In addition to aligning your content with your searchers’ needs, good SEO makes your site intuitive and easily navigable, and it creates a foundation for site visitors to interact with your site and move through your conversion funnel. Because of this, SEO not only attracts visitors at every phase in your conversion funnel, but it impacts every visitor to your site, regardless of how they discovered your brand.

Here’s how optimizing content for searching journeys in each phase, from initial awareness to final conversion, attracts more organic traffic and boosts conversions.

SEO Attracts Visitors at Every Phase in the Conversion Funnel

SEO makes your site findable to the right users at the right moment, but only if you have an effective content strategy. Holistic SEOs do this by studying how your searchers become buyers and optimizing the content on your site for users in every stage of that path.

Optimization for organic search is another way to effectively grab those valuable upper funnel searchers and users at every phase in the conversion path with a one-time investment in content strategy and evergreen content creation.

Step 1: Awareness

Awareness of your brand is the first phase of the conversion funnel. Let’s assume we are working on an SEO strategy for a portable self-storage moving company.

When Mary, our potential customer, starts thinking about moving across the country, she needs to figure out the logistics of her big move. She turns to Google for suggestions and types “help moving” into the search bar. 

This query can be answered in a variety of ways. Rental moving trucks, professional moving services, and hourly movers could all be solutions to Mary’s general task of finding help for her move. Our fictional business can use this general query as an opportunity to make Mary aware of their solution.

A holistic approach to SEO would ensure this site had a dedicated landing page educating those who need “help moving” about their flexible storage and moving containers. This page would be optimized for keywords that reflect this search journey.

Mary is now aware of the existence of portable self-storage and moving containers. That landing page would also offer an intuitive funnel users can follow to learn more about storage and moving containers as visitors like Mary move down the conversion funnel into the interest phase.

To better understand how to create your beginning of the funnel, consider asking ChatGPT along with an AI tool like Keywords Everywhere, for example:

   “My main keyword is [KEYWORD]. Which keywords should I be
   focussing on to attract people who are just researching
   options at the very start of their searching journey?”

Step 2: Interest

Mary is now aware of portable self-storage as one solution to her task of moving. But there are still questions about what portable self-storage and moving containers would mean for her move. Mary again turns to Google to learn more. “Moving containers” may be her query this time as she enters the interest stage in our conversion funnel. The customer is aware of the offering but wants to know more.

Holistic SEO ensures that our site is optimized for searchers in this next phase of the funnel by offering information about what moving containers are and how they work. 

Questions like: “How much do they cost?”; “What sizes are available?”; “How long can I use them?” or “How quickly can they be transported?”, could all be answered on a landing page for the interested visitor. Users in the interest phase should also have content from the next phase in your conversion funnel clearly laid out for them when they are ready to move from interest to consideration. Use email marketing to engage users who are not yet ready to move down your conversion funnel.

For this optimization strategy, consider using the following prompt:

   “My main keyword is [KEYWORD]. Which questions should I
   answer throughout my site to inform my target customers
   that this may be the best solution for them.”

Step 3: Consideration

At this step, the customer wants a particular brand or product. Mary loves the idea of portable moving containers but isn’t sure which brand will best meet her needs. “Compare portable storage containers” may be our query this time. Mary knows portable storage containers will be her solution. She wants to find the best deal though and she’s using search engines to point her to options she can compare as she gets close to making her purchase decision.

During this phase, your site needs to be optimized to communicate your unique value proposition. Are you convincing visitors through your content that your offering is the clear choice for your potential customers? 

When you’ve outlined the benefits of choosing your company and offering, encourage your visitor to make the final move to conversion with an intuitive path laid out for your visitor. At this stage, a well-optimized digital business card is important to consolidate your brand-driven assets.

Here, consider a prompt like this:

   “My business is [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO HERE]. My main 
   competitors are [COMPETITORS]. How can I convince my 
   customers that my business is the best option for them?”

Step 4: Conversion

Mary has done all of the groundwork; she’s ready to convert! The decision is made. Mary is ready to purchase but can’t remember the domain and wants to skip navigating through the site. “Brand name moving containers” is the query this time. She just wants to be connected with our key landing page, which is set up for conversions.

With holistic SEO, you’ve ensured this page exists and meets the expectations of your soon-to-be buyer. It should include the information Mary needs about her portable storage container like size, price, and transportation. It should also have a streamlined checkout process to make sure converting is as simple and intuitive as possible.

   At this point, prompt AI on how to use your CTAs, 
   identify what your landing page is missing, and how 
   you can improve your conversions. 

Holistic SEO Pushes Users Further Down Your Funnel

SEO doesn’t just attract people from organic search at every step in the conversion funnel; it also pushes people down it. Holistic SEO isn’t just about aligning content with queries. It’s also about optimizing the user’s experience on your site. It’s about making your site intuitive and useful so that it will drive conversion.

Users who land on your site to learn more about your general industry should find an answer to their questions. They should also find why your solution meets their specific needs, why your solution is the best for them, and where they can take advantage of this great solution. Good SEO turns “awareness” into “interest” or even “conversion.”

SEO Touches Visitors from All Sources and in All Phases of Your Conversion Funnel

SEO touches all site visitors, regardless of the source or phase in your conversion funnel. Because of your SEO efforts, visitors who find your site through a display ad in the “consideration” phase have the perfect landing page to express your unique value proposition and move them seamlessly to the “conversion” stage.

“Interested” users who look for your brand after seeing a TV ad have content to answer their questions about your product as well as the facts about your company and the path laid out for them to move further down that conversion funnel.

Social media visitors who are just starting to learn about your industry in the “awareness” stage can find the information they need to move down to the “interest” or “consideration” phase and compare your offering to your competitors. The content and path alignment created through holistic SEO makes purchasing easy and intuitive for ALL your site visitors, regardless of source or phase in the conversion funnel.

Most brands invest in SEO because organic search drives relevant traffic and revenue to their site. Holistic SEO does more than just improve a site’s performance in organic search. It lays the foundation for all online touches with your brand by aligning your site’s content with what your unique users are looking for. Holistic SEO also boosts the performance of your entire marketing program by optimizing content for each stage of the conversion funnel, resulting in overall improved traffic, revenue, and conversion rate.

Key Takeaways:

• Holistic SEO involves studying how searchers become customers and tailoring content to users in each stage of that journey – awareness, interest, consideration, and conversion. This captures more upper-funnel searchers and leads them further down the path to purchase.
• Aligning site content to searchers’ evolving needs makes a site more intuitive and usable. SEO not only brings in relevant organic visitors, but it also helps push them through the conversion funnel.
• Good SEO benefits all site visitors regardless of source. By creating useful, tailored content and conversion paths, holistic SEO boosts the performance of overall marketing efforts – more traffic, revenue, and conversions.

In summary, holistic SEO goes beyond driving organic traffic to lay the groundwork for guiding users seamlessly through the purchase process. It boosts marketing results by optimizing the entire customer experience.

Say Hello to Smarter, Faster, More Effective Content Creation!
Join the Club! 👇

Blog cover image: Unsplash+ In collaboration with Spenser Sembrat

*Some or all links on this page may be affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make any purchases based on my recommendations.

The post How to Transform Visitors into Buyers through Holistic SEO appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

I’ve been an Amazon customer since 1996. I was living in rural Ontario, Canada and I was thrilled that I could order books online and they would be delivered to my remote mailbox…the mailman had to drive 1 mile down a dirt road to but our mail in the box.

It was a major convenience for us since we were a 45-minute drive from the nearest small town with a small bookstore.

Fast forward to 2019 and I use many of the services provided by Amazon as a Prime member. I thought free 2-day shipping was pretty awesome and now I watch movies, get free Kindle ebooks, and have groceries delivered.

Since I frequently get questions about what products and books I recommend, so I make recommendations on Amazon. And, yes, I’m an affiliate for Amazon so if you do click on one of my links and make a purchase, I will get a small affiliate commission. In no way does that affect the price you pay.

First, to take advantage of Amazon Prime deals, you must be a Prime member. If you’re not already a Prime member you can get a free 30-day trial and take advantage of all the deals. You can always cancel the membership if you don’t like it. Click here to get the free 30-day Prime Membership trial.

I’ve set up what Amazon calls a storefront that includes lists of products I recommend for Marketing Books, Marketing Tools, Travel & Adventure stuff, resources about Intermittent Fasting (I co-host a Facebook group on IF), and Coffee.

Go forth and enjoy! I’ll be watching for deals on some business books that are on my reading list!

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

The post Amazon Prime Deals appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” ~ Yogi Berra

You’ve probably heard or read Berra’s quote more than once. It sounds funny, and it’s absolutely true.

The last few months I’ve been working with a group who want to trek to Machu Picchu in 2019. They know where they want to go. So it’s simple to create a step by step plan to get them to their desired destination: selecting dates, working with the trekking company to develop an itinerary, booking flights, hotels and all the rest of the cool experiences they’ll have along the way.

Imagine if they had only told me they wanted to hike in Peru. Without any more information, I might have created an adventure tour that included trekking to Huascarán, the highest peak in Peru and definitely more strenuous than getting to Machu Picchu. And, not what they had in mind. 

But without knowing where they want to go, I would have to make assumptions and hope I get it right. Imagine the group’s disappointment when they didn’t end up at Machu Picchu!

The same is true with your business.

If you don’t have a plan for where you want to go, you’ll end up someplace else.

And it might not be what you imagined. It’s likely you’ll fall short of your expectations because there’s no clear path to meet them.

• You want to create an online course, but you don’t have a step by step plan to create, promote and deliver it.
• You want to increase your revenue by 30%, but you have no idea what actions to take to achieve that goal.
• You want to write a book, but you don’t have a marketing plan to implement once it’s published.

To support you in this endeavor, I’m facilitating a 2019 Q1 Planning Workshop designed to help you plot a plan of action for what you want to accomplish in the first 90 days of 2019.

On January 3, the (virtual) Planning Workshop is focused on creating your marketing plan and implementation timeline through March 31, 2019.

The time is now to start preparing for your Q1 programs.

In a small group, you’ll focus on what you want to accomplish in the first quarter of 2019 and the specific action plan to make it happen.

Here are the details:

• We meet on Zoom for 4 hours on Thursday, January 3, 2019, from 8 am to 12 pm Pacific time/ 11 am to 3 pm Eastern time. There will be time for breaks.
• We will look at where you are now in your business, where you want to be on March 31, 2019, and map out the path for you to get there.
• The Q1 Planning Workshop will be a blend of mastermind, facilitated exercises, ideas, advice, and Q&A. You will get worksheets to use throughout the planning process.
• We’ll identify what you need in order to meet your first quarter goals: resources, tools, skills, partners and your timeline of actions.
• My intention is for you to leave the Q1 Planning Workshop with a customized, actionable plan for boosting the visibility of your business, marketing your programs and services, and attracting more opportunities. This is a Get It Done workshop.
• Depending on the size of the group, time may allow for individual attention during Q&A while also enjoying support and wisdom from your posse.
• The session will be recorded so you can reference it when you need to.

January 3, 2019
8 am PT – 12 pm PT / 11 am ET – 3 pm ET

You have two options:

$97 for the 4-hour Workshop: Click here to register

$197 for Workshop + 60-minute private consultation to discuss your plan and get individualized help: Click here to register

This focused time together will set you up with the support, tools, and motivation you need to start your new year on a high note.

Sound good? Pick the option that works best for you and let’s get started!I’ll work with you to map the path to make your 2019 Q1 productive and profitable and look forward to sharing this adventure with you!

Wishing you a happy and peaceful New Year!  😀 

Denise

P.S. If you’d prefer to do a one on one strategic planning day, schedule a 20-minute discovery session and we’ll chat about how we can do that together.

P.P.S. Here’s what Georgia had to say after attending a Strategic Planning workshop in August:

“Just finished Denise’s Strategic Master Plan Think Tank and it was amazing! So much accomplished. I am set until 2019. The handouts alone were worth the admission. And, Denise’s warm, intelligent insights always push my business forward by a magnitude.”

The post Where is your business headed in 2019? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

You just can’t argue with the statistics. We are firmly entrenched in the age of video marketing and you ignore it at your peril.

Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined. (Wordstream)

If you want more eyeballs on your content a.k.a your business, then you need to promote your blog posts with video. There are a couple of ways you can do this: talking head style announcing your new blog post or a simple video trailer featuring images and quotes from your article. Both are relatively simple to create.

FYI… this is yet another way to repurpose your blog content.

In the first instance, a talking head video, all you need is your smartphone or a webcam to record a short synopsis of your blog post. As long as it’s under a minute, you can upload it directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Include a call to action and a link to the post, and you’re all set.

In the second example, creating a video trailer, it can be time-consuming (create a slide deck and convert it to video) or super simple with a tool I recently discovered called Lumen5.

85% of Facebook Video is watched with the sound off. (Animoto)

The biggest complaints, and what stops most people from making videos, are the complexity and the time it takes to create videos. Lumen5 eliminates those obstacles.

The biggest complaints, and what stops most people from making videos, are the complexity and the time it takes to create videos. Click to Tweet

There are four steps after you create your free account:

1. Paste the URL from your blog post into a field and click Go. The software creates a storyboard with text pulled directly from your blog post.
2. Edit with suggested royalty-free images to match your content. Or upload your own images.
3. Select a clip of royalty-free music.
4. Review and publish.

I couldn’t believe it the first time I created a video from a blog post. It took me about 15 minutes because I was messing around with the images. The video below is from this post.

Here’s How to Create a Video with Lumen5

After you create your free account at Lumen5.com, click on your profile image and select the option to Create Video.

In the field next to the Create button, paste in the URL (permalink) for the blog post you want to turn into a video trailer. Click the Create button.

The Storyboard

Depending on the length of the blog post, a window may open like the one you see below. It’s recommended you keep your videos under two minutes. I recommend keeping them around 1 minute if you want the viewer to watch the entire thing.

What the software is doing is estimating how long your video will be and if your post is very long, it will recommend that you create several shorter videos from selections of your article.

If you prefer to use the entire article, then slick the link that’s highlighted at the bottom of the window to use the entire article.

Now, you’ll see the storyboard that is created from your content. To create a new section, simply highlight the text you want to use on a “slide.” Each section will create a single slide when the video is created. Short, concise sentences are best.

You can edit each section. Looking at the image below, on the left, some of the text is highlighted. That created each section. Then, I edited the content to be shorter, and still maintain the message.

IMPORTANT: Add a final section with a call to action to read the post on your site (see the examples at the end of the post). You’ll be able to do some additional editing later. Click the Continue button at the top of the page.

Add Images and Music

The next step is to tweak the images that were auto-populated with your text. Some will be appropriate and some will need to be changed.

On the left side of the dashboard you have an option to select media, music, and create some customized branding for your video. This is where you’ll spend the most time. You can use images that you’ll discover under the media tab, you can upload your own images or you can simply use a background color for the text. Be sure to save your work as you create the visuals.

Time to Publish

You can preview your video at any time by clicking Continue. If the video needs some work, click on Continue Editing. When you’re satisfied with the preview, click on Publish. You’ll receive an email when the video rendering is complete (this can take awhile, go do something else while you wait 😆  ).

Download Your Video

Once your video is finished rendering, download it to your computer or Dropbox or whereever you save your files. If you discover that there’s an error, never fear. You can edit the video again and then rerender it.

Share Your Video

Now that you have a video trailer for your blog post, it’s time to share it. If your video is under one minute, you can upload it to Instagram, as well as Facebook and Twitter. If it’s under 140 seconds (2 minutes, 20 seconds), then you can upload it to Twitter and Facebook (up to 4 hours). [Here’s the video I created while capturing screenshots for this post.]

You’ll also want to upload your videos to your YouTube channel. But, do not post the YouTube link on your social networks. Upload the video file directly (native upload) to each platform so you get the benefit of the preference from the algorithms.  What is “native video”?

…videos that are created within or uploaded directly to Facebook, and auto-play within the News Feed.

The social platforms don’t want you to sent your viewers off of their site. They give preference to any native content that keeps the audience on their platform.

Here’s what you do:

1. First, upload the video file directly within a status update.
2. Next, write a short description of your blog post to complement the video trailer.
3. Finally, include a call to action and link back to the blog post on your site.

This works for Twitter and Facebook. Hyperlinks don’t work on Instagram posts. You can refer to the link in your bio to get to the blog post.

I found that keeping video trailers close to one minute works better than those that are two minutes or more. You’ll get better reach, engagement and click-throughs to your blog post.

I asked a few people in my Visibility Group to share video trailers they made for their blog posts so you can see how others are doing it.

Jo Guerra of KickA Marketing

Sharon Williams of The 24 Hour Secretary

Liana George of By George Organizing Solutions

RECOMMENDED READING

13 Ways to Repurpose Your Content

Your Action Steps

Give it a try!
1. Set up a free Lumen5 account.

2. Follow the steps to create a video as outlined in this post.

3. Post a link to your video in the comments so I can check it out!

Title image: Chris Lawton

The post How to Promote Your Blog Post with a Simple Video Trailer appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

What’s stopping you from experimenting with live video for your business? I’ve been asking this question on various networks.

It puzzles me that more people aren’t jumping onto the live video bandwagon. It’s never been easier to shoot and stream video. The only equipment required is your smartphone. 

You could go one step further and use a webcam on your desktop, and you could invest in a desktop tripod, but you don’t need any of those things to shoot live streaming video.

Do any of these reasons for not doing live video resonate with you?

1. I don’t have a good location or backdrop
2. I don’t look good on video
3. Tools/How-to/Laziness/Time Constraints 

I do not want to be a time-waster if I’m going to go to all the trouble of doing this. Finding something I can talk about intelligently is highest on my list for moving forward with this challenge.

4. I don’t want to be visible, and I’m not sure anyone is interested in what I’d like to say

5. Fear that the video will not look good (here’s my answer to that)

Kick those fears to the curb

1. I don’t have a good location or backdrop

The beauty of live video is that it can be spontaneous and doesn’t require a “studio look.” Sure, you don’t want a big mess in the background because that can be distracting. But, you can create a live experience anywhere you’ve got a wifi connection so the background may be somewhere outdoors or at an airport, in a hotel, anywhere you happen to be.

The beauty of live video is that it can be spontaneous and doesn't require a 'studio look.' Click to Tweet

2. I don’t look good on video

I’ll let you in on a little secret:  Pretty much nobody (except maybe George Clooney) likes how they look on camera.  We all tend to be our own worst critics! The “don’t look good on video” fear is mostly unfounded.  We’re usually being way too self-conscious.  Live video is not a “red carpet” moment, it’s a casual, informal, “on-the-fly” moment. And, I’ll never forget the advice I got when I first was experimenting with video and hated the way I looked: no one cares what you look like, most people want to see people who look like them. It makes you more relatable.

3. Tools/How-to/Laziness/Time Constraints 

Another cool feature of live video is that it doesn’t take a lot of time!  Think of it as a quick “video selfie.”   You can use your mobile phone and do your video from anywhere, on the go and in the moment.  The “no time” excuse simply doesn’t hold up when it comes to live video.  And going live on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is literally a few taps on your phone. It can’t get any easier than that.

4. I don’t want to be visible, and I’m not sure anyone is interested in what I’d like to say

Believe me, I can relate to not wanting to be visible. I’m an introvert and being on camera is not my first choice for expressing myself. However, the reality is, LIVE video has become so important that you can’t ignore it. With hundreds of millions of people on every social network competing for attention, the content that stands out above all others is live video. I’ll be blunt. If you’re not doing some live video, your message isn’t being seen and heard by many people. Is that what you want?

5. Fear that the video will not look good

Here’s my answer to that. If your content is great, but the video is not up to snuff, all is not lost. There are numerous ways you can repurpose the content without the video so your time hasn’t been “wasted.”

How are you feeling now? I know I sound like a broken record, and I believe that you – the entrepreneur, the solo business owner – are in a unique position to take chances, experiment with new tools and tactics and embrace change. What have you got to lose?

Need a pep talk? Here’s my journey to “just say yes” which I apply whenever I feel reluctant about trying something new.

Want more? Here are The Video Godfather’s Top 10 Proven Video Marketing Tips.

If you have questions or concerns I haven’t addressed, please post them in the comments or here, on Facebook.

[ssp-video]

The post Are You Afraid of Doing Live Video? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.