The SEO Mindset Hosts on Podcasting: Being Authentic, Knowing Your Audience and Top Advice

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:05

Hi there and welcome to this week's episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:08

And today I have not one, but two podcast hosts with me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:12

I have Tasmin and Sarah from the SEO Mindset podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:17

Hi guys.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:17

I'm really pleased that you're here today to share your

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:20

experiences around your podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:23

Thank you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:24

Thank you very much for having us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:26

Tasmin, sorry, I could, I could see that you were wanting to interject.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:31

No,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:00:31

I'm being on best behavior.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:00:32

Hello, everybody.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:36

Never true.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:37

Never true.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:40

So I wanted Tasmin and Sarah to come along and share

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:43

their experiences about their podcast so that you, the listener, get to...

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:48

You know, have that real insight into what it's actually like

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:51

running and managing your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:54

Because obviously sometimes what you imagine it's like is completely different

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:59

when you're actually in the thick of it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:02

So first I just like you guys to introduce your podcast and tell us

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:06

a little bit about how you came to, decide to do the SEO Mindset podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:12

. Sarah McDowell: Wonderful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:13

So I will do the spiel.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:15

I'll do the what they call it, the elevator pitch, the sales

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:18

pitch, and I will then hand over to Tazmin about why we started it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:24

So.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:25

Yes, the SEO mindset.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:26

So we are a weekly podcast with new episodes that go out every Thursday.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:32

And what we aim to do with our podcast is each week we delve into a really important

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:39

topic and we share actionable tips and strategies that listeners can implement

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:46

that will help with their personal growth.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:50

And career development.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:52

So our tagline is so you can optimize your career and not just the

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:58

algorithms because yeah, like, wow.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:01

Yeah, you have an algorithm yourself, don't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:03

But it's a mixture.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:04

So me and Tazmin will jump on together and we'll delve into topics, just us two,

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:11

and then we invite guests on as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:15

So yeah, we've been going for over a year now, which is really exciting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:19

I didn't, I think Tazmin, did you count up the episodes, like.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:23

At one point we have like 70 or quite, yeah, but anyway

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:29

Tazmin, why did we start it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:31

I'll let you answer that one.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:34

I think what Sarah and I were keen to do was create a space

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:36

where we could have open and honest conversations about career growth.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:40

But also talk about the pitfalls that people are going through, such as

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:45

exhaustion, burnout, stress anxiousness, and they seem to be almost like going

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:51

hand in hand with career growth, and we're very keen to, A, recognize

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:56

that You, that person's not alone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:58

Often when you're in that space, you feel like you're the only one going through it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:01

So to create community around that and give actionable tips on how to manage

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:07

that, because when you don't have those tactics, it just gets bigger and bigger.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:12

So that's what we're keen to do, you know, facilitate career growth,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:16

personal growth, but holistically keeping an eye on mental health as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:22

And just to add two things to that, like so me and Tazmin are

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:26

part of a wonderful community, Women in Tech, SEO which founded by Areej Abu Ali.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:32

And when we were having conversations with people in that community.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:37

These kind of topics would come up, so we're like, ah, and also there's

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:42

lots of wonderful SEO podcasts out there that tell you how to do SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:49

But there wasn't one that was specifically talking about these kind of subjects,

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:53

which are just as important as, okay, how do I rank number one, right these

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:58

kinds of topics and the things that me and Tazmin sort of delve into

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:02

are just as important as well, so.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:05

Absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:05

Those type of topics are very important and Would resonate and do resonate with

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:11

not just, you know, people within your industry, but across, you know, all jobs.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:16

I've listened to your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:17

I'm not in SEO, but I really can resonate with the themes

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:21

that you were talking about.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:22

One of your episodes, you were talking about a win jar.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:24

I have a win tin.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:25

I've started one.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:27

So I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:28

And I listened I listened to your one about quiet quitting

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:31

and loud quitting and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:33

That was so interesting because I had a completely different

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:36

understanding of what I thought it was.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:38

So that was really, really interesting to me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:41

So is your main target audience people based in the SEO industry?

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:45

Is that who you kind of were thinking of when you, when you did this?

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:48

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:49

Well, this, this is something that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:50

Me and Tazmin always talk about it was the reason that it started and it's

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:55

called the SEO mindset was because our audience, it made sense to kind

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:59

of focus on the SEO industry because there is an argument, isn't there?

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:03

Like if you try and go too broad.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:07

Compared to like niching and targeting down, like sometimes it's better

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:10

to really target down because it's less competitive and all of that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:14

But yeah, like I hear all the time that other people that

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:18

aren't in the SEO industry listen to our episodes and it's great.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:22

And I mean, I get that the topics that we talk about, it's not just

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:26

in the SEO industry, like loads of people suffer with anxiety,

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:29

imposter syndrome time management, I suppose the only thing is that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:34

We give examples from the SEO industry.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:39

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:40

So when we want to sort of give like real life examples or

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:43

like, yeah, and stuff like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:46

I don't know what you would say on that Tazmin.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:49

Same.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:49

And I think although it's some of the examples around, for example,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:54

presenting, now that's not specific to SEO, that could be in any.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:58

Any industry, it's just that that's the space that we come from and especially,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:03

you know, frequenting Brighton SEO , you know, that's that the focal point.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:09

But with any mental health advice the tips and the techniques

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:14

could resonate with many people.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:16

And that's, and that's a good point.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:18

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent is something that we do.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:21

So there's a big conference in Brighton called Brighton SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:25

Well, thousands of SEO, I always want to say SEO nerds, but, you

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:30

know, SEO professionals, there we go.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:33

Load thousands of SEO professionals will flock to Brighton and it's a

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:37

conference over a couple of days.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:39

So something that we've been doing, we've done it twice, I

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:41

think, haven't we Tazmin, where.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:43

We'll do a live podcast, so that's really fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:47

So we make an event of it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:49

So rather than recording in our bedrooms, we, we record in front of

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:54

an audience, which is really fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:55

But obviously the idea is that most of the people that will be at that live.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:01

Podcast are people from the SEO community because they're there to watch Brighton.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:06

They're there for Brighton SEO, but we equally, it's a funny thing because we

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:11

have people who attend who are in Brighton because they live there or what have you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:16

So

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:18

I think you're right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:18

I think it's good to have, you know, you're within that industry yourself.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:22

So it makes sense to be focusing on the SEO industry and you're right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:26

And if you are too broad, then you run the risk of not appealing to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:31

Anyone at all.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:32

Once it was, are they saying your marketing as well, isn't it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:34

You know, you need to focus and niche down the more that and other people

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:37

will naturally find you, but having that, that's your experience as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:42

Both of you, isn't it, you know, within that industry.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:45

So it's great to talk from that place with your experience.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:51

How have you found like all the production and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:55

recording side of things.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:57

You, I know Sarah that you're this is your fourth podcast, so you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:00

no, you're not a newbie to podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:02

Tazmin, have you done any of the podcasts before this one or is this your

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:06

kind of first foray into podcasting?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:09

Very, very much my first.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:11

And so nervous.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:12

I remember the first time Sarah and I recorded, I was very tense, bear

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:18

in mind that we started recording in the March and then we didn't actually

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:22

meet in person until September.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:24

So that added a layer of complexity to, to the interaction.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:28

But I find that as time has gone by, you can sort of like sink

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:34

into the role much better and feel more at ease when you're speaking.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:38

But I would, I'd recommend it to anyone, even for the boost of confidence you get.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:43

At least it's a certain skillset and that skillset then carries

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:47

into other areas as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:50

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:50

And just to add, I think lots of people , so if we're specifically

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:56

talking about people who want to start a podcast and they're a little bit

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:59

nervous because it's the unknown or they let the fear get in the way, but.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:06

Nine times out of the 10, every time that I've done something

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:10

new, it's always the fear that's much worse than the actual doing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:15

And at the end of the day, you've got to try stuff and you'll either like it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:19

Or you hate it and if you don't like it, just don't do it again.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:22

Right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:23

You know, no one's forcing you to carry on with a podcast, but also I think I

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:29

understand that it can be overwhelming because you're like, Oh crikey, like how

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:33

do I record, what equipment do I need?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:35

How do I go about this?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:36

Like where, how do I distribute it and stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:39

So I get that that's overwhelming.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:41

So not just the speaking side, like Tazman said, but there's also the.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:47

The logistics of like actually like producing a podcast, but you just get

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:52

better and you learn and you pick stuff up and I've been podcasting for four

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:59

years, I think four or five years.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:01

And.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:02

I've managed to streamline and get much quicker at the podcast, podcasting

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:07

process, just because I'm picking up new skills and I'm trying new things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:11

And yeah, like I remember back in the day I used to spend hours editing

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:17

a podcast, like literally every breath, every filler word, every and

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:21

I was just like, do you know what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:22

It's actually taken me hours to edit and I was like, let me, let me like cut

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:29

myself a bit of slack and you know what, listeners didn't like, I didn't lose

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:33

listeners because the audio is still there and like podcast, I'm going off

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:38

on a bit of a tangent now, aren't I?

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:39

But podcasts can be conversational.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:42

They're chatty.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:43

They are laid back and yes, edit out any.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:47

big boo boos.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:48

And I love how Tasmin always calls them boo boos.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:50

Like, so, sorry, I'm sharing this now just because it warms my heart, but when Tasmin

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:56

records podcasts with her guests and she gives me the notes, so then I know what

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:01

I'm editing, she'll be like, no boo boos.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:11:04

It's a technical term, I'm sure it is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:07

Yeah, I would agree that, you know, the more you get into

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:10

it and the more experience that you get.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:13

You know, you, you do streamline things.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:15

And I think one of the most important things, if you really would like

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:18

to start a podcast is just to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:20

Try it, just do it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:21

And like you said, if you don't like it or it's not for you, then you'll

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:24

quickly find that out rather than always wondering, whether you want to do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:30

There's lots of free tools.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:31

I mean, the one bit of equipment that I would recommend is a microphone.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:37

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:37

Like the quality of your audio matters and headphones help as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:43

But most of us already own headphones, don't we?

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:47

So yeah, like as long as you've got a microphone, you've got an idea of what

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:51

you're talking about and you figured out a way of recording, like what tool you're

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:57

going to use, again, there's loads out there that are free, some that you have

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:01

to pay for, but you just got to do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:04

But I think Tazmin would agree.

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:06

And yourself, Rachael, that like, if you compare the first ever

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:10

podcast episode that you ever recorded to what you're doing now,

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:15

you're 10 times better, aren't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:18

Yeah, absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:19

, I felt much the same as you Tazmin when I first started I had a

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:22

different podcast I did about virtual assistants and I was so nervous.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:28

I thought it was just on my own as well, so I had guests.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:30

So, and I used to think about when I was chatting to people as like some

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:34

big interview, you know, hold on a minute, this is not journalism,

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:38

you know, serious stuff, that's how I kind of had it in my head.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:41

So having, like, the conversation was really, you know, took

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:44

me a while to get into that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:46

Do you feel it took you a bit of time, Tazmin, to get into you know, get

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:50

used to the kind of conversations and having different guests on and things?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:12:54

I think one, one of the good things is the first

Tazmin Suleman: 00:12:57

podcast we recorded together was about the differences between

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:00

a fixed and growth mindset.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:02

And I had 10 points to go through.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:04

And the first one recorded, I was like, you know, this is the news at 10

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:08

type of and at number one, it's very serious, but we, we were chatting.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:14

So we couldn't get through all 10.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:15

I think we did five.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:17

And straight away, Sarah said, right, this is going really well.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:20

Why don't we just jump on again and record the next five?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:24

And that put me at ease because it straight away gave me that validation

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:28

that it's going well enough that a seasoned podcaster is saying, go ahead.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:33

So that was one thing I wanted to say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:35

The other thing, going back to what you said, Sarah, that the first podcast

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:39

you record is going to be way worse than you do now, accept that the first

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:44

five, 10 are not going to be great.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:47

It's fine, first of all, get through them as quick as possible.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:50

Get through them.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:52

I'm a lot more comfortable with guests now and I'm a lot more I

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:56

allow myself to choose the guests.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:59

So there is a vibe where there, there is a connection.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:03

You build a connection over, you know, whether it's messaging or more and more.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:08

Sarah and I, when we meet people at conferences and we really enjoy their

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:12

talk, we invite them on straight away.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:14

See.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:15

We'd love to hear, you know, our listeners to hear about that.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:18

It's like you say, it's just bedding yourself into that role and allowing

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:22

yourself to wear the hat of, I am a podcaster with everything that brings.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:28

And something that I would like to say as well is I

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:31

can't stress enough how important being your true authentic self is.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:38

So, because at the end of the day, You want your audience to relate

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:44

to you and relate to what you're talking about and your shows.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:47

So , if you're trying to put on this.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:52

person that you think that you should, because that's what a podcaster is, that

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:56

it's going to be much better if you're just yourself and you have a laugh

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:59

and a joke and you can be at ease.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:01

I mean, if you can, and maybe start in a podcast, maybe you can

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:07

reach out to a friend because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:10

My first ever podcast that I ever did was SEO SAS and I did that with a good

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:16

friend of mine and one of the reviews that we've got is like, ah, it's like,

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:20

you guys have been friends forever.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:21

There's like a chemistry between you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:23

And it's like, well, because we have, do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:25

So I think, but that was really quite special between me and Tazmin

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:29

because like, even though we didn't meet in person for a very long time,

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:34

there was this chemistry that was.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:36

Being built through the screen and yeah, like obviously you

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:41

can't always, you can't get to the bottom of why chemistry happens.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:46

Chemistry is chemistry, right?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:48

But you'll click with some people, won't you?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:50

And with guests, like you'll have some guests that will come on and you click

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:54

instantly and the chat's really good and it's like, Ooh, and then you have

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:58

other times where like, yeah, it's still as good, but it's not as chatty.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:04

it's the same.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:05

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:05

When you meet people in real life, isn't it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:07

Sometimes you do just click with people and you really, really get on.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:10

And then, you know, so don't be disheartened if you're doing, you know,

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:16

feeling a bit awkward to start with.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:18

I love that you said about feeling, you know, being your authentic self.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:21

Cause I think I had that impression that, you know, have to be this interviewer to

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:27

you know, answer all the right questions and get to the heart of the matter.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:29

It's like, well, I'm really just doing a podcast about what it's like.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:32

My first one was about being a virtual assistant and their journey.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:35

And that's, it's not that type of podcast, not a news podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:39

So I think you have those ideas in your head that it has to be a certain way.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:44

I think listening to trying to listen to maybe other podcasts that are similar

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:50

to what you want to do or in your area.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:52

So I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast, you know, are women and have

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:57

their own businesses and, you know, listen to some of the podcasts that other women

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:00

are doing and then get like a sense of, you know, not to copy or, you know, to, to

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:06

feel like you have to do it in that way, but just to get, you know, a whole mix of

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:10

what people are doing and different things so that you can, you know, find your

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:14

way into how you would like to do yours.

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:18

A hundred percent.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:19

One last thing.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:20

Don't feel that you have to be a perfectionist, I think and feel

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:24

like you've gotta stop and start.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:26

Today I was recording with somebody and I couldn't say 20, I still can't say it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:31

2007.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:32

I could not say 2007, I was going 2 0 0 7 and she, she

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:38

laughed and she corrected me Now.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:41

A few months ago, a year ago, I would have been mortified, stopped it, started again.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:47

And I thought, it doesn't matter.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:49

Does it really matter?

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:50

No, but then again, like it's about authentic, your help,

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:54

you're helping build this connection.

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:56

And like, if that guest laughed at it, then our listeners

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:00

are going to laugh at it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:01

And also.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:02

You've got to be careful as well, because if you edit your audio too much,

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:06

because you want perfection, it actually won't end up flowing as nicely anyway.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:10

Do I mean?

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:13

Yeah, it takes, it does sometimes take the

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:16

conversation, conversationalist bit out of it, if I can say that word.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:21

I, I used to edit a lot more heavily than I do now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:24

I do get conscious of how many ums or so words that I say, but I've now kind of.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:31

Got over some of those things, because I know I often say it when

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:35

I'm trying to think of something or think of a response and that is what

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:39

actually happens in real life as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:40

But you know, we don't all have everything ready, queued up to

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:43

go and say everything perfectly.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:45

So I think that it's kind of important as well to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:49

Show, you know, we are all human and getting, I can't think how to word

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:57

what I want to say, like saying about perfectionists and no one does something,

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:02

what, what we think is perfect.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:05

Yeah, and also, sorry to interject, but is it like an idea that

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:09

like you are always going to be your own biggest critic at the end of the day?

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:14

And when you listen, like loads of people don't like listen back

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:18

to themselves because you're like, Oh, I could have said that better.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:20

Oh, I'm saying and like too much, but like, cut yourself some slack,

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:26

cut, like, be kind to yourself.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:28

Something that I'm going off on a tangent, but something that I try

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:31

and do nowadays is if I wouldn't say something to a friend or family

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:36

member, I try and not say it to myself.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:40

Yes, that is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:41

That's a good way to think about it because we are so awful to

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:45

ourselves and half of the things we do say to ourselves, we wouldn't say

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:47

that to anyone else to their face.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:49

Exactly, exactly.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:51

And I think like, if someone if I reached out and was like, oh, this

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:54

podcast episode, oh, like, and started.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:58

Worrying, they'll be like my cheerleader and be like, you are on a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:02

You said all this stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:03

You were amazing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:04

So what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:04

Like, so just try and do that for yourself, I suppose.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:07

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:08

And I think you do get used to, I, you know, is always

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:12

sometimes a bit cringeless listening back to yourself, but it's cause

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:15

you don't hear yourself the same way as you hear yourself in your head.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:18

But I've got, now that I've been listening to myself, podcasting and

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:22

stuff for the last couple of years, I've actually got a lot more used to my voice.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:26

And.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:27

Although sometimes I think it's a little bit cringe, but a lot of the time, it's

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:32

just, a lot of it just sounds like me now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:34

So I think you, you do get over that aspect the longer that you do something

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:39

because you're just so used to hearing your voice when you're editing and

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:42

listening back to the episode and things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:44

And also it is horrible listening back to

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:46

yourself, but by listening back to yourself, you can improve as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:52

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:53

Like, so yeah

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:57

so I just wanted to talk a little bit about the

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:59

community around your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:02

I know that you have, cause I want to, also wanted to congratulate on

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:06

your sponsorship for this season for Wix, which I think is really awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:11

And I think after talking to Sarah about how your sponsorship came

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:15

about as well, I think you've got like a really good community behind

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:18

your podcast, a lot of people, you know, listening and supporting you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:23

And so how do you feel about your community and how you interact with them?

Sarah McDowell: 00:21:31

Very good question.

Sarah McDowell: 00:21:32

Tazmin, do you want to tackle it or?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:36

So in terms of when you meet people face, face to face, for

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:39

example, at, at conferences, it's really warming when they'll come up to you and

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:43

say, you know, I'd listen to this podcast, and that particular one resonated.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:48

You feel that, you feel good because you're, you're doing something

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:51

right, because if they are benefiting from it, which is the ultimate aim.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:56

And I think it's mainly at conferences that we, we get to, to see them, but

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:00

then equally people will message me.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:04

But I would, Sarah, I'd quite like more of interaction with them.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:08

We've talked about having an SEO mindset day.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:14

Yeah, I mean, so a big thing is your community, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:20

So I think first things first to build like a loyal, like fans and

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:25

community around your podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:28

First, you need to be really sure who your audience is.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:31

Cause then you can make sure that you're always speaking with them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:35

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:36

Me and Tazmin are quite conscious of, like, if we meet someone in conference,

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:41

a conference face to face, and they'll come and talk to us, we'll, we'll

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:45

talk back to them or they'll reach out to us online as well, through

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:49

like emails or on social media.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:52

I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:53

It also helps because me and Tazmin have our own personal, following

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:57

and, and, and things like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:59

And that links towards the podcast as well, the live podcast as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:03

So when people can come and physically see like an event like that, I

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:10

suppose it's a hard one, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:11

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:12

This whole thing of like how we've developed this community is sticking

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:16

to, this is why we're doing it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:18

This is our audience.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:19

This is me and Tazmin authentically.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:22

It's the guests that we get on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:24

It's the sharing and getting the.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:26

episodes out there, it's the collaborations that we do as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:30

So obviously with the live podcast, that's a collaboration with a good friend

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:33

of ours Jack Search Candor podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:37

But we've also done other collaborations opinionated, SEO opinions and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:40

So I suppose it's about identifying who you can work with and yeah,

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:47

just making sure that you are given time to your community.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:51

I don't know if that's a wishy washy answer, but

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:54

no, no, that's great.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:55

It's something that I would like to build more around my podcast and

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:01

some of you listening might know that Sarah and I have started our own

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:04

podcast community, which is kind of separate to our podcasts more as a,

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:09

podcast, podcasting as a, as a whole.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:11

So lots of different types of podcasts and people wanting to start one.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:15

And just coming to talk about getting help and support and just

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:18

chatting about podcasts really.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:20

But it's something that the more and more that I interact with people and speak

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:25

to people within our podcast community, that it reminds me about how important.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:32

Community can make you feel and how heard that you can feel you know, around

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:37

whatever it is you're looking for.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:39

Something that me and Tazmin we've spoke about and

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:42

plan to do more is like giving shout outs on our, on our podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:47

So we, so we already do that in the sense of with every guest that comes

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:51

on, we're like, shout out someone doing awesome stuff in the community

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:55

and we'll give them a bit of love and then, then we tag them and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:58

But there's more ways that we can do more like with donations and

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:02

tips, having a shout out or like.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:05

When people say stuff to us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:07

So yeah, I dunno, like, yeah, it's a tricky one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:12

Like, building a community is hard, but it is important because once you've got

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:17

your loyal super fans as we were, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:20

Like, they'll help share your stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:22

And that's something that we do as well, isn't it, Tazmin?

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:24

Like in our podcast episodes, we ask people to share it with

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:28

their friends and family as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:29

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:30

I think that the referrals and sharing it with friends

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:33

and family and people that you know is, is one of the best ways to get your

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:37

podcast kind of in front of new people.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:39

If I ever meet anybody that has a podcast, I always kind of like

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:42

immediately go and add it in my app so I can go and listen to it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:46

And then if I like it, I do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:48

Definitely recommend it around.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:51

So, you know, all for the different types of promotion and people that

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:55

we can, we can do for our podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:57

I still think the best type of one is that referral.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:00

Cause you've got that kind of stamp of approval from that other

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:04

person that's listened to you and thought, Oh, this is really great.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:07

I know who else would like it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:09

So yeah, that's, I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:11

And it must be, must be quite an experience doing a live podcast as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:15

And then having the chance to meet some of those people in real life as well,

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:19

because it's, you know, increasingly in our virtual world, especially since COVID,

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:24

you know, we're all doing this online.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:26

It's really nice to have that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:28

In face to face interaction as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:31

Do you think that helps bore you up for your episodes?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:34

I think something that Sarah said earlier really ties into this,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:37

which is about being authentically you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:39

So when then you have that live podcast, for example, you turn up as you and

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:44

you sound like you were on the podcast itself when Sarah and I speak a lot.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:50

So when we speak, I will say, you know, this is the coaching business and also

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:54

co host of the SEO mindset podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:57

And what I'm saying also then links in, so your branding, the

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:02

podcast branding, it all fits.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:06

And then that makes it easier for people to trust you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:10

And that then goes into the building of the community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:13

If you're not turning up as you, then you're not going to

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:16

be able to build that community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:19

What do you think, Sarah?

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:20

Yeah, definitely.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:22

And it's like remembering to actually follow up with people as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:25

So if you meet someone and you click and you get on and things like give

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:32

the, like, follow them on social media and like interact with them and stuff,

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:35

or make sure that like you follow up with like a new podcast episode that

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:40

you've launched and stuff like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:42

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:43

There's a lot that we've, lots of different things that have fed into how

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:49

we've built a community up around it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:52

And yeah, like I love doing the live podcast because it's

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:57

a chance, it's something fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:00

Oh, and also, so most of the times, like there's no interaction on a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:06

It's always like one sided.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:08

So what's super lovely when we do a live podcast is that we have

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:12

a Q and A session at the end.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:14

But I don't know why we call it Q and A because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:17

We get questions, but people are just sharing their own

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:20

experiences, aren't they?

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:22

It has been like, they want to be part of the conversation.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:25

And that's really lovely as well, because then that becomes part of the podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:30

And then when that gets put on our feed and then someone else listens

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:34

to it, and then they're like, Oh, okay, I'm going to be in Brighton SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:37

I want to be part of this because we're all about creating a safe space where

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:42

you can talk about these things that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:44

a bit taboo, well it shouldn't be taboo, but do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:48

That don't often get spoken about.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:50

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:51

And it's, and it just feeds into this idea that we're creating a

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:54

space, safe space, come and talk.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:56

So the topic so far that we've covered is anxiety at conferences

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:01

and energy levels at conferences.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:03

And each time, like the end of the podcast is just.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:07

Everyone's sharing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:08

Everyone talking and it's lovely, isn't it, Tazmin?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:11

It is really nice, and that's what I suppose then

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:14

again, it builds into that community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:16

They're not just being talked at.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:18

They're part of it and they make it what it is, which is beautiful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:24

It just sounds like a really great experience.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:27

It is nice to have that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:28

You know, other communication with them, like say sometimes when you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:31

recording them you're talking out there.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:34

So to have that input and have people share their experiences, it's, it's

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:39

refreshing to have, and I think podcasts are great, a great medium for that,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:44

for creating a safe space for people to talk about vulnerable things and things

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:49

that are bothering them in their mind.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:50

And like you say, taboo, as much as everyone says it's okay, you know,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:55

people still feel like they can't share those kinds of experiences.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:58

So it's great that you're providing a place for people to do that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:04

So.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:05

I'm just thinking what else I wanted to ask, I did want to talk about, just

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:10

ask a little quickly about the kind of, because I know you both do this podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:15

on the side, it's not your day job.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:17

So how do you find fitting all the interviews and editing

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:21

and all those kinds of things?

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:23

Fitting it in to your very busy schedules.

Sarah McDowell: 00:30:28

Who, do you want to go first, Tazmin?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:30

Yeah, so I've, I've found that it's better for

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:33

me to do the bulk of my recording on, on one or two days a week.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:37

So I allocate like a podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:40

Today it's been a podcast day.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:41

It's the third one I'm recording.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:43

Oh.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:45

Partly because.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:47

On Tuesdays, I have the house to myself in general.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:50

So it makes it easier not to have people coming in and out of the room, but then

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:54

you're also in that head space as well.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:57

I find chopping and changing harder.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:59

I prefer it like this, but as with most things, when you batch things up.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:05

It becomes smoother.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:07

So recording will be on one day.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:09

Tomorrow I'm going to be doing some presenting.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:12

So it'll be a lot of prep and the presenting and then Thursdays

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:16

I generally will either have coaching or one to one coaching.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:21

So it just makes it easier to streamline things.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:25

The episodes that Sarah and I.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:27

Record together, they're a little bit more random.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:30

It's trying to squeeze those in, in her schedule and my schedule.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:33

But when, when we have them, we say we'll only talk for like half

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:37

an hour and 45 minutes, but we don't, it's, we're very chatty.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:42

But I think, I think that's how I'd answer that question

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:47

is it doesn't feel like a job for me.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:50

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:51

Like it's a hobby, like going what, what do people do for hobby?

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:55

Going to the cinema going out for dinner, going to the gym.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:59

Like I really enjoy podcasting.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:03

So like when there's an evening that me and Tasman have set aside

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:09

to record a podcast, I really look forward to that because we record

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:12

a couple of podcasts, but then we have a little chit chat as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:15

Sort of thing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:15

So I think for me.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:17

Because it doesn't feel like a job.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:20

It doesn't feel like, oh, I'm half to, when am I gonna fit this schedule in?

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:24

And also it doesn't take me long to edit and publish a podcast episode now because

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:31

I've really streamlined my processes.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:33

So I know that yeah, so I allocate time once a week for that to happen.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:39

Something that me and Tazmin.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:41

Do struggle with is the promotion side, because you can always be promoted.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:45

There's never, I've done too much promotion.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:47

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:50

a challenge that we're doing at the moment because like, I mean, it's a

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:55

good thing to have because like with all the other bits of like when in a

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:58

podcast, like you've got, you've got to.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:02

plan your episodes, you've got to record your episodes, you've got to edit your

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:04

pod episodes, you've got to get it out there, you've got to promote it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:08

There's also the other side of the sponsorships like, and things

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:12

now, and it's all wonderful stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:15

But as, as a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:17

Gets bigger, that is a hobby.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:19

I suppose that's the bit that's a bit tricky because it then has to be

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:24

like, Oh, it's a hobby, but I'm having to kind of manage it as a business.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:28

And I know that Tazmin might feel a little bit different because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:32

Would you argue that this is part of your business?

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:34

I don't know, like, or is it like a hobby?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:38

So it started off as a hobby, but as things have sort of

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:41

merged together, I would definitely say this is part of my business.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:45

This is one of my products as it were.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:48

But it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:49

For me, and then that's why I think the batching for me works

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:53

because I'm focusing on this.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:56

I recorded a really good episode with somebody today about how to have a

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:01

thriving business and not get burnt out.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:04

And one of the things she was saying there was, document your

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:07

processes, even if it's just you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:10

So, for example, on the promotional side, in my head, I'm better clued on about,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:18

Oh, I've recorded a podcast today, and I'm going to put it in my stories to say it's

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:23

going to come out in a few weeks time.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:26

And then what am I going to do?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:28

And then what am I going to do?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:29

And it's about having that process.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:32

So talk about it, record it, tell everyone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:37

You know, have it published, tell everyone, so that when you do find

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:41

that it is getting bigger and you need someone to take over that,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:45

that process is already documented.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:49

That's a great tip because you can't really outsource it

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:52

if you don't understand and know the process yourself because you can't.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:56

you know, need to be able to have that detail to explain someone else

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:59

who can take on that part for you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:03

And part of the, part of the company that does a bit

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:06

more of my social media now, I get them to talk about the podcast, but

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:10

again, it's not just handing it over.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:13

It's saying, right, when it's Sarah and myself recording, then you

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:16

need to tag Sarah when it's Sarah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:19

And when it's me and a guest, you tag the guest, but you also tag Sarah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:24

And it's making sure that you're setting the standard for how

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:28

you're going to promote it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:29

But we're learning, aren't we, Sarah, as we go along.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:33

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:34

And I think we've come so far and talking about the win jar, right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:39

Celebrating our wins, because we can all get to a place where we reach

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:43

a goal or a target that we want to, and then we are onto the next one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:46

But actually, if I reflect back on like everything that we've done so far,

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:50

like the podcast, when did we start?

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:52

March.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

March.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

So it's a year and March, April, may, June, July was, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:57

So we just count on my hands.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:58

So year and a half, that's exactly what I was . Year and a half.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:01

But in that year and a half, We have like, we've done live podcasts, we've

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:07

managed to do co labs with other people.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:09

We've had so many fantastic guests come on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:12

We've had companies that want to be a sponsor.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:17

Do you know what I mean?

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:17

Yes, of course.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:18

Yes.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:18

We mentioned that at the beginning about, after you said this, you have to tell us a

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:22

little bit more about, about your sponsor.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:24

What it's like we got mentioned, so search engine

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:27

journal is really popular for in SEO industry news, so it's like,

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:33

yeah, so like get lots of traffic and.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:36

They mentioned us as one of the best SEO podcast and we were number

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:40

two and number one was the Search Engine Journal podcast and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:45

So, do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:46

And when I think back to all the successes that we've had cause you

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:49

can be like, compare yourself to other podcasts and what they're doing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:53

We also like doubled our listeners, didn't we?

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:58

So when I look back and actually think, crikey, like we were doing all right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:03

Yeah,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:04

we should, we should do some merchandise.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:06

We should get an SEO mindset.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:08

win jar.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:09

Yes, you should.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:11

You totally should do merch.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:13

My client and my friend, Hannah is just doing some, she's

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:16

got some merch sorted out.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:17

I think it's really awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:19

So you definitely should.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:22

They don't.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:22

Mine's just got a flowery tin I had some hand cream in at the moment.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:29

Oh, that's awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:29

So yeah, tell us a little bit about your sponsor.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:31

Because I think this is really fantastic for you guys.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:35

Great question.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:37

It's, it's a bit of a weird one, isn't it Tazmin?

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:40

Because actually they reached out to us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:43

So, which is bonkers if I think about it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:47

So.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:48

What happened was I have a contact at Wix my friend called Mordy and I don't

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:56

really know how we got on each other's radar, but there was a bit of, I went on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:01

His podcast, he came on my podcast he also asked for input on this

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:06

article he was putting together on the Wix website about podcast SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:10

So we kind of knew each other and, oh, and he asked me to

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:15

host a Twitter chat and things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:16

So there was a bit of back and forth.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:19

So obviously we knew about each other.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:22

But the actual sponsorship email completely came out of the blue really

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:26

cause we didn't reach out to them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:28

And I randomly got an email from Mordy one day and he CC'd in a guy called Guy and.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:37

Guy looked after partnerships and sponsorships and Mordy was like, Oh,

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:42

I'd like to introduce you to Guy.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:44

Basically, can we pay you to say nice stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:47

And I think Mordy, even in the email was like, kudos, Sarah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:52

I didn't even.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:54

mention to Guy about the SEO mindset, this has come from them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:57

So I don't really know how that came about really, so.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:02

Well, that's fantastic anyway.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:05

Great for your podcast and brilliant just to show that you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:11

Reaching people and you're able to get your message and who you are doing

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:17

this podcast for, that you're, you're getting out there and to those people

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:20

and people are recognizing that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:22

So that's a fantastic achievement.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:23

I think that's it, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:25

It's maybe we got on their radar because of all the, like, because

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:29

you've got to put yourself out there at the end of the day, haven't you?

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:31

And I think also because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:34

We offer something that's different to other SEO, awesome SEO podcasts

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:41

out there, but we're different because we just focus on the soft skills.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:45

Like there's lots of elements really.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:47

I mean, Tazmin, what did you think about it when I was

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:49

like, Wix wants to sponsor us?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:39:51

When I told my family, they too thought Wix, the hardware

Tazmin Suleman: 00:39:55

store, apart from one niece who said, why would a hardware store be

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:00

sponsoring Auntie Tazmin's podcast?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:02

It's obviously the website people.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:07

Oh, little smart cookie.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:09

Oh, she is smart cookie.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:10

And they're going, no, of course not the websites.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:13

She's right.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:15

But I was telling Sarah that I know somebody I have a

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:18

contact at the hardware Wix.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:20

So one day maybe we have the SEO Mindset Podcast sponsored by Wix and Wix.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:26

That's goal.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:26

That would be great.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:27

20, 24 goals there, you right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:31

You definitely have the the merch at Wix as well, can't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:35

We hit the nail on the head with our podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:37

Yay!

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:39

So, Tazmin doesn't need any more ideas, like, yeah, like, not,

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:44

yeah, I mean, it's wonderful Tazmin, idea, idea lady, but it's like, Tazmin's

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:51

like, oh, wouldn't it be great if we did,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:56

if I have to stop now.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:57

I thought, oh, it'd be great if I wrote, like, an e book on the top 20

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:01

episodes of the SEO Mindset Podcast with tips from so and so and so

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:06

and so and so and so and so and so.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:10

I'll just do that at the weekend, yeah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:13

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:14

just flash it out there.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:15

Don't you wish sometimes when an idea comes to your head, you could

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:20

just click your finger and say it's done?

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:22

Well,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:23

that would be so much easier.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:25

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:27

Well, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:30

You've obviously got great chemistry and I have listened to your episodes as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:34

So I really do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:35

Enjoy your episodes and I would encourage my listeners to click on

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:39

the links in the show notes that I will leave for the SEO Mindset Podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:44

I don't know if you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave us with.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:47

You've offered some brilliant advice and tips throughout the episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:50

I don't know if either of you or both of you would like to leave our,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:54

leave my listeners with something.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:55

We could both do one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:57

My quick one is stop overthinking, just do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:01

The next thing that you want to try, just stop overthinking it,

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:06

find out what you need to do to get it done and just give it a go.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:10

And I'll relate back to what I said earlier.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:13

Two things are going to happen, you're going to love it,

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:16

or you're going to hate it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:17

You might not even hate it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:18

It might be a mild, do you know what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:20

That was a bit meh.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:22

Just don't do it again.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:23

But how do you know that you've got to try stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:29

Otherwise you don't know the stuff that you're going to excel at.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:32

So stop overthinking, is what I would say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:36

For me, I would say, be yourself, have fun and own

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:43

the title that you are a podcaster and don't, don't shy away from it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:49

So recently our newest addition to the family, four month little

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:54

Eli and Sabir was, my daughter was saying, he's going to go to nursery

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:59

and look at the other kids and say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:01

Your granny doesn't have a podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:03

My granny has a podcast because he won't know any different.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:10

So, so own it because you are taking a step out of your comfort zone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:16

You are putting value out there.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:18

And you're growing.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:19

So own that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:22

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:23

Just have fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:24

Just have fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:25

I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:26

Well, brilliant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:27

Thank you so much, both of you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:29

And to everyone, thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time.