Optimizing Your Website
The first way in which you can build your marketing efforts is your speaker website. Way back at the beginning, we walked through the key features of a good speaker website. However, did you know that there are also tips and tricks to bring people to your site in the first place? The first of these tricks is Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. To put it simply, SEO is the perfection of your site or other digital content so that it ranks higher in a Google search.
Although there are a ton of factors that contribute to good SEO, the primary ones to worry about, when it comes to your speaker website, are speed, design, and content. Ideally, your site should load in less than 3 seconds, mainly in order to keep people engaged. In fact, on average, people will decide whether or not to continue scrolling within 55 milliseconds. That means that the faster your site loads and the more engaging it is, the better your chance to keep the visitor’s attention. That brings me to design. As a web developer and designer myself, I cannot stress enough that design is critical. Keeping your brand consistent on your website and following modern design practices is a sure way to bring and retain web traffic. Kindra Hall and Mel Robbins have fantastic websites, in both of these regards, for example.
Finally, include high-quality content throughout your site. This includes, blogs, guides, and downloadable content that visitors can take when they leave your site. In terms of SEO, the most important of these is your blog, which we’ll discuss in more detail below.
Tips for High-Quality Content
You’ve probably already heard from one business owner or another how writing blogs helped bring more attention to their business. By now, almost everyone knows that you should have a blog, but how do you start from nothing? First and foremost, each blog should be at least 1,500 words and focused on a single word or phrase. This blog, for example, uses the phrase “speaking business”. Of our word count, “speaking business” makes up at least 1% of the text, as should your focus keyword or phrase. Your blog should also break up the text with headings to make it easier for the reader to digest. Additionally, graphics and images can be used to make these text breaks visually engaging and memorable.
If you are trying to write a blog that out-ranks another blog in the Google search for your keyword, there are a few questions to keep in mind. These include:
- Is my blog longer than theirs and more thorough?
- Does my blog use my focus keyword at least 1% of the time?
- Do I have additional images and/or infographics, compared to my competitor?
A “yes” to each of these questions, combined with more fine-tuned blog writing techniques, is guaranteed to put your new blog in a Google search. Plus, the more blogs you write, the easier it will get.
Building Your Social Presence
Besides blogs, another great way to bring attention to your speaking business is through social media. It’s no secret that some of today’s biggest celebrities have grown their business to a new income bracket simply by maintaining a social presence. The same potential exists for speakers in their businesses, provided you follow a few key rules.
First, be diverse in what and where you post. Include videos, try out Instagram Stories, share memes, and get serious once and awhile. Being diverse in your posts will keep people from getting bored. Plus, giving someone a laugh is a sure way to engage them moving forward. Second, be social. Interact with other speakers and business owners you admire, and reply to comments on your own posts. Showing people you’re a human behind your phone and not a faceless company will always win you more followers and cheerleaders.
That brings me to the biggest rule of all on social media: Be yourself! Whatever you share or comment, make sure that it is actually something you would say. At the end of the day, staying true to yourself will make it easier to come up with social content and your candidness will be admired – I guarantee it.
If you’re unsure where to start, blogs from social scheduling tools like Sprout, Later, and Hootsuite are great for finding info you can implement now, even if you’re starting from scratch.
Marketing Data to Track
Now, as with sales and operations, making data driven decisions in marketing is of the utmost importance. More than anything, that means tracking the growth of your business. Regarding your website, this means the number of visitors to your site each month, the amount of time they spend on your site, and how many pages are viewed in an average visit. Your ultimate goal, when looking at website data, is to see where people are going and make adjustments so that the other pages or areas of your site follow suit.
The same is true when it comes to social media analytics. How many followers have I gained this week? Are my followers are in the speaking industry and, if so, how many? How many are event planners? All of your social media data will be much more fast-paced, but the idea remains the same. Look at what you are doing that is working on social media and focus on that. If videos are getting you more traffic than posting pictures of you on stage, invest in videos more. If you are gaining followers in a certain industry, take the time to follow or tag prominent members in that industry. The more you look at what is giving you traction and follow those trails, the more successful your marketing efforts – from website to social media – will be successful.
Speaking Business Marketing Tools
As always, a SpeakerFlow blog wouldn’t be complete without a list of tech tools to take some of the work off your plate. Below are three of our favorite systems for mastering your marketing processes.
Google Analytics
Far and away, one of the most useful and consistently updated marketing tools out there is Google Analytics. As a marketing expert myself, I rely on Google Analytics every day for everything from web performance to brand visibility. Within the Google Analytics dashboard, I can see not only where my leads are coming from but also which pages on my website they’re visiting the most.
As a speaker, insights like this are especially important if you have collateral to sell, such as a book, for example. By pinpointing which blogs are working and where people are finding you, you can target those areas in multiple ways. Besides personally contacting people in those areas, if you ever decide to run paid ads for your collateral, you know how to target them. Better targeting means more collateral and more gigs sold, in the long run. Win win!
Canva
Another great marketing tool, especially when it comes to branding, is Canva. Besides being available for free, Canva is an amazing tool for countless reasons. For starters, it comes with pre-sized layouts for everything from brochures to business cards. That way, if you don’t have the money to hire a graphic designer right off the bat, you can do it yourself. Additionally, for each layout, there are dozens of templates. Even if you have no design skills, these ensure your design looks professional and on-brand, so you can share the finished product with confidence.
Aside from print materials, Canva’s also excellent for digital content. Our in-house graphic designer uses it for quick and easy production of social media posts. For her, this is helpful because she handles many projects at once, so saving time is crucial. Likewise, in your speaking business, you can save time and get a beautiful result, completely free.
Buffer
Last but not least of our marketing tools is Buffer. As with all social media automators, Buffer allows you to take those gorgeous social media posts you made in Canva and pre-post them. If you’re between gigs, this might not be a huge concern. However, when you’re on the road, using a social scheduler allows you to plan it all ahead of time. That way, once your gig is over, you can go back to your hotel and rest easy, since it’s still posting for you in the background.
Jumping back to our graphic designer at SpeakerFlow, who also manages our social accounts, Buffer is also great if you dislike social posting. As for our designer, for many speakers, being social isn’t top priority, simply because they don’t like it. Nevertheless, in this day and age, building a social presence is a guaranteed way to build your speaking business. So, if you want to take care of your social posting once a week and get it over with, a social scheduler like Buffer is definitely the solution.
Well, that brings us to the end of this mega-guide for starting your speaking business! Thank you for sticking with me this far. Hopefully, with these tips and tricks in mind, you have more confidence to take your business to the next level. 😊
