In this episode, I break down Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in super simple terms. As an ex-SEO professional, I also give very digestible advice and share my unique experience (from an actual insider's perspective).
In fact, so much of what SEO professionals tout as "musts" are actually just BS. If you want SEO explained to you in layman's (or hot girl's) terms, you are in the right place!
**All my fellow mamas out there: I am a potty-mouth, so you may want to listen with headphones on!**
If you found this episode helpful it would mean the world to me if you could share it with a friend or screenshot this episode on your phone, upload it to Instagram stories and tag me (@designingvibes). This podcast is not monetized, so spreading the word is the best way to "pay me back" for my time and wisdom- so to speak.
Welcome to the introverted influencer podcast. I'm your host Erica van. Like my soul's mission on this planet is to help fellow introverts grow their online influence and estate, a feminine flow and ease while battling the lows of depression, anxiety, and even mom guilt. I've somehow managed to build a six figure blog without the use of social media and without sacrificing my mental health, if I can do it, you can too. Hey, y'all welcome back to six of the introverted influencer podcast. I'm gonna try to get through this podcast without coughing. I'm having really bad seasonal allergies, and I keep having these coughing fits where my throat gets tickly. So whatever, oh my God, how it feels good to be sitting here in a proper office. I am excited to announce that my family and I just finished a long and stressful move into our dream home this weekend. And I, I say stressful, not because I'm a brat, that's taking this for granted, but because while we were in the process of moving a gnarly stomach bug ravaged the family and it made the move near impossible, like literal show and puking. Um, but we're all healthy now. It's, it's funny because back when we were living at our old house, my dining room doubled as my office and podcast studio, and now I have a proper room dedicated just for boss mode and it overlook the freaking lake. Y'all, it's actually a mid-century modern home located on an Eagle reserve. And my God, I am just pinching myself, never in my life. Did I ever think I could afford to live in a home this nice. And my two year journey to manifesting my dream home is finally materialized. I am proof that aligned action blended with woo woo spiritual practices really do freaking work. And you better follow along on Insta stories at designing vibes because I'm sharing all the behind the scenes of my house. So today's episode is titled SEO, the art of. But before I get into the meat of today's lesson, I wanna make sure that we're all on the same page. Now, for those of you who have been blog or on a website, I'm sure you already know what SEO is, but for those of you who don't let me just briefly break it down. So SEO stands for search engine optimization and in layman's terms, it's basically E encompasses is all the actions required to get your website to show up as a top result in a search engine with Google being the most popular search engine. And in fact, Google is responsible for about 55% of my blogs, total monthly traffic, AKA eyeballs on my website and with my passive income business model with a significant portion of it, relying on advertising revenue, my earnings in general heavily rely on eyeballs. Now, maybe it's easy for me to say since I come from an SEO background, I was a professional SEO consultant when I still had it nine to five, but I get so sick of seeing people overcomplicate this tool. I just think it's a shame when I see creatives get so wrapped up in the techy business side of things that they dampen their creative genius and basically suck all of the joy out of being a creative entrepreneur. Now, yes, uh, in the beginning, there will be a bit of a learning curve for you newbies. I highly recommend investing in some SEO course or training, and yes, it's important to keep in the know of any a of them updates that the almighty Google loves to impose. But I promise you that it's really not as hard or as techy as it sounds at the end of the day. Search engines really just wanna see your website or blog produce original and help helpful content on a consistent basis. Your content should be engaging enough too, so that people don't abruptly bounce from your website because Google does take note of this with their bounce rate metric. So you need to consistently produce content that serves your audience audience, and people will stay on your side for at least longer than like a minute or two. Now I am not one for following rules in business. Hell if I was gonna follow rules, I would be in a fricking cubicle SL away for someone else, But I did follow some rules for the first, I would say four years of my blog. I gave myself two rules Rule, number one, produce one helpful blog posts once a week with thorough copy And plenty of bright, clear relevant photos. And number two, My second rule, Keep my content super niche. So for a while, I was strictly just producing DIY and interior design content. And this was all to show Google that my blog was helpful. And an authorit an authority in the field of DIY slash home decor. Now that I've established myself, I've been in the blogging game for, Gosh, it'll be seven years in October. So now that I've established myself as an authority in the DIY realm, I will occasionally post lifestyle content on my blog, just basically to keep things interesting from me because I get bored fast, but Still, I would say that 80% of my blog post relate to my initial niche. And I, uh, the title of this episode came, um, I was just thinking about the SEO industry in general and you know, how there's so much distrust in like the automo of repair industry. That example comes to mind because my husband manages the body shop and he is always complaining to me about how rude people are. And they just automatically come to him with like this distrust, like he's trying to screw them over. Well, as far as I'm concerned, what I have viewed in my professional experience in the SEO world, SEOs getting to this point as well. And so that's why I'm calling this episode, SEO, the R of, Because so many of these big SEO firms are full of it. When I consulted businesses back in the day on their SEO strategy, it faking infuriated me to see how some of these big SEO firms were charging like a ridiculous monthly premium and not doing anything for their customers. But the problem is they spoke to their clients in such technical terms. You know, that the poor business owners, they didn't understand, they were just trying to get along with their day. And all of this SEO jargon was way over their head. So they were being taken advantage of. And I saw this firsthand when I was, when I was an honest SEO professional. I wasn't one of those black hat people, But all of us to say, Stop over, complicating everything, Be consistent, be original, serve your audience to the best of your ability, have a basic marketing strategy. Yes, you, you need to notify people of what you do, whether you prefer Pinterest or Instagram or SEO, But as long as you engage and stay consistent in these basic actions and principles there, rest will fall into place. I promise Stressing yourself out is not a sustainable business model. Trust me, let it be easy. Okay. That is enough of my ranting for this week. And I'm glad I didn't break out into a coughing fit. I really hope that you found this episode helpful. I make no money from this podcast whatsoever. So the biggest way you can show your support is by leaving me a five star review on whatever podcast platform you're using or sharing this episode with a friend or on social media, or you can simply screenshot this episode right now on your phone. And then tag me on Insta stories at designing vibes. And that is it. I hope you have a great week. I'm sending you my love.