0:04

Welcome to the Web Design and Marketing Diaries

0:07

podcast , where we discuss online

0:09

strategies designed to help you grow your

0:11

business and stand out in your industry

0:13

. Welcome

0:17

back to the Web Design and Marketing Diaries

0:19

podcast . I'm your host , victoria , the

0:22

owner of the Peer Collective Web Design

0:24

Studio , and I'm so excited to

0:26

dive into today's episode

0:28

. If you've ever wondered how

0:30

to get your website to show up on

0:32

search engines , then I'm sure you've heard

0:35

of SEO , but you

0:37

may also be wondering exactly what

0:39

SEO is and why it's important

0:41

, or how you can even use it to

0:43

make your website more visible online

0:46

. This is the episode for you

0:48

if you have been wondering those things , so please

0:50

stick around and by the end , you

0:52

will not only understand what SEO

0:54

is , but you will have some actionable tips

0:57

so that you can start improving your

0:59

website and making these changes

1:01

and get your site more visible . I'm

1:03

going to give you some tea , also on

1:06

a free service from Google that you can use

1:08

to really amp up your visibility

1:11

in your local area , so be sure

1:13

you stay tuned for that . Now

1:15

, before we jump in , I want to mention

1:17

a free resource that I've created for you

1:19

, which is my SEO starter

1:21

checklist . It's going

1:24

to help you as you go through this episode

1:26

. It's a really good companion to this episode

1:28

. It doesn't follow it exactly , but it's

1:30

a really good companion

1:33

to this and talks about a lot of the things

1:35

, or goes over a lot of the things , that we'll be

1:37

talking about in this episode , and

1:39

you can download it right in the show notes

1:41

for this episode . So

1:43

let's get into everything here

1:46

Now . To start

1:48

, what is SEO

1:50

? So that stands for

1:52

search engine optimization

1:54

, and it's basically the process

1:57

of making your website more attractive

1:59

to search engines like Google . There

2:02

are other search engines besides Google

2:04

. I know we always hear about Google because

2:06

it's like the most popular one , but Bing

2:09

is pretty popular . I mean

2:11

, google is like the most popular here in

2:13

America and the United States , but in other countries

2:16

there's other search

2:18

engines that are just as popular . So SEO

2:21

is not specific to Google

2:24

. It is about how search engines in

2:26

general behave and

2:28

, you know , look for information or use information

2:31

that's on the internet . And

2:33

why would you want to

2:35

, you know , make your website more visible

2:37

to search engines ? Well , obviously

2:40

, because people are going to be searching for

2:42

things related to your business , right ? People

2:44

are going to get on the internet and they're going to be looking

2:46

for stuff related to what you

2:48

do and you want to show up for that . So

2:51

, whether it's like the best hairstylist

2:53

in Detroit or the best

2:55

business coach or a business coach for

2:57

women entrepreneurs , you

3:00

would want your website to show up at

3:02

the top of those search results . If that's what

3:04

you do , if it's related to your business

3:06

. And SEO is a way

3:08

that we can guide search engines

3:11

to our websites by saying , hey , I

3:13

have exactly what this

3:15

person is looking for . What they're

3:17

looking for is on my pages , so send them here

3:19

. And SEO

3:22

actually matters quite a bit because

3:25

, like about almost

3:27

three quarters of all online

3:29

experiences begin on a

3:31

search engine . Like , people do

3:33

use them to find out information

3:35

, and if your website

3:38

isn't optimized , you're missing

3:40

out on those opportunities to connect

3:42

with potential customers or clients , the

3:44

people who are looking for what you do . But

3:48

the thing with SEO is that it's

3:51

not just about showing up

3:53

. So it's not just , you know , being

3:55

number one on Google or being on

3:57

the first page of Google . It's

4:00

about showing up in front of

4:02

the right people . It's

4:04

about showing up in front of the right people , okay . So

4:06

, for example , if you're a hairstylist , you

4:09

don't want just anyone visiting

4:11

your website . You

4:15

don't want people who are looking for a plumber on your website , because that's not what you do

4:17

. You want people who are

4:19

probably in your local area

4:21

, or maybe not . I mean

4:23

, a lot of things are global now , but most of the time you want people who are in your local area or maybe not . I mean , a lot of things are global now , but most

4:26

of the time you want people who are in

4:28

your local area , who are looking for a

4:30

hairstylist , to visit your site . And

4:32

that's where SEO really becomes

4:34

like a game changer for our businesses , because

4:37

it helps you to attract

4:39

your ideal audience not just anybody

4:42

, but the people who are actually looking

4:44

for you and what you do . So

4:47

now we're going to get into exactly

4:49

how search engines work , but

4:51

we're going to start with the basics . When

4:53

we talk about Google and we talk

4:55

about other search engines , they're

4:58

really like a digital library or

5:00

like digital librarians

5:03

really . So not just the library , the internet

5:05

is the library , but the search engine

5:07

is like the librarian . The

5:10

search engine is going to look at

5:12

each page of a website so

5:14

that it can understand what that page is about

5:16

and what that website is

5:19

about and that process is

5:21

called crawling . All right

5:23

, once the search engines

5:25

crawl the information , it

5:27

indexes or saves the

5:29

information that it finds and it stores it

5:31

in , basically like a huge library , and

5:34

when someone searches for something , the

5:36

search engine is going to quickly look through

5:39

its library or that index or that

5:41

database to find the best match

5:43

based on what it knows about

5:45

the content of each of the pages that

5:47

is stored . Then that's

5:49

where ranking comes in . That is how

5:51

search engines decide which

5:54

pages to show first . Now

5:56

the search engine wants to show

5:58

you or the user the most

6:00

relevant page or

6:02

the most relevant information and the highest

6:04

quality result first

6:07

. It's like how , if you actually

6:09

go to a library I know we don't really go there

6:11

anymore , but for my readers

6:13

out there if you go to a library and

6:15

you ask the librarian to

6:17

recommend , like the best books for

6:19

a specific topic , you're going

6:22

to trust the librarian's recommendation

6:24

and Google and other search engines

6:26

, especially Google they

6:29

want to be trusted in that

6:31

same way . Google wants

6:33

to make sure that it's presenting you with

6:35

content , with websites

6:37

, with businesses that match

6:39

what you're looking for , so that you can keep coming

6:41

back to use its service you're

6:47

looking for so that you can keep coming back to use its service

6:49

. Now let's talk about how you can set the foundation

6:51

for good SEO on your website . But

6:53

I want to start with like one of the

6:55

biggest misconceptions about SEO

6:57

, and that is that your entire website

7:00

ranks as a whole , and that's just not true

7:02

. In reality , it

7:05

is the individual pages

7:07

, your individual web pages

7:09

, that actually rank , and not the

7:11

whole website , because

7:14

when you search for something on Google

7:16

, google is actually pulling up

7:18

one specific page , like think about it

7:20

. When you search something , it's pulling up one

7:22

page . It's not recommending the

7:24

entire site to you because everything on

7:26

that website may not be relevant to

7:28

what you're looking for . Instead , it's going

7:30

to present you with a single

7:33

webpage that it truly believes

7:35

has the information that

7:37

you're looking for . So that means

7:40

as a person , as a business owner

7:42

that has a website , as

7:46

a person , as a business owner that has a website , you should make sure that each

7:48

page is focused on a specific topic or a specific keyword , which

7:50

we'll get into keywords in just a moment . And

7:54

if you're trying to rank like

7:56

one page for multiple keywords

7:58

, it's really unlikely that

8:00

you're going to rank well for any of them

8:03

, because the page isn't focused . So

8:12

it's really important to be very specific with each page's focus and have a clear purpose for

8:14

each page so that Google understands what that page is about

8:16

, making it easier to get

8:18

it and present it to people searching

8:21

for something that's related to

8:23

what you do , or searching for what you do

8:25

so visually

8:27

like . What does this look like ? When

8:30

you build a website , you

8:33

have your main navigation , so that's

8:35

at the top of the website , maybe

8:37

on the side , depending on how it's designed

8:39

but that's where you'll have

8:41

your homepage , your about

8:43

page , your services , your contact

8:45

and so on . Right now

8:48

, your homepage is going to give a brief

8:50

overview of your business and of you

8:52

. Possibly , and as you start

8:54

to get into those other pages , those

8:56

other pages are going to become more focused

8:58

. So if you think

9:01

of your navigation and let's

9:03

say you have a tab

9:05

in your main menu that says

9:07

services and then under services

9:10

you have a drop down that's going to list all

9:12

of your services , those

9:14

individual service pages will have

9:16

a better chance of ranking because they

9:18

are focused on one particular

9:20

service . Those pages

9:22

are about one idea and that

9:24

makes it really clear to Google when to

9:26

serve that page up and search results . Okay

9:30

, so now that you have a better

9:32

understanding of how search engines work

9:35

and why the individual

9:37

pages matter , let's talk about some

9:39

pretty practical things that you

9:42

can do on your website so that your

9:44

SEO efforts actually give

9:46

you some results and are

9:48

. First

9:51

thing is you want to choose your keywords

9:53

wisely , and keywords

9:56

are the words or the phrases

9:58

that people actually type into

10:01

Google when you're searching for something . So

10:03

, for example , if you're a personal chef

10:06

, the keywords for your website

10:08

might be personal chef services

10:10

or personal chef in Detroit

10:13

, or catering for small events

10:15

. So these are things that people will

10:17

probably actually search for . If they're looking

10:19

for you , they're looking for your services , and

10:22

you can actually use Google

10:25

to get an idea of what people have been searching

10:27

for . So if you go over to the internet

10:29

, you open up a new tab , go to Google

10:31

and you start typing something in the

10:33

search box . What you will see

10:35

is a list begin to appear and

10:37

as you type more letters and you type more words

10:39

, that list is going to change and

10:42

what Google is doing is it's using

10:44

what people have searched for in the past to

10:46

predict what you may be looking

10:48

for right now . These

10:51

can be used as keywords because it's actually

10:53

telling you what people are searching for . So

10:56

we don't want to reinvent the wheel . If people are searching for that thing

10:59

, then you may want to incorporate

11:02

those words in your website

11:04

so that you can also show up for those

11:06

searches . And as you

11:08

begin to build out your pages and your content

11:10

, you want to use those phrases and those

11:12

words there and

11:16

your content . You want to use those phrases and those words there . Now , with keywords

11:18

, I want to mention that it's really important to understand the intent of

11:21

people when they're searching , like what

11:24

do they want to do when they're

11:26

Googling things ? When someone

11:28

types something into Google , it's

11:31

Google's job , or any search engine , to

11:33

serve up like the most relevant

11:35

and the most useful results and

11:37

if your website aligns with what

11:39

they want , google is going to recommend

11:42

it . Now , if we go back to our example

11:44

of the best hairstylist in Detroit

11:47

, someone searching

11:49

for this is probably looking for

11:51

a local hairstylist here in Detroit

11:53

to do their hair , is

11:55

probably looking for a local hairstylist here in Detroit

11:58

to do their hair . They probably want to read reviews . They may want to

12:00

see work , see pictures of the stylist's

12:02

past work , and they might actually

12:04

want to book an appointment . That's

12:12

a search topic that leads someone to take action . Okay , they're not

12:14

saying how to style hair . That's

12:16

something where someone is looking for information . But this

12:19

search topic or this keyword

12:21

, the person is saying best hairstylist

12:23

in Detroit . So that intent

12:25

you can infer that that person

12:28

is looking for someone to do

12:30

their hair . So you want

12:32

to optimize your pages so

12:34

that it's easy for Google to understand

12:37

that , hey , this is the best hairstylist

12:39

in Detroit . I am the person you

12:41

know . You can come to this page here to book

12:43

an appointment in Detroit

12:45

to get your hair done , and

12:48

that's why SEO isn't just about stuffing

12:51

keywords into your website

12:53

. It's really about understanding what

12:55

your audience wants , what they're looking

12:57

for , and then delivering that thing

13:00

. All right , the

13:02

next thing that you can do to

13:04

help kind of set your website

13:06

up and your SEO efforts to be successful

13:09

and yield you some actual results

13:11

is to optimize your pages

13:13

. Now , this can be a little bit more technical

13:15

, because there are some more

13:18

technical things that you have to do , but it's really

13:21

simple when you think about it . So we've

13:23

already established that each page

13:25

on your website should have a clear focus , so

13:27

every page should have one thing that

13:29

is really talking about and really

13:31

focused on , and you should use

13:34

your chosen keywords on

13:36

that page and you should use those words pretty

13:38

strategically . When

13:41

you use them , those keywords

13:43

, you want to use them in

13:45

your page type . So a certain areas

13:47

that you want to use those keywords in

13:50

, one is your page title . So

13:52

the page title is the actual

13:54

, like that blue link that shows up on Google

13:57

when your page shows up . You want

13:59

to have your keyword there

14:01

First of all . You also

14:04

want it to appear in your headings

14:06

We'll talk about headings in a minute and

14:08

throughout your content , specifically

14:10

in like the first hundred words

14:13

on the page . Okay , but

14:15

don't overdo it . Don't

14:17

just throw the keywords in there

14:19

all willy-nilly and just put them there . You

14:28

want to put them in there and have them appear in a very natural way and

14:30

a very you know , very organic

14:32

, just a natural flow in

14:34

the conversation and in the content that's

14:37

on the page . Okay

14:39

, but I want to get into these headings . Think

14:43

of headings on your

14:45

page as like an outline of all

14:47

the content that's on your page . They're

14:49

going to help organize everything and

14:51

make it easier for people and

14:53

for search engines to understand

14:56

what the page is about . So I

14:58

want you to picture an outline like from school

15:00

when you were writing a paper and you had

15:04

to write an outline . This is what I'm

15:06

talking about . It organizes

15:08

the ideas okay . So

15:10

you have your main topic and then you

15:12

have sub ideas under that and you

15:14

have ideas under the sub ideas . This

15:17

is how headings operate . Headings

15:20

go from H1 to

15:23

H6 . So you have H1 , h2

15:26

, h3 , h4 , h5

15:29

and H6 , though most

15:31

times you'll probably only go through

15:33

like h1 to h3 . Honestly

15:36

, you may do an h4 , but usually

15:38

most people do h1 , h2

15:40

and h3 , and that's really about as

15:42

deep as you need to go . And

15:45

you want to use the headings to

15:48

structure the content on the page

15:50

, not to style the text . So

15:52

we don't want to use it to make

15:54

this text over here bigger

15:57

than this text over here . We

16:00

want to use it to actually

16:02

organize the content on the

16:04

page . So that means

16:06

that the H1 heading should be the

16:08

main topic that that page is about

16:10

and there should only be one H1

16:13

per page , because each page only is about

16:15

one thing . Now you can have multiple

16:17

H2s through H6s , but

16:20

only one H1 . Otherwise

16:22

you can confuse the search engines

16:24

and we don't want that . So to give you an example

16:26

, let's say you're a health

16:29

and wellness services professional , or

16:31

your health and wellness

16:33

coach , and

16:36

you have your services page

16:38

and at

16:40

the top of that services page

16:42

you may have health and wellness

16:45

services , because that's what the page is about , it's

16:47

about your services . Then

16:49

that is going to be your H1 , right

16:51

? So that's the main topic of the

16:53

page . Then your H2s

16:55

would actually be the names of

16:57

each of your services . So maybe you have three

16:59

services . Let's say you have meal

17:01

prepping that's an H2

17:04

. You have online fitness classes

17:06

that would be an H2 . And then maybe

17:08

you have one-on-one coaching that would be an H2

17:11

. And then let's say , under

17:13

meal prepping , you have two types

17:15

of meal prepping . Let's say you have weekly

17:17

meal prepping and then monthly meal prepping

17:19

. Those two would then be

17:21

your H3 under the

17:24

meal prepping service , and then you would just go

17:26

on like that . So

17:28

basically , you want to use your headings appropriately

17:30

. You don't want to use them to style

17:32

the text and you want to make

17:35

sure that it organizes the content in

17:37

a very logical way so that

17:39

the search engines and your users are able

17:41

to understand what your page is about

17:43

. Now the next thing that you can

17:45

do to improve your SEO efforts is to make

17:48

quality or to create quality content

17:50

. Your written content should

17:52

be valuable . It should answer

17:55

questions . It should be easy to read

17:57

and understand for people . Even

17:59

if your page ranks well , if

18:02

no one takes action or

18:04

no one clicks on it , it really wouldn't matter how

18:06

high the page ranks on Google if no one does

18:08

anything when they see it and this

18:10

is where the conversion driven copy

18:13

comes in . The written

18:15

words on your pages should speak directly

18:17

to what your audience needs , and it

18:19

should make them want to take the next step

18:21

. It should make them , or at least

18:23

give them clues and

18:26

ideas and guide them on what

18:28

it is that they need to do next . What

18:30

you want them to do next in order to

18:32

become a customer or become a client . What you

18:34

want them to do next in order to become a customer or become a client . So it's

18:36

not enough just to get them to your site

18:38

. You want them to know what to do and to actually

18:40

do that thing once they get there

18:42

, whether that's signing up for a newsletter

18:44

or booking a service or making

18:47

an appointment and to make that happen

18:49

, the content on your pages need to be

18:51

clear and it should be relatable

18:53

. So talk about the things that your audience

18:55

may be suffering with , or things that they're trying to overcome

18:58

, which are their pain points , and then you

19:00

will show them how you can actually solve

19:02

it . You don't necessarily need to call it out

19:04

and be mean about it , but

19:07

you want to let them know that , hey , I

19:09

understand what you're going through and this is how

19:11

my service addresses that

19:13

, this is how my service addresses that , this is how my product addresses that . And

19:16

you can also guide them to the next

19:18

step with very clear , very

19:21

clear calls to action . So like book

19:23

now , you know buttons that say book now

19:25

, or learn more , or read

19:27

more Maybe there's some additional information

19:29

that they need to read . You want to make it very

19:31

obvious , basically for them to know what they

19:33

need to do next , because

19:36

good SEO will get you

19:38

the traffic , but it's the copy

19:40

, it's the words on the page that is going to actually

19:42

turn that traffic into actual

19:45

customers or clients . And

19:47

then , lastly , you want to make sure that your website

19:49

is mobile friendly or responsive is really

19:51

the phrase that I like to use , because it's more than

19:53

just mobile devices . But basically

19:56

, you want to make sure that your website looks good

19:58

on all pages , all

20:01

screen sizes , and that it still functions

20:03

well , all screen sizes , and that it still

20:05

functions well . So if you design it on a larger screen and then

20:07

if someone is looking at it on a smaller screen , you

20:09

want the text to still be readable . You want

20:12

the buttons to still be accessible

20:14

, any links ? They should still be able to

20:16

click them . They should still be able to see everything

20:19

on the page and do whatever it is that

20:21

you need to do , no matter what size screen

20:23

they're on , and Google will penalize

20:25

you if your website

20:27

is not optimized for

20:29

mobile devices . So , as you're designing

20:32

your pages , just check frequently

20:34

to make sure that it still looks good and

20:36

it still functions well on all

20:39

size screens . And whatever platform

20:42

or builder that you're using to create

20:44

your website , they will have options for

20:46

you to check those . So just make sure , as

20:48

you're adding each section that you

20:50

go through and you check that as you're building out

20:52

your pages . Now

20:54

there's one more piece to essential

20:57

SEO success that

21:01

I want to share with you , and this is especially

21:03

if you're targeting local customers or you have

21:06

, like , a physical location somewhere

21:08

. So I'm talking to , like my

21:10

insurance agents , real estate agents

21:12

, accountants , tax preparers

21:15

, lawn care

21:17

, home services , auto repair

21:20

, event spaces , like all those businesses

21:22

who rely on local traffic

21:24

for their business . What

21:27

I'm talking about is your free

21:29

Google business profile

21:31

, and if you haven't claimed this

21:33

, or if you have claimed it and you haven't

21:36

optimized it , I want you to do

21:38

that today , like when you get done listening

21:40

to this , head over to Google

21:42

, find your business profile and

21:44

start working on it today . Now

21:47

, this profile , it actually

21:49

helps your business show up in local

21:52

search results . It

21:54

helps it show up on the Google map . So

21:56

when someone is searching for you , if

21:58

they're near you , google will

22:00

show your business to them so that they can come

22:02

and see you . It makes it easier

22:05

for people in your area to actually

22:07

find you , and this is super important

22:09

if you want to rank and show up in those

22:11

local searches . So , before

22:14

we wrap up , I want to give you like three

22:16

little quick things that you can do to optimize

22:18

your Google profile once you claim it

22:20

or if you've claimed it . These are the

22:22

things that I want you to get on there and do

22:24

before the end of today , all

22:26

right , so first , complete the profile , make

22:29

sure all of your business info is there , like

22:32

your address , your phone number

22:34

, your business hours , your website

22:37

, any other

22:39

pertinent information , your

22:41

contact info . That should all be there

22:43

and it should be accurate . So double

22:45

check that . Secondly , add

22:48

your photos of your products or your

22:50

services , or you or your business

22:52

, your location , if your event , you

22:55

know event spot . Add pictures

22:58

of the space

23:00

. If you're an event planner

23:02

, add pictures of events that you designed

23:05

. Add those things in there . Make

23:07

updates regularly , post those

23:09

things on a regular basis to

23:11

keep your profile active and keep it appealing

23:13

looking . If

23:19

you have an event coming up , post it to your Google Business profile . If you're launching

23:21

a new service or a new product , post it to your profile

23:23

. If you're having a sale , post

23:25

it . You can literally make updates to

23:28

your Google business profile , almost

23:30

like social media . I wouldn't do it that frequently

23:33

, maybe like once every other

23:35

week or something , but yes , you can make updates

23:37

to your Google business profile . You can add pictures

23:40

and all types of things to your Google

23:42

business profile and it's totally free . You

23:44

can also add services and products

23:46

that link back to your website . So this

23:48

is just another reason to make sure that your website

23:50

is designed really well , because

23:52

if someone goes to Google and they search

23:54

and they find you and they click those links to go

23:57

back to your products or services , then

23:59

you want to make sure that your website is set up

24:01

in a way that allows

24:03

them to purchase that product or

24:05

book that service or whatever action

24:07

it is that you want them to do . You want to

24:09

make sure that your site is set up for them to do that

24:11

. And then , lastly

24:14

, you want to collect reviews , like encourage

24:16

your clients and your customers

24:18

to leave you reviews and if they can

24:20

actually talk about the specific service

24:22

that they received from you or the actual

24:25

product that they purchased , this can help

24:27

boost your visibility in local searches

24:29

. A good review

24:31

is more than just saying I

24:34

really liked her service . She did a good job . You

24:36

want them to talk about what

24:38

were they experiencing before they

24:40

walked in , what struggles

24:42

were they having before they worked with you , what

24:45

service they got , and how their life has

24:47

changed afterwards , after working with

24:49

you , after using your product , what

24:51

has happened , what has improved for

24:53

them or in their life now that they've

24:55

done business with you . That is what

24:58

a really good review would include

25:00

. All right , so

25:02

let's recap everything that we went over today . First

25:05

of all , seo stands for search

25:07

engine optimization , and it's about making

25:10

your website visible and

25:13

relevant to search engines

25:16

so that they can serve it up when people are

25:18

searching for things that you do or

25:21

things that you sell . So that's

25:23

what SEO is really all

25:25

about . You want to start

25:28

your SEO process , or your SEO

25:30

efforts , by optimizing your

25:33

site with keywords related

25:35

to your business and what you've identified

25:37

that people search for when they're looking

25:39

for what you do or what you sell . You

25:42

want to create quality content

25:45

so that it's engaging and relevant to

25:47

people who will be visiting your website

25:49

, and then make sure that your site

25:51

looks good and functions

25:53

well , no matter the screen size that

25:55

someone is accessing it on . Okay , and

25:58

then , lastly , again , if you have not

26:00

done this , please today , before

26:03

the end of the day , if you have not done this , please

26:05

today , before the end of the day , claim or create or

26:08

go in and optimize your Google

26:10

business profile and start

26:12

attracting all that local traffic that you may

26:14

be missing out on right now . And

26:23

then don't forget to download the starter checklist the SEO starter checklist that I talked about

26:25

at the beginning of the episode . That's going to help you kind of put everything that

26:27

we've discussed into action and get you on the path of starting

26:29

your SEO efforts for your website

26:32

. It's got a lot of tips and steps are

26:34

pretty easy to follow . I try to make it really simple

26:36

so that you can start optimizing your website

26:38

. And again , the link is going to be in the

26:41

show notes for this episode . So

26:43

thank you so much for joining me today

26:46

on the Web Design and Marketing Diaries podcast

26:48

. If you've found this helpful , please

26:51

share it with a friend or leave a review

26:53

. You know it does help more people find the show

26:56

and also get some of the information

26:58

that you're getting here today

27:00

. So until next time

27:02

, here's to your success , and I will talk

27:04

to you soon .