SEO Best Practice #3: Start SEO Before You Feel “Ready” ⏰
(And no, the irony isn’t lost on me that I’m well-versed in the art of perfectionism.)
Here are the themes I’m noticing with entrepreneurs who are or are just about to jumpstart their SEO journey and how we can make this process more easeful.
You may know I’m in the middle of running my 3-month group coaching program—SEO & Grow. I’m also just getting started with my 6-week mentorship, SEO Foundations. And I’m already noticing themes popping up—in my DMs and in these programs.
And like the good Brittany that I am, once I connect the dots, I’ve got to spread the word & point out not only patterns that YOU may also be getting caught up in, but also what to do about it (because we’re solution-oriented around here 🤓).
With that—we’re diving into the 3rd edition of SEO Best Practices. This time focused largely on starting before you're ready or before you deem it “good enough.”
Buckle up, take notes, & save this episode to come back to any time you feel yourself avoiding SEO.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
Where & when to start the SEO process
The problem with waiting to do SEO
If it’s a smart idea to do SEO while pivoting/rebranding
If you need copy written before doing SEO
How to see success with SEO
Why marketing feeling “easy” freaks us out
How much work it takes to keep up with SEO
Mentioned Resources:
SEO Foundations (doors close 9/8)
Mini SEO Audit ($77)
Related Episodes:
Connect w/ Brittany:
This episode of The Basic B podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.! Help me reach more service providers like you by following the show & leaving a rating or review on Apple & Spotify!
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of The Basic B podcast follows
Brittany Herzberg: Welcome to the Basic Bee Podcast. I'm your host and favorite SEO strategist and coach, Brittany Herzberg. You may know that I'm in the middle of running my three month group coaching program, SEO and Grow, and I also am just getting started with my six week mentorship SEO Foundations, and I'm noticing some themes popping up already in my DMs and in these programs. And like the good Britney that I am, once I connect the dots, I have to spread the word and point out not only the patterns that you may be also getting caught up in, but what to do about it. And with that, we're diving into the third edition of SEO Best Practices, this time focused largely on starting before you're ready or before you even deem it, quote unquote good enough. And no, the irony is not lost on me that I consider myself a perfectionist. I'm a type one in the enneagram, which is the perfectionist, and I kind of feel like I'm an expert with all of this stuff. So we're just going to call that expertise. Okay, on to what I'm noticing and what can be done about it. In both programs, I'm finding that these business owners come in with lots of umph. They're so motivated to get SEO on point, to get it on their website, to judge it up, to really have it optimized and working for them. And they want to go so dang fast until they don't. They peter out. When things start getting really real, when they need to find the keywords or write the meta descriptions or update the image titles, they kind of freeze. Which is totally a normal response by the way. There's a whole nervous system conversation that could be had there, but I'm just going to say that it is 100,000 million percent normal. The problem with that giant pause button is that sitting and waiting is only going to continue to keep you stuck. And that is what you don't want to have happen. You are tired of being the best kept secret on the Internet. I know that because a lot of you have actually messaged me and told me that. And I'm constantly working day in and day out with business owners who feel the same way. They want people to find them. They don't want to have to do so much of the efforting. And SEO is definitely the thing that can help you. But to see success with SEO you have to do a couple things. One, you have to take time to actually understand it, and two, you have to take action. The action is where the magic is. That's where your stuff gets changed. That's where your website gets optimized. That's where Google and other search engines can start pulling you forward and serving you up as an answer to someone's Googled question. When you wait, you are waiting for years. And I mean, this is a broad, general you. I did a little digging this week and there are a few people who hopped back into my DMs and get this. They got digital products from me or even SEO audits and strategies two years ago. So when I say that you wait for years, this is what I mean. I see it happening. And again, it's totally normal. Be compassionate with yourself. Give yourself some grace. I'm not great at that personally, but, you know, we can all try to do that a little bit more for ourselves. And we also gotta get a move on, love. Like, we have to take action. We have to get things moving. Because what's been in place, what's been happening, what you've been relying on, on some level, it's crushing your soul. It's sucking up so much time and energy and effort from you, and you don't have that time and effort and energy anymore. You would much rather be. I know I would be. You would much rather be pouring that into client work or into just time doing something that you love or time with your family. Waiting means that you're keeping yourself on the hamster wheel, Specifically that Instagram or social media hamster wheel, the one you keep telling me that you want to be done with, like I said, which on a much deeper level is indicating to yourself, from yourself that you don't have your own back. And I've got experience with this one as well. Surprise, surprise. This one is pretty personal for me. And it's one I experienced and one that took me a very long time to be aware of and to identify, to figure out what to do about it after that. Which really just boiled down to taking different actions, taking action, period, on some things, actually speaking up for myself, and also setting and holding boundaries. So here's what I want you to do about it. There's three different things you can do. The first is gonna be start before you're ready, before you feel it's good enough. And also remember, if you're going to someone for advice, like if I have people in programs or if I have people who, I don't know, maybe they've bought digital products and they come and ask me a question, remember that you came to me or you went to some other professional because you saw that they knew what they were talking about and you have some level of trust in them. So as scary as it can be, maybe just give what they're saying or suggesting a try. Every time I've been in a program or I've had coaching and I've leaned all the way in, like all the way in to things that were like incredibly uncomfortable for me, I've seen the most success. And do not get me wrong, it is so scary sometimes, like putting yourself out there in a brand new way, it can be really, really nerve wracking. It can really test your nervous system. But the bigger the scare, the bigger the payoff. That's what I found at least. And if nothing else, it's a huge confidence boost to just take the new action, do the thing to prove it to yourself that you can do it. Your SEO stuff is going to feel new. It's going to feel so different. It's going to feel like you're exercising some part of your brain that you never even realized existed. And it's also, at the same time it is going to feel super easy. And this is something I'm hearing in the programs too, is like it's really this easy. They almost start doubting it. Because it's so simple, because it's so easy. We are so used to things being challenging and difficult and eating up so much of our time and just being a hassle and needing to like get your hair and makeup done and perform a reel for Instagram or something. We're so used to that version of things that doing keyword research, creating some copy, plugging it into a website, it feels too simple, it feels too easy. So that's a very normal feeling. And let it be easy because that's what we're all asking for. We're all asking for things to be easy, but then when we get it, we're like, wait, it's too easy. Just lean into it. Let it be easy. Okay, next point. Doing SEO during a rebrand or a pivot with will work. This is another conversation I'm having a ton. Especially with people who were interested in foundations or interested in SEO and grow, or even interested in some done for you SEO. They are coming to me and asking me, is this a bad time to do it? Do I need to have all of my website copy written or do I need to have my new brand images? Do I need to have XYZ done before I do SEO? And really the answer is no. If you can answer those three big questions That I ask, who do you help, how do you help them, and what do you want to be known for, even if you're in a season of transition, which I would actually say I should do some digging on this, but I would actually say about 80% of the people in my world are doing some kind of transition. Whether it's they're getting more specific with who they're helping, or they're shifting how they're helping them, or they've gotten really clear and really confident about what they want to be known for, any of those things, it's happening, they're taking action on SEO, and they're actually seeing stuff happen pretty quickly. So a lot of people will come in, ask me the question about, you know, when should I do SEO? If I'm doing a rebrand or pivot? I let them know that if they can answer those three questions, they can totally move forward. And what so many of them are finding is that they nail their SEO. They get clear on the who they're helping, how they're helping them, what they want to be known for, and that is actually helping them with their brand images. That is actually helping them create the copy on their website, and that is helping them really know what they want to do for all of their marketing activities. They're getting really clear. So that can actually help you filter in what you do want to do and what you don't want to do. It's pretty cool. And I promise you that those questions that I'm asking you about who and how and what, you have that information in your head. Even if you're in the middle of a rebrand or at the beginning of a pivot or whatever it is, even if you're fleshing it out, you've got that information in your head, I promise you. But often I find that. And this was the case for me, too. And I'll. I'll share this with you as well. But so many people are just intimidated to speak it, to say it, to claim it, but you have it in you. So for me, my story about this is that it was about boiling my services all the way down to SEO. That's part of the how I help people. Even just last year, I was still saying SEO and website copywriting and case study copywriting. And I actually feel like I was probably confusing people and I was spreading my energy out more, which was thinning my magic, if you will, versus doing what I'm doing now, which is channeling all of my energy into all things SEO. And, yes, this works. When you're in the middle of shifts and changes. And I've lived this and I've done it several times actually. And you know what? The main place I end up playing this out first is actually the most public place, the most in your face spot, which is Instagram. I tend to change that bold part of my bio. So once upon a time it said massage therapy and then copywriting and now SEO. So maybe here's a challenge or an invitation for you if you want to play this out in one place. Perhaps go try this on Instagram in your bio. By the way, if you do that, please Tag me. I'm BrittneyHerzberg. The link is below. But I would love to celebrate with you and cheer you on. And thing number three, make use of any of the resources that you have. We all are inundated with information. We have PDFs and guides and podcasts. Whether it's public podcasts or private podcasts, we have all the things. So if you're like entrepreneurs that I mentioned earlier, you might just have some of my checklists or templates or other resources. Go to your email, type in my name in the search bar. It's really funny how the search bar works everywhere and I'm sure some kind of something will pop up. I even have tips that I give out in my email. So if you're not on my email list, that might be something that you would want to sign up for. Which again, I'll put the link below. Or you can go to my website, brittanyherzberg.com and you can grab things or you can get a resource. So I would say the most helpful things in my world to help you start taking action on your SEO. The most helpful thing would be my mini SEO audit, which is where I evaluate what's happening with your website, with your SEO. Right now. I take a look at the metrics, I'm sending you screenshots, I'm sending a video explaining what's going on and then I do done for you Keyword research. I created three part SEO strategy for your homepage. I give it to you and then you plug it in. It's literally that simple. And it can happen in as little as a week. You could also go get the SEO Basics Checklist, which is free and includes a video tutorial. So you literally have no excuses for not taking action on SEO. None. All of the excuses have been removed. That will walk you through what you need to do. It has even some tips and maybe a video about keyword research. So you have everything you need, even in that checklist. So if you're really tight on money right now, which I totally understand, I've been there, been there too many times to count more than I would have liked. And that is where you can lean into free resources. That is where you can lean into low ticket resources. It's also not too late to join SEO Foundations. I'm actually doing something a little different and I'm keeping the doors open for the first two weeks of the program. So by the time you hear this, you've got about a week or so left to join, I think. And if you're someone who's like, there is not a chance I want to touch SEO, but I do want it done, then take a look at my done for you SEO options. Because I do the work for you and I can quote, unquote, teach you as much as you want me to. I can explain things or literally just hand them over to you and make sure that your website has strong SEO in place. And as with anything, getting started can be the most challenging part, followed shortly by sticking with it when it feels like things are getting really tough and really confronting. At least that's what I've seen with my SEO programs and even with my own experience. The tough part is when you're being called up to that next level, that next iteration of your business. So bear that in mind, give yourself grace, and until next time, know that I'm cheering you on on your SEO journey.
