Perfection Isn’t Why Your SEO Isn’t Done—Avoidance Is
With SEO, the result is an inviting beacon of light that magnetizes the right people to you!
I'm calling it out today—with love, of course. 😄
If you've been side-eyeing your SEO, kicking the can down the road, & telling yourself you'll deal with it "someday"... this episode is for you. I get it. I've been there. But the avoidance stops here!
In this episode, I'm getting real about WHY so many entrepreneurs (perfectionists especially) keep putting SEO off & what it's actually costing you to stay stuck on the social media hamster wheel.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
Why social media is a BS life raft—& what to lean on instead
The real reason you're avoiding SEO (hint: it's not what you think!)
Why SEO is working smarter, NOT harder
The questions you need to answer before anything else
How to use your answers to build a better bat signal
Client wins that prove this stuff actually works
Real results from real clients 🏆
→ Jenna (branding & Squarespace website designer)—got an inquiry from Google
→ Dan (nonfiction editor & book coach)—thousands of website visitors per week from blogs
→ Elli (virtual bookkeeper for female entrepreneurs)—selling digital products straight from Google searches
→ Breanna (email marketing strategist & copywriter)—getting found via optimized social profiles
It’s time for your name to be on this list. Start getting found? 👇
Mentioned Resources:
→ 5-Day SEO Sprint—limited spots! Party starts May 11th 🎉 (Use code: PODCASTSPRINT for a discount!)
→ SEO & Grow—my 4-month evergreen group coaching program for entrepreneurs!
→ Grab the updated SEO Basics Checklist—now includes keyword types for each core website page!
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
Hello and welcome back to the Basic B Podcast. I'm your host and favorite SEO coach, Brittany Herzberg. I also happen to identify as a perfectionist and apparently I have turned that bat signal all the way up because I have been attracting so many into my world over the last year or so. And I mention this because it's going to be a key point for you to be aware of as I get into today's episode. Because today I'm calling it out.
I am calling out the fact that your SEO is not done. The fact that you keep side eyeing it and deciding to kick the can down the road to close the door on the subject and decide to deal with it, quote unquote someday and then proceed to complain about being on social media. There is another way. I need you to hear me when I say that, because SEO is the thing that you can employ and lean on as a marketing strategy that relieves you of this need to be tied to social media.
Social media is a BS life raft that entrepreneurs cling to. Why? Because someone did a really damn good job of making us feel like it's the only way to market our businesses. Like in order to see any kind of success, we must be on this social media platform. And God forbid you take more than 24 hours off because everyone will forget you exist and your business will go up in flames, friend. No. Just no.
The fact of the matter is that you are avoiding SEO and you have been for a very long time. You are aware that those three little letters stand for Search Engine Optimization. You could even say now that they stand for Search Everywhere Optimization, that keywords are involved, that it can take a little time for it to really work for you and that it involves something on the back end of your website. But the fact that this is a brand new to you marketing strategy that you have to learn to do has kept you in avoidance. You're worried that you'll do it and completely mess it up. That this decision is you agreeing to do more work.
When in reality SEO is simply you saying yes to working smarter, not harder. You saying yes to your website becoming part of your marketing team and your content becoming part of your marketing team and your social profiles becoming part of your marketing team. You saying yes to taking advantage of those SEO opportunities that are right there behind the scenes just waiting for you to make use of them. It's not more work, it's extra credit.
And nearly everyone who comes into my world, especially my SEO and grow peeps, are shocked by how, and I quote, easy it is to do SEO. They're able to follow the process I lay out for them. It's so logical and the steps build on one another so beautifully. And if you trust the process and take the action steps one after the next after the next, the result is an inviting beacon of light that magnetizes the right people to you. And it happens to be in a way that feels good and doable and understandable for you.
The whole reason I went all in on SEO is because it worked out for me. And once I understood why, I was blown away. And it was just a matter of me being a tiny bit more specific, a tiny bit more intentional, taking a tiny bit more time. So whatever I was working on a blog, podcast episode, my Instagram bio could actually continue to be out there on the Internet, actively working to pop up when my people were looking for me.
You've allowed this belief, just like I did about SEO and social media, to keep you small, stuck and struggling, to keep you tethered to the hamster wheel that is Instagram or TikTok or you name it, whatever that platform is that's popping in your head right now. If it is not feeling fulfilling, if it is not yielding leads or clients or opportunities, if it's just not it anymore, that is okay. You can press pause, you can step away, you can take a break. Your business will not collapse simply because you decide to pause or permanently leave social media.
But you do need a way to get the message out there so those right and ready aligned leads can find you when and where they're searching for you. That is what SEO can be and do for you! I don't care what industry you’re in, what offer you have, who your audience is, what your podcast is about, what blogs you want to write, SEO can help.
That's what my mini SEO audits are for. For you to test the waters, to see for yourself what is actually possible. If SEO can actually help you. And I'll say, I have yet to meet someone where it's like, yeah, good luck, I have zero keywords for you. SEO just ain't it. It just has not happened. And yes, the way I do SEO requires you to show up, knowing who you are, what skills you bring to the table, and what your vision is for the future.
It's why I start every single human off with those three questions. You've heard me say them, and by now you very likely have an idea of what your answers are. But here is where I see people doing some of that. Avoiding. They don't want to claim it. They don't want to say what they want or what they need or what their vision is out loud. And that will continue to keep you stuck in marketing activities. You hate feeling burnout by them and still wondering why more people aren't finding you.
Look, I will be the first one to say that there's a strategy component and an energetic one, but it is not 100% of either. It's not 100% strategy and it is not 100% energetics. It's both. It's you having that vision, claiming it, and putting words and action behind it. It's you knowing where you want to drive this bus and plugging directions in the gps. Think about it. If you're just like, I want to drive around and see some cool sights and just go, I mean cool, I'm down. You'll have a great time, but it will not get you to a particular destination.
You being clear on I want to go to this place. Finding this address and typing that into your gps, that will get you places. And that's what those answers are going to do for you. The very same 3 questions you will see whether you're in one of my workshops, watching one of my DIY courses, working one to one with me, or in SEO and grow.
So these once again are those three questions and what you need to be thinking of as you're crafting your answers.
First up, who do you help? This is you getting clear on who you want to serve, what ideal clients you actually want, filling out your inquiry form or buying your products. And let me be clear, this is not you saying I will never work with someone who isn't X. It's you putting out that bat signal, that beacon that helps the right people find you. When you're clear about who you help, it makes your messaging easier on you and clearer. For those ideal clients, it is not you closing a door, it's you making it easier for them to find the door.
Okay, next up, how do you help them? This is you getting clear on how you want to help people. Digital products, physical products, group coaching programs, workshops, one to one offers. It doesn't matter what the thing is, it's that you have a thing that you're clear on it and communicating it. And it is okay if this thing changes. I've changed plenty of times for anyone who's been around my world for quite some time. You know that any of these things can change, but you need that clarity. So it makes it easier for the right person to find you to do the vibe check to see that they like you, see that you have the type of offer they're looking for and to find and click buy.
And lastly, why you? This one is asking you to get clear on and claim what you are brilliant at, what you bring to the table, what makes you or working with you different. And yes, this can absolutely feel scary. This may be the scariest question of the three. It can feel like pigeonholing yourself and being really vulnerable too. But what it actually is doing is helping you build a better bat signal so that when people are looking for the person who makes SEO fun, they find me. When they're looking for a therapist who works with millennial women, they're finding you. When they're looking for a birth photographer and a doula, they get to find you. When they're looking for that all natural pasta sauce, they find your product.
Once you do that, you get clear and claim your ideal client. The transformation you guide people through, the types of offers available and why you are their best option. That is when magic happens!
When you lean into SEO, you start sending me messages almost weekly about how you've got another inquiry from Google like SEO and Grow graduate Jenna, who's a branding and squarespace website designer. You start having thousands of people coming to your website each week to read your blogs like my incredible client Dan, who's a nonfiction editor and author coach. You start selling your digital products straight from Google searches that were previously just chilling on the shelves like my SEO and grow grad Elli, who is the best bookkeeper or getting found in a LinkedIn or Instagram search because you have your flipping profile optimized as has happened for me and another SEO and grow grad Breanna, who is a human design aligned email marketing strategist and copywriter.
And the first step you need to take to start getting results like this is to rip the band aid off and just get started with SEO.
Okay. More specifically, these are the three things you need to do. First, answer those three questions for yourself, set the timer for 15 minutes and give me a super clear one to two line answer for each one of those. Next up, decide what kind of support is most helpful for you. Is it a group program? Is it a strategy call? Is it a DIY course? Is it a one week sprint? What does that look like for you? And third, decide who you want guiding you through this. It may not be me, and that is totally okay. Make sure
My only hope with this is that you get inspired to do something to lock in, make eye contact with SEO and start taking action to make sure your website and your content can work for you so you can serve your clients, take care of yourself and spend time with your people without worrying if your business will make it.
I always advise people to start by optimizing their websites first because that's your home base. That is where you want people ultimately to come to to make a decision about working with you to see what you have to offer and say yes to something that is on. Then you can get into optimizing your content. Ideally, you have a blog on your website. That could either mean maybe you're restarting a dormant blog or you're starting one, a brand new one from scratch. And from there you look to all the places off site that you can optimize like podcast guest interviews, guest blogs, directory listings, social media profiles. You get the idea.
The place to be to get a move on and get this implemented asap. So you're not still listening to me in three or six months being like dang, I really should have worked with Brittany months ago is the 5-day SEO sprint. We start on Monday, May 11th and are together each day of the week until Friday, May 15th. We have a call each day that week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Plus we have a bonus call the following week on May 20th for any of the roadblocks you run into and to discuss next steps for SEO maintenance.
You're moving through an express version of my SEO and Grow Group program. That program is spread out over four months, but this sprint is one intense, intentional and joyous week together. It's SEO super simplified, super strategic and super streamlined. Your website will be that ultimate bat signal at the end of the week and you'll know exactly what to do to continue to improve your SEO each month.
Fun fact. Monthly maintenance is actually the easy part. The Sprint covers the more challenging part of getting started, creating an SEO strategy and getting it plugged in on your website. And I'm there every step of the way. I'm checking over your keywords, your strategies and ensuring that you have it implemented properly. You cannot do this wrong. I simply will not let you.
If you want people finding you coming to you, you need SEO working for you. The early bird offer has ended, but you'll find a special discount available to you as a loyal podcast listener in the show notes because I just can't help myself. The goal is not perfection, it's implementation. You can totally do this.
Reach out with any questions or celebrations. You know that I love getting messages from you and you can find me on Instagram or you can text the show. You'll see the link below in the show notes. And remember, I'm over here cheering you on on your SEO journey!
