September 2020 - Jenny Rose Spaudo - Freelance Copywriter and Content Marketer

Month: September 2020

Marketing
5 Reasons Your Business Needs an Online Presence
- September 23, 2020
- 0 comments
- by Jenny Rose Spaudo
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’ve been growing your business over the last few years, and it’s grown decently, but you feel stuck. So you try creating an online presence for your brand.

But after several months of content creation and promotion, you don’t see a lot of fruit for your hard work. Your numbers are nowhere near where you want them to be… so what’s the point?

When you hit a rut like that, it’s easy to get discouraged. In those moments, you probably have thoughts like these:

This is taking forever! Why am I spending so much time promoting my business on social media when no one even cares?

I’ll never be as popular on Instagram as [Insert Fellow Businessperson Here]. They have so many followers. I barely have a few hundred.

I… have… NO CLUE WHAT I’M DOING!

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking those things, let me reassure you … you’re 100% normal!

So if cultivating an online presence can be so hard, why spend time doing it at all?

I’ll tell you why. In fact, in this article, I’ll give you 5 compelling reasons why your business needs an online presence.

Let me run through them briefly for you:
- Your customers are online.
- An online presence makes you look like a legitimate business.
- Your online presence works for you 24/7, not just during networking meetings.
- Online automation lets you nurture more potential clients at once.
- It opens your client base up beyond your geographical location.
Now let’s look at each of these reasons on a deeper level.

1. Your Online Presence Matters Because Your Customers Are Online

Your customers are online. And not just your future customers—I mean your current customers. They’re online looking for online solutions to their problem.

But don’t take my word for it. A 2019 study found that 81% of consumers do online research before making a purchase in a physical store. And 85% do online research before making an online purchase.

Modern customers want to look you up online before buying what you offer.

In our digital age, you can’t afford not to have an online presence. I don’t mean that to sound threatening or judgmental. It’s just how it is.

Think about it. When you need to purchase something, what do you do? Probably one of two things: Either you ask your friends where they get that product/service or you research it online.

If you run a small business, referrals are probably your strongest way of getting clients. But if you want to grow your small business beyond your friend group, you’re going to need to build an online presence.

2. An Online Presence Makes Your Business Look Legit

When people hear about your business and are considering purchasing, the first thing they do is look you up online. I promise.

I’ve done this more times than I can count. And if I can’t find the person online, it raises a red flag for me and makes me subconsciously question the quality of the business’ products or services.

Maybe it’s not fair for me to subconsciously jump to that conclusion. But I can tell you it’s because I grew up in an increasingly digital age. And I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Your online presence represents the quality of your brand to the vast majority of your customers—now and in the future. For that reason alone, cultivating your online presence is worth the effort.

That means creating a website that’s clean, branded, and easy to navigate. It also means being active on at least one or two social media platforms. And lastly, it means growing and nurturing your audience via email.

3. Your Online Presence Works for You 24/7

Unlike networking and referrals, your online marketing works for you at all times, night and day.

Once you put content up online, it stays there for people to find it. I’ve had clients who have found my blogs months after I posted them and, as a result, loved my work and wanted to hire me.

Now, granted, social media does require some engagement. But even with social media, you can schedule posts out in advance and then take about 15 minutes a day or so to engage with people who liked or commented on your posts.

There are definitely ways to save time with your online marketing!

4. Online Marketing Allows You to Nurture Many Clients at Once

It’s true, there’s nothing like face-to-face meetings or personal follow-up emails to convince a client to work with you.

But with online marketing, you can nurture many clients at once. Not just 20, but dozens, hundreds—thousands, even.

That’s the power of automation! Scheduling social media posts, blog posts, emails, and so on leverages your limited time to reach far more people than you could with personal phone calls and networking meetings.

5. Your Online Platform Opens Up Your Client Base

Cultivating a strong online presence allows you to connect with potential clients all over the country and the world, not just in your local community.

I work out of my home in Central Florida, but my entire business is online. As a result, only about 25% of my clients are in Florida. The rest are all around the U.S.! Oddly enough, about 50% of my clients are in California. I’m not exactly sure why that worked out that way…

But the main point is that when you have an online presence, it opens you up to clients beyond your geographical location. And as you know, more customers means more revenue.

Start Cultivating Your Online Presence Today

I hope I’ve convinced you of the value of creating a strong online presence for your business.

If you haven’t started building your online platform yet, I highly encourage you to start—today. Don’t wait any longer. Build that website. Create those social media posts. Write those blogs. Send those emails. You owe it to your business!

Here’s a free e-book all about how to get started with building your online presence through blogging, social media, and email marketing. I think you’ll find it helpful!

And if you’ve been trying to build your online presence and are totally frustrated with the results so far, I’d be happy to chat with you about what might be holding you back.

Schedule a free clarity call with me to see how I can help you build the online presence your business deserves. No more confusion—just clarity and growth!

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Social Media
Tips to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and Get More Clients
- September 17, 2020
- 0 comments
- by Jenny Rose Spaudo
Your LinkedIn profile may be the single most important factor in whether or not you’re attracting leads on LinkedIn.
Last week, I shared how LinkedIn is by far the best way I’ve gotten clients. I gave you a peek behind the curtain at the 4 best practices that help me grow my blog traffic and brand awareness on LinkedIn.
You may remember I showed you how to increase your connections, how often you should post, how to publish LinkedIn articles, and how to expand your posts’ reach. (Click here to read that post.)
Pretty good stuff, I’ve got to say!
But even if you follow all 4 of those best practices to a T, you still won’t see the traction you want unless you optimize your LinkedIn profile.
The reason why is pretty simple. When people come across your content on their LinkedIn feed and are intrigued, the very next thing they do is click on your name to view your LinkedIn profile.
The content they find on there determines whether or not they reach out to you, browse your blog, or sign up for your lead magnet.
So you’ve got to make your LinkedIn profile as enticing as possible!
The problem is that many entrepreneurs don’t know how to optimize their LinkedIn profile. So they stuff their About section with distracting details and write a headline that sounds unique but doesn’t really communicate how they help.
Not a great way to start.
What You’ll Learn About Your LinkedIn Profile
In this article, I’m walking you through how to optimize your LinkedIn profile so you can garner as many leads as possible. I’ll teach you best practices for your:
- Headline
- Profile picture
- Cover image
- Contact info
- About section
- Featured section
- Business listing
- And more
Are you excited to get more leads? Let’s dive in!
Your Headline Is the Most Important Aspect of Your LinkedIn Profile
Hands down, this is what you should focus on first when optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Your headline is the title that appears right under your name:
Your name and your headline are what people see when they come across your post in their feed. If your headline is compelling enough, it will get them to click.
So what makes a compelling headline?
Some say to be as unique as possible. But in my experience, this can quickly devolve into simply confusing people. For instance…
“Brand-Focused Growth Hacker for Purpose-Driven Adventurers | Empowering people to change their lives.”
I’m sorry… I still don’t understand what you do or how you can help. Let’s try that again with plain language.
“Marketing Consultant for Christian Entrepreneurs | Helping you grow your business with proven strategies.”
Simple yet effective. After seeing a headline like that, Christian entrepreneurs who need help with their marketing will want to know more.
Some final tips:
- Use plain language
- Use keywords that your ideal client is searching for
- Show immediately how you can help
Update Your Profile Picture
Make sure your profile picture is clear and on brand. I recommend choosing a more professional photo than you would for Facebook or Instagram. This is because most people on LinkedIn are professionals, and when they’re using the platform, they’re thinking with a business mindset.
When choosing a profile picture, also consider your brand colors. It’s a good idea to incorporate your brand colors into both your profile picture and your cover image so that they look good together.
Your Cover Image Should Match Your Branding
Speaking of your cover image, do you even have one? Many people don’t! For a while, I didn’t even know how to change my cover image. I thought the blue placeholder was all that was available.
So wrong. This is simply one example of how tech-challenged I can be!
To change your cover image, just click on the pencil icon on the cover image. Upload a photo that’s 1400 x 425 pixels. You can easily create a compelling cover image in Canva.
Notice how I designed my cover image to match my overall branding (and matched it to my profile pic).
Your Contact Info on Your LinkedIn Profile
Make sure your contact info is filled out with at least your business email and business website. If you have other applicable social media to add there, go ahead and include those as well.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to check out someone’s website but couldn’t find it anywhere on their LinkedIn profile!
What to Do With Your About Section
All right… this is the section most people have major questions about. The About section can be a little intimidating for people because they know what a big deal it is.
Your About section is basically your LinkedIn elevator pitch/warm welcome.
Above all else, I recommend that you open your About section with how you help your ideal clients.
Beyond that client-focused opening, you truly do have some creative flexibility here! Here are some ways to get your creative juices flowing:
- Showcase some of your top products or services.
- Share about the values that drive your business. Perhaps what inspired you to start your business in the first place.
- Add a short and sweet testimonial from one of your star clients.
- Talk about how your blog helps your readers.
- End with a strong call to action. What’s the next step you want them to take?
To see how I did my About section, check out my LinkedIn profile.
Feature Your Lead Magnet or Best Content
If you have a lead magnet to get people to sign up for your email list, your Featured section is the perfect place to highlight it!
Pro Tip: Create a landing page for your lead magnet and use a promotional image as the page’s featured image. That way, when you add the link to your lead magnet’s landing page to the Featured section, it will automatically show the promotional image.
Here’s an example of how I did it:
Don’t see a Featured section on your profile? Simply add that section by clicking “Add profile section” at the top of your profile page.
Optimize Your Business Listing Under the Experience Section
Make sure your business is the latest job visible under your Experience section. Use the description of your job to show people once again how you can help your ideal client.
You can also highlight your lead magnet again by adding your landing page’s link in the job description. (The more times you can promote your lead magnet, the better!)
Add Relevant Info to Your LinkedIn Profile
As long as you have these key points in place, you’re good to go!
But perhaps you want to season your LinkedIn profile with more compelling content. If so, consider adding any of the following that are relevant to you:
- Education
- Certifications relevant to your business
- Awards
- Volunteer positions that have grown your expertise
- Leadership positions in other organizations/chambers/clubs
Are you ready to start optimizing your LinkedIn profile and generate more leads? Make it easier on yourself and use this blog as a reference as you go through your profile piece by piece.
Still need some more help with optimizing your LinkedIn profile? I’d be happy to coach you through how to turn your profile into a lead-generation machine! Set up a free clarity call with me to get started.
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Social Media
How to Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Business Blog
- September 9, 2020
- 2 Comments
- by Jenny Rose Spaudo
Wondering how to use LinkedIn to promote your blog and grow your brand?
Great, because it’s actually not that hard!
LinkedIn may be one of the best social media platforms for you if your ideal client is in business in any way.
Although I’m less active on LinkedIn than I am on Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn has still been my greatest source for getting clients.
This is likely because people on other social media platforms are simply browsing for fun. Many times, they’re not expecting (or even wanting) an interruption from you talking about your blog or services. But when people are on LinkedIn, they’re already thinking with a business mindset. This gives your business blog a huge advantage on that platform.
As of this writing, around half my clients have found me because of my activity on LinkedIn. And the best part is … this is all the result of inbound marketing. I haven’t had to sell to a single person! As a 9 on the Enneagram, I can’t even explain to you how happy it makes me to not aggressively sell. Seriously.
LinkedIn has also been a great place for me to grow my email list and increase my blog traffic. So… you’ll have to excuse my enthusiasm because I’m just a little bit obsessed with LinkedIn right now.
But the real question here is: Is LinkedIn the right fit for you? Let’s find out.
How to Know LinkedIn Is the Right Fit for Your Blog
Before you commit to learning how to use LinkedIn to promote your blog, you need to find out if your audience is even on there.
LinkedIn is likely a good fit for you if your primary audience includes:
- Businessmen and businesswomen
- Entrepreneurs and small-business owners
- People looking for a job
- People wanting to quit their job and start their own money-making venture
Keep in mind that your offer should be—in most cases—something that helps them in their professional goals.
How to Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Articles and Grow Your Brand
Now that you’ve determined that LinkedIn is a great fit for your business, let’s dive into how to use LinkedIn to grow your brand and your blog.
1. Grow Your LinkedIn Connections
The first step to promoting your blog is actually growing your following. This doesn’t mean you can’t post your blogs on LinkedIn until you have a certain number of followers. But if you have fewer than 500 connections, I would recommend focusing your energy on building genuine connections.
Focus on connecting with people who are your ideal client or who are in the same/similar field as you.
Start by reaching out to connect with 5 people every other day. (I’ve heard people say you should do it every day, but hey, we have lives, right?)
Huge tip for how to use LinkedIn to make connections: Make sure to send a personalized message with each connection request.
This doesn’t have to be long and fancy. Just be sure to use their first name, indicate the connecting link that caused you to reach out to them (friend, school, or former job you have in common), and be friendly.
Here’s an example:
Hi, Tracy. I’m Jenny Rose, a Christian content marketing coach and fellow Stetson grad. (Go Hatters!) I saw you’re connected with my good friend [Insert Friend Here]. I’d love to connect on LinkedIn. Have a great day!
Practical ways to find connections:
- Go to your alma mater’s page and look for fellow alumni.
Some colleges’ LinkedIn pages have settings for you to search based on geographical location, study major, or current job title. Take advantage of these to find your ideal client.
- Look at your friends’ connections.
- When a new person says yes to your connection request, look at their connections.
- Use LinkedIn’s search tool to find your ideal client or fellow business owners in your field.
If you have a free account on LinkedIn, you have a limited amount of monthly searches. You can only find results for 1,000 profiles or 100 pages. So make them count!
If you upgrade to a premium LinkedIn account, you get access to unlimited search results.
2. Post Several Times a Week
Like all social media platforms, you can’t just post once in a blue moon and expect a great return. A huge part of how to use LinkedIn is simply being active on the platform. (That includes posting and liking/commenting on other people’s posts.)
The more active you are on LinkedIn, the more your connections see you and your content.
Not all these posts have to be links to your blog. Be sure to also post content that builds relationships or offers free value without having to click away to get it.
In fact, some claim that LinkedIn’s algorithm disfavors posts with links in them.
The other alternative is putting the link in the comments instead of the post itself. Agorapulse ran a test to see how posts with links in the comments compared to posts with links in the post itself. They found that views (or impressions) were higher for posts with links in comments, indicating that LinkedIn’s algorithm shared those posts more liberally. But those same posts also had fewer comments and likes.
The fewer comments and likes could be from the fact that when you share a link in the post itself, a picture pops up that’s clickable. Like this:
When the link is in the comments, though, there’s no compelling photo or headline to attract attention.
However you choose to post your blog links on LinkedIn, just make sure to do it regularly! I recommend at least 2 to 3 posts per week, with at least 1 of them being a link to your blog.
But blog links aren’t the only aspect of knowing how to use LinkedIn.
3. Publish LinkedIn Articles
I’ve seen many people who have had great success republishing their blogs as LinkedIn articles. (I haven’t had as much success with LinkedIn articles as I have with simply promoting my blog, but this could be because I’m still growing my following on the platform.)
To do this, just click “Write Article” in the lower right-hand corner. Then simply copy-paste your blog into the appropriate fields.
A few recommendations if you choose to do this:
- Wait at least 2 weeks before republishing your articles.
You want to make sure your blog on your own website has a chance to rise in the ranks on Google before adding the same copy on another platform.
- Rewrite the headline.
It doesn’t have to be vastly different, but it should be different enough that people scrolling through Google’s search results won’t be confused by identical headlines.
- When you publish your post, tag a connection you think would get a lot out of it or who you interviewed for the piece.
4. Tag People and Add Hashtags to Your LinkedIn Posts
If you want to know how to use LinkedIn to promote your blog, tagging and hashtags are a great place to start. This way, it’s easier to get your content in front of more eyes.
But don’t tag just anyone. Make sure it’s someone who would get a lot of out of the content, someone you wrote about in the article, or someone you interviewed for the piece.
When adding hashtags, don’t pull an Instagram and add 30. Just don’t. LinkedIn, like Facebook, does just fine with simply 1 or 2 general hashtags that people follow.
To get a feel for how I use LinkedIn to promote my blog, feel free to connect with me. Just click here and send me a connection request!
Pssst! Did you know I wrote an e-book that’s chock-full of valuable tips and tricks to grow your blog?
Click here to grab your Ultimate Business Blogging Bundle. You not only get the e-book when you sign up, but you also get 3 Bonus Resources:
- List of 18+ time-saving blogging tools
- List of ready-to-use hashtags
- List of creative blogging prompts
Get your Blogging Bundle today!

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Blogging
These Tools for Blogging Can Save You 10+ Hours Each Week
- September 2, 2020
- 0 comments
- by Jenny Rose Spaudo
Blogging, when done with excellence, can take dozens of hours of your week. That’s a lot of time you could be spending getting new customers or, better yet, spending time with family. Thankfully, the right tools for blogging can cut your time in half—or more.
Most of these tools are 100% free. A few do cost money, but I’ll be sure to let you know which those are. Also, please note that I’m an affiliate for some of the tools that cost money. (Again, I’ll let you know which those are for the sake of transparency.) As a business owner, I only promote tools I love, so enjoy!
Tools for Blogging: The Writing Process
Grammarly for Editing
If grammar isn’t really your thing, that’s OK. Grammarly, even with its free version, is pretty good at catching basic mistakes. That includes things like spelling, incorrect verb tense, etc.
It won’t catch more complex errors, though. So if you are concerned about your writing, consider hiring a writer or a copy editor.
Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway Editor tool is pretty cool because it doesn’t just focus on the grammar of your article. It also helps you catch clunky sentences, passive voice, and any monotony in your cadence. In other words, it helps write the kind of content people online want to read.
Tools for Blog SEO
Are you trying to research SEO on your own and going over your blog again and again to make sure it’s optimized for search engines? If so, you know how it can suck hours of your precious time.
These tools can help you out, especially if you’re an SEO beginner!
Yoast SEO
If you have a WordPress site, the Yoast SEO plugin can help you optimize every single blog post. Plus, it’s just super satisfying to get that green SEO light when you’re done. 😉
If you need help learning how to work your Yoast plugin, or if you need basic SEO help in general, check out my blog post on SEO for WordPress. The basic teachings in this post will help you even if your blog isn’t on WordPress.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest has a free plan that will help you research keywords for your blog posts. You can also type in your site’s URL and have Ubersuggest run a test to check your website’s SEO health. I highly recommend this tool!
Tools for Blogging Graphics
Free Photo Sites
I may not be a fantastic photographer, but I love beautiful photos, especially for my blogs. If you need some sites that offer copyright-free photos that cost nothing, check out this blog post:
9 Places to Find Copyright-Free Photos
A lot of these sites have photos that are absolutely gorgeous. And it beats spending hours each week taking photos yourself.
Canva
I’m a teensy bit obsessed with Canva if I’m honest with myself. I introduced my mom to Canva just a few months ago and she’s hooked too!
We love it so much because it makes designing graphics and PDFs SO easy. And it saves a ton of time… seriously!
It also has a bunch of easy-to-use design templates to get started if you’re not a natural designer (like me).
I use Canva Pro and love it because it gives me access to countless more photos and templates that save me a ton of time on graphics for my business and for clients. In fact, I love it so much I’m an affiliate for Canva Pro!
Social Media Templates
I love templates, what can I say? They just save me so much time! These social media templates by Bluchic are lovely and easy to customize.
I’m an affiliate for them as well, so if you use my link to purchase from them, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Tools to Promote Your Blog
Later.com: Social Media Scheduler
Later is pretty great as a social media scheduler, especially if you focus primarily on Facebook and Instagram. You can easily switch between your different schedules for your social media platforms and copy/paste any posts you want to repurpose.
Plus, it gives you direct access to Unsplash, so you don’t have to go through the whole process of download the photo and then reuploading it to Later.
One more thing I really like about Later is that when you’re creating Instagram posts, it has a “Suggested Hashtags” tool that lets you find relevant hashtags for your topic.
Tailwind for Pinterest
Many bloggers get most of their traffic from Pinterest—and Tailwind is the reason why. It lets you quickly schedule dozens of posts at a time and join “Tribes” that will help share your content.
I’m an affiliate for Tailwind because I’ve seen how well it can work for bloggers. Click here to get started with Tailwind!
Flodesk for Email
I love Flodesk’s templates. They’re beautiful and easy to use and customize to match your brand. Plus, they also have templates that are more plain if that’s what you need too.
I started out my business with Mailchimp and found it to be a little difficult for me to use with the free version. I finally made the leap over to Flodesk in June and I couldn’t be happier with my choice!
While using Mailchimp, my email open rate was between 15% and 20%, which isn’t bad… but a few weeks after switching over to Flodesk, I found my open rate increase. It’s now between 25% and 35% (sometimes 40% or higher), depending on the content.
Because I love it so much, I’m an affiliate with them. If you sign up using my affiliate link, you actually get 50% off of your monthly price–for life.
Flodesk normally charges $38 per month (and doesn’t increase as your subscribers increase like other email service providers do). But with my link, you will only pay $19 for as long as you have Flodesk.
Click here to start a free trial with Flodesk.
Want to Save Even MORE Time With Tools for Blogging?
I have an entire list of 18+ different tools you can use for writing, graphics, social media, email, and more. Plus, I also have a long list of blogging prompts to get your creative juices flowing.
Click here to get my FREE Blogging Bundle, which includes those lists!

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