A clear, effective, nothing-to-hide on-page SEO strategy

Here’s the truth: there’s no definite time frame for SEO to
show results. 

But I know how that can sound: it’s almost as if I’m saying, “SEO takes time,
so if you haven’t seen results yet, it’s not my fault. You just haven’t been
patient enough or given enough time for results to show.” (Familiar?)

I HATE that stance. While SEO takes time, it shouldn’t take you forever to see
a measurable increase in traffic, leads, or conversions.

Instead, you can expect to see (reasonable) progress within 6 to 12 months of
hard, honest SEO work.

Quick disclaimer: this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get to the first page of
search results in that time frame — but will you start creeping up the
rankings? Yes. 

That’s a good question. To answer it, we’ll first look at what you can generally expect from working with an SEO expert or agency for writing content. 

👥 There’s a divide between the SEO side of things and the content writer. 

Let’s talk about SEO experts first. Many can write. 

And by that, I mean they can string together words and, where appropriate, weave in the target keywords. But there’s a difference between writing and writing well — especially when we’re talking about health and wellness content. 

Can they break down difficult-to-understand concepts? Will they find suitable replacements for jargon? 

Probably not. 

So, in most cases, they do the keyword research, bang out the outline (i.e., fill it with H1s and H2s), then farm it out to a content writer. 

Now, let’s talk about SEO agencies. 

At the bare minimum, an SEO agency needs to fill five key roles (note: sometimes, a single agency employee or contractor performs multiple responsibilities). The exact job title may differ, but generally, the five roles are:

• Campaign manager: A project manager who schedules calls, sends agendas, tracks to-dos, and serves as a single point of contact for client work. Most also monitor and report campaign key performance indicators (KPIs). 
• SEO strategist: Drives the overall campaign strategy. Responsible for performing keyword research, analyzing search intent, and developing content framework (i.e., a rough content outline based on keywords). 
• Content writer: Crafts content based on the brief provided by the SEO strategist. Typically has little to no say over the choice, placement, and frequency of keywords to be incorporated into the content. 
• Web developer: Maintains the client website’s technical health (e.g., site speed, security, and mobile friendliness). 
• Conversion rate optimizer: Identifies opportunities to increase the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on the website (e.g., downloading an ebook, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase) through A/B and multivariate testing.

So, whether you’re working with an SEO expert or agency, there’ll be a disconnect between the SEO side of things — including keyword research and outline creation — and content writing. 

And this is the perfect recipe for truly cringe-worthy and awkward-sounding content that reeks of keyword stuffing from miles away. (Yes, speaking from experience.)

The truth is that keyword research and insertion are more of an art than science.

Sure, you could include “which meal delivery service is cheapest” 35 times in your blog post, but at what cost? 

SEO website copy and blog posts that rank high can sound natural. They can be engaging. 

But the key to that is allowing the content writer to provide feedback and make tiny or, where necessary, drastic changes to the proposed placement and frequency of target keywords. 

Unfortunately, given how SEO experts or agencies work, that’s a close-to-impossible ask, as it’ll increase the amount of work they need to do, impacting their profitability.

Why? Well, that’s because …

💵 Retainer fees are spread (thinly) over many SEO tasks.

Most SEO experts or agencies charge a monthly retainer minimum of $1,000, with a minimum engagement retainer of 6 to 12 months. Depending on their hourly rates (which range between $100 to $200/hour), this could get you 5 to 10 hours of work monthly. 

These hours will be used to cover a wide range of SEO tasks, including mapping target keywords to content, XML sitemap submission and monitoring, and website crawls for technical SEO issues.

Here’s what this means: there’s always a significant time constraint — so unless you have a sizable budget, the hours allocated to content writing will almost always be less than ideal. 

The fewer hours are allocated, the faster a writer has to write. The results are imaginable. 

And let’s not forget what happens when a writer receives an unclear brief or an awkward keyword plan. Instead of bouncing it back to the SEO strategist, the writer would usually be told to “just wing it, we don’t have time for it”.

I’ve worked with enough agencies to know that this isn’t how I’d like to write content. 

That’s why I decided to do things differently:

• I bring SEO strategy and content writing together: If something doesn’t sound right or flow when I’m fleshing out web copy or blog posts, I have the flexibility and freedom of going back to the drawing block (i.e., my trusty keyword research tools) to edit, refine, or swap keywords till everything falls nicely into place. No time and money wasted going back and forth. 
• I’m a subject matter expert in health and wellness content: I work extensively and exclusively with health and wellness businesses. That means I have the industry knowledge and expertise to source for, interpret, and translate scientific research into helpful and easy-to-understand content.
• I’m focused on content writing: I specialize in content writing so I can focus on doing my best work there. No distractions or massive project scopes that would compromise content quality. This means my clients don’t have to “settle” for subpar writing.

Of course, you can! It’s your business — you know best which setup works for you.

Here’s my limitation: I only specialize in on-page SEO. 

There are other SEO bases you need to cover: technical, off-page, and local. If you’re happy to learn the basics, you could DIY to avoid additional costs. While technical in nature, those SEO bases are not overly complex, and there are plenty of tools built to help you. That’s why it’s a common practice for small businesses.

But if you’re too busy or have a setup so complex it requires coding, it might be better to leave it to SEO experts/agencies to figure it out for you. You’d just have to account for the additional cost.

Ooooooh. Aggressive. It sounds like you’re someone who can handle the truth, so here goes: I will not guarantee you a #1 ranking on any search engine.

That’s because, beyond on-page SEO, your website’s search engine ranking also depends on factors like:

• Website age
• Quality of backlinks
• Other SEO areas (technical/off-page/local SEO)
  

… and many, many more, which I have no control over. So, while I will do everything I can for your on-page SEO — which, in most cases, will get your website moving up the rankings — I cannot guarantee you a #1 spot (or, well, any spot, really) on any search engine. 

“I’ll get you to #1” is a sexy and sensational claim. But it’s also untruthful — and definitely not one my morals would allow me to make.

No, I do not. SEO strategy and content writing should be done together for the most effective and natural-sounding website copy and blog articles.

It’s my belief that this is something best handled by a single person.

To find out why, check out my answer to the question, “Why should I choose you over an SEO expert or agency for content creation?”