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- ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² can be like putting together something from Ikea
ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² can be like putting together something from Ikea
Brett explores why it's important to not lose sight of the fundamentals when trying to be seen
Brett McGrath
May 24, 2024
Welcome back with another installment of the ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² newsletter! Iβve had a topic burning through my brain all week that I couldnβt wait to get out. Itβs not the type of topic that youβre going to take to LinkedIn and drop a hot take for the clicks, but something that I wish I was more mindful of earlier in my career.
The punchline is simple. The most important things that you can do to get seen by your next customer in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² are almost all of the time the least sexy. Itβs the stuff that you push to the back of the priority list because itβs boring or you donβt address at all because you donβt know how to tackle the work yourself. Itβs easy to get in a habit of working on things that excite you. Itβs even easier to work on the things that excite you and you believe will drive results. Unfortunately, no matter how great the work is that you produce it can fall off the table because you ignore the fundamentals. When you disregard the foundational work in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² the odds of your company getting noticed goes down dramatically.
The easiest way for me to explain the importance of fundamentals in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² is to bring up Ikea. No, Iβm talking talking about how Ikea does SEO, builds their website, or delivers their customer experience. Iβm referring to my own personal experience with their brand. I try to avoid the Ikea experience at all costs, however, they provide a product that fills a need for me. Iβm a collector of collections. Iβve collect sports cards, vinyl, sports memorabilia, and the list goes on. Ikea makes the Detolf display cases that allow me to present all of my things in a way that reminds me of the pieces that I own and can be the catalyst for conversations about my collection when guests come over. I think a lot about getting set up in the ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² a lot like I do every time I get a new Detolf that Iβve got to put together.
The Detolf comes in a flat box that has to be broken open with a box cutter. When the box is ripped open youβll find a wooden base, a myriad of glass shelves, huge window panes, metal pieces, plastic, and a lot of other small pieces. The task of putting one of these together is at least a two person job. Youβve got to follow the wordless Ikea instructions and also make sure you put the pile of glass together in a way that doesnβt shatter every where mid job. Typically, it takes an hour to put the Detolf together and the work is never fun. Anyone who has put together an Ikea anything with their spouse likely knows the disputes that follows. Ultimately, the Detolf gets built and provides additional space for my collection to be seen.
My experience building Ikea Detolfs for my collection to be seen is a lot like how I think about the dirty work involved in showing up your best in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π². Think about your website like the pieces in the box before itβs even put together. Sure, the website might exist when you type in the URL, but does it have the ability to present your story in the way that you want for anyone whose stumbling by? Maybe the website is just like pieces in a box and not even able to display your greatest marketing assets like your content yet. These are the moments when you begin to realize that you might need to pull out the instruction booklet and start doing the foundational things to make sure your website shows up the next time someone searches for a problem that you can solve.
The non-sexy activities to showing up in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² can be things like making sure your website has the right security, uptime support, malware defense, and the right resource to make edits when you need it. If youβre like most people, you probably donβt have time to mess with website hosting, security, and updates. Thatβs where things like website insurance can come into play to make sure youβre able to start letting your website work for you the way youβve always imagined.
The competition in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² is endless. The easiest thing that you can do to maximize your chances of being seen is to start with the fundamentals or partner with someone who can do it for you.
Take care,
Brett
P.S. If you stumbled across ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² and dig what weβre putting out make sure you subscribe to get a copy of the latest edition every Friday!
The Content We Dropped This Week
In the second episode of ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² podcast I talk with David about the impact of people over technology when it comes to SEO. We discuss how you decide what SEO work needs to be done by technology and what needs to be done by people.
During this conversation we share where business owners, operators, and marketers get it wrong and share some examples of brands who we believe are doing it right.
Please follow and subscribe to ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² wherever you consume fine audio and video content.
Quick Tip for The Search Economy
Iβve learned that one of the easiest ways to help usher in a new era of participants into ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² is to explain things like youβre talking to a toddler. Iβm a Girl Dad x2 and my 2.5 year old is in an amazing phase of curiosity in her life. Recently, on the way to drop her off at daycare I had a chat with her about how traffic worked. I explained it like this: Red means stops, green means go, and yellow means slow down. I know my message resonated with her because every time we pull up to a stoplight she repeats it.
SEO is a complicated topic for me and Iβm a marketer. I always take that into consideration when discussing itβs impact and how I can help others really understand itβs place in extending your brand in ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π².
The toddler version of framing it up is that Social Media Starts Conversations. SEO Makes Your Brand a Part of Existing Conversations.
If youβre interested in learning more about this topic you can check out the article that I wrote about it here. This topic will also make its way into an upcoming conversation on the podcast.
What Theyβre Saying About Search
The tidal wave around AI and itβs impact on ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² started flooding our feeds about this time last year. I saw this post from Ankit Vora and knew that I had to share it here.
Consumer habits are hard to break. Weβre creatures who've grown accustom to the way we search for information. This wonβt just change as new technology gets rolled out. Thatβs why we always need to make sure weβre optimizing for how people are searching right now and not how we think theyβll be searching years from now.
If youβre looking for a team that will help give you a jump start into ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² give Pneuma a shout for a free traffic audit!
Content That Supports The Search Economy
I came across βHow to Create an Effective SEO Content Brief (+Template) from Flow and thought it was an excellent piece to share for anything just stepping into ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π². This piece is perfect for anything who is currently thinking about how to improve writing to help fuel your SEO strategy.
You can read the article here.
I appreciate you being here forof ππ‘π ππππ«ππ‘ πππ¨π§π¨π¦π² newsletter. If youβre looking to learn more about how your company can get found by your next customer then give the Pneuma team a shout.