Social Media vs SEO: Busting The Myths

AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT - MAY CONTAIN ERRORS

Hi, happy Friday. I want to talk this morning about some myths and busting some myths. I've got a long list of myths that we can bust, but this actually came about.

I was doing a training in a group last week. I was training on Google Search Console. So that's how last week's episode around google search console that was the sort of trigger for the idea for that.

But it also put this idea in my head, one of the conversations that came up where somebody somebody thought something and actually the opposite is true.

So there were two things that that it sort of made me think about and it kind of went from there So I hope you like this episode and let me know if you want to hear more about myths and things that are, we think one thing, but actually the opposite is true.

So, the conversation was that a person was asking how to take a page from her website off of Google Search Console. So it was a page that she didn't want to be live. She didn't want it to be in Google yet because she wasn't ready for it to be there.

The Myth of 'Build It and They Will Come'

And we were talking about it and actually the thing that came out of that conversation was that people think that if you build it they will come.

I think this is a big myth around websites and I think it's something that once you've been in business for a while and once you've had a website for a while and you start actually looking at your numbers, you start looking at the data of people. the visitors that you'll get into your website, then you kind of realize that actually it's not that easy.

But I think one of the big myths, and I think this was definitely the case when I was back building lots of websites was, and probably before I went down the SEO route and got more into SEO, was that you kind of think, yes, we're going to do this launch and we're going to launch the website and we can't do it till this day.

We can't do it till it's perfect. And we have to till it's, ready to be like put out into the world because just in case people find it, whereas actually the myth is, and it's kind of two contrasting views.

So we think that getting traffic to a website is easy and SEO is difficult. Whereas actually the opposite is true.

So it's actually really hard, getting traffic to a website is actually really hard, or it can be anyway. It certainly doesn't happen automatically. It isn't the case that you build it and they will come.

So that's kind of what happens, people kind of think, yep, I can just build a site, put it out there and people are going to find it. So that's why it has to be perfect in case people stumble across that page.

Whereas the reality is I sort of lost my train of thought there a little bit. Sorry. And the reality is that people are unlikely to stumble across your page, especially if you haven't done those basic things that we need to do to ensure that Google can find it, or we are promoting it ourselves.

If we're, if we're not using SEO, then we're promoting it in other places. Then, it just isn't that easy to get people actually finding your website. Whereas SEO, there are certainly some really technical things around SEO and there are some parts of it that can I want, I don't want to say difficult because they're almost, it's almost like a step by step process.

So once you, once you know what the steps are, once you've got the basics, once you understand the basics, it doesn't have to be difficult. And the technical stuff isn't realistically what most people need to put in place to make a difference. It's the basics, the basic stuff around the content that you're already creating for your website and you have already created.

If we look at that and get that working for us, then SEO is actually very, very simple. It's one of those things that there's, there, there are certain things that we put in place, like using our keywords in the right areas, like making sure our pages are focused so that it's not confusing to Google, which what this page is about and which page of our website is the best page to deliver when people are searching for something.

So once we get those things in place, actually it's pretty simple. So getting website traffic isn't easy, but SEO can be. And so that's the first myth that I want to bust

Social Media vs. SEO: Cost and Effectiveness

The second myth is that social media is free and SEO is expensive. And again, I think the opposite is true. I think that the amount of time and energy that we put into social media for the amount of return that we get on that investment.

And this is something that I hear from clients and from people in the group and from podcast listeners. Time and time again is that I put so much in , get so little back from social media and people just don't enjoy it as well. I think you might enjoy parts of it, but I think we certainly don't enjoy that feeling of putting things out there and getting no return on that.

So getting, you know, and with social media, a lot of it is vanity metrics. So we're not getting any likes, we're not getting any more followers, or we've got lots of followers, but we're still not getting any clients from it. And I think that's the big thing is we can spend so much time on social media, thinking about the followers and thinking about the likes and thinking about putting content out there.

And then not examining our data and not looking at where people are actually coming to our website from and not looking at whether actually, okay, people are coming from social media, but then they're bouncing off straight away. They're not joining my email list. They're not making a purchase. They're not at the point where they're ready to buy from me.

So all of that effort, all of that time, all of the money, because whether you're doing social media yourself or you have somebody doing that for you, that time costs you money.

And time is the thing that we can't get back as well.

So I think that's the biggest cost to us is the fact that we can spend so much time feeling like we're doing, we're busy, feel, we feel like we're doing something.

We feel like, yep, that's our marketing. Social media is my marketing and we feel like we're doing it and we're just not getting anything back from it really.

The Reality of Social Media and Its Impact

I think there's also the cost to our health of social media as well. So if we're spending a lot of time on socials and not necessarily feeling good after that.

We're not necessarily coming off of the platforms, not necessarily coming off of interacting with social media, feeling good. And it's, I think once you understand about how the companies are set up to make money and how they are actually set up to make us want to come back, that's the big thing with social media is it's actually has to be that they have, they want people to come back to the platforms because then they see the adverts, and then social media platforms get more money from people paying for ads.

And, so when, when you dive into this, I've listened to a couple of podcast episodes, not recently, actually, but, um, it's something when you actually hear about how these platforms were created.

I think it makes you more aware of actually social media isn't free because we are the product. If you're not paying for something, then you are that product.

So they want to get us coming back so that we spend, we, we see the adverts, the ad, the people that are spending money on adverts keep spending. And part of that is. that dopamine hit from social media.

So whether we get any likes or not I think that's the big thing is the the whole thing of not getting likes not getting interaction plays into our fears of being rejected from society, which is a problem. This is a bit of a deep conversation. I've kind of gone a bit heavy on this.

But it's part of our brain that if we get rejected from the tribe, if we get rejected, you know, back from primeval days, if we get rejected from society, then that is literally could result in death. And so it's there wired into our primeval brain that we need to fit in.

We need to be part of society. We need to have that approval. And that's part of what these social media platforms play into really as well. So when you, if you ever find yourself coming off the social media feeling rubbish, which I think we've all done that we've all spent too much time there or been there too often.

And it actually makes us feel not enough. It makes us feel like we're missing out. It makes us feel like everybody else is living a wonderful life and we're not. And the platforms are actually designed to make us feel that way, they're designed to.

Make us feel extremes as well. So that's why you often see a lot of extreme content , on the platforms as well.

So I think it's something that when you dive into that and you learn more about how these platforms work, then we realize that actually they're not, they're not just there to deliver a free service of us being able to market our business through them.

Anyway, that got a bit, that got a bit heavy. So the, so yeah, so that was, that's the, the myth there was that social media is free and SEO is expensive and SEO doesn't have to be expensive.

If you can get some, get the basics in place, understand some fundamental things, maybe get some help, maybe get some guidance on the best and most, I want to say needle moving. So the things that are going to help you get some quick wins. If you can get some guidance on that, then you don't have to be investing thousands of dollars a month or thousands of pounds a month on sorting out your SEO.

And if you're creating this content anyway, you're already creating content for your website and you're producing, stuff that you want people to find. Then why not make the most of it? Because then that's the most cost effective way. And then if you want to use social media, then using that content you've already created for your website, which is more sustainable.

So it means that that, that content isn't just going to go away by tomorrow. It hasn't got a lifespan of, I don't know how long tick tocks have a lifespan off or any of this platforms, but it's very short essentially. So it means that you're actually building something sustainable that you can keep coming back to as well.

You can point people towards that. If people have questions about your business, if people want to learn more about you, even people that you meet, if you're out networking and things like that. You can point them towards that great content on your website that shows your authority, shows you know what you're talking about and also allows them to learn more go along that buying buyer's journey.

Then that's a really, really cost effective way of marketing your business. So I also think with that, just one thing with that one to just wrap that up a little bit as well is, this is why I enjoy podcasting as well, I like the fact that when we create content for our blog or for our podcasts or any content on our website, we don't get that dopamine hit of immediately knowing whether it's a hit or whether it's a, a not.

And I think with social media, we take likes and views and things like that as a, sign whether it's actually working or not, whereas actually that still can, cannot necessarily relate to sales coming through your business.

So I think it takes away that dopamine part of it you tend to be a bit more, when you're thinking about this and thinking about SEO you tend to be a bit more strategic about what you're actually doing and what you're creating and thinking about how you can make the most of that content as well.

It's more of a, a slow marketing tactic, I suppose, really SEO can get you some quick wins, but it's more of a sustainable long, long term way of bringing consistent sales into your business. That's wrapping up myth number two.

SEO: A Sustainable Marketing Strategy

Myth number three is that social media is the best way to get clients and SEO is just about blogging.

So aside from all the other stuff that I've just talked about about social media, I think often the thing that we are told, and I see this in so many groups I'm in where it's like, you've got to be on social media. You have to be on social media.

How can you build a business without social media? And I've created a few episodes around this topic of, why creating content for your own website first and your own domain first is critical.

So I'll link to those episodes below as well. I think the thing is that when we, when people are scrolling social media, so if we put a piece of content out there, if you, if we put something like myth busting out there or an authority piece out there that helps people understand more about what we do, we're still not finding them.

Realistically, we're not capturing them at the moment that they're searching for an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. Maybe somebody would search for something for a particular type of business on social media and then they would find you but they're finding you on social media. Which means that they keep scrolling unless they literally at that point then click over to your website and then that takes them more along that journey of actually buying from you.

Realistically, we're interrupting people's scroll if the algorithm actually decides to show our content up to those people. So the difference with SEO is that people are actually typing into Google or whatever search engine it is, whether it is Google, Yahoo, Bing or YouTube even.

Where people are actually typing in an inquiry where they're searching for something they're searching for a product or a business like yours, or they're searching for a solution to their problems.

And if your business can show up there, and it doesn't have to just be blogs and blogs can certainly help with certain informational inquiries.

So informational searches, where people are actually looking to find out more about something or to find out. To discover what something actually is, but also, and I think this is the big thing is that we can connect with people when they're actually looking for commercial intent searches.

So searches where they are actually looking for something like best, something near me, or something along those lines, where they're actually looking to make a purchase at that moment.

And if we can show up with our sales pages or with, with any content on our website, we can show up for that. Then that directly leads to sales. So that's where I think the big difference is that we have this feeling that we have to market our business on social media and that social media is the best way to get clients and customers coming into our business.

And actually it's much better to connect with people when they are actually searching for a solution to their problem. So that's something that I think I, I, it frustrates me.

It frustrates me when people feel like, that social media is the only way to get clients and the best way to get clients. And I really don't think it's true.

And one thing I would add there is my favorite way, I think the best way to actually get people to know about our business and to buy from us and to become the point where they would never consider going to somewhere else for that particular service or product that you sell.

And that's relationship marketing. And I put that above SEO as well. So I think that's the most important thing that any of us can do as business owners is developing those relationships, getting out there, networking, whether that is networking online, whether that is just being in forums and getting to know people that way, or even building relationships through social media groups.

So like Facebook groups and things like that, if you can get to know people in there, then that's something that no algorithm can take away. As long as you do get out of the social media and have another way of contacting people outside of the social media.

If we do that, then that's something that nobody can take that away from us if we build relationships with people and whether that is building relationships in terms of actually building one on one relationships or going and doing things like guest expert talks where people can get to know you as a person you can build those

Those relationships with people then I think that is that would always be my top recommendation for how to grow your business and how to get out there and and and get loyal customers and fans realistically.

SEO & Social Media Takes Consistent Effort

Myth number four is that SEO can be done once and social media requires constant effort. And I think this can be the opposite as well. So SEO, there are certainly some key things that you can put in place to begin with that will set you up on a good foundation.

And then you can just be adding to that with new content that you're bringing out there and then you can develop an SEO plan that then is more long term but SEO is something that is not a one and done thing.

So you have to keep making sure that the content that you're creating is still developing that SEO and making sure that you are still showing up in searches.

And it's, it's a bit of a contrast there because I'm sort of saying that, but the whole goal with SEO is that it is sustainable marketing. It's something that we do have to keep up with tech changing as well.

So, but that doesn't mean to say we're starting from scratch. It doesn't mean to say that, as it is with social media where our content then disappears and we then have to start from scratch, you know, everything that we're creating is just disappearing.

Whereas, with social media, there is this feeling that you have to be creating new content all the time. I'll come back to that around new content on your website.

But I feel like, and certainly with me, I don't use Instagram very much. I'm not keen on Instagram as a platform. I like it as a way to kind of connect with new people, but actually I'd never go in there. I never, I never go back in and look at people's accounts or use Instagram particularly.

So I have, one of those nine grids in there and I've been developing that. And it's something that I do need to update mine. I feel like it looks great. I like the fact that people can go to my Instagram page and it looks professional and it gives them an idea of what I do.

And I definitely think there's some, I could do some, a little bit more development on that to make sure to, yeah, just, just to give people a bit more to see, but again, it comes back to that whole thing of, I suppose I, I think I would never, I would have a quick glance at somebody's nine grid if I, if I just followed a new account, but that's because I'm Instagram is not my, not my thing.

It's not my platform, but I certainly think that there are things that you can do on your social media accounts that can, still allow you to have a presence there, but it means that you don't have to be creating content all the time. And coming back to the website content, it's not about the volume of content that you're putting out there.

So it's more important for you to be creating those cornerstone pieces of content, the pieces of content that show your authority, that you can then link back to. All of your different content into so I was having a conversation with a client the other day about this and it was suddenly a bit of a light bulb moment for her.

She'd heard me talk about cornerstone content a few, few times in the past, but there was just the way that I explained it then it suddenly fell into place. So she had created a, uh, she's a calligrapher and she'd created a new blog around what is calligraphy, which is quite a competitive term.

So I was really pleased to see that she went straight in and she was ranking and that content went straight in a position 15.

So it was ranking straight away in Google, which is amazing. And the reason it does that is because she's already talked about calligraphy a lot on her website. She hasn't, like it's not something she's coming in with a new subject. So Google knows she already talks about this, she's likely to be an authority on that subject.

But what that blog will do now that what is calligraphy blog that will be like a core piece of content. And even if she wasn't ranking for that. So even if you're, like for me, I need core content around SEO, which is unlikely to be showing up in a top position in Google because there's so much content out there.

But what that does is that supports all of the other articles around SEO that I do create, which are less competitive.

So finding those long tail keywords where the long phrases where people, there's not as many people searching for them each month, but it's a lot, lot less competitive will then allow me to that or allow those articles to them have more chance of ranking because Google understands I've got this main audience.

It's a core article here, and everything else is linking into that and linking to each other. And so it helps to increase that authority there. So that's something I would say that if you've got those cornerstone pieces of content, then it's not like you've got to be creating a new blog every, every single week.

It is helpful until you get to a point where you've got that. a lot of content out there, but what you can then do once you get to a point where you think, okay, yeah, I've got a really good bank of content here. I've got a good, I've got, you know, a good amount of content on my website.

How can I go back through and update those old articles so that Google then still sees I've got fresh stuff on my website, but I'm actually then making the most of the content that I've already got. That's already been live for a while, which is helpful with SEO and I can just make the most of that.

So that's where I think that that, sort of, contrast is between actually we can make our social media accounts more sort of evergreen and we, and SEO, we don't necessarily have to be creating loads and loads of content, but it's not a one and done thing. It, it certainly can help in terms of actually, making sure that we are doing that sustainable marketing, but it's something that is definitely not a set it and forget it really.

SEO for Small Businesses

And then myth five finally is that SEO is only for big businesses with large budgets and that small businesses won't benefit from it.

This is a big one, I think, because the thing about big businesses is they are likely to have bigger budgets, but bigger budgets for things like paid ads and then they're also more likely to have brand recognition out there.

Whereas smaller companies, I think that actually SEO is much more beneficial for smaller businesses because you're not likely to already have that volume of traffic coming through. it's so much easier to compete as a local business against the big companies.

So the bigger businesses where they maybe can afford to pay for TV advertising and billboards and all the other things that they can afford to pay for and that they already because they are a bigger company, they're more likely to have local presences in different places.

And they're just much more likely to have the time and resources to actually be able to use things other than SEO to grow their businesses. Whereas actually for a small business, using SEO and making sure that actually you're connecting with people when they're searching for what you do, I think is incredibly powerful.

I think it's something that is often very ignored, when think that their business is too small for SEO, and actually it can be, it can make such a big difference because essentially what you are doing is then building your marketing, building a sustainable marketing, platform for your business that then doesn't rely on you to be doing everything.

So yes, there is some initial investment in time of actually getting that set up. But then the goal is that you're connecting with people at the right moment as well. So you're connecting with people when they are actually out there searching for businesses like yours and it can be so, so powerful. So that's one that I definitely would say is a big myth and it's certainly not true.

Podcasting Journey and Reflections

So I hope this has been helpful. I feel like there are so many myths out there around websites and SEO that I could talk about this all day long, literally. So I'd love to know if you do find this helpful. I've just hit a big milestone on the podcast.

So I launched the podcast four months ago, in case you haven't listened to the episode around my first three months of podcasting and how it's helped my business, then I would definitely recommend going back and listening to that one. But I launched four months ago. The first month I got 18 downloads and then between month three and we're just coming up next Sunday will be up to the fourth month milestone from when we released it.

I say we, I, it's all me, when I released it and I've just hit a thousand downloads this, yesterday morning, I hit a thousand downloads and I'm so pleased.

I didn't, I don't, I'm not measuring myself against whether that is a good, whether that's good, like in terms of what other podcasts do. I really didn't want to go down that rabbit hole of like comparisonitis, but actually I, I feel it's amazing for me.

I was expecting, you know, it would be me and my friend listening.

And so actually having a thousand downloads is incredible. It's so, I, I can't tell you how much podcasting has change my business and how much it's just changed the way that I'm approaching things.

I love it I love coming on I love doing these lives turning them into a podcast and also turning them into blogs and I and emails and it's been I've been really really enjoying it.

So I'm so pleased thank you so much to anyone who's downloaded it at an episode and listen to it and And actually I found out as well that downloads doesn't, you don't actually have to download it on Buzzsprout, if you've downloaded the episode or you've listened to it for at least 60 seconds, it's been streamed from Buzzsprout for at least 60 seconds.

They class that as a download, which is really cool. And I would love to grow the podcast. I, as you may know, I'm trying to grow it without social media, so I'm not promoting the podcast on social media.

I just want to be able to show that actually it is possible. I want businesses to, to know that there is an alternative to social media as well.

So if you know somebody who would love the show, who would benefit, who needs some extra traffic through their website, who needs to improve their website, get some more sales through it as well, then please, please pass on the podcast.

Also, if you have enjoyed the show and you fancy leaving me a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you can. I would massively appreciate that as well.

That helps other people to find the podcast. It helps the podcast player apps to show episodes up if you're getting more reviews. So that would be really, really helpful.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I'm just going to go and network this morning and my local networking group, which I'm really looking forward to, and it's getting really cold.

My hands are freezing. Freezing this morning. So I'm expecting the lake tomorrow to be very cold. Well, not very cold. It'll probably be about six, 15, 16, something like that, but it was 17, 18 last week. I find that it doesn't feel that much different getting in at 15 as it does to two degrees in the middle of winter.

So, but yeah, either way, the sun is out. It's a beautiful morning. So I hope you have a lovely weekend and I'll see you soon. Bye.