SEO with Guest Maggie Schneider at Hilltop Help
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. So it's all of the strategies and processes that businesses can use to get organic leads to whatever platform they want. Typically, it's your website or blog, but it could also be just leads for your brick and mortar business getting people to come through those doors.
So when I say organic marketing, it is free, so you're not paying for ads, you're getting that organic traffic from Google, typically Google search results, but any search engine could be YouTube, Pinterest as a search engine. So the whole purpose of that is to position your business and yourself as an expert in whatever industry that you're in, so that Google ranks you higher, you get in front of more eyes, and then hopefully you can convert those eyes and traffic to sales.
Welcome to the Spa Business Building Podcast, your go-to destination for turning your passion as a beauty or wellness professional into a successful and profitable business. I'm Tiffany, your host. I'm a mom, wife, licensed esthetician and massage therapist, enthusiast of all things business building.
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Get ready to unlock the secrets of spa business building and embark on this exciting journey together. Your thriving business awaits. Thank you for joining me, Maggie.
I'm excited that you're here.
Yeah, thank you.
So I'll start with, so you're the owner of Hilltop Help, right? Okay, so do you wanna kind of just explain what that is, what you do?
So my name is Maggie Schneider. I'm a web designer and SEO consultant that specializes in increasing online visibility for my clients, most of whom are in the health and wellness space. So I started my business, Hilltop Help, in 2021.
I was kind of looking for a creative outlet and a way to get out of the healthcare industry so I could be home more with my two kids who are now toddlers, and then I have one on the way. And so eventually, I left my career as a nurse to pursue this business, which started as a virtual assistant business, now is more web design and SEO, helping businesses get more leads and sales through strategic content marketing and search-optimized websites. So I also have an SEO course that is out now to help business owners learn SEO and marketing strategies to help simplify their business marketing.
Awesome. That's so great. Can I ask, how did you get into web design while you were a nurse?
Yeah, it's kind of random. So actually through the Pursuing Her Purpose course, I just started listening to their podcasts, and I never really had thought about owning a business of my own. But once my eyes were open to that possibility, coincidentally, my husband was starting a business around the same time.
So just seeing all the freedom and flexibility and the creativity that you get to use every day, and problem-solving was just very different, obviously, than working in healthcare where you're clocking in and out for a 12-hour shift. So that just kind of opened my eyes to it. And then it wasn't until I was working as a virtual assistant kind of figuring out where I wanted to go with my business and just kind of getting my feet wet in the marketing world, because obviously it was very new to me.
And as I was helping business owners with their blogs, I realized I'm one of those people that if you're going to do something, you have to do it right. So I started learning about SEO and just all of the possibilities that that could bring to businesses where you can simplify your marketing, have a really streamlined long-form content starting with that, and then getting more targeted clients and leads for your business. So I just took courses.
I was designing my own website, and I was like, I really love the creative part of it. But really, with web design, there's so much more that goes into it. There's like the strategy of keeping people on your website and taking them through the customer journey to get them to where you want them to go.
So I just kind of self-taught and a lot of trial and error, but I really am liking the SEO side of things where I can see real results for my clients.
That's really great. I love that story. I love your journey.
And I think that listeners can relate to that because going out on our own as well and becoming business owners and being able to connect with that, I think that's really great. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what SEO is and why it's important?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. So it's all of the strategies and processes that businesses can use to get organic leads to whatever platform they want. Typically, it's your website or blog, but it could also be just leads for your brick and mortar business getting people to come through those doors.
So when I say organic marketing, it is free. So you're not paying for ads. You're getting that organic traffic from Google, typically Google search results, but any search engine could be YouTube, Pinterest as a search engine, right?
So the whole purpose of that is to position your business and yourself as an expert in whatever industry that you're in so that Google ranks you higher, you get in front of more eyes, and then hopefully you can convert those eyes and traffic to sales.
That totally makes sense. So being that I'm in the beauty and wellness industry, how can beauty and wellness businesses utilize this for their business? What's the way that they connect that?
Yeah, so local SEO will be huge for you guys because typically you have a salon or a place where you go to for work where you're serving your clients. So local SEO is going to get traffic that is in your physical location. So of course, for you guys, you'll want to have, if you have a salon or like a shop, whatever, you'll want to have a Google, now they changed the name.
What is it now?
Google Business Profile or something?
Yeah, they just changed it. The Google Business Profile setups and optimized. So a lot of people don't realize that there's a lot you can do to optimize just that little piece so that when people are looking on the maps versus just a typical Google search that you're coming up as a top result.
So if I'm searching best massage therapist in Maryland, I want to get in that top search result if that's my business. So updating your pictures, making sure that you have great reviews on there. There's even a Q&A section that you can ask or that you can answer people's questions for.
So making sure that all of that is filled out correctly, even putting some keywords in there. So someone might not be searching massage therapist, maybe they're searching masseuse, right? So kind of using a little bit of variety there so that you can appeal and try to get as many eyes on that profile as possible.
Do you know, is there a limit to how many keywords you can put into that?
Good question. I'm not sure off the top of my head. I'm sure there is a character limit.
Of course, you want it to sound natural. Google is very smart, even though it is a robot, it doesn't want you to sound like a robot. So if you're putting all these, like it's called keyword stuffing where you're just putting random jargon and keywords in there that you think will be helpful, you still want it to sound natural.
And I know I talked about that's for local SEO, but you can also provide content in the form of blogs on your website if you have a website where you're answering people's questions, kind of preparing them to come and see you. So I worked with a permanent makeup artist in my local area recently, and she really wanted to start blogging. So I gave her a bunch of content ideas for how she can...
You know, people are already typing these questions into Google of like, okay, what's the best? I should have pulled up some examples, because I don't know much about permanent makeup, but what's the best style for my eyebrows? There's so many different types of microblading, like the ombre and the...
I don't know, I can't think of all the things off the top of my head now. But, you know, all these different styles. So she can write a blog post article that's about breaking down what the difference is between each of these types of services, and that helps her client come in more informed, so they know, okay, this is what I think I want, but you're the expert, like, give me some advice.
And that just builds that trust and that relationship for the client and the provider.
So what would you say, are there any, like, common SEO mistakes that can be avoided?
A big mistake that I see for brick-and-mortar businesses is that I go to their website, and nowhere on their website does it say where they are located. So you want to be telling Google as much information about your location as possible. And so you sometimes on the web, obviously you want, like, your address, your physical address there, but you can use words like, you know, best makeup, maybe not best, but makeup artist in what's your county?
What's your city? What's the state? You know, what are neighboring cities and towns nearby that people might be searching for that are close enough to you that people would come and travel to you for those services?
So that's one big mistake, definitely. And then I just see kind of, like, inconsistency with the content or not enough content on your website. So your website, you really want to have content on it, even if you don't have a blog, but you have a home page, an about page, a service page, like really breaking down not just what the service is, but give a line or two about what's included in that service or, you know, just to give people more information.
And it gives Google more information so that your content is then ranked higher on search results.
Okay, gotcha. So like the search engines, they are finding the information from the websites to pull up, and that's where the SEO comes in. That's where it all connects.
Yeah, yeah. So you just want to be able to, you know, like people go to Google to ask questions and to find the answers to their questions, whatever that is. So if they're looking for a service provider, like, you know, maybe they want a massage, maybe they want a certain type of massage.
So like really elaborating on that service, how long, put the price in there. People need prices, even if it's a range or like starting at price, make sure you're putting your prices on your website. Because that helps people, again, build that trust and then stay on your website a little bit longer.
Yeah, that's really helpful. So I have a question. You know, I know that you are a Squarespace expert.
Is that right? Do you recommend having websites such as like Squarespace and Wix over just like a scheduling site with an added website? Does that mean what's the difference there?
So there's not as much opportunity to put in those, you know, keywords on the back end for those type of scheduling apps, like I know like Gloss or like, you know, to name a few. But yeah, so I do recommend having a separate website. You can always connect your scheduling platform, whatever you use to your website.
But again, it just makes you want to make you look more professional. Two, you're giving Google more information because you can add, you know, as many pages as you want. You can put that blog content if you have that, even if you have a podcast or a YouTube channel where you're promoting your services through, you can link all that to one website.
And I do just recommend having a website, especially for a physical business, because it's your platform, right? Like, you control it. You can get people on your email list.
It's just a way to nurture them and to keep them in your world, even if they're not ready to book a service with you or buy something from you at this point. Oh, right.
Yeah, for sure. Definitely. And I know, I mean, I started out with like a free website that I didn't have much control over, and then I moved to like a scheduling platform website.
And then once I started kind of diving into websites and SEO, then I kind of learned too that, oh, I really should have like a website. And then I kind of learned how to build my own website. So I started on Wix, and then I moved to Squarespace as well.
So it really is helpful. I feel like that more people were able to find me once they kind of switched over, versus having that scheduling platform.
Yeah, my own hairstylist doesn't have a website yet, and I keep trying to convince her because I'm like, I couldn't find her. The only reason I found her is she showed up on Google Maps. But when I go to refer her, she doesn't have an Instagram account.
She's not on social media. So I have to just give people this gloss link, where it's just to schedule. So they're not able to see much of her portfolio, or see her history, or how long she's been in the industry, that kind of things that people want to know before they go and book a service with her.
So even though I'm referring her and recommending her, they still want to do their own research.
And it does position you as the expert too, when you're elevating kind of that experience with a professional looking website. I think it does help. And a lot of people, you know, just starting out, the website is always kind of the last thing that they build when it really should be the first thing, in my opinion, that they focus on, because that's how people are finding them.
And even though that, like you said, they may have created a Google business profile where their information is there, there's nothing to link it to. There's no website or anything to link it to. So it's kind of falling short, and they're not being found by people who are looking for service providers in the area.
Yeah, exactly. And to your point, even if you feel like, oh, I have enough clients right now, you never know what the future is going to bring. So just even if you feel like you don't have a lot of time or even money to invest in a website right now, just start it, build that traffic up slowly.
SEO does take time. So yeah, just get it started because you never know how you might shift your business or things might change with your referrals and all of that. So I do say it maybe doesn't need to be the first thing because you do want to have your offers and services super, super clear.
But usually in your industry, you kind of know already what you're offering and what your goals are for your website. So once you have those in place, definitely go for it and just, you know, Squarespace is very inexpensive. You don't have to have a professional website done.
They make it pretty easy for you to build on it. But yeah, definitely get it started working on that SEO.
Yeah, I have a friend who's a permanent makeup artist, and she just had her website redesigned and the SEO optimized on her website. And she said that as soon as she launched it, she started seeing new people coming in, and she had just moved location. So she was just amazed, and she was like, this really does help having that SEO, and having my website out there really does help.
But you did say that SEO does take time. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? Kind of like how long can you expect for it to maybe start working?
Yeah, so I mean, like you said, you can launch a website and then immediately start ranking on Google if it's done well with that search engine optimization piece, like using the right keywords, especially if you're not in like a super saturated, like condensed area where you have a lot of competition. Like if I'm in kind of a more rural area, so like there's not a lot of permanent makeup artists in my town. So if I'm like a new business coming to town, and I want to offer this new service, like people will definitely jump on that.
So it can happen very quickly, but from what I typically see with my like clients more in like the, they're more like health based businesses, physical therapists, mental health therapists and such, building that content in the form of like blog posts and such can take time. Because what a lot of people don't know also is that each page on your website ranks individually from each other. So it's not Google ranking your website as a whole, but your about page can rank differently than your service page.
And then different blog post pages can rank differently. So it's all, you know, and it can come up for a variety of different keywords. So yeah, it just takes time.
And then, of course, like you might post a blog post, and it just totally falls flat. You want to be driving traffic to it right away. And maybe going back and saying, well, okay, this keyword isn't really resonating with my audience.
Like, let me think of a different keyword that I can put in its place, and then maybe that will get me better results.
So would you recommend then analyzing it and taking a look at your content on a regular basis and those keywords that you have in there?
Yeah, definitely. And especially when you just start out. But definitely hooking your website up to Google Analytics.
And again, even if you know nothing about SEO or websites, hook it up and then get Google to start collecting that data. I recommend at least checking every quarter. I check more regularly because that's what I do.
But once a month is great if you can do that. And just seeing the changes of, okay. And it helps you also with your marketing strategy on other platforms.
Maybe you're launching this big sale or this promotion for your new course or something, but people aren't even going to those pages on your website. Well, that tells you that you're not doing a great job promoting that or sharing those links or blasting that out to your email list. It just gives you a little bit of feedback on your own marketing techniques and strategies too.
My next question would be, what are some... I feel like you answered some of these. What are some practical tips and actionable takeaways that people can implement immediately to improve their SEO?
And you may have already touched on some of these.
Yeah, so like I said, definitely start hooking up... Sorry, hook up your website to Google Analytics and the Google Search Console. They're two different things that you have to set up even though they go together.
But that tells you, like I said, even if you're not ready to start analyzing that data, you're still learning the basics of SEO. Go in there, connect it, start collecting the data. Even if you don't look at it for six months to a year, at least you have it.
So that's definitely step number one. Step number two would just be to kind of do some market research, like talk to your clients while you're doing their eyebrows or doing their hair or whatever. You know, see what terms that they're using.
And, you know, take a mental note, write it down on a piece of paper, whatever that is. Direct quotes are great because you can sprinkle that in your content. So that's definitely one thing.
Another thing, which I see a lot in your industry is people are afraid to ask for reviews. So ask for those reviews. Tell people to go on Google, go on your Google business profile.
Just give them the direct link. Make it really simple for them. I know my hairstylist, again, she has it automated where every time I book an appointment, it asks me to like leave a review even if I've already done it.
So she's on it. She's got a million reviews on there. So definitely that helps tell Google that, okay, this is an established business.
They're still active, their clients love them. You know, ask for those reviews. Don't be shy.
Do you have resources or tools that you recommend for like spa businesses or just like businesses in general looking to learn more about implementing SEO and like strategies?
Yeah, I mean, so some, there's definitely some free, you know, YouTube videos and everything out there. Specifically for like keyword research, you can use, I just tell people to use Google. And I actually have this in my free five day Optimize Your Site Challenge.
But it tells you the free way, the free, easy, quick way to use Google as a way to brainstorm keywords to use for your content. So there are lots of free tools for keyword research. Google Keyword Planner is the one that I typically recommend because it's with Google.
So it's, you know, reliable and free and easy to use. But yeah, start with that. Just get some ideas going.
Start that market research piece, like I mentioned, with talking to your clients and just hearing what kind of terms and words that they're using. And think of how you can use that in your content. But yeah, so my my free five day SEO, it's an email challenge.
So you'll get five days worth of tutorials in an email and also in a video format for people that like to like see it on screen, see people actually do it. So it walks you through how to do the keyword research and then where exactly on your website you need to be putting those keywords. And like I said, each day is worth like it takes like less than five minutes a day to do it.
So it's really quick once you know the strategies and how to do it.
Absolutely. I did your challenge and it was super helpful.
Yeah, I did.
I like binged it and watched all of them, saved them. And then I watched it all and then was able to implement it right away. And it was super helpful.
It was easy to follow and understand because I think a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of like websites and SEO and analytics, all that kind of stuff. I know that I was in the beginning and I just dove in and had to learn. And I thought that you, you know, taught it very well.
It was very helpful.
Well, yeah, I'm glad it was helpful. And yeah, even if you can't like do all, you know, the day by day, just save them in your email and you always have access to them and they don't like take them away from you or anything so that you have those tutorials. And that's my goal as now I'm an educator in SEO too with my course.
But you, that doesn't need to be this intimidating thing. And it is something that really all business owners need to know. It's the foundation of your business.
It's creating your offer, creating an offer or service that people actually want to buy from you, learning from your audience. And it's just kind of that ebb and flow of marketing, just very cyclical of reusing your content, promoting yourself, being confident in your skills and abilities. So yeah, it doesn't need to be intimidating, even though some of those big scary marketing agencies want you to be scared of it, so you pay them the big bucks.
Yeah, for sure. And I will say, I follow you on Instagram. In your information, like a lot of times I'm like, oh my gosh, like mind blown.
I had no idea about a lot of this stuff. So I think that you're definitely very helpful. And anybody listening should go and follow Maggie.
You're at, is it at Hilltop Help?
Yep, at Hilltop Help. Yeah, I try to sprinkle in some like really quick tutorials as quick as Instagram will let me. And just like, yeah, like I think the one that you were like shocked about was the brand colors one where like, yeah, people pick these really beautiful brand color palettes, but they don't realize that like it doesn't actually work for your website if it's not accessible and doesn't have enough contrast or whatever for everyone to be able to see it.
Absolutely. You don't even think about that. Like, oh, I like these colors.
I'm just going to put them together. But when you throw them up on a website, it might not work. Yeah, that was definitely the one where I was like, oh, yeah, duh, it totally makes sense.
But for me, you know, like I'm just about being, you know, a spa provider, and I don't even really think about all those extra things. Yeah, that's awesome. Perfect.
So can you tell listeners where they can find you and some of the offerings that you have?
Yeah. So like you said, I'm on Instagram is my main platform. So I'm at Hilltop Help, H-I-L-L-T-O-P-H-E-L-P.
My website is the same hilltophelp.com. You can see my services and my course, which is out through there. So I do have a course called Rank Method that is all about teaching busy business owners how to learn SEO and create a marketing strategy that is sustainable, that helps you get off of social media a little bit, so you can still get clients for your business organically through your website on a platform that you control.
I also, of course, do web design, one-on-one services for my clients, and then SEO audits are like my really big, what am I saying, my biggest service that people are interested in because they maybe can't afford a full website redesign or anything yet, but at least with the audit, I give them strategies and keyword research for them so that they can start implementing those techniques.
Thank you so much for joining me today, Maggie. I really think that viewers are going to get a ton of value from this episode, and I will make sure that I link all of Maggie's information in the show notes below. That is it for today, my friends.
If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow spa business besties. Until next time, stay inspired, stay fabulous, and happy business building.
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