How I spent $7k trying to deepen our connection via SEO

Last week I sent out the first email newsletter I’ve sent in a minute, about my tumultuous SEO outsourcing journey, how I spent $7k trying to deepen our connection and why I’ll never do it again.

Before I get into that, please know that our connection is priceless. Worth every penny if a deeper connection with you had been the result.

The response to the newsletter was resounding. SEO, Google rankings, blogging + email lists are a huge part of the small business/entrepreneurial zeitgeist. In honor of the relief and commiseration folks shared with me, here’s the scoop from last week’s newsletter.

Almost a year ago to the day, I made a big decision to hand over all search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to a company I’d been referred to.

Although I was hesitant to hand this task off, it had proven to be one of the more challenging tasks to master on my entrepreneurial journey. The scariest part was that the Beauty Is Abundant website at the time would have to be recreated within the parameters of the SEO company’s offerings.

WHAT??! New website? Hell no. I’d spent a zillion hours of my life making it what it was. But what good is a stunning website I loved if it’s not being discovered? I kept remembering something my favorite business coach, Marie Forleo, always says.

Stop stealing from those who need you most. When you have a gift you want to share with others, if you don’t bring that thing to life, and do everything in your power to amplify it, you are stealing from those who need you most… and the world will have lost something truly irreplaceable: You.

With that sobering fact on repeat in my mind, I signed on the dotted line.

When I tell you… BIG mistake.

After weeks of onboarding with the SEO company to be sure my essence and the authentic insight I had to share with you was captured, the newsletters and blog posts were AI output that sounded like R2-D2/C-3PO mashups. The vibe was such a robotic-sounding departure from the heartfelt notes I’d been sending you every now and then for years!

Long delays between updates + revisions left me feeling like I was holding my breath. Trying to get my point across to the team managing my account was like trying to speak to a real, live person. Please listen carefully, as our menu options have changed.

I was irate.

And what’s worse? I’d signed a year-long contract, the minimum term to be sure their customers are staying the course to start seeing an uptick in inquiries and Google ranking. And despite the copy + paste energy what they were producing was giving, they were holding me to that contract like an old-school cell phone provider with an iron-clad early termination fee.

Well I’m through with that! I’m back. And I’m confident that you and I will keep growing together as you share our work with your family + friends and open the occasional note you’ll receive from me (really, it’s meeee!).

To anyone going through the SEO, AI, ChatGPT, Meta motions, you’re doing great.

The happy ending to my SEO sob story is twofold. First, I did a thing. I took action and tried something new to yield different, better results in connecting with you and making Beauty Is Abundant more visible so that I can fully live up to my purpose serving you.

Second, apparently with these outsourced SEO situations, the results can continue to gain momentum well after the active service period, which means maybe it wasn’t a BIG mistake. We’ll see.

The best part of all is that I’m back to being one-on-one with you. Just the way I like it, with a new website featuring new work.

Email me directly if you have your own sticky situation or want to know which SEO company I used.

p.s. As you can see, the Beauty Is Abundant blog is back too :-)