Don't want to play the Google game any more
- SEO |
I just sat down today to write the first SEO article I've written for a while.
As I started doing the research for the article, I started thinking, "What a waste". I'm doing all this hard work, and I'm giving it away for free. Sure, I'll get some traffic, and I can direct that traffic to my paid programs, but where do you draw the line between what's free and what's paid these days?
It seems too many people are giving too much away for free.
In the end, I decided no, I'm not playing the Google game any more. I will no longer provide good, well-researched content to Google for free, just in case Google might throw me a bone and give me some traffic.
Sure, I can give Article A away for free, and ask for payment for articles B, C and D. But there's no guarantee article A will rank, so I'm better off giving articles A, B, C and D away for free, just in case one or more of them might rank. But then what do you charge for? Right, articles E, F and G... more work.
You know, back in the day I used to write these awesome motivational emails that sneakily provided no real content whatsoever, and they used to convert SO WELL! I used to rank them on Google using blackhat SEO techniques. Nowadays, blackhat SEO doesn't work, and the only way articles rank is if they are full of HUGELY useful info that people like to link to and pass around. But then the info is so complete, that few people want to buy anything to find out more.
So, what will I do now?
Simple.
Write excellent content, give NONE of it away for free. Put it into a paid membership program, and send PAID TRAFFIC (I'm coming your way Jonathan Mizel) to highly converted motivational-style articles with very little real content.
"Moving the freeline" is a massive piece of BS.
As I started doing the research for the article, I started thinking, "What a waste". I'm doing all this hard work, and I'm giving it away for free. Sure, I'll get some traffic, and I can direct that traffic to my paid programs, but where do you draw the line between what's free and what's paid these days?
It seems too many people are giving too much away for free.
In the end, I decided no, I'm not playing the Google game any more. I will no longer provide good, well-researched content to Google for free, just in case Google might throw me a bone and give me some traffic.
Sure, I can give Article A away for free, and ask for payment for articles B, C and D. But there's no guarantee article A will rank, so I'm better off giving articles A, B, C and D away for free, just in case one or more of them might rank. But then what do you charge for? Right, articles E, F and G... more work.
You know, back in the day I used to write these awesome motivational emails that sneakily provided no real content whatsoever, and they used to convert SO WELL! I used to rank them on Google using blackhat SEO techniques. Nowadays, blackhat SEO doesn't work, and the only way articles rank is if they are full of HUGELY useful info that people like to link to and pass around. But then the info is so complete, that few people want to buy anything to find out more.
So, what will I do now?
Simple.
Write excellent content, give NONE of it away for free. Put it into a paid membership program, and send PAID TRAFFIC (I'm coming your way Jonathan Mizel) to highly converted motivational-style articles with very little real content.
"Moving the freeline" is a massive piece of BS.
On the whole, you get what you pay for.