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Have you been spending countless hours trying to get your social platforms to grow, but you're not seeing results? I know this can be so frustrating, but I want to remind you, growing a following on social media doesn't mean you're growing your business. If your marketing isn't increasing your website traffic and new customers – it's time to take moment to reassess. I'm not saying to stop posting entirely, but take a moment to see how much of a return on investment you're actually getting. Most small business owners are in one of two places, myself included! Either you have extra time to learn and do it yourself or you have the funds to invest in your business and outsource the task to someone else. Today we're going to dive into, how focusing on specific areas can make a HUGE difference in your business, instead of trying to do everything at once with little to no results.
Here are the answers I'm sharing in this post:
What is SEO
How SEO Increases Website Traffic Overtime
Website Traffic from Social Media vs Google
How to Make Data Driven Decisions
What is SEO?
What the heck is SEO and why should I even care? SEO doesn't only relate to websites anymore. It's been introduced on social platforms as well! SEO means Search Engine Optimization –The ability to optimize your website or social platform in a way that makes you 'searchable'. Understanding what your customers are searching for on the Web, Facebook, and Instagram allows you to implement those key search terms aka keywords, in specific areas – increasing the likelihood of someone finding you. It's not just about the keywords though – there are many more factors that come into play.
How SEO Can Increase Website Traffic Overtime
In February of 2023, I approached a client of mine about working together for a 3 month period in a few specific areas of her business. Since I started my business in 2019, my focus has been on websites, logos/branding, and social media. Slowly but surely, web design became my favorite of the three. I approached this client specifically, because we have worked so well together in the past! Not to mention, I'd set up some of her social channels, designed her logo and branding, and redesigned a website that wasn't working well for her. Since I'd developed all of that already, I had a great understanding of her business, her goals, her dreams, and most importantly her heart. I approached her with the idea of me helping in more specific areas of her business, she was THRILLED to say the least.
All that to say, I've learned a whole heck of a lot in the last 10 months. One of my biggest focuses for this client has been SEO and creating systems. In this post I'm diving into the SEO side to show you how impactful, strategic tweaks can make over time!
November 2022
Here is my client's website traffic from the month of November 2022. In 22' they were generating around 1,400 website visits from Google (this is without any Google Ads).
November 2023
And here is November 2023. They are now generating around 6,000 website visits from Google (still not using Google Ads)! (Plus, we're not even finished with this month yet!)
Feb 21, 2024 Updated Data:
*Keep in mind all SEO projects will generate different results. This traffic was a result of 18+ months of in depth on-page SEO optimization. As well as a deep dive into foundational keyword research strategy and implementation.
Website Traffic From Social Media vs Google
Sometimes seeing someone else's success, when you're in a hard season, can feel like a swift kick in the pants, but I want to challenge you to look at this differently. Take note of a couple things. Do you see how my client's Instagram and Facebook website visits haven't really grown much at all, but Google has? She's gained thousands of followers over the last few years, but her website traffic from Instagram and Facebook have not increased much. When I noticed her website traffic on Google started increasing as we continuously made tweaks, I started to shift my focus. We used to focus a lot on social media. It felt like constantly reinventing the wheel just to figure out what would stick. This helped us build relationships with people following her. Some of which ended up converting to customers, but it never matched the success we were having with Google. Keep in mind, the marketing channels you choose to use for your business are completely up to you. The only reason I'm bringing this up is to remind you to take a step back, list out all the platforms you're pouring your time into. Are they giving you a great ROI? If not, it may be time to shift your focus to another area.
How to Look Out for Scammers
When someone talks about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) do you feel like a deer in headlights? If so, you're not alone. It's a complicated topic... heck, it's a complicated industry! The amount of scam email's I've personally received claiming they can "get me on the first page of Google!" or better yet claims that my website was built incorrectly, but "they are here to fix it and help my business grow!" The saddest part of all of this, in my opinion, is that they're preying on the lack of knowledge on the topic. If someone doesn't have knowledge in the area of SEO, they may hire someone who claims to know what they're doing and end up losing a lot of money with little to no results to show for it. This makes my blood boil. Scamming someone out of money because of their lack of knowledge is so wrong... but that's not what this is about. The purpose of this blog post is to share some of the basics when it comes to marketing, so that you feel empowered to implement some of this yourself!
How to Make Data Driven Decisions
I do understand there are programs that can track this information for you. I personally enjoy taking down this information every week manually, not only is it a great discipline it also allows me to see exactly where our weekly efforts are paying off, or NOT paying off!
What Should I Start Tracking?
Here are the columns to write down or set up in an excel doc.
(I conduct this report weekly, so each number I track represents what's came in, in the last 7 days)
-Date (what is today's date? *Do this on the same day each week)
-Time (what time did you enter this info?)
-Total # of Website Visits in the last 7 days
-Direct (Traffic that came in by either you sending a link or them going to the website on their own)
-Pinterest, Linked In, Bing - any other platforms you're wanting to grow
-Instagram Followers
-Facebook Page Followers
-# of Email Subscribers
-# of New Leads
-# of New Sales
Entering this information on the same day and same time, every single week will start to show you what's working and what's not! If there's a spike in traffic, it will be easier to go back and see what created that spike – this also gives you new ideas to recreated that growth, again, in a new way! Before you implement anything new, just start tracking these metrics. December can be a very busy month, but imagine if you tracked this once per week. By January, you would be able to see some areas that need improvement. So instead of guessing what your new year marketing goals should be, you'll be making decisions based on your own metrics. There's nothing that excites me more than data driven decisions. I would LOVE to hear how this goes for you if you decide to try it!
Imagine you didn't have to worry about posting on social media anymore to get new customers? What if all your traffic came from Google and Word of Mouth referrals? What would that feel like?
or on the flip side
Imagine if you've been generating traffic on Google, but you've never taken the time to really set up your social media. What if your social media could become a way to build community around your brand?
It's all so very possible, it just takes consistency, time, and tweaks along the way or investing in the right person.