Brandmerry Blog Archives
5 Tips to Increase Your Website Conversions
If you have a website that you’ve spent either time or money or both on, then you need to focus on increasing your website conversions! So many entrepreneurs lose potential leads because they don’t have the 5 steps I’m sharing in today’s blog.
5 Tips to Increase Your Website Conversions
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
The truth is websites are completely underrated. There has been a movement in the past couple of years from mentors and coaches saying that websites aren’t necessary when building a business.
I call BS on that one and here is why.
From a personal standpoint, I attract over 10,000 visitors to my website every month using Google and Pinterest.
In 2019 every private coaching client I signed (a minimum $5,000 investment) came from a simple Google search.
Today, I’m making sales every week from people who find me on Google and Pinterest.
Without my website, none of that would be possible.
However, I get it! When I started my business I had zero traffic and therefore started to believe the lie that a website was pointless.
I’m glad I didn’t fall for that though and instead dedicated my time to not only driving more organic traffic to my website but also optimizing my website for conversions.
If you’re looking for ways to increase traffic to your website, check out this post here.
So, now that we understand how freaking cool websites are, let’s talk about how to optimize them. But, before we dive into these conversions let’s make sure we’re both on the same page.
I’m not promoting you spending the next 6 months trying to build your website, or playing with your website. This is not the answer.
What you want to do is build your brand foundations, you can learn more about that in my Build a Better Brand Masterclass, and then create a simple website to start driving traffic to. You can always improve your website as more and more people find it.
So read through this post and if you don’t have a website bookmark it and start with my Build a Better Brand Masterclass and if you have a website then let’s get to work.
Website Conversion Tip #1
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY
The average person will make a decision if your website is right for them in 15 seconds. Yes, that is the average time someone will spend on your website, so grabbing their attention and the first impression is crucial.
I look at this like the subject line of an email you want your audience to open or the photo on Instagram that you want your audience to see so they read your post.
This same approach applies to your website. My secret sauce for this is Emotional Branding.
I’ve been teaching the idea of Emotional Branding for years and it’s one of the most powerful pieces you can have in your branding, but more importantly in any situation where you want your audience to stop what they're doing and take action, or in this case explore your website.
Let’s assume for a moment we are talking about your homepage, since this is where most people from Google will land. The easiest way to see how your website is performing is to explore it yourself.
Head to your website, as a viewer, and write down that you see. What do the images say to you, what is the first language you see, are you excited, stressed, happy, comforted, etc when you first get there? You can also ask two or three of your friends or family to tell you what they see and feel when landing on your site as well.
When you get this information ask yourself, “Is this on-brand for me? Is this correct based on the limited time they spent on my website?”
You’ll start to notice that the more emotionally-charged your images and words are the more likely people will be to stick around.
Pictures of people work really well in this scenario, strong language or a mission at the top and pointing out the problem your audience is facing are great ways to get started.
Website Conversion Tip #2
CLEARLY STATE THE PURPOSE OF YOUR BRAND
Speaking of the first 15 seconds and the top of your website, the second thing you want to clearly state is the purpose of your brand. This will drastically help you improve website conversions because it gives people the opportunity to say, “Yes, this person is for me or no, I’m not feeling it!”
Despite what people say you actually want the wrong people for your brand to peace out. Why would you want someone who isn’t in alignment with your brand, not your ideal client and likely never going to buy from you hanging out? You don’t.
Having this clear brand statement at the top allows you to state what you do, who you serve, what problem they are facing and how your service or product helps them solve that problem.
For instance, my website says, “As a personal branding consultant, I teach female entrepreneurs who struggle with building a revenue-generating business, how to brand and market their mission and message online to make more money and impact.”
Right away you know what I do, who I serve, what they struggle with and what I help them accomplish. This is important because as a branding consultant I don’t do the physical branding work for you. So when people land on my website I want to make that clear that I’m not a designer. If they know right away there isn’t confusion or false expectations on how I can support them.
Website Conversion Tip #3
HAVE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION
If someone is on your website, what do you want them to do? It’s a really important question that we don’t often think about.
Typically there are two options:
Option 1 - Buy your product or service
Option 2 - Join your email list (the inner circle)
This last option is important because if you don’t have this call to action you might miss out on a potential sale.
Let’s say I visit your website and I love it but I’m not in the market for your services. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll never be in need of your services, but if I have no way to stay in contact with you or learn more about you the odds of me remembering you are slim.
This is why we should always, I repeat always, have an email opt-in. You can learn more about building an email list here.
I prefer to have one core lead magnet that someone can receive in exchange for their email address. When you have one clear call to action it’s easier for people to say yes or no. For instance, my Personal Brand Roadmap is my only call to action on my home page and since making that change we’ve seen an increase in lead magnet conversions of over 60%.
The same is important for your blog as well, always have a lead magnet available on every single one of your blog posts so if someone finds you on Pinterest they can join your inner circle.
Website Conversion Tip #4
TELL A GREAT STORY
This is my specialty and the core foundation of my business. Storytelling is so important, but so many people reserve it for social media and email marketing and completely miss the mark on their website.
Up until this point we’ve talked a lot about your homepage, but there is another important page on your website that gets the majority of your traffic and that’s your ‘About Me’ page.
Your ‘About Me’ page is typically the second most viewed page on your website and rightfully so, people want to know what you’re about, they want to know your story. This is essential because what they are ultimately saying is, “Can I trust this person?”
Your ‘About Me’ page should, in fact, be about you. I know there is a lot of misinformation about what to include on this page and people often say it should only be about your audience, but I disagree.
If I’m going to your ‘About Me’ page then I want to learn about you. If you don’t tell me about you then I’m going to lose interest. So your page should include a clear brand story, as well as more information about you, what led you to where you are today, why you do what you do and who you serve.
By following this framework you’re more likely to convert readers and visitors into community members and paying clients. I know from experience that people have signed up for my programs because of what they read on my ‘About Me’ page.
For your page to perform and increase conversions you have to know your story. This is one of the core pillars of my program You! Branded, in fact, it’s the first module.
You! Branded helps women identify the different chapters of their book, aka ‘About Me’ page. It’s about introducing people to you, sharing your journey and building authority and trust and finally bringing it home to share how you can support them.
There is a fine art in writing your story while also keeping your audience engaged and inviting them in. I’ve got an entire blog on writing your ‘About Me’ page which you can check out here.
Website Conversion Tip #5
SEND A COHESIVE MESSAGE
And finally, let’s talk about a cohesive message for your website. This is where your branding work really gets to shine, and no I don’t mean your logo.
What I mean by your branding work is how consistent are your images, your brand emotions and your overall messaging? Break this consistency and you’ll break the trust of your website viewer.
If I land on your homepage and discover you are a Relationship Coach for women healing from a toxic relationship and I’m intrigued. So then, I hop over to your blog and your blogs are about building your email list, there is a disconnect and now I’m confused and the trust is broken.
You want to make sure that everything you’re sharing on your website follows the theme of your brand and speaks to a very specific person. One of the pieces to a strong brand is messaging and I believe in building core brand messages for your brand as a whole so you can share those messages everywhere, including your website and always be on-brand.
If your message on your homepage is different from your message on your About Me and your blog it’s going to be hard for me to understand what exactly you do and how you can help me.
An example would be that you don’t do any core messaging work and you start building your website. You sit down and write your homepage. Then the next day you write your story. Then an individual sales page. If you piece these together they don’t flow and feel like three separate standalone pages.
The reason we want things to flow is that we don’t just want to keep people engaged for 15 seconds as we talked about in tip one, but we also want to keep them on your website for an extended period of time.
Those visitors are more likely to convert.
CONCLUSION
I know that if you implement these five tips on your website and my top tips for increasing traffic you’re going to find that your website can be a valuable part of your business.
As I mentioned in the beginning and throughout this blog so much of your messaging, story, visuals, etc come from your branding work. If you want to dive deeper into building your personal brand, I have a free Personal Brand Roadmap that you can download here.
P.S. If you want to learn more about the importance of storytelling because I know it’s such a hot topic, and rightfully so, I’ve got a blog post on The Art of Storytelling in Business here.
WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website
You have a website, but right now it’s a trickle of people coming in if any at all! It’s time to not only drive traffic to your website but more importantly consistent traffic. Read the blog to learn 3 ways to improve website traffic.
3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
So you have a website, but little to no traffic. The struggle is real, and something so many entrepreneurs, including myself have experienced.
It took me monthly to build my website and an additional year before I realized that my website meant nothing if I wasn’t getting people to actually view it. Now, just a few years later, I’m getting thousands of organic website visitors every month using the strategies I’m sharing today.
So if you have a website, one you probably spent a lot of time and maybe even money on, and no one seems to see it, today’s blog on 3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website is for you.
WHY YOU NEED A WEBSITE
There are a lot of online educators and course creators saying that you don’t need a website and I disagree. If you’re running an online business you NEED a website, for one main reason...people are searching for your services online and if you don’t have a website, well they won’t find you.
In addition to showing up in search results, websites serve as a valuable resource for your business.
CENTRAL LOCATION: People want to find what they need and having a central location with the information for your business and services is a great way to do that. Someone doesn’t want to search through your Instagram profile or your Facebook page to learn more about you, they want a one-stop-shop, this is where your website comes into play.
FIND WHAT THEY WANT RIGHT NOW: In addition to having your information in one central location, people also want what they want right away. So if someone is looking for a particular service or resource you want to give it to them, that’s where your website and a collection of resources come in.
A PLACE TO REFER PEOPLE: I don’t know about you, but I love having a place to send people that I know is going to support them at the highest level. This is my website. My website is a resource for anyone interested in learning more about my brand, business and services. Having the information available and in one space makes it easier for me in growing my business.
METHOD #1
HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE FOR FREE
One of the most effective and simple ways to drive traffic to your website for free is by using our friend Google.
Think about it, when you have a question or a problem you turn to Google. So every single day your ideal customer is doing the same, looking for your product or service and a solution to their problem that you solve.
If you’re not taking the time to set up Site-Wide SEO (not specifically talking about blogs here) you’re missing out on free traffic.
Today, we’re getting hundreds of organic traffic from Google thanks to landing on page one for multiple keywords.
The best part about Site-Wide SEO is it’s something you can set up for your business on the backend, or hire someone to do it for you, and you don’t need to touch it every single week like you do content.
Today, I blog every week which helps rank for multiple keywords, but in the beginning, I only had optimized my main page SEO and still landed on page one.
If you want to learn more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) check out this blog.
METHOD #2
MY FAVORITE WAY TO DRIVE CONSISTENT TRAFFIC TO MY WEBSITE
I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it. If you’re not already aware of how Pinterest can improve your online marketing, you’re in for a treat!
Pinterest is how I’m consistently driving traffic to the content on my website.
While the main purpose of my Site-Wide SEO was to rank my home page for specific keywords my audience is searching for, think Personal Branding Consultant, Branding Coach, etc...I’m using Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog.
Pinterest, like Google, is a search engine, so while many people think Pinterest is a social media platform like Facebook and Instagram they are wrong. Pinterest was designed to get people off the platform, not to stick around and socialize.
Because of this, it’s great for every online business, as it’s experienced experimental growth over the past few years.
The key to Pinterest is content, which I create in the form of my blog posts. Every blog post gets pushed out to Pinterest and using our Pinterest Strategy from inside Brandmerry Academy (http://brandmerryacademy.com) we’re consistently driving traffic to my website (even blogs from 2017 still get consistent traffic today).
So you can see why Pinterest is such a valuable tool in driving traffic to your website and the best part, it’s free (although there is an option to promote pins on Pinterest as well).
**Did I mention Pinterest also helps you rank on Google? Well, it does! When Google sees that you’re getting traffic to your content they love it and it tells them it’s valuable so they’re more likely to move it up.
METHOD #3
HOW TO DRIVE TARGETED TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE
You’ve probably already guessed I’m going to talk about blogging, but we’re going to get a little bit more specific here. It’s not enough to just blog random topics and to just post content without doing a little research.
In fact, taking just a few minutes to map out your blog content ahead of time and think strategically about what content you want your ideal customer to have their hands on will help with website traffic drastically.
So Method #3 is Do The Research. One of the best ways to improve traffic to your website is to create quality content your audience is searching for. This is why I love Ubersuggest and use it in my own business.
Ubersuggest allows you to do thorough keyword research, as well as see what people in your industry are creating content around.
Taking this time before you start writing your content will help. I suggest mapping out 90-days worth of blog topics with keyword research and repeat every 90 days.
SEO, Pinterest and blogging doesn’t have to be overwhelming, we show you how to do it step-by-step inside Brandmerry Academy.
CONCLUSION
Driving traffic to your website should be a top priority. Let’s face it relying on social media to build your business is inconsistent and unreliable, but optimizing your website and using tools like Pinterest can not only bring in the consistent traffic, but also save you time as well.
Inside Brandmerry Academy, we teach marketing strategies that don’t rely on social media. It gives you VIP access to monthly marketing courses on Email Marketing, SEO, Pinterest, Blogging, Video, Podcasting and more.
Learn more about Brandmerry Academy at brandmerryacademy.com.
P.S. I’ve got some other cool blogs and videos for you, that I’m linking below. I mean you’re already here you might as well keep reading.
3 MARKETING MISTAKES TO AVOID AS AN ONLINE ENTREPRENEUR
WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
How to Pivot Your Business Without Losing Momentum
Thinking of pivoting your business or finding yourself at a place where a pivot is necessary for income? Check out the different phases of a pivot to consider and how to identify if a pivot is right for you in this season.
How to Pivot Your Business
Without Losing Momentum
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
If you prefer to watch a video version of this post, which is highly recommended, you can do so below.
Last week on the blog, I did a special post on Branding and Messaging Your Business During a Crisis, you can check it out here.
And so many community members asked about a very specific part of that post and video, which was all about pivoting your business.
It makes so much sense that this would be a concern right now as we navigate this Global Pandemic (also known as Coronavirus). It’s got so many businesses thinking, “How do we make money during this time?”
But, to be honest, this isn’t something we should just be prepared for as it applies to a pandemic like this, many business owners might need to pivot their offer, messaging or business due to life changes.
Maybe you’re wondering…
...if now is the right time to sell anything.
...how you should be supporting people.
...what to offer since what you typically do is not possible.
...if your offers or services need to change.
...what you should be charging.
And, that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg with questions running through your head.
I highly suggest writing these prompts and questions down to dive into on your own. Carve out 15 minutes a day to answering these questions to gain clarity on your next steps.
PHASE ONE: DETERMINE WHAT STAGE YOU ARE IN
The first step is to figure out what stage you are in because every single business is going to be at a different stage, which is going to mean that your pivot is going to look different.
Nobody's pivot is going to look the same.
Because of this, it can be really easy to get overwhelmed when pivoting because we’ll see other business owners doing something in our niche or similar and we think to ourselves, “I should be doing that! Or should I be doing something different?”
But, we don’t know their story - we might think we know where they are at in their business, but the reality is we probably have no clue.
It’s times like these we need to go inward, worry about our own business, our own progress and our own current stage.
STAGE ONE: YOUR BUSINESS HAS TAKEN A MAJOR HIT
If you’re in this stage, you’re most likely struggling a lot. If you’re a photographer during this particular season of the Coronavirus you’ve had to cancel a lot of your business.
A sign that you are in this stage could be that you’ve taken a major hit financially.
POSSIBILITIES: You can drive more online traffic. You’re going to want to put more time and energy into building an online presence and offering incentives. While you might not be able to physically do your job if you’re a photographer, you could offer gift certificates or coupons if they book now. Think of restaurants around the holidays when they sell a $50 gift card and give you $15 to use on your next visit - same principle.
You might also consider offering something new, I’ve got questions below to support you.
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STAGE TWO: YOUR BUSINESS IS CLOSED
If you’re in this stage, you might have a physical business that is now closed, so your options are to close or move online.
POSSIBILITIES: Move your business online so you can continue to sell. Think about what technology systems you need and how to manage the ins and outs. Every business needs an online presence and you have a chance to build that now. Think of ways to sell gift cards even if it’s not physical products right now. Incorporate incentives as I mentioned above.
Also, this is a great time to build brand awareness and educate your audience on your product so they can purchase at a later date. Use different tools and resources to drive traffic to your new site like Search Engine Optimization and Pinterest.
This might also be a good time to consider a new offer, I’ve got questions below to support you.
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STAGE THREE: YOUR BUSINESS HAS BEEN FORCED TO SHIFT
This stage could look like a lot of different things. Maybe you’ve experienced a hit, but you have money in savings so you don’t have to actively sell right now. It might also mean that what you sell doesn’t feel good and you want to make some adjustments to your offer or how you message it.
The majority of online businesses typically find themselves in this stage.
POSSIBILITIES: If you’re in this stage it’s about heightening your brand awareness. If what you sell or offer is still valid it’s less about what you offer and how you’re offering it. A big shift during this stage might be a pivot or adjustment in your messaging, along with adjusting the price of your offer.
During this brand awareness phase, it’s also important to explore other avenues. For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a drop in people spending their money on marketing. That means ad costs have gone down drastically, so if it’s available to you investing in this aspect now can really pay off in the long run.
SPEAKING OF LONG RUN
When pivoting, or navigating a time of great change, it’s so important to focus on the long game. I hate to be the one to say, but even if you're not making money right now, which is scary, you can set yourself up for massive growth later on.
How can you set yourself up so that you can sell later in the year or next year really, really strong?
Those are the things that we need to consider because that is the reality. So how do we do that? Let's talk about some questions that I want you to think about around pivoting your offer.
PHASE TWO: PIVOTING YOUR OFFER OR SERVICE
Let's say that you have an existing offer that's not working, or you have an existing offer that you want to modify. Here are some questions to consider.
What does your audience need right now?
I’m a big fan of market research because I know it changes the game of how we show up, run our businesses and ultimately make sales. If you show up and you ask your audience in this time where they're needing support, they will most likely tell you.
If you don't have an audience already look at other people's threads in your industry, look at what people are Googling, or look and see what people are asking in Facebook groups or threads.
What are people needing right now?
Let me make this clear, I do not mean everyone. I specifically mean what does your target market need and what would support them in this season of life?
How can you show up and give that to them in a way that is an extension of your brand?
Is this something existing? Or do you need to create something new?
For many of you, you are going to have to create something new. You've probably had ideas for things that you can launch or build in the background, but maybe life was too busy so I'm going to challenge you to look back at those ideas that have maybe been sitting on the back burner, on a post-it note on your desk, and start to think, “Is that something that I could create now?”
FEELING STUCK? A NOTE ABOUT BRAND CONTAINERS
Brand Containers are a concept that I teach to all of my clients on the idea that what you sell cannot be your business and brand. If it is you are probably running into a problem right now.
It’s not about having 75 different offers, it’s about having a brand and having variety, allowing for more flexibility, creation and community building.
When you create a business around a single offer and then want to pivot, it will feel like starting over, but when you create a brand first and foremost it’s much easier.
Imagine 5-7 brand containers of things you love talking about. For my business branding, business coaching and marketing are definitely the main ones, but I also love to talk about travel and could offer a blog or course on how to travel full time.
If you’re interested in learning more about Brand Containers and my branding process, check out youbrandedcourse.com.
The key here is you want to first look for a pivot that is of value to your audience and already connected to your brand as a whole, your Brand Containers can help with this.
When it comes to pivoting the hardest thing you can do is burn it all down in the hopes to build something new. I encourage you to look more for opportunities or gaps in which you can make small adjustments.
Ask yourself: How can I show up, that's going to be a value to my audience and is already connected to my brand as a whole?
Then it will feel more of like a shift or extension than it does a complete starting over from scratch.
Pricing Your Offer
If you don’t feel like you need to create something new, just adjust something existing, it’s time to think about how to shift it.
Is there a new pricing structure?
How can you modify an existing offer to launch something smaller?
Can you take a bigger program or something that you've created and sell it separately as a lower-priced offer?
How can you repurpose some of the things that you've talked about in the past?
Think of how you can get creative with what you have. For instance, if you’re a photographer and can’t photograph clients, you don’t necessarily have to declare you’re no longer a photographer. You might be able to adjust your offer to something along the lines of selling a style guide on how to prepare for brand photoshoots or teaching other photographers how to edit their pics.
TO RECAP
What does your audience need?
What can you support them with?
Is there something that you can create that as an extension of your existing brand, think about your brand containers, rather than starting completely over?
And if you have an existing offer that works, how can you modify it or change the pricing structure?
PHASE THREE: AWARENESS AND EDUCATION
Phase three is what every single business should still remain focused on during a pivot or crisis.
The brands and businesses that continue to persevere are the ones that continue to show up, build trust and community. These are the businesses that will experience sales later.
Pivoting isn’t just about the offer it’s also in your messaging and how you show up.
How can you build brand awareness?
How can you create educational components for your audience?
What does this look like for you?
Get ready for the questions because here they come. Some things to consider are:
Does your content need to shift during this transition?
How is your overall brand messaging, is it in alignment with your new direction
Do you need to adjust the platform you are showing up on and reaching your target audience? Do you have SEO on your website? Are you using Pinterest to drive traffic?
Can you start reaching your new target market with advertisements?
Do you have a sales funnel set up for onboarding new community members and leading them to a sale on evergreen?
When you’re pivoting it can be really easy to not show up, to not build an audience because you feel like you don’t have it all figured out. Take some time to get clear on your pivot offer and audience and keep showing up.
People are waiting for your message, even when you’re “figuring it out” keep showing up and building trust.
MISSION-DRIVEN BUSINESS GOALS
When you’re going through a pivot or transition it might feel like you need to create something RIGHT NOW. You might think, “I’m just going to put this out there!”
I'm going to encourage you to slow down just a minute to ask yourself this overarching brand question…
“What’s the purpose behind your business? Why are you doing this in the first place?”
Because the reality is if you run your business just for money, you will run into problems. It has to be more fulfilling. What do you do, when in one season of life you don’t have the money coming in? What continues to drive you?
Questions to consider.
What is your purpose behind your business?
What is your mission?
How can you create content and offers and all those things that are in alignment with that?
And if you don't know this, it’s time to dive deep into your brand.
CONCLUSION + PLANNING
MAKING PLANS
With the info that you have collected from above, I want you to start mapping out and planning your next steps.
I know in times of uncertainty and change, there is power in knowing what direction you're going.
Think of where you are headed, there’s that purpose, mission and long-term thinking again, so you can start taking small steps every single day. Start mapping out what that looks like, but be open to adjusting.
Think about…
How does your content look with these new plans?
What offers are you going to put out there?
What do you need to create?
How can you start rolling out these changes?
Having a plan is really powerful, even if it needs to change and adjust at least you know which direction you’re headed.
If after you dive into these questions you still feel lost and a little overwhelmed. I always encourage people to get a step-by-step plan. My course You! Branded gives you the pieces to finalize your purpose, mission and so much more to build a strong brand and business upon.
You can learn more about You! Branded and the work we do around niching down, ideal client, messaging, offers and emotional branding at youbrandedcourse.com
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
Improve Your SEO in 3 Steps
Every online business should be optimizing their SEO to rank higher on Google and get their business and content in front of their ideal clients. Learn 3 ways to improve yours today.
When I started implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it was by accident. I didn't really know what I was doing, and I was kind of DIYing it every step of the way.
You know the feeling of just piecing together information as you find it? It definitely took longer than I wanted it too, but I slowly started to see results.
I remember being in New York City in 2018 and my cousin messaged me and said, “You know, you're on page one of Google, right?” and I knew at that moment it was working.
It was crazy that with some work on the backend, I was ranking on page one of my industry.
Whatever I was doing, remember at the time it was totally plug in play strategies, was paying off. I knew I needed to fine-tune my strategy to start seeing an increase in leads and sales.
Why is SEO important for online business owners?
I don't know if any of you were like me where you spent all of this love and time and energy creating your website just to find out that people wouldn't actually stumble upon it.
In my case, five people were finding my website every single month. Can you relate?
This is why SEO is so important for every type of business. We have these awesome websites, but no one is landing on them. And with 3.5 billion Google searches a day, it seems silly that so many entrepreneurs are missing out on free traffic, quality leads and sales.
In my own story, when I began to get more strategic with my SEO (some of the strategies I’m sharing with you below) we started to see not only an increase in traffic every month, but also an increase in conversions to my higher-level programs.
New clients that were investing between $5,000 - $10,000 were coming from Google. This was happening because women were specifically looking for a branding coach or business coach (i.e. ready to invest) and finding my website on page one (often in spot one) and booking a call...some booking directly on the website!
And that trend has just continued and continued to where every single day I'm getting messages from people who say, I found you on Google.
The reason for that is because I didn't try to go viral for my blog. I put my focus and emphasis on ranking for my industry.
Oftentimes we think about SEO as it pertains to blogging, but we forget that we can also optimize our site for our industry to bring in quality leads ready to invest.
We want to optimize our blog posts, our title, our bullets, our headers, our images, all of those things play a role.
3 Phases to Improve Your SEO Ranking
Phase 1: Site-Wide SEO Optimization
This is the back-end SEO for your website. It includes not only your site title and description, but also making sure you’ve optimized the main pages of your website as well.
Every website platform has these SEO capabilities, and a simple Google search will help you locate yours. I know Wordpress gets a great reputation when it comes to SEO, but I personally love Squarespace. Squarespace is what we host my website on and love it; implementing the SEO on the back-end is super simple.
On your page titles you want to use the keywords within your industry and what people are searching for. SEO is not about being cute, it’s about being strategic.
Many businesses use their name or their business name as their site title and that’s just not enough. Unless, people are searching for you specifically that’s not bringing in new leads. You want to add those keywords, like your title there as well.
For instance, my Site Title is ‘Personal Branding Consultant | Branding Coach | Michelle Knight’
After your site-wide SEO is implemented you want to optimize the main pages of your website. The first page you want to focus on is your home page.
>> Inside Brandmerry Academy, not only do we teach you the step-by-step for implementing proper SEO, we also show you how to increase conversions on your homepage with captivating copy, lead magnets and more. Learn more here >>
For each of your pages (Home Page, About Me Page, Work With Me Page and Blog) we want to also optimize the title and description.
You can spend one weekend optimizing your site and then not have to worry about it again for 6 months to a year. That’s one of the reasons I love starting here with Phase 1.
Phase 2: Blogging and Quality Content
Blogging and the content on your website is what tells Google that what you claim about yourself in your site description is actually true.
If I’m claiming I’m a Branding Coach and there's nothing on my website about branding or teaching people how to brand themselves, Google's going to be like, “Okay, that's cute, but you know, we don’t really trust you!”
Creating consistent content, via blogging, will allow your content to rank as well as help you communicate to Google you are legit. It’s important to carry over the SEO optimization to every blog you create. This includes your blog title, description, headers, content and alt text.
So many people struggle with consistency, and they avoid blogging because Social Media seems easier. The truth is when you’re strategic with your content you can spend the same amount of time writing a blog and repurposing it. Learn more about repurposing here.
And your content will last longer.
Phase 3: Backlinks and Brand Exposure
Backlinks are links back to your website! These are another way to show your credibility to Google. The more backlinks, the higher your Domain Authority.
Now, some people will trade backlinks and that is a NO!
People will also charge for backlinks and that is a NO!
What I encourage you to do and my favorite strategy is to build these backlinks through brand exposure.
This includes being a guest on a podcast, writing a guest post, guest blogging, speaking at conferences, etc...When these platforms feature you they will link back to your website.
So, you’re getting an awesome backlink, and you’re also getting brand exposure in front of a new audience for free. I’m all about that strategic life!
3 Ways to Improve Your SEO This Week
1. Research your main keywords
You need to understand what you want to rank for before you start optimizing your site.
Conduct research on the product or service you provide so you understand the industry as a whole and what people are searching for. I like to use tools like Keywords Everywhere and Ubersuggest to do a thorough keyword search.
You can also do some industry research through Google. Look for other brands in your industry and see what keywords they are using in their site title and site description. Pair that, with Ubersuggest to see how people are actually doing and you’ll have a great keyword bank to get started.
2. Optimize the Backend of Your Website for SEO
This is what we talked about in Phase One, but now it’s time to do it! After you have your keywords chosen you want to go into the backend of your website and update your Site Title and Site Description.
This should take you no more than 30 minutes and will make a big impact.
3. Optimize Your Homepage for SEO
You’ll repeat the same thing you did in Step 2, and update your Page Title and Page Description for your home page. Also, do a double check of the headers on your page, making sure they are efficient and include your keywords.
BONUS: Go through your images on the home page and add in Alt Text. Make sure the file name for the image includes your keywords and the caption includes a thorough description as well.
Start with these 3 steps and start improving your SEO immediately.
When I started ranking on page one, I was only focused on these 3 steps and then I started integrating more and more blogging, content and backlinks.
If you’re looking for more support with your SEO strategy, we’re guiding you through the entire process inside The Brandmerry Academy.
Brandmerry Academy is a year-long membership community that gives you monthly marketing mini-courses, group coaching and advanced strategies to increase your leads and profits without spending all your time or relying on social media.
Learn more about Brandmerry Academy at brandmerryacademy.com
P.S. If you want to learn more about my repurposing strategy, check out my 3 tips here.
P.S.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
The Truth About Growing Your Email List (getting subscribers through your freebie)
The Truth About Growing Your Email List (getting subscribers through your freebie)
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
The truth is we're really obsessed with hitting a certain milestone when it comes to our subscriber count, follower count or email list.
Like, “When I have a hundred subscribers, I will write.”
“When I have 10k followers on Instagram, I'll have the swipe up feature and suddenly my business will explode.”
Well, you guys, that's not really how it works and in fact what's happening is so many entrepreneurs are just working on getting to this *magical* number, this email list size, this follower count, that they're putting all their energy and their attention on doing that, and therefore neglecting all the people who have already said, yes!
When you’re doing this, then you're not consistently emailing your community and showing up for them.
Your belief that everything will be better when you have that “number”, is actually keeping you stuck.
So we have to switch our mindset and say, I'm showing up for the people that are already here and I don't care if it's just your cousin and your mom right now.
Showing up and being of service for those people is where I want your energy and your attention to go.
Now, if you’ve been spending all your time on just getting to a specific number, you might be like, “Michelle, how am I supposed to spend all this time showing up for my community and being there for my community? I'm trying to grow my community like it's great if I can show up for two people. But if I'm putting all my energy and attention there, then how do I grow my list?”
The reason you’re concerned about that is because you’re going about growing your list using social media (and social media is not a marketing strategy).
THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR FREE OFFER (OPT-IN)
I see this a lot online. You spend time creating a free offer that is going to be of value to your ideal client. Then you start marketing it, most likely on social media, from the start and you notice that nothing's really happening.
So you say, “Oh, this freebie does not work. I need to create a new freebie.”
And you create a new freebie and you go through the same process and you show up on social media and you're posting as many times as you can post without spamming your audience and you're using all the hashtags on Insta Stories.
And still nothing is happening and you repeat the cycle.
It's not the freebie, it's how you're marketing the freebie.
You most likely lack an understanding of how to create the content to actually sell the freebie and what platforms are going to serve you at the highest level.
So here is the thing with Facebook and Instagram - you should not be relying on these social media platforms to grow your business.
The goal is to grow your community using evergreen strategies so you can show up on social media and be “social” with your audience.
ADVANCED MARKETING STRATEGIES TO GROW YOUR SUBSCRIBERS
Advanced marketing strategies include:
Blogging
Pinterest
Youtube
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
PodcastingGuest Expert Feature (guest blog, guest on podcast, guest interview, interview feature)
Facebook and Pinterest Ads (investment)
The content on these platforms not only lasts longer than social media, but allows your content to consistently be seen and drive traffic to your website, freebie and ultimately paid offer.
The Lifespan of Online Content
Blogging has a lifespan of 2+ years.
Pinterest has a lifespan of 6+ months.
Instagram ONLY has a lifespan of 21 hours.
Facebook ONLY has a lifespan of 5 hours.
It would take you about the same amount of time to write a blog for your website, as it will to post on Facebook and your content will last longer.
Having these advanced systems of marketing in place allow you to consistently create a stream of leads to your business.
Example: My website, every single month, gets thousands of people visiting from Pinterest. I am ranked on page one for multiple keywords in my industry on Google. So I'm getting tons of people from there as well.
I focus on creating one piece of content a week on my blog, which helps with SEO on Google and the content is optimized for Pinterest. As a result, every single day people are finding my content online and my email list is growing.
They're also following me on social media as a way to stay connected with me. So rather than relying on social media to grow my new audience, I get to show up here and have fun with you guys. I get to show up and do a video and post things about my travels and the things that I love that build a deeper relationship with my audience.
All the while, my community is growing without me having to post on social media.
THE GOAL
First, we want to create a free gift, just one, for your audience. An incentive to join your community. Learn more here.
Next, the goal is to use those Advanced Marketing strategies above to consistently lead new people to your website (or landing page) where they can consume your content and grab your gift.
As your email subscribers grow, your social media platforms grow and you switch your focus to building relationships and nurturing your new audience. This is where sales come from!
When you have those marketing strategies in place, you can focus on doing what you do best - serving your audience and making an impact.
Learn more about implementing these strategies inside Brandmerry Academy!
P.S. Here is a helpful blog on improving your content marketing. Read it here.
P.S.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.