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StoryBrand SEO: A Match Made in Heaven

by | Jan 13, 2023

As a business owner, you need more qualified leads. To do that, you need more organic traffic to your website. To do THAT, you need to rank higher in search engines. 

Simply ranking higher in search results isn’t enough, though.

Two things MUST happen for your business to grow through organic search.

  1. People need to be able to find you when they search for the services you provide (SEO)
  2. They need to be compelled to hire you when they click to your website from a search engine like Google.

One without the other isn’t helpful at all. 

You can have the most compellingly written and designed website, but if no one can find it, you’ll never see a single lead. 

On the flip side, you can create a site that ranks on the first page of Google for key terms, but if when people click on your website, they don’t find a compelling reason to hire you, you’re hosed.

It is for these reasons that StoryBrand and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are a match made in marketing heaven! 

Let’s look at each to be sure you are familiar with these two best buddies.

What is StoryBrand?

StoryBrand is a framework that utilizes elements of storytelling to create clear marketing messages for brands. It was created by New York Times best-selling author Donald Miller, and laid out in his book, Building a StoryBrand.

It positions your customer as the hero in a story and you as the guide that will help them overcome a problem (with your product or services) and help achieve success or avoid failure.

Essentially, StoryBrand helps your customers view your product or services through the lens of their own story. It creates extreme clarity as to why you matter to them and why you are the best person to help them overcome a problem they’re experiencing. 

I have been a Certified StoryBrand Guide since 2019 and have helped dozens of businesses, nonprofits, and churches create clear messaging that transforms how they do marketing.

What is SEO? 

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving a website’s position in search engine results pages (SERPs) so it receives more FREE, organic, and natural traffic. Naturally, the higher you rank in a Google search, the more people will see it.

It is an important part of any digital marketing strategy because it helps you show up for terms your customers are searching for. 

How Do I Improve My Website’s SEO? 

I’m glad you asked! SEO is a broad process that includes many seen and unseen processes. By optimizing everything from the pages on your website to each page’s meta descriptions, there is a lot you can do to make sure your content gets seen in search engines. Here is a quick flyover of what is often included in search engine optimization.

+ SEO Audits

An SEO audit has two functions. The first is a technical audit. 

This finds anything that might hurt your website’s ranking. This could be broken pages, bad links, slow load times, missing title tags or heading tags, missing site maps or robot.txt files, and so much more. 

There are lots of nerdy things in a technical SEO audit.

The second is a content audit. Here, we look at what keywords you want to rank for and how the content currently on your website is performing. Then, we determine how to make existing content perform better, what gaps in content might exist, and what new content is needed to improve your position in search. 

The SEO Audit builds the foundation for improving your search rankings.

+ Keyword Research

Not all keywords are created equally. A keyword is any word or phrase a person would type into a search engine to find what they are looking for. 

Some keywords have a ton of search volume (thousands of people typing in that keyword or keyphrase every month). Others have no search volume (not a single person has typed that keyword in recently).

Ideally, you want to rank well for keywords directly related to your business and either a) have a high monthly search volume or b) are very specific to what you do. 

For this page, you might have typed “StoryBrand SEO” or “Do StoryBrand and SEO work together?” 

+ Content Creation

Once you know what on your site is performing well and what is not, and you know what keywords or key phrases you want to rank for, you can begin creating content to fill gaps and build your visibility for new phrases. 

Depending on your strategy, you might create what are called “pillar pages.” Pillar Pages on your website provide valuable and detailed information about a specific topic. Those pages link out to (and back from) other related content on your website (smaller pages, blog posts, etc.)

On our website, Certified StoryBrand Guide is the pillar page, and this blog post and several others are supporting content. All of which fortify the main pillar page for the visitor and the search engine.

+ Link Building

Search engines like Google assign authority to your website (rank you higher) by tracking backlinks. Backlinks are other websites that link back to your website in any way. This may be a link to a pillar page, a blog, a case study, or any other piece of content you have. 

There are two main ways to go about securing more backlinks for your website. The first way is organically by creating valuable content and sharing it across social media platforms. People read your content and then cite it in the content they create for their website.

The second way to secure backlinks is by asking directly. Reach out to authoritative websites and offer to write articles for them, let them know about a post on your website that can provide support to an article on their website, and suggest they link it. Relationship building is key here.

Another type of link building involves internal links. Internal links help search engines, and people better understand and navigate your website. An internal link would be a link from a pillar page to a blog post and vice versa. 

+ Local SEO vs. General SEO

Depending on your business, you might prioritize your search ranking locally or more generally. If you are a brick-and-mortar store that relies primarily on local business, you NEED to rank well locally. In this case, your strategy will appeal to things like Google Maps results and localized keyword searches.

If you’re an online business or service that can work with anyone in any place in the United States or the world, you will have a different strategy. Here, you’ll want to rank for specific terms directly related to the work you do.

While I love working with local Indianapolis businesses, I take a more general approach to our SEO. We rank for things like “StoryBrand Guides” and “StoryBrand for Lawyers” that are relevant to many businesses across the country and beyond. 

+ SEO Tracking and Reporting

No SEO strategy is worth anything if it is not accurately tracked and reported. 

SEO tracking helps us see exactly how the strategy we’ve put into place is working for your business. Reporting that to you in regular intervals lets you know you’re getting some bang for your buck. 

Most importantly, is acting on the tracking results. We regularly analyze the available data for your website and internal results (leads and sales) and adjust our strategy accordingly. 

Download our FREE StoryBrand Homepage Template

Do StoryBrand and SEO Work Together? Is StoryBrand Good for SEO?

This is the million-dollar question many of my clients ask (especially law firms). 

The answer?

HECK YES!!

StoryBrand and SEO are a match made in marketing heaven. You might as well just put them together and call it StoryBrand SEO. 

Search Engine Optimization is how you get people to your website. StoryBrand is how you get them to hire you! 

How Does Moonflower Marketing Use StoryBrand and SEO Together to Help Clients Win?

We have a simple process we use that allows SEO to complement StoryBrand.

You see, StoryBrand always comes first because humans always come first. Always.

Marketing is about compelling people to take action, not compelling bots or algorithms to take action. Those are merely tools to get your content in front of people.

So, we start with StoryBrand. Using your StoryBrand BrandScript, we write website copy, also known as a StoryBrand Wireframe (starting with your homepage, internal pages, and blog posts) that invites your ideal customers into a story that sees them overcome a problem (with your help) and achieve success.

Once we’re convinced a page is clear and compelling for your ideal customers, we take our keyword research to modify and add to that page (or post) to ensure it has everything it needs to be positioned to rank well.

In addressing the SEO needs of a webpage, we never compromise the StoryBranding of that page. If the SEO gets someone to your website, but it’s cluttered and confusing and doesn’t clearly show how you help them solve their problem, then the SEO is pointless.

StoryBrand SEO is How We Help Your Business Grow Online

When your website is optimized to rank well on Google, you get more traffic from the right people. When your webpages are StoryBranded, more people visiting your website choose to take action and become your customers. 

  • Increase Organic Traffic.
  • Increased Conversion Rates.
  • More Customers. 

StoryBrand Search Engine Optimisation is the way to go, and we’re here to help you make it happen. Schedule a FREE DISCOVERY CALL today, and let’s turn your website into a marketing machine.

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