Highs and Lows of 2021: A Rare Reflection

Wonderful World of Websites | Website Wonder Woman

Time to Reflect

I'm never really one to do a looking back post, but I feel that this year has been full of so many highs and lows that it's worth looking back on them and reflecting, so I can improve this year.

One of my clients recently tagged me in a 2022 round-up post on Facebook (this is my Facebook page Link by the way, in case you want to follow me), that mentioned integrity and honesty, and it's something I'm proud to have as one of my core values through both my business life and personal life. So this is a no-holds-barred round-up of 2022. An insight into my business highs and lows, and if this helps someone somewhere, as well as me for writing it, then I'm one happy girl 🤩

Highs and Lows of 2021 a blue city scape against a black background

Not Everything has been Good

This year I've learnt so much in my business. I've taken all the courses, had a load of coaching, and it's had a massive effect on my business, but not all positive. That's where the highs and lows come in!

In 2021 year I've earned half of what I did in 2020.

Every single year of my business until now, I've pretty much doubled my income, so what made 2021 different?

A number of things, really, the biggest being that all this learning made me question my whole business. For the past 6 years, I've kind of 'winged it' in business, making it up as I go along.

And do you know what it worked, but if you know anything about the online business world, then you will know you are constantly bombarded with what you should and shouldn't be doing. I thought to myself that maybe I need to know all this other stuff to be able to grow my business even more, to plan, to structure, to systemise, to have funnels, content plans, and all this other stuff that you should have.

But learning all this stuff took so much time! Time I didn't really have. But I was doing it for my business.

The problem was that there is so much conflicting information out there, and after really going back to basics and deciding to focus on what I love doing and building a business on purpose, rather than accidentally, I realised a lot of things were going to have to be done from scratch.

Yes, I could earn over 5 grand a month, but I was working all the hours. A lot of it is mostly stuff that could be done by a VA, not a website developer.

Time to Change

So I decided to change things. I gave up being a reseller for hosting, which was massively holding me back time-wise. I went on holiday in July for the first time in 6 years. The reason I couldn't before was that every time I tried to take time off, something would go wrong with someone's website, and I ended up working again.

The coaches out there, who mainly work with other coaches, didn't understand. 'Set the boundaries,' they said, do this, do that. Sure, that works if you are a coach and can set your own hours, but not when someone's website is down, and their business has come to a stop. It's very difficult to say to them, 'no worries, let me check when my next appointment is, how about a month from now?' I found most coaches didn't really understand, as they work very differently.

But for me, it was an endless cycle of work, work, work, and I was totally fed up. But slowly changing things enabled me to take two weeks off with my family, with very minimal work, and it allowed me to just be, if that makes sense! It was so nice to simply switch off and have nothing to do, and it was something I wanted more of.

Finding the right people

The highs and lows of last year have been a rollercoaster! One of my highs, I also started working with some amazing coaches who have helped me get the basics in place, find out what works best in MY business, and set the groundwork for growth. It's taken me months. However, I can see an end in sight. Building a new audience, finding what works for me and my clients, finding ways to expand my business, and doing what I really love, which is teaching and connecting with people!

Learning from highs and lows

It's not been plain sailing and I've had some really shit moments this year when I've been ready to give up on everything. I thought to myself, if I had just done all this from the start, I would be in such a better position now.

But it's been a learning experience, and the more we learn, the more we grow. I've met some amazing people this year and had some fantastic experiences, not only my holiday abroad but also upping and leaving my office and life to go to London for a retreat on 10 minutes' notice!

Things are starting to come together, and I know now that I have the basic foundations in place to make 2022 really amazing, doing what I want to do and how I want to do it! I'm determined that the highs and lows will balance more in my favour!

And that's what I'm here for in 2022, to enable my clients to achieve their goals, their way! So, don't forget to check out the courses I run to help you with your business website.

Help ChatGPT find your website a laptop with a megaphone coming out of the screen

I know that sounds ridiculous, but spend a few minutes browsing small-business websites, and you will see why it matters.

For example: A homepage might say: "Helping you achieve your goals." That's great, but what goals? Who are you helping?

A web visitor might work it out from the logo, photographs and navigation. Machines have less tolerance for ambiguity.

Compare that with: " We provide commercial cleaning services to offices, schools and healthcare businesses across South Wales."

Suddenly, there's much less to decipher. Who are you? A commercial cleaning company. What do you do? Clean commercial premises. Who for? Offices, schools, and healthcare businesses. Where? South Wales.

Clear website copy isn't unsophisticated copy. If you want to help ChatGPT find your website, clarity can be a big advantage.

3. Create Proper Pages for Your Main Services

One mistake I regularly see is businesses trying to squeeze everything they offer onto one service page. Imagine a building company offering extensions, loft conversions, kitchen renovations, and garage conversions. Giving each important service its own useful page creates far more context than mentioning all four in a short bullet list.

A strong page can explain:

  • what the service involves;
  • who it is suitable for;
  • common questions customers ask;
  • the process;
  • relevant experience;
  • examples of completed work;
  • geographical areas covered.

This is not only useful information for potential customers, but also useful for conventional SEO and will help ChatGPT find your website and understand exactly what your business provides.

However, a word of caution. The important word here is useful. Creating 30 near-identical pages simply to target 30 slightly different phrases isn't the answer. Websites are ultimately for people, so create pages because you have something worthwhile to tell them.

4. Answer the Questions Your Customers Really Ask

3d speech bubbles with Q & A in them for Help ChatGPT find your website blog

This is where good blog content becomes particularly valuable and can help ChatGPT find your website.

People often interact with ChatGPT and other AI bots in a conversational way. Rather than searching for something like: "loft conversion Cardiff", they might ask "Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Cardiff?" or "Is my house suitable for a loft conversion?". You get my drift.

Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, in emails, during quotations, or at meetings. Those questions can become extremely useful website content. And don't limit yourself to just obvious FAQs. Some of the best content comes from the questions that require actual expertise to answer: comparisons, costs, pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives, and situations where one option is better than another. That is where your knowledge becomes valuable. Put that into blogs, and it will help ChatGPT find your website.

5. Don't Just Say You're an Expert - Demonstrate It

Almost every business website claims some variation of: "We pride ourselves on providing a professional, high-quality service." The problem is that anybody can write it. Evidence is much more persuasive.

If you want to help ChatGPT find your website and understand why your business might be a credible source, then you need to give your website substance.

That could include detailed case studies, named authors with relevant experience, customer reviews, original photographs, accreditations, qualifications, awards, research or data you've produced, and genuinely knowledgeable articles/blogs.

A case study saying: We recently completed this project for a client in Newport", isn't particularly informative. Explain the problem. What did the customer need? What did you recommend? Why? What difficulties arose? How did you solve them? What was the outcome?

That is useful information for humans, and it gives search and AI systems considerably more context about your real-world expertise.

6. Make Your Location Clear

Naturally, this is particularly important for local businesses.

If you are an electrician serving customers across South Wales, make that clear on your website. Your address, service areas, and contact details shouldn't require detective work to find.

Your About and Contact pages can reinforce where you are based, while individual service pages can naturally explain areas you cover. However, avoid creating dozens of thin location pages where the only difference is swapping one town name for another, like "Electrician Newport", "Electrician Cardiff", and "Electrician Cwmbran."

That's not useful content. If a location genuinely warrants its own page, give the reader something specific and worthwhile.

7. Build Your Reputation Beyond Your Own Website

Your website doesn't exist in isolation.

If you claim to be a leading expert in your field but nobody else on the internet appears to know you exist, that's not a particularly convincing signal. Therefore, I want you to think about your wider digital footprint.

Are you listed accurately on relevant professional or industry websites? Have local publications mentioned your business? Do reputable websites link to you? Are there genuine customer reviews? Have you contributed expert comments or guest articles elsewhere?

You see, digital PR, quality guest blogging, and traditional link building still have a place. However, the aim shouldn't be to scatter links across hundreds of low-quality websites to help ChatGPT find your website. On the contrary, it's to build a recognisable business with a credible online presence.

8. Write Content Worth Citing

Graphic woman sat at a computer with pages of content coming out of it

This may be one of the biggest opportunities created by AI search.

If everybody writes a generic article called "10 benefits of X", then there is very little reason for any search or AI system to favour yours above the others. To help ChatGPT find your website, you need to give it something better:

Share your experience.

    • Explain what customers commonly get wrong.
    • Compare two approaches and say when you'd choose each one.
    • Publish original examples.
    • Answer awkward questions.
    • Discuss pricing honestly where possible.
    • Challenge a commonly repeated piece of industry advice if you disagree with it – and explain why.

The internet doesn't desperately need another 800-word blog saying the same thing as the previous 100 ones. What it does need are people who actually know their subject sharing information that isn't available everywhere else. Tricky, yes. Impossible, no.

9. Don't Forget Traditional SEO

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, trying to help ChatGPT find your website doesn't mean forgetting Google and other search engines. In fact, as I'm sure you've realised by now, many of the fundamentals overlap.

You still need a technically sound, crawlable website with logical navigation, descriptive page titles, useful headings, strong internal links and well-written pages focused on genuine customer needs. Ultimately, your content should make sense to a person first; I always stress this to my clients. There is little to be gained by contorting every single paragraph into something you imagine AI or search engines want to read.

Cater for your customer. Ensure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why you know what you're talking about. That's what they need to know, and by doing that you are already building a much stronger foundation for both traditional and AI-driven searches.

Help ChatGPT Find Your Website - But Write For People

Help ChatGPT find your website a 3d graphic of a person in front of a laptop with books and text

AI is changing how people discover information online, but that doesn't mean websites suddenly need to be written for robots. Quite the opposite. After all, humans, your potential customers, are asking ChatGPT the questions. So, if you want to help ChatGPT find your website, you must make it clear, informative, and more authoritative for the people you're trying to reach.

Follow the guidance listed above. None of it is particularly technical (save point 1); it is simply about making sure you have good website content. The difference is that today, a well-written website isn't only helping a potential customer decide whether to contact you; it may also help ChatGPT find your website and decide whether or not to list it in response to a query, ultimately driving fresh traffic your way.

If you would like help reviewing your website content, or creating quality blogs that appeal to both humans and bots, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My name is Heather, and I'm The Content Creator.

Heather the Content Creator A lady with blonde hair in a bob, smiling, wearing a black top

A bit about the author

Heather founded The Content Creator nearly three years ago, combining her love of writing with a genuine passion for helping small businesses and solopreneurs get seen online. She supports her clients with everything from website copy and SEO to AI search visibility, newsletters and social media, taking the stress out of creating content that not only sounds like them, but helps their business grow.

If you need a helping hand with any of these areas, Heather is your go-to girl! We can speak from experience, too, because she works on our own website, helping us keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO and AI search and making sure our content continues to work hard for our business.

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