Welcome back to Plan Like a Boss. In the last episode, we talked about visibility versus virality and how true long-term visibility beats chasing trends every time. So today, I want to take that a step further and help you figure out which path to visibility fits you. Because visibility isn't one size fits all. I like to think of it as a choose your own adventure moment. You know, those choose your own adventure books that we all read as kids, where at the end of the page it says, if you decide to go to the leopard camp, turn to page eight. If you head to the graveyard, turn to page 12. The point is you choose, because visibility isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. I like to think of visibility as having four main pathways. And depending on your strengths, your time, and your energy, one might make way more sense for you right now than the others. I'm going to break down each one, what it looks like, who it's best for, how to get started, and how all of them work together when you're ready to expand. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly where to focus your energy so you can stop trying to be everywhere and finally start being seen by the right people. All right, let's start with the most foundational one: your website. Your website is your 24-7 salesperson. It's the only piece of online real estate you fully own. Social media is not yours. YouTube, it can be shut down. You get the point. I'm not saying you shouldn't be on these platforms, but they will never be as dependable as your website. When your website is optimized to show up in search, Google, Bing, whatever, it can literally bring in leads while you're sleeping. And with the new development of AEO, you can start showing up in AI search engines as well. Because yes, AI is now being used like a search engine. So if you want your website coming up when ChatGPT gets searched, this is something you need to be on top of. This way you're not chasing people on social media. Instead, they're finding you because they searched for exactly what you offer. So if someone types in branding photographer in Austin or how to start a podcast for my business, and your blog post or service page pops up on Google, that is visibility working for you in the background. Inside my membership, Creative SEO, this is where we typically start. Because once your website is dialed in, every other visibility effort you make compounds. If you're brand new to SEO, the simplest way to begin is to create one really helpful blog post that answers a question your audience is already Googling. So I did this several years ago. So I'm a music teacher and I had so many parents constantly asking me what mouthpiece should I get for my child? What is the best one for them? And then they started asking when I would tell them, like, why do they need a mouthpiece? Well, I got tired of it and I just hopped on Google to see if there was an article on the best clarinet mouthpiece out there to just share with them. I didn't want to write it. And the articles out there were trash. I mean trash. The people who wrote them, I don't know that they had ever seen a clarinet in their life, let alone played one and knew anything about mouthpieces. So I decided to sit down and just write this article for my parents so that when one of my students' parents asked me a question, all I had to do is send them a link to that article. And well, of course, SEO is kind of my thing. So I went ahead and I made sure that I optimize that blog post. It is three years later. No, I think it actually might be four years later now. And that article is still selling mouthpieces on Amazon, and I'm getting affiliate commission from it. One piece of content that I wrote four years ago. So when you create this blog post around something that your audience is already Googling, think of it as building a digital doorway that lets the right people walk straight into your world. Okay, pathway to social media. Now, this one gets tricky because a lot of people, I would say most people, treat social media like the only visibility strategy. But really, it's just one small piece. And the secret here isn't to post more. I see these gurus out there telling you you need to be posting three to five times a day. Three times a day? I'm sorry, I don't have time for that. So the secret here isn't to post over and over and over again on a single day. It's to post smarter. And that's where social media SEO comes in. And all that means is using keywords that your audience is actually typing into the search bar. Because Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, they're all search engines now. Instagram and Pinterest, they both also show up in Google searches. So instead of posting productivity tips with a caption that reads, feeling motivated today, your caption should read something like three productivity tips for creative entrepreneurs. That one tiny tweak in your caption tells the platform exactly who to show your content to. And don't forget alt text. You need to, after you post, you need to go in and add alt text to the images that you're posting. Now, one more thing in social media I want to talk about is your bio. Your bio needs to be optimized for search. One huge mistake that I see so many people make on social media is the use of emojis. Now I get it. There is a limited character account. Instagram, I think, is 150 characters, Twitter's 160, Facebook, I think is 255. Here's the thing. All those little emojis that you're putting in there, they can't be read. They're not helping your SEO. They're not helping you show up in search. So instead of putting tons of emojis in there instead of words, use the words, but scale down your description to make it concise. But it needs to say exactly what you do and exactly who your audience is. Because your audience, when they search for that, they are going to pull it up. Social media is amazing. Now, social media is amazing for building connection and community. It's where people get to know your personality, your story, your behind the scenes. But it shouldn't be the only place you're visible because the algorithm owns your reach. When you pair social media SEO with your website SEO, that's when the real magic happens. You're now discoverable and you're relatable. The third pathway that I want to talk about is YouTube. YouTube is the powerhouse of evergreen visibility. It's basically Google's visual twin because Google owns it. Every video you publish can keep working for you for years. And that's why it's one of my favorite long-term strategies. We're getting into planner season right now. And if you didn't figure out by the name of this podcast, planning is one of one of the many things I do, but one thing I do very well. And I have a video from last year where I set up my Hobunichi Cousin planner. This is a video from last year, and it is taking off again because people are deciding what planner they want to buy. Now, here's what makes YouTube different. People go to YouTube with intent. Whereas on social media, they're just scrolling. YouTube, they have intent. They're searching for how-to or the best tools for. They want answers. And if your video gives them what they're looking for, you instantly build trust. I use it all the time. Everything from how to unclock my dishwasher to how to get blood out of the carpet. Now, before you panic, I'm not a serial killer. Our old dog, we lost him several years ago, but oh, he was such a sweetheart. But he had anxiety. And when he had anxiety, he would rub his nose against the crate until it bled. Well, we were out of town and he had to be in a crate while we were gone because we were at my roommate's mom's house, which is a very nice house, and he did this. Well, we got him cleaned up and it was fine. Another thing he did was he would knock his food bowl over and then use his nose to try to gather up all the food. I think you know where we're going here. I walked into the living room, and they're all over the brand new cream carpet were all of these blood stripes. And thank you, YouTube. It helped me get the blood out of that carpet before she even knew about it. Now, I know what you're thinking, but I don't have the equipment to start a YouTube channel. Well, here's the thing: you don't need fancy equipment to start out. As a matter of fact, spoiler alert, we have a bonus episode coming out on Wednesday, and I'm talking to a YouTube strategist. So make sure you listen to that. But you don't need fancy equipment. A simple setup and clear audio are plenty. I started with just my phone and a$20 lapel mic. What matters most is your keywords and your titles. So, for example, how to batch a month of content in under an hour is searchable. But my content planning routine is not searchable. You need to make sure that your title is searchable and that it's searchable with the keywords that your people are already out there asking. The beauty of YouTube is that it compounds. You upload once and it keeps showing up in search results, in suggested videos, and even on Google. That is passive visibility at its best. All right, now we're getting to the last pathway here. Number four, podcasting. This one is my personal favorite because it builds authority and intimacy at the same time. When someone listens to your voice every week, they start to feel like they know you. You become that trusted voice in their ear while they drive, while they fold laundry, or maybe while they take a wall. Highcast visibility does not rely on algorithms either. It relies on consistency and connection. You can optimize your episode for search too by using keyword-rich titles in detailed show notes. For example, instead of let's talk about planning, you title it five planning mistakes that keep you overwhelmed. That tells Apple Podcast and Spotify exactly what your show is about. And don't forget guesting. Even if you don't have a podcast, maybe you're not there yet. Being interviewed on other podcasts is an incredible visibility boost because you borrow someone else's audience. This is how I started my visibility. I would pitch 10 different podcasts every single month. And you know what? I did that for two years and I booked at least one a month, with the exception of one single month. So I have over 20 podcast interviews out there where I'm being interviewed. And hey, if you feel like what you do alliance with the Waythro on this podcast over here, pitch me. I'll be happy to take a look at it. But whether you host your own show or you guest on others, podcasting builds the kind of visibility that's rooted in trust. Now, you might be wondering, do I have to do all four of these? No, not at all. In fact, please don't try to do all four at once. You will go nuts. Start with one pathway that feels the most natural for you. Maybe you love to write, start with your website. Maybe you're already active on Instagram, start optimizing your captions for search. Or maybe you're more of a talker, launch a simple podcast. Once that pathway starts working for you, you can layer in another. And over time, all four of these paths weave together into what I call your visibility ecosystem. They feed each other, they strengthen each other, and they make your business searchable, discoverable, and unforgettable. So to recap, the four pathways to visibility are your website, which is your 24-7 salesperson, social media, think of it like your connection hub. YouTube is your evergreen content engine, and podcasting is your trust-building platform. The key is to choose your own adventure. Pick the one that fits your energy, your strengths, and your audience. And if you're ready to stop guessing and start building that full visibility ecosystem, that's exactly what we do inside my membership creative SEO. Inside, I help you map out your pathway to visibility step by step so your content works harder for you, not the other way around. More importantly, I give you the systems and support you need to actually implement it. You can learn more and join us through the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. If you love this episode, hit subscribe and share it with another creative entrepreneur who's ready to be seen. Until next time, keep showing up, keep shining, and keep planning like a boss.