How to Be More Searchable (even if you invented your job title) – Claire Paniccia | Online Business Mentor for neurodiverse online biz owners

Whether you’re trying to get found on Google or on Instagram, being searchable is important.

Here’s the thing: making yourself “searchable” isn’t just about choosing the right words.

Or rather, the “right” words are almost always not the ones you think they’d be.

This is especially true for those of us online entrepreneurs who invented our job titles.

So how do we make ourselves more searchable if we created a job that previously didn’t exist?? (Especially when we totally depend on being found on the internet to support our businesses!) That’s what this post is all about.

The difference between needing and searching for something

The internet is a magical and awesome place where we can make a living doing almost anything you can dream of.

For us online entrepreneurs, a lot of the time what we’re selling doesn’t really have a proper name. So we invent titles for ourselves (which is totally awesome and super fun to get to do).

We find weird, awesome, hyper-niche needs and fill them in a way that also fulfills us.

But just because there’s a need doesn’t mean people are searching for it.

Consider this:

If you’re a copywriter, well cool, you’ve got a simple and easy-to-understand-what-you-do title. That’s a thing that people search for.
If you’re a business coach… people search that, but depending on your angle or specialty, we might be toeing the line.
If you’re a Narrative Strategist or a Body Confidence Coach or a Professional Inspirer of Badass Scrapbookers or some other awesome-but-creative-and-kinda-nebulous title… well, people proooobably aren’t searching for those things in Google.

Consider my friend the Narrative Strategist

My friend Megan calls herself a Narrative Strategist. She helps online entrepreneurs clarify their brand story and what’s at the core of their business, and helps them distill it into their marketing and services or products.

Personally, I think that’s super badass.

It’s like a combination between business coaching, rebranding, and entrepreneurial therapy.

But when she asked me how to make her Instagram bio more searchable (that IG search bar is like a tiny little search engine!), it was definitely a struggle.

The thing is: sometimes Humans don’t know what they need (or sometimes even what they want) (click to tweet)

There’s a huge difference between someone who needs her Narrative Strategy Coaching and someone searching for “rebranding”.

Rebranding may be part of her solution, but it’s not really what she’s peddling.

She’s peddling a solution to misalignment, burnout, and that icky draining feeling of inauthenticity.

Sometimes the solution to those things includes rebranding, or copywriting, or web design, but her offerings are soooo much bigger than any of those individually. Those things are just part of how her solution is delivered. They’re not the solutions themselves.

And I’m betting that’s true for a lot of us. (The internet is a magical place sometimes)

So…

How the frack do we market that for search???

In Megan’s case, the first things that came to mind to make her more searchable were terms like “rebranding”, “copy editing”, and the like.

But if you put yourself in the mind of the person searching those terms, it’ll help clarify why those aren’t the right terms.

Who’s typing “rebranding services” or “copywriting coach” into a search bar?

Someone who already knows they need it.

Which would be perfect for a branding agency or copywriter.

But that’s not what Megan does, and those people searching those things are her ideal Humans.

So let’s try again, from a different angle:

Who are Megan's ideal Humans and what are they asking the Robots?

Her ideal Human is an entrepreneur or business owner, possibly one who monetized their creative passion but isn’t so skilled at the business side of things. They DIY’d their website and copy, know it’s lackluster, but all the “sales page tips” and “how to write an About page” Pins in the world haven’t helped at all. They’re stressed, burnt out, and maybe a bit desperate trying to make this business thing work. They want to feel in sync with their passion and business again and they want success without selling out or feeling fake.

This Human needs Megan’s narrative strategy services. They just don’t know it yet.

And they’re definitely not searching “rebranding” or “copywriting” in Google.

So in order to help her with the completely amazing and not-pre-existing title be more searchable, this is what I told her:

**Instead of trying to come up with a title for yourself that’s more searchable, focus on making your core message more searchable.** (click to Tweet)

The Searchable Core Message Formula

For core messaging, like when you’re trying to make your Instagram bio more searchable, you can boil it down to three main elements that you’ll combine.

the Who terms that won’t change (your ideal Humans, like “online entrepreneur” or “business owner”)
emotional terms that acknowledge where they are now before working with you (“burnout”)
the transformation they’re looking for (“alignment” or “spark”).

Who + Emotional Now + Transformation

“I help burnt-out business owners find alignment and spark”

(…or something to that effect…)

With this simple formula, you’ve now got a distilled Core Message that you can use all over the place in your online presence

In your Instagram bio
On your Pinterest account
At the top of your homepage
In your email welcome sequence
On your Facebook page

The opportunities are endless. And because you’re concisely naming your ideal Humans and their current emotional state, when they read that, they’ll be like “Hey, that’s me”.

And when they read the transformation (even if, and especially when they don’t know they need it), it will suck them in. They’ll think “Oh gosh, that sounds heavenly,” and will start digging into your awesome content (which of course will funnel them towards the solution you offer with your products/services, right?).

Plus, it’s searchable.

Maybe not in the traditional sense of keywords and Google, but for a social media search bar, it’s very searchable.

You’ve got the Who term, which is an important basic search term, and their current emotional state.

Some of your ideal Humans will be searching those terms (or similar terms), even if you think they’re not. (you’d be surprised what people search sometimes)

And even if they’re not, algorithms are nuanced and pretty sophisticated. It’s certainly possible that (if not now, maybe in the future) the algorithm of whatever search engine you’re optimizing for (including a social media search bar) will notice the terms you use, recognize that people like your ideal Human tends to like pages with those terms, and point them to your page because of it.

Creepy? Maybe to some. Awesome? I certainly think so.

You can still be searchable, boo!

So yeah! Even if you invented your job title, you can still be “searchable”. Just not in the normal way (and I’m guessing you’re not super into anything “normal” anyway!)

And by solidifying your core message and ideal Human, you’re setting yourself up to be able to create totally on-point and resonant content, like blog posts and videos and captions. And with those, you can be searchable in a whole new way (more on this in my next post!).

Did you invent your job title? Have you ever struggled with your marketing because of it? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!