Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] Hey, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Confessions in the Home Office. I'm Wendy Hill, and today I want to talk to you about something that I know is kind of a stressor for a lot of business owners. And I think about this a good bit. I'm always trying to work on it. And when I talk to clients and just other people that I meet, this is a topic that we're all thinking about. So you know when you pour your heart into something like maybe a whole social media campaign, or you've created new content, or you've created a new website, or you've created a new course, or you have something new that you want to tell the world and you put it out there and all you hear is crickets. Or maybe you get a couple likes from your friends and not much happens. And you just think, is anybody ever going to notice me? Well, I'll tell you this, it's not going to happen overnight, so let's go ahead and get that out of the way. So listen, and by the end of this episode, you'll have 10 strategies to think through. You don't have to do all them at once, but refer back to this episode. And these 10 strategies definitely will help you if you put the work in and over time will help you get somewhere. I'm sorry, my nose is itching. Always happens.
[00:01:15] So before we dive in, make sure you subscribe, like share, comment, follow, all that.
[00:01:22] And so other people will find the podcast that really helps. So the first strategy is I want you to own your digital real estate. So you build a website. Either you build it yourself or you, you pay someone to do it and you just throw it up there and you leave it. You can't do that.
[00:01:40] So I want you to think about going back through your website, even if it's relatively new, and think about what you can do to make your website better. I'm not just talking about adding a blog post here and there. I want you to really do an audit. Audit. It's more like your digital storefront. And the way social, social media is these days, we've had like Instagram go down before. We've had meta go down before. You know, all of the, the programs TikTok just went down came back up, that type of thing. And your website can't just be pretty anymore, but it can't be that long. Brochure wear that we went through in the 90s and the early 2000s, it needs to be fast, it needs to be mobile friendly, and it needs to be optimized for voice search. So I'll talk about that. I want you to run a comprehensive speed tool on your website. You can use something like there, and there's a bunch of them out there. You can use Page Speed Insights as one of them. I want you to look at your core web vitals. That's the things that Google's measuring for user experience. You might find out that your site's running slow and you need to get some help with that and look into that.
[00:02:49] But just take a look at it and make sure that everything's okay there. And then I want you to make sure that your site is optimized for mobile search. So I use, I use two different platforms for different sites, but there's a way that I can go in and look and there's like a mobile version when I'm editing and a desktop version when I'm editing. And even if you have somebody or you build the site, it just looks perfect on its desktop. On the desktop version, when you switch over to the mobile, there'll be things that, that aren't lined up or things where there's a. There's like the sentence breaks or a graphic pops up somewhere in the wrong place. So go through, spend the time and make sure that works. And every time you add something to your site, go back through that page, go through that section and make sure that everything still looks okay. If you need help with that, let me know.
[00:03:40] Or whomever worked on your website, they can go through and make those tweaks. And sometimes it's easy enough, you can just do it yourself. The other thing is, oh, and also always check the phone, check it like an iPad, and then check a desktop. And then I would look in different browsers too and just make sure everything looks okay. And then last, I want you to optimize your site for voice search. I don't want you to write your site and have all your content where everything's just so wordy and where people don't understand it. People are really simple and people just want to get the facts. Especially now, these days we've had so much just drama online. So make sure that if you have frequently asked questions or ways you're describing your services, that it's just easy. And there's keywords in there, the way people would talk and the pa. The way people ask questions when they ask about your business. So that will help. And the last thing is just. And stop just using social media. I know sometimes people say, oh, you can just have a Facebook page or you can just have a Facebook group. Stuff can go down anytime. Stuff could get hacked. Someone could report your account. So why would you do that? Make sure you own something. Make sure you own your website so you have a place you can send people so you can keep them up to date. Date if your social media went down.
[00:04:52] So strategy number two is about reusing and repurposing content. So many people get stressed about all the time it takes to create social media content, blog content, podcast content and all that, and they feel like I create it and it's gone. I can only use it once and it's gone. No, absolutely not. You can take one thing and turn it into so many other things. I'm going to give you an example. When I finish recording this podcast today, I will send it out for quick editing and it'll be back to me in just a couple of hours. And when it gets uploaded and I use Kastos for all the audio platforms and then we go ahead and just pop it into YouTube. Kastos will generate a transcript for this episode. I can download that, pop it into Word, start editing it, and get show notes for to. To put on Kestos and to put on YouTube. Some people say run it through AI you can do that, but AI could do some crazy stuff. And all of a sudden your podcast comes on as a whole new meaning, and you don't want that. So you need to like, really lay eyes on that and edit it and make sure that it sounds like you and that all the words are correct and that the meaning's really there. And then you can take that, those show notes and you can turn them into social media posts. So I can take this podcast, turn it into show notes, then turn it into a post for Facebook, turn a post for Instagram, turn it into a post for LinkedIn, turn it into post for X, and they're all a little different. Then I can take this transcript and edit it and turn it into a blog post for my website. Then I could take the transcript from this episode and turn it into a newsletter and email it out, and then I have a newsletter. The newsletter also goes out to people who subscribe through LinkedIn. So just think about that. And then I can reuse it again. I mean, things are going so quickly. No one, maybe somebody, but nobody's really going to say, I saw that three weeks ago that Wendy Hill put this up on LinkedIn and she put it up again. Well, yeah, maybe it's relevant again and keep sharing stuff over and over again. If it's Good, Keep going with it. So think about that. When you create a piece of content, what can you do? Can you turn in like a promo clip? Could you export a promo clip out of your editing software and turn that into some social media posts? Could that turn into some stories? Could that turn into something that you stick out on YouTube as a YouTube short? So there's all kinds of things that you can do. So every time you create something, think about can I use this again? And where, how many times, how often can I repurpose it? So just remember that Instagram loves visuals. LinkedIn perverts like professional insights and more facts and TikToks wanting more entertainment. So just, just keep that in mind and make sure you tweak it based on the platform.
[00:07:36] So strategy number three is local SEO. So if you're running your business from home, SEO matters more than ever. Just because you don't have, you may not have a business address where someone can walk in, but somebody needs to be able to find you. So first of all, you need to be able to verify with Google that your business is your business. You may have to upload like a bill or part of address of a bank statement, something tax document showing that that business is being, you're conducting business out of your home. Otherwise they'll come back and shut you down later. But I want you to do regular updates on that. Google my business listing and put up a post. You can upload some videos, you can upload photos. You don't have to take pictures of your house if you're working out of your house. But make sure people are up to date with what's going on, that they understand the products and services. And it's almost like a mini site. And Google will want to generate a site for you. I don't recommend that you do that, that you just put your website in as the link there.
[00:08:35] And I would use local keywords. So for me, I would put in marketing consulting, Greenville, South Carol, Carolina. I wouldn't just put marketing consultant or I wouldn't just put Southeast or South Carolina. Be as specific as you can so people can find you. So it's, that's just really important. You could also create specific landing pages if, if you offered things in, in several areas, like if you had different services, you could create specifically in pages for that and put that out there and then try to drive everything back to your main website, drive to that, to your listing on Google. That would take a lot more work. We can talk about that offline or if you want to Send me a message about it, or we may talk about that in a future episode. But there's all kinds of things you can do to try to. To bring people back to that listing, bring people back to your website. So let's move on to strategy number four. Let's talk about micro communities. I know on Instagram, I get invited to so many communities all the time, and a lot of times you can't.
[00:09:44] You can't respond to them or whatever, but the person's pushing out content, and then you start going to their community and looking for what their latest update is. There's all kinds of places where you can go and get involved in different online communities, like Facebook groups, either public or private Facebook groups. If you're on Reddit, if you're on Slack, if you're out on Discord, that type of thing, and try to build rapport.
[00:10:09] If you can't find anything, you can always create your own. But then you're gonna have to do a little bit more work to try to get people there and let them know about it and market it. But when you go into these groups, when you join, you don't go in there and sale and sell to people. That's just kind of creepy. You go in there and you respond to things, or you may ask a question, or when someone wants to know a little more about this, maybe you send them a link. I wouldn't even send them a link to what you do yet. You want to become one of the people that people, one of the people that others can count on in those groups so you don't have to spend a ton of time on it. It could be something that you do while you're waiting to pick up your kids or while you're waiting to go into the doctor's office. But you need to be consistent with it and spend 10 or 15 minutes a day on it. And just about every day. I mean, if you're really serious about this, you need to put in the work.
[00:10:57] But that's a good way to find people kind of outside your market, your local geographic market, but that still can.
[00:11:05] That maybe that you want to work with and eventually talk to them about your business.
[00:11:11] So strategy number five is strategic partnerships and collaborations. I was talking about this in a networking meeting I went to this past week.
[00:11:20] You know, sometimes with marketing, it gets tough because other people do things that are similar to what I do. And we feel like maybe we're too closely ma. You know, there's a lot of overlap, and we don't. We may not want to have a strategic partnership. But I was talking to a photographer the other day and she was talking about how she does a really good job with headshots. And I was like, well, you can invite all your contacts. I can invite all my contacts. We could have like Head Shop workshop. And I've done one of these before, a long time ago, and it worked really well. People, you know, after work, touch up their makeup and their hair and put on a jacket and head over and you talk for a few minutes about things. Everybody's contacts kind of all mix and mingle and, and from there you build some new relationships and maybe do something else down the road. That's just one example. So think about your industry. Is there somebody that's like in a complimentary field that you could do? I know lawyers and financial planners. They do webinars and do events all the time. Thinking about planning your estate and talking to somebody about their, their wills, trust, that type of thing. So just, just think about that and see if there's a partnership that you could do. You don't have to go do 50 of them. Just pick one and try it. Keep it small and see how it goes. So now we have a quick word from our sponsor. Hang on.
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[00:13:52] So used to, everybody had completely Separate business and personal. And sometimes that's still works. Like if you're a franchisee, you might not want to mix things, but if you have your own business, something you've created yourself, you, you can share a little more. And a lot of times people really want to know kind of the behind the scenes, not all your business, but what goes on.
[00:14:17] You know, over the years people have known, especially through Facebook and some through Instagram and sometimes I post on LinkedIn. I have a lot of dogs. I got myself in that mess and I'm just in it. I raised two kids solo for a really long time. Sometimes outside my door, when my door was shut, there was a lot of chaos going on in my house and I was just typing away.
[00:14:36] So people on social media, they'll see my kids out somewhere if they're local, and they'll say, I've watched you grow up. I can't believe you're in college now. And they're like, mom, somebody else said something about us. I had no idea who it was. But I think the point is to not overshare, not to go too far behind the scenes and not invade anybody's privacy. But I think sometimes people want to know that they, the people they're working with, they're human. And it's not just all business. So the whole high dollar production, all fake, all sunshine and rainbows all the time, that's kind of out. People just want to know what's going on. So if you can give them the information, be really transparent about it, I think that's the best way to go.
[00:15:14] So number seven, video content revelation. So if you don't like being on camera, I hate to tell you, but those days are over. You've got to do it. And believe me, I cannot stand being on camera. I'm stressed out and thinking about it and it's gotten a lot easier. So when I was going to do the podcast, I thought, I'll just do audio only. I can turn the camera off and talk and just everything can come out. Everybody can hear how I am when I'm completely relaxed. And I thought, you know what, it's not going to work. People need to see my face. They need to see who I am. And my stats have been really good on the video side in addition to the audio side of the, of the podcast. So you need to get started. People need to see your face. You may not have to do a ton depending on the type of business, but it wouldn't hurt to do a Facebook reel. It wouldn't Hurt to do Instagram story. Wouldn't hurt to upload a short video on LinkedIn. You could even do like a LinkedIn Live, just something short.
[00:16:18] And it doesn't have to be by yourself, it can be with somebody else.
[00:16:21] If you're heavy on Instagram and Facebook, you could do some of the kind of behind the scenes or what happened with this project or this big event I was working on completely blew up. And here's why, like a lesson learned. But you don't have to invest in a ton of crazy equipment. I've got this old blue snowball microphone. I've got this cute little pink clip on ring light.
[00:16:45] I've got a stand for my laptop and sometimes I use a different camera hooked to my laptop, but that's about it. You don't have to really do that much. And when you're doing like reels and things like that, you just use your phone. So don't think, well, I can't do it because it's going to be $500. No, it's going to be more like a hundred dollars, maybe 150. So it's not bad. And just keep things short. So Instagram reels just went from now they're three minutes is the length. Before it was a lot shorter. And with YouTube increasing their shorts, their period of time up to three minutes, Instagram, I think, decided to join that.
[00:17:27] So you can say a lot in three minutes. Especially if you're nervous being on camera. It takes a while to fill up three minutes. So just get started.
[00:17:36] So number eight is podcast guesting strategy. So my podcast has helped expand my reach tremendously. I don't know what episode this is. I'm up in the 20s now, somewhere mid-20s. But it also helps if you are a guest on other podcasts because then you're being exposed to their audience as well. So I've done a couple of those. Hopefully I'll do a lot more of those this year.
[00:18:01] Go find some podcasts you'd like to be on and see what type of guests that they have. You don't have to listen to all their episodes. Maybe listen to two, see what you like about it. You may find out, no, this really isn't the show that I want to be on. And then you need to come up with a pitch. So like several versions of your bio, a headshot, some links to things you do. And I would tell them some things in the communication that you like about the show and why you think you would be a good guest and kind of the perspectives you would bring. A lot of times these people are looking for guests. So you have to be diligent, you have to spend some time on it. I would block off a little bit of time two or three days a week or once you get a good template up and you listen to some things and you know what you want to do. If you have a virtual assistant or executive assistant, have them do some of this. They can this stuff moving and get feedback and follow up and all that while you're doing other things.
[00:18:54] So number nine, email marketing definitely is not dead. And I've talked about this one several times. So with platforms going dark, with platforms glitching and being down for several hours when I'm recording this, TikTok just came back on. You've got to have an email list. And I know it's hard because a lot of people don't want to give out their emails. They don't want to fill out those little forms and then do the, you know, the opt in email that they get. But you have to keep working on it and then think about with your email list, do you have different segments? Do you have some people that have signed up because you talked about a certain product or service or not? Or is everybody kind of lumped together if they're separated out, start emailing them about different things. If you've got two segments, maybe you send out two different types of emails and see what happens. That way you don't lose the people who aren't really in tune with what you're trying to promote.
[00:19:46] LinkedIn newsletters are good. I've started one of those in the past couple of months. You, when you publish your first episode, it sends a notification out to all of your connections. So make sure you have a lot of good connections on LinkedIn. And they'll get a notification that says, would you like to subscribe to Wendy Hill's newsletter? And it'll give the title and that type of thing.
[00:20:09] So mine is called Momentum Mail Unboxed and it's on LinkedIn if you want to subscribe to that. And so I send out email, the same email newsletter, one through LinkedIn and one to other email addresses that I've acquired just over time.
[00:20:27] So now we're down to strategy number 10 and that one's called Talk to People. Believe me, I'm an introvert. I would be happy if I could just. I like to go out and do things. I like to be outside and I don't want to just sit in my house. But if, if I could just Sit inside and make money from now on, I would probably do it. I'm gonna be really honest with you. So I make a point that I go to networking groups. I go somewhere at least once or twice a week. Sometimes they're bigger groups, sometimes they're smaller groups. I've reached out and meet with several people in, in Greenville, once, twice a month where we talk about what's going on with our business. Maybe it's just to go happy, have happy hour or co talking about things and you always get great ideas and it's really important. You have to kind of weed through and find the people that you trust and start talking to them and the connections that will come from that will help you long term. And one other tip that I'll give you from networking meetings is a lot of times people are passing business cards, passing business cards and you're hearing everything and you might be jotting down some notes. I always send them a follow up email and say, hey, I met you at this event either it was the day before, the week before.
[00:21:40] I have an email newsletter. Do you mind if I add you to the list? And they're like, oh, great to hear from you. Thank you for asking me. I get spammed all the time. Let me know if you want to meet up. Let me know if you've got any questions about what I do. So then when they see the email that comes in their inbox, hopefully they won't, they won't unsubscribe as quickly, but it's just a touch point. So that's just kind of an insider thing that I do. So now let's talk about implementation. I've told you all this stuff and if I had listened to this podcast a couple years ago, I would have been like, where the hell do I start? So just pick one or two things. It doesn't have to be a lot. We don't. It's just January, but maybe plan out. I'm going to work on this this month. I'm going to work on this in a month, month and a half maybe. I'm going to work on this. Keep going with stuff and it will get there. So your action item for this week is I want you to take an audit of are you really visible? Are you out networking? Is your website looking great? Are you sending out emails? Do you have your Google my business optimized? Just all these different things. Try to be a guest on a podcast, go from there and say this is where I am and this is where I'm going to go. Step one.
[00:22:53] So that's it for the today's episode of Confessions from the Home Office. Next week, I have one of my favorite people in the PR world that's going to join me, and she always has great tips and ideas of things. So stay tuned for that and I will see you next weekend.
