SEO & blogging: what you need to know as a business owner

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:: 00:00

I'm Janet Murray, I'm a content and online business strategist. And in this episode of the courageous content podcast, I'll share what you need to know about SEO and keyword research, at least for now, at least until you're in a regular blogging schedule. And you've really nailed your content strategy. If you want to increase the chances of your blog content being found in Google,

:: 00:23

by your ideal customers or clients, you may want to find out more about SEO. So that's search engine optimization. The key part of this is keyword research. So finding out what words or phrases your ideal customers or clients are using when they're searching in search engines like Google, so that you can choose the most effective blog topics, the best title is,

:: 00:45

and make sure that your blog post is the best it could possibly be. Because what Google wants to do is to serve up the best piece of content on any given topic. However, I should say here, I'm not a big fan of keyword research as an activity in its own, right? Certainly for small business owners anyway, because there's a real danger of getting so obsessed with keyword tools that you forget to use the best SEO tool.

:: 01:12

You have your understanding of your ideal customers or clients, along with your common sense. I'm Janet Murray, I'm the creator of the courageous blog content Kat, along with a whole host of other concept kits that will save you a ton of time and money in your business. In this session, I'll share what you absolutely need to know about SEO and keyword research and what you don't,

:: 01:34

or certainly what you need to know and sell you are blogging consistently and creating high quality blog content. So keyword research can help you optimize your blog content. And by that, I just mean increase the chances. It will be found in Google by your ideal clients or customers. But if you don't understand those ideal customers or clients and their problems and challenges,

:: 01:57

you won't even know where to start. And that's why I always recommend making a list of potential blog topics and titles first, then using keyword research tools to refine these topics and titles. And I say this because I have seen so many business owners get themselves in such a tangle, getting obsessed with keyword research tools, and you can come up with the best blogs,

:: 02:21

high tools in the world. But if that content isn't a really great fit for your ideal customers or clients, it doesn't matter how good those titles are. So that's why I recommend starting with ideas and just using the tools to refine more on how to do keyword research later, but first, a word about something important long tail keywords. So one thing you do need to understand,

:: 02:44

even if you don't do any keyword research, is that the more specific your block titles, the better simply because there will be less competition in Google. So let me give you some examples to show you what I mean, how's this secure, free publicity for your business useful, but very broad, how to secure free publicity for your product base pet business.

:: 03:07

Adding that phrase, put it base. Pat business makes your blog content where your blog title, much more specific. So it's going to narrow down the competition, clever ways who are black this summer, good title useful, but there's probably going to be a loss of competition for that particular key word, clever ways to add black there's summit. If you're pale skinned,

:: 03:31

makes it much more specific. It narrows it down to a more specific type of reader, which means there's going to be less competition in Google. Another example step-by-step guide to making your first Instagram reels useful, but there are probably a ton of blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos on that very topic step-by-step guide to making your first Instagram reels for complete newbies or for cake businesses or for travel businesses.

:: 04:01

Any of those long tail keywords that often refer to you. So they're complete newbies travel businesses, cake businesses. That's what people typically mean when they're talking about long tail keywords, that's going to reduce the competition because it's much more specific. Now the example children's party ideas for under fives useful, but again, probably a loss of content on that topic. Online children's party ideas for under fives that cost a hundred pounds or less,

:: 04:29

or children's policy ideas for under fives for Harry Potter fans or for Thomas the tank engine fans immediately. It makes it much more specific. Now is down the competition. One last example for you, five must pack items for a successful glamping holiday, again, useful, but probably going to be a lots of content on that particular topic. Five must pack items for a successful glamping holiday.

:: 04:54

If you hate campaign makes it that bit more specific and is going to hopefully reduce the competition. If you're not sure how to make the topic more specific Google's auto-complete, which I mentioned in the previous session. And that's basically the search box where you type the word or phrase that you're looking for into Google. It's a really great way to help with this.

:: 05:15

So typing in your topic title, take me to the suggestions that come up under that search box. So best beach bags, very broad. There's going to be a lot of content on that topic. When I put this into Google, I got best beach bags for 2022 UK. I got best beach bags for mum's best beach bags for new mums, best beach bags with pockets,

:: 05:37

best beach bags on Amazon. So you can see how adding that long tail key word. I always find it a bit confusing. They call it a key word because actually it's a phrase, but anyhow, this is where you're just about you understanding that you need to go that layer deeper. That's the way that I look at it. So you've got your topic,

:: 05:55

best speech bags for the summer. Can you get more specific? Can you go that layer there per se, best beach backs for the summer. If you've got a newborn baby immediately makes it so much more specific and by the way, you can apply exactly the same trick to YouTube and Pinterest too. There's an auto-complete there. I think you will say,

:: 06:15

look at this to a certain extent on podcast apps to if Google auto-complete, isn't giving you what you want. You could try looking for inspiration in your industry's trade publications. You could also head over to Amazon and look at books relating to your industry. Chapter titles could be a really great source of topic keywords, and also have quick look at your competitors' sites for inspiration too,

:: 06:38

if you are going to use keyword tools, but remember it really is best to start with your own list and just use these tools just to refine once you're happy that you've got blog posts, ideas that are going to resonate with your ideal customers and clients. That's when you go to the tools, I would really recommend not ever starting with tools, but ones that I do rate our keywords everywhere,

:: 06:58

answer the public, and actually Google ads can be handy for this too. So if you head over to Google ads and start to create an ad, when you put in a keyword, it will basically give you a price per search term. The higher cost per click, the more popular the search term is likely to be. So that should give you an indicator of less competitive search terms that you can use,

:: 07:23

and it will often suggest them to you as well. Keyword finder is another one, and this is a tool that gives you really in-depth information on how easy it will be to rank for your chasing phrase. And I think if I remember by keyword, find it also shows you the top 10 pages ranking for a particular term, and will also give you alternative suggestions and show you how popular phrases are.

:: 07:45

Another key was awesome, but I would say this is for when you're a little bit more advanced when you're blogging regularly, you're consistent. People are starting to respond to your content and say they find it useful. Neil Patel's blog is excellent. I'll link to that in the show notes, but just a reminder, if you haven't yet established a regular blogging habit,

:: 08:07

I would really recommend just focusing on that first really understanding your ideal customers or clients problems, and also be kind to yourself. It might take you a while to really nail the type of content that they're looking for, which is why getting too bogged down in keyword research. Isn't often the best use of your time when you're just trying to get regular with your blogging.

:: 08:30

So I hope you found that useful. And if you'd like to save time on creating blog content for your business, you should absolutely invest in my courageous blog content kit, because it contains everything you need to save time and trouble. When it comes to creating blog, content includes a hundred fill in the gaps. Blog posts, headers 24 blog posts, templates plus templates for social media posts,

:: 08:52

email newsletters, and other content that will help you to promote your blog content. Along with my 30 day blog content promotion schedule, I'll add a link in the show notes.