Over the years, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has grown in importance alongside the ever-evolving digital world. The role of SEO Manager can be rewarding with impressive opportunities for progression but requires a keen problem solver to tackle its shifting landscape and that’s where Mphatso Ndalama comes in.
For an SEO manager, every day is different, but they always have their eyes set on one goal – enhancing the online visibility of search engines for a brand or business. The larger the pool of visibility, the more successful things will be.
An SEO manager spends a lot of time thinking about how they can make the projects they are presented with better and how they can put themselves in the shoes of their audience; asking the question, “How can I make sure my audience is engaged?”
The Importance of SEO for Lead Generation
To bring in as many leads as she can, Mphatso knows that being a “problem solver is a big thing” and is what makes an SEO manager. She understands SEO provides the structure of your website and gives you the vital plan to grow your business, which in this case is Intelligent Leads.
Motivated Mphatso
She sits at her computer engrossed and attentive to whatever she is undertaking, usually diving into trying new things or figuring out how she will tackle her next task head-on with confidence and without reluctance. However, the start of her journey was the complete opposite…
Interview with our SEO Manager Mphatso Ndalama
Billy: Tell me about your journey to Intelligent Leads.
Mphatso: “I did marketing at university and then after did a marketing internship in Taiwan. After that, I took a break as I wasn’t sure if marketing was really what I wanted to do… I took a break and went back to Malawi for two years, working on my own business. This is when I realised ‘Ok I do like marketing.’”
Billy: So, would you say marketing is something you weren’t always aiming for?
Mphatso: “I would say no. I went to university to study business but then I felt a pull towards marketing. It was the only subject I was doing well in and my lecturer said ‘You should just focus on marketing because you like it and are good at it’ – in my second year, I changed my whole degree to international marketing!”
Her team of multiple content creators, in a sense, bring Mphatso’s SEO strategies to fruition and her understanding of SEO’s crucial role in the business is passed down to them through constant communication and feedback.
A lot of her time is spent on research and picturing herself as the target audience, never forgetting the theory side of SEO but always remaining customer-focused.
Billy: What is the first step in your process when creating a new SEO strategy?
Mphatso: “Site audit and research. I picture myself as the target audience and think ‘Okay, what words am I going to be typing in to get the results from the page.’ Research is important and it links perfectly with keyword research.”
Billy: Good answer. I think there are a lot of roles out there, customer-based roles, where you need to put yourself in their shoes. At the end of the day, the product is for them, and if it’s not what they want, it’s never going to work.
Mphatso: “Yes. I think sometimes we can forget that. The theory of SEO and what customers want are completely different things. It can make my work much easier when I just focus on the customer side of things.“
Mphatso’s customer-driven mindset helps her combat the many challenges she can face daily and is also one of the ways she measures her success.
Billy: How do you measure your success?
Mphatso: “How much traffic we get to the website and then from there, how many leads [customers] we are getting from it. I always track our targeted keywords to see their progression; are they showing up on Google and are people actually clicking on the articles, things like that?“
Success doesn’t come without its challenges and Mphatso breaks down what these could be:
Billy: Tell me about a particular challenge you have faced.
Mphatso: “The website development side of things has been quite a challenge. This role has helped me understand the importance of SEO and the difference between it and website development. It’s about the two working together. We don’t have a web developer in-house; I have to learn and you can find yourself not knowing what it all means. Sometimes you don’t want to play around with something that will impact the website.“
Mphatso is ready to take on any challenges, but another one, in particular, has tested her skillset and encouraged her to grow in her role yet again.
Mphatso: “Keeping up with changing algorithms can be quite challenging. With Google, they’ll release updates, and it can be hard to keep up with them. For me, I think that is one area I want to improve on… I want to join more network communities based on SEO because it’s easier to see what is new [in the updates] and what’s not.“
The drive present in Mphatso’s aura is nothing more than inspiring. She channels this into her SEO strategy, ensuring that she never makes the mistake of sabotaging with a readiness to learn at all times.
Mphatso: “You shouldn’t guess and always do the research. Never use your own understanding. With every project I go in thinking ‘I know nothing about this topic.’ So I start from scratch with an openness to learn everything about it. It can be easy to write the complicated stuff for a project and forget about the easy-to-understand stuff… so start with the basics and work your way up.“
Dealing with challenges and moving on from them is a strong suit for Mphatso, she also never forgets to take the time to think about the moments she is most proud of…
Mphatso: “I think there are three moments I am most proud of. One would be the Martin Lewis page making the first page of Google and bringing a lot of traffic to the site. So, the second would be traffic growth on Energy Advice Helpline, as well as the growth of the authority score.“
Website traffic is the number of users visiting a site; which in the case of the Energy Advice Helpline has grown substantially since December last year. It has also seen a rapid rise in it’s authority score [which is a metric from the SEO tool SEMrush] that aids in providing insights into the overall quality of your website domain.
Getting lost in the great success of website growth; she has to remind herself of the aim of the game:
Mphatso: “Oh, leads! Getting leads on the webpages too!“
Billy: And that must be a good feeling for you?
Mphatso: “It’s addictive!“
With all this hard work, Mphatso has some serious aspirations on her mind, ones that she is striving for every single day!
Billy: What do you see for the future of your role?
Mphatso: “I would like to probably work directly with Chris [Marketing Manager @ Intelligent Leads] and become a Marketing Manager assistant of sorts. That’s why I’m doing my Masters degree too; as a way of learning more about the management side of things.“
With a journey full of driven motivation, Mphatso is nothing short of the perfect role model to look up to; especially for someone wanting to be in the same position as she is now.
Billy: You’ve been allowed to try a lot of different things, and in a way, it’s moulding your future for you. A future you can see… how does that feel?
Mphatso: “It feels great. I always say to try different things. Don’t say no. You’ll end up in positions where you learn so much. It’s given me the confidence to know that I can do more… even the people around you can see this and it allows them to think ‘I can do this too because I’ve seen you do it.’“
Starting her journey with a hint of marketing uncertainty but listening to her heart has given Mphatso the chance to thrive in her career and she urges others to do the same!
Mphatso: “When starting in this role, I never saw myself becoming an SEO manager. But I would say that you need to take on opportunities and challenges, there is no wrong answer.“
