Episode 020: Everything Systems and SEO w/ Ashley from Solution Integrators

Hello, hello and welcome back to everything SEO. Today we are gonna be talking about systems, and I felt like this was just the next logical step because our last episodes have been, you know, kind of focusing on the fact that everybody who, or most people who are gonna come through to your website through SEO have probably never heard of you before.

So it is. Imperative for us to put our best foot forward. And I think systems is one of those ways that we do that so that when we do book clients, they come back or they have a great experience. So I brought on Ashley. Ashley, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself. Yeah. Hello. Hello. I am Ashley Tyndall.

I am the CEO and founder of Solution Integrators. Uh, in a nutshell, I call myself a chief systems officer because it sounds good. But I am a project manager, a system strategist, a tech geek, and I just really love supporting other small business owners in their journey to make more money, save time, do more of what they love, and everything else in between.

I don’t understand that. I, I obviously brought you on here to talk about systems. So where would you start when we go to think about systems? Like, what is the first thing we should think about? Yep. So I really always like to first like differentiate between systems and tools, right? So a lot of people use those words.

interchangeably, which I get, but systems are truly the method behind your madness, right? Like the overviewed plans, the day to day processes, and then your tools are how you go implement those things. So I always like people to kind of start with kind of almost thinking about As a client themselves, what are some service providers that you’ve worked with and, you know, what made it so amazing to work with them, right?

Was it clear communication or you didn’t have to guess or worry about it, you know, after, after they took your money, right? You weren’t afraid at that point, right? And then also think about the, the not so good experiences, right? The ones that suck, the ones that you were like, I will never go back to this person and I’m going to tell everybody not to either, right?

Kind of start there. And then from, you know, from there, it’s. How do I want to serve my clients? Right. What do I want them to see and feel and hear the moment they decide they want to work with me? Right. Whether they hop in my DMs or fill out a form, you know, what, what do I want them to experience when they’re ready to give me their money or, you know, once it’s time to get started, so kind of, you know, Of course, the tech side, you know, the automations can be the sexy part, but think about the not so sexy stuff of the true.

How do I want to manage those clients? What do I want them to see and feel and hear and experience from? Again, the moment they say, yep, I think Michaela’s cool. I want to work with her all the way through to, you know, the end of your time together. So always going to start there, that true foundation, because that’s what’s going to help you to continue to grow.

And then the tech and the automation and all the sexy stuff will, will come along with it later. I like to think of that too. I’m like, let’s start with the essentials. Let’s talk about like, what we’re gonna, how we want our blogs to feel and I mean, what our end purpose are is, and then we can like think about the techie SEO stuff and we’ll get into that eventually, but let’s, let’s make sure that our, our, our forward facing, how, how are people interacting, it’s kind of taken a care of first, do you see that with better systems, it tends to keep your clients around longer or like build referrals?

For sure. I am fat. I think the, the number one thing to, you know, having resigns and referrals is having a. cohesive client experience, right? Because if you think about it, yes, if I blow your socks away and bid for my, my client gift at the very beginning of us working together and, you know, oh, it’s amazing.

And then once it’s time to do the work, I ghost you or you don’t hear from me. You know, deliverables start falling through the cracks. It’s like, well, damn, I thought this was going to be such a good experience at first, right. And what been, and so that will lead to people not wanting to tell folks about you.

Right. A good chunk of my business, especially through the last two years, when, you know, things get a little slow or, you know, the market has been referrals. Right. Cause I know that I take pride in how I serve and, you know, serve my clients and deliver my offers, but I want them to, to choose. To tell everybody else about me, so truly having a cohesive fine experience, making sure that people, no matter who it is, they’re receiving that same experience from start to finish is what’s going to lead people to want to tell other people about you, to want to refer a friend, to refer a friend, and keep them coming back.

So really, you know, get having that foundation of How you serve your clients, showcasing why it is you do what you do, right? Making sure that that’s clear from the beginning to end is really going to help people want to tell a friend or want to keep coming back to work with you. Right. You know, being able to say, Hey, at the end of our time together, I enjoyed it.

Here’s how else we can continue working together. Right. Or, you know, when you’re ready, I want you to keep me top of mind. Right. Versus. They go find somebody else to fix what you did or finish what you, what you were supposed to finish. Right. So it’s truly again, you know, it might not be the sexy stuff at first, but the simple things that people tend to overlook of like clear communication, doing the things that I said I was going to do, right.

Maybe being transparent and like where we are in the process and working together. How I can help you in the future. Right? Like, yeah, we’re working here now, but these are the other things that I offer and deliver. So, you know, you don’t have to go anywhere else. You can come back to me to continue working together.

Right. But all of those things, those little things turn into big things that keep people wanting to come back to you. Definitely. And then I feel like systems tie so well with SEO because the goal with the goal, a lot of people have with SEO or a lot of businesses have what I see with SEO is they You know, if they want to take a break, they can, and they don’t have to worry about like inquiries dropping off because they still have traffic coming in.

Or, you know, maybe they just, they can’t, they physically can’t show up on social media to continue marketing their business and they need something to fall back on. And I feel like systems kind of pairs well with that. Definitely. Like, I think of like one of the big things with SEO. Um, and systems is like that, like you said, that initial inquiry process right and making sure like whether you found me through Google or a friend sent you or you found me on Instagram, you’re going to get the exact same experience when it comes to that initial inquiry process with me, right?

You’re going to fill out a form, I’m going to review it, make sure we’re a good fit, but you’re going to be redirected to a page that’s, you know, tracking my, my, my events in Google Analytics, that’s going to tell you more about me, right? It’s going to help you see and hear my, hear my voice and get to know about me a little bit more.

And you’re going to go through the same, you know, process. You’re going to receive a call, all of those things. So it, no matter where you’re finding me, of course, we want everybody to find us through Google. That’s to me, that’s always the easy, like whenever you have the hard work, right, of getting a sound, but once we’re found, right, we want those people to have, again, the same cohesive experience of if they found me.

Through any other channel. So that’s always like the big thing that people, a lot of people that I work with. And I’m like, well, yeah, if they go to my website, this happens, but if they go here, then this happens. So it’s, it’s truly being able to say, no matter how you find me, they’re going to get the same experience.

And that’s why they’re going to come back even, you know, later to work with you or tell a friend to come work with you. It does make a difference. I can tell, I can say from experience that I switched from Indie, which is like, I think at the time it was 9. I don’t know if it still is. I was like, I’m going to save some money and I’m going to do Indie and move all my inquiry forms and everything in there.

It’s great and user friendly. And I had been in Dubsado and I was like, I can’t navigate Dubsado. I’ve had it for years. And then I was like, and then I finally, I was like, okay, Indie’s just not doing it. I need something that’s a little bit more, Comprehensive and can do what I need. So I switched to Honeybook and what I forgot to do was change because I didn’t have it on my contact form.

I think it was in the middle of when I was doing my website update and so I had people inquiring to work with me through Indy and also through Honeybook and I, it was, it was terrible because I felt like I was dropping the ball on people who were in Indy because I didn’t get the notifications because I had pretty much done everything but deactivated my account.

With I was like, if I would’ve just taken the extra step to just audit myself or go back and check with myself on where I had dropped this link, this, this little disconnect would not have happened, so I can definitely say that. And then, side note, when I saw that you added, because I think when you added a video for inquiries, like right after the inquire, I think I saw it on social media.

I was like, that is a genius idea. And I love it as an SEO because, you know, a lot of this traffic is fresh traffic. And you know, if that, if that’s your goal, like you have other platforms that you get traffic from and they’re going to appreciate that video. So just as much, but I feel like it’s just taking that little extra step to introduce yourself, get a little bit more familiar and kind of see how the, the entire process is going to go.

So I, I think that was a great idea. Honestly. I like to call it like adding your secret sauce to things, right? Because with everything, there’s always going to be somebody else that does what you do, right? But how can you kind of That, you know, kind of stand out a little bit more and again, it doesn’t have to be all these bells and whistles and fireworks when somebody lands on your website, but just a little things to be like, man, you know, I got to actually, you know, yes, I filled out a form and I got to wait to hear back actually, but I can meet her I can, you know, it’s, it’s a way to, to see her personality and hear her voice and be like, okay, that’s what’s going to happen.

Then I’ll keep an eye out for that email. Right? It, it, Takes them to a link to my service guide or a link to Instagram, right? That’s they usually come follow me there. We might start a conversation and I’m like, you know what? I don’t even need to meet. Just send me, give me. Yeah, I’ll give you the money, but it’s just a way to add your secret sauce.

And it’s little, little things like that, that can just help you stand out. Um, like you said, for that true organic traffic of maybe, you know, they haven’t found me through Instagram. They’ve never met with me before. Um, it’s a way for them to kind of connect with me in a way. Now, when you, in your systems, do you bring them back to like other ways to connect?

So like, do you introduce them to your Instagram and maybe like, I don’t know if you have a Facebook page, but other ways versus just working with you? Yep. Yep. So I usually always kind of mentioned, you know, drop Instagram there because I’m, I mean, it’s a necessary evil pretty much this point, right? But I will spend a decent amount of time there.

I don’t send people to threads yet because I don’t know if people are ready for that version. But, uh, you know, from, you know, I send them through Instagram and I send them to my service guy, which the service guy is like the TLDR version of my website, right? Of like, look. You need this. This is that service.

You need that service so that when we hop on a call, they’re like, yeah, I know what I need, you know, like I’ve already done the work also. Right. I’m ready. Let’s do this. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it’s just another added way, right? Of kind of being able to connect with you. Usually people will go to Instagram, but no, I saw, you know, once we hop on I saw this post, or I saw your story about you doing this, and that’s what I need, right?

I know I had a lead recently who like, verbatim, she, she was telling me everything that she needed. In a, in a person or a project manager. And it was literally my website. It’s a copy in my Instagram post. Right. And I’m like, well, damn, let’s, let’s, let’s say a word for word, right? Like you’re selling me for me.

So thank you. I love when it works out that way, but that means like you’ve really never done your messaging right there. Crucially. And then I think this all brings back into the first episode of the series. I talked with Callie from Honeycomb. And we were talking about branding because when Google leaked not too long ago, we did see that, you know, branding does play a factor and, and kind of leaning into our personal brand is how we’re gonna, we’re really going to start showing up.

And she was like, really, it’s all about consistency. Like, once you establish your branding, just having that consistency. And I feel like systems are neglected, typically. As someone who did DIY 90 percent of everything until this past year systems are neglected and we can’t, I think we don’t always see the value in them because we’re like, we want to see something that we see, you know, when we, when we get our branding done, we get.

Our branding handed to us when we get our website done, we get to look at our pretty website or even our copy. We’re like, okay, this sounds amazing. And then our systems were like, okay, we still see it, but I can’t show it to the world until somebody inquires. Exactly. Yeah. That’s a big thing. A lot of the clients that come to me are like, man, I spent all this money on this branding and this website, all of this.

But. Then they, you know, they receive my dubs out a proposal or my honey book, you know, proposal and it sucks where it doesn’t, I want to say that, but so I really, really love to work with my clients to make sure, again, everything from hello to here’s my proposal to, you know, Take my money to, you know, Hey, we get started is consistent from your website all the way through to, you know, whatever other, um, platforms you want to use to communicate with your clients.

So I know that, like you said, that’s it’s an afterthought, right? Yep, this is the, my website is the, the first focal point, but then once they receive your proposal, like how can, if they’re receiving proposals from three other web designers or brand designers, how can you make sure that you’re still standing out?

Like they open up that proposal, like, who’s this from? And, you know, like, when is this in my inbox? Why is this here? Right. So just truly, again, like that, it’s that little secret sauce of, you know, making sure things are cohesive from, from one place to another. Your messaging is the same. Your branding is the same.

Um, The pricing, I mean, I’ve, I’ve been on the side of, you know, well, your website told me one price. I got a proposal. It told me a whole nother price. Oh, no, there’s little things like that, right? Of like, Man, if you just took an extra step or extra minute to, you know, kind of put yourself in your client’s shoes and walk through your own process, you know, that little things like that can help you to really kind of identify, like, man, here’s where I can add an extra say, here’s where I can do something that, that helps me stand out from all the other people that talk about systems and tech and processes.

So yeah, systems are an afterthought, you know, it’s, I want to grow fast, but let me get a website up. Let me make sure my branding is, you know. Killer great, but then once the clients come in then what right the lead leads start coming in then what right if you’re forgetting about them, or they’re falling through the cracks, or you’re not keeping your end of the deal when it comes to, you know, service delivery, all the money you spent up front.

It’s a waste at that point, right? Because you weren’t prepared for those leads to start coming in. They spend money with you for SEO, and it’s like, bam, well now I get all these Google leads, but I can’t handle them because I didn’t take the time to focus on the back end of my business, right? So it’s, like you said, it always comes full circle of like, you can’t, you can’t do one without the other.

Understand starting somewhere. You pick one, Info gets your energy, but you know, systems be coming after thought when they, they shouldn’t be. And they definitely, they definitely do. And I think at this point, we have so many resources that even if you can’t afford to outsource it completely, there is a way to make your client experience really smooth and like your back end systems really smooth without having to hire someone.

Like obviously hiring someone is probably going to get you the best results because it’s. I say this where some of the, the owner is sometimes the worst person to work in their own business on something that’s like out of their zone of expertise, like, because you feel uncomfortable, you’re not always thinking about like the other side of things are very guilty of that.

We’re like, I know what they need in reality. We don’t, we don’t know what you need. I get into that a lot with blogging because. We’re an expert. We like to sometimes either talk a little too high when we’re, when we’re trying to explain something or sometimes we over explain and it ruins our user experience.

And it’s just not great for a reader. And I feel like that comes, comes across here when, but we have DIY resources, um, that we can look into. There’s, I know there’s copy templates, there’s Actual templates for automations, proposal templates. Like there’s a lot that you can do to take that extra step. And I mean, there’s even blog posts that just say, Hey, you know, send, send the welcome gift, send a thank you note at the end, you know, keep in touch, give them a guide, a guide at the beginning, telling them when to expect certain things.

And one of the things that I really love about your systems is, you know, I’ve purchased one of your digital products in the past and everything is hosted in Thrivecart. And everything’s right there. So, like, if I want to grab another product, it’s right there, and every time that I go in to look at, and you have a video explaining, and then you have, like, I think you have a form to fill out.

If we have any pressing questions or anything like that or need assistance. So I thought that was really cool. It’s very friendly for the user. And I purchased a lot of digital products, guilty, and not all of them have that support system. So that’s just another way, especially as. People going into SEO.

We have our blog posts. We want to sell our digital products. It is a way to make our businesses more profitable. But we have to be able to get those great testimonials and reviews and feedback to continue and actually grow that digital product suite. So I think that’s really cool as well. At what point?

Alright, so if someone is going to hire, at what point do they hire? Because I know copy comes before design. Normally branding comes before that. So where does kind of systems fit in? Yeah, I like to say systems fits in, well, in two places, honestly. So, of course, at the very beginning, you know, once you decide to start a business, whatever, you gotta kind of think through, like, How the hell do I want to serve these people, right?

But once you truly have a proven offer, once you’ve had a few clients, you know, buy your services, enjoy the service that you delivered, that’s where you can continue to refine it, right? A lot of people will kind of want to, Set up a process, define a full client experience, set up the tech, but you’ve never had a single lead or a single client come through this, right?

So like you said, as the owner, we think we know this a lot of times, but the clients might be like, man, that was, You know, too much, you know, too much pre work or not enough. Or I didn’t fully understand what it is you actually wanted me to do in order for this service. So once you truly have a proven offer, you’re clear on what it is that you want to deliver.

Not to say that systems are like a set it and forget it, right? They always continue to grow and evolve as you grow as a business owner. I feel like I always have, you know, there’s always a one client that you’re like, you know what? I need to go make this change so that I’d never go through this again, right?

There’s always that one. You might have that one, you know, once a year, right? But once you have a proven offer that’s making you money, You know, a lot of times my clients come to me where they grew really, really fast, right? And that’s awesome. But then it’s like, okay, but I’m hitting a bottleneck. If I’m that bottleneck because I’m doing everything manually.

Yeah. Or I know things can be simplified or maybe I’m ready to hire and I don’t even know where, you know, I can’t even hand off anything to a person because everything’s a mess. Um, so once you truly are confident in What you do and how you do it, you know, your secret sauce for delivering your offers, that’s where you take the time to truly refine your systems.

I think they kind of come along the way, of course, but at that point you can refine it to kind of help you go to whatever that next is. And I always, you know, when I say the word scaling to people, I know a lot of times people think money, but truly like scaling can be whatever you want as right. Okay.

For me, it’s like, how can I scale to the point where I don’t have to do as much or it’s not, you know, as much me. I can spend more time with my family or do more of what I love as a part of my business and then have somebody help me with everything else, right? Whatever that scaling or that next means for you, like once you get to that point of like, look, I’m making money.

I’m, you know, I’m good at what I, what it is I do, but I can’t continue to grow or I can’t continue to run my business this way. Usually that’s like a problem like that indicator that that check engine light at that point for you to be like, you know, I need to get help and go from there. I think it’s a pretty good sign.

I was actually just thinking, I was like, you know, you don’t really have to wait on branding specifically or a website or, or at least like to professionally do them because you can tweak your, your, you can tweak your systems for your branding. You can add it in later if you’ve got a good. System for how you do your clients like it can last I would say for a good while right for sure anyway.

So I think we’ve covered a good bit of stuff today. Um, Now, do you have like an actionable tip or something that they can walk away with today or anybody listening can either shift the way that they think about their systems or something that they could, you know, just step away and go ahead and do to improve their systems?

Yeah, I have a new freebie and I created it just in time for like summertime or For when you want to really kind of step away, but the freebies all around using systems to help you enforce boundaries in your business. So whether it’s enforcing boundaries with clients or yourself, because I think business owners, you know, we, we cross our own boundaries.

This really is going to help walk through different phases of your, your processes or client experience and say, Hey, here’s where having, you know, good systems in place can relieve a whole lot of stress and the heartache and, you know, anxiety. And so I’m sure, you know, I’ll drop that link with you, but it includes templates and, you know, clear examples that I use in my own business, right.

Of the way that I’ve decided of how I want to show up as a CEO. And so that will really help you to kind of, kind of think through the rest of this summer or, you know, once the kids are back in school or next time you decide you want to go on vacation or just ghost your business, right? To me, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes you just want to ghost your business and it still run, you know, without you. But this will just really help you to kind of, again, enforce those boundaries for yourself and for your client, but using systems to help you do that. I am. Also, that will be linked in the show notes below and as our just little final note, is there any way that they can work with you?

Yeah, I go full geek working with people. I love doing the free work. So, I do offer both, um, done with you in a 90 minute session. Whatever we can get done in that 90 minutes live, I’m going to hop into whatever tech and get it done. I have more project based done for you work, so tech set up, strategy, mapping out client experiences, all the things.

But I also have a goodie shop for the DIYers who are like, yep, I just want to go do it myself. Like Makayla mentioned, I’m really big on helping you to actually implement these templates in first session. It being another product that you download so you’ll always have access to submit questions at any time because again I like geeking out but I want you to actually use these templates so you can come over to my website solutionintegrators.

us and it has all the goodies that you, that you can, you need really. I can agree. I absolutely love the business hub. It’s been kind of a lifesaver for tracking everything, especially in this year, because I went through a period of growth and I did not have anything set up just in case, and I definitely should have.

So that was me coming in, coming in afterwards and being like, okay, if this happens again, I’m going to make sure this is here. But that is all for today. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for being here, Ashley. There is going to be another interview next week. We have had quite a few guests and I hope you’ve enjoyed all of them so far.

As always, our SEO checklist will be in the show notes as well if you want to get started on SEO. But that is it. Thank you.