Useful Life lessons from an SEO Expert
Rand Fishkin, the founder of Moz, shared in a recent article what he has learned from 16 years of working in the area of SEO Marketing. Since Rand has built an SEO Empire and has immense knowledge of SEO, as well as business acumen, it is well worth paying attention.
Here is the full article:
Marketing Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Building Moz - Whiteboard Friday
My Summary
He gives three main lessons:
Firstly he compares "Marketing Flywheels" to "Growth Hacks". Marketing Flywheels build and build on themselves. Growth hacks are quick "fixes" that work for a while. Nothing wrong with either, he points out that is useful to apply Growth Hacks to your Flywheel. However, if all your SEO work is based on growth hacks, you are in trouble, because that is not sustainable. An algorithm change could see your rankings fall.
...a marketing flywheel is something that you build that generates inertia and energy, such that each effort and piece of energy that you put into it helps it spin faster and faster, and it carries through. It takes less energy to turn it around again and again in the future after you've got it up and spinning. This is how a lot of great marketing works. You build a brand. You build your audience. They come to you. They help it amplify. They bring more and more people back. ((https://moz.com/blog/marketing-lessons-learned))
There is a valuable lesson in there for all of life. Identify work that you are doing that has its own inertia and is fruitful and do more of it. Stop those things that are showing fewer and fewer returns for the effort.
Secondly, marketing a "Minimum Viable Product" isn't fun. It is better to test with a small private group to test out your product or new services rather than promote it widely. This is especially so if it may affect your branding.
Thirdly, don't assume you know what people want.
Another Three Lessons
In a Forbes Article about Rand. He also shares three lessons more specifically about SEO
Firstly, do not jump in too hastily and make large changes on your website until you know what you are doing. He recommends dedicating some serious time to learning SEO.
Secondly, when you create content, consider how you are going to promote the content.
Content that doesn't earn links, shares, email forwards, word-of-mouth, press, etc. probably won't stand out, won't rank, and won't be worth your energy to build.
And his final point:
Don't assume SEO works right away. It's the total opposite of advertising. It requires a large, upfront investment of creativity, technical investments, and elbow grease, and the returns will initially be small or nonexistent. It's only after months or years that SEO begins producing great value, but when it does, it can dwarf the ROI you get from paid investments. The high upfront costs and challenges are what keep the field thin enough to make standing out a true competitive advantage.
And his advice for paid SEO services:
There is nothing an SEO professional should ever do that they shouldn't be able to clearly, easily explain to you. Don't hire someone who "can't share the secret sauce." There are no secrets in SEO - it's just like any other marketing practice, and takes hard, consistent work, but work that's logical and straightforward.
You can read about my SEO services here. My approach is to work with you, the business owner, I don't have secrets. I will teach you all I know.
Useful Life lessons from the longest study on happiness
What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness
In this TED talk, Robert Waldinger shares lessons learning from The Harvard Study of Adult Development which for 75 years tracked the health of 724 men.
Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. He also makes three points:
Firstly, Social connections are really good for us, and the experience of loneliness is toxic. It isn't the number of friends or family you have or whether you are single or married {we all know people who are terribly lonely in marriages}. It is the quality of your close relationships that matters.
Secondly, those who were most satisfied with their relationships at 50 were the most healthy at 80.
And lastly, good relationships are not just protective for physical health but also emotional health.
Useful Life lessons from the author Anne Lamott
You can watch Anne on Ted:
Anne Lamott: 12 truths I learned from life and writing
I have appreciated Anne Lamott's writing over the years. Here is a quote to pique your interest so you listen to her full talk.
Every writer you know writes really terrible first drafts, but they keep their butt in the chair. That's the secret of life.
...
When my older brother was in fourth grade, he had a term paper on birds due the next day, and he hadn't started. So my dad sat down with him with an Audubon book, paper, pencils and brads -- for those of you who have gotten a little less young and remember brads -- and he said to my brother, "Just take it bird by bird, buddy. Just read about pelicans and then write about pelicans in your own voice. And then find out about chickadees,and tell us about them in your own voice. And then geese."
So the two most important things about writing are: bird by bird and really god-awful first drafts. If you don't know where to start, remember that every single thing that happened to you is yours, and you get to tell it. If people wanted you to write more warmly about them, they should've behaved better. {emphasis mine}
In conclusion, find something that works, keep at it and make sure to make time for the people in your life.
~Tarnya
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