Making Google Your Best Friend with Kelsey Flannery

 

Catherine A. Wood  00:02

Hey, Kelsey, welcome to the podcast. Hi, thank you. Um, by way of getting us started, I’d love to invite you to share your pronouns and a little bit about your story.

 

Kelsey Flannery  00:17

That’s the she her. And I am a Google lover, I have been using Google since I was able to use a computer. And I love it because I can learn so much. And that’s what led me into the career of helping businesses with Google. I actually started in the marketing ad agency, and I found it was just stiff and stale and very hard to work and be creative and positive in. And now I get to still use Google and how awesome it is to help business owners that I can relate to being a small business owner myself, I get the struggles, the dress, the anxiety, that still comes with it. But being able to use Google as its powerful tool is one of my favorite parts of my job.

 

Catherine A. Wood  01:13

I wish that people were seeing your face as you’re talking about your love for Google because you have this like ear to ear smile, right? And I feel like Google is such a intimidating concept. And SEO is such an intimidating concept for so many of us. And it’s so permission giving to see you does literally light up when you talk about it. Which I feel like it’s such a just a beautiful expression of finding finding your passion. Which I guess has me a little curious, like, how did you find it as your passion? Like how did you kind of find your home as a Google expert? And as an SEO expert? Like, what was that journey? Like?

 

Kelsey Flannery  01:58

Really, I fell into it. So I’ve always loved marketing. I’m one of those weirdos that loves the commercials more than some of the TV shows. And that’s because of the creative mindset that goes into figuring out how to capture someone’s attention. And to convince them about whatever you’re telling them. If it’s about a product or a solution service. I just love that creative way of connecting with someone else through something that can be funny, it can be serious, it can teach you something. And so that behavior analysis with within marketing has always been my favorite part. But I actually when I was at the ad agency, they said do you want to be Google certified. And I didn’t know that was possible. And so I kind of fell into it in a professional way, and started using the resources of Google to be able to help businesses with Google. And so everything I’ve learned has come from learning using and kind of getting to know Google on a deeper level.

 

Catherine A. Wood  03:03

I mean, I think that that’s something that you and I really share in common like, we’re both super heart centered and empathic and introverted in business. But we also appreciate kind of the the data of business and the way that we can get the Internet to work on and for our behalf. And so I just really appreciate having you on my podcast to talk to my audience about this because I think that there’s often a disparity for heart centered entrepreneurs for Empath printers, like how to be strategic, while also being values aligned, like how can we leverage the tools of the online business world, while also still being in alignment with our values and doing things in a way that feel good for us? And so what’s your journey? What’s your journey been like with that?

 

Kelsey Flannery  04:01

Really, it’s learning to get to know myself and my audience together, what do I want? Who do I want to be working with? Who do I work best with? When I started my business, I thought my audience was everyone. And I’m sure most business owners feel that way. Like I would work with anyone. But when you start narrowing down to who you work best with who likes working with you, and that can come from each customer learning each experience. But you can also find what people like about you, then you can start working towards finding those people and using the data as that shortcut, because they’re already telling you that they like you by interacting in different ways. And so using the data to know where they found you what they liked about you so that you can keep doing that allows you to spend more time on what is working instead of let’s try everything to work with everyone that can be overwhelming often. not even be effective enough for the return of what we all want in putting in marketing efforts.

 

Catherine A. Wood  05:09

So, you know, you and I get to geek out about SEO a lot, because you’re in the inbound mastermind. And this is kind of a common passion that you and I share. And I remember us having a conversation, a while back around this other podcasts that I had listened to, where they talked about how SEO is an introverts, like best kept secret in marketing. And that really lit you up like I remember, you really agree with that. And so I’m curious, like, Why do you think that’s true? Why is that the case for you and your experience?

 

Kelsey Flannery  05:49

Well, I was actually talking with my social media manager about how can I be myself, but also know, I’m introverted in my content. Sometimes I put on this, I know, professionally, but really showing myself that it is uncomfortable to put yourself out there writing a blog post or an email or videos, that is going to be uncomfortable until you feel comfortable with what you are showing. And so I think being introverted, SEO allows you to speak right to Google. And if you’re speaking to Google, your customers will find you so it’s easier for me to be behind the scenes writing blog posts that help Google find my website, the right people, instead of me creating a ton of reels that I feel more uncomfortable doing, I’d rather be able to show my expertise and build the trust with who’s asking the question that my blog, or my website can answer that question just feels more rooted in how I like to do things. I’m not someone that reaches out cold, I’m not going to try and hand someone to work with me, until they come to me with questions that I can help them and lessly and giving them all that effort, all that education is what I love to do. But I think for people coming to me, I feel better than me trying to attract, attract, attract, it’s too much work.

 

Catherine A. Wood  07:13

I really appreciate that example. And I always call that the difference between having a hunting based marketing approach versus a harvesting, or an attraction based marketing approach. And I really hear that for you. And for me, too, like SEO has a lot allowed us to share authentically who we are and our expertise, and then naturally attract those who are inspired by our voice and our approach. And and also creating like a much longer term strategy, right, like, versus always having to be hungry and go after your next client. Like it’s truly allowing your clients to find you.

 

Kelsey Flannery  08:01

Yes, and to find you on what they need. Because often our strategies are, let me sell you on what I have for you. But until they know that they need you, they may just be blowing by that content. And so that’s why so many of the ideas is to answer what you know, is urgent to them. And I always think, if we don’t know what they’re looking for, we won’t be found. And of course, we need to make sure that Google is in that conversation of what we want to be found. And many people are unaware of what their customer is searching, when they’re in that need state, they may be able to find some keywords that are general, but then all of their competitors are doing that too. So there’s definitely more areas to connect with your audience besides directly to the sale, but to educate and just connect and make more awareness. And that can be the great reach of SEO and just finding more people.

 

Catherine A. Wood  09:01

And I mean, I guess another thing I hear and that is just the reminder that for those of us who are purpose driven creators, like we often do share, just to be authentic and to connect, and to educate, right, like without an agenda, or a sale pitch always at the end. Like sometimes we just share for sharing sake, and then allow those who are meant to find us and reach out to us to happen on their own timeline versus being so kind of strategic or salesy or sleazy in our, in our words, in our language. Totally. And, and really on that note, like, I want to talk about language because I think so much of the language and that the jargon used in Google, Google might Marketing Google advertising SEO like SEO in and of itself is is jargon right like that it can be very off putting for people, it can be very exclusionary, like, Oh, this isn’t me, I don’t know what this means, like, this is too intimidating. So I will I wonder about your own experience with that and trying to simplify language and the terms you use in your work to meet your clients, where you you’re where they’re at, and also provide an avenue towards supporting them and understanding versus, you know, just like spewing out knowledge because you have so much knowledge, like, how do you bridge that gap between what you know, versus what your clients know? And match, you know, your language with theirs and what they might understand. And me too, for that matter?

 

Kelsey Flannery  10:52

Yeah, that’s probably the hardest part of my job is the educational and comprehension of what we’re getting.

 

Catherine A. Wood  11:00

Oh, glad to hear you say that. Please go on.

 

Kelsey Flannery  11:06

Because I love educating, being able to share what I am doing. And then having my client understand and be able to support and even collaborating with me, makes it a better campaign, and better strategy. Because now we’re co collaborating. Instead of me being a professional, you being the business owner, we’re now taking our minds of you’re the expert in your industry, and I’m the expert in mind. Now, how do we combine that power to know your audience, because a lot of people think that, Oh, my audience is selected for me, you can actually choose who you want to work with what you want to focus on what you want to be known for. And that’s deciding what your keywords are, and really getting to the root of that. So I tried to start with my clients in a foundational way, and build on their knowledge, in simple ways of, we need to know what your customers call you. What do you call yourself? What questions are around your services? How do you think you’re being found? And then how do you actually get found from your data? So starting with very foundational, simple questions, they’re already asking themselves, and starting the conversation there. And then when we get to actually implementing and making it a little more difficult, I try to use some simple vocabs. And I explained to them, what is a conversion? What is Google Analytics, and really making sure that we don’t move on until we have those little pieces connected, for me to be able to use that language going forward, and we’re still on the same page. Now, I always get the same questions over and over. And that I think, has really, I practice patience so much with my clients, because I need them to know. So we’re gonna keep going over it until we get it. And then I can always give them resources as reminders or other videos of other professionals saying the same thing. Because sometimes you can hear the same thing from the same person and not get it. But then someone else says it and then that makes sense. So really, the goal is still for to just make sense.

 

Catherine A. Wood  13:09

I really appreciate you normalizing that, and just reiterating how important it is to not step over our clients knowledge base to meet them way where they’re at. And then to help them lay the planks and work walking from their own side of the bridge over to, you know, the the other side, right, like the PA the world of possibility. Okay, so let’s let’s do that. Like, let’s lay some planks and define some terms have already used several, I’d love for you to define Google Analytics, and search engine optimization or SEO, and keywords. And if there are other jargon that you think we need to define, let’s hear Oh,

 

Kelsey Flannery  13:54

yeah. Yeah. So we’ll start with SEO, search engine optimization. So that right there, just that term already is loaded. Honestly, we can break it down search engine, that’s Google, when we go in and search for anything, whatever, where you have a question about for looking for sneakers, if we’re looking for the closest grocery store, whatever it is, we’re going into a search engine. There are others besides Google, Bing, Yahoo, there’s many that you can go to Google is the base. And then the optimization is to help your website rank on that search engine. Now it comes down to each of those each keywords that you need to focus on. So the easiest way to explain SEO is how Google reads your website to rank you for a specific term. And that’s each different term should have its own page to try to rank with. And so coming up with your keywords, whatever you want to have have related to your business. Each of those keywords has to be part of a different page strategy. And so coming up with those keywords is going to be foundational, and the list can be endless. So starting with the basics, what you say, on a regular basis to your clients how you speak, how they speak to you what questions customers may be asking you, when they originally talk to you about your business questions that they may ask Google before they know that your business is an offer. And then misspellings. misspellings is going to be the low hanging fruit that you may not realize. If you’ve ever done a Google search and not corrected, your spelling results still show up. So there’s definitely different paths that you can take to get all of the SEO and keyword power together. But just making sure that each keyword has some information on your website for Google to understand that gets you into SEO.

 

Catherine A. Wood  16:05

I have never heard you or anyone else for that matter. Explain that so articulately? And simply. Thank you. Okay, what about the next one?

 

Kelsey Flannery  16:16

Google Analytics. This is my favorite tool that Google offers. And I think it’s because I love numbers and data, because it tells me what’s actually happening. And so analytics can be added to your website to track any activity that goes there. And that will tell you where they found your website, before they got there. Maybe a keyword that they searched to then get on your website, if they were on their mobile device, desktop, their male, female, their age, if they have that information shared with their Gmail account, you can also be able to see their location, there’s just endless amounts of information. If you don’t know your audience, Google Analytics can tell you, your audience. And that information can help for you to create different campaigns to target to those different types of audiences. Because you may have several different buckets of audiences, different ages, different geographic targeting that you can then target. But if you don’t know who you’re talking to, you’re talking to no one. And so that data can help you refine who you want to be talking to, or who you’re already talking to, to refine the message.

 

Catherine A. Wood  17:31

Yeah, I really appreciate that it can the Google Analytics can help us prioritize our efforts. And also our marketing, right? Like, I feel like so often in business, we throw money at problems in marketing, perhaps more than any other area of business, let me just throw this contractor or this solution or this approach. Like I remember a couple years ago, I invested almost five figures in a marketing team. Because they were just great at selling like, they just sold me their solution. And they like sold me this done for you package with ad dollars and a drip campaign and I was an NA, we’re good, right? Like, I was totally smitten Kelsey. And then it didn’t, they didn’t deliver at all, because they weren’t values aligned for me one bit. And it was such an important lesson for me that just because someone knows exactly what I need to hear doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the approach or the values aligned service provider for me. And so I just really appreciate the importance that Google Analytics can play in helping us identify opportunities, and really valid solutions for us.

 

Kelsey Flannery  19:00

I totally agree. And I, I often feel that I want to educate people on these terms. So that when you go into a call, and you’re being sold something or you’re talking to a salesperson, you can ask, what is the average conversion rate? What is your take on using Google Analytics for for new websites? What does the SEO strategy look like? Being able to come back with specific marketing language may throw a salesperson off because it may not be in their script or they’re able to talk around because I always found when I worked in an ad agency, if someone sold something and I had to do it. I didn’t know what they promised. I didn’t know the expectations of the client, because that person wasn’t doing it. When I talk to people I’m doing it. I’m taking the information that we have in our conversations and implementing it so that it is built on What you’re looking for not just based on this other person, I did this for it really a unique brand new scenario for this strategy to be built. Because the data’s for your business, even if there’s two of the same industry, they’re going to be different businesses based on their goals and who they want to work with. So everything can be redone, so customized to each business. And that’s how it should be based on what you want for your business is going to be different than based on what your customer or your competitor wants to do.

 

Catherine A. Wood  20:32

That’s such brilliant advice. I really love the reminder that sometimes when we educate ourselves a little around the service that we’re wanting to hire or invest in for our business, we can really, I mean, a powerful question on Earth so much, right? Like, I certainly know this is coach, and I know you do too, like so. So let’s just I want let’s, let’s define that term, because you just used another powerful term, which I’d love for people to have in their wheelhouse when they’re considering marketing or SEO teams like a conversion rate, like, what the heck is that? And that one took me a long time. I’m like, wait, Kelsey, what, what’s the conversion? Because I wasn’t doing it. So please.

 

Kelsey Flannery  21:17

And it’s it’s such a big thing. It’s like what we all want to know is what is our conversion? What is our conversion rate. And so conversion is something tracked through Google Analytics on your website. So it’s an online action that a user takes that we deem valuable, that shows us they’re interested in so we can add tiers of conversions, we can have many different types of conversions. Some examples are someone subscribes to your blog, or podcast, if someone fills out a contact form, someone books an appointment, even some stages of purchasing, adding to a cart, going to check out completing a purchase. I’ve even considered that if someone watches an entire video, that is something that I would say they’re interested or I shared enough information in that video, they may be convinced the next time they attend my, my website or another piece of my marketing. So any action that you think that if someone does this, I got him hooked, that can be considered a conversion. And now you’re choosing what conversion action is important to you. So you can have many, or you can just have one, but it’s important to have some action that shows you where they are in their process of your funnel. And then the conversion rate is obviously how many people got to your website, to how many people actually completed that conversion. And an industry goal is 10%. And if you’re getting a 10% conversion rate, you’re doing really well, your audiences ideal for what you offer. And they’re very interested when they get to your site. If it’s low, then consider where are my conversion actions, maybe they can’t be found. Maybe they’re on the last page and someone didn’t see that you had that option. Putting it more frequently can help you increase your conversion rate.

 

Catherine A. Wood  23:09

So I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know about conversions until I worked with you, which was literally just a couple years ago. And I’ve hired marketing teams before. And I’ve worked with many web developers before. So I’m curious if this is a common experience that you come across with clients who maybe aren’t new to business who have worked with other marketing and ad teams that they don’t have conversions in place, or it’s new to them too. And like, if that’s the case, and if conversions are really a way to quantify a marketing or ad team’s effectiveness and business like why are we talking about the importance of tracking conversions more?

 

Kelsey Flannery  23:54

That is what kind of brought me to corner the market of being a Google expert only is because a lot of marketing firms, they may have different tools, but they don’t all use Google. And for me, that’s surprising because every Google tool is free. And so there is no real reason not to have it. Even if you use additional tools. Have that running in the background catch all of this extra data. Now you’re showing Google Hey, we like Google, we want to be in a good relationship with Google, then you start building the trust that’s needed for having conversions not always tracked. That is a big question mark for me, because I’ve come across a lot of Google accounts that I have to go back and manually look for conversion actions if they had up extra pages that were triggered if a conversion happened, but not always set up. And this is confusing because Google uses the analytic data to show if your website is good. So if you give Google all this information and your engagement is great and Have conversions, they use that to rank you higher. So if you don’t have it set up, they won’t know it’s a conversion, they won’t know that you’re doing a good job. And they won’t use that to help you. So there are some missing links. And either people not knowing how to set it up, or they’re using their other tools and not bothering in these ones. But it is very easy to get set up. And once it is, you’re done. There isn’t much extra legwork after the fact. And

 

Catherine A. Wood  25:27

I appreciate you highlighting that there are so many Google tools that are free, because I think, at least personally speaking, a lot of the marketing teams that I’ve worked with, previously, they had set me up on their third party marketing platforms, which in many ways duplicate Google’s efforts, but they have their own branding, their own kind of bells and whistles, but then it’s, you know, I only get to receive that data, as long as I’m invested in that ongoing retainer contract, which I don’t know, it feels like really, out of alignment when when there are these original tools like to use your words are free, and are the origins of where all these other third party platforms stem from? Like, why wouldn’t you want to direct your clients to the origins like to the best of the best, to even to really like, I don’t know, to be able to feel good about your services.

 

Kelsey Flannery  26:25

Yeah, and I even say, say we start working together, we get you all these tools, I want to be able to have a good enough relationship, that you know how to use these tools, even if we don’t continue to work together. Now, you can still continue to make the best decisions with the data and not have to start over. And that’s something that I really focus on is honesty and transparency, I’m going to tell you how we have it set up, I’m going to give you access admin access, so that it is yours because I have come across so many people that when I say the word Google, they are triggered into frustration and pulling their hair out because of some other marketing firm, that didn’t give them access. They had to fight for their accounts and really created a headache that was not necessary. Really, they can be invited. And if you want to learn and be able to empower yourself to do it, that is exactly what I want. Because I can’t go and help enough people, by myself. And so that’s that’s the hope that I’m trying to spread this knowledge because it is easy enough and simple enough that you could do it, or someone on your team can do it. It is possible to do it in house if you have the commitment to learn it.

 

Catherine A. Wood  27:40

Yeah, I so appreciate that about you. It’s really refreshing having this conversation. Well, I want to I want to come back to our term definition, because I feel like there’s still a couple more that we haven’t touched upon. So maybe the next one being keywords, because I know that’s a goldmine.

 

Kelsey Flannery  28:03

That is my favorite Google Analytics, and then keywords. Keywords are so fascinating because it is getting into the mind of your customer thinking about what’s making them go to Google, what issue are they happy, what frustration where are they in their day, that’s creating them to have this search be a part of their day. And a lot of businesses, they’re solving a problem. And so they know that their customer needs them right away. And so the faster the result can happen, the better. And of course, Google’s goal is to give the best result, the most accurate, helpful information for their search. And so this is the key is to having keywords that are directly related to you, you don’t want to have keywords that are off topic, that you think oh, a lot of searches happen here, I might be able to get some of that. If it’s not really about your business, then it shouldn’t be a part of your keyword list. So you want to be strategic and choosing your keywords. Based on I can support this, I directly answer this. And I have a an exercise of trying to get into the mind of your customer in the many different phases that your business can help in those different buckets of audiences. They’re all going to think differently. They’re all going to be searching differently. And they’re all going to be looking for a different type of solution. However, they may be in their buying process. And so coming up with that keyword list is foundational and most businesses think I need a website, I need a logo I need to you know, start hiring. But rarely is there a focus on what are people looking for when they need me? And, and Google is the place that people go to ask and so if you don’t tell Google what you offer, what you can help with, you won’t be found and the internet is where 80% of people are going to find something. And it’s the fastest way to find something you may have some people still call their, you know their neighbor, hey, do you Who do you use when you need a plumber? A Google gives them Google reviews. So there’s word of mouth. There’s ways of for people to get validated on the right offer. But the keywords are the place to start. And if you haven’t created the list, you could be missing out on a lot of opportunities.

 

Catherine A. Wood  30:28

I know that for me, personally, I had to have a bit of a breakthrough around using keywords on my website, and particularly optimizing different web pages for specific keywords because it felt like it wasn’t my voice anymore, or like I was using a keyword way too many times on a page and it felt spammy. And, you know, then I definitely had a change of view about that. But I’m imagining that a lot of our audience members will also struggle with that, like, how do I be authentic, and speak in my voice on my website, while also being strategic and using these tools that everyone else is doing? So I’m curious, like, how do you educate your clients to support them in, in implementing keywords in a, in a, in a way that works with their values?

 

Kelsey Flannery  31:28

Well, first, I asked them, what their values are like, what is that common thread of what is important to be a part of their brand, be a part of their website, and maybe even messages that they just feel are very important to get across. And that’s why each business is gonna have a different keyword list, we still you’ll have some crossover. But really starting at where you want to be seen, and selecting keywords that are important that you would want to do and see your business show up for is going to be number one, and this list can be 100. Keywords, and prioritizing them can be based on what you feel is going to be the language you want to speak. Or there’s this many searches, there’s a lot of people that are resonating with this search, I want to prioritize it because there is a lot more volume. There are going to be industry keywords that we may feel are very valuable. But people aren’t searching because they don’t really understand it. When people search search engine optimization, they’ve heard it, and they’re looking for the definition, they’re not quite ready for someone to do SEO for them, they’re still at the very beginning of understanding the term. And so those types of searches, I need to know, what I want to show up in relation to them is different than someone that’s searching for SEO expert, SEO optimizer or manager. So those are trying to think of the person while they’re searching those is going to be what you want the message to be related to them. What they say is going to be very simple. You may not you may challenge, be in a challenging place of what is my customer think I do? I have this struggle. What did what do people think I do, because it is so complicated. I want to reach them before they get overwhelmed while they’re trying to educate themselves. And so going very basic, can be the keywords that you’re like, I didn’t even think of those. But those are the ones that get a lot of searches that can be the first step of you building a connection with someone. And then the questions. That’s just gold. Everyone ask Google questions. How can you have your business answer those questions in the simplest way and giving them the the option of knowing that now you exist? And one other thing is outside the box thinking or keywords related to that? I like to think of there’s here’s your business. And as you get farther out, what are these things that are impacting your business but aren’t quite resulting in a customer. They’re just that outside ring that still impacts your business or in the same industry that can get you views, but may not lead to a serious customer until they come back a couple more times and get closer to those industry words.

 

Catherine A. Wood  34:26

That’s so refreshing to hear you say that I think that makes so much sense like that we can actually optimize our sites for our values. Right? And and let the let Google do the hard work for us on our behalf to support the people who we want to find us to find us like naturally and organically. It’s such a it’s such like a permission giving approach. And what like a, just like a lovely way of like being able to cut through, cut through all like the BS, you know, like, like if you just need to be able to search for the things that you want people to find you for. And yeah, and honestly, like, I think that’s, that’s totally been my experience like I know, when you and I first started chatting like I shared with you that Google My Business was one of the free Google tools that you mentioned that really supported me early on in my business and clients finding me and I know that you feel similarly about Google My Business. So for our listeners who maybe aren’t familiar with this, like, I’d love for you to share about what it is, why, why we need it, why our listeners need it. And you also have a great course on it. So like I Yeah, I’d love for you to share that too.

 

Kelsey Flannery  36:02

Yeah, Google business is just the first step in building a relationship with Google, it’s, what you’re doing is telling Google all about your business in one place. And by verifying it with them, you’re being able to say I am who I say I am. And that’s, again, coming back to one of Google’s main focuses is trust, they want to be able to trust that you are doing good business, that if they show you in a in a search, that their users are going to benefit from your business. And so making sure that you set it up, you have all the accurate information, you verify it, one of the several ways that’s possible, that is going to be a foundational piece that Google will now be able to show you in Google search, or in maps, locally is the main benefit of this listing, but you can show nationally, and then you can start gathering reviews. And that’s that word of mouth online piece where people need to know are other people enjoying the experience of working with your business. And most people are happy to share that. But you can also have the experience of negative reviews. So being able to have the Online Reputation right on Google, showcase photos, your services, your hours, your phone number, your link to your website, everything all in one place, is going to be huge for any business, any type of business. And then of course, there’s different ways to implement your keywords so that you can rank for certain searches in those localized places. And

 

Catherine A. Wood  37:36

just correct me if I’m wrong, but your Google Business Listing is like when you when people search for executive coach, right? And then I show up on the right hand side of the Google page, or if I go to maps, and I show up as like the, the the top businesses near me, right, like that’s exactly that’s the technical term of what it is.

 

Kelsey Flannery  37:58

Yes, yeah. If someone searches your business name, you can come up, it’s called the knowledge board. And it’ll show your photo. And that’s why when, like, on my profile, I show a picture of me so that someone can relate and connect with oh, I recognize her, this is who I’m looking for. Or if they’re searching Google Ads Manager, I can come up with other local people in really, Google’s just trying to find the closest option for you. And based on their reviews, their star rating, other information, they’ll prioritize who’s the best option?

 

Catherine A. Wood  38:34

Okay, so I feel like we could talk about this all day. We have before. And I’m mindful of the time. So as we are nearing the close, like I would love for you to share with our listeners, maybe like the top three, DIY SEO, Google tools that people should start with? And at what point should they consider hiring someone like you?

 

Kelsey Flannery  39:02

Well, the first thing is to figure out your keywords. If you have a conversation with me, or if you’re just doing research, this is the time to just start that list of keywords. And you can just start thinking, what am I saying to my customers? What are they saying to me and just start that list now and continue to be listening for that. And then that will be helpful for when you’re you are ready to take the next step and start implementing. The second thing would be Google Analytics. You can never get that on your website fast enough, the sooner the better, so that the data can start collecting. And then you can start interpreting what would be a good strategy. Using the data to create the strategy is better than creating the strategy and then changing it once you see that it wasn’t working with the data. And then the third thing is Google business. If you don’t already have that, that’s just a low hanging fruit. You could start getting calls. As soon as you get it verified. You could start being and found in different searches, get reviews, it’s just a great place for any beginner. Even if you’ve been in business, Google may have created a listing for you. So just to see, do a Google search for your own business, see how you show up? What’s coming up? What is Google showing for your business? And is it correct? Because if it’s not, you could be losing business that way, just by not having the right information. And with Google.

 

Catherine A. Wood  40:26

And those are great. Those are like, I think I’d probably agree with all three of those. And when When do they consider investing? like at what point in their entrepreneurial journey? Like? Have we finished the DIY point, and it’s time to leverage support?

 

Kelsey Flannery  40:44

Yeah, I would say as soon as you’re feeling overwhelmed, I try to offer a very easy approach to what is needed for you right now. What are your goals? And how can we create a timeline? Some people are I want to done yesterday. And so we want to get things cleaned up as fast as possible so that Google can interpret what we want from it, or let the education kind of drive you? How much are you ready to learn? Where do you want to spend your time, there is a lot of different components that the strategy can include. And I’m happy to do all of them. But I do appreciate partnership. And so when you’re ready to be able to collaborate on what your goals are, what you’re willing to create, as far as pages on your website, discovering your keywords, or even providing photos for your Google business, there is still an involvement. But there is a point where if you want to be finding new customers, the right customers, having someone help you along the way will definitely shorten the journey so that you can start seeing results faster. And so there is two strategies that I like to say, to get to the top of Google. And that’s SEO, which takes time and effort, or Google ads, which is much quicker, but it costs money. And so depends on where your business is at budget wise, time wise goals, all of that. But I do offer a free consultation. I’m happy to talk to anyone to figure out what the next step and that timeline is. I never rush because we all want to be on the same page and be ready.

 

Catherine A. Wood  42:28

Is there anything that I haven’t asked you that you’re like, we can’t or really want to share that with your audience, like if I had only known this earlier in my journey?

 

Kelsey Flannery  42:43

I think that, that we should all be best friends with Google. But it feels like Google’s like the prom queen that we’re like, oh, she would never talk to me. When really, we’re just not taking the first step in either setting up a profile or picking the right keywords. So Google is ready and wants to talk and like is is down to be BFFs. But we need to be ready and committed to continuing the relationship and not fall off. Once we get one thing done. It is a long term plan.

 

Catherine A. Wood  43:22

And the thing that I hear is that it is not just a bro marketing technique, like Google wants to be best friends with all of us. And we all deserve to have Google as our best friend. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. This has been awesome. I’ve really loved this. This is I feel like going to be such a helpful conversation for so many. I think SEO is such an overwhelming concept for so many entrepreneurs and the more educated we become around topics like this, the more accessible and willingly are to dabble and to get supported. So as we wrap what supported you in becoming the prosperous Empath that you are.

 

Kelsey Flannery  44:06

I think it was joining unbounded mastermind because being introverted and a solo entrepreneur, I was by myself I was in my head I was in my own way. And I would often give up on different projects and different ideas that I had just because I didn’t have the encouragement or acknowledgement that just like would get me through most of my fear. And I think that that just collaborative being seen and encouraged and cheered on was got me through so many things. I’ve created two courses since I joined mastermind. I created a community that gives space for people to learn more about Google, I’ve done trainings in prison. It’s just now that I’m talking about it seems like so much and it seemed easier with someone Many people around to just be there. That’s like the

 

Catherine A. Wood  45:06

totally turning red over here. You did. I was not expecting that. Thank you did not have a true. Yeah,

 

Kelsey Flannery  45:14

I guess. But it’s the truth, all of the different ideas and mindsets and books and topics and even witnessing other members has given me just new life to feel like it is possible. And I think that I just never had that alone in my office, man Google was was, you know, I was going to Google for all of my questions. And it didn’t always give me the encouragement of doing it on my own doing it and that it will be successful. So that I think was a huge piece being a sole introverted entrepreneur.

 

Catherine A. Wood  45:52

Well, I appreciate that. I am really excited to share our episode, I will link to all of your courses and your website and your community in the show notes so people can find you. And I highly encourage our listeners to do just that because you are really a goldmine and such a wonderful educator. And I think today was just a really educational and necessary conversation for more Empath entrepreneurs to become experts in so thank you.

 

Kelsey Flannery  46:23

Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.