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search engine optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation – A TOTAL beginners guide!

Fridge magnet type letters: SEO

SEO… Three little letters. They sound so harmless, but toss them into a chat about your website and suddenly your doula brain is thrown into a frenzy of panic and confusion.

Urgh! What on earth is search engine optimisation anyway?

Is it important? Do I need it? Do other doulas use it?

How can I get started? Can I do it myself or is it going to cost me a small fortune!

Don’t worry lovely doula. SEO sounds complicated, but in fact, it’s not really. And the good news is that with just a few small tweaks and regular updates to your website, you can totally optimise your website yourself in just a few hours. Hurray!

What is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the technical, geeky term for the variety of little things you can do to help your website feature in search results.  You see, billions of searches are made for services like yours on search engine sites like Google, Yahoo or Bing every day.

And if your website is featured in the top results it can make a real difference to the number of people visiting your website. Even (in fact, especially) if your local market is very small.

Did you know that…

  • One third of all searches that people make online are for local products and services; and
  • Almost half of people who make a local search on their phone will visit the website immediately after.

Which means that your potential customers could be online searching for someone like you right now!

So, how do you go about getting your doula website to feature well in search results? Here’s a quick guide to getting started.

Step 1: Find out how your website ranks right now

If you’re using the Chrome browser, start by logging out of Google, then open a new incognito window by clicking on the icon with three little vertical dots in the right-hand corner of your browser. The result ‘New Incognito Window’ should be the third one down.

If you’re using the Microsoft Edge browser, you’ll need to log out of Google and then click on the icon with the three horizontal dots in the top right hand corner. Next, click on ‘New InPrivate Window’.

Next spend 5-10 minutes using a variety of search terms that a customer might use to find your website and see where you come in the results. For example, if you’re a doula based in Bristol here’s a few examples of what you could use:

  • Doula in Bristol
  • Doula services in Bristol
  • Doula UK doula in Bristol
  • Pregnancy support in Bristol
  • Birth doulas in Bristol
  • Postnatal doula in Bristol

If you’re based in a rural area, try using your village, local town and nearest city in your research. If you feature on page one of results for most search terms then give yourself a pat on the back! If not, then you’ve got a bit of work to do.

Step 2: Pour yourself a cuppa and start SEO-ing your website

So here’s the super secret to simple SEO… search engines are actually looking at just a few vital things on your website and they’re all based around the same thing… Is your site easy for your customers to use?

  • Does your website load quickly or is it slow and clunky?
  • Can your potential customers find what they want quickly and easily or is your website confusing?
  • Is your website interesting and useful, does the content interest potential customers?
  • Does it look good on all devices? Including desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones?

Asking a friend or family member to take a look at these things and feedback to you is a great way to get started. There are also a few free online tools you can use too.

Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights Test or the Pingdom Website Speed Test to find out if your website loads quickly.

Use: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly to find out if your website looks great on mobile devices.

Step 3: Tweak the words on your website to get more Google love

In order to display your website to the right people, Search Engines need to understand three very important things

  1. Who you are
  2. What you do
  3. Where you are

If you want search engines to show you in relevant local results, you need to make these things crystal clear on your website. Avoid fancy schmancy terms and stick to simple, plain English language that’s easy to understand. And always have in mind: What would someone looking for this service type into Google to find it? So, for most of us you’ll want to have the phrase “doula in [insert your location here]” as well as any other services that you offer such as baby massage or hypnobirthing. The earlier these ‘key words’ or ‘key phrases’ are written in your text, the more important Google will thing they are so it’s great to start your website with, “I’m a doula in [your location] and I also offer hypnobirthing teaching”.

Step 4: Keep your website fresh and updated

Search engines like Google will come back to your doula website and check it out quite regularly. If it’s changed, Google will rank you higher than if it’s the same as it assumed that amendments mean that the site will be more relevant and up to date. Ideally go back and tweak it a bit once a month, and add content such as blogs whenever you can.

Step 5: Build backlinks to your website

A back-what now? A backlink is a link from another website (like this one) to yours. They are important because out of all the things search engines look at to rank your website backlinks are one of the most highly regarded.

You see when another website links to your site, it’s like a little vote for you. The more backlinks you have, the more search engines like you!

But… beware! Your links must always be relevant or natural. So don’t go running off to get your best pals veggie box business website to link to yours!  Try to swap backlinks with other people in the same industry as you who appeal to the same audience. People like…

  • Hypnobirthing Practitioners
  • Pregnancy and Baby Yoga Teachers
  • Independent Midwives
  • Lactation Consultants
  • Birth and baby photographers

One really important link is from your Nurturing Birth Directory listing at nurturingbirthdirectory.com. If you have trained with Nurturing Birth you get a free entry in the Directory so if you don’t have this already, let us know and we’ll get it sorted for you. If you do have an entry, keep it updated and change it every few weeks to keep it high in the search engines.

You can also regularly post your website on your social media to encourage people to visit it, and every time you update it make sure you link to it again.

And that’s it! Once you’ve followed these five simple steps you should start to see your search engine ranking improving.  Give it a try and let us know the results you get.

How to get your doula business in front of more potential clients

Image of a woman thinking and planning. The woman is Brown skinned with shoulder length curly hair. She's wearing a white top and is reading a book.

With the huge emphasis placed on social media these days you could be forgiven for thinking that all other forms of small business marketing pale into insignificance. And sure, social media platforms do offer the opportunity to reach thousands of users. But are the majority of those users your potential customers?

Probably not.

If you’re a doula, baby photographer, lactation consultant or other pregnancy, birth or baby professional  looking to target a mainly local audience, social media isn’t the be all and end all of your marketing options.

In fact, there are actually lots of other really effective other ways promote your doula business. Here are some of our favourites.

1. Harness the power of SEO and optimise your website for local searches

3.5 billion searches are made on Google every day and according to stats, roughly four out of five people  use search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to find local services. Optimising your website for local search results can make a huge difference to the number of people who discover your business online. And the best news, SEO is free!

Here’s how it works. Search engine ‘spiders’ crawl your website on a regular basis and use the content to understand who you are, what you do, where you are based and who you serve. To help them understand these things make sure the words on your website make these things ultra clear.

Here’s an example: <Your name here> is a birth and post-natal doula based in <where you live here>, I offer a variety of pregnancy, birth and baby services, including <a few examples here>.

If you’re a local yoga studio offering pregnancy or  baby yoga, make sure Google knows it by using words such as: From gentle pregnancy yoga to bouncing baby yoga classes <Your name or business name> welcomes all to our yoga studio in <your location here>. 

2. Try out a local networking event

That’s right, it’s time to go meet some actual people! Local networking events are a great place to spread the word about your biz with other local business owners. Pick the right meeting and you might also have the opportunity to investigate potential collaborations and even make some fab new business besties.

There are probably several dozen networking groups within your county and whilst not all might suit your personality or your business there’s bound to be a good fit closer to home than you think.

4Networking offers UK-wide events with over 5000 active groups, whilst BNI boasts over 12,000 members across the country.

Female only and mums networking meetings are also on the rise. BizMums offer small meetups across much of the country, as do the Mumpreneurs Networking Club and the Mums in Business Association.

Take along a smile and a fistful of business cards, who knows what might come of it!

3. Get your biz listed in local and niche directories

Listing your business in respectable local directories can help to get more eyes on your website and also helps to boost your SEO. Check with your local newspaper’s website and Chamber of Commerce to see if they have a local business directory you can get listed on. You can also do a search on Google using the phrase: <your city> business directory.

Once you’re listed locally, try searching for online directories that specialise in your niche, like our own Nurturing Birth Directory! Type <Your niche> business directory into Google to get started.

4. Consider advertising in your local paper

Local papers often have a small but very loyal readership which makes print advertising within your local or regional paper potentially worthwhile. If you think your ideal customer might be a newspaper reader, it’s well worth looking into the opportunities on offer. Poppy Rose Matless is an Advertising Agent on the Eastern Daily Press in Norfolk and gave us this advice:

“Local advertising provides lots of great benefits, here at the EDP we reach over 100k readers a day. We treat each client as an individual, when a business buys an advertising slot we’ll design a full colour advert to the exact size they need, free of charge. We feed back to them so they can make changes and have full input in the design process – this service alone can save our advertisers several hundred pounds.”

5. Invest in a direct mail campaign

Door drop leaflets are an excellent to showcase your services to the local community. According to research from the Royal Mail, 35% of recipients respond to door drop leaflets and 30% of recipients made a purchase as a direct result of having read a direct mail leaflet.

Use a local designer to whip you up a postcard sized leaflet or jump onto Canva and create your own. Whilst you’re on there, why not whizz together a few posters and see if you can display them in prominent spots around your local area.

6. Exhibit at local baby shows

Pregnancy and baby shows can be a great way to get your business in front of local mums and mums-to-be. But they can also be costly. There will be an exhibitor fee to pay and then you have to hire a table. You’ll also need plenty of leaflets, business cards and perhaps a pop-up banner to attract attention. Before you sign up, do your research. Don’t be afraid to ask the organiser questions about expected visitor numbers. If you know similar businesses who have attended previous shows get in touch and ask how it went for them.