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What does it take to be the best in your niche and rank number one on Google?

It’s a question that splits opinion.

Some may say:

“It’s the writer that has the biggest portfolio.”

“It’s the founder that has the biggest social media audience.”

“It’s the content creator that has been popular for the longest time.”

Portfolios, LinkedIn or Instagram follower counts, and years of experience in the niche all give social signals. Clues that the person is worth listening to. Or worth hiring…

Building the strength of these social signals is how you turn creativity into cashflow.

The signal I pursued above any other in the first year of my freelance writing career was Google search rankings. I made it my mission to be the top-ranked health copywriter on Google.

That mission was accomplished much sooner than I expected.

Today, I want to show you how you can do it too, and what’s getting in the way:

The Reality of Why Most Freelancers and Businesses Don’t Get Any Inbound Leads

Everyone knows that a website is one of the best ways to generate inbound leads.

You only get leads through your site if you generate traffic.

You only get search traffic if your website ranks on the first page of Google for your target keywords. The ideal is to be in the top 2-3 results on that page (as these get 75% of the traffic).

But first, let me tell you what AREN'T the reasons that freelancers and businesses don’t make it to that first page:

They don’t have a big enough budget to invest in organic marketing
They’re not skilled enough in SEO
They’re not sufficiently interested in SEO
Their competitors have some secret hack

Instead, at least in 80-90% of cases, it’s due to this:

They aren’t willing to make a reasonable time sacrifice.

They aren’t prepared to sit at their desk for 10 hours (spread over a couple of weeks) and write a piece of website content that is more helpful, more engaging, and more thorough than anyone else has produced to date.

“It can’t be that simple, Declan.”

Unless you’re going after some uber-competitive keyword like “shoes” or “coffee, “ this stuff isn’t complicated.

I’m not saying it’s easy.

But it is simple.

My content plan that helped me rank number one on Google.

You Don’t Need to Be an SEO Wizard

Look, I can get by when it comes to keyword research and analysis. But my brain is a lot more primed to tackle creative tasks.

SEO isn’t fun for me, yet I managed to get my website to rank at #1 for valuable search terms.

There is no big code to crack to get your site ranking at the top of Google. Or Bing, if that’s your jam 😉

I used to think that getting to #1 was a pipe dream. I went down the rabbit hole of reading too many tech jargon-heavy blog articles. They ended up being full of micro-strategies that most folks don’t need to see success.

When I left those blogs behind me, I said ‘’screw it, let me give this a shot.’’ I went with my instincts as a writer.

Within eight months, I had two pages at the #1 spot for their respective search terms and another in the top three results. So, everything turned out fine and dandy.

TL;DR top tip:

Shake yourself free from analysis paralysis.

Take a swing. You might surprise yourself at how you turn your creative instincts into a lead-generating machine. (The friendly kind.)

Tired of Endless Outreach?

Each of the five search terms below brings me 1300+ potential leads per year…

(In the UK, I’ve ranked #1 or #2 for each of these search terms over the past year and a half)

Health copywriter - 40 searches per month
Health and wellness copywriter - 40 searches per month
Alternative health copywriter - 10 searches per month
Natural health copywriter - 10 searches per month

This totals approximately 110 searches per month in the UK alone.

Which turns into 1,320 searches per year.

As I say, SEO isn’t fun but it is functional.

1300+ potential leads, on autopilot, every year.

I’ll take that… would you?

How to Rank Number One on Google in 6 Months (and Rake in Inbound Leads!)

I want to give you the six main steps to follow. Ready?

1) Research relevant keywords for your niche

Write for B2B companies?

Keywords such as these are likely going to be the most relevant:

“B2B copywriter”

“B2B copywriter for hire”

“Freelance B2B copywriters”

Adjust according to your niche.

2) Beginner at this? Aim for lower volume keywords that are easier to rank for

Use software such as Ubersuggest, where you get three free keyword searches per day. Or, if you have the funds to pay for a full-scale service, Ahrefs is the most reliable.

It’s going to be difficult for you to rank in the top search results for a keyword that is over 50 in its SEO difficulty.

Don’t be disheartened, though.

Most of the niche writing keywords, such as ‘’freelance travel writer” or ”real estate copywriter” don't require SEO wizardry to get to the #1 spot.

3) Audit the top-ranked five pages for the search term you decide to target

I want you to assess three main factors:

What are the themes or overall topics that the authors discuss?
How many words are there on each page?
How are the pages structured and designed?

4) Over the next week or two, write a better piece of content than your top competitor

This is usually going to involve a few things:

More detail - longer word count
More relevance - interesting headings/subheadings
Easier to skim read - shorter paragraphs and bullet points
More engaging - conversational language
More eye-catching - includes some visual content such as images, GIFs, or video links.

5) Put your target keyword in the right places

You’d be wise to make sure your primary keyword is in your:

H1 heading
First 100 words of the content
At least one other subheading
Meta description
URL

6) For any blogs or articles that you are hired to write (or guest post for free), ask to include a link back to your website

Link back using the exact keyword if they allow you to do this.

For example, I would sign off the blog with my author bio:

Declan Davey, Health Copywriter

I'd link the part in bold and then add a brief description of my professional background below it.

It took me 5.5 months to get to #1 following these steps. I hope this helps you do the same… even if you’re a fellow health copywriter, and you end up budging me off the top spot!

Thanks for stopping by.

What did you think of this edition?

Drop me a line. Otherwise, catch up soon.

Declan Davey — Health and Wellness Copywriter

P.S. Here are a few options you may be interested in...

1. Get my LinkedIn growth course.

2. Grab my free copywriting course.

3. See new content on LinkedIn by tapping the notification bell on my profile. I post at 12.20 pm UK time, Monday to Thursday.