SEO Expert Teaches You How to Rank #1 on Google Search with $0

Welcome to Ali and you the Business Success and lifestyle show. My name is Alison Maslin. I am a business growth mentor and we help business owners just like you break through to new heights in your business so you can multiply your wealth and your impact. Today is amazing show. I have an incredible guest, a dear friend of mine, a client client of mine for several years now. And if you have a business and you want visibility and you don't want to spend a lot of money on paid advertising, it doesn't need to be your roadblock. As the founder of Houndstooth Media Group, Vivian Wagner has built a boutique digital marketing agency from the ground up with an initial focus on luxury realtors. She has worked with some of the heaviest hitters in Los Angeles real estate, and she's now transitioned all of those things to so many different businesses, different industries, different business models. And she helps them to increase their online visibility and highlight their personal brands. And she is incredible. Currently, Vivian and our team work with entrepreneurs, business owners of all kinds to create killer strategies that save their clients time and money. And I know because Vivian does work for us on our website, on our blog, on our SEO. And her team is incredible. She is a wealth of knowledge on everything from social media marketing to SEO to website development, you name it. But she knows how to to get you out there without spending loads of money. So let's welcome Vivian Wagner.

Thank you for having me.

I'm so excited that you're finally here.

I'm excited to be here.

It's time. Because you have so much wisdom to share and you really do it in a unique way of then what you see in the marketplace, right, that you can only get visibility by spending a fortune on ads. And I know we've spent a fortune on ads, so it's really cool. But tell me how you got started in digital agency. I know you were in the public policy front, so that's a big shift.

Yeah, it is a big shift. And I didn't mean to start out at that. I was working in public policy. I was doing speech writing, and then I worked for a public affairs firm, which is PR but for politics. So there was a lot of messaging and positioning. We joke and say, would you like to cut funding for the elderly or would you like to kick a puppy? How do you phrase it? Of course, nobody wants to kick a puppy. So people get their message across that way. And I didn't realize that that was the beginning of the positioning, the messaging and the marketing. And then I stayed home with our youngest son and I Started a blog. And it was through the blog and creating that content that I learned this is how you drive traffic back to a website. This is how you use social media. These are the organic practices that need to be in place. I didn't know that's what those things were at the time, but I know it now, and my company was born that way.

So you really learned from your own experience, kind of from the ground up. And I think a lot of people don't really think of SEO and a blog, and I know that's something that you've helped us with. So I want to dive into that a little bit. And a lot of marketers really go that paid traffic like Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, and you know, we definitely do a lot of those things as well. But you specifically work with organic search, right? Why is that?

Well, it goes back to having my own blog. And when it's getting started, bloggers get paid. When people come to their websites, that's how they make money. Whether their ads pay out, whether it's affiliate marketing that they're doing or they're working with companies and brands who want to have sponsored content on that particular blog. If you're not driving traffic back to your website, you're not getting paid. And bloggers are looking for ways to do that through their content. And so that's how I learned to leverage that content for five, six, seven, eight years. That's what I was learning. And then when it was, I went to help a friend who was a real estate agent drive traffic to her brokerage's website and it kind of snowballed from there. And suddenly I realized I had this valuable knowledge that not a lot of people were implementing. Do it organically.

I mean, think about it this way. Valuable content is that know like and trust and people are not going to buy until they first are aware of you and then they like you and then they know that you know what you're talking about.

Exactly.

So a blog is a perfect way of doing that or content in general. So SEO, search engine optimization. It almost feels like I would have to become a surgeon and learn how to do open heart surgery. That's how complicated it feels for most people when you think it's this foreign language on the back of a website. But can you give us an idea of what it is and why it's important?

Sure. Well, and there's certainly things that you can do on the back end of your website that should be done. You should make sure that Google has indexed your site all of your meta tags and meta descriptions need to be filled out. All of that SEO sort of jargon and more technical things for most people. But for organic search, if you haven't made it clear who is your ideal audience, who's your customer, who's your client, who do you want to be working with? You need to identify who those people are. Once you've identified who they are, is the language on your website clearly directed at them? So, like for an example, we were working with a client. She's a lifestyle coach, and she has a certain type of person she wants to be working with. But her website just said coaching. And that's all that was on her website. It talked about her coaching packages, but we were like tennis vocal coach, like, what kind of coach are you? So she needed to have the type of information on her website that somebody who is her ideal client might be typing into a search bar to look for her. And so that's a very important component, and it's a simple component.

And that moves them up higher towards the top than otherwise. You're competing with every coach that's out there.

Exactly. And you're not sure what. So a good thing to be able to do when you're talking about organic search and how you might improve it on your own website, a good thing to do is what would your ideal customer have to type into a search bar to work with you? What is their pain point? Now, there's certainly things you need to do to your website to make sure it's optimized for search for SEO. You want to make sure your meta tags and meta descriptions are set, that Google has indexed your site like Google crawled your site. You want to make sure of all of that. But the biggest question that I see with clients is who is your ideal customer? Who do you want to be working with? And you really need to make sure you've identified who that person is or who that company is. And you need to ask yourself, what are their pain points? They don't know who you are yet. So what are they typing into a search bar? What is their problem? What is their question? Your website better have the answer to their problem or the solution there to their problem or the answer to their question. And make sure that that content is on your site. That's what they're typing into a search bar to discover you. That's what organic search is about. It's about discovering things you haven't found yet.

So can you give me an example of that?

Sure. A great example is a client that we had been working with. She was a lifestyle coach. She had a very specific client that she wanted to work with. She wanted to work with people who were transitioning from their corporate jobs into the next stage of their life. But she didn't have any of that on her website. She just offered coaching packages. Well, Google doesn't know if she's offering tennis coaching or vocal coaching or what kind of coaching. So you really have to drill down and make sure the content is clear. Who do you want to be working with? Because that's how your potential client is going to find you. Your ideal client is going to find you.

Right, because that's what they're typing in Google. And that's what's going to come up and bring. Or bring them up higher in the searches.

Exactly.

You know, I know that when we changed our wording on our site, I used to say entrepreneur for everything. But a lot of times people will use the word entrepreneur. You know, somebody that's going to kind of try their hand in business. I consider myself an entrepreneur. However, that word can be used loosely. So we switched everything to business owner and founder and CEO and we started attracting a more established business owner who really is our ideal client and who we work with.

Right. And you're also potentially casting a wider net because not everybody uses the same language when they search. They might have the same problem they're trying to solve. They might have the same question, but they're asking it in different ways. So you want to have different iterations of those search terms and ask the question five different ways and then make sure that those answers are on your site. A great way to do that, by the way, is through an FAQ page, a frequently asked question page. And I'm spitballing here, but like, let's say somebody's putting into a search bar some question about how to find great seafood in the area. You can on your website, say, are you looking for great seafood in the San Diego area or wherever you might be, Spit that question back out at them on the site. Not only are you then matching with the question they've asked, you have the solution.

Right. You know the FAQs. My marketing director has been asking for the FAQs from me now for like a year. I think it's time to do that now. You've motivated me.

Right. And Google also really likes to just to. For another one for your marketing director. They like a start here page at the very top, especially if you have a lot of different services and programs that you offer and people get to your site and they're not sure where to go first or how they can work with you. A start here page is a great way to introduce them to little bits and pieces of what you do and what you cover and then send them around to your site to what is going to work for them.

I love that. Where's Waldo? And our site, we've got the show, we've got the business coaching. You know, then there's the speaking. There are a lot of things. So if you could have a step one, step two, step three.

Right.

Is, you know, I know that makes it easier for me too. Now you've been in digital marketing for a really long time, and so what are some of the ways that the game has changed? You know, it wasn't that long ago I'm dating myself that we weren't even in the Internet game. So we're still somewhat babies in this.

Right.

But it has changed a lot. And would you say that organic search is more on the rise? Do you feel like it's leveled off?

I think that people are more aware of it and how powerful it actually is. It's an instant gratification. I want it quickly. Kind of society in general, that's our mindset. I want to move the needle right now. But if you're trying to move the needle without having the right foundation set, you know, you're paying that money. And the minute you stop paying that money, you're back at square one. You haven't actually created that growth that you want. So I think that's a change in how we view organic search. But I also think that people search differently. We used to, you know what, four years ago, San Diego, comma, seafood, comma, restaurant, comma, that's what we would type into a search bar. We don't do that anymore. Now we speak into our phone, which knows where we are. Seafood restaurants near me. So because people search differently, we need to make sure that those questions are on our site. And organic search needs to sort of fall into line with how people are using search, if that makes sense.

And then we also ask full sentences. Yes, you know, how do I do this? How do I find this? Who's the right person for this?

Exactly.

I mean, it makes so much sense.

Yes.

It's that it's more conversational. What do you think that is the biggest misconception in the whole organic search that really holds people back from using it as a marketing strategy?

Well, I think the biggest misconception is that it's going to take forever. It's a lot of hard work. They don't want to do it, and they think of it as a strategy as opposed to the foundation that it needs to be. It absolutely has to be the foundation of any digital marketing strategy, but also your online presence in general. It just has to be. Because I worked with a lot of real estate agents, I tend to use housing and house analogies. If your kitchen and your dining room were under construction and drywall dust is everywhere and those orange Home Depot buckets are there, all of that's all over the place. Would you throw a dinner party where you're paying for a caterer, you're paying for the invitations to go out. You wouldn't get the kitchen cleaned up, get it all beautiful and ready for guests. Then on occasion, you have a big party, and that's what your paid campaign should be. Your dollar will go much further if you have that foundation set first.

Yeah, that makes sense. Don't, you know, drive everybody over when it's an absolute mess?

Right. Because that then speaks to the user experience as well.

And you're gonna. You're just losing business. You're not ready. Your headlines aren't right. You might not have the right pictures, or you're driving people there and you're not really explaining well what you do. So people are confused.

Right. And you're spending money that you don't need to spend yet. There's certainly a time and a place for paid campaigns, but you want to have those. Invite the people over when you're ready to entertain them. Make sure that that's set first.

Yes. I love that. So you also, besides SEO, you do social media. Okay. Social media is like, it's not even a planet. It's like a whole solar system.

Yeah.

Trying to get your arms around all of that. And we were just talking about that before we got on the show. What's the next big social media platform? It's like you almost have to be geared and ready for that. But what do you think is most important? Like, if you really drill it down and you think about social media as it pertains to business, what is the most important thing that business owners need to remember?

I think they need to remember that it's a tool and it has a job to do. I think it needs to drive traffic back to your website, and it needs to increase your brand's visibility, and both of those things are quantifiable. You can see if traffic is coming from Facebook. You can see if your numbers are growing legitimately and organically. You're not buying your followers or whatnot, but all of that tells you that you're on the right trajectory. I also think there's a misconception. People think that they need to be on all of the platforms and you don't. You need to fish where the fish are. Back to your ideal customer. Where are they hanging out?

Right. It's just like if you have an idea for business and you really want to dive deeply into that, then you get another idea and another idea and another idea, and all of a sudden you are spinning in circles and you're getting nothing done.

Well, exactly. And then it's also important to remember that there are search results that include your social media profiles. So, like if somebody is googling you, for example, your name comes up your website, but also your social media profiles do as well.

You can also find out what people are asking. There's a lot of people that ask how old I am.

That's impolite.

Really? Do you really need to know how old I am?

That's not very nice. The point is that you're.

You can find it online, but your.

Social media channels come up in search results. So when you have a business owner who doesn't know what they need to be on and so they're trying to be on every platform, when those come up and people search and see that you have a Facebook page, but you've kind of abandoned it because you gave up or you post so infrequently, it looks like you have all of these fallow, dormant website accounts all over. And it doesn't speak very well as far as your consistency and what kind of a business owner you are.

Right. Just to be on there, but not to actually show. You know, your last post was five months ago.

Yeah.

It does not look right.

Two years ago. I've seen those. And it just, it doesn't look very professional. And you know, if you're, if you're not going to be using it actively, okay, it's good to secure your name sometime. But make sure that you have other platforms that you are using and you are engaging on. And again, you don't have to be on every platform, just the ones that are a good fit for you.

And so we've got this awesome. You're giving away this fantastic download. This is a free gift. It's something we do with our guests on the show. You can get it at alisonmaslin.com library along with many other incredible downloads from our guests. But this is best organic SEO practices.

So.

So you have a list Of, I mean, I'm not counting here, but many, many that you'll be able to take and apply these things right away for SEO, Give it to your marketing person, have them start implementing. What are some of the things that you've got here?

Well, so sometimes it's just research. What are the keywords that people are potentially searching for that fit in your business model? Other simple things are when you upload a photo to your website, make sure you name the photo. The little Google Spiders.

Yeah, you told us about that.

They can't look at your photo and they can't watch your video. The Google Spiders can only read text. So for example, if you upload your logo file, which you know that's a picture and it just says logo, Google has no idea what it is. Name your logo file, the company name, and then your business is coming up in search results too. Have keywords assigned to it that that's part of what you do.

We need to go back and check on ours and see if we're okay. So that's why you have to have Vivian and her team helping you so well, this is fantastic. I mean, honestly, the greatest thing. I mean, we teach in Pinnacle Global Network, our business mentoring and mastermind. And Vivian, you're going into your third year going.

My third year.

Third year. And wow, you're. It is so changed from when you started.

Absolutely. It has. Because when I first met you, I only worked with real estate agents, which I love and I still do, but I was not helping a bunch of other people and business owners that I could help with. What I know. And you just kind of went, excuse me, there's other people and you can do that work too. And it just didn't dawn on me. And it's been incredible to increase our business, increase the amount of people that we're helping because these are simple, simple things that you can do and they'll make a really big impact on your business.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And so you definitely want to grab this. Go to alisonmaslin.comlibrary and then you are going to be offering something to our viewers today.

Yes. So I'm going to offer a 30 minute complimentary video consultation with me and we are going to look at your website together and we're going to see if it's making Google happy. We're going to talk about who's your ideal customer, who do you want to be working with and we'll look at your site and just see how it's working out.

Right. And so we want Google to be.

Happy you want Google to be happy. If Google's happy, you're happy. And it's actually quite simple to make Google happy.

Yeah. I mean, we work with our clients to get them out there and be visible, but, hey, if you just got loads of traffic coming to you, I mean, how wonderful is that? So definitely check out Vivian's site. And that's HoundstoothMedia. HoundstoothMediaGroup.com HoundstoothMediaGroup.com we'll go ahead and put that in the lower thirds there as well and get to know Vivian and her work. And we just want you to take your business to a whole new level. And. And that's why I wrote the book Scale or Fail, which just became a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Yay. And you can get this book. It's a great book for yourself and also for your business owner friends. And you can get it@scaleorfail.com and we are also having an amazing event coming up called Level Up Live. Event. Well, it's called Level Up Live, but you just go to levelupliveevent.com if you want to come and purchase and meet Vivian. She's gonna be there. I'm gonna be there. We've got over 500 business owners from all over the world traveling in, and we are gonna build the blueprint for your business. And so you leave and you have a plan for the whole year. So definitely check that out. You get to come meet Vivian in person, and it will be fantastic. So this has been great.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah. Vivian, her work is so, so important, so I cannot recommend her highly enough. So get out there and elevate yourself until the next time on Allie. And you go and make it happen. All right, You've got it. See you later. Bye.