Beyond SEO 🛤️
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Hello Reader, Quick note before I get started: I'm live on YouTube today at 10:30am Pacific. If you want to join in (or watch the replay), here's the link. You know I love SEO as a visibility tool. It's powerful and, when done the way I teach it, compounds over time, so it becomes a lighter lift as the years go on. However, it's not the only thing—especially when we're talking about blogs. To be clear: Having an active, evergreen blog on your website that showcases your subject matter expertise is very likely to improve your visibility in the search engine. But SEO is not the end, nor is it the only reason you should have a high quality blog on your website. In fact, as much as I love the Google fuel blogs provide, I do also worry when I see people focusing too much on those benefits to the point it dilutes their voice (usually unnecessarily), becomes instructive or technical (usually unnecessarily), or results in actually doing nothing in fear of "getting it wrong." Today, I want to guide you towards an understanding other benefits of OWNING YOUR VOICE on your website. Brand awareness & brand voice development. Listen, if none of these other benefits resonate with you, this one is a must. Brands with a point of view have an advantage (there's quite literally loads of data about this), full stop. And even if you're a solo business, you have a brand (I resisted this concept for ages). Trust building. Business generally believe they are more trusted by their customers and potential customers than they actually are. What we know is that trust is earned, and what I know is that blogging is a solid way to build that trust. Showcasing your subject matter expertise helps solution aware (people looking for what you sell) leads build trust without even speaking to you. It's a competitive advantage. Easy to share content. Okay, this is a bit of a fuzzier concept, but stick with me. There are oodles (technical term) of situations in which either you or someone else needs to share content about you or your perspective. Say someone asks you a question and you can instantly respond with, "Oh, I have an in-depth article about that!" How impressive does that look? Or, a referral partner can easily share a niched, focus piece you wrote. Again, it looks impressive. Clients also love this—with me, it's gotten to the point where clients will email and ask, "Do you have a resource about XYZ?" And I often do! It also makes it far easier to pitch media or podcasts because you, again, have proof you can talk about the subject matter in question. Blogs are a passive lead magnet. List, this is where I tell you that my best lead magnet is my blog. I have a boring old form in the sidebar of my blog and it's by far the most popular opt-in on my website. I don't promise anything but more of the same quality content in my newsletter. And people just say, "Sign me up!" No fancy automations needed. A cumulative body of work. There's a reason why "Create Your Body of Work" is a core piece of my Alignthority™ framework. I deeply believe we all have a body of work within us, and a blog is the easiest way I know of to gather it all together in one place. If for no other reason, start that blog because what you have to say matters. It could become something else: a book, a podcast, a YouTube show, who knows... or it can be a wonderful archive that shows the evolution of your thinking that helps others.
Blogs open doors for your business beyond algorithms, in a way that's incredibly accessible. All you need is a website. So, what's stopping you? Talk soon, Sarah |