Recently, I had my buttons pushed by an email from an SEO company trying to be “helpful” and wanting my service. It might work for them, but they came across as down right rude: they said that my blog is weird and my social media approach sucked.
Well, I kind of agree that my blog is weird: in fact I said so all the way back in the beginning. My interests are quite wide ranging and my thoughts can take me in many different directions. It’s called being a polymath/Multi/Neu-Renaissance Soul. I am NOT going to apologise for being interested in many different things, following my interests and trying to share the things I discover with you.
Yes, you may consider that my main job is as a body worker, who also teaches yoga, meditation, reiki, who is constantly reading around my subjects and beyond as the interest takes me. If you can sum all of that up in a single description then I’d love to know what it is. On top of my job I really love to take photographs, and people seem to like seeing them. So, an identikit approach to a blog and website is not going to work and I’m not running multiple websites: I already have two and that is more than enough.
Choosing to include my photographs into my blog actually means I get words and content out there onto the web. If I didn’t the blog would languish in the back corners of the interweb as I would get paralysed with trying to think too much about what I *should* be writing. I’ve tried the “only write about bodywork” approach before, it doesn’t work for me. This time around, I was inspired by my friend (and mentor) Ginger.Urchin and by a Blog course by Susannah Conway to share more about me: so I added in the Photo collections and all of a sudden I can write about things, not always related to bodywork but generally based about what I’m readying, or situations my clients have raised with me. And, yes, even some “exercise” tutorials.
As to my social media, well I’m not a millennial (whatever that means) and so social media is not my whole world and I may not really get it. I honestly don’t have time to dedicate to a constant social media presence as I am getting on with my actual job of being an Integrated Myofascial Therapist, Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist, Reiki Master/Teacher and Yoga Teacher (Please, someone give me a short description for all of that). I know that some would say that I should delegate to someone else, but I’m not sure I know my mind from one day to the next so how can I ask someone else to.
I also won’t take selfies with clients (that to me is an invasion of their privacy). If, however they want to take one with me I’d be more than happy, if they then mention me (hopefully with a good comment) and I’d ask if I could use it.
I won’t use filters on photos of me that automatically change my face shape. I may play around with colour slightly so I don’t look quite so red in the face or altering a photo to black and white, but nothing that will change me physically.
I am no hypermobile model with a body chiselled to perfection: so there won’t be photographs of me in just my underwear contorting myself just to get additional likes.
I will not randomly quote some other company or talk about a product. If I do not use that product myself and really like or believe in it I will not promote it (because I’ve been asked to). It is an aspect of the “influencers” of Social Media that suddenly they will randomly mention a company and to be honest it puts me off those people AND the company they are promoting.
The approach for both bodywork and yoga that I am trying to work out and to share is as much about becoming aware of their internal senses and that is a very personal journey. I may not be completely great at sharing that but I’m working on it in a way that is authentic to me.
I know that the SEO companies are just touting for business, but I’m not going to fit into their models and this space is MINE, and I want it to be authentic to me.
So slight rant over, but dear SEO companies just leave me alone.
Thanks
Tim