Why Become an Audience-Oriented Business (It’s NOT About You)

As an SEO copywriter and content writer, I’ve been writing website copy and blog posts on all sorts of topics and industries but, as of this year, for one type of client: audience-oriented small businesses.

The kind of small businesses with the potential to go BIG in the eyes of their target market.

Lemme explain what audience-oriented marketing means real quick, and then I’ll show you how adopting this approach will improve your business dramatically and help you grow.

Let’s start with an example: business A or business B?

Say you’ve always bought fast fashion products and, after discovering the horrors behind this industry, you decide to look for your first sustainable t-shirts. 

You open business A’s website and are met with this message:

“We’re an award-winning company with eleven years of experience in the sustainable fashion industry, and we’re excited to introduce you to our new collection of ethical t-shirts.

Each product is made with GOTS-certified cotton and based on the ambitious vision of our creative team of designers.”

Then you open business B’s website:

“Do you keep promising yourself that you’ll take the first step towards sustainable fashion but are not sure where to start? Start here!

Each of our organic cotton t-shirts is unique yet versatile, perfect to create several outfits with what you already have in your wardrobe. Nice one!”

Which one sparks an epiphany and makes you think that they know exactly what you need: business A or business B?

Yep, business B’s website, right?

Your first impression doesn’t need to be about a company’s experience or mission, and let’s be honest: you couldn’t care less about whether or not they’re excited about something.

Company B, on the contrary, spoke to you directly.

They didn’t waste time by blowing their own trumpet, throwing difficult jargon at you, or describing vague product features: they told you exactly how their product can solve your pain point.

“But the other t-shirts can be versatile and do the exact same thing!”

Probably. But the company hasn’t bothered telling you that.

And you know what? You might not have consciously known what your pain point was to begin with, which is why leaving it as an implicit message wouldn’t have worked.

That’s what an audience-oriented business or copywriter can do: they identify the problem that was in the back of their customers’ heads but that they couldn’t quite figure out, and then they show them exactly how their product can solve it and benefit them.

So, what’s an audience-oriented approach in marketing?

In marketing, an audience-oriented approach means putting your target customers first, focusing on how your business, product or service can help THEM.

Basically, instead of boring them by telling them why you’re the best and your product is great, you focus on why you and your product are the best for a specific type of customer and on what you can do for them.

Less bragging (sorry!), more value.

Why choose an audience-oriented approach as a small business

Because new potential customers don’t give a crap about you. Again, sorry to break it to you, but that’s how the world works, unfortunately.

And… honestly? When you accept that they don’t give a damn about your company, that’s the turning point. That’s what you need to do in order to set yourself up for success.

This is because your potential customers only care about what you can do for them, and let’s be real: can you really blame them?

Even if you’re currently wearing your CEO, manager, or entrepreneur hat, put it down for a moment and think of yourself as a customer.

From the moment you wake up and look at your phone to when you watch TV before going to bed, you’re bombarded with ads and all kinds of businesses telling us to buy their products.

You can’t (and have no reason to) care about all of them!

However, if a business were to tell you about how they’ve got a solution to that problem that’s been nagging you for ages, of course, they’d have your attention.

So, the reason to become an audience-oriented business is to stand out against your competitors, grab your prospects’ attention before they bounce out of your website, stop them from pressing that ‘unfollow’ button on your social media… and win over and retain your target audience, basically!

To win the marketing game, we could say.

How to become an audience-oriented business

Ready to revamp your website and marketing strategy with an audience-oriented approach? 

First of all, start by reminding yourself who your specific target audience is. If you’ve never bothered researching it because ‘your product is perfect for everyone’, think again!

Then, identify what problems your product or service can solve for them. Does it save them time? Money? Does it help them live more comfortably? 

These are just general ideas: you should try and be as specific as you can.

For example, my blog writing services help small businesses go BIG in their target audience’s eyes by offering them insightful and valuable content while also generating more traffic through search engines, smoothening the sales funnel, and turning more visitors into leads and customers.

Once this is all clear for you, here’s how to actively become an audience-oriented business.

1. Create a social media strategy based on your dream customers

Is your feed all about your awards and how great you are? You might want to move that to your personal Facebook (I’m sure your mum and aunt will love to know). 

As for your business profiles, only 20% of your content should be promotional! (1). The rest? Posts that bring value to your target audience, either by informing them or entertaining them… or both at the same time, when you can.

Talk about things they care about, give them tips, solve their problems, and have an actual conversation with them.

2. Turn your newsletter into a personalised email marketing strategy

Your newsletter shouldn’t be a newsletter. It should be an email marketing strategy.

You know what? Maybe it shouldn’t even have ‘newsletter’ in its title as that could deter users from signing up or prompt them to unsubscribe after receiving it (2). Shocking, right?

Don’t just send them boring updates about your company. Talk to your subscribers about issues that you know they’re interested in, ask questions, answer theirs, and give value.

3. Make sure your website copy tells your customers how you can help them

As you’ve probably noticed with our initial business A/business B comparison, your website copy can make all the difference. 

You have around 8 seconds to impress whoever lands on it. Are you really going to waste that time by immediately telling them aaaaaaaaall about yourself?

For an audience-oriented website, remind your dream customers what their pain point is when it comes to your industry and show them how you can solve it.

Make sure they understand that you created your products or services with them in mind.

4. Blog to offer them valuable content to your target audience

Have you got a blog section on your business website? I hope you do, since there are so many blogging benefits!

However, you’re most definitely NOT going to unlock them by blogging about your company’s achievements.

Sure, you can occasionally announce something special or show some behind the scenes to humanise your brand, but your blogging strategy shouldn’t be about you. 

If you want to be an audience-oriented business, it should be about topics that your customers care about, as long as they’re tied to your industry and products.

Answer questions, create informational ‘how-to’ articles, and clarify their doubts while targeting the right long-tail keywords.

This will also help you showcase your expertise and give you more content to post on your social media and ‘newsletter’ (double win).

How I help audience-oriented small businesses

I have two core services that can help you position yourself as an audience-oriented business and start attracting the right customers:

• Website copywriting: I’ll make sure that your web pages instantly capture your dream customers’ attention and show them why your product or services are the best thing that has ever happened to them;

• Blog writing: I’ll help you reach and retain a much wider portion of your target audience, rank higher on search engines, stand out against your competitors, and smoothen the sales funnel

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

References

1. Hall, T. (2020, October 6). The New 80/20 Rule of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/sophie-downes/remote-work-home-ergonomics-stress-back-pain-health.html

2. Silva, P. (2018, April 11). Why Newsletters Suck And How To Do Successful Email Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/piasilva/2018/04/11/why-newsletters-suck-and-how-to-do-successful-email-marketing/#45b366820abd

Why Is My Website Not Ranking? 8 FIXABLE Reasons

Your business website should actively help you generate relevant traffic so that you can convert some of it into paying clients.

Has it being doing that or… you can never find it when you google the keywords that best describe your type of business?

If it’s the latter, I can see why you feel like banging your head against the keyboard—more or less literally—and screaming, “Just WHY is my business website not ranking on Google?”

First of all, take a deep breath and relax.

Just because your business website isn’t there right now, it doesn’t mean you can’t reach that coveted first page over the next few months.

There are many reasons why your website is not ranking. Statistically, the chances are that more than one applies to yours.

Luckily, they ALL have something in common: they’re fixable. Pinky promise.

9 reasons why your website is NOT ranking on Google

Here’s why your website isn’t ranking right now (and, most importantly, what you can do about it).

1. It’s a new business, or you haven’t had an actual website for it for very long

Well, if that’s the case, start being nicer to yourself, and stop expecting unicorns and rainbows. I mean it. 

If you’ve only just started out, it’s unrealistic to expect the same results as competitors who’ve been in your same industry for years (or even decades).

Let me say this louder for the people in the back: 

SEO (search engine optimisation) takes time!

Once you launch your website, it’ll genuinely take a few months or even a year before it starts gaining traction and for search engines to actually trust it, even if you’ve optimised everything correctly. 

Think of Google as a cowardly dog. They’re not immediately going to let you pet them. They’re going to smell your hand first and look at the owner to see if they’re already ok with you, right?

Likewise, search engines want to be sure they can trust you before showing your website to their users. They also need to understand exactly what it’s about, first.

Solution

Be patient, and start fixing the other reasons why your website isn’t ranking.

Give yourself time, but in the meantime, set yourself up for success by ensuring that you’re not making any of the following mistakes.

2. Your business doesn’t exist anywhere else

Going back to the dog metaphor: do you think they’d trust you more easily if you were on your own or with their owner? Yep, the latter.

Same with search engines. 

If your business website is the only place where you show up online, it doesn’t sound so trustworthy. The result? Your website isn’t ranking on Google, of course.

Solution

Really put your business out there.

How?

• Connect your business social media account to your website (most platforms include a social menu and icons)

• Register your business on all the relevant business directories for your industry: for example, TripAdvisor and OpenTable for restaurants, or We Love Florists for… well, florists. Duh

• Whatever your industry is, you can never, ever forget about the king of all directories: Google My Business

You know when you look up a company’s name and you see that square packed full of information, pictures, and contact details? With a direct link to their business website?

That’s Google My Business, and you absolutely need it RIGHT. FREAKIN’. NOW. if you want your website to rank.

3. Your business website is too slow

With certain activities, it’s best to take your time to enjoy them properly, like a walk by the sea, a three-course meal, or a relaxing massage.

Browsing websites, however, is not one of those.

Let’s get real: if your business website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, over half of its visitors will bounce away.

Solution

Run a speed test, and fix the problems listed in its report.

To find out if speed (or, better, a lack thereof) is one of the reasons why your small business website isn’t ranking, you can try free speed tests like Pingdom.

Don’t worry: it won’t just tell you that your website is too slow and leave you to cry about it. It will also show you what specific problems are causing this issue and how to fix them (or, if you already have a web developer, you can ask them to look into it).

4. Your website isn’t optimised for mobiles

58% of website visits come from phones! That’s over half of them. Are these visitors getting the same experience as desktop users?

If they’re presented with a static page and painfully tiny text that they physically can’t click on, this is probably one of the reasons why your website isn’t ranking on Google.

Solution

Run a mobile-friendly test, and implement those changes.

There are different ways to make your business website more mobile friendly. Some of the most important ones involve the use of a responsive layout, high speed, and… having buttons that are large enough for your audience to click on them with their thumbs.

Again, you don’t need to rely on guesswork. Use free tests like Google’s own version to find out if your business website is already mobile-friendly and, if not, what you can do about it (or once again, if you have a web developer, you can look into it with them).

5. You haven’t taken UX into account

Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? Well, the user who’s trying to find a specific piece of information on your website, that’s who!

The little crawlers and bots behind search engines care so much about the opinion of your human audience.

Honestly: if Google thinks they wouldn’t enjoy something, it’s not going to show it to them. They only want to give your audience (and their own users) the best of the best.

Well, is your website the best of the best when it comes to UX? If not, that’s probably the reason why your website isn’t ranking on Google at the moment.

User experience refers to how easy and pleasing it is to use it.

For example, do visitors need to click on five different pages before they’re able to access the information they’re looking for? Not good.

Are they bombarded with pop-ups? Again, not good. 

Do most people end up leaving it after a few seconds? … You get the gist.

Solution

Test your UX, and modify your website accordingly.

There are several ways you can do this:

• First of all, you can always ask a few peers to navigate it for the first time and give you some honest feedback. Honestly, that’s a great starting point! Even better if you can do that with someone in your target audience

• You can also try websites like Fivesecondtest, Optimizely, and Crazy Egg, or even an extension like UX Check

6. You haven’t got many backlinks

Backlinks are some of the tastiest SEO juice!

When an external website links to yours, it shows Google that other platforms are talking about your business.

A website with many backlinks from good sources (not those dodgy websites that try and sell them to you) will perform much better on search engines.

One of the reasons why your website isn’t ranking on Google is probably that you haven’t got many.

Not sure? Find out through a free backlink checker.

Solution

Start attracting backlinks

“Ok, Giada, how exactly do I do that?”

I hear you. Here are two strategies you can try:

• guest-posting: when you write an article for a different platform, they’ll usually publish it with a backlink to your own website. So, start pitching to those that are relevant to your business (more specifically, platforms and blogs that your target audience is already reading)

• blogging on your business website: more on that later (spoiler alert: it’s also one of the other reasons why your website isn’t ranking. Point #8!)

7. You haven’t invested in SEO-friendly website copy

Did you write your own website copy even though you’re not a copywriter? Or maybe you outsourced everything to AI or the cheapest writer you could find, and they wrote it without a proper strategy?

No wonder your website isn’t ranking on Google!

Of course, your copy should always be written for your human audience first. However, if you want to attract them organically in the first place, you need to include on-page SEO, too.

Now, there are three main reasons why your current website copy isn’t helping you rank:

1. It doesn’t include keywords in the most strategic places

2. It does, but it focuses on the wrong ones (for example, they’re not what your target audience is actually googling, or they’re way too competitive)

3. It’s too short. Anything shorter than 300 words per page is classified as ‘thin content’ by Google, and that’s not good for SEO

Solution

Invest in professional SEO-friendly website copy.

A professional copywriter will solve aaaaaall those problems by:

1. Using those keywords in all the right spots whenever possible and natural, such as page titles, headings, your main body of text, the first 100-150 words, image alt descriptions, URLs, etc.

2. Finding the right keywords for your specific audience, focusing on those you can realistically strive to rank for. For example, this could involve keywords that are slightly less popular but much more specific to your business, offer, and target audience

3. Writing copy that isn’t classified as ‘thin content’ (of course, there are exceptions: for example, it’s unlikely that you’ll need more than 300 words on your Contact page. However, the problem is when most of your website consists of ‘thin content’)

And don’t forget that professional copy won’t only help your website rank on Google: it’ll also convert more of those visits into actual paying clients

8. You’re not blogging on your business website

Are you using that Blog section to blow your own trumpet with internal news and achievements? Or—worse—you haven’t got one at all?

Well, this might very well be the BIGGEST reason why your website isn’t ranking on Google.

A blog will bring you a ton of SEO benefits:

• It provides fresh content, which shows Google that your website is still relevant

• It creates more indexed pages, which results in a bigger website packed full of information

• It allows you to target many more keywords and, therefore, attract your audience at different awareness stages

• It gives you plenty of opportunities to include internal links, which help Google understand your website structure

• Going back to point #6, websites with a blog receive up to 97% more backlinks (read that again) than websites without one

Plus, there are many more benefits to having a blog on your business website, from establishing yourself as an expert to smoothening the sales funnel.

However, since we’re talking about ranking on Google, I can’t stress just how BLOOMIN’ helpful it is for SEO.

Solution

Start blogging for your target audience.

And I’m not talking about company news or articles written without a strategy:

• Blog in a way that brings value to your specific target audience

• Make your blog posts SEO-friendly

Start helping your website rank higher, and keep reaching your ideal clients

Now that you know the reasons why your website isn’t ranking, there are many issues that you can easily fix yourself (it wasn’t too bad, was it?).

If you’d rather outsource your new SEO-friendly website copy to an expert, check out my brand messaging and copywriting services.

And if this article helped you look at your marketing from a different perspective, you’d love my emails for brilliant but undervalued women founders

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

How Exactly Blogging Increases Lead Generation by 67%

You’ve heard that blogging increases lead generation but you can’t get your head around how that page where you post your company news can do that?

Well, you’ve heard correctly.

It’s absolutely true that blogging generates more leads. However, your company news will not. 

Let me clarify this before we look at blogging as a lead generation strategy.

Why do you need a content marketing strategy to generate leads through your blog?

To generate leads through the blog on your business website you definitely need a content marketing strategy first.

That’s what sets apart successful and highly converting blog pages from egocentric company updates posted sporadically (#sorry): a strong content marketing strategy that focuses on the needs of your target audience, not on blowing your own trumpet.

To increase lead generation through your blog, you must write articles that cover relevant industry-related topics that can be interesting or useful to your target audience specifically. 

For example, if you sell candles, you could write blog posts about ‘The best candle scents for insomnia’ or ‘How do you decorate a room with candles?’

Now that we’re on the same page when it comes to blogging on your business website, the initial question still remains (how does blogging increase lead generation?), but we’re ready to tackle it without misunderstandings.

6 ways in which blogging increases lead generation

On average, websites with a blog generate 67% more leads than those that haven’t got one. 

Crazy, right?

One of my favourite things about blogging for business is that it’s such a versatile strategy and brings you lots of different benefits. 

As for lead generation, it also increases it in several ways.

1. Direct SEO: blog posts generate more traffic by targeting more keywords

Every blog post that you publish is also a new indexed page on your website. As such, it has the potential to rank on Google if you target a specific keyword and optimise the entire article for SEO.

Think about it! 

There are only ten organic spots in the coveted real estate that is the first page of the SERP (search engine results page).

With all the other competitors targeting the same keywords that you’ve used to optimise the four or five pages on your website, the chances of ranking for them are fairly low, especially if your business is still quite new.

However, if you blog twice a month, you have 24 different keywords that you can try and rank for by the end of the year.

Blogging once a week? 52.

Much higher chances to reach the first page of Google, right?

And this is not only because of the number of keywords: it’s also due to how targeted and specific they are.

With blog posts, you should aim for a different long-tail keyword every time, one that consists of three or more words. Like ‘benefits of succulents’ and ‘how to grow succulents’ instead of the overused ‘succulent’.

When a user who—this is important—is already interested in your industry notices your blog post after googling a question or a query, they’ll find themselves on your website.

Remember: they weren’t directly looking for it. They wouldn’t have googled your company name. But they’re on it now. 

And, after reading your article on the benefits of succulents, they’re going to realise that you actually sell succulents. Handy!

Perhaps you even have a newsletter where you offer tips on how to care for them? Sign me up!

2. A blog boosts the SEO of your entire website

Remember when I said that it’s harder to rank on the first page of Google for shorter and more popular keywords?

Good news: blogging regularly increases your chances of outranking your competitors when it comes to the rest of your website, too. 

There are several ways in which blogging helps your website’s SEO:

• It results in an average of 434% more indexed pages than websites that don’t blog, showing Google that you’ve got plenty of useful content for your audience

• It shows search engines that you update your website regularly and that you aren’t going to give outdated information to their users

• It allows you to add more internal links

• It helps you attract more inbound links

Basically, as well as by ranking for more long-term keywords, blogging increases lead generation by improving the overall SEO of your website and helping it rank higher.

3. It allows you to include more contextualised calls to action

Your blog posts shouldn’t be hard sales: they should genuinely focus on providing useful information or entertaining your readers. 

However, they still offer you plenty of opportunities to add internal links to your products and organic calls to actions to turn those readers into subscribers or followers.

Another great benefit of blogging on your business website is that you can target customers at every stage of the sales funnel. 

If someone is still dipping their toes into the world of sustainable fashion, a ‘buy now’ CTA at the end of your article introducing the problems with fast fashion would be completely out of place. Not likely to convert at all.

It would make a lot of sense in your blog post on ‘the best sustainable dresses for winter’, though, since it targets bottom-of-the-funnel leads.

In the first one, however, you could ask them to subscribe to your newsletter to receive more weekly tips on how to start making sustainable fashion choices. 

Which takes me to my next point...

4. It gives you more opportunities to generate leads by capturing email addresses

You most definitely don’t want users to find your website through a blog post and then leave empty-handed. 

Mind you, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to purchase a product immediately. Still, you should encourage them to do something, like following you on social media or subscribing to your newsletter.

You can either ask them to do it at the end of your blog posts or by having a pop-up banner that targets them before they leave.

Or, you know… both.

5. You get to reach even more people through social shares

To make your blog posts rank higher and reach more people, you shouldn’t just publish them and hope for the best. Nope. You’ve gotta promote them, my friend. 

One of the best tricks is to integrate them with your social media strategy and share them on your platforms.

By doing so, blogging increases lead generation by driving additional traffic to your website from social media:

• With your existing audience: they might not have googled the question that you’ve answered in your article just yet, but, when they see it on your feed, it tickles their curiosity, they click on it, and they find themselves on your website

• Through social shares: when someone who’s already following you shares your articles, their followers and friends get to see it, too. You do have some social share buttons on your blog page, right?

6. Blogging increases lead generation through backlinks, too

I’m going to say this as nicely as possible: nobody other than your supportive loved ones wants to link back to the blog post in which you brag about your latest award.

On the contrary, someone who’s writing about a popular topic in your industry might very well want to use you as a reference if your blog post features a juicy stat, infographic, unique angle, or interesting fact that they didn’t know about.

It’s not a coincidence that websites with blogs get up to 97% more inbound links than those without one. And backlinks help your SEO, too. 

As for how blogging increases lead generation through backlinks, it’s simple: if someone has mentioned you and linked to your website on theirs, their audience is much more likely to bump into you!

So, how does blogging generate leads?

Overall, blogging generates leads by increasing your website traffic, smoothening the funnel, and giving you more chances to convert these visits into subscribers or followers.

Hey, fellow female entrepreneur: need a hand generating leads through your blog?

Now that you understand how blogging increases lead generation, I bet you can’t wait to try this rewarding strategy yourself, right?

However, if you:

• don’t know where to start

• haven’t got time to write all that content yourself

• are not sure you can optimise it for search engines correctly and actually attract your audience

  I can take care of aaaaaaaall that for you with my blog writing services.

  I specialise in helping ambitious women entrepreneurs and female-founded businesses become THE go-to solution in their dream audience’s eyes.

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

What Is SEO Copywriting? How It'll Boost Your Female-Founded Brand

“Ok, seriously: what is SEO copywriting, and why do I even need to worry about it?”

Well, in a nutshell?

If you don’t incorporate SEO copywriting when filling your website with words, nobody is going to find it when they look for the type of products or services you offer.

Intrigued?

Thought so.

Let’s make sure you no longer have to miss out on this ripe opportunity to generate organic leads.

Understanding SEO copywriting for your female-founded brand

To get a good grasp of what SEO copywriting is, let’s first check out the two terms individually.

What is copywriting?

Copywriting consists of writing words with the aim to advertise, sell, or convince an audience to follow through with a specific call to action (for example, it could even include signing up to your newsletter).

Some types of copywriting are:

• Website pages

• Online and print ads

• Brochures

• Leaflets

• Billboards

• Product descriptions

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the practice of increasing the quantity⁠ but also the quality of your website traffic, making it easier for your audience to find it and have the best experience when navigating it.

Search engine optimisation involves both on-page and off-page tactics, including:

• Using keywords

• Attracting backlinks

• Mobile-friendliness

• Fast website speed

• Schema markup

…and much more. In fact, Google has over 200 ranking factors!

Is SEO important in copywriting?

Err, duh? It’s obviously not relevant for print ads, but SEO is super important in copywriting for the web.

From incorporating the right keywords to following the best practices to improve the experience of your website visitors (e.g. mobile-friendliness and speed), SEO allows your copy to help your website rank higher on Google and generate more organic traffic.

No more relying on paid ads alone to get leads!

So, what is SEO copywriting?

SEO copywriting is still the same as copywriting for the web but it also takes SEO strategies and best practices into consideration to help you attract your audience in the first place and then impress them with your website copy.

What SEO copywriting is not

Don’t get me wrong: even though SEO is involved, SEO copywriting is not about stuffing your web pages with robotic keywords or pushing your audience’s needs and UX into the background.

Your target customers must always be at the core of your website copy, and your copywriting should focus on converting these visits into leads or sales.

SEO is simply there to help you bring those people onto your website first.

Is SEO copywriting the same as SEO blogging?

Kinda, but not exactly.

Both SEO copywriting and SEO blogging rely on adding an element of search enchine optimisation to an existing strategy.

However, SEO copywriting is about conversions (selling or getting people to complete a CTA), whereas SEO blogging focuses on generating more traffic and smoothening the funnel by giving valuable content to your prospects.

All clear?

Now that you know what SEO copywriting is, you’ve probably already figured out why you need it, but let’s look at it properly.

How SEO copywriting will help your female-founded business grow

As an ambitious female entrepreneur, I’m sure you have an excellent offer for your target audience, but… not all of them have heard about you just yet, right?

Perhaps you’ve been relying on paid ads to drive traffic to your website and make yourself known.

Well, this is exactly where SEO copywriting comes into play!

By targeting the right SEO keywords, you’ll get to attract prospects who are looking for exactly the type of products or services that you offer but who don’t know your brand (yet).

Let me give you an example.

Imagine you’re a plumber in Liverpool, your business is named after yourself, and you’ve only recently started to trade.

Most people in your area don’t know your business name, but, once their sink starts to leak, they know one thing for sure: they need a plumber right now. 

So, what they’ll do is head to Google and type stuff like ‘plumbers in Liverpool’, ‘plumbing services in Liverpool’, or ‘plumber near me’.

If your website is correctly optimised for search engines and relies on excellent SEO copywriting, you’ll pop up right in front of their eyes. 

Now they’ve heard about your business, and… guess what? They’re on your website!

While the SEO side of things helped you get there, your audience-oriented copywriting will show them why you’re the best possible option for them.

Basically, SEO copywriting helps you drive more QUALIFIED traffic to your website and then convert it into leads and sales.

Why on earth have you been missing out on this juicy lead generation opportunity so far?!

Grab some SEO copywriting to turn your business website into a lead-generating machine 🔥

Since you’ve learned what SEO copywriting is, are you ready to start unlocking its benefits? Like getting more people to discover your website and brand without you having to waste hundreds of £ on ads every single month?

I can write the kind of audience-oriented and SEO-friendly website copy that will help your female-founded brand become THE go-to solution in your dream audience’s eyes.

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

How to Make Your Blog Rank Higher... Before & After Posting It

The truth? Most companies say that they want to know how to make their blog rank higher on Google, but very few are willing to do everything it takes to facilitate this. 

Ok, now it sounds as if I’m implying something dodgy or drastic. 

I’m not. Pinky promise.

I’m just saying that ranking on page 1 of Google (which—spoiler alert—can NEVER be guaranteed, but more on that later) goes BEYOND writing the perfect SEO-friendly article and waiting for the magic to happen. 

Whether you’re writing these articles yourself or outsourcing them to a professional content writer, here’s how to make your blog rank higher and have better chances of reaching the coveted first page of Google… told by someone who’s been there multiple times.

Have realistic expectations when it comes to making your blog rank higher

First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page, though, which may or may not be the first one on Google. Pun intended. 

✅ Yes, I’m freakin’ badass at what I do

✅ Yes, lots of the blog posts that I’ve written for my clients or my own blog have reached the first page on Google

✅ Yes, some are even the very first result or featured snippet for a specific keyword

But can I guarantee that ranking? 

❌ No. Absolutely not

❌ Nobody can

If anyone’s promising you the first page of Google and charging you for it, you’re getting scammed, my friend.

This is because, no matter how good you are at SEO writing, your ranking will also be influenced by other factors.

For example?

• Your competition

• How you promote your blog post

• Your entire website

• Google’s +200 ranking factors

Now, some of these are beyond our control.

Your main competitor and arch enemy might wake up tomorrow deciding to target the same keyword. Because they’ve been in business for longer and have a higher EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trustworthiness), they’ll probably rank higher for it.

You’ve got no control over it at this stage, so there’s no point in stressing about it, right?

Focus on what you can actually do to make your blog rank higher.

4 tips on how to make your blog rank higher on Google

And they include tricks that you should implement before, during, and after writing a new post.

1. An SEO-friendly blog post is still essential

Don’t get me wrong: while it might not be enough to guarantee a first-page ranking, a compelling article that is optimised for search engines (yep, just like the SEO-friendly blog posts that I write) is still vital.

This is the very basis of SEO blogging strategies. You ain’t going to rank without that!

There’s no point following my next tips if you’re not going to bother learning how to create SEO-friendly blog posts or commissioning them to someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

2. Promote your blog post

Just because you or your freelance blogger have hit the Publish button, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t touch that blog post anymore.

Tell your audience that you’ve got a new post for them!

Sure, some of them will eventually find out about it via search engines. However, in order for the blog post to rank higher, Google needs to be sure that its users are actually going to love it.

Basically, it helps if some of them have already engaged with it.

So, you could:

• Share your blog post on social media 

• Create a Pinterest-worthy image that introduces it and links to it

• Add it to your newsletter

This will result in higher traffic and engagement, showing Google that this blog post is absolutely amazeballs and, just like McDonald’s, people are lovin’ it. 

3. Make sure your ENTIRE website is optimised for search engines

Now, here’s the harsh truth.

Hopefully you’re prepared for it, but make sure you take a deep breath just in case.

Done? Ok.

If a Shakespeare-worthy blog post optimised by the king or queen of search engine optimisation is posted on a website with poor SEO? It still won’t rank.

Sorry to break this to you. Someone had to.

For a page on your website (in our case, a blog post) to rank high, you need to make sure that the whole thing is optimised.

For example:

• Is your website fast? Website speed is an extremely important ranking factor!

• Is it mobile-friendly, or is it one of those old static pages with tiny elements that are impossible to click on when browsing it on a phone?

• Has it got some relevant backlinks?

• Have you got lots of pages to show Google that, when it comes to your industry, you’ve got plenty of valuable content to offer? (If you blog regularly, you will!)

• Have you mostly got positive reviews associated with your business?

If you actually want to learn how to make your blog rank higher on Google, fix all these problems first before taking it out on the article itself!

4. Make your blog page user-friendly

“We tried blogging, but it was a waste of time and money,” they said…

and then it turns out that they’ve only been blogging about themselves instead of creating a successful company blogging strategy.

Or perhaps they had a blog page with a fancy grey font against a black background which made it a challenge to read the actual text, posted without any headings or paragraph breaks, too.

I can’t stress this enough: your blogs must be packed full of value AND easy to read! 

Certain stylistic choices might be great for the rest of your website or short pages, but be extra careful when it comes to your blog. 

• Writing in all caps? Hard to read

• Fancy font? Hard to read

• Weird colour scheme? Freakin’ hard to read

The design of your blog page should immediately make the reader feel at ease, NOT put them off from reading.

If they open your blog post because its fantastic title promised them the solution to their problem but they’re met with a huge block of text in a weird font… they aren’t going to bother.

Sorry.

They’ll just click away from it, increasing your bounce rate and drawing a knife through your SEO’s heart. 

If you’ve looked at your website so many times that you can’t objectively tell whether it’s easy to read or not, you could try and ask your most brutally honest friend.

So, now that you know how to make your blog rank higher on Google, make sure you promote each article properly, optimise the rest of the website for search engines, and make your blog pages as immediate and pleasant to read as possible. 

Like… right now. 

Go on. 

I’m watching you.

Start with the right blog posts for your badass female-founded brand 🔥

Maybe you’d love for your blog to rank higher and start generating leads, but…

• you haven’t got time to learn how to write these SEO-friendly blog posts or to do all the research and writing yourself EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?

• not sure how to craft them in a way that drives actual results?

Easy. I can write all the right blog posts for your target audience and optimise them for SEO.

You just focus on enjoying the juicy results that this strategy will bring, from higher lead generation to smoothening the sales funnel and establishing your female-founded brand as an expert in your field. Deal?

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

Guest on SEO On-Air: Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting

Have you considered guest posting to complement your existing content strategy?

No?!

Or maybe you did but aren’t sure where to start?

It’s your lucky day, then: that’s exactly what I talked about as a guest on this episode of SEO On-Air, a podcast by Stan Ventures.

Listen to my episode, Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting, or read the summary below.

SEO On-Air: Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting

Haroon Rasheed & Giada Nizzoli

Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting - Transcript

Haroon: How do you include guest posting in your overall content calendar?

Giada: Guest posting can sound like another task on top of all the other things that you do, but if you think how useful it can be, it only makes sense to include it in your content calendar. You can start by doing it once a month and then see how it fits in your existing content and SEO strategy. I think it would be a good start, to begin with.

Haroon: So, maybe you can contribute 80% of your work timing to your own content strategy and allocate the rest of the 20% to guest posting, to begin with. You can gradually increase when you start seeing positive results.

Well, my next question is, how do you get started with guest posting as a content writer?

Giada: First, you need to look for websites in your niche because that’s where your target audience is going to be. As you sort guest posting sites by niche, it takes away a lot of other guest posting websites from your list. Then you can reach out to the shortlisted website owners with your pitch.

Haroon: How do you suggest a topic to a webmaster for guest posting?

Giada: You have to go through their website to see what they have already published and then come up with topics that you think are unique to the site and will also interest the audience.

Haroon: Do you think it is necessary to focus on topics that are seasonal or in trend for guest posting?

Giada: I think it is a good idea to suggest trending or seasonal topics for guest posting because it sometimes helps to get the topics approved and is also timely. You can also focus on evergreen content that can make it sort of cornerstone content.

Haroon: Once the topic is shortlisted, is there any research that you go through?

Giada: Absolutely, I go through similar articles to see what is already out there and then try to add more information that is missing from those articles. I think that the “People Also Ask” section is also beneficial to create a content structure and understand what type of topics you should cover in your content. 

Haroon: What are your best practices to ensure that the readers found your content compelling?

Giada: You should write content like you’re explaining it to your best friend. You should avoid jargon and keep the content simple. The most important thing is to remember to write content that is easy to read for both humans and search engines. SEO content is not about using keywords in the content over and over again. Google crawlers and human readers want the same thing, a compelling piece of content that is understandable and easy to follow.

Haroon: Is reviewing a content copy necessary?

Giada: It is vital if you want to send a good pitch and an excellent article. I’ve seen articles that have a lot of spelling mistakes, and that can really undermine your whole strategy. So, I think you should ensure that your content is free from grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, and it should be able to deliver the information that the topic promises. You want to make sure that your structure follows the outline that you originally envisioned in order to answer all the answers that your target audience is looking for. 

Haroon: When it comes to publishing and promoting the content, what are the practices you follow for maximum exposure? 

Giada: I think the best way to get maximum exposure for a piece of content is to ensure that it complements your social media strategy. Make sure you are true to the medium and don’t post the same thing on various social media platforms just for the sake of getting clicks. So, make sure that your content is optimized for different social platforms so that people actually take an interest in reading them. 

Benefits of Blogging for Business: 11 Juicy Advantages

“Wait, there are THAT many benefits of blogging for business?!”

Yes, and the crazy thing is that so many brands miss out on them because they still think that blog = company news or that writing these articles for their target audience is pointless.

So, let’s make sure we’re on the same (blog) page.

The benefits of having a blog on your website are only relevant for content marketing strategies

As they say in 500 Days of Summer, “you should know this upfront”:

if you’re planning on posting company news or only writing articles about stuff that you care about, you can NOT expect to unlock any of these advantages of blogging for business.

Nuh-uh. 

Nobody other than your supportive best friend wants to read those.

When I talk about the benefits of blogging for business, I’m talking about well-researched articles created with your target audience in mind and including relevant keywords.

These blog posts should bring actual value to your dream clients by answering their questions, concerns, and interests on topics that are relevant to your industry or type of services.

Now that we’ve clarified that, let’s dive into all the juicy benefits of blogging.

11 game-changing benefits of blogging for business

Overall, I could sum this up by saying that the main benefits of having a blog for your business are growing your audience, smoothening the funnel, and standing out.

It wouldn’t really do this strategy justice, though, so let’s look into each of them.

1. Blogging on your business website helps you rank for more keywords

I’m sure (or, better, I hope) that your website is already optimised for SEO keywords that describe your products or services, like ‘plumber in Manchester’ or ‘plastic-free shop’.

Still, let’s be realistic:

• They can be harder to rank for since that’s what your competitors are also aiming for on their main website pages

• They’re just for prospects who are already towards the bottom of the sales funnel: they’ve pretty much decided that they’re going to buy a specific product or invest in a service and just need to decide who they’ll buy it from

What about everyone else? 

Most of your dream customers are still trying to figure out what causes their current pain point, what solutions are available, and what difference it’ll make when they invest in one.

I’m sure they’d love what you do, but they haven’t heard about you just yet and they’re still making up their minds.

One of the benefits of blogging for marketing is that you get to target prospects from the very top of the sales funnel all the way down to the bottom. That’s because they’ll be using Google to ask questions and better understand those topics, and you can write a blog post for every single one of those by targeting the right keywords.

For example, if someone were to search ‘How to reduce my plastic footprint’ and you had a blog post that covers that very topic, they’d find yourself on your website. And after reading it, they’d realise that you are a company that sells plastic-free products.

“Interesting!” 

And maybe you’ve included a link to your newsletter where they can receive even more tips on how to make more sustainable choices at home.

You see where I’m getting at, right? 

Let’s say that you’re going to blog once a week: that’s 52 new keywords every year. 

52 more chances to attract your audience organically via Google without spending money on ads!

2. It results in more indexed pages, helping your entire website rank higher

Basically, blogging = SEO juice.

Not just because it helps you rank for more keywords, but because it makes your entire website meatier. And Google likes meaty websites.

Whenever you write a new article, that’s also a new indexed page. That’s why websites with blogs get an average of 434% more indexed pages! (1)

Plus, it shows Google that you know all there is to know about your industry.

When your website is a chonky boi full of high-quality content, search engines trust it more.

3. Blogs generate more inbound links

When an external website links back to yours, that’s another SEO boost: it shows Google that your content is getting noticed and is therefore worth showing to more people.

However, let’s be realistic: who’s gonna link back to your About page? Or Services?

If you were to share insightful blog posts, on the other hand…

Yep, other websites and publications will want to use them as references or link back to them whenever they can be helpful to their readers.

No wonder websites with blogs receive 97% more inbound links than those without one (2).

Not bad at all, right?

4. They give you the opportunity to add more internal links, too

Internal links (from one page to another on your own website) help search engines crawl your site more easily and efficiently, so they’re yet another SEO benefit of blogging.

Also, when used wisely, internal links can direct your readers to other pages.

Perhaps you’d like them to read another blog post that explores the solution to the problem you’ve just covered. Maybe they’re ready to be sent straight to your sales page.

And you should definitely include links to the products and services that you mention.

5. Google rewards websites with fresh content

Another important SEO factor is freshness.

Of course, your website hasn’t got an expiry date (unlike the yoghurt that I forgot about for two weeks), but if it was created two years ago and NEVER updated… well, Google isn’t going to favour it (just like me with that yoghurt). How can it trust it to have up-to-date information?

Adding fresh content regularly and consistently in the form of blog posts lets search engines know that your website is still being looked after and is therefore relevant.

Definitely the kind of thing that search engines want to share with their users.

6. Blogging on your business website smoothens the funnel and improves conversions

Because you’ll be creating content for every stage of the funnel, one of the benefits of blogging for business is that you can slowly move your audience from its top to the bottom.

First of all, they’re much more likely to purchase from you because you’ve been giving them so much helpful and high-quality content. They trust you and like you a lot more than your competitor who only has a FAQ page for them.

Plus, interlinking your articles wisely and including the right internal links to other website pages are the equivalent of greasing up your funnel with oil: your prospects will start sliding towards the bottom.

7. It creates shareable content for social media

You probably already have a badass social media presence, but not all the users who could be interested in your products are already following you.

If you create shareable and insightful content (aka compelling, useful, or entertaining blog posts), some of your readers will want to share it on their social media. And their followers might do the same. And so on. And so on. You are basically reaching more people on social media without the added cost of paid ads! Nice one.

Needless to say, you can (and should) still share your blog posts with your existing audience by posting them on your own social media, too.

As well as your usual pictures and videos, they’ll get some awesome articles on topics that they’re already interested in or curious about.

8. It generates an average of 67% more leads

Think about it: you’ll be

• Attracting more relevant traffic via search engines

• Reaching more followers by sharing your blog posts on social media

• Including the right CTAs or newsletter signup forms within these articles

… of course, one of the benefits of blogging for business is that it results in higher lead generation, too!

67% more than websites without a blog, on average. (3)

9. A blog on your company website will position you as an expert in your field

Let’s say that a coffee shop is looking for a new coffee supplier and finds two roasters offering very similar products. 

However, one has been posting knowledge-dripping blogs about blends, caffeine, and coffee-related topics. They seem to know a loooooot about it. The other? Nothing.

Which one do you think would inspire more authority? 

And don’t forget that 70% of consumers learn about a brand through articles rather than ads (4), so they definitely help when it comes to brand recognition, too!

10. It supports your newsletter

Just like blogs, your newsletter shouldn’t be about company news, but rather an email marketing strategy that brings value to your audience and keeps them informed and/or entertained.

Have you just written a new blog post that answers one of the questions that are bugging your dream customers? Then create an entire email around it! Or, if you have a monthly newsletter, you could include a roundup of your best articles.

Either way, just like it can add to your social media strategy, one of the advantages of blogs is that they can complement your newsletter, too. 

11. Blogging on your business website helps you stand out from the competitor crowd

Finally (although I’m sure I’ll come up with another couple of benefits of blogging when I’m having a shower or going for a walk later), it’s your chance to differentiate your brand from your competitors.

By positioning yourself as an expert in your field and building trust, you’ll attract and wow your dream customers organically instead of always having to get their attention through ads or discounts.

It’ll be a no-brainer to buy from you.

Need a hand unlocking the benefits of blogging for business for your female-founded business?

I’m sure you’ll agree that it’d be INSANE to keep on missing out on all the advantages of blogs. But what should your next step be?

• If you’ve got plenty of time to invest in creating the right strategy for your blog, learning how to write SEO-friendly articles, and writing the actual articles, here are my tips on how to create a company blog
  

• Wanna save time and set yourself up for success? I can take care of your blog, just like I’ve done (and still do) for other ambitious female entrepreneurs

  By letting me craft the right SEO-friendly articles for your specific audience, you’ll get to put your blog on autopilot and start enjoying the benefits of blogging for business over the next few months

More #crafty blog posts on this topic

References 

1. Hood, E. (2013, August 7). The #1 Small Business Marketing Idea [Infographic]

2. Jekishan, K. (2014, June 4). 10 Unbelievable Statistics To Sell Your Boss on Business Blogging

3. Patel, N. (n.d.). How to Convert Blog Readers to Leads

4. (n.d.). (2019, January 19). A Guide To Making Your Corporate Blog Relevant