let’s just say speaking, then you could say, “I am the creator of the seven minute speaking formula,” or something sort of clever that you’ve come up with that describes your product specifically. And again, what that’s going to do is it’s going to allow them to understand what you do, because you say, “I’m a speaking coach,” or “I have a course on public speaking,” but you give yourself that edge, and that edge is extremely valuable. That’s what’s going to get people to perk up and listen.

Lyndsay: Okay, that’s really interesting, yeah. I really like that. I think it’s about figuring out what your unique selling point is, isn’t it really? And then sort of featuring that in your big, bold statement, essentially.

Martin: Exactly.

Lyndsay: Okay, so number four. We’re coming on to number four now, what’s that one?

Big Bold Statement Four: The Power Statement

Martin: So this one is a really interesting one, this one’s potentially the hardest, but if you get it right it can be extremely powerful. This is what we call the power statement. This is a case of you coming up with something that takes into account everything we’ve been talking about, how to clarify your message and how to attract your target audience. This is the really clever one. So this is the one that we try to use on our websites. I’ll give you our example, it’s, “make your mark online,” which is the name of the podcast, and then we have a sub-headline that says, “a website you can be proud of.”

Martin: Okay, so let’s analyze this for a second. “Make your mark online.” We are attracting, or we are trying to appeal to our ideal clients, i.e. you want to make your mark online. How does that feel? That emotion that comes from a statement like that can be extremely powerful.

Lyndsay: I get what you’re saying, and I’ve seen, we’ve used it on our website. But you don’t think it’s a little bit vague, “make your mark online,” are those kind of things that can run the risk of being a little bit, sort of touching on vague, really.

Martin: They can, and that’s the biggest problem with it. If you get it right, it can be extremely powerful. If you get it wrong, it can come across a little bit like, “We can help you prosper.” And these are the ones that people struggle with. We always advise you, if you are concerned about it not coming across as obvious enough, then support it with a supporting statement such as what we’ve got, which is, “a website you can be proud of.” That’s something to actually complement it, so that you can still get the emotion in there, but you’re also getting the clarity. So there’s an example we’ve got here which is, if you’re a public speaking coach, “make them believe.” Okay, so make them believe. If you were to read that on a website, it would probably catch your attention because the word believe is quite emotional as well. Everybody wants to believe in something better. And that’s just an example of what you could have. You could potentially apply it to any business, though. So it doesn’t actually help you understand what it is that they do, it just captures somebody’s attention.

Martin: So you may say, supporting statements like, “turning mediocre presentations into magnificent ones,” or “public speaking training for CEOs.” So you can combine the two to really hone in, but also pull at their heartstrings, really.

Lyndsay: Oh, okay. So when sort of combining these two, then, are you saying, “Make them believe,” that would be bigger, and then underneath that would be sort of the tag line or whatever. It would be a bit smaller. But it would be there to support it.

Martin: Yeah, but it does not have to be vague. Again, there’s ways that you can use a big, bold statement with the power element by something as clear and simple as, “deliver epic presentations.” That’s really nice and clean, it says exactly what’s going to happen. In that case, you might not need a supporting statement.

Lyndsay: Okay.

Martin: What I would do is open it up, if you’re worried about this potentially becoming a little bit more vague and cryptic, then open it up. Ask people, “if I said to you, make them believe, would it mean anything?” And if they say, “Not really, I don’t really know what service you offer,” then that’s when you need a supporting statement. There’s an argument to say with our website, “make your mark online.” Although it is vague, you can kind of get it from make your mark, which is, okay, make your mark on the world. That makes sense. Make your mark online is online. But we felt like we needed the extra push to tell people that you’re 100% in the right place.

Lyndsay: Yeah, definitely. And I think that’s a good point that you touched on before when you said you need to make it extra clear. I think, and actually ask people, ask people’s opinions of what they think it might be as well. Have them think about if your website suddenly just was a blank white page and all that was there was your big, bold statement, would they be able to grasp what it is that you do as your business. And that’s probably a good way of thinking about it. But yeah, asking your friends is a really, really good tip. Just kind of tell them the statement and ask them to sort of guess what your business might be. That’s a really good idea.

Martin: Yeah. A lot of people get their mom to do it. The mom test or the granny test, where they actually-

Lyndsay: Granny test is great, yeah.

Martin: They actually say, “Take a good look at our website and tell me what you think I do.”

Lyndsay: Yes, yes.

Martin: Because so many people, I know my grandma, she hasn’t got a clue what I’m doing, she just says, “I’m proud of you,” but she doesn’t actually know the logistics of what we do. So actually showing her that would be a real good test.

Lyndsay: Okay, great. Okay, so that’s a really good one. So now we’re on to the fifth tip. Which one is this one?

Big Bold Statement Five: Use a Customer Testimonial

Martin: So this is use a customer testimonial or comment. Okay, so, imagine that somebody was on your website and you had a testimonial as your big, bold statement. This might say something, for us it might be, “the best website I could have ever dreamed of.” That could be a big, bold statement. Or, in the example that we’ve got here, about the public speaking coach, it might be, “I’ve never felt so happy after leaving the stage,” or “Public speaking has never felt so achievable.” So that is the kind of emotive approach that we’re going for, really. You can take word-for-word what somebody said and use that as a big, bold statement, as long as you’re including the idea of the services. If they’re just saying, “Oh, Martin and Lyndsay are great, they have the greatest customer service and it’s fantastic,” it’s not gonna work. It has to be extremely explicit.

Martin: So a good friend of ours, Chris Marr, up until recently had a testimonial on his website, CMA Live, and it was “the best marketing conference I’ve been to in 25 years,” and that was amazing because you can actually understand exactly what you’re getting, but it’s alsO that social proof as well that we spoke about in previous episodes.

Lyndsay: Yeah, definitely. I can really see how that absolutely works. And yeah, like you said, don’t make it sort of vague. So we do get testimonials from people that say, “They’re really friendly,” and “They’re really nice,” and yeah, that’s not particularly very helpful to use for anyone, really, because it doesn’t really differentiate you.

Martin: Yeah, definitely.

Lyndsay: Okay, so, we’re on to number six now. Which one is number six?

Big Bold Statement Six: The Exact Statement

Martin: This is the exact statement. Okay, this is the easiest one to get. If you leave this episode and you finish listening and you need to give yourself a big, bold statement, you need to write one, and you need one fast, then use this one. This is essentially you saying exactly what it is that you do. And again, we know from looking at hundreds of websites that people don’t do this. Full stop, they don’t do it at all. So this is the idea of saying exactly what it is that you do. “Public speaking, training, and workshops,” that kind of obviousness that comes with it. It’s so abundantly clear what you do, and you’re just stating the fact, like, “WordPress web design,” for instance. Or, “we sell hot tubs.” You know what I mean, that kind of approach is really effective.

Lyndsay: Yeah, I completely agree, and I think sometimes people feel like they need to be really clever, don’t they, with these things and they feel this kind of pressure. But often, you can just say what it is that you do. There’s absolutely no problem with doing that, is there, at all?

Martin: It’s much better than going with this vague kind of weakened-

Lyndsay: Pretentious.

Martin: Yeah, pretentious, horrible statements that don’t explain what you do. It’s much better to go with a clean and simple one, even if you’re gonna rethink it later and you’re gonna try and go for a power statement, or maybe you’re thinking of a question, or maybe you’re waiting for some testimonials, this is the one to start with. This is the highly effective one that confirms immediately where they are and if they’re in the right place.

Lyndsay: Okay, brilliant. Okay, so that’s number six done. So we’re right on to number seven now, and which one is that?

Big Bold Statement Seven: Who You Help

Martin: Number seven is who you help. So this is, again, it’s an easy one really. It’s about saying who you help and what you help them do. The original idea for this came from Michael Port and the book, “Book Yourself Solid.” We’ll leave a link to that in the show notes.

Lyndsay: Yep, absolutely.

Martin: This is kind of the idea of who you are and what can you help people do. It’s a really simple one and it’s, “We help CEOs master public speaking,” or “Helping academics to deliver memorable presentations.” What it is you do and who you help. This is great if you have a niche. We have a friend who runs a creative agency for accountants. That’s a great statement. You could just say, “We are a creative agency for accountants.” And I think that’s exactly what she does. So it’s a really, really good one for you to illustrate what you do and who it’s for, especially if you’ve got a niche.

Lyndsay: Yeah, I really, really like that one, I do. Because yeah, if you have a niche, and that person is an academic that logs on your website, they’re like, “Okay, this is for me,” and it makes them feel sort of really quite special, that this website that they’re actually on is for them, definitely.

Martin: Yeah. Too many websites just try and reach everyone, and that’s what’s so good about having a niche. But even people that have a niche sometimes are still afraid of saying they have a niche on their website. Business people that say, “Well, we kind of deal with dentists,” or “We kind of deal with accountants,” but we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. So we’ll just kind of say that we’re a social media agency, rather than social media for accountants, social media for dentists.

Martin: It’s much better if you make it abundantly clear who you help.

Lyndsay: Yep, definitely. Okay, that’s really good. So, we’re now on to number eight, nearing the end. Which one’s number eight, Martin?
Martin: So this is kind of like the previous one, but a little bit more zazz.

Lyndsay: Zazz, is that a word?

Big Bold Statement Eight: Who You Help+

Martin: It is now. So this is who you help. We’ve just put this as the who you help, plus. So this is-

Lyndsay: That’s not really very zazzy, really.

Martin: It is, yeah. That brought you right down like a lead balloon, didn’t it. So for instance, “We help CEOs deliver outstanding presentations that inspire action.” So this is kind of where you take somebody, so we help these people, but we help them achieve amazing things. So we’re out there and we help accountants do social media, we help accountants deliver amazing service via social media, or whatever it is that you do.

Lyndsay: Oh, okay.

Martin: So another one would be, “We help charities to tell their story and change the world.”

Lyndsay: That’s nice.

Martin: You’re kind of combining the one from number four, which is power statement, and you’re combining the who we help one. So this is kind of a nice way for you to mix the two, and there’s nothing wrong with doing that with a big, bold statement.

Lyndsay: Yeah, I can see that, how that really, really works, actually. And it’s really powerful, because not only are you telling someone who you help, you’re telling them sort of what you’re helping them with, but you’re telling them the actual effect of that help, if that makes sense.

Martin: Yeah.

Lyndsay: So, “We help charities tell their story,” that’s great because you’ve identified who your niche is, you’ve identified what you help them with. But then the, “and change the world,” part is actually telling them what they’re gonna get out of working with you. That’s the really, really powerful, impactful part.

Martin: And it’s not just more donations. It’s, you’ve gotta feel it. Change the world. We help charities do this thing, is great. But change the world? Have that extra punch on the end of it, that’s what really, really counts. That’s what really gets people in the heart.

Lyndsay: Yeah. That’s really nice. Okay, so we’ve come on to the final one now, number nine. Which one is number nine, Martin?

Big Bold Statement Nine: The Guarantee

Martin: So this is like the promise, this is the guarantee. So what this means is, if you have a guarantee with your service, so for instance, “deliver outstanding presentations or your money back,” if you have an offer within your business that you can actually protect your guarantee and actually just say, “or we’ll stand behind it. Our service is so amazing, we’ll give you this.” It’s a great idea to actually include that, if you’re really struggling with the others, to actually include this one. So, “Deliver outstanding presentations or your money back.”

Lyndsay: Okay, yeah. I can see, yeah, I can really see how that one works, actually as well. Because it really gives people confidence that, “okay, if this guy’s prepared to give me this money back, then it must be pretty good.”

Martin: Yeah, and it’s not just … It could be, for instance, a free service. So a free service with your new product, or whatever. It could just be something to give people the edge in understanding that this is an extremely good service and it builds the extra level of trust, which we all need to do on our website.

Lyndsay: Do you think it might run the risk of verging onto that cheesy territory of, “Oh, 90 days or money back guarantee,” you know, when you see all those [JML 00:23:15] adverts.

Martin: It could do, yeah. But when you think about some of the higher premium quality products, like I saw recently this big mattress that everybody’s buying at the minute, which is, “a better night’s sleep in 60 days or your money back.” You still allow yourself to position yourself as a high quality product, and in some cases with high quality products, they’re expensive, so you want to protect yourself.

Lyndsay: Yeah, true.

Martin: So with something like that, it can really work, especially if you stand behind your product. Because so many businesses out there offer risk-free guarantees. It’s just that they might not put it in their big, bold statement. And there may be a time when that’s a potentially good thing to do. Probably not the most common one of the nine, but it’s always an option there, if you do have that kind of product.

Lyndsay: Okay, that’s great. Well, I think there’s so many ways now for people to come up easily with a big, bold statement. When we do website critiques from now on, there should be no problems at all.

Martin: Hopefully, hopefully.

Lyndsay: … with big, bold statements, that’s really good. Do you have a personal favorite for your big, bold statement, a personal technique?
Martin: Well, I actually really like the pattern of coming up with a big, bold statement, and that’s why we always use our power statements. We try to come up with them for our website. Clients as well, our web design clients, we really love that. It’s a case of spending time to do it. I think that’s the thing. I mean, having a … Sometimes, for some businesses, if you sell sheds, and you might want to say, “We just sell sheds,” I mean, that’s what we do. If you sell high quality sheds or sheds for kids then yeah, that’s fine. But sometimes you just want to say, “We sell sheds,” it completely depends on the business owner and the business type and what’s best for them. It’s okay to throw a few ideas down. We’ll include in the show notes a list of these nine. Why not try each of them out? Throw a few ideas down.

Lyndsay: Yeah, absolutely.

Martin: I just remember, I quite enjoy it, because when we were in primary school, we were given this task to come up with a newspaper headline. And everybody really struggled with it, myself included. But it was this, when you look at newspapers, they’re able to just tell you what the headlines are, especially the tabloids one. Where you know exactly what’s going to happen when you read this article. They just, they’re able to encapsulate a lot of what they do, so my suggestion would be practice. Just practice, you’re gonna get better.

Lyndsay: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s a really good idea, yeah, if you fill in, we’ll put this in the show notes, if you fill in the sections and try each of the nine out on your own business. You may find one that you really love and really works for you. That’s a really good idea.

Martin: Yeah, and ask us in the Facebook group as well, if you’ve given a few ideas and you’ve got a final three, and you just want some extra advice, join the Facebook group, JammyDigital.com/facebook, and we’ll tell you, create a little poll and we’ll tell you which one we prefer.

Lyndsay: Absolutely. Okay, so that was really good, really sort of nice, meaty podcast episode there, which hopefully people can take away a lot from. So now, we come to our exciting part of this podcast, woo-hoo. So we do have a very, very exciting announcement, don’t we, Martin?
Martin: We do, yeah. And if we had a drum roll, we could tell you.

Lyndsay: We would, yes.

The Exciting News

Martin: Okay. Here is the exciting news. We know you’ve been waiting, and you’ve got your popcorn at the ready. We are launching a membership site.

Lyndsay: Yes, we are, woo-hoo!

Martin: Yes, we are, woo! Christmas in August.

Lyndsay: Yep!

Martin: So what we’ve been doing in the background for the past few weeks is, we’ve been coming up with a way for us to reach more people. When we take on clients, and we’re not the cheapest agency, we know that. We understand that you care a lot about your business. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be listening to this podcast. You wouldn’t be joining our free Facebook group, you wouldn’t be popping your name in for a website critique. We understand that you care about your website and you want to achieve more with it. You don’t want to waste your time, you don’t want to fight with a website. So over these past few weeks, we’ve been coming up with a plan for certain courses that we’re gonna put in this membership. We’ve got a few ideas and we’re really, really excited to be able to share this with you.

Lyndsay: Yes, and this is all coming from, basically, our years in web design, and just talking to so many business owners about their problems. Not necessarily clients, but actually people that just come to talk to us about their website problems. And obviously in the Facebook group, as well, which is quite active, we see people have the same problems with their website, the same struggles and battles that they have with it. And it can feel like an uphill, lonely battle, really.

Martin: Yeah, it really can.

Lyndsay: And we absolutely, we love doing the critiques every week, of people’s websites. We absolutely love just helping people and teaching people and seeing those changes, when they take our-

Martin: It’s the best thing in the world, when they take our advice.

Lyndsay: It is, when they take our advice on. So I think that’s really what sort of fueled this membership, isn’t it.

Martin: Yeah, definitely. And the tech problems can be a real issue for some people. Everybody’s had those tech headaches, where you’re just trying to get this plug-in to, you’re not sure which plug-in to use, and it can be a real struggle. So we’re going to have, and obviously lots of announcements about this, but essentially we’re going to have courses in there. We’re going to have an SEO course in there, we’re going to have a personal branding course in there. We’re going to have a course on how to actually build a website using a WordPress theme that we’ve handpicked. It’s gonna be extremely actionable, and there’s gonna be a thriving community in there, we hope, for us to be able to answer questions as well.

Lyndsay: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So, if this sounds like something that you might be interested in, please go and visit our wait list. Now, all’s you need to do is put in JammyDigital.com/wait

Martin: Wait. You’ve gotta wait.

Lyndsay: Yep, gotta wait. Just pop in your name and e-mail address there. The membership will be launched in a couple of months. We will keep you updated on an exact date. It will only be open for a limited period of time only. So if you do pop your name down, you will be the first to know when it actually launches. So do make sure that you go to that webpage and pop your name down for the wait list.
Martin: It’s gonna be exciting.

Lyndsay: It’s very exciting.

Martin: Yeah, can’t wait.

Lyndsay: Okay, so that was episode five of the Make Your Mark Online podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Bye-bye.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Ep 5 – Why You Need a Big Bold Statement and How to Create One appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

It takes a long time to draft, re-write, edit, create images and then publish it.

And after all of that, you have to think about SEO too?

It’s enough to make you want to cry.

We’d like to think that producing great content is enough, but in reality, if you want to get found online, SEO is essential.

But with all the advice out there, how do you begin to know where to start?

This is why I created this checklist. I wanted you to have a go-to resource that you could use over and over again.

After all, if you’ve spent so long writing a great blog post, you want to make sure you have as many readers as possible.

1. Keyword research for your blog post

Keyword research is used to gather a list of common words and phrases that people type into search engines and it’s still an important part of SEO. Understanding the popularity of certain words and phrases is an excellent way to reach more people.

It’s also a good idea to use a keyword research tool to validate your ideas for future articles.

Ideally, you would do your research before you begin writing, that way you can plan the structure of your piece with keywords in mind.

However, even if you’ve already written your post, you may want to go back and confirm that you’ve at least considered the best keywords. You might have missed some key opportunities.

How to do keyword research so you know what keywords to target.

Keyword research tools allow you to search for words and phrases and tell you the average number of monthly searches.

You can use a number of online tools for this and most of them come with a free trial of some kind. Here are a few for you to try out.

KWFinder
SEO Book
Serps
Wordstream
Keyword.io

Here’s an example of what KWFinder looks like when using their keyword tool. You can read this very helpful review of KWFinder right here.

Basic keyword research tips

• Write down a few words and phrases related to your blog post
• Use one of the tools above to gather a list of relevant keywords & keep them to one side
• Put them in order of most relevant to your article
• Take note of the most popular keywords

2. Choosing a blog post title for first page rankings

What is the name or title of your blog post? This is usually the first thing people will see when they visit your post for the first time.

The name you choose will also be the main heading for the post which makes it very important for search engines. For instance, my main heading at the top of this page is “SEO checklist to optimise your blog posts” This is also what will appear when you share your content on social media.

Search engines will take note of the keywords you use in your main heading and use it to rank your blog post. This is why it’s important you take your time with it.

It’s tempting to try to be funny or clever with your heading but I encourage you to tread carefully. I could have chosen something like “10 steps to search engine success” or “10 secrets to get more eyeballs on your blog” but the reality is, that kind of title doesn’t work as well as you think.

“Buzzfeed” type blog titles are only good for one thing: getting low-value traffic from content junkies.

You really don’t want your blog post being treated this way. They might get a couple more shares but you’re missing out on lots of organic search traffic. You also want to position your article as a valuable resource for your target market.

Blog post title tips

• Include your main keyword
• Use sentence form e.g. SEO Checklist to optimise your blog posts
• Try to keep it short. I usually aim for less than 60 characters in length
• Avoid keyword stuffing

3. Optimise your blog post URLs for better SEO

Not to be confused with your domain, URLs are the unique pages on your website. For example, the URL for this page is jammydigital.com/seo-checklist-blog-post. URLs are an extremely important part of SEO. Search engines take note of the URLs you have chosen for your blog posts and will rank you accordingly.

URLs can also be called a page “slug” and depending on which content management system you’re using you should be able to change them easily. Below I’ve shown an example of how it looks in WordPress.

How to choose the best URL or slug for your blog post?

• Try to keep it as short as possible e.g. /seo-checklist-blog-post
• Include your target keyword
• Avoid using any strange characters (%&$£%**&)
• Use hyphens to separate words (not underscores)
• Don’t use stop words such as AND,A,TO,IN,AN
• Avoid using additional elements such as .html or .php

You don’t want an extremely long and messy URL such as jammydigital.com/an-seo-checklist-for-optimising-your-blog-post-for-better-google-rankings.

An extremely long URL doesn’t look very appealing to your users and less people will click through to your website and share it on social media.

4. Structuring your headings and subheadings (H1-H6) for better rankings

The headings you use within your blog posts will help decide what keywords you rank for.

Search engines want you to use heading tags to break up your content, making it easy for their robots to understand.

Headings also have the added benefit of breaking up your content, making it easy for your readers to consume.

Your headings and subheadings should be used in a specific order as shown below. I often see people use H1-H6 tags randomly. They use the different H tags to style their article rather than use them in the correct order.

How to use headings for SEO

Heading 1 (H1) is the main heading on your page (this is usually the blog post title)
Heading 2 (H2) is used for your subheadings and is this is usually the most commonly used headings on a page
Heading 3 (H3) is used for subheadings within your sub headings
Heading 4 (H4) is used for a subheading within your H3
Heading 5 (H5) is used for a subheading within your H4
Heading 6 (H6) is used for a subheading within your H5

Here’s an example of how you use them correctly as a blog post.

Top tips for headings and subheadings

• Outline the main sub-sections of your blog post
• Try to include your keywords where possible
• Try to use sentence form rather than one word (This is harder than you think)
• Only use one H1 Tag
• Don’t forget about H3 to H6

5. Optimising your content so it ranks highly in search results

These days, high quality content is absolutely vital if you want to rank on the first page of search results.

I’ve seen this for myself over the past few years. It’s pretty much impossible to rank highly online with thin, low quality articles. It might have worked in the past but search engines can spot low quality a mile off.

Unfortunately, Google don’t have an individual person reading your article from top to bottom to see how good it is. They use a number of ranking factors to determine the quality and it’s easy for them to spot the weak from the strong such as:

All of these factors will determine how good your content is and will count towards your rankings.

Here are a few tips to help you content rank higher

• Write at least 1000 words for your article (most of my articles are over 2000 words)
• Try to include your main keyword in the first paragraph
• Include your other keywords naturally throughout the post
• Include images and videos within your blog post
• Link out to other trusted websites online to strengthen your article e.g. Wikipedia

6. Optimising your images for search engines

Most websites use images to brighten up an article or break it up so it’s easier to read. Whilst that is a good thing, it’s also possible to use your images to rank your article higher in search results.

Search engine robots can’t see your images, they can only scan the information that you attach, which is why you need to take care when optimising them.

Image file name

When you save an image onto your computer you have the option to give the file a name. Most images taken with a smartphone or digital camera are saved like this “IMG_00001.jpg”

To save time, people often leave this as it is and upload it to their website. The problem, is that you’re essentially telling Google that “IMG_0001” is what you’re hoping to rank for.

You need to use this opportunity to describe the image so that it fits in nicely with your article.

Take this image of my cat, Muggles for example. The file name is “black-cat-shelf.jpg”

Image size

The file size of your images can also impact your rankings. Make them too big and your website will load slower and create a bad user experience for your visitors.

A standard image size for a picture taken on an iPhone 7 is around 1500 kb (1.5 mb) and 3000px x 4000px in dimensions.

The average laptop screen is around 1200px wide. So that means if you upload an image from your iPhone it’s approximately 3 times larger than it needs to be.

As you can see from this ruler, the width of this blog post is around 750 pixels. There is absolutely no reason for me to upload an image bigger than this.

Even if you re-size the image once it’s on your website, it’s still been uploaded as a big file and this will have repercussions.

Use a website such as Picresize to reduce the size of your images. Keep them as small as possible without losing the quality.

The image of my cat measures 400px wide by 533px tall and the size of the file is 160kb. This is tiny compared to a standard iPhone photo and could easily be reduced even more.

Image alt tags

Once your images have been uploaded to your website, you can add some Alternative text or alt text to explain what the image is. This is how Google rank your images in their image search tool.

Using alt text will also enable you to rank your blog post higher as you are likely using similar keywords throughout the post. I have described the image above using the alt text “Black cat climbing white shelf”

I suppose I could have also used “Muggles destroying my office like she always does” as the alt text. Sigh!

Most content management systems such as WordPress will allow you add alt text without needing to access code.

Tips for optimising images

• Use hyphens (not underscores) in your file names to separate the words
• Use short file names i.e. 2–3 words in length is good
• Include your keywords in the file name e.g. black-cat-shelf.jpg
• Use a tool like www.picresize.com to resize your images BEFORE uploading them
• Use the batch feature on the same website to upload multiple images
• Use sentence form in your alt tags
• Include your keywords in your alt tags e.g. black cat
• Describe the image “Black cat climbing white shelf”

7. Use internal links

If you want to rank highly, your website should act as a valuable resource within your niche. Your articles are certainly going to help with this but you need to make the most of them. An internal link is where you create a hyperlink from one post to another relevant post.

You can use a number of internal links within your blog posts to help your visitors navigate through your website seamlessly and allow them to consume more of your content.

The more pages your visitor views will show Google that your website is valuable and they’ll likely send you more relevant traffic.

Links can also be used to show search engines that your content is trustworthy. Each link pointed to an article counts as a little “vote”. It’s a good idea to try and link to each post on your website at least once.

Another way to help Google rank your articles is to use keywords within your hyperlink when linking to a page. This is called anchor text. For instance, if I’m linking to a page talking about “SEO Jargon”, I would want to hyperlink the words SEO Jargon and not words like “click here” or “find out more”. This is a common mistake that lots of people make but it’s quite easy to fix.

• Include a few internal links to other relevant articles on your website
• Use keywords within your anchor text
• Don’t use too many links as this will affect visitor experience and look messy

8. Search engine title (Title Tag) (this appears in search results)

Not to be confused with the blog post title in step 2. Title tags are not visible on your website. They are mainly used by search engines to determine what your page is about.

Title tags are another important aspect of SEO. Each page on your website will need to have its own title. The same goes for each of your blog posts. Although the title tag is mainly for search engines your users will still be able to see it within search results, so it’s important to take care when choosing your title tags.

The title will be display on the search engine results page. As you can see it’s displayed in big blue text.

You can edit your Title in your website dashboard. Here is what it looks like in WordPress.

How to choose the best title tags for your blog posts

• Stick within 55 characters in length – If not, it may get automatically cut off and…
• Make sure you include your main keyword
• Use short sentences e.g. “SEO checklist for Optimising Blog Post”
• Avoid stuffing titles with too many keywords e.g “SEO Checklist. Best SEO checklist Blog Post, SEO”
• Use hyphens (-) or pipes (|) to separate sentences. It looks neater.

9. Make the most of your meta description (Google shows this before someone visits your website)

Each blog post you publish will have its own meta description. It’s the small grey text beneath the URL on the Google results listings.

As you can see, it’s longer than the title tag so there’s more room to include more information. Unlike the Title tag, Meta Descriptions are no longer classed as a strong ranking factor. However, they are still extremely important.

The words you use here will determine how many people click on your listing rather than the other results on Google. A compelling description will dramatically increase your click through rate.

A lot of businesses don’t spend the time producing quality meta descriptions and miss out on visitors.

You can edit your Meta Description in your website dashboard and it’s usually right next to your search engine title (title tag)

Top tips for meta descriptions

• Use 130–150 characters in your description
• Ask a question e.g. Are you writing blog posts that nobody reads?…
• Include a call to action where possible

10. Categories and Tags

Categories and tags are used to structure the content on your website. You can group certain content together by assigning a number of categories and/or tags. Although they don’t have a massive SEO benefit, this will make things easier for your visitors when browsing your website.

There are no hard and fast rules about categories and tags but I like to follow a certain system that makes sense for users and search engines.

Using categories

A category is usually used as the MAIN topic of the post. For this post I’ve used “SEO”. I only tend to use one category per post but you could use more if you really needed to.

Using tags

Tags are used as extra topics that you speak about throughout the post. I usually use 5 per blog post and for this one, I used SEO, Blog, Blogging, Content and Content Marketing.

As you can see, I’ve used SEO for the category and also a tag.

I’ve found that by structuring each post this way, it allows me find my own content easier and has a nice clean pattern for my visitors to follow too.

Related content

I also have a section at the bottom of my blog posts that show related content. Depending on which post you’re reading, different content will appear based on the categories and tags I’ve chosen.

Top tips for using categories and tags

• Try to use one category
• Use a number of tags for any sub-categories
• Try to keep a similar process for all future posts

11. Social media signals help rankings

Social media plays an important role in how Google views your content. Blog posts that get lots of likes and shares show search engines that your content is interesting and/or valuable. On the flip side, if your content doesn’t have as many, Google may favour other content on the web and show them higher up in search results.

Most SEO software such as Moz now includes social media counters to encourage you to focus on increasing these social signals.

There are a number of things you can do with your blog articles to encourage people to like and share them.

• Include a social sharing bar like we have on the left of this article
• Include tweetables to make tweeting your content easier
• Ask for shares as your call to action
• Include links to online influencers and brands. They’ll likely share it too.

What next?

So now you have a list of things you can do before, during and after you’ve written a blog post. Even if you aren’t able to do every single one, you’ll still put yourself in a very strong position to rank well in search engines.

If all that seems a little overwhelming or time-consuming, then check out our SEO content writing service. This is a full blog management service where we do all of your content creation for you, from keyword research and content strategy, to writing the content and optimising it! This saves you up to 10 hours a week doing it all yourself! Good eh?

Or if you want to up your SEO-game yourself, check out our SEO quiz! It takes just two minutes to do, and when you’re finished you’ll find out your SEO score and get a personalised report which tells you exactly how to improve your site for SEO!

Martin Huntbach

Web designer & marketer for small businesses. Martin is an experienced search engine and web design specialist, with over a decade of experience working with large corporations to small businesses.

jammydigital.com

The post SEO for Blog Posts – The Ultimate Checklist appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

We’ve all been there. Creating content is hard. But coming up with content ideas? That can be a killer.

It’s best to create content when you follow a proper strategy, because that’s the best way of using content to reach your business goals. However, we get that sometimes you just need inspiration!

So here are some of the best ways to find brilliant content ideas…

1. Write Down Every Question a Customer or Client Has Ever Asked You

Go do it now.

Done?

Good.

Now answer them!

And yep, even those awkward ones like, ‘how much do you charge?’ or ‘why are you more expensive than your competitors‘?

It doesn’t matter how you answer them. On your blog, video, vlogging from your bubble bath (if that’s your thing). Just answer them.

And there you have it, lots of lovely new content marketing ideas. Ones that users will search for and find informative and helpful.

2. Involve your team

Great things happen when you get people in a room and talking. You come up with the most brilliant ideas.

Make sure you regularly make time with your team to think of content ideas – your team could’ve been asked an interesting question from a customer, or come across an insightful article, or even spotted a trend on social media.

Remember, every team member, whether they’re in sales, tech support, or design, offers a unique perspective that can add immense value to your content strategy.

3. Keep a Pen and Paper Handy

Did you know J.K. thought of her amazing, beyond amazing idea about a boy wizard on the train when she didn’t have a pen and paper? Avoid that mistake. Ideas hit us at the most inconvenient of times. So, make sure you have something with you in order to jot them down.

4. Jump on the Trend Horse

Create content based on what’s happening in the news and or trends. If you have expertise in a domain that’s making the rounds, it’s your cue to weigh in and share insights!

Stay relevant. Stay vocal.

5. Join Forums and Groups

Hang out where your audience hangs out and watch out for the questions they ask – this is a treasure trove of content ideas. Also, make sure you keep an eye on the language they use too – this can tell you how to word your content so it reflects exactly what your audience is asking and needs help with.

6. Quora

Quora is an addictive Q&A site that gives you an idea of what information people are after. So type in the kinds of questions your audience might be asking, and away you go! In a short space of time, you’ll know what topics people are interested in surrounding your business.

7. Explore Analytics

The data doesn’t lie! Look into your website or social media analytics to see what posts or topics have gained the most traction. This can give you an indication of what your audience likes and wants more of.

8. Podcasts and Webinars

Tune in to popular podcasts or webinars in your industry. They’re a goldmine for relevant topics and discussions. Plus, they might inspire a different angle or a deeper dive into subjects that are merely brushed upon.

9. Conduct Surveys

Your audience is your best source of information. Send out surveys or polls asking them directly what they’d like to read or learn about. Their feedback can be the birthplace of your next big content piece.

10. Bookshelf and Magazines

Don’t just stick to online. The old-school route of scanning books or magazines in your niche can offer insights or even just inspire a fresh take on a recurring theme.

11. Mind-mapping Sessions

Set aside time for brainstorming. Start with a core idea and expand outward, jotting down every related topic or subtopic that comes to mind. This can help you visualize a multitude of potential content avenues.

12. Competitor Watch

It’s not about copying, but observing. See what topics your competitors are covering. Can you offer a different perspective or go more in-depth? Or did they miss out on a crucial point that you can highlight?

13. You Don’t Have to be Unique, but Try to be Better

Try not to spend time coming up with brand-new, completely original content. It’s the internet. Your idea has probably been thought up before.

But what you can do is make your content better, more informed, funnier, more opinionated etc. And that’s how you can differentiate yourself.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post 13 Ways to Find New Content Ideas appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

1. “I don’t have time.”

Ahhh that old chestnut.

This is the one I use most. How can I possibly find the time to do all this content marketing stuff!

There’s one very simple answer…

Make time.

I know, I’m sorry. I wish I could give you a magical machine that would stop time, but if I had one I’d probably be swanning it in the Cayman Islands drinking cocktails or something.

Content marketing should be an integral part of your marketing strategy. It builds your brand, helps SEO, and creates authority and trust with your audience. The benefits far outweigh the time.

But I would say this. Be smart about your Content Marketing. Don’t join eight different social media sites if you can’t keep up with them. Just have two or three you do really well. And aim to create a video/infographic/blog post etc. in realistic times frames. So if that means once a week/fortnight/month, then so be it. But make sure you do it.

2. “I don’t know what to write about”

Sure you do.

YOU are an expert in your field. Whether that be; gardening, roofing, hair and beauty, money management, budgies, cosmetic surgery, divorce settlements, underwear or spider monkeys, you are unique because you know more about your industry than the average man or woman out there.

So what does this mean?

It means you get to talk about the thing you love!

I love writing and content marketing. But often, when I start yabbering on to my friends/family about it, they roll their eyes and their head hits the desk.

But online, it’s different. Your audience are after the very thing you’re passionate about. And you get to talk about it without someone snoozing! How amazing is that?

3. “My writing isn’t good enough.”

Content isn’t just about writing. There are plenty of other things you can do. You can tweet about it, use Facebook, do videos, interpretive dance, create infographs, and take photographs.

If all that seems a tad scary and you do just want to stick to writing, remember, the majority of people are just after great content – answers to their questions, entertainment, something to make them laugh or cry or both.

They’re not going to be going through you’re work with a red pen giving it a big fat ‘F’.

And so what if you make a mistake? And some smartarse in the comments section tells you you’ve spelt necessary wrong (*cough* true story *cough*). Then just say, ‘silly me!’ and move on.

You will notice that as you keep writing it will improve over time. I recommend everyone use Microsoft Word for the handy spell check. Just remember to select the right word. For example: definitely and defiantly are often confused via spell checker!

You can also use software such as grammarly, that will check your spelling and grammar for you.

4. “What if people just do it themselves?”

So many clients say this to me and I always go back to the same example.

I had this discussion some years ago with a lady who now owns a successful bakery. I advised her to do YouTube videos on how to make and decorate cakes. She looked at me like I was an idiot.

“Won’t they just go away and do it themselves if I tell them how to do it?” she asked.

And she was right. There’s always a risk that some of your potential customers will go away and do it themselves. But the risk is very small.

Do you think that anybody will be able to copy what you’ve spent years and years learning and crafting? No.

Do people have the time to spend learning what you’ve learnt? Generally, no.

So she did it. And it allowed her to become an authority as a cake making extraordinaire and her business grew from strength to strength. She’s even introduced bakery classes!

5. “I’m afraid of putting myself out there.”

Now, this one I can sympathise with. Putting yourself out there is scary and there’s always that niggling feeling that people will judge you.

But trust me when I say this, I have only ever seen a hugely positive response to people putting themselves out there, if they do it in a helpful and engaging way.

People are generally good people. Yeah, the Internet is full of a few weirdoes but they’re easy to spot and ignore. But what if someone disagrees with you view? Then great! That means what you’re doing is working; you’re creating conversation and debate.

The hardest thing to do is that first blog post or video. You want it to be perfect and wonderful and for everyone to just love it. Well, that would be lovely but the chances are it won’t get all the attention you want it to. Content Marketing is a slow game and you will improve immensely over time. But the trick is to keep going, make sure your work is the best it can be but don’t overthink it. Just shut your eyes hit the post or upload button and I swear only good things will come of it.

No one ever got anywhere by being too afraid.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post Top 5 excuses to get out of content marketing – and why you should ignore them. appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.