Over the past few years,
I’ve spent a shitload of time paying close attention to what works for others…
- I watch SEO YouTube instead of watching TV
- I listen to SEO podcasts instead of music
- My inbox is full of SEO newsletters
- And I spend hours per day on SEO Twitter*
*I’m currently taking a month off but will be back in the next week
So, if someone is talking about their tactics, I’m probably listening.
Does this make me a sad old bint?
Probably.
But hey, I’ll be a sad old bint working 4 hours per day from my mansion in a few years,
So I’ll take the hit now, haha.
Now, if I copied everyone’s tactics,
My sites would be all over the place.
And I’d be drowning in work.
So instead,
I must cherry-pick which ones I want to test myself.
If they work for me, I then share what I did with you.
But, how do I know what to try?
Well, first, I do a bit of a sniff test.
(I don’t mean when you subtly put your finger in and then put it to your nose to decide if you want to go down.)
What I mean is…
I use some common sense to quickly check if an idea seems legit.
For example,
Some people like to build out AI sites to test keywords.
The idea is that if they can rank with crap content,
Then they can also rank with decent hand-written content on their main site.
Sounds interesting…
But, that one doesn’t pass the sniff test for me.
Why?
Well, I’m always coming across sites like that in my niches.
I see what they’re ranking for and know that I can do a better job.
So they’re not only doing research for themselves.
They’re doing it for me too.
And I’ll win.
Because I’ll put more effort into my content.
I never dive into a tactic without thinking it through with common sense.
Even if all the gurus say it’s their number 1 trick.
Secondly, I think about whether a tactic is a good match for my business.
For example,
Some people claim that they never update content.
They’ve tested and it and don’t see a return on investment.
That simply wouldn’t work for me as most of my content isn’t evergreen.
If I didn’t update it, the info I give would soon be factually incorrect!
Most people don’t have comments turned on.
I do so that my reader’s can let me know if the info is outdated (and they love to do that).
Thirdly, I prioritise projects.
I don’t spend a lot of time working if I’m honest.
I prefer to spend it with my kids if I can.
I like to travel a lot and not take work with me (except for my Instagram).
Shiny object syndrome can be a massive problem for a lot of us.
So to combat this, I use Trello to plan what I’ll work on next.
(It’s free)
Here’s what that looks like.
- I have one column marked as To Do
- A column for each day of the week
- And a column for Done
Rather than jumping on a new idea straight away,
I put it at the start of the next week.
If I don’t get to it, it moves to the next day.
If I still haven’t done it by Friday, it goes to the To Do column.
The To Do column has a LOT of stuff in it.
Only a few things ever make their way back into a weekday.
Most of them will remain there as little reminders of projects that I decided not to waste my time on.
Like little trophies of shiny objects that I avoided!
So it’s only if something passes the sniff test,
Is a good fit for my business
And becomes a priority for me
That I actually do it.
Then if it works for me or it doesn’t – I’ll tell you.
I’m super grateful for others who share their tactics too.
Because without them, I wouldn’t have anywhere near the success I’ve had so far.
Until next time,
– NSL