This week’s email is a hard one to write.
Why?
Well, I’m meant to be showing you what I’m working on at the moment, what new techniques I’m testing and whether those are working or not.
But the truth is…
For three weeks out of the past four, I’ve been away travelling.
My cases are full of dirty washing and tomorrow I’m heading off again for three more days.
(I’m also running a bath for the kids and listening to them fighting as I type.)
At times like this, I don’t feel qualified to be helping anyone work on their niche sites.
Because I’m not working on my own sites.
And isn’t that the whole point?
The greatest value that any of us can give via our websites, comes from doing something, and then sharing those experiences with others in a helpful way.
Whether your article is about how to knit hats for premature babies, the best beaches on the Costa Del Sol or which peepee extender will make it the longest, you can only give REAL value if you’re doing the thing.
So when I get a message from a dude saying something like: “My site is in the makeup niche, how do I find the best KWs?“
I will politely ask if he’s a make-up artist or just likes to wear make-up.
He replied, “Neither, I just think it’s a good niche“.
Well, Barry, sorry to snow on your barbecue, love, but it’s not the niche for you.
You can do keyword research until the cows come home but I’m still going to learn how to do ombre eyebrows from someone who at least owns an eyebrow pencil.
(Pause: My kid just asked if his ‘barth’ is ready. It really didn’t take him long to get a new accent since we moved)
I’m very blessed to be able to travel so much to create content for my travel blog.
Writing ‘The Best {X} Things To Do In {City} With Kids is a LOT easier when someone from the tourist board books free tickets to all the attractions that want to be included and sends you an itinerary to follow!
Of course, it took years to get to the stage where that’s happening.
And I still pay for most of my own trips.
While I love creating this kind of content, it’s not something I can get my team to help much with.
Especially when the brands want video and social media content.
So it takes up a LOT of time as the only bits I can really outsource to anyone else are resizing images and uploading.
(Longer pause: My kid just sliced his finger open on a razor I left by the ‘barth’. He’s hard as nails so he didn’t even cry, but the mum guilt is real.)
As you’ll know, I have several sites.
I’ll admit, the travel blog is the only one where I’m actively doing the thing the website is about.
While I would love to spend time playing games and doing my hobbies and writing about it, there are only so many hours in a day.
So,
If you can’t be an expert, hire an expert.
If you can’t do either, fine.
But in my experience, the $1,000 per month level is going to be much more likely than the $100,000 per month level.
And as AI can write articles without doing the thing too, you’ll find it harder to keep any edge you have.
That’s all for now.
Gotta put the little ones in bed and pack for tomorrow.
See you next week,
(I promise I’ll have a more actionable email for you)
– NSL