Blog Your Way to the Top: Visibility Strategies for Introverts with Alison Ver Halen

Not a fan of being on video all the time?  Then this episode is for you.

In this conversation, Crissy is joined by Alison Ver Halen, founder of AV Writing Services and a lifelong introvert turned SEO expert. Alison shares how blogging is still one of the most powerful long-form marketing strategies... especially for service-based entrepreneurs who want to be searchable, build authority, and generate leads without living on social media.

Alison’s Website: https://avwritingservices.com

Don't forget to share this episode and tag me @itscrissyconner on Instagram and @crissyconner on Facebook to be entered to win!

Transcript

0:01

Welcome back to the visibility impact show. We have an amazing guest today and I know I know that my introverts are going to love this episode. Hello introverts I see you even if I don't see you. So today I am joined by Allison Verhalen of AV writing services. She is an expert in blogging. She is an expert in SEO and long form content marketing for service based business owners. Allison, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. am so happy to spread the good word about how to do marketing and get yourself out there while being an introvert as a lifelong introvert myself. Happy to talk about this. I feel you so good. Okay, so how did you get into blogging and SEO? Like where did this all stem from? It all started. mean, seriously, growing up, always again introverts. So my perfect weekend is huddled in a corner reading and writing and always, always wanted to be a writer was told growing up that writers don't make any money and I should choose a more practical career. So got to college, ended up majoring in English and psychology, which turned out to be the perfect degree for content marketing, had no clue what content marketing was. I thought I wanted to work in publishing because I figured if I couldn't make a living writing books, maybe I could make a living making books. Well, I had the misfortune or fortune, depending on how you look at it, to graduate in 2009, right after the job market crashed. So there were no jobs to be had in publishing or really anywhere else. So I answered phones for a few years, found myself between jobs at one point and my roommate at the time, her dad, who was an attorney, was awesome and offered to give me stuff to do around his office until I got back on my feet. And one of the things he needed was someone to write blog posts for his law firm. And he knew I had a strong writing background, so he offered me the gig and I was like, what? I can get paid to write? Seriously? Yeah, sign me up. So I jumped at that chance and started writing for him. It went really well. After six months, he came back and told me I had brought in $75,000 worth of business to his law firm just through the blog posts I was writing for him. That was the light bulb moment of, this is not just like a favor he's doing for me. It's not just busy work. This is having a real effect on his business. so that was awesome. And then, yeah, it just kept growing from there. I then started writing for an associate of his and then for some friends of mine. And it was one of those things where the more you talk about doing content, the more people are like, I really need content. Cause it turns out that is a cornerstone of marketing, and certainly of SEO. Yeah, absolutely. So let's go straight to blogging for a second how obviously you you and I also believe this that blogging is a powerful visibility strategy. But why do you believe that it's still because obviously blogging has been around for I don't know how many years a long time. Why do you believe it's still a powerful visibility strategy to utilize in 2025? There's so much you can do with blogging. It's not just publish it and put it up on your website and there you go. There is value in that, especially if you optimize it to make Google happy. That way you can help people find you. But the real value in blogging, I think, is all the stuff you can do with it afterwards. You can make a video around it. You can put that up on YouTube. You can share it in your newsletter. You can break it up into bits and pieces and share those bits and pieces on social media. So even if people aren't finding their way to, and we can talk a little bit later about the trials of SEO in a world of AI and how that's changing things. But if people are following you online and they're connected to you, maybe they're not ready to buy yet, but they might be interested. They might be ready to buy later. Having that really great content that you keep putting in front of them in whatever format they consume it in, wherever they are following you. is a great way to keep them engaged, educate them, and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. So my next question is, do you think blogging is only for certain businesses or can all businesses benefit from consistent blog content? Yeah, all businesses can and should benefit from it. I mean, like I said, I got started writing for attorneys. I have since written for other attorneys and financial professionals and what else? Dentists office and nursing homes and electricians. And I've seen big brands like Colgate has a blog like it is so important even just for SEO purposes. Google, if it sees that your website is just kind of sitting there and doesn't have any new content, is going to start to wonder if anyone is still behind that website and if any of the content on there is still relevant. Whereas if you're consistently publishing new content, that boosts the visibility and the search rankings of your entire website because Google sees that you're still active, you're still publishing content, and it's relevant. And having all that great content gives Google an idea of who you are, what you're doing, what you're all about. And when it can better put you in that context, then it knows which searches to pair you with. So yeah, I mean, from an SEO perspective, it's invaluable. And again, it doesn't matter what industry you're in, being able to share that information on social, in your email, everywhere online is super important for getting in front of people, reminding them you exist. Providing those tips and resources is a great way to get in front of people in a way that's not pushy. It's not like, hey, remember us. Remember when we had that conversation. Are you interested in buying yet? It's really all about providing value to them and saying, hey, we talked about such and such. Here's an article that might help you with that. Three tips to do whatever, because you asked about that in our last conversation. That's another great way to use blog posts actually is even in the sales process. No one likes that email of, hey, I remember when we talked a few months ago and just checking in. It's boring. It's kind of annoying. But if instead you can say, hey, we talked about this and I know you had some questions. So here's this article I just happened to have written that's all about it. A, that provides value, sets you up as a thought leader, actually helps them move through the sales process. And again, it's a great way to stay top of mind with your prospects. And if it's something that you talk about over and over in the sales process, you don't have to write it out over and over again. You just include a link to that article and you're done. Yeah. So I know you mentioned this a minute ago and this was on my list of questions, but how is AI impacting the blogging industry? And is it impacting it for good or for bad or just depends? Yeah, I don't know if it's impacting it for good or for bad. It's definitely making it harder to get people to your website through those informational searches. The people who just want to know more about an industry or what is this or how does this work or do I really need such and such? Those are great blog post topics and those are usually targeted to people who are in the earlier stages of the buyer journey. uh So the problem with those searches now with, again, things like search GPT and Google's AI overview is that you're getting people who are reading that AI summary and not clicking through to a website to get more information. And then you have no way to get them to the next stage in the buyer journey. You can't capture that lead. So that's frustrating. What I've been hearing from other marketers lately is that our new strategy should be to get AI to mention us, which again is going to consist of creating a lot of content uh and making sure our brand is front and center in our industry. that way, mean, again, AI is scraping our content, but it still needs content to exist in order to scrape it and repurpose it for their users. uh So they will still be using our blog posts. It's just a matter of getting them to hopefully mention us by name and even better provide a link in their sources or their resources to our website. So if someone does want more information, they can click through and get to our website. you know, I think there's, there's always been something I feel like that's threatened blocking. Obviously, first was video and all the video platforms, right? And then second was, what is Gary V used to say that audio was taking over the world? Like with all the what is it that the Amazon and the Google and all the devices. And so we still see it's alive and thriving today. So like you said, AI isn't going to magically, it can't think, right? It needs information. It's only as good as what is fed to it basically. So I can't see it going away. It's just another tool that helps feed the AI platforms or algorithms. 100%, yes. I love that, so good. it is, blogging has stood the test of time people, if you haven't figured that out yet, but this conversation, we're gonna talk to you a little bit more about it. So let's move into a little bit of SEO conversation. So can you really talk about the relationship between blogging and SEO, especially for people who are maybe more intimidated? by the words SEO and feeling like that's way over their heads and too technical for them to even be a part of that conversation. I love doing this because it's really, mean, yeah, there are technical aspects of SEO. Don't get me wrong. But the name of the game at the end of the day is Google is just trying to help its users find content that answers their questions. That's it. That's all Google is trying to do. So if you understand your target audience and the questions they're asking and you create content that is for them and answers those questions and you do so consistently, Eventually Google will figure it out and direct those people to your website. The value in blogging is, again, if you're consistent, which is a huge, cannot overstate how important it is to consistently publish on your blog, meaning at least once, preferably twice a month. uh Get that new content up there. Google assumes that newer content is more relevant and more accurate. So like I said earlier, having that newer content consistently go up on your website, A, the newer content is more likely to show up in searches. But also just having newer content on your website helps boost the visibility of your entire website. And then you can have links. linking from between blog posts from blog posts back to sales pages and landing pages. And that also boosts their visibility in the organic traffic going there. yeah, mean, Google and even the chat bots are scanning content. That's how they come up with their AI summaries. That's how they figure out which websites to match with which searches and where to rank them. is content, content, content. So if you don't have the content on your website, it can't rank your website. So yes, you can and should invest in video and audio. I'm not discounting the importance of them. But I think they should be used with blogging, not instead of blogging. Yeah, and I think this is an interesting thing. And I don't know if it's just the paid version of chat GPT. But I've noticed when I say cite your sources, that it will audit it will give me the links of where it got the information from which could be an opportunity to link back to find out from the source right where that information was gathered from. And you should always do that because chat GPT tends to give wrong information a lot of the time. uh Google's AI summary has some pretty hilarious examples of giving wrong information. yeah, don't take it at face value, especially if you're going to be relying on that information for anything. Always check the sources. love that. I love that. So what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see entrepreneurs, business owners make when they try to do their own SEO? yeah, mean, not investing in blogging is a big one. I'd say trying to take the shortcuts. Everyone wants to rank right away and they think if they just put in a few keywords or the right keywords, then they'll rank overnight. And it doesn't work that way. First of all, it takes Google a while to go back and crawl your website and figure it out. But it's also, it's a long game. It takes a while, just like you have to build trust with people so they understand who you are and what you do and that yes, you really do know what you're talking about and you are an authority in your industry. It goes the same for Google. It takes a while to earn Google's trust because Google is risking its name every time it directs people to your site. So if people go to Google and they click through to the top result and they have a bad experience, they're not going to want to use Google again. So there's a reason that Google is really picky about which websites it puts where. So recognize that. Recognize that it's a long game and you have to earn Google's trust and you have to earn your audience's trust. So good. What should everyone know? What should we know, entrepreneurs know about keywords? Like obviously this is a crucial part of SEO. And can you explain a little bit more about what that means? Mm So the keyword is the search word or phrase that people put into the search bar or increasingly speak into their microphone or their Google home device or whatever to ask for information. So by having those keywords in the right places in your content, it's not just I mean, yes, you need them in your content, but you also need them in the right places in your content to make it easier for Google to scan and comprehend your content and figure out which searches to pair you with. knowing those keywords, everyone wants to use a keyword tool. Please don't use chat GPT. Chat GPT is not an SEO tool. It was not designed to be an SEO tool. If you ask it for a list of keywords, it will tell you the keywords that everyone else is already using. And therefore it's impossible to rank for them because it's too competitive. It cannot tell you the search volume of those keywords. It cannot tell you the competitiveness, how many people are using them. The real value of SEO and blogging is in finding those keywords that have a decent search volume, but not everyone is looking for. So by using those, that's how you identify your content gaps of, here's a question I can answer that people are already asking. and they're not finding an answer to it. So if I provide an answer, again, you're providing value to your ideal audience uh and you're doing so in a way that not a lot of other people are already answering. So it gives you a better chance to rank. The other thing again about Google getting smarter and keywords is that it's getting better at identifying synonyms. So again, I work with a lot of lawyers. So for a while, it was like using the word attorney versus lawyer because it was a better keyword. Now it doesn't really matter. You can switch them up and Google knows they mean the same thing. So that's the kind of thing that is really nice because then you can switch it up and make your content more interesting and content that humans want to read instead of content that makes Google go, look, they have this keyword a bunch of times. This must be what they're about. it's getting better and better at identifying high quality content. So it's, I would say it's easier to rank without sacrificing quality content for the sake of search rankings. It's interesting because I had my SEO done like in 2019 and I was known for visibility, but we couldn't it was really hard because nobody was searching visibility in 2019. So we use brand awareness. Well after 2020, then the word visibility started getting a lot more popular and people understood what it meant and what it was about. So I think it's interesting too, because things evolve. Obviously technology gets better. but also the words we use and how often we use them evolve as well, right? Mm hmm. 100%. Yeah. I was a freelance writer for, you know, when I started out for a number of years and then I came across the word content marketer and I was like, that's really what I do is content marketing. And then I add an SEO strategist and now there's, there's all this other stuff that I do. But, yeah, 100 % the words we use, which is a good reason to keep up with what your audience is talking about because the search terms they're using to look for you. could very well change. So definitely keep that in mind. Keep up to date with those. I mean, Google, I can't remember now off the top of my head what the numbers are, but I find it fascinating how many new searches Google finds. Like literally every day, there are people putting in search terms that Google has never seen before. uh And sometimes they take off, and sometimes it's just one person looking for something weird. But there's a whole opportunity there to write about when you really know your ideal client, if you can get in front of that and create that content before anyone else even knows to create it, huge opportunity there. absolutely. So why is searchable content a visibility goldmine that you think most people are overlooking? I think that is, I mean, certainly my generation. I'm a millennial. my generation, our first app is always Google. Increasingly, it's probably going to be ChatGPT or SearchGPT or whatever. But that's our first app. And even if it's not, I cannot tell you how many times I've met someone at a networking event. And then we have a one-on-one later and they tell me they went to my website or my LinkedIn and they checked out my website and my content before having that meeting so they could understand a little bit more about me and who I am and what I do. it's not like I use it instead of the networking and the meetings and the one-on-ones. Yes, the interpersonal relationships are important and my website content can enhance that. So yeah, there's also such value, I think, in showing up when people are looking for you. uh Rather than, you know, meeting someone at a networking event and trying to explain to them what it is you do and the value in it. If they're already looking for you, they already have an understanding of the value you provide, especially if they're in the later stages of the buyer journey. They're just looking for someone to fill that need for them. And if you don't show up at all when they're looking for you. you're missing out on that opportunity. Absolutely, so good, so good. So when it comes to, let's add in a social media conversation. Do you prioritize website content over social media? 100 % yes, because that is the only content that you own online. Social media is great. I do use it quite a bit. But that is used primarily again to reach out to people, to strengthen those relationships, to follow up with leads, to promote my content that I publish on my website. But we've all heard stories of people landing in Facebook jail or having their LinkedIn account deleted or their posts buried in the algorithm feed for whatever reason, right? You don't own that content. So make sure that, yes, you are building your audience on social media. Again, I'm not discounting that, but don't rely on it exclusively, because that is a great way to lose your entire audience overnight with no explanation whatsoever. Absolutely. Well, and I think too and tell me if this is true or false But you could have a call to action right on every blog post which could also create lead generation for you 100%. And you should have a call to action on every blog post. just understand what that call to action should be. Um, I think another mistake I see a lot of people making is thinking that the call to action should be by my stuff or schedule a consultation. And depending on your industry, that makes sense. Like I said, I saw a Colgate investing in blogging. That makes sense to go, Hey, if you need help with this, we have some products that might help with that. That makes sense. But I work with lot of lawyers and financial planners who are still just like dipping their toes in the water and figuring out what this is all about. And in that case, going straight for the hard sell, I compare it to proposing on the first date. Like they're just getting to know you. You don't want to come on too hard too fast, Give them maybe a second date, maybe meet the parents, maybe go for a weekend trip together. Then you ask for... you know, their hand in marriage. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So for entrepreneurs who are like, this is just another thing. Thank you for overwhelming me, Chrissy, like, what's your best advice to where they can start or focus? And is there a best blogging platform to use? Like, what would you like? What is it a quick start guide for entrepreneurs who want to start blogging? What would you tell them? Yes. WordPress is my favorite website platform because again, that's the only one where you own your own content. If you read the fine print in the terms of service for things like Wix and Squarespace, they own your content. So watch out for that. yeah, WordPress, it's actually really easy. I think a lot of people get intimidated by WordPress because it's for the like real developers, but a lot of the Real developers have themes that they put up there that you can just drag and drop boxes and whatever you need in there and they make it really easy. so don't be intimidated by WordPress. come up with a schedule. Like I said, consistency is probably the one thing that I see most people, failing at when it comes to their blog. They, they blog a few times and they don't see immediate results and they get discouraged and give up or they get busy and blogging is the last thing on their to-do list. So it falls by the wayside. so the first thing I would say is come up with a schedule that you know you can stick to even when you're busy, no less than once a month, preferably twice a month. If you can do it every week, great. But I know that's a lot. so twice a month is, a good, especially if you're writing the really long in-depth blog posts, no less than 500 words. Cause again, Google for whatever reason has decided if it's less than 500 words, then it's not worth, paying attention to. And if you don't have an SEO tool, which I get it, a lot of the lay people don't, start with those questions that you hear all the time. Every time you tell people what you do at a networking event or those questions you hear over and over again in a sales call or a discovery call, if they're asking those questions on Zoom, in person, at networking events, they're probably asking those questions online as well. So that's a really good starting point. to come up with topics. It's just what is coming up over and over again for you. As well as industry news, I was just kicking myself for not writing about the Google breakup. I was scheduling a bunch of content and didn't say anything about Google getting broken up. And it's like, I really need to talk about that. So I think that's going to be in my next blog post. oh feel like when we have a specialty and we're an expert in something, even though we know all the things it can do, like I hear all the time like Chrissy, my gosh, what you said about video is so true. Like, I just blew my mind. And then things even happened to me today that I'm like, I know this. But yes, that's what I mean. That's why I teach this. Like it has something recently or in the past year, like blown your mind about blogging, even though you knew it was possible. But it's like, yes, it's just you know, solidifies why I'm so like, fanatic about this. Yeah, I had a conversation with someone, honestly, just earlier today. She's a branding expert. So she doesn't do blogging, but we got to talking about the intersection between blogging and branding and SEO. And she was saying that when everything is aligned with your branding strategy, that actually also boosts your SEO. because you're standing out from the crowd. You are positioning yourself as this brand, as this thought leader, and that's how you avoid becoming more white noise. Because A, you don't sound like everyone else. And B, you're not trying to attract everyone else. Again, SEO is not just about trying to get everyone to your website. It's about trying to get the right people to your website who are already looking for the services you provide. So when your branding is really strong and you have a really clear idea of who that person is and what it is they're looking for and all of your content is aligned with that, it makes it so much easier for Google to figure out who you are and who's looking for you and what they're looking for you when they go to your website. So yeah, that was kind of a mind blowing moment of like, yeah, that's so good. So yeah. I love that, I love that. So I'm gonna ask you one more question and then we're gonna hop into some rapid fire fun questions. And the question I wanna end with is how has leaning into visibility in the way that works for you shifted your confidence in business? Hmm. That's really good actually. cause a lot of, I think what has shifted in for me in business is learning how to embrace my extrovert and get out there some more. Um, but like I said, I, it was a real eye opener for me when I realized again, I met someone at a networking event and we had coffee or something and they would say that they checked out my blog post. or, know, they were reading such and such on my blog. and the Actually, I think the big one for me was getting a clout again, someone I met at a networking event, but they signed up for my newsletter. And like six months after we met, they called up ready to hire me because of what they had been seeing in my newsletter and on my blog. And as we were having the sales conversation, she upsold herself by quoting something that had been in one of my blog posts. So that was definitely an eye opening moment of this makes again, as someone who's an introvert and not. loving sales calls. I love that I was able to create content that did so much of the heavy lifting for me so that I was able to just take the credit card. That's nice, that's nice. So good, so good. All right, you ready for some rapid fire questions? All right, coffee or tea? coffee. favorite social media platform, even though I know we're talking about blogging. I know. Probably LinkedIn. Okay, your dream vacation destination. Oof, it would have to be somewhere I haven't been yet. I have been to London, but I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and I have yet to make my pilgrimage to Chautenhouse. So I think that's next on my list is Chautenhouse with a stop at Stonehenge. love it. What is a book every business owner should read? it is it too crass to say my book content marketing made easy. Nope. Call it out. Own it. on Amazon. again, a lot of what we were talking here in this conversation about talking about SEO in a way that's not scary. That was really the whole goal of the book was to help people understand content marketing and SEO in plain English that they can actually understand so that they understand that it's not so scary. It's not rocket science. Love it. We'll make sure we add the link to in the show notes. So if you're listening, you're like, I need that link. We'll drop it in there. Favorite way to spend a weekend off line. reading with tea or coffee, usually coffee and then tea, preferably if the weather is nice outside with my dog. I love it. I love it. Disney character you most relate to. I love it. love it. Okay. And the last rapid fire question. One SEO myth you wish would die. that's a good question. And I feel like I'm going to come up with the perfect answer as soon as we stop recording. I think just generally this idea that it's super complicated and there's only like a few select people who can understand the mysteries of Google. I mean, first of all, Google is super opaque about how their algorithm works and they have so much AI now that even they're not entirely sure how it works. ah But yeah, just don't buy into that. it's so complicated. Only I can show you the way. Don't buy into it. Just create quality content that answers your people's questions and the rest will follow. So good, so good. All right, Allison, where can people connect with you and learn more about what you do? So my website is AV as in my initials, Alison Verhalen. It is AVWritingServices.com. You can check out my blog. There's a lot of blogs there. YouTube at Alison Verhalen content marketer. And I'm also on LinkedIn. I believe I'm the only Alison Verhalen on LinkedIn. It's a pretty, Alison with one L. All right, we'll drop those in the show notes too. And then you have some free courses. Do you wanna talk about those? Yes, on my website. it's avwritingservices.com slash content marketing academy is the I have two free courses up right now with more courses to come. Those will be paid courses. But while I'm in the middle of creating those, I am offering the first two courses for free. The one is all about creating your brand voice guidelines because again, the importance of SEO and branding and understanding who your target audience is, is super important. So I outline what your brand voice guidelines are and how to create your brand voice guidelines so that if you do hire someone like me to create content for you, can go, here are the guidelines. And that way they can hit the ground running, starting to create content that sounds like you instead of like them or like someone else. And then the other course is about how to create your marketing persona, because that's the other cornerstone of great content, is making sure that it's not what you care about, it's what your audience cares about. And how are you conveying it to them in a way that makes sense to them and makes them care about it? Because you might understand why what you do is so important, but helping them understand it can be a little trickier. So starting with your brand and your marketing persona is the keystone of every marketing strategy. I love this so so much. This has been a gold mine of information. Allison, is there anything else you'd like to share? Maybe something we didn't go over or just to reiterate for my listeners? I think we covered it all, or least the basics. Yeah, yeah. So we are going to put all the links that Allison talked about in the show notes along with the link to her book that you can buy I think she said on Amazon. So I just want to thank you so much for listening to today's show. Make sure you share this episode, tag a friend that would be interested in listening to this and make sure that you connect with Allison at all the links in the show notes. Thank you so much, Allison. Have a great day. Thank you so much for having me. This was great.