How SEO is a Soulful Experience for Entrepreneurs
I’ve learned over the years that SEO can be an intimidating subject & process for many business owners—it’s why we put it off for so long!
How is it that SEO (search engine optimization) can be a soulful experience? It starts at the very beginning—where I ask 3 very important questions. You’d think it would be simple enough to answer these questions, yet this is where some of my SEO clients get stuck. Even I got stuck here very recently!
I’ve learned that SEO can be an intimidating process for many business owners—it’s why we put it off for so long. We don’t feel smart enough or we feel ashamed that we didn’t address the issue sooner. In reality—it’s never too soon or too late to get your SEO ducks in a row! So get comfy & tune in to hear how not only soulful & healing, but how powerful an experience SEO can be!
With this podcast episode:
Discover why most business owners put off doing their SEO.
Uncover the importance of having a vision for your business & how SEO helps.
Learn how keyword research actually begins with social proof.
Don’t forget you can submit a question that will get answered in an upcoming podcast!
Links & Mentioned Resources:
Tribes by Seth Godin (book)
Vivid Vision (book)
Dec 2023 Thread about podcast names
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
We are getting soulful with SEO today. Yes, I know it might seem like a stretch, but just hang on, this is probably gonna surprise you. So I'm going to dive in, and then I'm gonna peel the layers back for us. I have this questionnaire that every single client who comes in my world for SEO, they are asked these three questions. It doesn't matter if you're coming in for the How to Blog with SEO email course, or if you're coming in for just an SEO audit.
or if you're coming in for the full blown SEO packet, I'm going to be asking you these three questions. And I'm going to be asking you these questions because I want to get to the root of what your business is about. SEO starts with social proof. It starts with what your clients and students are already saying about you. It starts there because I want to use that to get the right keywords in my keyword research.
so that I can then use the right keywords in the copy to get you in front of the right people. So I ask these three questions, like I said, to get at the root of your business. I need help. I need you to help me help you help more people, right? So I need your answers to these questions and I'm gonna share them right off the bat. So if you're taking notes, you're gonna wanna grab your pen, I will stall.
or just whip out your phone and open the notepad. But these are the questions. Who do you help? How do you help them? And what do you want to be known for or as? And why am I starting here? I'm starting here because these three questions trip people up. They trip up business owners, they trip up my clients. People just sit there and they're like, oh my gosh, who do I wanna help? What do I do for people? What do I wanna be known for?
What do we want to be known as? What do you even mean by that, Brittany? I get a lot of these questions as feedback. Not often, what I normally hear is just like, wow, that was really thought provoking. I really had to sit with that for a minute. And I started to think about that. I'm like, why is this happening? What is going on here? What's going on is that I'm asking someone to fully accept themselves.
Brittany Herzberg (02:21.122)
to be that person out loud, to really go for it, to claim it, to speak it, to be about it, to embody this. Maybe up until this point, this was just something that someone was thinking about. Maybe it was just like an idea that they had in their head and it wasn't being fully expressed. They weren't really living it out loud yet. And here I am with these three questions, like, all right, let's just dive in. We're gonna go deep, we're gonna get in here. I need to know these answers so that I can, I need to know these answers so that I can help you help more people.
I keep repeating that because I really want to drive that home. It can be scary as hell and it can leave you feeling really vulnerable and very exposed to have someone ask you these three seemingly simple, unoffensive questions. And if you've read, like I have, the book Tribes by Seth Godin, you know that it goes so, so much deeper. These questions I'm asking actually can make a person feel like their safety is being threatened.
Because if I'm asking you, like, who are you really talking to? How are you really helping them? What do you want to be known for? That makes you stick a flag in the ground. That makes you really stand for something. You have to really be loud about it. You have to embrace it. You have to, you know, really go for it. And that's not easy. That's a lot easier to talk about than it is to actually do it and go for it and be about it.
But I want to make it very clear also while I'm here that I'm not asking these questions to be mean or to make someone feel uncomfortable or to trigger anyone. Quite the opposite. I want my clients to step into their power. I want this to be a fun and effective collaboration and I want this work to bring about real change in their world, in their personal life and in their professional life. And if that's going to happen, in order for that to happen...
I need them to be honest with me and be honest with themselves and to maybe admit, you know what, I really haven't been serving the clients that I really want to serve. I've had a couple of them, but I haven't had enough of them. I really want to bring in this person. I really want to go for it with this offer, with this product, with this course. I haven't been doing it. Well, why haven't you been doing it? Well, I've been nervous. I haven't wanted people to reject me. I haven't wanted to look like a fool.
Brittany Herzberg (04:45.822)
You know, all of these thoughts start creeping up and coming out. And this does not always come through in a conversation with clients, but it's, it's apparent I still get that information. And maybe I get that information by reading their answers. Maybe eventually it comes out while we're collaborating on this project. And I figure out, Oh, okay. Perhaps they didn't want to say this answer because this was, was a root issue for them.
So it's really surprising what will come out of these three questions and what is revealed. And even if you just, you know, take a minute and answer these questions, maybe you pause the episode, pause the video, you'll notice that it takes a minute to really be thoughtful and to be succinct with your answer. I actually put myself through this experience or process last year. I...
I asked myself these three questions because I was rewriting some of my website copy and I needed to ask myself these questions because I knew I wanted to make a pretty significant shift. I wasn't offering the same deliverables that I was offering when I first wrote this copy in 2021. I was offering different deliverables. I really wanted to work with a different group of business owners and first I had to admit that to myself.
And then I had to go and do the research and, you know, do the voice of customer research, do the market research, do the keyword research. I had to do all of that. And then I needed to put it into copy and actually populate it on my website and push, you know, save, push publish. So it can be a really big deal. And when I went through that myself, it really drove the point home that this is a really, this is it. This is a really, like I said earlier, soulful experience.
there is a very deep part of you that is going to be affected by this messaging, by this work, even SEO. You might not think that that's going to be the case and yet, surprise, it is. So to make this impact with people's lives, with their businesses, and even to do that for myself like I did last year, to do my job, I need the answers to those three questions.
Brittany Herzberg (07:10.934)
And again, they seem simple, they seem real innocent, and yet they sneak up on you. So let's break this down a little bit more. I need to know who you help because that's your audience. That is who we are writing to. That is who we want to get in front of on those Google search results pages. And we can't do that if we don't identify that person, claim that niche, whatever it may be. Let's say you're writing for, I call it.
My people, sometimes I call them health pruduers, right? I've worked with nurses, I've worked with dentists, I've worked with massage therapists, I've worked with doctors. If I'm working with these people and they know who they want to get in front of, then it makes it a lot easier for me to write the copy. It makes it a lot easier for me to do the keyword research. It makes it easier for me to even sift through their testimonials and the social proof that they have. Maybe they have...
let's just keep things simple. They have 10 testimonials scattered on their website, but they really want to work with these three clients and they kind of are ready to let these other seven clients be clients that they used to work with. If they're going in a new direction, I need to know that because then that's going to affect how I'm going to be analyzing those testimonials and what keywords I'm going to pull out and what pain points we're going to be speaking to. All of that stuff.
Seems real, like I said, it seems real simple and yet it's a little bit more nuanced. The next thing I need to know is I need to know how you help them. That's my way of asking what your offers are. Are you selling a course? Do you have a membership? Do you do the work for them? Is it done for you? That type of thing. What is it that you're actually delivering to your clients? Obviously you're delivering transformations and actual physical things, but like what is it? What does that look like?
Is it an email course where people are getting an email X amount of days and they're going to be watching Loom videos, listening to Voxers, actually doing some of their work? What does that look like? Because this really comes into play when we are, in order to get in front of the right people, take me for example, I basically have two segments of clients. I have the DIY service provider who wants to do it themselves, who wants to learn about SEO.
Brittany Herzberg (09:30.474)
and they want to learn how to do keyword research and they want to then use that to write web copy and blogs and things like that. Then I have this other client who I call a supported CEO. Maybe they have some interest in learning about SEO, case studies, copywriting, things like that. Or their plate may be super full and they're like, please just take this. I have a team in place. You can just let me know what's getting done when it's getting done. Let me know what I'm paying for. And you do the work and then we can talk to my team.
so that they can implement it. That really matters. Having those two distinctions really matters because if I'm talking about learning something or understanding something, that's going to appeal more to the DIY service provider or solopreneur. If I'm talking about getting something done for you, that's going to appeal way more to the supported CEO. So even like the terminology that comes into play.
the types of searches that they're doing on Google, the actual words that they're using. That is why I need to know what your actual offer, what your actual deliverables look like. And then the third thing I ask you is what you want to be known for. What makes you different? Like that is what sets you apart. That is how you stand out. That is how I know if I'm recommending a keyword that's actually gonna get you the right or on the wrong page. Is this gonna be the right page or the wrong page for you?
Because again, we want to make sure that you're landing in front of that ideal client, not in what even would that be an unideal client. I want to make sure that this person who's going to see you in the Google search is going to be interested, is going to click, and is going to interact in some way with your website. Whether that is signing up for your email list, clicking over and listening to a podcast that you were on, going and subscribing to your YouTube channel.
or even reaching out and inquiring about working with you. I want there to be some kind of action. I'm a copywriter after all. I want there to be some kind of action where someone is meeting you or someone is researching about you and they're seeking you out. They find you, they find your website, they find all those things about you. And then they're so invested and they're ready to work with you because they like what they see and they're ready to just like go. And in order to do that, we have to have
Brittany Herzberg (11:51.926)
very clear answers to those three questions. Who do you help? How do you help them? What do you want to be known for? Who's your audience? What are you offering? And what makes you different? Why you? So again, maybe you pause this episode and do a little soul searching of your own, a little journaling, and I guarantee that this is gonna change your business and make your marketing stronger and help your message land faster.
the answers to those three questions where the real magic happens. Yeah, sure, I talk about the most magical marketing combination under the sun being SEO plus storytelling plus social proof, and it is, but the real true magic, the magic of you being you, that's what happens when you identify and lean into your vision really, really hard, really, really intentionally. Knowing where you're going is a big part of entrepreneurship, of running a business. You have to know.
where you want to go. You have to set those goals. You have to identify the person that you want to talk to. And no, it doesn't have to be one person. I mean, there's people bickering online constantly about, do you niche? Do you not niche? How even do you say niche? I mean, there's all of this stuff that's just ridiculous, but you need to have some kind of direction so that you can propel your business forward.
You being you is what's going to make you more findable, what's going to pull you out of the internet shadows and into the light. It's what's going to help you magnetize the right leads and the right projects. And stick with me because I'm going to get real meta for a second. This podcast really, truly was me putting this work into action. And I'm not just saying that SEO is a soulful experience. I'm actually being about it and I'm going to tell you about it.
So if you're into human design, you'll get this. You'll get this next bit. I'm a 3-5 manifesting generator. And for the sake of simplicity, what that means is that I have a ton of ideas. I'm here to actually really live and experience things and then to break it down and share it with you. I'm here to learn the lessons and then distill them super fast for you. So I get to make your journey a little bit more linear.
Brittany Herzberg (14:16.422)
know, it's all over the place really, but I want to speed things up for you and make things a little bit more efficient. So this whole thing with me starting this podcast and using that as an example of SEO being a soulful experience goes like this. I knew I wanted to start a solo show. I knew exactly what I wanted it to be about and I knew exactly who I wanted to attract and help with this podcast. The speed bump. The name.
I know, shocker, right? And I love naming things. I live to name things. This actually, it was pretty cool. This played out on threads in December of 2023. I will make sure that is linked in the description and in the show notes. But it was really wild to me to see how many people really participated in this thread and how many people this landed with and, you know, how it wasn't just me. You'll hear me say a lot that a lot on this podcast as well. But
it was it just really hit home to see that this isn't something that I just deal with or I was like in the midst of this is something that really impacts pretty much everyone who decides that they want to podcast and then they're like oh great I've got to come up with a name okay cool I had some names in mind and they would have been great for SEO from an SEO standpoint but they didn't make me as excited as this one did the basic be I mean even saying that like I
Brittany Herzberg (15:44.814)
who really get it, it makes them smile too. And I can't remember the exact series of events, but I'm pretty sure that my friend Erin Alila named this podcast for us. So I'm gonna make sure that I leave her Instagram handle in all of the places, whether you're watching or listening to this. So go find her and say thank you. But I hear this name from Erin and immediately fall in love with it. And then I'm talking with a friend about podcast things and the entire idea.
the entire name gets challenged. I started flailing and not feeling so great about the idea anymore, about the podcast name. I didn't know if it was smarter to go with one of these other options. I was down to, I think, three at that point. And they would have been great for SEO. I don't think that this one is necessarily bad for SEO, but the other ones were like super prime for SEO. But they also...
would have limited me in what I would feel like I talk about. The umbrella wasn't as large as it is with me calling the podcast The Basic Bee and having that tagline on there on my podcast art and making sure that it's really clear to everyone that we're talking about SEO and storytelling and social proof. This is the one that I wanted, but I really, it really threw me for a loop for a couple days if I'm being honest.
So I decided to sit with the feelings that I was having and to really feel out if this was the type of show that I wanted and to really think through who I wanted to attract and how I wanted to help people and who I wanted to be and who I needed to be and what I needed this show to be in order to reach the right people and to do the work that I want to do. So ultimately, as we all know, this podcast went on to be called The Basic Bee. But here's why.
It supports my mission to bring service providers back to business growth and marketing basics with SEO storytelling and social proof. So I'm able to hit on each of those things that I, they're near and dear to my heart. I know them. I have mastered them. I am an expert in them. I'm still learning that just because I say that I have expertise in something doesn't mean that I'm not learning. I think people get really hung up on that. That's a aside. But.
Brittany Herzberg (18:10.778)
you know, in order for these things to work, you have to get the right people to your site and then you need them to engage with you in some way. And they need to see quickly that you can actually do the work and that they can actually trust you. And that happens when you have SEO in place, when you have storytelling in place, when you have that social proof in place. And it's not even about just having each of those three things. It's about having them in the right places.
throughout the website, but on each of the pages. It's about having them there in a way that really hits home and speaks to people. Things have changed drastically in the last four years. The way people marketed in 2019 is not how people should be marketing and how people want to be marketed to in 2024. We are much savvier shoppers. We are so much more thoughtful. We take quite a bit longer to make investments.
because things could change in a dime. They did, it did. And I think we're all still pretty traumatized from it. So frankly, you know, when it comes back to the podcast and the podcast name, I don't care if someone sees the name of this podcast and thinks that I'm being flippant or whatever they're gonna think. I can't assume to know what they're gonna think. I am here for the people who are curious, who want to have fun, who want to grow. And look, it worked. That's you.
So the name totally worked. And I'm really glad that I stuck with it and I'm really proud of it. And I know that the right people are gonna be drawn to it. And I know that the people that I'm gonna fit for are immediately not gonna be drawn to it. And that's cool, that's totally fine. But it supports my point that SEO is a soulful experience because in order to figure out what to say or what keywords to use, you have to know who you're speaking to.
And to do that, you have to know who you are and where you want to go. There was a pretty cool line that I'm going to share in a second that I thought of as I was typing up my notes for this episode, and it really paints a good picture, I think. A rudderless boat is only going to go where the water and wind push it. If you aren't actually putting the rudder on and doing all the boaty things and making sure that the boat is going to take you where you want to go...
Brittany Herzberg (20:37.834)
You're gonna be pushed and nudged to go in, you know, whatever direction. But one day you're going to wake up and realize, I didn't choose to be here. I didn't choose to do this. I didn't make these decisions. And you're going to have some work to do. And maybe that's where you find yourself now. Maybe that's you listening to the podcast at this very moment. And if that is you, that's totally fine. Like you woke up, you're here. Welcome. You've got some work to do, but.
everything is fixable, everything is solvable. There's always some way to deal with that, at least when it comes to business things. So another reason that SEO is a soulful experience is because it takes time. It is not a quick fix. And if 2023 taught me nothing else, it is that healing is not linear. And that takes time and that takes patience and that patience is a freaking virtue. But friend, it is well worth it.
So let me give you a simple first exercise. I want you to go and answer those three questions. And let me tell them to you again, share them with you again. So they are, who do you help? How do you help them? And what do you want to be known for or as? And to do this, set a timer, set it for 20 minutes and let the answers just bubble up.
From there, you'll be ready to download my SEO Basics checklist and actually put it to use. I've seen how copywriting, marketing, and entrepreneurship in general can be such a spiritual experience, but that doesn't mean we need to shy away from it. That doesn't mean we need to be scared of it. There's wisdom and growth in there, and I am so excited to be on this journey with you.