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Introducing

The Small Business Sweet Spot

Fluff-free, let’s-get-this-sh!t-done SEO and content marketing coaching that gets the right traffic and leads rolling into your business.

Get busy turning your long-assed digital marketing to-do list into a Hell yeah! I got that done’ list with the support of an experienced SEO and content marketing consultant (Hey there), and a bunch of proactive, like-minded business owners.

The Small Business Sweet Spot. It’s the easy-to-implement business support you’ve been searching for.

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Are you overwhelmed with marketing and not sure what to do?

Sitting down to ‘do a bit of marketing’ makes you anxious and irritated, because why can’t this just be eeeasy?

You may even feel guilty because, as a competent business owner, you ‘should be good’ at this stuff.

Your feelings are legit. Having worked with businesses in the digital marketing space for over 20 years, I’ve seen and heard it before. 

Maybe you feel…

…so overwhelmed you don’t know what to prioritize

…frustrated because there’s no time to do any marketing ‘properly’

…like you’ve hit a wall. The stuff you’ve done has worked, but you’re not sure what to do next

…a bit peeved and confused because your growth has plateaued, and you can’t figure out why

…anxious because you’ve opened a can of worms. You set out to do One. Single. Thing, but found heaps more stuff that needs fixing 

…isolated and alone because your SEO and marketing knowledge is below basic. So you’re scared you’re not savvy enough to join a group and get the business support you need.

Aaand breathe.

That’s a lot.

Whether you feel one, a couple, or every damn thing on the list, you and your business are feeling the pressure.

The Small Business Sweet Spot can change that.

Rest assured, there are many (many, many) other business owners in the same boat as you.

I’ve worked with dozens of them.

And they’re why I opened The Small Business Sweet Spot.

Open-ended coaching. No rigid agenda or lock-step course that you’ve got to drag yourself through.

Specific to you. Designed to give service-based business owners, like you, a hand to hurdle the SEO and content marketing challenges you’re facing.

Get clear answers, vision, and direction. So you’re free to move forward more proactively and productively.

Join The Small Business Sweet Spot if you’re up for feeling capable, assertive, and proud of yourself.

And be prepared for regular mutterings of hell yeah! Because your business marketing is on track to be organized, effective, and (dare I say it) enjoyable to do.

So, just how do we make this happen?

What The Sweet Spot delivers

Sweet Spot members can say goodbye to hours of trawling endless DIY SEO and content marketing guides.

Once you’re signed up, you’ll have access to fluff-free, easy-to-follow guidance that’s tailored to meet your particular challenges.

What you’ll learn during our coaching sessions include:

setting up your website so Google can give it some love

how to create, publish, and repurpose your content

doing technical SEO jobs like finding keywords and optimizing pages

creating an effective content strategy so you’re always several steps ahead

finding ideas for your business blog and understanding how to repurpose them

choosing and using SEO tools that will make your life easier

turning more of your website traffic into leads

tracking the sources of traffic and leads

tracking keyword ranking

improving user experience

setting up site navigation.

These are just a handful of the topics we’ve covered, or are due to discuss in the group.  

No SEO or content marketing topic is off the table.

If you’ve got a question, I’ll cover it. And I’ll tell you what you need to know, so you can keep progressing and get that long-assed to-do list checked off.

Coaching in the Small Business Sweet Spot

Gives you clarity on what’s important and direction when it comes to ‘what next?’
Saves you time by delivering the fluff-free answers you need for your specific challenge.
Increases your understanding of what will actually work for your business.
Supports you to develop strength and belief in your abilities.

You can do this. And you can get this sh!t done.

Hitting the sweet spot means hitting your stride

Whether it’s finding your rhythm during a run or workout, or recognizing your avocado’s just right ripeness (you know that’s a small window), the sweet spot is about finding the perfect point.

The optimum. Reaching the best bit. And yes, ahem, in certain circles it means locating the spot that feels oh-so-good.

When you join The Small Business Sweet Spot, I intend to get you to that best bit and hit that, well, sweet spot.

I want to free you from overwhelm, lethargy, and excuses like, “Not today, I’ve got a headache.”

And build you up to the business sweet spot where SEO and content marketing work harmoniously with your other processes.

I want you to feel good about finding the optimum.

Revel in it for a bit. Then tell me about the next idea you have for your business.

I’ll help you understand how content marketing and SEO fit with that new vision, and guide you as you work towards the next sweet spot.

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The Small Business Sweet Spot coaching will prove that your business is truly unstoppable when you have a clear direction and set intention.

Without getting too Negative Nancy, this is what The Sweet Spot ain’t

It’s not about handing me your wishlist of marketing jobs and expecting me to do it.

It’s not about finding clients or selling your business to other Sweet Spot members.

It’s not about filling in endless worksheets or workbooks you’ll look at once.

It’s definitely not a course.

It’s not a locked-into-a-contract deal, à la agency.

It’s not for other SEO businesses or those wanting an A-Z of SEO tactics.

It’s not for the completely computer illiterate. (You don’t need Bill Gates level of computer tech knowledge. But if you can’t even open a Word doc and save it, or think a menu is something you only get in restaurants, you’ll find it tough going.)

And the biggie

It’s not for business owners who think they should.

It’s for business owners who know what’s needed but want a hand so they can.

I’ve had my website up for several years and it’s taken time and money to build it. But the more I’ve learned about online business, the more I’ve come to realize that my website is basically a brochure. Not only that, no one was visiting it.

I joined Barb’s coaching group because I want to learn how to get people there, how to encourage them to read all those blogs I worked so hard on, and (hopefully) attract some new paying coaching clients at the same time.

  • Lisa Garber, Life Fulfillment Coach, and Emotional Healing Mentor

Meet the consultant in your pocket

Hey there, my name’s Barb, and I like Piña Coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Just kidding. I don’t like either of those. At all. But my name really is Barb.

What I do like is giving service-based business owners, like you, fluff-free, clear-talking SEO and content marketing help. So you get more of the right website traffic and therefore more leads and more conversions.

I’ve been running my business, Compass Digital Strategies (CDS), since 2018. But I’ve been analyzing, optimizing, testing, and tinkering with digital marketing for over 20 years.

But I’m more than just my business

The Sweet Spot has a social side. And as we get to know each other, you’ll find out a few things about me.

I think I have an unintentionally witty sense of humor. Even though I don’t feel I’m generally a funny person.

I have an Australian Kelpie (dog) called Stone (after my favorite brewery), and I talk about Stone a lot.

I’m a runner and a 9-time marathoner, including one ultra.

In 2012 I moved from Minnesota to sunny Nevada because, despite being born and raised in MN, serious cold was never my thing.

I’m a fan of 5am starts, to catch the sunrise and make the most of the day.

So that’s me. A witty, fit, early-rising, dog lover. And while these things are nice to know, the real question is: am I good at SEO and content marketing, and what’s it like to work with me?

What I’m like to work with (according to my clients)

I got in touch with Barb to help me with a keyword research and mapping project. From the moment I sent that first email I felt listened to, understood, and supported. Barb is wonderfully professional and really knows her stuff. (I've already recommended her to other business owners.) But she's also just a lovely person to work with.

  • Pip Christie, Copywriter

Working with Barb has been phenomenal. She was very knowledgeable, so patient with my questions and need for clarification, and gave just the right amount of personal touches to her work that really made our working with her go above and beyond our expectations.

  • Shandi Littlefield, ProcessDriven

Barb and I collaborate on projects for shared clients. It’s during these times I’ve really seen her SEO knowledge and skill at work. The detail and dedication she provides her clients are fantastic. It’s always a pleasure working with her.

  • Rose Crompton, Copywriter

She continues to amaze and impress us with her ongoing ideas, her enthusiasm for SEO, and her support overall in seeing our business grow and thrive. We really think of Barb as part of our team.

  • McKenzi Taylor, Cactus Collective Weddings

Guiding you from frustration to fix

For me and my Sweet Spot members, an SEO or content marketing win doesn’t always arrive dressed as an eye-popping percentage increase. Or a huge spike in the data.

Sometimes, the win comes in the form of a behind-the-scenes fix.

A tightened process or a slight SEO adjustment that makes your business marketing smoother and less of a time suck.

The One with the content plan

Amy, owner of a busy web design company, wanted some clarity on her content marketing.

She didn’t want to rush it every month.

Nor did she want to feel discouraged or worried that what she published wasn’t as effective as it could be.

In our coaching call, we decided to build a 6-month content plan. Amy’s first reaction?

‘Great, more work.’

But with my help and some trusted content organization resources, Amy had her 6-month plan written up in just 2 weeks.

She started implementing it shortly after.

The results: briefing her VA and copywriter became a quick job, rather than a long, vague one.

Amy also feels the quality of the content has improved.

Furthermore, she really understands where to publish and repurpose her content, resulting in more leads.

The One where all the traffic vanished

When her wellness product business turned three, Sue felt it was time for a redesign.

Being somewhat au fait with design Sue did this herself and got the new look and feel she wanted.

But after it went live, to her complete shock and confusion, all of her site traffic disappeared.

With a bit of poking around in the back-end area of Sue’s WordPress site, we identified the problem.

Sue hadn’t set up redirects. Her website was set to ‘noindex.’ (Basically instructing Google not to look at the site or consider including it in relevant customer searches.)

A few clicks put everything in order and her traffic levels returned to normal in less than 4 weeks.

Working on essential SEO and content marketing tasks isn’t always easy.

Maybe your experience is similar to Amy and Sue’s.

You do your best to work on your SEO and content marketing, but you hit nothing but walls.

So what’s the point?

‘This is slowing my business down,’ you think.

‘I could be channeling this time and energy into areas I excel at’, you reason.

But ignoring these jobs long-term can damage your business.

Chances are you’re already sensing this.

Not having a functioning SEO or content marketing plan gets in the way of your dream customers finding your business, getting the information they need, and becoming clients.

Don’t be scared to confront these SEO and content marketing goblins.

Being in The Sweet Spot will make it easy to put those goblins back in their box.

Barb is extremely thorough, reliable, patient, and kind. She has a huge understanding of all things digital marketing and tons of great ideas too.

  • David Salmela, Technology and Data Leader

Barb was a great help with finally giving SEO some attention on my website. Her expertise with keywords helped me focus my message and improve search result rankings. I highly recommend Barb to anyone who needs a helping hand with SEO.

  • Lynne Brown, UX Consultant and Copywriter

Having those totally reasonable last-minute doubts?

If you’re thinking

“OMG, not another time-zapping group on another social media channel.”

OR

“Do I really need to find brain space for something else? My SEO and content marketing can wait a bit longer.”

… stick with me.

Maybe curiosity brought you here. (“Oh, what is this shiny new thing?”) But that curiosity was sparked by a hunch or a dead-set certainty that your SEO and content marketing efforts have the potential to be stronger.

These two things could and would be working harder for your business. If only you had more

  • time
  • clarity and direction
  • confidence and knowledge
  • inspiration and long-game vision
  • friendly support that’s easy to understand.

The Small Business Sweet Spot is different from other business coaching. It’s not about weighing you down with more work or bulking up your to-do list. It’s not about constraining your workflow with a rigid step-by-step process.

It’s about lightening your SEO and content marketing load so you can get sh!t done, feel good, and actually see the results in your business.

With a clear-thinking owner at the wheel, your business can be unstoppable. And I’m here to help you to be that business owner through

  • coaching calls
  • co-working accountability sessions
  • round-the-clock access to the group for ongoing support and answers.

The sooner you start, the sooner your business will be attracting more of the right customers, converting more leads, and bigging up that bottom line.

The Small Business Sweet Spot is the business support you’ve been searching for