I'm sure you want to increase your visibility online?
At the most basic level, in our business we have to do 3 things:
1. Get Found,
2. So we Get Known,
3. And then Get Clients.
The whole point of your marketing is to increase your visibility online.
With our marketing, our prospective clients need to be able to SEE US:
- doing our thing,
- solving their problems,
- being a credible expert.
And we do that by creating & distributing strategic content.
You know this already.
You know you need to increase your visibility online but don't know where to start.
And yikes! 'visibility' makes you feel nervous. Is the only answer really to dance around making random TikTok videos? Surely not!
And then you think to yourself. Aha! I'll get back to blogging. Then you remember.
You've done that before and didn't think it worked. What the hell am I supposed to write about, you wonder?
The 2 biggest reasons our online visibility gets patchy
1. You don't know what to say!
2. You are frightened! Maybe of showing your face, of showing the real you.
If we want our online business to prosper, we have to increase our visibility, increase our consistency, share our thoughts and Point Of View, highlight the stuff we sell, and it feels easier if we also learn to enjoy it too. This is very true for online course creators, as well as for artists, crafters, makers. Anyone, actually.
Why am I talking about this here?
Well I was invited to speak at The VA Conference Online by the event host, Tracey D'Aviero, who is a Virtual Assistant trainer & mentor. I had been recommended to her - always exciting when that happens! The theme for the May 2022, 3 day event was VISIBILITY and my topic was around content creation & visibility. The other speakers were fabulous too and I hopped into as many sessions as I could.
"Create Content So Clients Choose You"
I decided to structure my presentation around those 2 main problems which hold us back from being visible. There is no recording to share 'cos it was a paid-for event, BUT I have made a PDF of the slides and I have included them at the top of my Learning Centre.
Weaving my 'visibility story' through the presentation provided some inspiration and entertainment and highlighted that we can take determine steps towards increasing our visibility through our content creation. Yes, even when we are a massive introvert like I am, and many online professionals are too.
Throughout my presentation I used a LOT of my varied personal branding photos. I talked about these as part of my 'visibility journey', and they added a fun personal dimension which also demonstrated my credibility to be talking about such a journey.
I will write a specific blog post about 'Visibility School'. It's the fabulous and fun, personal branding photography monthly membership scheme created by branding photographer Maryanne Scott.
That section addressed the 'fear' aspects of being visible.
Then I highlighted the 'don't know what to write about' problem.
The key content creation strategy that I LOVE and have been using since 2010 and the start of my online business is...
Create content by answering questions
Here is a quick summary of the ideas I shared to help you create content to increase your visibility online.
1. "They Ask, You Answer"
One book that explains this concept very, very well is, "They Ask, You Answer" written by Marcus Sheridan. Back in 2008 he rescued his swimming pool installation company by creating a strategic and consistent stream of content based around the questions asked by prospective swimming pool customers.
This content made him visible, solved his prospects problems, and demonstrated his expertise. He has since grown a very successful inbound marketing agency, and also writes & trains on the concepts on how we can all implement "They Ask, You Answer" into our business. Go visit https://www.impactplus.com/what-is-they-ask-you-answer
I shared his ideas around what content to create first. And highlighted his 'The Big Five' questions that you need to answer for your business / service / thing which drive sales.
I highly recommend the book, but please also go and take some time on his website, in the Learning Centre. Can you see how this approach can be valuable for YOUR business?
2. Brainstorm all the questions you get asked : business, niche, service, course, art
Starting with The Big Five, and perhaps The Selling Seven.
And other questions that you get asked, or think you SHOULD get asked.
Start collecting them into ONE place. A spreadsheet, online note app, a Trello board.
There are tons of free examples around to help you get your thoughts organised.
3. Go 'Comment Mining'
Get more inspiration from the comments on videos and posts, that are around your niche. The people who have asked the question, or made the comment, on a relevant video, are therefore very interested in that niche, your niche. Spend time in YouTube searching for stuff that is highly relevant to your business and niche and dive into the comments. It's market and content research absolute gold, right there.
4. Your YouTube channel, ->Analytics, ->Research
This is relatively new and helps you discover what your channel audience are actually searching for! Find out more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjWcPMWGMdM
That's one of the biggest reasons why our visibility online gets patchy and doesn't seem to generate any meaningful leads or business.
5. AnswerThePublic.com 'discover what people are asking about'.
This is a very visual method of generating ideas & keywords. It's a paid service, BUT you do get ONE FREE 'try' per day. Enter a topic or key word, for example, I would start with 'online course creation' and see what comes up. It can spark a LOT of good content topics.
6. Blog Topic Generators
There are a few of these around. They generate topics and questions that you can use as blog topics. Remember to give priority to those which are relevant to The Big Five.
And of course, highlight how you can help them solve their biggest problems & challenges. What relevant testimonials and case studies can you weave into your blog posts too?
Here is a great example of 'evergreen content' which also brings together several different blog topic generators. It was originally written in 2015 and regularly updated since.
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/02/12/blog-topic-generators
And above all - have fun with this!
Even though you are creating marketing content based upon this idea of answering prospective client questions, please remember to let your personality shine through so that your prospects begin to connect with you and develop that ubiquitous 'Know, Like & Trust' factor.
Truly create content to increase your visibility online and attract your ideal clients. And most important of all, let your personality shine through to develop that 'Know, Like & Trust' factor which then turns those prospects into buyers. That comes back to confidence, doesn't it?
I'll end this post, in the same way as I ended my presentation, with this great quote from Ann Handley.
If you found this blog post useful & interesting, here are a couple more.
Presenting A Webinar to Yorkshire In Business December 2021
"What you need to think about before you create an online course"
https://virtualityworks.com/presentation-yorkshire-in-business/
Tackling My Business Legals
https://virtualityworks.com/tackling-my-business-legals/