AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT - MAY CONTAIN ERRORS
Introduction to Content Creation
So today I wanted to talk about creating content that we before we start thinking about creating content for other areas, such as social media and places where we don't have control of that content. So I think this is a bit of a sort of switch in mindset, really, in terms of just thinking about how we can create stuff that is forthe long term, so everything that we, we create is going to help our business, help grow our marketing and be something that's sustainable and is going to help us to grow.
The Importance of Owning Your Content
It's really important to have content that we own and something that can't get taken away from us by algorithm changes or by an account getting deleted.
All of the other things that can happen and leave us in a very vulnerable position. If we're relying on that as our main method of marketing our business. So it helps us with long term and sustainable ways to market. And we have control over it as well, which is really important. We can keep. in control of what's happening with our marketing and how we're sharing stuff in our business.
SEO Benefits of Owned Content
So the reason that we would sort of focus on our own content first is the big benefit is obviously in the long term, it's going to help our SEO. So it's going to help us to build our domain authority. It's going to help us to have more content out there. That's talking about the subjects where we're the expert and the things that we should have Google and people associating with our websites and with what we do.
So the reason that SEO is so powerful is because we're connecting with people right at the moment, they're actually searching for what we are actually providing. So whether that is a blog post or a sales page or something that we're selling, People are actually typing something related to that into Google or any search engine or however they're searching.
And our content is then showing up. So it's really important to understand that I think, because that's a key difference. We're not just interrupting scroll. We're not just trying to capture their attention as they're walking past. If it's a billboard or something and they're walking past it's, that's the equivalent of social media.
I think really that actually. It's so, so reliant on actually people stopping if the algorithm even shows our content to to those people. So whereas SEO, they are actually, they are actually searching for what we're talking about. So the other thing that if we're creating content for ourselves and on our own domain, is it means that we, we come at it with the idea of.
Every piece of content, every idea we ever get for a piece of content, we think, how can I bring this back to something that I own? So whether that is bringing it back to our own website or a podcast, something where it can't get taken away, then that can be really powerful. So if we're then doing that and we're regularly doing that, then we're going to be updating our website regularly.
And that's really good for SEO. Google loves new content. So if we're regularly updating, improving, adding to our website with quality content that can give us a real boost in the search rankings.
Tracking and Analyzing Your Content's Performance
And we can actually track that as well. So if we're wanting to understand how, how our content is actually doing, it's easy then to have a look at Google analytics or Google search console and see how much traffic we're actually getting from that.
And whether those people are actually becoming customers as well, whether they are joining our email list. how they've come into our sites. We can do that through Google analytics. Your website builder may do that as well. I know FEA create, we have that option in there that we can see in our CRM, in our customer relationship manager, part of FEA create, we can see tags of where people have actually found us.
And that's really helpful. When you see that, when you see somebody has found you, through Google, and they've made a purchase. There's, it's a fantastic feeling really. It also makes it easier to connect with people who are more likely to then become customers because they are, they're already searching for what we sell.
So they're much more warm when they come into our website as well. So using those tools, you can then have a look. The big thing that comes up. When I am looking at people's analytics is that often people will come through, even if, even if social media has that sort of result of people coming through to our website, usually those people spend less time on a site.
It's, it's something that I see time and time again with clients accounts where the traffic that comes from search organic search, whether that is Google or Bing or Yahoo or whatever it is, they seem to stay on the websites longer. And it's, it is a pattern that I do see over and over again, really. So that's the thing I would be thinking.
If you get a little idea for a piece of content, just thinking about how can I use this content on my own website.
Integrating Content with Email Marketing
So the goal when people come to your website ideally is for them to make a purchase or join your email list. That's the two key things that can be really powerful for when people do actually arrive on your website.
Whether they're there and they spend some time absorbing your content and they're getting to know you and getting to trust you as well. That's great. But the ultimate goal is to make sales. If we're in business, the goal is to make sales. So whether they, they, you do that through your website or through your email list.
And even if you're doing that through your email list, it tends to be a bit What's the word I'm looking for? A seesaw between the two. So they go to your email list, you nurture them through your email list, and then they come back to your website to make a purchase, ideally, unless you are a brick and mortar and they actually come in, in store to make a purchase.
But they, they're really powerful. They go hand in hand and your website and your email list. Can be the two most valuable thing, things in your business in terms of marketing and sales makes a massive difference, really. So it's a direct line of communication to your audience. When you've got an email list, it makes some big difference to people actually feeling like they're, they're, they're remembering you.
If they, if you've got a solution to their problem and you're talking about that regularly through your email list, then that can make a big difference as well. But ultimately we want to be trying to drive back traffic back to the website. And the more traffic you get coming through to your website, the more helpful that is to Google as well.
Google understands that then this site is valuable. People are coming here. People are spending time here. And so then you will, that will give you a boost in your SEO as well. Really. With both your email list and your website, they tend to give them a much more positive return on investment. Whether that investment is in time or in money, it does seem to make a massive difference.
Much, much better return on that investment than you get from just posting on socials or from creating content that doesn't have any kind of longevity. It's almost throwaway content really. So when you're, once you've created something on your domain, once you start, well, once you have an idea, the, the, the goal is to then repurpose that in different places and the benefit of doing that is you can reach your audience in different places where, and, and with different types of content as well.
I'm going to come on to some examples of how you can do that in a minute, but it's, it's really important. You can then capture people in different ways and in different places as well. So what if I was. Thinking about creating content with my own domain in mind.
Firstly, I would start with my website. I would be thinking, okay, I've got an idea for, for something I need to create some content around.
How can I create something on my website around that? So that might be a blog. Ideally a blog because it's long form, it's written content, which Google loves, but sometimes that's hard. I know for me, I'm much better coming in here and doing lives and then making that into a podcast rather than writing a blog from the outset.
I'm better off with just talking and then using that to create a blog. It could be video, maybe video is the format that you're comfortable with and it is important to go with what you feel comfortable with really. So whatever is easier for you to create, go, go that way. But then always thinking, okay, how can I bring that back to my website?
So the reason that Podcasts and blog are great is because you own that content.
And ideally, if you, if you are creating a podcast, then you would be creating that and bringing that back to your own website as well. So when you create your podcast, you would create a podcast episode on your website for each episode of your podcast.
Cause that's massively going to help as well, help your own domain rather than just building it out on your own. on Buzzsprout or, Bcast or Lipsyn. However you're building it, rather than just building it on their domain, bring that back to your own domain as well. And that can make a big difference.
So even if it, maybe if you were putting videos on your website, ideally you wouldn't want to put videos on your own website because it's going to massively slow it down. So maybe videos that are hosted somewhere outside of YouTube or something where you are sort of subjective to the algorithms or videos that are linked back to your website could be helpful, but really you want something that's going to be there on your own website, on your own domain first and foremost. So you've created some content on your own domain or on your podcast that you own.
Next step is your email list so that's where you could be sending out an email newsletter, sending out a sales email. Adding to your welcome sequence. So when you've got that piece of content thinking, okay, how can I use this from through my email list? And if you are creating something like a podcast, or a blog, then it's great because that's something where you're creating new content every week.
That gives you a reason to email your list to, uh, We've that in, you can create an email around that and then also promote that new piece of content that you've just released as well. So try and get some traffic to it. Try and drive some traffic back to your own domain through your email newsletter. And if it is a sales email, if you've created a piece of content, you think actually this is really involved in my sales process.
This would help me to make more sales. Then adding that piece of content into an existing sales email sale sequence can be really helpful. The same with the welcome sequence. If you've Created a, a fantastic freebie, and then you've just created a podcast episode or a blog that's related to that. Then add that into your welcome sequence so people can continue that journey to trusting you around that particular subject.
Leveraging Google Business Profiles
So then third on the list is Google Business Profiles. You know how I love Google Business Profiles, and especially if you are a local business or if you have a lot of local customers. I'm an online business, but I still have a lot of local customers. Adding some of that content to your Google Business profile can be so much more powerful than social media because it has a longer lifespan.
So the content on social media is gone. We know that it's, you know, hours and days realistically that that content has a lifespan on, on social media. And then on Google Business profile, you'll post, say, stay active. So say if you do an update on your Google business profile and you create a post on there.
That stays active for at least six months. And I've seen them where they do, do just stay on there for longer than that. It says in Google's guidelines that they stay there for six months, but I have got ones on my, my profile that have been there longer.
Even if it is six months, then that's still a massive difference to you showing up locally and by adding those posts regularly, you're also letting Google know that you are still an active business, you're letting your local customers know, and especially if you have something.
Where you've got new things coming into your business every week, if you can create some content on your website around that, and then link between that post on your Google business profile back to your website, that makes a massive difference. Google loves that kind of stuff. And then you will be showing more likely to show up locally in the maps.
Even if you haven't got a pin in the map, you're still more likely to show up to local customers when they're searching for the terms that you've used within those posts as well.
Strategic Use of Social Media
And then, After that, social media. So I would always say, do those other things first, those things that are going to help you with longer term marketing and Google business profile and email list are things that can have an effect straight away.
You can, you can get a return on investment from that straight away. And you can on your website as well. If some of the content you're updating. Is pages that have already got traffic coming to them, then that can, that can have an immediate effect. So once you've done all those things, then social media, and I would say be strategic about your social media as well.
So thinking about what social media platforms can I use that do have that bit more longevity or is actually creating content that, that is going to have a bit more impact really. So be thinking about things like Pinterest and YouTube where they are still. algorithm dependent and they aren't platforms that you own.
So I would still have that hesitation there about relying on those as a main marketing platform. I would certainly be thinking about those before Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, where it's literally hours and those posts are gone really. So, and also, um, It's whether you even get to that point where you want to use the social media.
If you're doing the other things, if you're promoting things regularly, if you're doing your SEO well on your website, and you're getting a lot of traffic coming from Google, the right traffic that people, when people are actually searching for. The thing that you sell, then you might find doing that, doing your email list, regularly emailing your list, adding to your Google business profile.
You might then find you don't need to do too much on social media. And that's like a goal, really, realistically that you can just use social media as a pleasure in your business, rather than it being something where we have this feeling that we've got to keep feeding that algorithm. And. If you are using social media, I would also then always be thinking when you're creating those posts, how can you get people off of the social media and back to the content that you own as well?
So how can you get them to go to your website and take action or join your email list rather than. just interrupting their scroll, they see something and then they've forgotten about it when they get to the next post that they're looking at. the reason that, we kind of have this feeling of social media is the be all and end all for marketing is it's, it's built into the way that they build the platforms.
The goal is. For people to keep using them. That's how they get paid. That's how they get their revenue from the ads. And I think this is something that's really important to understand about it. So when we use social media, we get that dopamine hit of it being an immediate or immediate win or immediate fail.
And it keeps bringing us back. We want to check and see how our post is doing, whether we've had any engagement, what the comments are, and it feeds into, into our. some of our primal instincts of needing to be part of the crowd and part of a tribe. And I think it's, once you, once you become aware of those kind of things, it makes, it makes you more aware of the things, of the way it's programming your brain really, us relying on those social media platforms.
We all know how we feel. When we spent too much time on social media and it does leave us feeling like we're less and we're not doing the same as everybody else. We're not doing as well as everybody else. And so I think it's worth bearing that in mind as well, your own, how, how you feel about yourself when you use social media and that feeling of you've got to be doing it, otherwise you're failing in business.
So that's why we tend to go to the social media first and foremost, rather than thinking about. Putting our own oxygen mask on first and helping our own domain firstly.
One thing that I, I heard yesterday, um, was about that, That thing of relying on, on social media and I heard a story about a woman on TikTok who had 1. 3 million followers on TikTok and she arranged an in person meet and greet and nobody showed up and it's, that's a really sad story.
She, she actually made it into a post and there's her sort of standing there like just looking. A bit lost and she had a comment on the caption on there was when you arrange a meet and greet for your 1. 3 million followers and nobody shows up. And it's that's the kind of thing that can do to us actually is we have this feeling of 1.
3 million followers. Well, that must be , customers that must be, you know, of course that's amazing, but it's not, if it's not doing anything for your business, they're all just vanity metrics with the followers and the likes and the, all of those things. So whereas actually you can much, much more readily track whether whether your content is bringing money into your business, if you're using Google analytics and using Google search console, and you can, you can then measure that a bit more really.
So I think the challenge that we face when we're. Trying to create content is that it does seem easier for social media. We can just literally create a visual, a quick caption for it, and then post that. And it feels like we're doing something, but you can still do that. If you're creating content with your own website in mind, you can create things that you don't have to be creating a whole long form blog post.
And every time you do that, so I'm going to come on to that in a minute, really. But. I think that's the biggest, the biggest obstacles are that we, we have this feeling of, we have to be creating for socials and that . Every time we update our website, it has to be a big project.
Repurposing and Updating Existing Content
And talking about updating, that's one thing you can do to help get around. This is rather than creating new content all the time. When you're, when you get an idea for a piece of content, you can start thinking about what content you already have. And I recorded a podcast episode about this a few weeks ago.
Episode two is about why you don't need to keep feeding the algorithm and how you can use your existing content to show up in search. So that can be really powerful. Working out what you've already got and what updates could you make to it. To then show up in, in new searches, really. And it could be, maybe you do need to create something new, but you can create something around the subtopics.
I've been doing lots of work around with clients this week, around establishing their core topics and their subtopics so that you can have some structure to your content as well. So you can understand whether something you're creating, you've already covered it, so you don't need to create something new and you just need to update what you've already got, or you Or whether it's something where actually I need to take to tackle this at a slightly different angle, or there's another subtopic that I need to cover around this.
But that's really important to think about what you've already got. I'm all about repurposing the stuff that we've already got and making the most of the content that we've already got. And that's where using Google Search Console and Google Analytics can be really powerful because we can then look for those, that low hanging fruit, the, The quick wins that you could get from stuff that is being associated with the right keywords.
You just need a bit of optimization on it, really. And talking about keywords, the other thing you can do, if you're starting to think about how you can create new content for your, with your own domain in mind, is a little bit of keyword research might then unearth some new topics.
That's. Could be good to go for, and you could look at Google trends and see if there's anything emerging. And if you can create some content on your own domain, around an emerging trend within your industry, and then repurpose that onto socials, that can be really powerful. If you're the first person talking about this, this topic, and you get in there and you create some good content around it, this is all about creating content that is quality.
If you use AI to write and making sure that you add that human element and you do edit it. if you're then that one of the first to talk about that topic, that can give you a massive authority and it can make a big difference, really.
So if I'm thinking about a piece of content, I ideally will, I would be thinking about , how can I create something long form?
So whether that is a blog post or a podcast episode, how can I do that? And I do that here. I do it by recording these lives in my Facebook group because it is a habit I've gotten to doing it's part of my routine on a Friday, and then that immediately now gets repurposed as a podcast. So we create a podcast episode from that, and then that gets put onto my website and then use that to, to send out a newsletter to my email list, add it to my Google business profile, and then I would be thinking about Evergreen social media post. So that, that was how I would do that. So I would repurpose that podcast episode, get the transcript, turn that into a blog, put it on my website, create an email around that, create a post for Google profiles, and then reuse that post on social media.
And the evergreen part of it, I think is really important as well. So if you are deciding that you get All the way through the list. And you're at the point where, okay, I need to create some social media or I can create some social media content around this, then how can you make that social media content evergreen as well?
So how can you make it something that you repurpose year after year or, or season after season, and maybe you just make slight tweaks to it, to it, or maybe you do just have it as pure evergreen. I know the algorithms aren't so keen on evergreen content that never gets changed. If that's what you can do.
And if that gives you a little bit more space in your business to do something else and to focus on doing the things that you actually love rather than just marketing your business, then that's got to be better than nothing.
So I. It's certainly worth considering doing that as well. So making, how can you make those posts evergreen and give them more longevity there as well.
If you're thinking you don't want to create a piece of long form content, but you still want to create something with your own domain in mind first.
Another example is you could create frequently asked questions. So you could think about a question that your audience is asking and think about whether you've got that question somewhere on your website. So if it's a question in relation to something you sell, have you got that as part of the frequently asked questions on your sales page?
And if you haven't, that could be a quick way you could update your domain. So you could add that one frequently asked question. Then you could Answer that question in an email, you could use that as a starter for an email newsletter that you send out. Then you could add that question to your q and a section of your Google business profile.
That can be really valuable and you can do that as the business owner. You can add the question and you can add the answer, and if you then go in and get two friends to go in and, and like that question. Then that will show, if you get three likes on a question on Google business profiles, that will show at the top of your profile as well.
So that will show on the first as the first frequently asked question. So if you can make it a question that's very relatable to what you do, and it's very searchable, but has the context of what you do as well, then that can, that can be really, really helpful actually. And then you could use that as a poll in social media.
So you could use that question and repurpose it and make it into a poll in social media. So you get some engagement on that. And then. bringing those people into your world and, and maybe contacting them, asking them around some questions around the poll. And that can be quite powerful in terms of actually getting that engagement on social media as well.
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
So the key takeaways from today, I think are to always create content with your own domain in mind. And I would. When you, I would suggest having somewhere where you can capture ideas for content. So I use a notion database and if I get an idea midweek for a piece of content, if I'm out and about, I'll just scribble it on a piece of paper and then I'll pop it into my notion database and I've got tags on there so I can make sure that content that I'm creating.
Comes under those core topics in my business. So in my business that my core topics are search engine optimization. So getting more traffic to your website, conversion rate optimization. So ensuring people that you turn browsers into buyers, ensuring people are taking the action that you want them to, and then content optimization as well.
So ensuring that your content is well organized, you're making the most of it. And it's a pleasure for people to use on your website and other content that you own. And using that, having a database there can make it easier for you to then make sure that you are staying on track and that you are creating the content that you need to rather than just feeding that algorithm.
So yeah, make it, make something that you own first and foremost, repurpose that content to your email list, then to your Google business profile, and then think about social media and with your social media. Try and evergreen it and always with that, that idea in mind of driving people back to your own domain from that social media post as well.
And I've just launched a free guide to discovering your core topics or your content categories, your content pillars, whatever you want to call them. I've just launched that this week. And this is all about getting the right traffic to your website. So, so essentially will help you to start getting along that plan of organizing your content and getting the right people coming to your website.
And I'll drop the link here so you can. Have a little look at that and let me know. What topics you decide on for your own business and if you find it helpful. So I hope that is helpful and I will see you soon. Bye.
