By now, most business owners understand the importance of SEO (search engine optimization).

 Implementing an SEO strategy, on the other hand, is a bit more complex. 

Many website owners believe that applying tools that promise SEO greatness is all they need to do.

But, unfortunately, that’s not doing SEO.

Learning how to use your SEO tools is a key step in your website’s performance, and it does involve more than simply installing a tool or using an SEO-friendly platform for your site.

If you want to know more about doing SEO the right way, read on.

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Show Notes:

  • [00:01:27] How do I book a discovery call with Propel Marketing & Design? And what do we discuss on that call?

  • [00:02:20] How does Propel prepare for a discovery call with a potential new client?

  • [00:04:07] What are the common misconceptions about “doing SEO?”

  • [00:05:26] What are good SEO-friendly platforms to set up my clinic’s website on?

  • [00:05:56] Will Google Analytics help my website, and does just installing it do it all, or do I need to take further steps? 

  • [00:08:37] Where can I get more resources to learn about SEO?

  • [00:09:23] Should I keep my content (copy and images) to a minimum so it doesn’t slow down my website?

  • [00:10:16] What’s the big takeaway about “doing SEO” on this episode?


What are other ways I can increase my online presence? Check out our free masterclass Five SEO Secrets to Owning the First Page of Google Without Buying Ads.

Want to suggest a topic or guest? Please do so! I’m up for a challenge! Suggest a topic for an upcoming episode of the Propel Your Practice Podcast

 

Full episode transcript

I could tell he was really frustrated. I looked at him, shook my head, and said, I'm sorry, but no. That's not doing SEO. And that's why your website isn't ranking at the top of Google and those other search engines.

Hello, and welcome to the Propel Your Practice Podcast, where we discuss actionable strategies you can put in place to help propel your clinic's presence online. I'm your host Darcy Sullivan with Propel Marketing & Design.

On today's episode, I'm gonna share a story with you from a recent discovery call I had with a chiropractor.

Now, for the sake of this show, I'm just going to call him Frank. But the truth is I've spoken to so many chiropractors that are in the exact same situation as this guy (that we will call Frank for the sake of today's episode) that I knew I had to turn to the podcast and share what happened.

Tons of which are chiropractors. And we do a lot of discovery calls.

I work for Propel Marketing & Design, and if you were to visit our website, https://propelyourcompany.com/, you can click the button, BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL

On a discovery call, what we do is we look at your website, and we look at your website rankings. We look at your competition. We ask questions. We listen, and then we give some insight into why your clinic's website is in its position online. 

We also talk about some of our done-for-you SEO services, consulting, and our DIY program, as these are often solutions that we suggest during the discovery call.

So let’s get back to the discovery call I recently had with Frank. And actually, it wasn't a quote-unquote phone call. It was a Zoom meeting. 

So, 10 minutes before I do a discovery call, I jump on my computer. I run a few scans, and I look at a website before the call is scheduled. Then I jump on Zoom a couple of minutes ahead of time in case somebody’s early.

And- we'll save this for another episode, but usually, after just looking at somebody's website, I can tell what's holding them back from reaching their full opportunity online for ranking higher. But we'll save that for another episode. 

So back to Frank. I get on the Zoom call, and Frank is there, and I say, “Hello, Frank, it's nice to meet you. I have your website pulled up. I've also run a few scans, and I think I already know what your issues are. But please tell me a little bit more about your company and what you think are the issues that are holding you back from your success online, ranking your website at the top of Google.”

He goes into a little background. He tells me about his company, how long it's been open. What area he services. He was a chiropractor. So he talked a little bit about who his ideal patients were. And so on. 

And then he says to me, “I just don't understand, Darcy. I go to Google, and I look for my company, and I can't find it anywhere. And I'm doing SEO. So I must be doing something wrong.”

I looked at Frank, and I could tell he was so frustrated. And again, I’ve had this same conversation with so many other chiropractors.

I said, “Frank, you said [and I put my air quotes up] Doing SEO. What exactly is it? What are the actions that you're taking that you're categorizing as SEO?”

He said, “Well, I set my website up on WordPress. Which is supposed to be SEO-friendly. I installed Google Analytics. I'm running the plugin Yoast SEO. And I made sure not to include that much content or too many images on my website so that I could make sure that my website loads quickly.” 

And I said to him what I'm going to say to you during this episode. 

“Okay. Let's break each of these items down. Shall we? First of all, you said you’re using WordPress. WordPress is absolutely SEO-friendly. Honestly, most of the platforms out there are SEO-friendly. WordPress is one of my top recommendations. I often recommend WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and Clinic Sites. They're all SEO-friendly platforms. But by just using that platform doesn't mean you're doing SEO. 

“Next, you said you installed Google Analytics, correct?”

“Yes,” Frank said, “Yes, I installed Google Analytics.”

Great. Then I asked him, “Are you using the information that you've gathered in Google Analytics to make changes and updates to your website? Are you leveraging the information that's being provided by Google Analytics?”

“No, no,” Frank said. “In fact, I really don't even understand Google Analytics when I look at it.”

I get it. Google Analytics can sometimes feel like you're trying to drink water from a firehose. But here's the thing, Google Analytics is always recommended and associated with SEO (search engine optimization), but having Analytics installed on your website, doesn't mean that you're quote-unquote, “doing SEO.”

It means that you're gathering data that you should then use to help you make improvements, to continue to improve the SEO on your website, and to improve your website and your content marketing. 

“Oh,” he said. “Well, but I've got a plugin. I've got an SEO-friendly plugin on my website.”

“Yes,” I said to him, “I love Yoast SEO. But here's the thing again, having a plugin on your website, like Yoast SEO, doesn't mean you're quote-unquote ‘doing SEO.’

“It is a tool. Just like Google Analytics is a tool, just like your website platform is a tool. All of these are tools. But if you don't use the tools the right way, you're not going to improve your website rankings.”

So I pull up his website, and I'm like, “Look here. You have the opportunity; Yoast shows you a section that makes it very easy for you to provide meta information for each one of your pages so that Google can serve it up the way that you want it served up to the world.

And he said meta what? Meta who?

And I laughed. Because I get it. A lot of people take the initiative to add in a plugin or use a platform because they hear it's SEO-friendly. But that, again, does not mean that you're doing SEO.

Right then, I said, “Let me ask you this, Frank, have you had the opportunity to go to our website and sign up for our free SEO training? Cause I get it. We can't cover everything in our short time together, but if you go to PropelYourCompany.com/learn, you can watch a free training where we talk about all of these things. 

We talk about what meta titles and page descriptions are. We talk about optimizing your website and about how you can rank even outside of your website in the Google Maps. 

But there are tons of elements that go into SEO. And then, let's look at the other thing you said; you said that you didn't want to include much content on your website and that you didn't want to use large images because you wanted to make sure that your website loaded quickly because you knew that was important for SEO. And you know what? Having a website that loads quickly absolutely is imperative for SEO.

But not including the right content, the right keywords, and images that truly associate themselves with your business is going to hurt you in the long run.

So the moral of the story is- because I speak to a lot of people who are in Frank’s exact same situation- there are so many actions you can take to help improve your website rankings. 

Now on this podcast, we like to break things down and really segment them, so we have different topics on each of the different episodes, and we can’t go into full detail on every single episode about every single step you should take if you're trying to improve your website rankings.

But with today's episode, I just want the biggest takeaway to be this: Just because you're using a platform that's SEO-friendly for your website, it doesn't mean you're doing SEO. Just because you have Google Analytics installed on your website, it doesn't mean you're doing SEO. Just because you’ve got an SEO-friendly plugin on your website, it doesn’t mean you’re doing SEO.

No, if you’re like, “That’s great, Darcy, but where do I get started?”

I've got tons of resources for you. Again, you can take that free training that I suggested to Frank by visiting PropelYourCompany.com/learn. Or you can visit our website to look at any of the SEO guides that we've put together. 

And if you're a clinic owner that feels like you just need some extra help, you can visit our website at propelyourcompany.com and click on that BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL where we can look at your website together and talk about what's holding you back. 

Because having the right tools is great, but knowing how to use them and having a strategy that you implement the right way is going to take your SEO plan to the next level. 

That's it for this short episode of the Propel Your Practice Podcast. If you're just getting started with SEO, be sure to look at some of our previous episodes, where we break down elements of SEO and how you can improve your website rankings.

Have a great day. I will talk to you again soon.

Well, hey, before we head out, I want to invite you to join in on a free masterclass I put together on the Five SEO Secrets to Owning the First Page of Google Without Buying Ads.

You can find a link to sign up for this free masterclass in the Show Notes of this episode or by visiting PropelYourCompany.com/learn

During this workshop, we do a deep dive into strategies to help you improve your online presence. Including your Google Business Profile, that's what used to be called the Google My Business listing and what controls the Google Maps section, along with how voice SEO plays a big role in today's search and where you should be focusing your efforts online for the biggest impact. 

All right. Well, that's it for today. Again, you can join the masterclass by visiting PropelYourCompany.com/learn. And if you have a topic that you would like to hear on an upcoming episode of Propel Your Practice, please send it in by visiting PropelYourCompany.com/podcast-topics or looking for the link in the Show Notes. 

Thanks so much for your time. I'll talk to you soon. 

webinar

Darcy’s SEO strategies are easy to implement and effective. She’s the #1 SEO expert I refer to whenever I need help with my rankings.

 

SEO queen! I can’t thank Propel and Darcy enough for holding my hand through the SEO process! I’m loving the podcast and all the insight! Also loving that my business is now getting the brand awareness and sales I’ve always wanted!

 


Wow! Clear, concise and impactful. Excellent details and tips - already seeing a return!! Worth the 20 min listen.

 

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Sponsors

This episode of the Propel Your Practice Podcast is brought to you by Propel Marketing & Design. Propel Marketing & Design helps Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Physical Therapists, Wellness Practitioners, and other clinic owners improve their website rankings.


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