This is an interesting time to be a solopreneur – when I started out, Google was the only marketing platform on the web but it was tiny. Still, I made a living by being first for “Software outsourcing” and “Website design”. I then ranked first for “SEO Ireland” (I was living in Ireland at the time) and moved to that full-time, becoming an SEO. I’ve owned a Primary Position for 20 years now.
Google is much bigger and there are more marketing channels now – but Google is not only infinitely bigger, it’s still 8X bigger as a traffic generator than all the other social networks COMBINED.
SEO has a steep learning curve
And yet most solopreneurs aren’t doing SEO. And if they are, not very successful. But sits like Facebook and Twitter are dying, and not very slowly anymore.
But SEO has become big business – almost all of the leads generated by SMEs and medium-sized organizations in the US are run by SEO. Google has destroyed travel agents, and telephone directories and dwarfed most outbound advertising platforms- TV, billboards, radio, etc
And so it must seem tough for solopreneurs,so I thought I’d lend a hand. I recently started a resource site, and my first post was about defining the Solopreneur and the challenges we face.
Firstly, if you’ve started your digital marketing in social media, then SEO is going to be tough. From the outside, especially from Linkedin or Twitter, where most solopreneurs hang out, SEO looks like a blog fest – with people, experts, thought leaders, and corporations all posting “thought leadership” titles.
That’s not going to work in SEO.
There are some critical SEO myths that need to die – because many of these are being resurrected and are just basically wrong, but they delay learning because they sound “intuitively correct”
- SEO is not about current or fresh content
- There is no “scorecard”
- There are no “points” for doing it right or writing or publishing often
- Google isn’t watching you like Stasi-Santa, seeing if you’re good or bad, sleeping or writing
- Social Media doesn’t impact SEO
- Content doesn’t rank itself by itself
The last is the hardest – it’s hard to explain to people that content quality depends on who you ask. Ask 100 people and you’ll get at least 99 different opinions. But content is the claim – its that writer or owner or publishers claim to be first. Claims are not evidence of, or requirements met, to achieve first place. Authority controls what ranks.
Writing often or getting shared a lot isn’t going to help you. Getting 1000 likes on Twitter isnt a useful factor when search engines rank pages for a long time. But social media isn’t something Google can verify. If you see a tweet get 1000 likes or a Reddit getting a 1000 upvotes, it doesn’t make you trust it, it’s a number you’re typically able to judge in your head. The same with review data.
Google works on PageRank. It’s in the SEO starter guide.
Lead Generation for Solopreneurs
Google is the worlds top Lead Generation source for B2B, SaaS and technology companies just as much as e-commerce and B2C. With $280bn in Advertising, Google is ahead of Meta (Facebook+Insrtagram), Microsoft (Bing, LinkedIn, Office, Azure), X/twitter and TikTok combined. Key to lead generation is keyword research and understanding your customer journey. You then set up lead magnets to draw prospects out and nurture them.
Advice for Solopreneurs
Step 1: Start Today
Firstly, start sooner than you plan. SEO takes time to learn and there are 100’s of millions of pages in front of you
Build your Digital Profile/Presence
As a solopreneur, you might not want to promote yourself but if you’re doing events, networking, or tweeting – people may remember your name more than your product. Make sure there’s no ambiguity or try to reduce it as much as possible. This is called “Reputation Management” and also sometimes referred to as “Digital Reputation” – in other words, what does Google say about you.
There are lots of tools – make sure you use your name with your content and your company name – on Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook, News articles, Press Releases, and interviews.
Ask For Links
When people ask you about what you’re doing or if you have data to share with people, make sure you ask them to link back to you. Don’t just rely on your product name but on what your product does, solves or fixes. If you’re a member of a networking group, attend events, or support something – ask for links!
SEO is Deeply Technical
SEO is deeply technical and there’s a lot of creativity in play. So read, watch videos, and get involved in SEO Forums, like on Reddit.
Don’t Try it “Your way”
Unless you understand and can rank content, then don’t think you can hack it. Social Media can start a conversation with you within ten minutes of joining. Heck, you could be talking to prospects within a day or an hour even. This will not happen in SEO. Whereas Social Media needs you to be yourself, SEO with Google is non-negotiable.
In social media, and in networking, being different and quirky makes you stand out, and makes you memorable. In Google, it makes you unfindable. Sick of big websites, trying to make it in a one-pager – want to show the old-school SEO guys it can be done? Uh-huh. Well, nobody wants to build a 30k-page website, Kyle. They started at one. And 38,000 blog posts and 3 sitemaps later…
Get Help
If you want to hack SEO, get help. I’ve offered to work with companies for free to see how they’ve solved problems. I’d do the same in SEO. I’ve seen people spend 2-3 years trying to get into page 1 of Google – that’s way too long.
Don’t cheat
Buying backlinks is a short-term solution with a long-term problem. Don’t cheat!
Get the right SEO Tools
I’ll expand on this and all of these topics over on my Solopreneur site, so stick around for more!
