Unlock the Secrets to SEO & SOP Magic w/ Dolly DeLong

This transcript has been machine-generated and has not been edited for errors.

Oh, and the fourth component is doing client features. So always featuring clients so that other clients, future clients can see, hopefully see themselves in this client work and see, oh, like if they can do it, I can do this too. Like I can plan out my branding session with Dolly DeLong. So I try to do a mix of those four.

Hello and welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO show Where we provide tips and advice to improve your website's search engine ranking. I'm Brittany Herzberg, SEO copywriter for Holistic Health and Wellness Pros who want to show up as the answer to a Googled Question. And I'm Crystal Waddell, an e-commerce seller and content creator. I help business owners communicate the value of their products and services through content so you can make more sales and grow your businesses.

We are business besties who love learning and sharing what we've learned. So what are we waiting for? Let's jump in. Welcome back to the Simple and Smart SEO show. We are talking today with another one of my friends and someone whose podcast I was on, which will have links to everything down below. We are talking with Dolly DeLonge, who is a branding photographer and systems and workflow educator for creatives.

She helps us take all of the pieces and like smash 'em together and make sense of them. So hi Crystal and then Hi Dolly. Hi. Hello. All know, it's like it's Dolly. Hi Crystal. I No, I'm kidding. That's my like such gentle lead in of like we're doing the podcast now. This is, it's Dolly. Hi guys.

It's nice to meet you. It's very nice meeting you officially. Crystal and Brittany, it's good to see you again. Lovely to see you again. All right. I want to just like get into all of this stuff. So before we do that, probably the nice thing to do would be to ask you to introduce yourself and tell us how you ended up here.

Yeah, totally. Well, I, Dolly DeLong, like Crystal was saying, she met another Do Walnut that met, but sa another Dolly DeLong on LinkedIn. And so we were trying to figure out who that other Dolly DeLong was. So I am another Dolly DeLong in the United States and I am currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, where I serve as a branding photographer for small business owners.

And then I also serve creative business owners as a systems and workflow educator. So pretty much I love teaching other creative business owners the puzzle pieces of putting together the backend of their business so that they can automate and streamline as much as possible or just do a hybrid and keep it, keep it simple. Yeah. Crystal does this with the hand raising and I always laugh.

Yeah. I used to be a teacher so, but I, I was a K-12 special needs PE teacher. Yeah. So we raise our hands, we just, in case somebody doesn't know what branding photographers do, can you explain that really quick? Because I think some people would really benefit from understanding what that is. That's actually a really good question and I just wanted to say like,

yeah, that's a great question because as a branding photographer I'm like, oh yeah, everybody knows what that is in my head. So everybody's, I mean, mine too. Yeah. So I didn't think of it. Yeah, so definitely brand new photography. I explain it as a type of photography that helps your business tell the story to, of what you do,

who you serve to your ideal client through visuals. So through photos. And it's so much more than a headshot session, although like I do take headshots at branding sessions, I try for all of my branding clients, I try to capture at least three to four different storylines of their business so that they can use those images to market themselves in strategic ways hopefully.

That I love. That makes sense. No, totally. And now I'm like, crystal, we need to go back to Nashville together and like hang out with Dolly with a camera for a while. That's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, oh my gosh, we should totally go back to Nashville and do this. That would be so cool.

Dolly, you'll be seeing us Come come over to Nashville and see me After baby after like baby. And she's like settled into the life of being a mom too. Yes. Oh, do you guys know Leah? Oh man. Yes. Podcasting. Brian Bryants. She's coming to Nashville to do her brain session in April or Stop it. Oh my gosh.

How trip? What are you doing in April or March B? Having my 32nd birthday and apparently going in Nashville. Happy Birthday. Really? Oh my. We're not even at the six month mark. Oh, that's exciting. I Remember being 32. That's when I had my first, my firstborn. Aww, okay. I'm gonna like reel us back into the podcast because I'm so curious.

Are we about, this is a question I like to ask. So how do you define seo? Or what do you think of when you think of seo? Okay. Well, I think of just how my ideal clients are wanting to get an answer. So like, for example, branding, photography. So I know since I'm based in Nashville, I know a lot of my clients are Searchie Nashville branding photographer or even Nashville headshot photographer without knowing that they need like an actual branding session.

So I try to put myself in my ideal client's shoes in how they're typing things out in Google. I love it. That's just like the perfect answer. That might be one of the top answers for that. You're You're so sweet. Thank You. I mean it though. I truly mean it. It's not just me flattering you. So I know today we wanted to talk about Strategies.

It's a question and Work fully enough. I'm never sure I should answer like the finish the sentence or be like, yes, crystal. No, no, no. You should finish the sentence. Go ahead. Finish the sentence. I'll ask in a minute. Oh, just that we're gonna be talking about creating an SEO like system and strategy of like how we actually incorporate it in our business owner lives.

And you know, I'm excited to dive into all of that, but before we do Crystal, well, I mean I asked what a branding photographer was, so I was kind of wondering like what a workflow strategist was. Is that, is that right? Workflow strategist? Yeah. Yeah, you can call me that. It's great. Okay. Call me all of the keywords.

Yeah, yeah, Keywords. So basically I think of a workflow strategist for creatives in the light of, I help other creative minded business owners like put together their own SOPs or system, basic system operating procedures for the majority of their services, for their business. Like a lot of people don't realize this, but we are, if, especially if we're solopreneurs or if we're a team of one or two or three people,

like we're running the show on our own, we are wearing like at least, at least 15 to 20 hats. And so I like breaking down each hat into an s o p and I call that a workflow. And that way it's manageable bite size and not overwhelming. And then that way, when they have all of their, including myself, like I try to do this for myself every quarter or once a year,

and I assess all my SOPs within my business, all my workflows, then I can see, oh, what can I hand off to a potential ba because I really wanna get it down really well so I can teach a future hire really well so that there's a good workflow, like, or this is good flow in the business. That is brilliant. And I will never not think of it as breaking down each of the hats.

Yeah, I just made that up on the fly. It's so perfect though. Like it's, it's like the perfect visual as a copywriter. I'm like, what visuals can we create with words? Like you're capturing it in a photo? In an image and I'm like, how can I say this? Yeah, I love it. And I'm, I'm over here thinking about merch.

Like what? I can put on a hat. This is one of my 20 business hats or something. You know, baby? Yeah. Yes, please. Oh, that's great. Oh my goodness. Okay. So where should we even begin with this? I say you go, you go. I'm done, I'm done. I'm stepping down. You're done the mic.

I mean, for a minute. What people don't know is it, we just recorded another podcast and Crystal had so many other questions and I was trying to like duke it out with her to like get a question in. So now that's why she's like, it's your turn now. Okay. So look, I mean, where do you even start with creating a strategy around seo?

You know, that you want to like kind of get in the shoes of your ideal client. Yes. You Know where you want to show up. So like what do you do with that information? Yeah, so I would start definitely if, if they create any type of business owner just listening in and they're thinking, okay, yeah Dolly, where do I even begin?

Because it is a massive, it's massive to look at and to even begin an overwhelming to begin. So the first place I would begin obviously defining like who you serve and knowing exactly who you serve and what you do. It's a good place to begin, but then how do you, where do you show up and communicate what you do and who you serve?

And when I say that, I'm talking about your pillar content or your main sources of information that talks about Yes, crystal. Well I think that I was also in education, so I'm like, oh yes, Yes, yes, yes. Wanna explain more? Yes. Well, okay, so another, this is a term that not everybody may understand.

Yes. So what's, what is pillar content? What does that mean? Yeah, so I've heard it defined as your hero content, your main sources source of information that you can, man, it is like, so a part of me ingrained in me that I have to like peel it back even more and I'm like, how do I describe it to somebody brand new to pillar content?

So as, okay, I'm bringing it down as a branding photographer, as a branding photographer. M I know my pillar content is how I show up. And so either it's through a blog, a YouTube channel, video content, or podcasting audio, because those three main form of pillar content pieces I either own, and it's not through social media, which is great.

Social media is great I think, but it's something that has its shelf life. Okay. Pillar content has a long shelf life and it can serve your ideal client six months down the line a year or two years down the line. And so I am trying to focus, I would say focus, start focusing in on where can you present your, your content in places that will serve your future clients.

And then your future self will thank you because your, those clients are finding you based off of where you're, I guess presenting yourself. So either in video form, blog form, or podcasting audio. And a really easy way to start in pillar content is through blogging, I believe. So you don't have to have like the setup of YouTube and you don't have to do the setup of podcasting.

And so I, my main pillar form of content for branding photography is blogging, if that helps answer any questions. Yes, Yes. Well, I, I think the other part of it too then is like, well what do you create that pillar content around? Because I think sometimes when I think of content pillars, I think of like the actual content ideas or,

you know, the, the content clusters or you know, like these certain topics that I only talk about. So how do you choose those and how does that fit together? Yeah. So that's really good too. So I, I break it down several ways. I even wrote some notes about this. One way I break it down is by thinking through how my future client is gonna be Searchie based off of the next season.

So I'm a, I'm a photographer so I know a lot of wedding and family photographers are encouraged to do this. But to think about, so if you're a wedding photographer for example, you are not gonna produce content currently, like right now it's fall, we're like currently in, when we're recording this is fall. So hopefully if you're strategic, you are not going to be posting blog posts or your pillar content around fall weddings because your brides,

like those brides are already getting married in fall. You are wanting to be future focused and strategic and think about, okay, how are my brides gonna find me through my pillar content? Hopefully, let me start writing up blog posts about spring weddings or even summer weddings because your future brides are getting engaged in the fall. They're most likely not gonna get married right away in the fall unless like,

you know, they elope or something. But most likely your ideal client, your ideal bride is going to plan a wedding six, nine, even 12 months out. So start writing content based off of what, like what season that they're gonna want to get married in. But for me, for branding photography, I, I try to think of it seasonally.

So I try to write seasonally, but then I also write pillar content pieces that are very evergreen. So no matter what time of year a small business owner is gonna land on my website or land on my website through, through finding me through Pinterest or Google through one of my blog posts. I try to write pieces about how to plan out your branding session no matter what time of year,

like how to, does that make sense? Yeah, I'm following. Yeah, absolutely. And I have a business called collage and wood.com. Collage and wood.com plug, so it shows SEO baby. But in collage and wood.com, I create senior night gifts for different seasons. So when you're talking about seasons, it's so, I don't know if literal is the right term,

but it's just so applicable and I can like feel it, you know, for me because I literally, I I I don't know, it's literally right. I hate that when I use the words wrong. Yeah. Didn't it correctly? Okay. But you know, football is in the fall, you know, basketball is in the winter track is in the spring,

and so it's, I I can totally see what you're talking about. And I'm like, okay, it's the fall, so I should be writing right now about spring sports and that type of thing. So I just, I love that cuz I'm, you know, sometimes we get stuck and we're in our own way and we're so busy, but thinking about the future sometimes gets us out of that daily grind of where we are right now.

Exactly. And like for me, like just establishing, okay, I, I, I know who kind of going back kind know who I'm talking to for branding photography for example, purposes. I know who I'm serving, I know where I'm gonna present myself with the pillar content that's blogging. Okay, so now what do I write about? So I try to be fu both future focused and I also try to be more evergreen focused.

And then I also try to throw in, you know, if there is a trend go sometimes, like I do need to write based off of what is tr, I hate the word trending, but here I am. Yeah. Trending, What is trending that would get me an immediate like, like I hate, I hate hit not an immediate hit,

but just like an immediate answer to somebody's question. Yeah. So I try, yeah. Trending versus trend trendy. Yeah. I try to do like, oh I guess like a mix of those content pieces. Cuz I try to do at least one, one blog post a week that's just like where I am in my business. Oh. And the fourth component is doing client features.

So always featuring clients so that other clients, future clients can see, hopefully see themselves in this client work and see, oh, like if they can do it, I can do this too. Like I can plan out my branding session with Dolly DeLong. So I try to do a mix of those four. I feel like photographers, and I've said this recently on one of the other podcasts that we recorded,

I feel like photographers are like the OGs of the case studies where you guys were just like on it and you were sharing, you were sharing the stories. And that's what I think is missing from a lot of case studies. And side note, why I do the case study stories because I love your case study stories. You, I've learned so much from you about that.

Thank incorporate that more in my way. No, But I mean like you're probably already doing it and you just didn't even realize it. Yeah. And I think a lot of photographers are already doing it and I think that goes to speak to like the helpful content that Google, you know, recently did their update for that and just being intentional. And when you're intentional you are strategic.

Yes. Crystal. Okay. So you have to, you have to dive into that a little bit deeper because what, what are your case study stories? Oh yeah. I don't wanna like segue as too too much cuz I would love to get into the workflow, but case study stories are really just where you're featuring your journey or your client's journey working with you.

So I recently discovered thanks to my friend Brenda McGowen, that I have a framework and it's called, Yes. I just interviewed her on my podcast yesterday Too. I love her. She's one of my All, I all interrupt when we get excited. I have this framework that she discovered called the PET framework because all of my case studies are starting with where was the problem,

what was the problem your client was experiencing? So like what made them find you, what was their experience like working with you? What was that like in between like the during and then the after is like what transformation did they have? And it could have been an internal win or an external win. Yeah. So we'll dive into that another day. But this is something that photographers have always done as far as I've seen.

Like Jasmine Starr I know was one that did it. Some friends of mine that I can't blessed photography, they had a blog. Like I've always seen photographers with blogs showcasing the client story sharing, like where they started, what it was like working with them, like the wedding day or whatever it is. And then the results, the pictures. Yeah.

So Brava to all the photographers. Yeah. Yeah. I, and it's also pretty easy for photographers to showcase their work because of the visuals. Like we already have that content of the library of content built out and so why not showcase it? I think of it in strategic ways, again, like thinking of, again, I know people use content buckets all the time and like dif like baskets,

whatever you wanna call it. Hats, I don't know, I'm just, I, I'm just like, okay, how can I think of this strategically in terms of okay bringing people in at the top of the funnel organically on Google or Pinterest or LinkedIn or Facebook, wherever. And then showcasing like these different like client client show experiences. Client experiences, and then showcasing my current clients show creating evergreen content for how to plan ahead for a branding session.

And then the fourth example was like, like seasonal as well. Yeah. Or like trending pieces as well. So I know if you're listening in and this is brand new to you and you're like thinking about creating pillar content once a week is stressful, then I would say start off with once a month, once a month is so easy and so doable.

And once you get the hang of that, then add another one and then add another one on top of that and then make, that's when the workflow comes in of creating an s o p for yourself of like, okay, on Mondays this is when, when I will write my blog or create my YouTube video or do my podcast or whate whatever. If you wanna batch it at the top of the month or you wanna save it for once a week.

Like be like set aside one day a week or one day a month to focus on your pillar content. Yes. Okay, cool. So I love this so much. So we set the foundation, we've like ideated about content. We're kind of like pulling from those different buckets or hats or whatever we're gonna call it. We know where we want it to show up.

So let's work through like a blog post example of you creating a blog post and how do you create it with SEO in mind? Like what does that s o p look like for you? Yeah, so for me as a photographer, I'm working a lot in Lightroom and I know on the backend and Lightroom, they give you an option to do me metatags and descriptions on the end of the photos.

So think of it as the first step before alt text. So whenever I create, like I'm finished editing all my photos, so in Lightroom there is an option to put a metatag a meta description. That's the best way I can describe it. Yeah. And I put a lot of keywords in it. I describe, I don't individually describe the images,

I just describe the gallery, like who it's for, who it's serving, where it was my business, like all that stuff, all those keywords. And then I, once it's been applied to the photos, then I actually take, import it or export it, whatever, export it from Lightroom to my desktop. And then from my desktop I wanna make it very web optimized for my website because I know another thing that Google does not like is if,

or a visitor in general doesn't like, is when they go to your website and the images are taking more than like 5, 6, 7 seconds to load. People are gone. People are like, I don't have time for this. I wanna see an image, I wanna, I wanna start researching images for my future branding shoot. And so I optimize all my images in a profile program called Blog Stop.

Hmm. And so it's been a good, I've been using it since 2012 and I, wow, it's great. And I, and then after that I optimize it for the web and then I al to text all the images on the backend. And I use WordPress cuz I use, I use show at my website platform of choices, show it. And then they use WordPress in conjunction for the blogging side.

So I use WordPress and then I also have a, a plugin called Yost, which is really good for seo. And so I make sure to, like, my workflow is, okay, did I blog stomp the images? Are they optimized? Okay, I'm gonna, IM like upload them into this blog and then I'm gonna alt text all the images.

I don't do more than like maybe 20 or 30 images cuz it's like really overwhelming since I'm like alt texting every single image. Yeah. And when I talk about alt texting, I'm saying, what if the image doesn't load? And then Google needs to communicate to a visually impaired, let's say viewer visitor and describing the image to them. So I really wanna be aware of that as well.

So somebody may not be able to see the image. So I want to describe the image to them. So I'm curious, did you ever kind of stop and make a, like a point of saying, I'm going to measure how things do from this point on once you started implementing this workflow? Or did you notice any results or differences when you, you know,

kind of implemented these things? Yeah. Okay. So the, the year that I started noticing a huge difference was 2020, like the year that everybody hates year that I also hated. But also at the same time it was an incredible year for me SEO wise because everybody was forced to be at home or to pivot. I hate the word pivot, but I'm know Pivot.

Pivot. Yes. Pivot. Yeah. And I, it forced me that year I was forced to take a look at, okay, how am I still gonna get clients to find me on Google and like plan ahead for hopefully when we can leave our houses. And so that forced me to look at my pillar content workflow, my blogging workflow. And I started optimizing each blog post because I had time every single day and I focused a lot on my top of funnel strategy was Pinterest at the time.

So I was, I, I was getting a lot of people finding me on Pinterest and then going from Pinterest to my website, my blog, and then finding me there. And keep in mind I did not share this. I was, I still am, but I don't advertise it as much. I'm a family photographer, so a lot of families were finding me on Pinterest,

coming to my blog and then planning ahead for fall and spring. And so this wow is what I've been like and I started like consistently gaining a lot of traction since 2020 because of this specific workflow. Now keep in mind I don't focus in on Pinterest as much because they've, they've changed so much. I can't, it's just me. I can't keep up with all the changes.

Yeah. Well I was gonna say, it's interesting because Pinterest is not typically known for like a location based targeting thing and it's like you do brand photography Yes. Around Nashville. Yeah. And so it's really interesting to me how during that time Pinterest functioned as, you know, a geolocation tool Yeah. For you to be able to say, Hey, I'm available in the Nashville area.

And people found you. So, I mean you're one of first people I've ever met that said that, you know, like I am an e-commerce seller. So Pinterest has evolved into a beautiful place Yeah. For e-commerce, you know, but everybody else who is really more, you know, along the blogging side of things or whatever, you know, it's,

it's a difficult place, it's a difficult platform now. But that is just so interesting cuz that that doesn't happen a lot. So congratulations. Thank you so much. It's definitely been a long for Pinterest. It's definitely a long term game with me. I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna count on a lot of my clients coming in from Pinterest. But I will have to say I did experience a win two weekends ago.

My, one of my clients found me on Pinterest, paid my highest family photography package or one of the highest, and it was all through Pinterest. Like wow. All of it was through Pinterest. And cuz I have a little question on my search form, how did you contact form? Yeah. How did you find me Pinterest. And I was just like,

wow, this, it does work, but it's a very long game, very long game. And just like planning that seed and making sure my ideal client is being served on Pinterest, like I'm helping them plan out their future sessions with me. I Love that. Okay. I wa I don't think we got to the end of that workflow, so,

Oh, sorry. Okay. No, it's okay. So I think we left off with like WordPress and you were telling us that you used the yos plugin. Yes, I use the YO plugin and basically I just do whatever the Yost plugin tells me. To be honest, I am not a Yost plugin genius whatsoever. It just like, literally I go down the line and I'm like,

okay, now I have make it green. Yeah. Make it green. I'm like, I just wanna make it green or orange. I'll be happy with orange or yellow, whatever the color is. Just don't gimme red. And so I, I make sure to have correct headers like H one, H two, H three. Another thing that I like to do that I know it's not really like,

this is not very SEO driven, but as a part of my workflow, I try to have like a, a call to action that is purposeful in growing my email list. Yeah. So I, if for each of my blog posts, I always have some sort of call to action to grow my email list. Like for branding photography, I have this very popular branding photography planning guide that people like,

it seems like every day somebody is downloading that somebody is signing up for that. And so I'm like, okay, this is working. And then it funnels them into my nurture sequence. So I have like two, for me, my strategy is twofold with this blog post. One, it's presenting the information to help answer a question for my ideal client.

Two, it's also growing my email list so that I'm staying top of mind in some way, shape or form. And they're planning out like they're, hopefully they're thinking about me in branding photography terms. So that's also part of my workflow for my blog is I have, I want, I want it to be strategic for me too. I, I I want to serve my client,

but I also want to grow my email list. Well, And I think that goes to show, sorry to interrupt you. Yeah. I think that goes to show that SEO can help you with different goals. I mean, SEO can certainly help grow your email list because every blog or every piece of content, at least in my mind and what I share with my clients,

does have some kind of focus to it. So you're, you know, hitting the ball out of the park with that. Well, thank you so much. And again, like this has been just like trial and error and learning from other people who've done this before me. So I, it's been, it's been great so far. And then of course,

like optimizing my H one, H two H three header and then let me see what else. Do you do the URL as well? Yes. Doing the url, like pretty much going down the checklist of what Yost SEO that tells me to optimize. So I had a question real quick because I don't think we've talked specifically about like H one, H two right.

And H three. So can you tell us, you know, how you utilize that? So I'm not like, when I'm like, oh, how do I describe this to someone? Okay. So I know that I've learned that H one is like the title of the page. So there only needs to be one h one, like what is the theme of the page?

And H two I think of it as the chapters mm. Of the page. And then h h three are like the subheadings of those specific chapters. That's perfect. So Hopefully that helps. Oh, thank you. Good job, Dolly. I'm like, I think this is how I would describe it, but, and again, don't like I used to go crazy with H ones cause I have no idea.

Yeah, me too. It's important. So I need to put it everywhere, but no, like, you just need one h one title per page of your website and that's how I look at it for a blog post as well. Yeah. You know what I think is interesting about it, sorry, Brittany, the, like, on Google Docs for years I've used Microsoft Word and Google Docs and all those types of things.

And Brittany's laughing because I'm terrible at Google Docs and Google Drive. But say you're terrible, you call yourself terrible. But my point is, like even in Microsoft Word, which I grew up with, you know, there was always H one and H two and H three and paragraph, you know, all these different options. And I'm like, why?

Why did they have this? You know? Like I never, yeah. I never understood what that was all about. And so when I started learning more about seo, I'm like, gosh, like we could have been doing this for years, you know? Yeah. But it was just funny. It's like revelation. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. It's like a really cool light bulb moment that happens when you like start getting it.

And I feel like I experience this light still to this day. Yeah. About you. I love that feeling of, wow, this is what it means. Like, which is bringing me to my next point of my workflow for my pillar content, my blog post for branding photography. So like I go through my workflow with my, my blog post through WordPress,

I post it and then it just doesn't stop there. I make sure to post about it to other places that I know where my audience is finding me on. And the reason why I know my audience is finding me on these places is because I've done the foundational work of putting my Google Analytics tracking code and a Facebook pixel code on each of my webpages on my website.

And so I, I try, like, I try, I I just know enough not to be, I, I don't think I'm dangerous. Yeah. I don't think I'll ever be d maybe one day I will, but right now I'm just like, I'm keeping almost two humans alive at this point. So yeah. I dunno what I know, but I would say definitely a key component in tracking your data is making sure you have those that Google Analytics tracking code set up on each of your pages of your website.

And if you want to do Facebook ads in the future of Facebook tracking code, pixel code. And so I know from reading my Google Analytics data every week, cause I have a set day on Monday mornings, I read my data and I'm like, I may not know understand this, but I know where my clients are at least from top of funnel and they're finding me.

Yeah. Facebook, Pinterest, some Instagram, a lot of it is now through seo like search engine. And that's when the power of UTMs come in, like specifically. And I'm like, okay, I need to understand how to put UTMs on the back links. Now, I don't know, I, I think like you did an interview with Emily.

Oh love It. She's listened to us. I listened to you guys like, and so I'm like, oh man, I need to like really dig into that because it would be nice to know where people are clicking over on, on Google like to come in because a large percentage of my audience is finding me through seo. And I'm like, okay,

but where specifically, this is where I need to, this is where I am right now in my SEO journey. Like I love it. Like digging into that. Okay. So I love the fact that you're, you know, digging into the Google tools, but you had mentioned like maybe in a conversation with Britney that you also utilized Uber suggests. And so I was wondering kind of like how that fit into your workflow cuz we're always talking about Uber suggests,

oh it's so funny. Almost like every Episode mostly like with Uber suggests like, again, like still brand new to using it. But mostly I use, use it for competitor like keyword research that those terms and to also see how I'm ranking how I need to optimize my each web page. Can you tell us a little bit about how you do that competitor research?

Yeah, so I, so this might seem like this is something that I encourage other creative business owners to do. Like, you do need to know like what your competition is doing and not like do something that would like ever bring anybody down. I'm not, I'm not for that. Like, don't, don't be ugly, don't be a D bag people.

Okay. Instead, instead like see how you can instead of like copy pasting what they're doing, like see how you can either tweak it to fit your audience or tweak it to, I I just say like how, what is your spin on it? Right? I said this in the last hour in our last episode. Yes. Now what is your spin on it?

Because everybody like this, I think it's great. It's good to have competition cuz it pushes me Yeah. Forward. But it's not, the only time it gets like really damaging or draining is like when you allow like, I don't know, when you put them down or when you don't do anything about it, you're like, well they're already doing it.

So I'm like Yeah. And so you have like the sob story in your head. Yes, Exactly. So don't do either of those things instead like pivot away and like see how you can make it your own and to serve your own audience. Yes. Yeah. I can't remember who said this, but it was something about comparison to bread in the grocery store,

you know, because it's like if you look up that somebody is doing something and you're like, I can't do this because somebody else is already doing, like just go walk down the bread aisle. Like how many people are selling bread? Exactly. Not everybody likes the same bread. People need different things from their bread and obviously these companies are making sales because they're on these shelves.

So that's brilliant. Just there's room for you, there's room on the bread shelf. Whoever on the bread shelf invented the who, whoever invented the oat bread there for me. Cool. That's, that's all I eat is oat bread. Really? That's Interesting. I love oat bread. Yeah, I'll have to try it. I'm geeking out, I'm geeking out over here in our chat thing.

I'm like telling Chris, I'm like, that's it. That's one of our merch things. There's room on the bread shelf. Yes. I mean, cause like, and I mean think about even how we ask everybody, you know, to define seo. It's like, even though the definitions, you know, essentially mirror each other, they're not the exact same.

You know? And I just, I love that because it's, you know, just more ways for people to understand, but your way of understanding it may resonate more with someone else than like say my definition or whatever. So I just, I'm, I think it it, it's a great thing to be the same yet different, you know? Yeah.

Well you're in the same space but your approach is different or your intention is different or who you're helping is different. And that's why I think, you know, when I'm copy helping my copywriting clients, it's like who are you helping? How are you helping them? Like why are you different? What's a little bit more about your backstory? It's like,

and even the questions that I ask a different copywriter's gonna ask something else, but they're gonna get like a similar result. Yeah. Well I think sometimes too when people are just starting out, they're almost afraid to be different. Yes. You know, because it's like, oh I see what's working so I'm just gonna do that. You know? Right.

And that's how you get so many of the same thing. And then it takes all of us years and we're like, oh, I should have been being myself this whole time. Oops. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And to Dolly's point earlier, it's like if your future minded and you start thinking about like what your customers are asking for, what they might need in the future,

that in and of itself is a differentiator. You know, because so many people are stuck in the moment right now worried about what other people are doing or, you know, trying to keep up versus really just leaning into that thing that makes us different, you know? So, you know, just a, a great point here. I mean this is something to highlight.

If you're a new business, don't be afraid of that thing that makes you different. You know, If you dunno what makes you different, then ask your current clients. Like do lots of customer voice hacking and like ask, ask. Right. Ask. And I didn't realize this about myself, I just thought, oh this is normal. But something that like my customers and clients have said to me for years,

cause I've been doing photography since 2008 and is like, we choose you because you're not only like funny is not the right joyful, like very joyful. I'm not saying like, I don't want somebody to listen and hear and say like, wow, like she's saying she's happy all the No, I'm human. I, I'm a rollercoaster of emotions, but I,

I attract a certain type of clients and part of that is my joy filled like, I don't know, presence or whatever. I got it from your podcast too. I can thank you. Totally. Yeah. I was like, I love this just makes me happy, you know, like I'm gonna do something really depressing in the next episode. No,

I'm just, You remember you, I'm just kidding. I'm gonna get emailed Dolly to come on. And so let's, because I started taking those steps to voice, like voice hack or cus like just ask my customers like, Hey, why do you wanna work with me now I know how to talk to my future clients like those because the clients I serve now are finally the clients I want to serve all the time.

Right. And that's what I was accidentally doing correctly with my massage business and why my website was doing the right things it needed to do. And I hadn't even realized it. I was just like doing stuff and I was like, oh, I'm doing the right thing. Oh yeah, you'll be you. Oh, be me. All right. We should probably wrap this funness up Even.

Can I, I add one more thing to the workflow. This is something that I, that has slowly been ingrained in me. This is my green light bulb moment that's happened recently. But utilize Google My Business. So if you are a brand new creative, like any type of business owner, utilize Google My Business and make sure that you have those keywords in your title there as well.

Because this is something I didn't know you could do. You can add new content, you can add your pillar content to the updates there. There's like this blue verified check mark that you just like add your, like I've been adding my new branding blogging PO post to that weekly and that's cool. Gives my customers another way to find me through Google. Cuz like Google wants to like reward you if you're using their tools.

Yeah. So that's something that I strongly encourage. Like I implementing that in your workflow too, on the backend. Once you post that blog or that podcast or that YouTube, then go to Google my business and update your new content. Yeah. Just repurpose it. Yeah. Last thing, the, I know you're gonna close this out, but I just wanna say Google my business kind of has wrapped itself up and Google Maps.

Yeah. And so sometimes people who without a physical location think that you can't use it, but you can. Yeah. So there's just, you know, some verification things that you need to do. So if you have a a, a business that's not necessarily brick and mortar, still utilize the Google Maps function for your business because, you know, they don't actually have,

they don't have to show your address, but they can still share about your business and your company and that type of thing. So it's amazing Resource. And I have, and I'm glad you said that too, profile set up one for my photography side cuz that's more like local. And then the second one is for systems and workflow education that can be for all over the United States.

So I I've separated those and yeah. See what happens For the future. Yes, please. Is local SEO strategy versus National SEO strategy, especially when you have two businesses. You know what I mean? So, all right. Yeah. And I think even for the private podcast, we probably should talk about utilizing Google Maps because I didn't also realize that I should have had,

I still don't have it. I, I don't think, or I might be in the verification process for copy by B. Like, I didn't even think about having that until someone else I worked with who does seo. She helped me with something and she's like, oh, will you leave a review? And I'm like, wait, you're virtual and you have a Google Maps account.

Okay. Oh, you're fine. All right. Let's, let's wrap this fun party up. And I think this might be the part that I'm like the most super duper excited about because Dolly has a super special announcement. I'm pregnant. I'm just kidding. Okay, well pregnant, but well maybe by this time you won't be, won't be pregnant. Okay.

People are like, she's crazy. Okay. So for those of you who are listening in, I, the second part of my business, as you now know, is systems and workflow education for creatives. And so I try to provide not only free education through my podcasts and with resources and blog posts about that, but I also do mini courses, workshops and all that stuff.

So I do like a whole array of education, but this is my second year leading a bundle called the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle. And I know Britney's gonna be a part of it. And yes, the focus of this upcoming bundle is the funnel edition. So I'm calling it the funnel bundle And it's, sorry, saying that 10 times Funnel bundle.

Yeah. And so basically the, the content, the focus of these systems and workflow magic funnel bundle is all about funnel education. So top of funnel education, middle of funnel, bottom of funnel, and then continuation education at what, what to do with your clients. If they are led through your funnel, then what should you be concentrating on? And so I have over 30 different contributors who are going to be educating on the different aspects of the funnel.

And for in relationship to 2013, I almost said 2013. You sure did. It's You're pregnant, I'm Brain, Let us go back to 13. Yeah. 2013. That Was a good year. 20 20, 23. Okay. We, the year that we are in that, this when Yeah, we're about to go in this, We're future minded, we're future minded.

Future being future minded here. So yeah. So it's going to be the first, it's gonna be released the first week of February, February 6th, 2023. And it's open for one week only. And again, it features, so everyone contributors a lot of different contributors and Some really big names. People. Yeah. I, I don't wanna name drop. No,

we're not name dropping, but I want to But we're not going One of the, I'm not one of the big names. Yes. You're, so, anyways, I would strongly if if conquering different, the different parts of a digital funnel is on your to-do list for 2023, or you just wanna get to know like, okay, I think I know a general idea of what top of funnel means,

but I want a strategy from middle of the funnel. Like I wanna optimize something for the middle of the funnel or the bottom of the funnel and then check it out. And again, I only lead it once a year. This is my second year leading it. The first year I let, it didn't realize how popular it would be. It blew up and then not like in a bad way,

but it's a really good way. And then second year I'm like, okay, the concentration will just be about funnel education. Yeah. So I know that we have, I know because I recorded one, I know that we have a podcast situation for that. Can, can we hint at that? Yes, definitely. Please. Okay. Do you want to hint or do you want me to hint or You can hint.

It's your, it's your I'll, I'll just be excited over here. Yeah. Okay. So if you want just like an appetizer of what to expect from this funnel bundle, I am have posting a private podcast, a pop-up podcast the week before the bundle goes live, so that you can, and it's free. The pop-up podcast is absolutely free. And that way you can meet the contributors and you not like literally meet,

you will meet them through the podcast and you will hear what they are teaching on. So I ask each contributor to come on and teach about like one juicy topic about like, that you can take away immediately and implement that strategy for that certain part of the funnel. And so that way it will like either help you see, okay, yes, I really want to get this bundle.

Or you can be like, no, this, this is gross, this is offensive. I don't want this bundle. But hopefully you will, you'll find it like get it, get even more excited about purchasing the bundle. And all of it is going to be for only $97 for the entire Week. And it's a lot of stuff. It's a lot,

Lot of stuff. It's a lot. I still haven't added up all the products yet, but Ill know very soon. And it's, It's, it's gonna be a big number. Yes. It's A lot and a lot of things. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm like, I'm definitely taking of learning from this person. And Yeah, actually, actually I have a honey book,

what is it like a workflow setup? Yes. Being done with Dahlia Orth tomorrow. And she is a contributor. She's one of the contributor. Oh, I name dropped. Oops. Gosh. Out Dahlia. She's wonderful. She is. You are too. Oh, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all the stuff and hopefully people will at least go check out the private podcast and we'll have that linked in the show notes As a good,

I'll send all the links to you in that way. You're, yeah, you guys can do whatever you want to with those links. We'll share them with the world, at least with our podcast people. Yeah. Cool. What was so nice to meet you, Dolly, and we wanna say thank you to you who are listening right now. We're so glad that you're here.

Don't forget to leave us a note. If you have any follow up questions and you wanna chat with us, you can drop a text or a voice note in the show notes. There's a link to galles.fm, is that right? I keep saying that. You did a good job. Thank you. So yeah, we'd love to chat with you, hear your thoughts,

hear your questions, and definitely rate and review the show, share it with a friend if this was helpful to you. Share it with a friend. Let them get ahold of this awesome collaboration too that Dolly's put together and we will see you next time. So bye for now. Bye bye. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this info,

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