It’s not everyday I get to speak with a self-confessed “misfit entrepreneur” who willingly admits that “becoming an entrepreneur was never a part of my game plan”, and Kate Toon is no everyday woman!
Kate is well known as a Search Engine optimisation lover (and we cheerfully demystify SEO and give you loads of practical actions you can take in this conversation), a Copywriting mentor, a Speaker, Podcaster, Author and Hula Hooper… but she is also a card carrying member of the “Debunking Entrepreneurial Myths Society”, dedicated to banning clichés and stereotypes of what it actually takes to achieve “success” in business.
In other words, she’s real, open and honest and simply a delight to talk with.
Kate escaped the “soul sucking agency environment” that marked her previous chapters and launched herself headfirst in the world of self-employment several years ago. “I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was scared, far too frightened to take the leap. It was thrust upon me when I was 5 months pregnant, so I downloaded a business plan template from the ATO and got started. I felt my way along and often still do, and my business looks nothing like it did when I started”.
That’s a modest description from a generous woman who has blazed her own path over the past 10 years. Our conversation was wide-ranging and deeply encouraging to anyone who wants to do business their way.
Take notes from our chat for the SEO expertise, but listen in with an open heart for your own inspiration.
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Show Notes
- One of my favourite insights Kate shared was her criteria for decisions, of which at least 2 needs to be met – it’s not all about the money!
- Am I enjoying it?
- Does to make me money?
- Is there a market for it?
Momentum is everything – pivoting in motion is far easier so just take a deep breath and just get started.
- Find your “solid source of truth” for the areas of your business where you want to build your skills and stick with them, don’t confuse yourself with multiple options on different subjects.
- SEO contributes to your ability to connect with the right clients for you and involves actions on your website and off your website
- 80% of all transactions begin with a Google search and Google has more than 200 criteria that contribute to a search result.
- Don’t worry about that! Just start with an SEO friendly website – a quick loading site (that means reduce the file size of your images!) that looks good and works well on mobile devices, without pop ups and that delivers what you say it does.
- SEO is not a checklist to be ticked, it’s still ongoing once you fix the bugs
- Don’t be an online island resort with no ferry links or airport – encourage incoming links from other reputable websites
- Create great, engaging content that solves problems for your audience and builds your authority and trust. Your content will be well regarded if it solves specific questions that people are searching for, but don’t be pulled into the myth of “publish often”. Rich, engaging content is what the search engines want – so relax and write s super helpful 1000 post once a month rather than a generic “gotta post every week” 350 word blog that doesn’t differentiate you at all.
- Use Video as much as you can – get it transcribed, upload it onto your website with the transcription, and onto You Tube, natively upload it to Facebook and Linked In – content that can be multi-purposed is so valuable for you. The content form these platforms appear in the blended results of google these days and so contribute to your visibility and SEO results.
About the speaker
Kate Toon is an award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant with almost two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital and writing. Originally from the UK but now based just outside Sydney.
She has worked with big brands such as eHarmony, Curash and Kmart. And she’s helped countless small businesses produce great content and improve their copywriting and SEO.
Kate is also the founder of The Clever Copywriting School and The Recipe for SEO Success eCourse, the co-host on the Hot Copy Podcast and the host of The Recipe for SEO Success podcast.
Kate recently published her popular business book, The Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur - which also has it’s own podcast.
She presents the Write for Business show for the Dale Beaumont’s Brin.ai app and is the founder of The Copywriting Conference – Australia’s first dedicated Copywriting Conference.
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