SEO Tips Archives - Elizabeth McCravy https://elizabethmccravy.com/category/design/website-design-tips/seo-tips/ Showit Website Templates, Business Courses, Business Podcast for Moms Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:49:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://i0.wp.com/elizabethmccravy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cropped-Elizabeth-McCravy-Logo_Icon-Watermelon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 SEO Tips Archives - Elizabeth McCravy https://elizabethmccravy.com/category/design/website-design-tips/seo-tips/ 32 32 138427508 8 SEO Blogging Strategies for Google (and ChatGPT) that Most Biz Owners Skip with Kara Duncan https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-blogging-strategies/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-blogging-strategies/#respond Tue, 12 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=8258 Kara Duncan, my own podcast manager and blogging pro, shares eight powerful blogging strategies most business owners are skipping (with fresh ideas and tips on how to adapt your content for the AI era!).

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I am so thrilled to introduce you to Kara Duncan from The Kara Report on today’s podcast. This episode is absolute gold. I just finished listening to it myself and walked away with a to-do list full of important SEO updates I need to make in my own business. I was literally taking notes as I listened. In this episode, Kara is sharing eight SEO blogging strategies most business owners are skipping—or, honestly, may not even be aware of. I personally learned a ton from what she shared. 

These are not the usual SEO tips you hear everywhere; Kara goes deep and gets really specific. She’s someone who has helped me rank better on Google for my website and especially for blog posts related to this podcast so trust me, she knows her stuff.

Fun fact: Kara is actually also on my podcast team. She’s been my podcast manager for about a year and a half now. When I came up with the idea for these guest episodes during my maternity leave, I pitched it to her and added, “By the way, would you also be one of the guests?” I had several topics in mind that I thought she’d be perfect for (and this one especially stood out!).

Kara’s been a long-time listener of the show, a Showit template customer, and she’s also taken my Podcast Success Blueprint course. Like I mentioned, she’s now a vital part of my business and is so sharp when it comes to blogging and SEO.

She also talks about how blogging is changing because of AI, and I really loved her perspective on how we can adapt our strategy as business owners (even if you’re not using AI yourself).

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

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Hey there, friends! I am so excited to be coming at you from this side of the mic. I'm Kara, and my business is The Kara Report. We’re a content marketing agency that specializes in done-for-you blogging and Pinterest services for creative business owners just like you!

I also have the absolute privilege and delight of helping Elizabeth behind the scenes with some of her podcast work, so I’m really excited to be chatting with you today. And hey - we already have one thing in common: we both love The Breakthrough Brand podcast.

Today, I’m going to share eight things to consider with your SEO in 2025. These are underrated SEO blogging strategies or things that most business owners tend to skip over. I feel like we’re all trying to diversify our marketing in 2025, right? We’re trying to stop relying so much on algorithms and if you’re not there yet, trust me, it’s only a matter of time. We’re all working on building more authority and creating marketing that lasts. Let’s get started!

1. Introduce yourself at the top of your blog post with a keyword that explains what you do.

This sounds so simple, but you’d be surprised how often I see blog posts where, if I landed on the page without context, I would have no idea that the writer offers a product or service. It might look like just another informational site.

Instead, I start every blog post with a quick intro to the topic, then I introduce myself. For example: “Today I’m sharing X, Y, Z. By the way, I’m [name], and I specialize in [what you do].” Then I move into the main content and end with a clear call to action.

seo blogging tips from a content writer

Including that quick intro does two things: First, it adds another keyword to the page, which is great for SEO. But more importantly, it reminds us that a blog post is often someone’s first interaction with your brand.

A lot of us design our websites with the assumption that visitors will follow a linear path: they’ll land on the homepage, read the about page, check out the services, etc. But that’s not always how it works. If you’re blogging regularly or using SEO strategically, people are often landing on a blog post first (totally bypassing the homepage).

And because we live in a world overflowing with content, a lot of blogs are purely informational. They exist to make money through ads or affiliate links. But that might not be your goal. You might be trying to sell a service, a digital product, or something else, and your blog post might not be doing that effectively if you don’t introduce yourself.

So, that’s the first of the SEO blogging strategies, and honestly, it’s also a human-first tip: Always introduce yourself in every single blog post. Yes, it might feel repetitive to you, but it’s not for your audience. Because again, for many people, this will be their very first touchpoint with your brand.

Read more: 5 Ways to Leverage the Power of SEO to Build Your Email List

2. Clearly Lay Out What You’re Going to Cover At The Beginning

The second thing I recommend doing when you're writing a blog post is to clearly lay out what you’re going to cover right at the beginning. I already mentioned having an introduction, but this goes a step further. Too often, we end up burying the lede.

It kind of reminds me of looking up recipes on Pinterest back in 2016—remember when you'd have to scroll through eight paragraphs about someone’s life story before you even got to the actual recipe? It’s the same thing with blogs today. We're still doing that, and people just don’t have the patience for it.

So, in your first paragraph, make the topic super clear. Then, go one step further and include a little list of what you're going to cover. For example: “In this post, we’ll go over X, Y, and Z.” Make sure those points are keyword-rich and specific (not vague!).

Because here’s the thing: if you write something like “The #1 secret business owners miss,” no one is typing that into Google. It might be catchy, but it’s not helpful for SEO.

If you don’t want to manually list the topics, you can also use a tool like Rank Math’s table of contents plugin (or another one compatible with your platform). It can automatically pull in your headers to generate a table of contents, which helps surface your keywords at the top of the page. 

Read more: 3 Tiny Website Updates to Maximize SEO and User Trust in 2025

Kara from The Kara Report shares tips for seo content writing

3. Optimize Your Images

The third thing I want to talk about is optimizing images. Some of these SEO blogging strategies might sound basic, but they really matter.

I recently read a study that said 78% of SEO issues are image-related. That’s huge! And I think it's because image optimization seems like a small detail—something we either don’t know how to handle or don’t think is that important. But images actually play a big role in helping Google understand what your content is about.

That’s true whether you’re a photographer with tons of images in a blog post, or a business owner who includes just a few. So here are three easy ways to optimize your images:

  1. Rename your image files before uploading.
    Don’t wait until after they’re uploaded—some website platforms let you rename them afterward, but that doesn’t always carry through in a way that Google recognizes. When renaming, use dashes between words, like: website-copywriter-nashville.jpg
     You can use keywords related to your overall niche or the specific topic of the post.
  2. Add alt text that describes the image.
    Alt text is important for accessibility and also gives you an opportunity to naturally include a keyword. If you're a photographer and you have, say, 100 images in a post, don’t overdo it. Maybe aim for around 20% of the images to include keywords. For fewer images, maybe 40%. Keep it natural and descriptive, not just stuffed with keywords.
  3. Resize your images before uploading.
    This keeps your site loading faster and improves user experience. I like to resize based on width—800 pixels wide is usually a good starting point for blog layouts. You can always adjust if things look blurry. A tool I recommend is bulkresizephotos.com—it's free and really fast, especially if you're not using editing software like Lightroom.

So to recap: Rename, add alt text, and resize your images.

4. Add Internal & External Links

The fourth thing that’s often underrated but is super effective when talking about SEO blogging strategies is using links strategically. There are three types of links to think about for every blog post:

  1. External links to high-authority websites.
    If you reference a study or helpful resource, link to it—just make sure it’s a trustworthy site (not spammy). Google sees this as a credibility signal.
  2. External links to your other online platforms.
    Send people to your Instagram, Pinterest board, YouTube channel—wherever else you show up online. These are technically still external links (since they’re not on your domain), but they keep people in your orbit. Pro tip: always set external links to open in a new tab so you’re not sending people away from your site entirely.
  3. Internal links to your own content.
    Link to your services page, your contact page, your email opt-in—anything relevant.
    Also, don’t forget to link to older blog content! If you've been in business for even a year or two, you likely have a lot of helpful posts you can resurface. Link organically when it makes sense. For example, if you mention optimizing images and have a whole blog post about that, link to it right there.

Think of it this way: people reading your blog are likely in different stages of their buyer journey. Some are ready to contact you now, others are just starting to realize they might need your help. Linking in different ways throughout the post helps serve all those readers and keeps them engaged.

5. Add The Most Important Keywords For Your Website To Your Footer

Now, this won’t make sense for every business, and sometimes you’ll make design choices that don’t prioritize SEO—and that’s okay. You don’t want your site to feel robotic or overly optimized.

But if you have a high-value blog post, say, a software review you’re an affiliate for, or a post that explains your unique process, it can be smart to include that in your footer. Even just a short list of key blog posts is helpful.

We see big software companies do this all the time. Their footers are full of links to help with SEO, and while most small business owners don’t need to go that far, you can still apply this strategically.

And while you're editing your footer, it’s also a good idea to include a short, 1–2 sentence description of what you do. This helps both with SEO and with clarity for first-time visitors.

And if you’re a location-based business, definitely make sure your location is included in your footer. The footer is kind of an SEO hotspot because it appears on every single page of your website. That makes it a great place to be intentional. It’s worth investing a little extra time there because it can have a real impact on your overall SEO.

Read more: SEO for Showit Hacks: Optimize Your Site to Be Found in 2023 with Sara Dunn

6. Increase Your Word Count

Now, I’m not saying you need to write a 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000-word blog post—but I do think we need to push ourselves beyond the typical 500 words. A good sweet spot is usually somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 words, depending on how competitive the keyword you're trying to rank for is.

However—and this is important—if you’re using AI to help write your blog posts, there's a good chance the tool (like ChatGPT) may just bulk up your content with fluff to hit a word count. And we don’t want that. Humans don’t want to read it, and search engines are smart enough to see through it.

So, here are three simple ways to add both word count and value to your blog post:

  1. Add a Frequently Asked Questions section at the end.
    With the rise of AI, people are getting very specific in their searches. Instead of just searching “website copywriter,” someone might now search for “website copywriter who’s been in business five years and works with service-based businesses.”
    Including FAQs helps you target these long-tail keywords and answer real questions your audience might be asking.

  2. Introduce the topic more thoroughly.
    For example, if your post is “8 Tips for Better SEO,” don’t just jump in—start by briefly answering, “What is SEO?” It adds useful context, naturally includes keywords, and gives real value to someone who may not be as familiar with the topic.

  3. Explain why the topic matters.
    This helps frame the content and engage the reader. For instance, I could say: SEO is important because I want you to get leads for your business or sales on autopilot. I want you to invest upfront and reap long-term rewards. I want you to build a system that doesn’t rely on constantly fighting the algorithm.
    Adding this kind of "why it matters" context can make your blog post richer and more compelling—and it gives you more space to use relevant keywords naturally.

Read more: Do This ONE THING To Your Website to Increase Bookings, Revenue, and Email Sign Ups (Takes 30 Minutes or Less)

podcast success blueprint course on starting a podcast

7. Pin Your Blogs on Pinterest

Pinterest isn’t exactly a social media platform, it’s more of a search engine, and it’s a fantastic place to build free backlinks to your website.

Even if you don’t want to dive into a full Pinterest marketing strategy, I still recommend creating a few graphics for each blog post and pinning them to relevant boards. Be sure to use keywords in your pin descriptions too.

Doing this sends great signals to Google:

  • People are linking to your content
  • People are clicking on your content
  • Your business is active across platforms

All of that helps your SEO. So even if Pinterest doesn’t feel like a major platform for your business, or if your audience isn’t super active there, it’s still worth using it for the SEO benefits alone.

8. Use Bing Webmaster Tools

And then last but not least, I told you I was going to share something super fresh and relevant to SEO in 2025—and that is: signing up for Bing Webmaster Tools and making sure to submit your site there.

So, as of right now, ChatGPT is actually using Bing’s index instead of Google’s to search the web. If you have Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools is basically their equivalent, just for a different search engine.

A lot of times when we talk about SEO, we’re only talking about ranking on Google. But the reality is, in 2025, we want to rank on multiple platforms. We want to rank on Bing. And more importantly, we want to “rank” on ChatGPT.

There’s more and more evidence that people are heading to ChatGPT first to search for things. And if ChatGPT is searching Bing’s Rolodex, we want to make sure that we’re on Bing’s Rolodex.

And hey—if you’re not using Google Search Console, just as a quick aside—it’s super easy and free to set up. It’s basically like Google Analytics, and you definitely should have it. You’ll be able to see how your website is performing SEO-wise, what keywords you’re ranking for, what pages are showing up, and all of that good stuff.

So definitely worth setting up both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Also, when you publish a new blog post, you can submit it directly to these search engine tools to get your content indexed faster. Google is pretty good, and I should say Bing is pretty good, at finding your site organically, especially if you’re a regular content creator.

But if you’re not publishing consistently, if you’re new to blogging, or if your content has been a little inconsistent, then submitting your blog posts to these tools manually as you publish them is a great way to make sure your site isn’t getting ignored.

So that’s kind of my last of the SEO blogging strategies (and one that’s super relevant for blogging and SEO in 2025!).

Recapping What You Need To Know About SEO Blogging in 2025

Okay, I don’t know about you, but that just flew by for me! So I’m going to recap really quickly with my eight SEO tips:

  1. Always introduce yourself at the top of a blog post.
  2. Include a list of what you’re going to cover or a table of contents that includes your keywords.
  3. Optimize your images every single time.
  4. Add internal and external links throughout the page.
  5. Put your most relevant blog posts in your footer.
  6. Increase your word count (but make sure it’s valuable).
  7. Get your content on Pinterest.
  8. Submit your site to Bing Webmaster Tools.

That seriously felt like it flew by!

Thank you so much for spending time with me. Again, I’m Kara, and my business is The Kara Report. I also have a podcast, very creatively named, The Kara Report. I’d love for you to come hang out with me there.

If you head to my website, you’ll also find my private podcast called Build It Once, Get Found for Months, where I break down more of how I do this: how I create content that you build and invest in upfront and that can keep working for you over the long term.

I’d love to see you there. Thank you again, and a big thank you to Elizabeth for having me—this was so much fun!

Links Mentioned:

Learn more about working with Kara

Download Kara's private podcast

Follow Kara on Instagram

Shop Showit Website Templates

Not sure which template is right for you? Take the quiz!

Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Join Booked Out Designer

SEO blogging strategies that work in 2025
Kara shares seo blogging strategies that work on Google and ChatGPT

The post 8 SEO Blogging Strategies for Google (and ChatGPT) that Most Biz Owners Skip with Kara Duncan appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-blogging-strategies/feed/ 0 8258 3 Tiny Website Updates to Maximize SEO and User Trust in 2025 https://elizabethmccravy.com/website-updates-to-maximize-seo-and-user-trust/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/website-updates-to-maximize-seo-and-user-trust/#respond Tue, 14 Jan 2025 06:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=8076 Want to get your website in tip-top shape for 2025? In this episode, I'm sharing 3 tiny website updates to maximize SEO and user trust (that take less than 5 mins!).

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The new year means it's a great time to make some small website updates to your existing website. So in this quick episode, I'm going to share a few things for you to do to your website for the new year to keep things up to date and fresh, both from an SEO perspective and that improve the experience for prospective clients. Let’s get into it!

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Alright, so first, these three things that I'm going to recommend you do to kick off the year are going to take you less than five minutes, okay? This is seriously quick stuff to go through real fast and by the time you're done listening, you'll be ready to go.

 

1. Update The Copyright in Your Footer

This is one of the easiest website updates you can make! If you have the fun little copyright © in your website’s footer, you likely have last year’s date on it. So, you’ll want to update this to the current year (and make sure your starting year is included too!). So yours may look like 2015-2024 and you want to change that last number to 2025 now. 

Also, it’s worth mentioning that you have automatic rights to the content you create on your website, so YES you can add this little © and the year without filing any government paperwork and stuff like that. It’s your right. 

To get the little ©, just google copyright C and find an icon then you can copy/paste it into your website with ease! Or just copy the one I have here: ©

Updating it communicates to views that you actually update your website. Right at the beginning of the year it matters less, but say it’s June of 2025 and your footer still says 2024, people will think you just aren’t updating stuff and trust purchasing from you less! 

This is sooo important as online businesses, like I know so many of you are.  For me, people buy on my website often without ever speaking to me or contacting me first and this little change shows that my site is updated. 

On most sites this is something you change ONE PLACE and then it’ll update everywhere. Or, if you use Kajabi or Shopify, this is automatically done for you on most templates because it’s built into the site design and is not something you customize yourself. 

Read more: The Best Alternatives to Squarespace Templates for Photographers

2. Update Any Dates On Your Website 

This happens more than you think! There are so many DATE opportunities on a website. For example, you might say  “I’ve been in business 5 years”, and now it’s 6 years. Or, maybe you put that you’ve served 100 happy customers, but you haven’t updated that in a year so now it’s actually 125. 

Even subtle things on your about page, like if you mention your own age or your children’s ages, usually don’t get updated often enough and the new year is a great time to do it. 

As someone who has a really large website, for me this looks like going on every page and looking for these things that need tweaking! 

And actually, when I redesigned my website last year, I thought ahead about this and I made an area in ClickUp where I added parts of my website that have dates (and I put due dates on things so I know when something needs updating!).

 

For example, I have:

 

But my advice for you would be to just LOOK for date problems that you can fix and I’d consider too where you can use years instead of dates to make this something you have to do less overall. For example, say you started your business in 2015 instead of saying you’ve been in business for 10 years. But sometimes this is unavoidable. 

Read more: 3 Things I WISH More People Understood About Their Website (From a Designer’s Perspective!)

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3. Update Your Plugins and Delete One’s You’re Not Using! 

This is another simple one! If you’re a WordPress user (Or, Showit user since we blog via WordPress), you want to make sure your plugins are up to date.  

In addition to just going in and updating, it’s also worth checking to see if there are any plugins you actually aren’t using. Then, deactivate and then delete those! Having active plugins you’re not using and don’t need will slow down your website. 

In WordPress, in your dashboard in the top left corner you’ll see an icon with a number and a little arrow in a circle and that’s where you click to update. I just did this myself and had 18 to update and a few I needed to delete!  You likely do too!

If you’re not sure if it’s really being used, try deactivating it and seeing if anything changes or ask your designer. 

Website Updates for the New Year

These three website updates will take you just a few minutes and make a big difference on keeping your website fresh and clean for the new year ahead. If you want to do some additional things (that take more time), consider things like updating your testimonials, your portfolio work displayed, and checking that links are all working properly on your website! You can also make yourself a little area in your project management software like I did to help manage these tasks more easily for next year! 

Read more: Beyond Project Management: How ClickUp and Other PM Tools Should Become Your Digital Workspace with Courtney Lazar of SystemsUp

website updates

Make Website Updates with Add On Templates (or Grab a New Template!)

That’s it, friends! I love bringing you these short and tactical episodes, and I hope you take some time to review your website and make these changes.

If, as you’re going through your website, you find yourself thinking, “Hey Elizabeth, this is great, but I don’t love my website and don’t even want to work on it right now,” that’s okay! If you’re feeling like it’s time for a new website for the new year, or if you just want to add some new pages to make your current website feel more elevated and functional for where your business is now, check out my website templates.

Just recently—about a month ago—I launched four incredible new add-on templates:

The timeline template features advanced Showit design elements that you can use to enhance your About page, Work With Me page, or wherever you want to showcase your processes and story.

Plus, there’s the Landing Page Bundle, the Speaker Template, and the Quiz Template. These add-ons can really help you take your website to the next level. And, of course, I also offer full-site templates if you’re ready for a complete overhaul.

That’s it for today, friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and more importantly, I hope you take action on it! I’ll be back next week with another episode.

Links Mentioned:

Shop Add On Templates!

Shop Showit Website Templates

Not sure which template is right for you? Take the quiz!

Sign up for Podcast Success Blueprint

Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Join Booked Out Designer

3 tiny website updates
3 tiny website updates podcast episode

Thanks to our sponsor, Christian Heathcare Ministries! CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry and is a faith-based alternative to traditional health insurance. My family has been using CHM for our healthcare for 4+ years now, and we couldn’t be more pleased. As a business owner we all know healthcare is outrageously expensive with CHM you can save money on your budget and know if a medical situation ever arises CHM will be there to take care of you and share 100% of your eligible bills. Learn more here!

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The post 3 Tiny Website Updates to Maximize SEO and User Trust in 2025 appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/website-updates-to-maximize-seo-and-user-trust/feed/ 0 8076 3 Things I WISH More People Understood About Their Website (From a Designer’s Perspective!) https://elizabethmccravy.com/what-makes-a-great-website/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/what-makes-a-great-website/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=5952 What makes a great website? What makes a dud? Besides all the obvious things like don’t make your text too small, don’t use 1,000 fonts at once and things like that… What are the major keys?! No matter what you do in your work, if you have a website, you should ask these questions. Today […]

The post 3 Things I WISH More People Understood About Their Website (From a Designer’s Perspective!) appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

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What makes a great website? What makes a dud? Besides all the obvious things like don’t make your text too small, don’t use 1,000 fonts at once and things like that… What are the major keys?! No matter what you do in your work, if you have a website, you should ask these questions. Today I’m sharing 3 things that I consider top things to making a successful website, and people often miss them. I’m calling these “strong opinions”, but this could also be called “unpopular opinions” because these aren’t said enough. I hope this short and sweet episode gives you some business and website ideas to run with!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

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Search for episode 257!

Strong Opinion #1: Copying an influencer's website will not give you their success; it will just give you a website that everyone obviously sees looks like "so and so's" website.

How many times have you been looking at someone’s website and thought to yourself “Wow this looks like Marie Forleo’s website!” or “Interesting… this is the same fonts and colors that Jenna Kutcher uses”, or “Lewis Howes site looks like this one.” As a designer, I see it all the time where the big-time entrepreneurs’ sites are everyone’s #1 inspiration. 

And guess what? People have been loving their websites since early iterations that weren’t so beautiful and amazing because they love these people’s BRANDS. You may love the business they built, the success they have, the things they teach you, so you say “I want a website similar to theirs”! 

Here's the thing: You're cutting your own brand short when you copy someone else's website. You have something special and unique to offer the world too, and it doesn’t look the same as their sites. (Whoever “their” is to you!). I've even had this with my own brand quite a few times where people reach out asking what fonts I'm using and I don't tell them because I really believe that you should figure out what fonts you want to use for your brand. Don't copy someone else's website because you want their success or because you just don't know what your own brand is yet.

So what I want for you and what I want for myself (and for my template customers!) is that when someone lands on your website, they feel your brand coming through and they're not saying in their head, oh, this looks like Jenna Kutcher's website.

So how do you take action on this? First, ask yourself what you like ABOUT the site specifically that you’re feeling inspired by. Do not consider this person's brand outside their actual site; look at the site itself. Do you like the way type is used? Or how things flow? How can you be your own person and be inspired by those things you love without being the same? 

Read More: 5 Fascinating Social Media Marketing Lessons We Can Learn From The Top Influencers/Bloggers

easy new year website updates you can make

Strong Opinion #2: Simple websites with very few pages are amazing! You don't need a gazillion pages for your site to be incredible.

We often think more website pages = better results. But, when you’re just getting started, you may only need a few pages on your website, which means not using every page your template comes with. For example, my templates come with many pages, and that's not because you need all of them from the get-go. This is because I want you to have what you need to grow WITH your business.

I want the template you're investing in to be the site you're using years from now after you've gotten more clients, added more offers, started your course, made blogging a priority, etc. I want you to have those pages there to grow with you, but you don't have to use them all from the start and you might not even ever need them all.

For example, most of my templates have a "Ways to Work Together Page", that's basically an overview of your services. Maybe you never need that because you only have one main offer so you don't need a page with so many options. Maybe instead you utilize those different sections to create what you do need (that I've very strategically for you to go into other pages of your website). For example, maybe I have a section for your website viewer to schedule a call, but you repurpose it to link to a waitlist for your course.

If you look at your business and think, "I only need three pages," — that is ok. If you only need a Home page, About page, and Contact page - that's FINE! If you only need a sales page — that's ok! I've seen plenty of people do this with my sales page templates. So, don’t believe the myth that you need a gazillion pages to have a successful website! 

Getting a New Website Live Fast

I also think too, as someone who's creating your website for the first time, this can take a lot of the pressure off and speed up your process of getting your site live so you can start making money from your website. If you're looking at your template and you're like, I have to get the blog set up, I have to get this call scheduler page and the contact page and all of this perfectly set up, that's a lot of pressure and it can feel a lot better to feel like, "okay, what are the essential pages I need to get started right now?"

Read More: Get A New Website By New Years: How To Customize Your Showit Website Template Really Fast

Strong Opinion #3:  You must have photos of yourself somewhere or your site will feel scammy!

I feel like MOST people agree with me on this - but it's still being missed on SO many of the websites I visit. You have to have photos of yourself somewhere on your website or else your site's going to feel scammy, illegitimate, not personable, and all other sorts of problems.

I know not everyone wants to or can invest in professional imagery with a brand photographer from the start, and that's ok! Relying on stock photography can work, but put yourself on your website too! You need to be on your site even if it's not the most “professional” image. Otherwise, it can feel scammy and cause you to miss the opportunity to let your audience put a face to the name. 

Your face doesn't have to be front and center, but you need to be on there. To give you an example, the other day, I was searching for accountants and looked over different accountant websites, and I stumbled upon one that was using only stock images, even on their About page. I knew it probably wasn't a scam, but I did have to ask myself, "Is this legit? Where are the people who work here?" So, put yourself on your website — a great place to add a photo of you is on your About page and/or contact page. 

Read More: How To Use Paid Stock Photography To Completely Up Level Your Brand

So that’s it my friends — 3 opinions! I could do more and maybe we’ll do a part two later on. I appreciate you being here and reading until the end. 

Links Mentioned:

Tune into Episode 192 to learn more about using paid stock photos with Haute Stock

Shop All of My Showit Website Templates

Not sure which template is right for you? Take the quiz!

Join me Inside Booked Out Designer

Join my FREE Breakthrough Brand All Access Facebook Group

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Looking for amazing stock photography and videography? Check Out Haute Stock!

Thanks to our podcast sponsor, Haute Stock! Haute Stock is my favorite stock photo and video company. I've been a subscriber over 4 years now, and it's made my business' marketing both easier and more effective. I use Haute Stock images and videos for things like course and webinar slides, podcast promotional graphics and videos, on my website, for Reels and Reel covers, and so much more. You can get 15% off your Haute Stock subscription with the coupon code code: ELIZABETH at checkout or by clicking here!

The post 3 Things I WISH More People Understood About Their Website (From a Designer’s Perspective!) appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/what-makes-a-great-website/feed/ 0 5952 3 Things You Need to Update on Your Website for the New Year (That Take LESS THAN 5 minutes!) https://elizabethmccravy.com/new-year-website-updates/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/new-year-website-updates/#respond Tue, 02 Jan 2024 06:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=7234 A new year means it's a great time to make some tweaks to your website. In this episode, I'm sharing a few things for you to do for the new year to keep it up to date and fresh from an SEO perspective, make sure it’s attracting new clients and ensuring it works properly. These […]

The post 3 Things You Need to Update on Your Website for the New Year (That Take LESS THAN 5 minutes!) appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> Reading Time: 4 minutes

A new year means it's a great time to make some tweaks to your website. In this episode, I'm sharing a few things for you to do for the new year to keep it up to date and fresh from an SEO perspective, make sure it’s attracting new clients and ensuring it works properly. These three new year website updates can be done in less than five minutes. Let's get into it!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

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Search for episode 248!

1. Update the Copyright in Your Footer 

If you have the fun little © in your website’s footer, you likely had last year’s date on it. So, you’ll want to update this to the current year (and make sure your starting year is included too!). For example, mine says: COPYRIGHT © 2016-2024 · ELIZABETH MCCRAVY, LLC. 

This is one of the easiest new year website updates you can make and trust me - it has a huge impact on your conversion with cold traffic (nobody wants to buy from you if they aren't sure if you are still in business!)

So if you're thinking, "Wait, can I add a copyright symbol (©)?" Yes, you can! Adding that little © with the year you started through the current year is your right as a content creator. 

To get the copyright symbol, copy and paste this one ©. If you have one of my website templates, the copyright symbol is already included in the footer. Just update the dates and you're good to go! This update is important because it communicates to viewers that you regularly update your website. If it's the beginning of the year, it's less critical to do it immediately. So if you're listening to this on the day it airs, it's okay to wait a week. But don’t let it be June before you realize you still have 2023 sitting in your footer.

Plus - on most sites this is something you change in ONE PLACE and then it’ll update everywhere (because your footer is usually a site canvas if you use Showit!).

Read More: Setting Goals For 2024? How To Choose A BUSINESS Word Of The Year (And How This Practice Absolutely Changed My Life In 2023!)

Showit Website Templates

2. Update Any Dates on Your Website That Have Changed Because of The New Year

So, for example, you might mention on your website that you've been in business for three years, but now it's actually been four years. Or perhaps you say you’ve helped over 100 customers but it’s been a while since you updated it and now it’s more like 300. 

These “date” opportunities can be found all over websites. Especially on the about page so if you’re not sure if you need to update anything, check there first! Take some time to skim through each page of your website and look for any dates that need updating. Then, as you update, consider using years instead of specific dates to make it easier to maintain. 

For instance, saying "I've been in business since 2015" instead of "I've been in business for eight years." This way, you can make your content more evergreen and reduce the need for frequent updates. 

3. Update Your Plugins and Delete The Ones You’re Not Using

Okay, the third and final one, and this is another simple one that's so impactful for your website, but update your plugins and delete the ones you are not using. So if you're a WordPress user (or a Showit user since us Showit users blog through WordPress), you want to make sure your plugins are up to date. 

In addition to doing the update, I want you to check and see if there are any plugins that you actually just aren't using. If you're not using it, deactivate it and delete it. Having plugins that you're not using and you don't need but are running activated on your website will slow it down. So that's really an important thing to check (and I think checking once or twice a year is perfect so this is a great time to do it).

Read More: 5 Ways I’m Growing My Website Traffic This Year

How to Update Plugins on WordPress

To update your WordPress plugins, go to your dashboard and look for an icon in the top left corner. It will have a number and a little arrow in a circle around it. Click on that icon to initiate the update process. If you're unsure whether a plugin is being used, try deactivating it to see if anything changes. You can also check for any signs of usage or if you have set it up previously. If you didn't design your own website, consider reaching out to your designer via email to confirm the usage of a particular plugin.

updating my website for 2024

Updating Your Website for 2024

Overall, updating should only take a few minutes of your time, but it will give your website a fresh and nice feel for the upcoming year. If you have a little extra time and want to make more updates to your website, consider things like: adding more testimonials, updating your portfolio work, and just spend some time clicking around on the main pages of your website to make sure that all your links are working properly.

If you need a new website for the new year, or even just new add-on pages, check out my website templates. There have been a lot of new templates added in 2023, with more to come in 2024!

Links Mentioned:

Fill Out My End of Year Survey Here!

Shop All of My Showit Website Templates (Use code NEWYEARNEWSITE for 25% off)

Not sure which template is right for you? Take the quiz!

Join me Inside Booked Out Designer

Join my FREE Breakthrough Brand All Access Facebook Group

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

The post 3 Things You Need to Update on Your Website for the New Year (That Take LESS THAN 5 minutes!) appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/new-year-website-updates/feed/ 0 7234 3 SEO mistakes your website template might be guilty of without you realizing it https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-mistakes/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-mistakes/#respond Tue, 14 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=7172 As a designer, I absolutely love talking about SEO, and I incorporate SEO strategy into every template and website I design. It might surprise you, but before you even input your own information, a website template can already be SEO-friendly or be a disaster that you'll have to fix later. While most SEO strategies are […]

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]]> Reading Time: 6 minutes

As a designer, I absolutely love talking about SEO, and I incorporate SEO strategy into every template and website I design. It might surprise you, but before you even input your own information, a website template can already be SEO-friendly or be a disaster that you'll have to fix later. While most SEO strategies are implemented after you customize the template with your own content, images, and SEO settings, there are certain things you can look for in templates to ensure they're SEO-friendly before you even buy them. Today, I'm sharing three common SEO mistakes that website templates might make, along with tips for how to check them on your own template and website to ensure you're on the right track. 

Basically - get ready to gain some major SEO knowledge because this episode is going way beyond the basics. 

And hey, just a little disclaimer - while I design on Showit and sell Showit templates, the information I'm sharing applies to all types of website templates, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Kajabi, Webflow, and more. No matter what website software you use, these SEO tips matter. Whether you're a designer or someone DIY-ing your website, you’ll want to keep these things in mind. 

Even if you already have a website template from me (so you know your website is SEO-friendly!), you'll still learn some cool SEO stuff that will benefit you as a business owner by listening to this episode. Now let's get started!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 242!

1. The Page Designs Lack Content and Word Count

This is probably the biggest and baddest SEO mistake in my opinion.  The complexity or nuances here made me hesitate to include it but ultimately this is a mistake I see a lot of website templates making so I did want to include it anyway. In fact, my pal, Sara Dunn from Sara Does SEO, has told me specifically that she finds the lack of content frustrating on a lot of templates out there. But it also does depend.

What I mean by that is that pages on a website can have various lengths, and that’s okay. Not every page needs to be excessively long, and some pages should be short out of necessity. For instance, a lead magnet opt-in page may only consist of the lead magnet title, a compelling sentence to encourage opt-ins, and the opt-in section with an image. It's a short page, and there might not even be any scroll required. That is OK! If you check out my landing page bundle, which includes 20 designs, you'll notice that those pages don't contain a lot of content. Some pages don’t need a lot of text!

That being said, for pages like your homepage, service page, about page, and course sales page, it is important to have space for actual content (and by content I mean text). This is super important for SEO purposes and to improve your ranking. When choosing a template, you need to ensure that it allows you to easily add content. For example, if you work with a copywriter or an SEO expert, they need to have space in your templates to add their words. 

While there is no minimum word count per page, Google's known to rank content higher when it has more words, therefore is more in depth and more helpful information. So it’s a bit complex BUT also so important!

Read More: Stop Saying THIS on Your Sales Page

 

Pay Attention to the Text HTML Ratio

What that means is that it's important for there to be more text content on a webpage compared to the HTML code. If the ratio is off, it can negatively affect your SEO. This can happen due to a low word count or issues like hidden text or text behind images on the website. Additionally, a slow site speed can result from excessive use of plugins or similar factors. But word count is a big factor!

Read More: Is A Showit Website Template Right For Your Business? (The BIGGEST Questions We Get Asked About Using Templates!)

website seo mistakes

What to Look for in an SEO-Friendly Website Template 

Knowing this, what should you look for before you buy a website template? Look for templates that offer ample opportunities to add text, particularly on the homepage. Additionally, prioritize placing important information higher up on the page, preferably in the top hero section. If space is limited on the hero section of the template, make sure there is an area immediately following for you to add your copy. 

When a homepage layout limits your ability to include keywords, describe your products and services, and share your location, you miss out on valuable chances to improve your search engine rankings! This can make a HUGE difference so it’s worth getting right when buying a new website template!

2. Text Tag Settings Are Set Up Incorrectly

I always make it a point to teach new designers whenever I can because it's something that many designers are not aware of. And don’t feel bad if that’s you - I remember when I first started designing on Showit, I had no clue about this. I find myself constantly explaining this to my Booked Out Designer students when I review their work, whether it's their own website, a template they've created, or a client's site. I’m always checking for this issue because it’s so common!

What I mean when I say “text tags” from an SEO perspective is the title tag, also known as the H1 tag or heading one tag. It's something that is found on every website, but it may be described or edited differently depending on the platform you use. For instance, if you're using Squarespace, the interface may look slightly different than it does on Showit. In Showit, you can find it under the advanced settings when selecting a specific section of text on your website. It's labeled as "text tag" and provides options such as div, H1, H2, H3, nav (for navigation), or P (for paragraph).

Every piece of text is declared one of these things on every page of your website. 

So everything is declared something, even if you never said it, because your template or the custom site you got built, came with this stuff already declared.

Ideally, you want just one H1 per page. Although now it's said that Google is fine with there being more than one H1, it's still considered best practice to have just one. Regardless, you want the H1 to declare the most important piece of text on the page. That's what you're telling Google, like, "Hey, this is what this page is about."

The mistake I often see on templates is when everything is in H1 or nothing is in H1. Also, sometimes I see weird combinations, like when the button text on all the buttons on the page is in H1 or the navigation where it says home about services, contact, all those are in H1. Which is NOT ideal because then you are starting your site off on the wrong foot, SEO-wise.

If you want to check for yourself, there's a plugin I use. Before you buy a new template, you can check and view the demo website with “Header Checker”. It tells you the H1, H2, H3, and possibly H4 elements when you load it on any website. It won't tell you the paragraph, div, or nav text, but it'll indicate the headings. So you can check if it's set up well without having to go into Showit and click on each individual text box.

Read More: 3 of My VERY Strong Opinions About What Makes a Great Website

3. SEO Settings Already Being Set Up For Your Website

Another common mistake I often see is the presence of pre-existing SEO settings on your website, or worse, an accidental request for Google to IGNORE a page accidentally clicked on your template. 

These unintentional settings can hinder your online visibility and affect how Google displays your information. For example, if you do start to rank for your chosen keyword, you're basically asking Google to show information about the template in the search results instead of what you would actually want in there! Obviously - this is not ideal. On Showit, you can check this on the overall page settings in the bottom section called “SEO settings”. That's where you're going to see a page title, meta description, and share image.

Then, make sure that your template is not asking Google to ignore the page! This is in the same area underneath SEO settings, called “advanced settings”. There is a box there that you can check or uncheck if you want Google to avoid ranking the page. Usually, you are NOT going to want that checked unless it’s a private client pricing guide or something like that!

Let’s Recap - these SEO mistakes your website might be making!

  1. The page design lacks content and space for higher word counts.
  2. Your text tags are set up incorrectly (especially your H1 setting!)
  3. SEO settings are already set up and/or your template is asking Google to ignore the page!
SEO mistakes your website template might make

If you're looking for a new website, make sure to check out my Showit template shop here! Black Friday is around the corner, starting on November 17th, and my sale will last for a while which is the perfect opportunity to shop while also enjoying some time off for Thanksgiving. It’s always my biggest sale of the year, and I am giving a TON of stuff this year in celebration of my 5 year shop anniversary!

Links Mentioned:

Learn More About Website SEO with Sara Dunn On Episode 201

Grab the Chrome Plugin I Use To Check Heading Tags

Shop Our Black Friday Sale + Enter to Win

Shop All of My Showit Website Templates

Not Sure Which Template to Choose? Take the quiz!

Join my FREE Breakthrough Brand All Access Facebook Group

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Join me inside Booked Out Designer

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]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-mistakes/feed/ 0 7172 5 Ways I’m Growing My Website Traffic This Year https://elizabethmccravy.com/grow-my-website-traffic/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/grow-my-website-traffic/#respond Tue, 04 Jul 2023 06:00:03 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=6910 We're already halfway through 2023, and today, I want to share what I've been doing this year to grow my website traffic. This list includes some experiments that have proven successful already, while the results of others are still up in the air (don’t worry - I will share which is which!). While my business […]

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]]> Reading Time: 8 minutes

We're already halfway through 2023, and today, I want to share what I've been doing this year to grow my website traffic. This list includes some experiments that have proven successful already, while the results of others are still up in the air (don’t worry - I will share which is which!). While my business goals are primarily selling Showit website templates, selling my course for designers, or even growing this podcast, I believe that ALL of these tactics can be applied in any business niche to help grow your website traffic. Whether you're a newcomer to these methods or are already using them, I hope you'll find some insights that will be helpful in growing YOUR traffic this year!

Before we dive in though, I HAVE to share my new website template with you. The Kacie template just might be my favorite yet - and it’s by far the MOST extensive template I’ve ever launched (to give you a taste, it includes: a podcast page, YouTube page, a course hub page, service page, discovery call, and all kinds of cool features!). Seriously, you have to DM me and let me know what you think about this one!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 221!

1. SEO Focused Blog Posts

While these are in no particular order, this one is kind of my favorite! I create a LOT of content in my business. For the past four years, I’ve put out at least one blog every week by blogging my podcast episodes. I’ve blogged every episode since the beginning of the show. Early ones were very short and then we got more lengthy and strategic, which I’ll talk about next (keep scrolling!). 

I say that to say, I put out a lot of content so I was already “blogging consistently” to grow my website traffic. But in 2023, something we’ve been focusing on this year particularly is writing “SEO blog posts”. Which basically means: a blog post that we are writing to rank for a specific keyword! So these posts are written very very strategically with the goal of being on page #1 for that specific search. 

These blog posts are independent from our podcast blog posts! For the podcast, I don’t write outlines with a specific keyword ranking in mind. When I write podcast blog posts, the goal is more to provide a way to read the content instead of just listening to it. 

And hey - I LOVE doing these. Writing SEO Focused blog posts is a fun challenge for me. From researching what to even try to rank for (and making sure there is search volume there!), to looking at competing blog posts, to planning the structure of it all - there is a lot that goes into it. After all that, I still need to make it very normal and readable (I want my blog posts to be written for humans but I want the robots to like it too!).

Right now in my busines, we have a goal to do a few of these a quarter and we even just had one we published last week that is already ranking on the first page for the search. It’s fun seeing it work!

If you don’t do this in your own business, I highly recommend it. This is a great way to truly leverage your content efforts as what you write keeps working for you over time. It’s not “one and done” like so much of the other content we create as business owners! And this pays off - Google is the top place new people find me before purchasing a template. So this is a way to grow my website traffic that DIRECTLY impacts sales!

Read More: 5 Ways To Leverage The Power Of SEO To Build Your Email List

grow-website-traffic

2. Creating longer podcast shownotes that are 100% independent of the audio to grow website traffic

Oh hi! That’s what you are reading right now. Many podcasters use their podcast blog posts as a place to have the same thing as they have on Apple or Spotify so the “blog post” for the episode is virtually a sales pitch to listen with some relevant links. That’s it! And listen, I TOTALLY get why people do this! It’s way easier. It requires a ton of work (and even the help of a team!) to help you write a TRUE blog post for each episode.  

 

However, that’s what WE do and it’s WORTH IT. If you are a podcaster, a content writer can be a great first or second hire. Here’s why:

  1. It increases time spent on my website and gives people a reason to go there. Even people who listen to the audio for the episode may want to see the episode in written format so that they don’t have to take notes and/or they can reference it later.
  2. It’s a great way to leverage your content. I make ONE content piece, the audio, and now we have more places to find the same content because my podcast and blog are independent of each other. Someone can read the blog and never listen and still get a win. 
  3. It helps you rank on Google compared to shorter show notes. Those short show notes that are repurposed from Apple or Spotify are likely less than 500 words and will probably never get a chance to rank on Google. 

3. Posting guest interviews from my podcast to Youtube

I told you I would be honest if the jury is still out on some of these tactics and that’s Youtube for me. However, I do believe at this point in my business it is worth it to try! You have to decide what season of business you are in to see if it is the right platform for you (with any of these tactics to grow your website traffic).

Both increasing my website traffic AND leveraging my content better this year were important to me, which is why it made sense for me to try. Initially, I was planning on uploading all of my podcast episodes to YouTube. However, I quickly changed my mind and decided to limit it to only interviews. I find myself more comfortable not being on camera and just talking to the mic and looking at my notes for solo episodes. I felt that doing it every time would be a hassle, especially since I would have to get ready for it every single time. 

As for podcast interviews, I was already recording my podcast interviews on video (I use and love Riverside - click here for 20% off!), so it actually hasn’t been that much more work for me. Yes, it’s a few extra steps for my team which took a little bit of time to set up, but now it runs really smoothly! Plus, now that I've started a YouTube channel, I get three pieces of content instead of one. I get to upload the audio to the podcast, publish a new blog post, and share the video version on YouTube.

Ultimately, only time will tell if YouTube will be a profitable platform for me. I don’t really feel like I’ve made “sales” from it yet. With that said, I do know that it's a long game since videos posted years ago can still trend and get lots of views, so I'm still exploring and learning what will work and what won't. Stay tuned!

Read More: How To Confidently Film Yourself (Like A Pro!) And Create Magnetic Video Marketing Content

4. Saying yes to webinars, summits, and collaborations

Have you been considering participating in online summits or webinars to increase your visibility and brand awareness? These can be a great way to get in front of a new audience and bring traffic to your website, but I believe it's important to evaluate whether it makes sense for you and your business goals (like I said before about Youtube!).

For example, during my previous maternity leave, I decided to say no to these kinds of opportunities because it didn't fit with my season of life or business needs. However, this year I was interested in doing more of it very strategically (I still say no a lot - but I am saying yes a lot more!).

Read More: Celebrating My Business Anniversary: The Biggest Lessons & Highlights From My 7 Years In Business

 

In Q1 of 2023 alone, I:

  • Was a speaker at the Creative Educator Conference
  • Participated in my first ever summit
  • Hosted a webinar for Dubsado (watch the replay here!)
  • Plus - I recorded NINE podcast interviews for other people’s shows

That seems like a lot for one quarter! 

 

With that said, I know some of you are wondering: is participating in summits and other joint ventures worth it?

These visibility efforts brought significant traffic increases for me but ultimately I think it depends on your goals and the particular summit or webinar you're interested in. Before you say yes to anything, make sure to ask questions about what you're getting out of it and really think about whether you're comfortable with the requirements. 

For example, the summit I participated in was for designers and while is WAS worth it, it was also a lot of work. I had to create and record a 45-minute presentation of new content, which means: making the slides, writing the outline, and preparing two freebies for different audiences (one for VIPs and one for free participants). I also spent a significant amount of time sending emails to my email list and even hiring my copyright to write content for it. It was a lot of work BUT I believe it made the next launch of Booked Out Designer stronger and definitely got me in front of more ideal people!

Creative Educator Conference

5. Focusing on Pinterest to Grow My Website Traffic

You likely already know that Pinterest is an amazing way to get more people to your website, especially if what you do has a strong visual element to it… like me with website templates! 

This year, I’m taking a slightly different approach and turning it into more of a fun personal project and pinning more lifestyle content on top of business content. I’ve had some of my pins go slightly viral (this post about Colin’s nursery has done really well on Pinterest!) and then my goal is to have that lifestyle content result in affiliate income for me through Like to Know it. 

Read More: How To Turn Your Pinterest Traffic Into Paying Clients With Vanessa Kynes

Why try ranking for things that you don’t want to sell?

You may here me talking about ranking on Pinterest for pregnancy tips and Colin’s nursery and wonder if that really makes sense for my business. First, I just want to say that if you do this, make sure to link to an actual blog post and not just your home page. When someone clicks a photo of a nursery, they are hoping to find where you bought the furniture, the paint color, etc. One of the reasons I love doing this is so THAT I can help people the way I feel like bloggers helped me when I was researching things!

Next, it’s a great way to make affiliate income. People WANT the links, and it doesn’t take that much extra work to create an affiliate link for what you’ve already bought. For me - it’s FUN to do things like this! Not everything has to be “all business”.

Read More: My Top 3 Hacks For Making It EASY To Make Affiliate Income

lifestyle blogger shares website traffic tips

Growing your website traffic in 2023

Here’s a quick recap of how I am growing my website traffic in 2023:

  1. SEO Focused blog post 
  2. Longer shownotes that are 100% independent of the audio 
  3. Posting guest interviews to YouTube 
  4. Doing some summits and collaboration webinars 
  5. Creating viral Pins that link to important blogs

 

Did you love this episode? Are you in the Breakthrough Brand All Access Facebook Group yet? It’s free to join, and it’s where we take conversations like this one about growing your website traffic and go even deeper. Pop in and ask questions, share insights, and even peek behind the scenes of my own business and what I’m trying lately. I would LOVE for you to join!

Join breakthrough brand all access group

Links Mentioned:

Check Out My Newest Showit Template: Kacie!

Join my FREE Breakthrough Brand All Access Facebook Group

Shop All of My Showit Website Templates

Steal These 5 Secrets for Using Dubsado to Book More Clients

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Join me inside Booked Out Designer

Check out my new Youtube channel

The post 5 Ways I’m Growing My Website Traffic This Year appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/grow-my-website-traffic/feed/ 0 6910 SEO for Showit Hacks: Optimize Your Site to Be Found in 2023 with Sara Dunn https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-for-showit/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-for-showit/#respond Tue, 14 Feb 2023 05:00:01 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=6081 Whether you are somebody who already feels fairly advanced in their SEO knowledge or you are somebody who is still unsure exactly what it is, there is something in this interview for you. We talked about SEO for Showit specifically, and I believe it will serve you whether you already rank first on Google or […]

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Whether you are somebody who already feels fairly advanced in their SEO knowledge or you are somebody who is still unsure exactly what it is, there is something in this interview for you. We talked about SEO for Showit specifically, and I believe it will serve you whether you already rank first on Google or you don’t even know what page you are on (or how to check). 

I hired Sara Dunn from Sara Does SEO personally in my own business a few years ago (although it honestly doesn’t feel like that long ago) and I can attest, she is the real deal. Such a pleasure to work with and I learned so much about SEO in the process of working together. I can’t wait to share this interview with her today!

For those of you that don’t know - Sara is a wedding industry SEO specialist which means her (and her team) actively search for what engaged couples look for online every single day. She has been helping wedding pros everywhere get found on Google since 2017, and in today’s episode, she actually dropped that she will be launching something for website designers in 2023! Her background is in web development so I’m excited to stay tuned!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 201!

Let’s start at the basics - can you explain in basic terms what SEO is?

Yes! SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s essentially the art of influencing Google to show YOUR website higher in search results for free. We aren’t talking about ads here. We are talking about the exposure you can get for zero dollars, just by doing the right things on your website to help Google understand your website or your content is exactly what your audience is searching for.

You can bring in so much traffic over multiple years for $0 if this is something you do well.

I’ve personally always cared about SEO and it’s so true how you worded that. It’s funny but whenever I get a sale from someone who comes to my website from Google or signs up for Booked Out Designer it almost feels “free” because I did a lot of the SEO work a long time ago. I didn’t feel like I had to pitch them on a webinar or batch a bunch of Instagram reels.

Absolutely. It’s kind of magical how the work you did from four years ago can be bringing you new sales today without you doing more work now. I always love the more passive work than the “active work” required from other platforms.

 

Should we update old blog posts that are ranking well? I feel like I can be scared to touch it.

Absolutely. It’s a GREAT idea to update and refresh your old content regularly. It’s very unlikely that you’ll change something so dramatically that will cause your post to dip in the rankings. 

Should we change the date on the blog post after we update it?

As long as you’ve updated the entire post and it’s current for 2023, go ahead and change the date! That way, it gives you visibility at the top of your blog page too!

With that said, if you’ve only tweaked a few things and the post still kind of feels like “2018 advice” I would personally leave the date as is. It’s still okay to make those tweaks though!

Read More: 7 Tips To Successfully Spring Clean Your Website (Improve Your SEO, Sales, And Everything In Between)

 

Is Showit good for SEO?

People always ask me - what website platform is the best for SEO? It truly is whatever platform you enjoy using and will keep updated though - because one of the biggest things that will affect your SEO is letting your website go stale. One of the reasons I love Showit is it allows more creative brains like photographers and designers actually enjoy keeping their website updated, which in turn helps with their SEO.

 

Let’s Talk about the SEO Settings on Showit!

On the right hand panel, you’ll see the “SEO Settings”. The most important settings are the Page Title and Meta Description.

 

How do we write our Page Title and Meta Description?

First, I like to take a step back and remind people where this is actually showing up. When your potential clients type their search into Google, they see a list of blue clickable links and short descriptions below. The “Page Title” will often end up as the blue clickable link for your website or piece of content. Then, the meta description is the couple of lines of text that show up underneath and entices the reader to click.

With that context, we can then think about what we need to enter into Showit. The Page Title is one of the most important things that Google looks at to know what a page is about, so it’s important to include the keyword you have in mind for that page. Oftentimes, the best Page Title is “your keyword - the name of your business/brand”. So, for example, my home page might be “Wedding Industry SEO Specialist - Sara does SEO”

 

Do you need to include the name of your business in every page’s Page Title?

We do personally always end every page with a separator and the business name! It’s a common best practice and helps make sure Google indexes all of your content.

 

How do you keep that under the 60 character limit?

I don’t spend much time thinking about the visible character limit! Numerous studies have shown that even if your Page Title is wider than the viewable limit, it can still help your website rank on search engines. Ultimately, Google will choose the part of your Page Title to show. Sometimes - I will even include TWO keywords in the Page Title for a certain page.

What are some best practices for the meta description?

First, let me just say this: the biggest mistake I see people making is copying the same meta description on every single page. That’s not what Google (or your ideal client) is looking for. We don’t want to just describe your business, we want to tell people what they are going to get from that particular page.

The other thing to consider is that you do want it to be kind of enticing. This is not the place to keyword stuff or write four words and call it a day. This is your chance to sell someone on why they should visit your page so make it count. You don’t “win” by getting on page one of Google you “win” by getting them onto your website.

 

Sara does SEO talks about SEO for Showit

 

What about the SEO Image Setting in Showit?

This is more of a branding question because whether or not you have an image doesn’t necessarily make you appear higher in search results. From a branding perspective, these images are starting to show up on Google though so you definitely want to include something eye-catching if you have one! Ideally, that image will also appear on the page so there is some consistency between their Google search and landing on your page.

Personally, I prefer to choose a horizontal image, but it has to be something that looks good when cropped to a square. This is often the image that gets shared when someone posts your link on Facebook anyway, so that’s another reason to choose a horizontal image. I will rarely use a vertical image as they are less likely to look good once cropped.

 

Talking about SEO for Showit, what should we be doing with our images?

Whether it’s an image block or a gallery, you’ll get an option to add an image description. What is the SEO title vs. the description box? The description is your alt text! That is the MOST important piece to fill out when it comes to your website's SEO (over what Showit calls the “SEO Title”.

One mistake I see people make is wanting to use the same keyword in every image. Ideally, you want to describe what is IN the image and include your keyword when it is natural. The more context the better! For example, in a photo with a group of bridesmaids, you could write “bridesmaids at a Nashville wedding.”

Then for the SEO title, I just copy what is in the description.

 

Do you need to rename your images before you upload them?

Yes, I spend a lot of time downloading, renaming, and re-uploading clients' images because they have file names like “IMG0846.jpg”. It’s not something you can do later, and the name of the image actually becomes part of the code on your website. In fact, the Showit webmaster guidelines, recommends you use image names that are short but descriptive of the actual image.

You can definitely batch rename and name all of the images “Nashville-wedding-photographer.jpg” but if you want to take it up a notch, you can rename each individual image to be even more descriptive.

Did you catch the dashes in that example? You do need to make sure to include dashes in between the individual words in the image name. 

 

What do we need to know about SEO for Showit or SEO in general in 2023?

Google is making a strong push to prioritize content that is unique, helpful, and based on personal experience. What Google wants to do more than anything is help its users find unique information they are looking for, that they can’t find anywhere else.

Those days of writing basic blogs are over. You really need to find an interesting perspective or showcase your personal experience in order for Google to trust YOU as the source of that information. 

Read More: Is A Showit Website Template Right For Your Business? (Software Integrations, How To Choose A Template, And SEO Strategy)

 

Sharing an example of a bridal shop featuring Vera Wang

I worked with a bridal shop recently that noticed their rankings were decreasing. They wanted to be found for certain designers, and for the sake of example, we will use Vera Wang. When I went to their website page featuring Vera Wang dresses, I saw the same copy, images, and descriptions as every single other bridal store carrying Vera Wang. Nothing was of unique value. That is a perfect example of what is NOT working on Google anymore.

Instead, we worked on making those pages unique with tactics like:

  • Unique photos of Vera Wang dresses in their store
  • Quotes from bridal consultants who work at their store
  • Reviews from brides who have purchased Vera Wang from them
  • Embedding Custom Video

Let’s take a second to stop thinking about the Google robot for a second - how much more interesting is this new page to potential customers who may be looking for a Vera Wang wedding dress? When we think about the humans behind the screen, which is what Google wants to do as well, SEO makes a lot more sense.

 

How do we find the natural balance between including keywords in our copy and also writing naturally for potential customers?

First things first, Google really does understand synonyms now. You do not need to repeat the exact same phrase over and over again anymore. In fact, more synonyms might actually be a good thing! It helps the page read better and Google will still understand the page. I tell my clients that they do not need to think about keyword density (the number of times your keyword shows up on the same page) and they do not need to write like a robot. 

Instead, make the topic really clear in the first paragraph and then write naturally for the rest. 

 

AI talk is everywhere now. How does this affect your job now and how is it affecting search engines right now?

People love to make scary statements like “AI is the end of Google”. Ultimately, any time anything new comes out, it has the potential to change the way we operate online. But what I recommend is for anyone who hasn’t experimented with something like chat GPT (it’s free!), to go ahead and check it out. It’s absolutely fascinating. You can put together truly anything and use any prompt. My husband had it write me a poem the other day!

At the end of the day, we control the prompts and we also control the output. We just talked about how Google is prioritizing unique content based on personal experience. Why do you think they are doing that? Because then AI will have less of an impact. AI can only scrape what’s on the internet so I think we need to ask ourselves from a human perspective: what can we bring that’s truly unique? 

Also, let’s think about how we can use AI to support what we do.

 

Here’s what not to do: Go to an AI tool, ask it to write a blog post, and then copy and paste it on your website. Everyone working in the SEO space believes that Google will try to suppress content that was obviously and completely written by AI.

But can we use the tool to write a blog introduction if we are struggling with that? Or, can we ask something like chat GPT to write an outline for us and bring points we hadn’t thought of to us? Absolutely. 

We can use AI to jumpstart the content you will write as a person. Ask it to write a blog post for you and then go in and edit it. Add your personal experience. Add a human touch. Add internal links that are relevant. 

As an SEO specialist, I am not against AI writing tools. But I don’t think we should turn our websites into content factories and put out a ton of garbage content.

 

Sara does SEO talks about AI and SEO

 

I always love experimenting in my business. Now, let’s talk about plagiarism and intellectual property for a second. Is AI literally just going to be taking sentences from the top blog posts from a searched topic and rewriting them? It seems a bit problematic.

From a content creator standpoint, I’m pretty ticked off about it. It’s funny actually, my friend asked chat GPT to write a blog post on ranking for the top wedding venues on Google and the output had so much of what I had in my blog post that ranks number one for that search term.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for this. AI tools are going to scrape public content that already exists and rewrite it as new. As a content creator, I don’t think there is anything we can do anything about it (but I’m not a lawyer!). I think we just have to keep reaching toward providing helpful first-hand content.

Adding Video to your Content

I also want to make the point here that this makes more of a case for adding video into your content because video is harder to scrape/steal. If you can add a video component to your original content, you add a ton of value that can’t be as easily replicated.

 

How can we use video to help with SEO for Showit? What can we do to help video rank on Google?

Google is making a push to rank more video because it’s the type of content that everyone is consuming. Video can be a helpful result for a lot of searches. Personally, I don’t see it a lot in the wedding industry but if you are searching “how to do something”, video will often show up on the first page. That’s because we as searchers WANT a video.

One thing we don’t do enough as content creators is type into Google the keyword we want to be known for and see what kind of content people are searching. Analyze the current search results. If we want to be number one for a certain phrase, what’s there right now? Is Google including video in the results? Then you should make a better video than what’s available right now.

If there is no video, it’s a maybe. It might be that nobody has made a video on it (yet) or it might be that Google is not sure people actually want a video for that keyphrase. Ask yourself: would a video add value to the end user?

I also want to add - in terms of having video show up on Google, it does still usually need to include written words. I always recommend having a written blog post about something and then embedding video within the blog post. It’s not an either/or. 

 

Such a good tip about analyzing current search results! Sometimes I will think about a keyword I want to rank and then when I search it on Google I realize that it’s not really a match.

 

Yes, and to add to that - I always recommend using Ubersuggest to confirm what people are actually searching for. It has a pretty generous free version, and you can type in the amount of times people search for a specific keyword. You’ll often be surprised to see how many times the answer is zero!!

 

I love using Ubersuggest too. Back to video, is there a platform that is “better” than the others for ranking on Google? Outside of SEO for Showit.

Youtube will always be first because Google owns Youtube. As much as possible, that’s where Google will push video traffic. That said, I do see Facebook videos on Google too so include a CTA in those Facebook descriptions too.

 

What is the most common outdated SEO strategy?

The idea of overusing the same keyword over and over again. People still believe SEO success comes from using their main keyword more than anyone else. That’s an outdated strategy. It doesn’t best serve the visitor on your website which is ultimately what Google wants.

It’s really easy to feel like your entire world would be solved if you could just rank for this one key phrase, but there are actually so many things people search for that could be relevant to your services, your business, and the advice you have to offer. Do not just focus on one keyword phrase.

 

Is there any new SEO strategy we should try in 2023?

Actually creating things that are unique and interesting and feature our personal experience. I think so many of us try to sound like a formal publication. We need to start adding our own opinions and perspectives in. It’s more work to create high-quality things, but it will absolutely pay off.

 

What’s an unpopular opinion you have about SEO strategy?

Consistency in blogging is overrated. I actually feel like this would be popular if people knew it. I hear all the time from clients that “I don’t have a blog because I don’t know if I could be consistent with”. NO! Just put one up, write two posts if that’s what you have time for right now. You can let it go stale, but whatever content you do have will at least start working for you in the meantime and you can come back to it when you have more time (even if that’s six months from now).

 

That’s exactly what I tell people about starting an email list. It’s like people don’t even want to make an opt-in or a nurture sequence because they won’t be emailing their list. I’m the first one to say: just put it out there so you can grow your email list and then use it when you do have the time.

 

Read More: 5 Ways To Leverage The Power Of SEO To Build Your Email List

 

Rapid Fire Questions for Sara Does SEO

 

What’s an SEO plugin or website you love for SEO in 2023? I love Ubersuggest. Honestly, for the price and the value it brings, it’s easily one of my favorite SEO tools. 

What’s the best business book you’ve ever read? Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Daniel Meyer. He’s the founder of Shake Shack. It’s all about hospitality in business and going above and beyond in your business.

Where can people find and connect with you next? SaradoesSEO.com is where you’ll find all of the information on our services, obviously there are a lot of informational blog posts on there as well! You can also find me on Instagram and TikTok @saradoesseo

 

Ready to get to work and get your website on page one of Google?

My Showit website templates can help. One thing a lot of people don’t realize about Showit website templates is that if the designer set things up sloppy on the back end (even if they did not mean to), it can hurt your SEO. 

I’m talking about things like your heading settings (called advanced tagging in Showit), the way your canvases are set up, the stacking order of your objects, how much opportunity there is for text on a page, and a lot more of that technical stuff that you probably don’t want to be thinking about when you’re building your website. That’s one of the reasons you chose Showit, right? I get it.

If you are in the market for a new website template, you can rest assured I’ve thought about it all (and have double checked everything multiple times) so that you don’t have to. You can find all of my SEO-friendly templates here. There are sales pages, landing pages, podcast pages, full website templates, and so much more waiting for you there. 

Plus, as a podcast listener (or reader!), you can use the code BBPODCAST for 10% off ANY template. So go get your template, apply what Sara and I talked about here, and get set to sail to page one on Google.  Also, if you’re new to Showit and want a FREE month of your subscription, check that out here!

Links Mentioned:

Check out UberSuggest

Shop SEO-friendly Showit Website Templates

Check out Booked Out Designer

New to Showit? Get a FREE month-long trial here.

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Connect with Sara Dunn on Instagram

Find Out More About Sara Does SEO

The post SEO for Showit Hacks: Optimize Your Site to Be Found in 2023 with Sara Dunn appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-for-showit/feed/ 0 6081 3 Simple Ways To Drive MORE Organic Traffic To Your Website https://elizabethmccravy.com/drive-more-organic-traffic-to-website/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/drive-more-organic-traffic-to-website/#respond Tue, 23 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=5455 You asked, I’m delivering! I keep hearing that you all want podcast content around SEO and how to get more organic website traffic! That’s what this episode is all about. I am sharing some ways I specifically drive organic traffic in my business. These 3 things work for me, and they can work for you […]

The post 3 Simple Ways To Drive MORE Organic Traffic To Your Website appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> Reading Time: 4 minutes

You asked, I’m delivering! I keep hearing that you all want podcast content around SEO and how to get more organic website traffic! That’s what this episode is all about. I am sharing some ways I specifically drive organic traffic in my business. These 3 things work for me, and they can work for you as well. I think through exploring these “SEO hacks”, it’ll give you a better understanding of SEO — especially if you’re someone who feels like SEO is “too over your head”. It might be a lot simpler than you’re thinking! 

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 146!

1. Link to your own website in lots of other places and get others to as well!

Make your own backlinks happen! This is very simple, but often missed by people as a means for increasing their SEO power! By linking to your website and people actually clicking on it, you are telling Google “this is important”! It is a vote of confidence for your content, which helps Google show you to more people and results in more organic website traffic.

We get spammy requests for paid backlinks daily in our inbox, and this is not the way I would recommend getting more references to your site. It is worth noting that not all backlinks are created equal. A spammy site backlink could hurt you, while a backlink from a site with a high SEO score can help you a ton. 

Instead of pitching people for paid backlinks, you have some other options!

  • If you have a podcast or YouTube channel, link back to your site in the show notes.
  • Link to your site on stories on Facebook and Instagram often. 
  • Write posts with links to your blogs and service pages on Facebook. 
  • [For website designers] always link back to your own website as in the site credit.
  • When you go on podcasts or write guest blogs, ask them to link back to your site. This could even be a specific page on your site. 
  • Be featured as a success story for programs you are in or things you buy. 
one-does-not-simply-get-a-backlink

2. Optimize the heading tags on your website.

This might not completely change your SEO game and bring you to the first page of searches, but it matters. This is a little tweak that makes a huge difference and is easy to overlook. 

If you were to work with someone to optimize the SEO on your website, this might be the first step they would do to try and drive organic website traffic to your site. And the great news is that you can also do it for yourself.

Every piece of text on your website has a tag associated with it. These are H1, H2, H3, (H is for heading) paragraph, and navigation. You can easily see these setting options if you are using Showit. 

Using heading tags properly tells Google what your content is about, which will help it be shown to the right people who are searching for that thing. Heading tags used to matter more than they do now, but they do still matter. 

Here are some specific things to make sure you’re doing on your site:

  • No more than 1 H1 tag per page. H1 is the “highest heading” on the page, so it should only happen one time. This tag tells Google what the page is about. 
  • Make sure you are using H2, H3, and paragraph headings with hierarchy. So, a paragraph lives within those headings. H2 comes before H3, etc. 

If you want to quickly look at your heading tags on your website, you can download the free Google Chrome plugin Header Checker which will show you the tags for any text you select on any website.

3. Blog and update your website frequently.

This might seem obvious, but if you want organic website traffic, blogging is the simplest way to help your website rank. By being a content creator, you are doing a few things:

  • Giving yourself many opportunities to rank with all the different content pieces you’re creating. 
  • Telling Google that your website isn’t STATIC. It’s updated and has a lot of different content happening. Blogging helps with this the most because there is only so much you are going to change frequently to a page like your contact page or home page anyway. But with blogging, you are creating change on your site every time you blog. 
  • Blog posts are going to rank better than other pages on your site because people search for solutions to problems. 

Blogging doesn’t need to be the biggest decision of your life. You don’t have to commit to every week or month. Just start. When you have a content idea that you think you could blog about or a problem you know an answer to,  jot it in your phone as an idea for later then do something with it. 

If you already are creating content on another platform like Youtube or a podcast, this content IS your blog content. Just turn that information into a post! 

That’s it for this one! Cheers to improving our SEO and getting more organic website traffic with these simple, strategic, and amazing tweaks. SEO can feel really complicated but it doesn’t have to be! I hope these help you have some clarity on what can help you strategically improve your website. 

If you want more ways to boost your SEO and have a really good-looking website, look no further than EM Shop templates. These will help you boost your SEO because of the way they’re strategically structured. Plus, they’re beautiful and easy to use too! 

Links Mentioned:

Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Shop Showit Website Templates

Get Chrome Extension Header Checker

Join Booked Out Designer

Hear 3 ways to drive people to your website through organic traffic on the Breakthrough Brand Podcast.

The post 3 Simple Ways To Drive MORE Organic Traffic To Your Website appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/drive-more-organic-traffic-to-website/feed/ 0 5455 Is a Showit Website Template Right for Your Business? (Software Integrations, How to Choose a Template, and SEO Strategy) — Part Two https://elizabethmccravy.com/showit-faqs-part2/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/showit-faqs-part2/#respond Thu, 18 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=5449 Two episodes in ONE WEEK?! So fun right! I’m here with part two of our Showit Templates Q&A time. I’m answering the top questions I get about using Showit, my template shop, and other website design questions. These are coming to you straight from our inbox, and I’ll be answering them in the most easy […]

The post Is a Showit Website Template Right for Your Business? (Software Integrations, How to Choose a Template, and SEO Strategy) — Part Two appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> Reading Time: 6 minutes

Two episodes in ONE WEEK?! So fun right! I’m here with part two of our Showit Templates Q&A time. I’m answering the top questions I get about using Showit, my template shop, and other website design questions. These are coming to you straight from our inbox, and I’ll be answering them in the most easy to understand, non-techy way possible! 

If you are interested in a template from me but have some questions first — this episode will likely (hopefully!) answer some of those questions. And, if you missed part one… scoot back to episode #144 for that! You don’t have to listen to both, but both will be helpful to you in understanding templates. 

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 145!

You’ll find timestamps below, so if you want to skip around this episode to find just what you need - you can!  

  1. [3:46] Do your templates integrate with (fill in the blank software)? 
  2. [7:11] I am struggling with which template to pick, I really love X one but also Y one! How do I pick? 
  3. [10:51] Who are your templates not right for?
  4. [15:20] Who all uses your templates? 
  5. [17:56] What happens if I run into an issue and can’t figure something out?
  6. [22:27] How is the SEO game with your templates?
Answering FAQs about EM Shop and Showit website templates on the Breakthrough Brand Podcast, part 2.

1. Do your templates integrate with (fill in the blank software)?

You are more than likely coming to your website with other tools you currently use or want to be using in your business and wondering if they will work with these Showit templates. So do they work? 

The answer is usually yes. If it is something you would embed into a site, then it should work! 

If you won’t be “embedding” it, you likely can still use it with Showit. 

Here are just a few of the common ones I’m asked about that all work great with Showit:

If you have an online course on a platform like Kajabi or Teachable, you can link out to that directly from your website! You will also be able to link out to your social media, embed episode players with podcasting software, add countdown timers like Deadline Funnel or Powr.io, and even sales counters! 

You can use Google Analytics with Showit and any of these templates. 

If you are curious if your software integrates with Showit, send an email to hello@elizabethmccravy.com and we will be happy to help you figure it out! 

2. I am struggling with which template to pick, I really love X one but also Y one! How do I pick?

This is probably the most common question we get! So if this is you, know you are not alone if you struggle with which template to go with. 

My 3 tips for picking your template:

  • Take the website personality quiz! It matches you with suggestions based on your answers. People say it’s super accurate! 
  • Focus on the layout more than the colors and the business it’s modeled for. For example, you might be a photographer, but you really love a template that is modeled for a coach. That does not mean that template can’t be a good fit for you! It still has what you need as a photographer. It’s just a different layout and vibe with different fonts! Focus on the layouts you like best. Everything is editable, but the actual positioning of everything is something you probably won’t want to edit too much. 
  • Think about your own content in the template and which one feels like a better fit for you? I would try to visualize your business in it! Remind yourself that it is all customizable so if there are tiny things you don’t love but the rest of the template you’re obsessed with, that is probably an easy fix.

If you love the color palette of one template, but the layout of another, email us and we can tell you the palette you like and you can just add it into the template you like the layout of better. 

I know these decisions are hard, but I recommend going with your gut. 

3. Who are your templates not right for?

In most cases, if you really love them and they resonate with you, then they’re right for you! But I will say one major factor that would make my templates not a good fit is if you are strictly an e-commerce business. 

Showit does not have any built-in e-commerce. That doesn’t mean you can’t sell things with a Showit website. I am able to run my template shop all on my Showit website, so you can sell things with these templates and so many of my customers do this as well. 

But if you sell a lot of items that need to change out often and be categorized in very specific ways, then something like Shopify will be better for you. 

If you don’t have a ton of products and want to use Showit and still need shopping cart functionality, Shopify Lite is perfect for you to add to your site! 

If you sell something like a membership program or online courses, you can use the built-in cart software from the hosting platform. 

ThriveCart is what I use and I love it! That is another great option. 

4. Who all uses your templates?

Our showcase page is a great spot to see the different businesses of our customers! The top 3 groups of people using them are coaches, photographers, online-based service providers.

Here are some of the industries we serve:

Life coaches

Business coaches

Career coaches

Finance coaches

Relationship coaches

Leadership coaches

Enneagram coaches

Video coaches

Wellness coaches

Yoga teachers

Nutritionists

Personal trainers

Stationery Designers

Financial Service Providers

Bookkeepers

Accountants

Photographers

Event Planners

Videographers

Florists

Venues

Authors

Bloggers

Course creators

Educators

Ministries

Interior Designers

Realtors

Home Organizers

Vacation Rentals

Counselors

View The Customer Showcase Page

5. What happens if I run into an issue and can’t figure something out?

You are not on this journey alone!

My team and I are here to help you when it comes to getting support. This is not true of all template shops. You can email us anytime with your questions. Our response time is typically quick and we'll even log into your account to help you problem solve! 

You also get access to our signature course, The Showit Blueprint.

This course is worth the price of the template on its OWN! (We hear this all the time in our reviews and feedback!)

This course is an easy to follow format that teaches you how to use Showit. The videos are short, high quality, and to the point. (Watch a video tour of the course here!)

In addition to both of those things...

Showit also offers customer support.

You can chat with them from within your Showit account that is really great! They have a vast library of "help docs" that answer common questions. (See here!) 

There is also a Showit User Facebook group that can be helpful as well for crowd-sourcing community replies!  

6. How is the SEO game with your templates?

SEO stands for search engine optimization and is really important. Not a lot of people realize this, but your actual website design affects your SEO in 2 ways:

  1. If it’s not well designed and intuitive, people will leave quickly which hurts your SEO. Google will think you aren’t answering the search question, so they will show you to fewer people. 
  2. The backend structure of your website matters for SEO. Specifically the heading tags. In Showit this is under your text properties settings. This isn’t the most important SEO thing, but if your site has things that are not important set up as certain heading tags, then it is going to be harder for search engines to show your stuff to the right people. 

I set up my templates properly for both of those, which is not true of all template shops. I also include a few training videos on SEO with your purchase in the Showit Blueprint Course. There is one for blogging SEO and one for SEO on all of your standard pages. 

I have had plenty of customers rank super high (if not first) for their ideal searches with my templates.

Some people worry their SEO will take a hit when they switch platforms, and it’s hard to say whether or not that will be true because it is so nuanced. 

I hope you have enjoyed this FAQ episode! Share these with a friend if you have a fellow business owner friend who is struggling with Showit versus another platform or understanding how templates work. Listen to Part 1 of this FAQ series HERE if you missed it!

I hope you see you join the EM Shop family! You will love it. These templates are designed to be easy for you to use as a non-designer, strategic, fun, and uniquely you! 

Links Mentioned:

Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Get 10% off your Showit subscription

See a full tour of the Showit Blueprint Course

Save on 30% on Dubsado 

Save on FloDesk

Save on ConvertKit + Free Trial

Save on Kajabi + Free Trial

Save big on ThriveCart

Get on the Booked Out Designer Waitlist

Shop Showit Website Templates

Wondering what these website templates are all about? Answering your common template questions!

The post Is a Showit Website Template Right for Your Business? (Software Integrations, How to Choose a Template, and SEO Strategy) — Part Two appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/showit-faqs-part2/feed/ 0 5449 SEO Strategy, Relocating Your Business, and Mental Health as an Entrepreneur With Vanessa Hicks https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-relocating-mental-health-vanessa-hicks/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-relocating-mental-health-vanessa-hicks/#respond Tue, 15 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=4590 This episode is a hodgepodge of so many topics from SEO to relocating your business to mental health all with one of my favorite photographers, Vanessa Hicks! Her work is beautiful, and she’s someone I love following and learning from online. As the title suggests, we talk about a lot of things in this episode […]

The post SEO Strategy, Relocating Your Business, and Mental Health as an Entrepreneur With Vanessa Hicks appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

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This episode is a hodgepodge of so many topics from SEO to relocating your business to mental health all with one of my favorite photographers, Vanessa Hicks! Her work is beautiful, and she’s someone I love following and learning from online. As the title suggests, we talk about a lot of things in this episode — it was hard for us to pick just ONE thing to focus on!

I feel like I could talk to Vanessa for hours, and funny thing… we actually did talk for an additional 50 minutes after we stopped recording for you guys. She’s just great! So, turn up the volume and enjoy this vulnerable and strategic conversation with Vanessa Hicks. 

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 83!

Oh My god

I'm sharing some of the questions I asked Vanessa in our interview and some of her answers. Make sure to tune in to the full episode to hear ALL of the juicy things she has to say.

Vanessa and I talk first about her story starting her photography business, with no prior experience and with a lifestyle that required her family to move a lot. (You’ll hear why in the episode!)

If you’re like me, then you might think wedding photography does NOT seem like the career choice when you can’t stay in any one location for more than a few years. The thought of moving after building up a reputation and clientele in an area is a nightmare for most photographers. But, Vanessa has made it work, and she shares about rebuilding her business in a new market in San Diego after recently moving from Hawaii. 

What was it like to move your location-based business?

Vanessa shares her story of being a military family and having to uproot her business and relocate several times, each coming with its own set of challenges. In just 6 years of being in business, she has moved 4 times. 

Vanessa tells us that in order to be successful relocating your business that relies heavily on location, you have to accept that the hustle looks different. It requires hard work and maybe even free work to not allow your business to get complacent. 

When you are relocating your business you have to take it back to the basics, which can easily seem discouraging. BUT it doesn’t have to be because you know so much more now than you did in year one. 

Listen to the full episode to hear Vanessa tell us some specific ways to prepare yourself for relocating your business!

"You are always one decision away from the rest of your life."-Vanessa Hicks

We talk all about blogging and SEO! (Which I am a HUGE SEO fan, as you know. So this was especially fun for me.) She drops so many wonderful SEO strategies that you can get started on TODAY.

If you think SEO isn’t important for your business, what she shares will seriously make you reconsider that. 

What has your blogging strategy looked like in the last 6 years of being in business?

Vanessa tells us that she really didn’t really have a blogging strategy during the first 2 years of her business. As the time approached for her family to move to Hawaii, she realized that she was going to have to do something a little differently. She couldn’t rely on referrals anymore because Hawaii is a destination location. Most people were going to do their research online!

Blogging and paying attention to good SEO strategies has become the way that she has been driving organic traffic to her website. Vanessa tells us that the only way to have GOOD SEO is to create content. She reminds us that it isn’t enough to just have a beautiful website if no one is coming to see it or booking your services. 

[PS if you are looking for a beautiful website, check out EM Shop’s Showit templates here!]

Ready to start blogging? Here's how to get started:

Vanessa says that when you are wanting to be found on Google, you FIRST have to think about what words people are typing in that you want to show up for. These will be the keywords that you are trying to rank for.

Next, use tools like Google Analytics and Ubersuggest to see if these are good keywords to rank for and if people are actually searching for them. Vanessa and I both love Neil Patel and Ubersuggest. Using these tools will help you analyze SEO health with keywords, your website, and competitor’s websites. Using tools like this and doing the SEO work will make all the difference in people finding you online. 

Another key is to look at trends that people are searching for and look at all of the questions your clients are asking you. That is the content you want to blog about!

Tune in to the full episode to hear Vanessa talk about some specific types of blog posts that can generate great SEO juice!

**Not a location-based business? You can still blog and create great SEO content! Look at what niche questions you are being asked or think about things that you are the expert on and create content around that.

"Your website is not done when you click publish.-Vanessa Hicks

We also talk about protecting your mental health as a creative entrepreneur, especially during this crazy year 2020 has been. I hope that Vanessa’s advice on this will speak right to your heart as it did to mine! 

Vanessa's message on mental health and creative entrepreneurs:

Vanessa says that it is so important to remember that first and foremost, you are not alone. She talks to us about triggers that we need to be aware of like social isolation, especially during a pandemic where you can’t go out much.

Take a step back and breath. You have to remember your WHY. Reminding yourself why you do what you do will help you keep going. 

Vanessa talks about another dangerous trigger called impression management or the “fake it ‘till you make it” mentality. Be careful of this way of thinking because while some aspects of it can be good, it might soon start lying to you. This can cause those voices that tell you that you aren't good enough or that you don’t even like what you are doing anyway.

Vanessa encourages us to find someone to talk to, someone who can understand how you feel or who is trained to help you navigate those feelings. Your spouse is not trained to be your counselor. Therapy and asking for help can be one of the most courageous things you do in your life. Vanessa also talks with us about grief and shares a great exercise to allow grieving and still have healthy boundaries. Listen to this episode to try it out. 

Remember friend that you are not alone and it is so important to give yourself grace. 

Links Mentioned:

Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram

Check out Vanessa’s Website

Connect with Vanessa on Instagram

Check out Vanessa’s Mastermind

Vanessa’s Free Education Community 

The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran

Shop EM Shop Templates

Instagram Link in Bio Template

Neil Patel

Ubersuggest 

Hear photographer Vanessa Hicks on the Breakthrough Brand Podcast talking about SEO, relocating her business and mental health with Elizabeth McCravy.

The post SEO Strategy, Relocating Your Business, and Mental Health as an Entrepreneur With Vanessa Hicks appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/seo-relocating-mental-health-vanessa-hicks/feed/ 0 4590 5 Ways to Leverage the Power of SEO to Build Your Email List https://elizabethmccravy.com/leverage-seo-build-email-list/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/leverage-seo-build-email-list/#respond Thu, 26 Mar 2020 05:00:00 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=4213 It’s time for a bonus episode! This episode was inspired by something I’ve been doing in my own business this past week that WORKS. I’m showing you 5 ways to boost your email subscribers using the power of Search Engine Optimization. And, (the best part) you don’t have to write new blog posts or new […]

The post 5 Ways to Leverage the Power of SEO to Build Your Email List appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

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It’s time for a bonus episode! This episode was inspired by something I’ve been doing in my own business this past week that WORKS. I’m showing you 5 ways to boost your email subscribers using the power of Search Engine Optimization. And, (the best part) you don’t have to write new blog posts or new email content to do it! Plus, this is work you can do from your sofa in your pajamas if you want! It’s easy to change with a huge outcome. This is what I’ve been doing in my own business right now, and you can do it too. 

If you’re listening to this episode live, then coronavirus probably has you stuck at home, and you might be thinking about ways you can enhance your business for the online space. If so, then this episode is for you, and don’t worry, if you’re sick of content about the virus, I won’t be talking about coronavirus here! We are focused on getting you email list growth. 

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Search for episode 59!

Before we dive in, let’s talk about what SEO actually is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is defined as “the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.” This is basically fixing up your website so more people (and more of the right people) find you on Google. 

One of the main search engines that most people think of is Google. There are also other search engines too like Bing, Yahoo, and even Pinterest. Yes, Pinterest! I LOVE Pinterest, and I personally consider it a search engine and content creation site, not a social media platform. 

Your email list is the people you have as subscribers in your email marketing platform, whether that be ConvertKit, FloDesk, or something similar. To grow your email list, people have to sign up to get your emails. 

Define SEO as search engine optimization meaning the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

5 Ways to Leverage the Power of SEO:

1. Add a content upgrade to your top ranking blog posts on Google. 

Maybe you are thinking, wait how do I figure out what my top ranking blogs are? Look at Google Search Console. It’s a free tool made by Google to give you all the information on so many things about your website. The main thing is what people are searching for that leads them to your website, whether that’s you showing up in search results but not getting clicked on, or you being clicked on from a search query. Basically, you get to see exactly what people searched that lead them to your specific blog posts.

If you have purchased a template from EM Shop, Module 8: Optimizing For Search Engines in your Showit Blueprint Course will teach you all about this! 

How to find this area in the search console:

  • Click on “performance” in the left sidebar 
  • You want the search type to be “web” and it’ll automatically be set to “last 3 months”, which is great! You can expand it to longer or shorter time periods as well. 
  • Now you can see what the queries were and how many clicks and impressions each one gets. When you click on the queries you can see which page on your site that search leads to. 
  • You can also look at your average position on the results page for all of the searches, which is super insightful to see! 
  • So, the ones where you are getting the most impressions or clicks, I want you to add a content upgrade to that post. 
    • The content upgrade should be relevant to the content! Not something random. 
    • For example: in the blog post for this episode, I can add my already existing freebie “How to Create the Perfect Opt-in Incentive to Grow Your Email” because it’s relevant to this content even though I didn’t make it for this episode! 
  • Make the post better overall. Add links to other content that is similar, update images, etc. Probably don’t change the SEO settings since it’s already ranking so well, but see if there are any other ways you can make the user experience better. 

2. Add a content upgrade to your top ranking blog posts on Pinterest.

Same thing here! You will want to add a content upgrade to the blogs that are ranking well on Pinterest! To find this, make sure you are using your business account on Pinterest and go to your analytics overview. From there, you can search your pins by impressions, link clicks, engagement, all kinds of things that are super helpful! Focus for now on link clicks since those are the people who are actually clicking to see your content that you are wanting to upgrade. 

For the pins that are linking to your blog content, add a content upgrade to that blog post. Make the post any better by adding links to other content that is similar, update images, editing copywriting mistakes or anything that makes the post a better experience for your audience.

3. Beef up the SEO settings on blogs that rank well on Pinterest, but not on Google. 

Now that you figured out which of your pins are crushing it on Pinterest, compare them to the ones crushing it in Google searches. There might be some overlap from your Google Search Console results, or they might be totally different from each other. 

For the ones that are totally different, go into the SEO settings on those high-ranking Pinterest blogs and make the SEO settings better. A great tool for this is Yoast SEO on WordPress that helps you with SEO on your blog posts. This is what you’ll use for your blogs if you use Showit as your website host. It’s an awesome tool. Check out this episode all about Showit and WordPress if you want more information!

Basically, if it does so well on Pinterest, it may also do really well on Google when you do the SEO settings right! You can also look at your pin description on Pinterest for some SEO setting ideas. 

4. Make Pinterest images for your top ranking blog posts and content upgrades on Google Search Console. 

So, those posts and freebies rank well on Google, now set them up to rank well on Pinterest too. Do this for both the blogs AND the freebies as separate things. 

Make sure you are embedding your freebies directly into the relevant blog posts, and ALSO putting them on their own landing pages so that they can be accessed separately from the blog post. 

Make those top posts and freebies into pins! To decide what posts to do this for, just look at your Google Search Console. To decide what freebies you want to promote on Pinterest, look at your email marketing platform analytics. Create some images for the ones that are performing really well already. Also, create images for those freebies that are most relevant to what you sell. The people who opt-in to those types of freebies are going to be most like your ideal clients.

5. Put a content upgrade in your website footer. 

The website footer is that part of your website that stays consistent throughout the whole website. This is a great place to put an opt-in to get on your email list! This way at ANY POINT on your website someone can get something for free from you and get on your list. 

If you already have a freebie and email opt-in in your footer, but it’s been the same one forever, mix it up by changing it out with something new. Especially if you’re a regular content creator! That means a lot of the same people are going to your site once a week or multiple times a week. Showing a different offer to them might get them to get on your list.

It really is as easy as that! Looking at your analytics then do these things to really help you utilize all that’s out there for you with Google search engine and Pinterest to grow your email list. 

Links mentioned in this post:

ConvertKit

FloDesk

Google Search Console

EM Shop Showit Website Templates & Showit Blueprint Course

FREEBIE: How to Create the Perfect Opt-in Incentive to Grow Your Email

Episode 32: WordPress Vs. Showit (+ What It’s Like To Switch From WordPress To Showit)

Episode 23: Morning Journal Prompts To Start Your Day With Intention

Leverage the power of SEO to build your email list with these 5 tips!

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]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/leverage-seo-build-email-list/feed/ 0 4213 7 Tips to Successfully Spring Clean Your Website (Improve your SEO, sales, and everything in between) https://elizabethmccravy.com/7-tips-to-successfully-spring-clean-your-website/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/7-tips-to-successfully-spring-clean-your-website/#respond Tue, 23 Apr 2019 04:00:19 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=3427 Spring is in the air over here, and I’m loving it! Normally, every spring I “spring clean” our home. I get rid of the things we aren’t using anymore by donating or selling them.  Just like a good spring cleaning helps us freshen up our homes, spring cleaning OUR ONLINE HOMES can help our online […]

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Spring is in the air over here, and I’m loving it! Normally, every spring I “spring clean” our home. I get rid of the things we aren’t using anymore by donating or selling them.  Just like a good spring cleaning helps us freshen up our homes, spring cleaning OUR ONLINE HOMES can help our online presence feel powerful and refreshed! (See what I did there…. Online homes?!)

In this episode I’m sharing 7 ways to spring clean your website. We’re talking website usability, browser functionality, updating specific sections of your website, changing up your pricing and offerings, and SO MUCH MORE!

As you dive into this, I want you to think of your website like your business’ online home. For many of you (myself included) your business isn’t just an online home, it is your literal store front. You don’t have a brick and mortar or another way people buy from you. Your website is IT. Just like a boutique, coffee shop, or any kind of brick and mortar store cleans, redecorates, updates and improves their space, we’ve got to do the same for our business’ online home.

Get the checklist mentioned in this episode by entering your email below! You’ll get the checklist sent straight to your inbox so you can go through the 7 things to spring clean your website.

Improve your SEO, sales, and everything in between

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:

Subscribe & download the episode to your device:  Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |   YouTube  |  iHeartRadio

Episode Highlights:

    • Why updating your website is vital to your SEO
    • Which browsers you should make sure your website works with and how to test functionality
    • Why the mobile experience on your website matters more than you think and how to get it just right
    • Which sections on your website you should check out to make sure there isn’t incorrect information
    • Questions to consider as you update your pricing and packaging
    • WHY you need less words on your website than you think
    • The best way to test how intuitive and easy to use your website is

Episode Links Mentioned:

Source: “On average, mobile web traffic accounts for half of all website traffic.”

Source: Browser Platform Market Share Stats

Source: End of Internet Explorer article on Fortune

7 ways to spring clean your website: website spring cleaning checklist for online business owners - Improve SEO, sales, usability, functionality, and so much more!
7 ways to spring clean your website: website spring cleaning checklist for online business owners - Improve SEO, sales, usability, functionality, and so much more!

The post 7 Tips to Successfully Spring Clean Your Website (Improve your SEO, sales, and everything in between) appeared first on Elizabeth McCravy.

]]> https://elizabethmccravy.com/7-tips-to-successfully-spring-clean-your-website/feed/ 0 3427 An Introduction to SEO & How to Optimize Your Website https://elizabethmccravy.com/an-introduction-to-seo-how-to-optimize-your-website/ https://elizabethmccravy.com/an-introduction-to-seo-how-to-optimize-your-website/#respond Wed, 22 Aug 2018 06:00:22 +0000 https://elizabethmccravy.com/?p=3205 Guest Blog by Nicole Bernard from N.b. Marketing You’ve probably heard the term SEO, but what exactly is it? According to Moz, Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.   There are many aspects to SEO and today we’re […]

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]]> Reading Time: 3 minutes

Guest Blog by Nicole Bernard from N.b. Marketing

You’ve probably heard the term SEO, but what exactly is it? According to Moz, Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

 

There are many aspects to SEO and today we’re going to talk about on-page SEO. This is what you need to do to each page and/or blog that goes up on your website. It only takes a few minutes to do and will get easier each time you do it. By implementing these practices, you’ll have a greater chance at increasing your rankings!

 

There are a few key terms that you need to know in order to do effective on-page SEO:

Meta Descriptions: This is a short summary of the content you’re putting up on web. It has to be under 155 characters and it’s what Google shows in it’s search results under the title and URL. 

Alt text: This is the text that you use to describe the image(s) in your content. Since Google bots can’t see, they need to read the description of the image. Use something that describes the image, but also keep in mind any keywords you’re using to see if they can be used in the alt text. If you are using WordPress, click on the image and hit the pencil to edit- you’ll see the option to add alt text there. Most platforms are that way as well. You can always Google how to do it on your specific platform.

 

Inbound links: Google likes to see inbound links. These links are when you highlight text on your page/blog and link it to another page on your site. For instance, if you have the words ‘Contact Us’ at the end of your blog, you would highlight those words and link it to your Contact page. This makes it super easy for them to click that link and go directly to the page to contact you. This is an inbound link!

 

CTA’S: The web is a busy, busy place - you need to make it as easy as possible for your clients to take the next step. Put it right in front of them. In multiple places. We’re so distracted these days, we need constant reminders

We can do this with Calls To Action (CTA’s). Do you want them to download a free resource? Call you to book a consultation? Whatever your end goal is, put it in a call to action so they can easily click on it and go to that next step.

You can create banners, buttons or links - any and all work, but some may work better than others. Do a little testing to see which works best, but including them in any shape or form will help grow your business.

 

Be sure to do each step above every time that you post a new page or blog. If you are using WordPress, you can also install the Yoast Plugin, and it will help you do each of these steps.

Bonus Seo Tips

Another aspect of effective SEO has to do with your site as a whole. Does it load fast? Do all the links work? Is it secure?

If you don’t have an SSL certificate, you’ll want to contact your hosting company ASAP and have them walk you through adding one to your site. Good news, though if you had your site designed by Elizabeth or are a Showit user, then you have a free SSL certificate already on your website!

Not only do people (84%) leave a site that is unsecure, Google recently announced they will penalize unsecure sites. Be sure to also go over your site and fix any broken links and check the speed of your site using a free tool from Google.

 

Speed: This is how fast your site loads. It has to be fast or you’ll lose potential customers and get penalized. Luckily, Google created an awesome tool to let you check the speed of your site. They’ll run it on both desktop + mobile and give you a grade.

Run your speed test here.

If you don’t have a passing grade, they will send you a report that outlines what you need to do in order to fix these issues and load faster. Some aspects you will be able to do on your own, but some may require your webmaster. Depending on how bad your grade is, I’d recommend spending that money to get those issues fixed.

 

 

As mentioned above, there are many parts that fit in the whole of SEO, but if you start implementing these practices, you will start to see results!

Nicole Bernard - nb Marketing

Nicole Bernard:

Nicole is the owner of nb.marketing where she helps small business owners simplify their marketing + grow their business. After 12 years of running her own small business, working at digital marketing agencies and consulting with small businesses- Nicole is taking everything she's learned and sharing it in her new ecourse! When she's not researching industry trends or creating growth strategies, you can find her with a glass of wine, her 2 kiddos, and her husband

If you’d like to learn more about SEO and digital marketing for your small business, check out Nicole's comprehensive (but understandable) DIY Digital Marketing Course for Small Businesses.

An introduction to SEO basics for on page SEO

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