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Hey there, friends!

As most of you know, I was at CEX in Cleveland a few weeks ago.

CEX is a content entrepreneur expo and the first content conference I've attended. If you missed it, I wrote about some of my key takeaways in this issue.

Justin Welsh spoke on the last day of the conference, and one of his comments keeps popping into my head again this week. He said...

"Logos, fonts, colors—it doesn't matter."

And no...not that I think he meant design doesn't matter. It does.

But rather, for your business to grow, you've got to have great content to start. The logo, font, and colors can evolve with you. But an audience will not stick around if your content falls short.

While all that's true, I couldn't help but think of another key factor that has helped my business grow this last year... genuinely connecting.

Or a.ka. building relationships.

It's hands down what has made the biggest difference in meeting potential clients and opening up opportunities.

It's advice I would give any freelancer or content writer.

Take the hours you're pouring into tinkering with your design (I know because I've been there), and reach out to your peers or potential leads to start more conversations in the DMs.

Genuinely connecting is the foundation for multiple successful scenarios.

Think about it...

📊 For SEO, the best backlinks that help you gain more traffic come from connecting with other high-quality businesses

But how do you get those links?

It's by investing time in reaching out to other related website owners, authentically collaborating, and mutually linking to one another.

Your audience benefits with additional helpful content and you get SEO juice with more eyeballs to your site from higher-quality domains.

💌 Newsletters grow faster when others know you

Recently, another freelancer asked if it was ok for them to put a link to my newsletter in their newsletter. The two of us have talked on and off through LinkedIn comments on posts, and we both appeal to freelancers.

Of course, I was like, "Absolutely! Thank you." And then I featured them in mine as well.

I gained about 30 new subscribers because my newsletter was mentioned in theirs. Something that would have never happened so quickly without having a connection.

☕ Peers happily recommend you for opportunities

Multiple benefits come from getting to know your peers doing similar work as yourself.

You not only find some of your closest friends, but you also create a network of people who have each others' backs.

This is especially helpful when it's tough to find clients.

The more friends you have in your industry and related industries, the more they're likely to recommend you when a possible opportunity comes up that's right for you.

But they can't if they don't have that relationship with you first.

👍 Clients willingly provide testimonials when they like you

Taking the time to get to know your clients makes for really pleasant interactions, encourages trust, and makes experimenting with different tactics easier.

Not to mention, having a personal connection helps tremendously with asking for testimonials and referrals for future work.

Establishing a great working relationship is the foundation for great work together (and potentially new work in the future you don't even know about yet.)

FACT: Genuinely connecting and building relationships drives momentum in your business.

We crave connection.

If you are stuck trying to build relationships, here are some ways that have worked for me.

👇Start here:

Put yourself out there.

Pick one social media platform. Maybe it's Instagram, X, or LinkedIn (my fav). Talk about your background and story. Showcase your expertise.

If you're starting out, here are 20 posting ideas.

Engage with a helpful attitude.

Go into conversations wanting to learn more about the other person. Ask questions.

Share insights and helpful advice when you can. And give some encouragement! (We all need it.)

Purposefully follow up.

Send a DM or email following up with where you left off the last time you spoke.

Don't let one interaction be it. Building relationships means nourishing them. Pencil 15 minutes a day to reach out to someone or go back to your DMs to keep the connection flowing.

Ask the Question, "How Can I Support You?"

One of the best ways to end your interaction is simply asking, "How can I support you?"

This shows you care and want to see the other person do well.

It's amazing the fruits that come from you taking action first to help someone else.

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Organic Traffic Tip📊

Backlinks or inbound links are when another website links to your website. And you want higher-quality sites with strong domain ratings to link to your content. (I wrote an email issue about backlinks if you want more detail.)

But why does it matter? Backlinks improve your SEO and organic traffic to your site.

You get these higher-quality backlinks by creating relationships with the owners and editors of these sites.

This happens faster when you make it a point to initiate conversations.

Identify current contacts.

One of my clients had an existing relationship with a university, and we asked them to put a section about our organization on their site that would link to us.

They agreed!

So, we're getting a high-quality backlink from a .edu site, which helps with SEO.

Often, you need to:

• Be intentional about who you want to connect with
• Initiate the conversation
• Make it easy by providing the links of what you would like them to link to and why it's applicable to their audience

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Fill Your Cup Moment☕

I recently had a great coffee chat with Travis Caine.

Travis and I met on LinkedIn.

We had an interesting conversation sharing our journies and found some commonalities that brought us to LinkedIn.

At the end of the call, he said a football 🏈 analogy that's stuck with me.

Mind you, I'm not a football fan, but the analogy is so applicable, especially looking at the summer ahead working with kids at home and building your business in general.

It went something like this...

When you think of football, what do you think the goal is?

Most would say to score a touchdown.

But really, scoring a touchdown isn't the goal.

👉It's getting to the first 10 yards. Because once you're at 10 yards, you have your first down.

And that first down is the first goal that gets you closer to the touchdown.

Sure, you want to understand your big over-arching "touchdown."

But sometimes, to get there, it's about breaking it down to the first crucial milestone you need to hit.

🎯What's your 10-yard goal? Start there.

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Allison's Content Picks🎉

(None of these are affiliated links - Just purely things I like, use, or learned.)

Did you know LinkedIn is beta-testing a video feed? Danny's post was my reminder to get back to creating video content. Are you creating videos now or plan to?

Corina Burri says her reference page on her site helps lift her spirits on bad days while giving potential clients a glimpse into what it's like working with her. (I need this on my site. What about you?)

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In case you missed last week's issue, check it out—it contains 7 ways to improve the client experience, internal link tips, and more.

Thanks for being here👍

Talk soon,

If this was forwarded to you, don't miss the next newsletter and join today.

​Follow me on LinkedIn. It's where I hang out pretty much 5 days/week.

If you had fun reading, consider buying me a coffee. (Or contribute to my donut fund - I like those too!) - Thank you:)