SEO from Scratch: How To Optimize A Website From The Start

Introduction to Follow Through Fridays

[00:00:00] hello there. Welcome back to follow through Fridays. I am the host of the simple and smart SEO show podcast, Crystal Waddell. 

[00:00:07] And follow through Fridays is a day where I visit the expert advice that we received on Wednesday's show. And. Attempt to implement it in my business. 

[00:00:16] So this one is going to be a little disjointed because I was working on it this morning. But I want to share what I found and I'll try to do it quickly. 

Recapping Expert Advice with Sara Jensen

[00:00:23] If you haven't listened to the episode yet, I was speaking with Sara Jensen, the principal over at Brighter Messaging. 

[00:00:29] And she was just dropping dimes. 

[00:00:31] Like, about all sorts of things that you can do for your website. To make it better and optimize it.

[00:00:37] And even from the beginning. 

Insights on SEO and Team Collaboration

[00:00:39] I really loved her quote where she said that SEO in recent queries on Google are honest, whereas. Social media is more of a highlight reel. 

[00:00:48] And I thought, Oh my gosh, that's so true. Cause if you ever heard somebody say, Ooh, I want to see your Google search history or something like that? 

[00:00:55] There's actually a way to check that just so you know. 

[00:00:57] And another thing that Sara talked about that I loved was just that, having a team allows her to collaborate. 

[00:01:02] And I realized, that's something that I love so much about the SEO squad. We bounce ideas, we speak the same language. 

[00:01:09] And that's why I love getting together with these business owners every week.

[00:01:14] Because, you just pick something up from somebody's business. Even if it's not anything like yours, there might be a little something that they do that you're like, Oh, I want to try that, or you get some clarity because someone said something a different way. So I just, I definitely want to still invite you to the second round of founding members. 

[00:01:29] And definitely check the show notes to sign up for that.

Exploring the Untapped Potential of Moms at Home

[00:01:32] Another thing that Sara said that I think we can all take away: moms at home who left the workforce to care for their children. 

[00:01:40] That is an amazing untapped resource for people looking for like virtual assistants or digital marketing support. 

[00:01:47] I so appreciate her saying that, because I think any mom out there who's also trying to be an entrepreneur. 

[00:01:52] You can take that as encouragement to keep doing what you're doing. So awesome job. 

Redefining Website Goals and Strategies

[00:01:56] And then the last thing I thought, you know what, I got to think about what are the goals for my websites?

[00:02:01] Because when we started this podcast. 

[00:02:04] It wasn't, I never really thought about where it would go, because I just wanted to have conversations with B and then we started talking to people and it just grew from there. 

[00:02:12] So now I realize that I do have a problem, like what Sara was talking about.

[00:02:18] She said, if. You can't quite figure out your unique selling proposition, then maybe you're trying to do too much. 

[00:02:24] And so I realized I really need to split my brand, my websites into two. 

[00:02:30] So, she said that there's two typical goals for websites. And the first one is that you just want to have a credible business presence.

[00:02:36] So if you've already got leads coming in, or you just want to send people to a specific place. 

[00:02:40] That's professional, where they can either contact you or book you or whatever. 

[00:02:44] That is one type of website. 

[00:02:46] And I realized that's the type of website for crystalwaddell.com. And I'll tell you in just a minute why.

[00:02:51] And then SimpleandSmartSEO.Com is a platform that I want to grow to generate organic leads to join my membership or become an agency client. 

[00:03:02] Just having that clarity of okay, where, I started is not where I'm at now. 

[00:03:06] So I need to revamp that. 

[00:03:08] So that's what I'll be working on over the next few weeks.

[00:03:11] I just want to walk you through really quickly, like what I'm doing for simpleandsmartseo.Com. 

[00:03:16] My homepage keyword is going to stay simple and smart seo. 

[00:03:19] Then I'm going to have four things in my header. The plan is it's going to be the podcast, a three day challenge, the agency and a link to book me as a speaker. 

[00:03:28] Which will then go to crystalwaddell.Com. 

[00:03:30] So, that's just going to be my speaking website. 

[00:03:31] Everything speaking is going to stay there. 

[00:03:33] Everything SEO is going to come to simpleandsmartseo.Com.

[00:03:37] And I went through and I chose keywords for each one of those things.

[00:03:41] I'm going to optimize it from the beginning. So then I realized, okay, what do I want people to be able to do on the homepage? 

[00:03:46] I want them to either be able to join the SEO squad or book SEO strategy calls with me. Or search the podcast. 

[00:03:55] So those are the changes that I'm going to make to the homepage.

[00:03:58] And then obviously I'm going to need to fill the other pages with content. 

Future Plans and Lead Generation Tactics

[00:04:02] So one of the next questions that Sara asked, and I think that we should all ask ourself: is where do we see this business going in three to five years? 

[00:04:09] It was crazy because I was like, Asher is going to be 14 or 16 years old. 

[00:04:13] So it's a little scary to share these goals with you, because again, I never really thought about where this would go. 

[00:04:19] First I definitely want to grow the podcast. I love this podcast! 

[00:04:23] And I want to improve my speaking skills so that I'm asked to speak across stages in the United States.

[00:04:29] I just love sharing with people. So that information is more for my speaking website. 

[00:04:34] Another goal is that I want to grow the SEO squad membership to 75 people or more.

[00:04:39] And I wanted to say 50 when I was like setting the goal. 

[00:04:41] But in three to five years, I'm like, dang, I better get to 50. And then I thought maybe 100. But that feels big and scary. 

[00:04:48] So just saying that out loud makes me think that I need some mindset slash therapy work. 

[00:04:54] And then I want to grow the agency services.

[00:04:56] Gosh, I really believe in this content product led SEO that, I've uncovered and developed and then researched and found other resources. 

[00:05:06] But it's just such a powerful strategy. 

[00:05:07] And I know that it can help other businesses who want someone to handle their optimization. So I'm like, I am ready for that challenge.

[00:05:14] I think five to 10 clients with my current team of virtual assistants would be sufficient.

[00:05:20] Okay. So the next question is, how do I want to generate leads for my business? 

[00:05:24] Again, this is trying to help us set up our website. 

[00:05:26] So, I've done a terrible job promoting the fact that you can search the podcast. 

[00:05:31] Did you realize that? You can go to there's a link in the show notes and soon it will be on simpleandsmartseo.Com. 

[00:05:36] But there's a link in the show notes where you can search the podcast.

[00:05:39] It's free. All you have to do is join the email list and immediately you can search for anything. 

[00:05:44] So that means over a hundred episodes. You could search for on page SEO. 

[00:05:48] You could search for Google business listing. You could search for anything related to SEO. 

[00:05:52] And it will take you right to where we talked about it on the podcast.

[00:05:56] So over the last 18 months. I've created a lot of SEO content. 

[00:06:00] I think the people who want to learn on their own would be great candidates for the SEO squad membership. 

[00:06:06] And say, Hey, if you like, what you hear or whatever, what you find, then maybe you might want to take the three day challenge and join the SEO squad.

[00:06:13] And then that leads into number two. 

[00:06:15] Of how I want to generate leads for my business, the three day challenge. 

[00:06:19] So one thing I realized with the three day challenge was that in the midst of doing all the things that I do. 

[00:06:25] Running a three day challenge was a little bit of a challenge. So what I've decided to do and test out is having an evergreen three day challenge. 

[00:06:34] Where it's available all the time on the Simple and Smart SEO website. 

[00:06:38] And then, if you like it again, you could, join the squad if you'd like, if that gives you a running start and you're good to go, then great too. Plan is to make that three day challenge evergreen.

[00:06:47] And for right now, it's going to be free. Maybe in the future it will be a paid thing. 

[00:06:51] If it gets big enough where I need to cover admin costs. 

[00:06:53] But yeah, so that's number two. That's the second way that I want to generate leads number three. Okay. 

[00:06:58] So for the agency business to business sales is new to me.

[00:07:02] And so I have a joint venture partner, Rachael Spiewak. 

[00:07:06] And we've talked about creating ads here on the podcast. So you might hear those soon. 

[00:07:10] I think I'd like to be a little, I know I have to be more intentional about what I offer. 

[00:07:14] Because a lot of people don't even know that, you can search the podcast that I have a membership. 

[00:07:20] And that you get special pricing if you're in the membership versus if you just wanted to hire me for a VIP day.

[00:07:26] I do plan to hire VAs as necessary to implement the system that I already have. 

[00:07:30] But that's really exciting. Like that's, putting my plan to work for other people. 

[00:07:33] The next question that Sara asked was: what role do I want my website to serve? 

[00:07:37] With simpleandsmartseo.Com, I'd love for there to be a link for info about booking me to speak. That would take people to my personal brand website. 

[00:07:47] And then I'd like to have a quick opt in there so that people can search the podcast. 

[00:07:51] I'd like to have a link to book a call with Rachael and me. 

[00:07:56] To discuss becoming an agency client. 

[00:07:58] And then finally, I'd like to have a login to the squad members area so that it's easy for people to find, and a link to become a squad member.

[00:08:06] So that's a lot going on the homepage. So I might need to rethink it a little bit, but that's the role that I want my website to serve. 

[00:08:14] Oh my gosh, you know what this reminds me of? 

[00:08:15] The other day I was on threads and there's this person selling website templates and they were selling them like all in one solution because they created something that they couldn't find anywhere else.

[00:08:24] And I commented on that thread and I said, Hey, don't forget the SEO. And I didn't say it like that.

[00:08:29] I was like, Hey, don't forget the SEO. And the person was like that's a whole nother beast. 

[00:08:33] And I'm like. Yeah, but if you're selling an all in one website, people think that their website is ready to go when they put it online. 

[00:08:41] So I just felt bad for the people who are going to buy something that they think includes everything and then come to find out it doesn't have the most important piece.

[00:08:48] So I commented on there to send their clients my way. Oh, and I also in my first comment, I was like, Hey, if you guys need some SEO help, I'd love to collaborate. 

[00:08:57] And that's when they said, Oh, it's too big of a beast, , something different. So I said, Hey, send those people my way. Once they get their websites, if they actually want to get found on the internet. 

[00:09:06] I didn't say that last part, but...

[00:09:07] and then Sara said, okay, If you don't really know how to get a website started and like what you want. 

[00:09:12] Like certain features and functions that might be available, go check out your competitors. So I went and checked out a larger competitor and a more, a smaller competitor. 

[00:09:22] And I like that these people have links to YouTube videos, webinars, shorts, customer testimonials. 

[00:09:29] How they explain their process. 

[00:09:32] And also how they pre qualified potential clients by saying, Hey, what's your budget?

[00:09:37] The SEO squad is a , monthly membership fee. 

[00:09:40] I can easily say, Hey, this would be a good fit for you. 

[00:09:43] Or if you have 2, 500 a month to spend on this, then this would be a great avenue for you.

[00:09:48] So I really liked that. And it just gets all that out of the way. I've heard it more than one time before. 

[00:09:53] This time it really hit because I was like, how can I do this the most efficiently? So the, another thing that they had were FAQs. So I liked that as well. All right.

[00:10:02] So the last few things that Sara talked about was having a maintenance schedule. 

[00:10:07] And so I think that's so key as well. I have a SEO calendar that sends me alerts about the different SEO tasks that I need to do. 

[00:10:15] If you're interested in that, just let me know and I'll share it with you. And then also having a content plan.

[00:10:20] And so I already have a content plan. And I created it in surfer, started it, haven't finished it. 

[00:10:26] And then of course we have all of the podcast episodes. 

[00:10:28] So I can use all of that for support for my content plan. So I'm super excited about that. 

[00:10:33] Just getting things in the right spot. And then I want to build the email list for the podcast.

[00:10:38] With the opt in 

[00:10:39] in the show notes where you can search the podcast, that is really, it's actually a custom GPT that I created with Searchie. 

[00:10:47] That's the tool that you can use just by, opting in, give me your email address. 

[00:10:50] Searching the podcast. Super cool. And I've done it myself.

[00:10:53] So it's just fun to go back and hear what I was talking about then. 

[00:10:56] And then obviously having an internal linking strategy, which I think is the most important part of optimization. 

[00:11:04] And she suggested that we go back to older pages and link to new pages. 

[00:11:07] And add calls to action. So since I'm building this out in a new way on the simple and smart SEO. com website, I won't be able to add internal links right away. 

[00:11:16] But every article that I create, I'm going to try to add one internal link as I go just to Make it easy. 

[00:11:21] Okay, so then some of the last tips that Sara gave is that in order to build a website that really serves your business. 

[00:11:29] You've got to know your target audience, the problem that you solve, and your unique selling proposition, if you will.

[00:11:35] So for me, my target audience is local business owners and e com sellers. 

[00:11:41] So if you fall into either of those categories, I think that we would be a fit potentially to work together.

[00:11:47] The problem that I solve is: your business wants to get found. 

[00:11:51] I can help you get found on the internet. 

[00:11:53] And my unique selling proposition is: I've realized that what business owners need is somebody to walk them through optimization. 

[00:12:01] I'm kind, our interactions are face to face. 

[00:12:04] And I invest time in your business to help you stand out online. 

Final Thoughts and Encouragement

[00:12:09] My final takeaway is that with my personal brand website, I was asking it to do too much. 

[00:12:15] And so now splitting these into two. 

[00:12:17] I feel like it's really going to streamline my messaging. 

[00:12:21] Help Google understand what each website's about. 

[00:12:23] And focus on bringing in the type of requests that I want for speaking. 

[00:12:28] And then bring in the business owners who are needing help with their SEO on the simple and smart seo. com website. 

[00:12:35] So. I'll keep you posted on when that goes live and yeah. 

[00:12:39] I hope you take advantage of the search function for the podcast. It's super cool. 

[00:12:43] I'm definitely going to be talking more about it in the future. 

[00:12:45] But yeah, thanks for joining me for follow through Fridays. I hope it was helpful to you. 

[00:12:49] And remember, keep moving forward.