219// The 2 Ditches of Blogging & How to Avoid Both for Maximum Business Growth

Summary

Summary of Episode 219: The 2 Ditches of Blogging & How to Avoid Both for Maximum Business Growth

In Episode 219 of Simple SEO & Marketing, Faith Hanan, a seasoned marketing strategist, copywriter, and Christian business coach, explores common pitfalls in blogging strategies that can impede business growth. Titled "The 2 Ditches of Blogging & How to Avoid Both for Maximum Business Growth," this episode provides valuable insights and actionable tips to help entrepreneurs create effective, balanced blog content that serves their audience while optimizing for search engines.

Introduction: Setting the Stage

Faith kicks off the episode by contrasting it with the previous day's more data-intensive discussion. She reassures listeners that today's session will be more conversational and less “brain cell intensive,” making it accessible and engaging for all.

"If today was definitely much less brain cell intensive... today will definitely be much less." ([02:15])

Understanding the Two Ditches of Blogging

Faith introduces the core concept of the episode: the two ditches of blogging that many business owners unknowingly fall into. This analogy is inspired by her pastor's saying, "For every mile of road, there's two mile a ditch." In the context of blogging, these ditches represent two extreme approaches that can derail effective content marketing.

Ditch #1: Writing Only What You Want

The first ditch involves blogging solely based on personal passions or interests without considering the audience's needs or search behaviors.

"Ditch number one is to only write about what you want... sharing about your passions as it pertains to your business... but if we're in that ditch too much, we're not going to get found for what we want to get found for." ([08:30])

Faith emphasizes that while sharing personal interests can be genuine, it may not align with what potential clients are searching for, limiting the blog's reach and effectiveness.

Ditch #2: Writing Only for SEO

The second ditch focuses exclusively on optimizing content for search engines, often at the expense of readability and value for the audience.

"Ditch number two is to only write for SEO purposes and only write to, air quote, 'Please, Google.'... forgetting about the person that's reading that blog." ([10:45])

Faith warns that prioritizing SEO over the audience can result in robotic, unengaging content that fails to convert readers into leads or customers.

Mindset Shifts to Avoid the Ditches

To navigate between these two extremes, Faith outlines three critical mindset shifts that can help bloggers create balanced, effective content.

1. Serve First

Faith underscores the importance of prioritizing the audience's needs above all else. By focusing on serving readers, bloggers can build trust and provide genuine value, which, in turn, enhances engagement and loyalty.

"The goal of blogging... is to serve your people and come up in the search results." ([12:10])

She shares a relatable anecdote about helping a woman choose the best dairy-free ice cream in a store, illustrating how serving others can create positive outcomes.

"I was trying to spare this poor woman the time of choosing all of the nasty dairy-free ice creams... trying to serve her." ([14:00])

2. Integrate SEO with Service

Faith dispels the myth that SEO and audience-centric content are mutually exclusive. She explains that it's entirely possible to create SEO-friendly content that remains valuable and engaging for readers.

"Everything I teach you in this podcast is how to make your stuff sound good to be service-oriented... but still get ranked with Google because it is possible." ([16:30])

By conducting proper keyword research and understanding what the audience is searching for, bloggers can seamlessly blend SEO techniques with service-driven content.

3. Streamline Content Creation

Concerned that effective blogging requires excessive time and effort, Faith introduces strategies to streamline the content creation process. She shares her personal experience of repurposing a podcast into a blog post, highlighting how systems and teamwork can make the process efficient.

"Creating that blog content takes maybe an hour total between the two of us because we've got a system down... we've got the keyword research stuff down, we have a checklist." ([22:45])

Faith encourages entrepreneurs not to compare their current capabilities with seasoned bloggers but to focus on building efficient workflows that suit their unique situations.

"Don't compare where you are right now with maybe not doing SEO content very much to somebody who's been doing it forever." ([24:00])

Practical Applications and Examples

Throughout the episode, Faith integrates practical examples and personal stories to illustrate her points:

• Ice Cream Aisle Story: Demonstrates the importance of serving others by providing valuable recommendations that meet their needs.

• Feeding Horses with Her Daughter: Highlights the significance of patience and systematization in achieving efficient content creation.

"She's gonna get the grain ready and she's like, I'm gonna do the grain, mama. I was like, rock on, baby." ([18:50])

Conclusion: Balancing Service and SEO

Faith wraps up the episode by reiterating the necessity of maintaining a balance between serving the audience and optimizing for search engines. She affirms that avoiding the two ditches of blogging leads to sustainable business growth and increased visibility.

"You can stay out of the two ditches of blogging... you don't have to only write to serve or only write for SEO. You can keep your little blogging car in the middle of the road." ([28:00])

She encourages listeners to adopt the mindset shifts discussed and invites them to join her free training for more in-depth strategies.

Notable Quotes

• "If you want more leads with less effort, you need to get your happy tush into my free training." ([00:25])

• "The goal of blogging... is to serve your people and come up in the search results." ([12:10])

• "Everything I teach you in this podcast is how to make your stuff sound good to be service-oriented... but still get ranked with Google because it is possible." ([16:30])

• "Creating that blog content takes maybe an hour total between the two of us because we've got a system down... we've got the keyword research stuff down, we have a checklist." ([22:45])

• "You can stay out of the two ditches of blogging... you don't have to only write to serve or only write for SEO. You can keep your little blogging car in the middle of the road." ([28:00])

Final Thoughts

Faith Hanan's Episode 219 offers a balanced perspective on blogging strategies, emphasizing the harmony between serving the audience and implementing effective SEO practices. By avoiding the extremes of writing solely based on personal passion or purely for search engine rankings, entrepreneurs can create impactful content that drives sustainable business growth.

For those looking to delve deeper, Faith invites listeners to join her free training and explore her comprehensive coaching programs designed to transform blogging strategies into traffic-generating machines.

Transcript

[Faith Hannon]

Hey there pals. I'm going to shoot you straight. Social media is not a lead gen strategy. Did you know your Instagram post disappears in less than 24 hours? But the right SEO strategy, it keeps bringing leads for years. If you want more leads with less effort, you need to get your happy tush into my free training. More leads in less time. In this training, I'm showing small business owners like you exactly how to build a lead gen strategy that works without spending endless hours creating content that disappears in a day. So the real question is, are you showing up where people are actually searching? If not, let's change that stat. Really? What if you could get consistent, sustainable leads without posting daily? Keep your content working for you even when you're on vacation and know exactly what your audience is already searching for. In this faux free training, you will learn the number one shift you must make in your content marketing to attract leads consistently. The proven system to maintain a traffic generating machine in just two hours a week, and how to build a lead generation strategy around what your audience is already searching for. So you show up exactly when they need you. Plus, live attendees are eligible for some sweet prizes. So click the link in the show notes or go to faith hannon.com more leads and save your seats. See you. Listen, y'all, if yesterday was a math Elite version of a podcast, which it was, with tons of statistics and numbers and things to consider because we do want to work smarter, not harder, in all of our content marketing. But if yesterday was a math Elite episode, today is definitely much less. So. So if you were like, oh my goodness, my brain is blown from yesterday's episode, don't worry, today will be less brain cell intensive, so to speak. If you have not caught yesterday's episode, I would really love, really love it if you did listen to it after this because I give you a lot of statistics, a lot of data so that you can make smart decisions when you are thinking about your content marketing strategy. Because ain't nobody got time to make dumb decisions after we know they're dumb. Okay, I laugh because I'm like, you still make a lot of dumb decisions, Faith. But you know, know better. Do better. Okay, so today we're gonna chat, we're gonna have a little chatty chat about the two ditches of blogging and how to avoid both. So the idea for this episode, the title for this episode came from my pastor used to say that for every mile of road, there's two mile a ditch. And he was always applying it to faith principles like you Know, for every concept of, you know, in the, in the word, there's people that are going to take it to one extreme or the other, right? We see this in marketing as well. You know, just think back to when Chat GPT and Open AI just first came out, right? Everybody and their mom was like, I'm just gonna write a blog post typing in like two things into Chat GPT and let it write the whole thing for me. And then we get, you know, just an onslaught of terrible content, poorly written content all over the Internet. But blogs are turning out 5 and 10, or businesses are turning out 5 and 10 blog posts a day and it's like, oh my gosh, right? And you know, with the updates in Google, in the Google Analytics and Google algorithm, excuse me, the pendulum has swung the other way, right? Like we've pulled the car out of one ditch and we're, we're back in the road as, as far as the Google algorithm goes. But I think if you can visualize this with me driving down the road, probably going to have to be a country road because there's not so many, not so much for, you know, a ditch on either side of the road in the big city. So picture a country road with a ditch on either side and just think about your blogging strategy, okay? And really the goal of blogging, the goal of creating blogs for your business is to serve your people and come up in the search results. When your ideal client searches for something on the Internet that pertains to what you sell or how you help them or your brand as a whole, okay? So that's the goal of blogging. But what I see is a lot of business owners get in one of two ditches. Ditch number one is to only write about what you want. Like write about what you're passionate about, write about what's, what serves, okay, that's one, one ditch. Because sharing about your passions as it pertains to your business, that does serve, okay? The other ditch is to only write for SEO purposes and only write to air quote, Please, Google. The problem is neither one of those are good long term business growth strategies, right? I mean, God bless us for wanting to write blogs to just share our hearts and, you know, pour out our little souls to the Internet, right? Like, been there, done that, little baby blogger faith, right? And then God bless us business savvy people who are like, I'm just gonna rank for all of the things in the very tippy top of Google and we're trying to do only the SEO things, forgetting about the person that's reading that blog, right? God bless us in both ditches. But what I want to help you do today is just kind of walk you through a few mindset shifts to help you stay in the middle of the road when it comes to your blogging strategy so that you are, yes, serving people, but also getting found for what you do. Okay, Mindset shift number one is this. I want you to think service first. Now, I love to serve people. I love to give my opinion on things. Bless me, I love to. It's just, it's. It's in me, right? Like, I. I can't not share my opinion about things. And here's a funny story for you. So more than one time I have done this, but I'll tell you this one story. One time I was in the grocery store, I was in Whole Foods. So I was out of town, like, far out of town, because we don't have a Whole Foods here, so in Whole Foods. And I was in the ice cream aisle because, duh. And I see this woman standing there looking at the dairy free ice cream, and she just has this look on her face like, you know, lost, bewildered, doesn't know what to do. And I was like, excuse me, excuse me, I can help here. So me being me, I step in and I'm like, ma'am, can I help you choose a. A yummy ice cream? And she's like, oh, yes, please. I was like, okay. And I proceeded to tell her which kind was the best, and she's like, great. And she went on and bought that ice cream. Like, I get wanting to offer your opinion to the world and serve just to serve. Like, I get that, right? But if we're in that ditch too much and we're just spewing our opinion all over the Internet without the SEO side, then we're not really going to get found for what we want to get found for. But still, I want you to think serve first, right? Like in my ice cream example, I was trying to spare this poor woman the time of choosing all of the nasty dairy free ice creams out there. Like, I was like, listen, these are the good ones. These are not the good ones. These taste like poop. These taste good. Buy these, right? I was trying to serve her. Okay, now mindset shift number two is that I want you to really realize that you can still serve with good SEO practices. Gone are the days where your SEO friendly content has to sound like a robot wrote it, right? Everything I teach you in this podcast is, is how to make your stuff Sound good to be service oriented, to be service driven, but still get ranked with Google because it is possible. Okay? So I don't want you to think that you have to choose between good service centered content and SEO content, right? So shift number one is serve first. Shift number two, realize that SEO friendly content is still possible while it's being a service friendly piece of content. And then the third and final mindset shift I have for you today is that I want you to understand that it doesn't always have to be super hard or super time consuming to create a really solid piece of SEO friendly blog content. And I have an example for you here. So my oldest kid is seven right now. She's amazing. I'm so proud of her. But I don't know, a few weeks ago she came with me to help feed horses and we have, we kind of baby my horses, I'll be honest, but we feed them, you know, grass, alfalfa, mix, hay. And then I have a grain that I feed them and a few supplements that I feed them. And my daughter loves to get the grain and the supplements ready. And this particular night, I was cleaning stalls, literally shoveling poop and doing the hay. And then she finished, you know, messing around with one of the horses and petting that horse and all the fun things, and she was gonna get the grain ready and she's like, I'm gonna do the grain, mama. I was like, rock on, baby. So she's doing the grain and I'm like tempted to be like, oh my gosh, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. Because we're always on a timeline in life, right? And I looked at her and I was like, man, she's doing so good. Like I, I'm here trying to make her do things on my speed when she's seven, I'm way more than seven. And it's gonna take her a little bit of time to be able to move as quickly as I am and scoop the supplements accurately and put them in and all. Like, it's gonna take her time to do that. And once I had that realization, I was like, oh snap. That applies to blogging and content marketing as well. Because yes, she is very competent at seven. She's very smart, she can absolutely do the things. But it's going to take her a little bit longer than it is going to take me at way more than seven because she's still learning. She's not as practiced as I am. And the same is true when you're creating great SEO friendly blog content. I just sat down Today and edited a blog post that I repurposed from a podcast. I mean, I probably spent maybe 10 minutes on it in total. And between my assistant and I and the system we have, like, we've got this puppy down pat to where creating that blog content takes or maybe an hour total between the two of us. Because we've gotten a system down, we know what we're doing, we've got the keyword research stuff down, we have a checklist, we've got all of the things that we need to do nailed down and we are practiced at it. Okay? So don't compare where you are right now with maybe not doing SEO content very much to somebody who's been doing it forever. Now, if you are like, hey, teach me the ways of your people, I absolutely will. Inside of my revamped program, simple SEO framework and group coaching program, where you get the templates, you get the workflows, you get to know all of the things and only the things that you need to know to set up your website for success in four to eight hours and maintain the traffic generating machine in two hours a week. That will help you get 300, 500, even 12,000% more traffic. Right? I can help you start seeing results in as little as 30 days. But for now, I just want you to know that you can stay out of the two ditches of blogging, right? You don't have to only write to serve you don't. You don't have to only write for SEO. You can, you can, you can keep your little blogging car in the middle of the road. And if you are not signed up for the free training that I'm hosting called More Leads in Less Time, if you're not signed up for that live training, it's only happening live once. Get your little tushy on that list because in that training, I'm going to teach you the exact system, screenshots included. Like, y'all can screenshot this business so that you can know exactly how to create high traffic, high value, SEO friendly content in two hours a week or less, so that you can consistently generate traffic to your business and for your website all the time. All right? So get signed up for that work, that free training if you're not. And I'll be coming at you again tomorrow with a special bonus episode. Till then, bye. Thank you so much for listening in today. Hopefully this episode gave you some really tangible tips for better SEO and marketing to get more leads and more sales from your website. If it did, can I ask you a quick favor. Would you please share this episode with a friend and then just take 10 seconds and go leave a written review on Apple Podcasts. That is the very best way to help more Jesus loving entrepreneurs scale their businesses so that they can help more people with their gifts and make an even bigger impact for the Kingdom of God. And guess what? We now have a Facebook community where we can learn, hang out and laugh. Go join the Facebook group now. It's linked in the show notes and all the other things, courses, coaching and copywriting can be found at my website faithhannon.com until next time. God Bless and I'll talk to you soon.