Sizzling Summer SEO: A Mid-Year Recap with Crystal Waddell

Join me as I recap an eventful summer, blending personal adventures and business breakthroughs. 

Over the last decade, I've struggled with taking time off - this year, I took more time off and made more money than last year.

Let's go SEO!

Key Takeaways:

1. Business Achievements:
   • Launched 2025 photo props, doubling sales from last June.
   • Website traffic nearly doubled, showing successful SEO efforts.
2. New Website Launch:
   • Introduced a dedicated site for the Simple and Smart SEO Show.
   • Joined an SEO bundle and audio summit.
3. Wix Partnership:
   • Became a Wix partner, aligning with new client projects.
   • Launched a new members area for the SEO squad.
4. SEO Bundle and Audio Summit:
   • Contributed to an upcoming FREE SEO Audio Summit starting August 13th.
   • Get my SEO first aid kit in the bundle - or in the SQUAD!
5. Amazon Strategy:
   • Embraced Amazon as a distribution channel, enhancing fulfillment.
   • Plans to update on Amazon's business impact.

Listener Action Items:

• Visit the new Simple and Smart SEO Show website.
• Join the SEO Squad for a free 20-minute brand interview.
• Stay updated on the SEO Audio Summit and SEO Bundle.

Connect with Crystal:

• Website 
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Subscribe, rate, and review the Simple and Smart SEO Show on your favorite podcast platform!

Chapters

• 0:00 I've realized, you know what, instead of trying to change how Amazon sees me as a
• 0:04 seller and change how they do business.
• 0:41 Introduction and Summer Recap
• 1:08 Family Vacation Highlights
• 2:27 Business Updates and Achievements
• 4:09 New Website Launch
• 5:27 Wix Partnership and Client Opportunities
• 6:39 SEO Bundle and Audio Summit
• 7:27 Amazon Strategy and Conclusion

Transcript

[00:00:00] Crystal Waddell: I've realized, you know what, instead of trying to change how Amazon sees me as a seller and change how they do business. 

[00:00:05] Which was just ridiculous saying out loud, I decided to embrace what Amazon is. 

[00:00:10] And what Amazon is, is a distribution channel.

[00:00:13] So not only do they help me take up. space on the search engine results page for collage and wood, but they also handle fulfillment.

[00:00:22] Welcome to the third season of the Simple and Smart SEO Show. The podcast dedicated to empathy driven, brand building SEO. I'm your host, Crystal Waddell. I leverage my obsession with user experience to help business owners just like you optimize your website with confidence. 

[00:00:37] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:00:39] Let's jump into another great episode.

[00:00:41] 

Introduction and Summer Recap

[00:00:41] Crystal Waddell: Welcome back to the Simple and Smart SEO show podcast. I'm your host, Crystal Waddell. 

[00:00:46] Today I'm doing a little bit of a summer recap. Because I don't know about you, but I feel like this summer has flown. 

[00:00:53] I just wanted to take a minute to take a deep breath. And number one, celebrate some of the things that have happened. 

[00:01:00] And take a moment to kind of reflect on this first half of the year. 

[00:01:04] And then forward to the next six months. 

Family Vacation Highlights

[00:01:08] Crystal Waddell: Personal goal number one took some time off this summer, which was great and went on a vacation with my family.

[00:01:13] We went on a road trip from North Carolina to Kansas. 

[00:01:17] Then to Texas and then back to North Carolina. 

[00:01:20] And the great thing is, I was able to take some time off. 

[00:01:24] While having just a little bit of work because I really do enjoy working. 

[00:01:29] And I continued to have my SEO squad meetings on Wednesdays.

[00:01:33] But had a great time with my parents, my brother, his kids. 

[00:01:37] And a lot of road time with my husband and my son. Which was awesome.

[00:01:41] And then we really got to relax down in Texas. In a saltwater pool and the hot Texas sun. It was almost perfection. 

[00:01:49] I was able to stay on track with my orange theory workouts, which is awesome.

[00:01:53] Did not miss a workout while we were on that road trip. 

[00:01:56] And then just recently we went to South Carolina so that Asher could go to a parkour slash ninja camp. 

[00:02:05] And I'm not sure if you heard, you know, not that this is, In our future, but. 

[00:02:09] Just so you know. 

[00:02:10] Ninja is going to be a part of the 2028 Olympics. 

[00:02:13] Or at least that's what I heard. 

[00:02:14] So please feel free to fact check me on that if I'm wrong. 

[00:02:18] But I thought that was super neat. 

[00:02:20] Hosted my SEO squad in that hotel as well. 

[00:02:23] So it's just been an amazingly fun summer. 

Business Updates and Achievements

[00:02:27] Crystal Waddell: Back in May, I received some photographs for our new photo props. 

[00:02:31] Which is the 2025 collection.

[00:02:34] So what was awesome is that we were able to get those photos back in May. And so I was able to update the website before the first or second week of June.

[00:02:44] And I was able to have those photos on the website while we went on vacation. 

[00:02:49] So what that meant was instead of June being a super slow month, we actually doubled our sales from last year.

[00:02:57] Or more, I think it ended up being more than doubled our sales last year. 

[00:03:01] And we're able to bring in extra revenue that we weren't expecting in June. Because of those images being ready on the website. 

[00:03:08] And then I also made a bunch of pins for Pinterest so that people knew that our 2025 photo props were available.

[00:03:15] And then also, the football, volleyball, soccer, all fall sports, senior night pins. 

[00:03:23] Got those up on Pinterest because we're gearing up for the end of the fall sports season. 

[00:03:28] Because that's a huge time for us. It's almost like Christmas because that's, you know, senior night for football and all of those sports.

[00:03:35] So super excited about that. And then also I checked my Google search console data yesterday. 

[00:03:42] And come to find out in 2023, we had 1, 876 clicks to the Collage and Wood website. And this year we have 3, 700. 

[00:03:57] I'm not really super great at math, but that's almost like a doubling of clicks from this year to last year.

[00:04:02] So I'm thinking, okay, if we had that many clicks in July, I'm really excited to see how our SEO is going to pay off.

New Website Launch

[00:04:09] Crystal Waddell: And then I created a new website for the Simple and Smart SEO show podcast. I think I've shared about that. 

[00:04:16] But it was time to split crystalwaddell.Com and SimpleandSmartseo.Com. 

[00:04:22] Now I am a part of an SEO summit, an SEO bundle. 

[00:04:27] That's going to be going through the end of this month. 

[00:04:30] So I have to leave my crystalwaddell.Com website up until then. 

[00:04:35] But I'm going to be changing that to reflect my availability for speaking opportunities for 2025. 

[00:04:43] And then everything Simple and Smart SEO podcast related. Or SEO squad. Or just SEO in general has been moved to Simple and Smart seo.

[00:04:52] Sounds like a good time to do a cold read if you ask me, right? 

[00:04:55] Digital marketers, this one's for you. I've got 30 seconds to tell you about Wix studio, the web platform for agencies and enterprises.

[00:05:03] So here are a few things you can do in 30 seconds or less when you manage projects on Wix studio. Work in sync with your team on one canvas, reuse templates, widgets, and sections across sites, create a client kit for seamless handovers, and leverage best in class SEO defaults across all your Wix sites.

[00:05:22] Time's up, but the list keeps going. Step into Wix Studio to see more.

[00:05:26] Okay. 

Wix Partnership and Client Opportunities

[00:05:27] Crystal Waddell: So made the new website on Wix. Woo woo. Super excited about it. 

[00:05:31] Also got approved by Wix, to become a Wix partner. 

[00:05:35] So that was pretty awesome. And the timing of that was fantastic because I just pitched a new client who happens to be using Wix. 

[00:05:42] Another thing, not only is the simpleandsmartseo. Com website up over on Wix. 

[00:05:47] There's also a new members area. So members of the squad, you have a new members area.

[00:05:53] And this month, if you're interested in joining the squad, I have a promotion going on right now that if you join the squad, you get a free 20 minute brand interview. 

[00:06:03] Now if you're wondering like, what the heck is that?

[00:06:05] Go back and see the episode with Erin Sparks. I think it was like two episodes before this one. 

[00:06:11] A brand interview really is the foundation of your SEO and your, brand story. 

[00:06:18] So that you can use it, in your owned asset optimization across your website and all the collateral for your business.

[00:06:25] So if you're interested in joining the squad, definitely check out Simple and Smart SEO dot com and click on SEO squad. In the upper right hand corner. 

[00:06:33] And you'll get more information there.

[00:06:35] If you're currently a member of the squad, you get this as well. 

[00:06:38] Next up... 

SEO Bundle and Audio Summit

[00:06:39] Crystal Waddell: Another thing that I did this summer was I joined this SEO bundle. 

[00:06:44] Which will be preceded by an SEO audio summit. 

[00:06:47] And next week on the podcast, I'm going to have Dolly DeLong.

[00:06:51] She's the one that organized the audio summit and the SEO bundle. 

[00:06:56] Shout out to Dolly for creating this really crazy cool bundle where you're going to get like tons of SEO resources. 

[00:07:03] The bundle has a cost associated with it, but the audio summit's free. 

[00:07:08] And the audio summit starts next week on August 13th. 

[00:07:11] In the summit, I contributed what I call the SEO first aid kit. 

[00:07:16] It's the first three things I think you should do once you decide you're committed to improving your site's SEO. So yeah, the SEO first aid kit. 

Amazon Strategy and Conclusion

[00:07:27] Crystal Waddell: The last thing that I did that was a little bit different from last year was sending stock to Amazon. 

[00:07:34] Now for a long time, I have been treating Amazon like Etsy. 

[00:07:39] And I've realized, you know what, instead of trying to change how Amazon sees me as a seller and change how they do business. 

[00:07:45] Which was just ridiculous saying out loud, I decided to embrace what Amazon is. 

[00:07:50] And what Amazon is, is a distribution channel.

[00:07:53] So not only do they help me take up. space on the search engine results page for collage and wood, but they also handle fulfillment. So what I did was I sent some of our best selling props. 

[00:08:05] Which are our three foot senior script font, our three foot 2025s and our two foot 2025s. These are props that photographers use for senior photos.

[00:08:16] I sent those to Amazon, which they then distributed amongst their fulfillment centers. 

[00:08:22] And so those have now been received and checked in. And I'm super excited because now every sale that I get from Amazon. 

[00:08:29] They are in charge of shipping it and they are going to help with, you know, any returns, any customer service issues, anything like that.

[00:08:37] I did put in a postcard that had, you know, thank you note for me and information about our company. 

[00:08:43] And an invite to actually purchase directly from us at collage and wood. com in the future. 

[00:08:49] This is a great way, for us to kind of multiply our capabilities. Without having to hire someone else.

[00:08:56] So super excited about that. And I can't wait to report on it in the future. 

[00:09:00] So. That was my summer, 2024. 

[00:09:03] I would love to hear how yours went and I hope that you are having a great time optimizing your website. 

[00:09:09] Don't forget that the SEO audio summit is coming out next week. 

[00:09:14] Link will be in the show notes and SEO bundle will be out shortly after that and available until November 1st. 

[00:09:21] So until next time, guys, keep moving forward and don't get overwhelmed.

[00:09:25] Just try to optimize one thing this week. Your future business will thank you! 

[00:09:30] ​