Hey guys! It’s been a beautiful, insightful, crazy busy month, and here we are, creeping up to November. It’s hard to believe that 2020 is coming to an end. I’ve seen you rolling with all the punches this year has thrown, pivoting, brainstorming, and staying hopeful. There have been so many new challenges this year, and you’ve handled them with grace and confidence. I hope you’re really proud of yourself - you’ve done incredibly well, during an incredibly challenging year.

Question for you: has your website been hustling as hard for your business as you’ve been?

Maybe the answer to this is a little complicated. If you don’t have a website yet, no worries, I’ve got you covered here and here to get you started on that! Many beauty businesses are still only relying on social media to get the good word out, so if you’re among them, you’re not alone, but it’s time to step up your game. Do a little catch-up on some of the easy-peasy material I’ve linked to help you get that website going!

Having a website is like going from washing your dishes by hand to owning a dishwasher. You know those dishes gotta get done. You can either spend all the extra time doing them yourself, or you can pop them in the washer and move on to more important things, like building your empire. To be clear, your website is the dishwasher. It does all the hard work of promoting your business online while you spend your valuable time and energy focusing on other stuff!

Websites give you the exposure your business deserves. Clients can find your business easily, from anywhere, at any time of day, and book an appointment to see what your magic’s all about. I get about 12,000 visitors a month to my website. It’s time for you to get that kind of exposure! And one of the best ways to bring new visitors to your website is through Google.

Google is an incredibly powerful and important tool to expose your business to all your ideal potential clients out there. Having a functional, beautiful and informative website that comes up easily on Google when potential clients search for beauty services is a game-changing, super-important aspect of scaling up. So let’s get you found on Google! Today I’m going to show you a few quick and easy ways to ensure your beauty business shows up on Google’s Top Results page.

#1: Build your keywords to help Google find your website

What are keywords? Simply speaking, they’re the words and phrases Google uses to connect visitors to your site when they use the Search function. Keywords allow AI on Google to understand the content of your website and bring up your website in search results.

Here’s a quick and easy brainstorming activity to get the ball rolling on identifying your keywords for Google. Write down on a piece of paper all the words you can think of that relate to your business and services. Keep in mind that these are the words your ideal client would type into Google Search to find your business. Words like ‘best hairstylist, best hairdresser, hair extensions, balayage expert, blonde, highlights, nail stylist, nail tech, tanning, waxing’ (etc.) could be keywords for your business. Once you’ve got your service-related words written down, think of location-based words. You know the ones, you’ve typed them into Google when you do searches for businesses and services! ‘Near me, local, in [city you’re in]’ are all important keywords.

Turn these words into phrases and you’ve found your keywords! These words need to be included in the content on your website, whether in a headline, in product descriptions, or in a blog you’ve written. Your location listing on your website and your Google My Business profile will ping location-based search requests that are made in Google. So the next time a potential client types in, for example, ‘best shadow brows in Ottawa”, they’ll find you! Simple as that.

It’s super important to be very intentional about your keywords and how you use them on your website. If you are strategic about the content you put on your website (as in, keeping your keywords in mind at all times!), you will be found every time someone types in those magic words and phrases.

#2: Exercise your writing skills with Content Creation

You’ve got so much experience and wisdom to share about all the things you’ve learned and discovered throughout your beauty business journey. Have you ever thought about sharing all that juicy, valuable knowledge? Well, my friend, now’s the time!

Start a blog today! It’ll do your business a world of good, and here’s why: along with branding you as an industry expert when you share your knowledge on your blog, Google loooooooves showing off fresh content. When you create a blog post filled with the type of stuff others want to know about, Google will reward you by having your blog (on your website!) show up in searches related to the content. 95% of those 5,000 hits on my website each month are to my blog. Writing original, helpful, and keyword-rich content is a really crucial way to drive traffic to your website. Hellooooo, exposure!

Blog posts written by you should be helpful, filled with value for the reader, and position you as an expert. Here are some examples of topics you can cover in your blog, to inspire you to get started right away:

Write detailed blogs about each of the services your business provides, along with an FAQ (frequently asked questions) for each
Blog about your favourite beauty businesses in your city! Shouting out fellow business owners in your city is a wonderful way to support your community and inform visitors of what’s available locally.
Blog about one service vs. another - comparative content can be helpful for visitors trying to decide what type of service is best for their needs. They’re more likely to book with you if they have all the information they need to make the right choice. Gently lead and educate with a fun and informative blog to help them decide!

Your blog posts can be shared across all social media platforms, as well as on Pinterest - a secret weapon of mine, and a huge driver for monthly traffic to my website! Use your blog posts to educate, connect, and inspire your clients and new visitors. Like I mentioned earlier, writing blog posts is what really brings in most of my unique visitors to my site (95% of them!). Try it out today!

And if you’d like some more ideas for blog posts to write that clients will love reading (and Google will adore, too), check out my guide All About Blogging For Salons.

#3: Link your website to your Google My Business profile

Your Google My Business profile will provide the physical location in Google’s map system to show customers where you’re located. Open up your profile on GMB and ensure that the information for your business is filled out correctly and up-to-date - your business phone number, address, and website URL! That’s right…if you’ve got your website up and running, you need to make sure your Google My Business profile is showing it off! Along with that, check over your profile to see that your business description, hours, and up-to-date pictures of you and your location are all ready for visitors to look over.

A second really important part of spiffing up your GMB profile and making sure it’s doing its job of selling your business is getting lots of good reviews! If you haven’t already done a ‘review bootcamp’ for your business and figured out a way to gather lots of great feedback from past and current clients, I suggest spending a couple days, a week, or even a month to sweet-talk (or gift) your clients into sharing their super-valuable reviews online. There are lots of ways to accomplish this, but the end result will be lots of golden 5-star reviews attached to your GMB profile and website to convince potential clients what you already know: that you’re the best at what you do!

A little bit of work goes a long way with your website

You’ve put the effort into building a website you’re proud of, and you understand the inherent value of having it up-to-date and working around the clock to help scale up the success of your beauty business. If you take my advice and polish up the content on your website to make it keyword-rich and full of education and information for visitors, as well as making sure your Google My Business profile is doing you all the favours by showing off glowing reviews and linking to your website, you’ll rise to the top of Google’s results list every time a client searches for a beauty business near them. Say it with me now: ex-po-sure!

Have a safe and productive week, and I’ll talk to you soon!

Xo Stephanie