80:20, 20:80 or What?
I was watching a Neil Patel video “The Worst SEO Advice Ever! (That You May Be Following) the other day in which he espoused that online workers should use 80% of their time promoting their properties and 20% writing content. Because he says “Content is not king, but promotion is.”
This is not the first time I’ve heard the 80/20 rule. The first time I heard it, I don’t remember if it was still from Neil.
Here is the video subtitle:
“The Worst SEO Advice Ever! (That You May Be Following) // The problem with SEO is there's way too much noise out there and you could be picking the wrong tactic. And you know what? If I had to put a dollar against this, I would bet that you actually are picking one of the wrong tactics.”
Neil Patel is recognized as an SEO guru.
But Income School disagrees with him. In Neil Patel's "Worst SEO Advice": Let's Talk Facts
They said “We want to address the recent SEO claims made by one of YouTube's top dogs in the industry. Neil Patel made a video called "The Worst SEO Advice Ever! (That You May Be Following)." His comments ran totally contrary to the principles we teach that have brought success to bloggers all over the world. Because of this, we want to set the record straight and discuss what we have found to be a winning SEO strategy.”
Their position is that you should rather use 80% of your time writing and 20% promoting.
But I think most of us here at WA spend all our time writing.
Which of the three methods do you use? And which do you think brings results?
Recent Comments
16
Well done Akoli and thank you for bringing this topic to light.
I haven't check how I manage between the two. I promote as best as I can and write as best as I can.
No matter how good your content is, if you don't promote, you are like someone winking in the dark. Only you would know and feel what you are doing.
And no matter how well you know how to promote, there has to be something to promote.
I therefore think it's a proper combination of the two, as its deem appropriate.
Success to us all.
Segun
I think writing and promotion must go hand in hand. There are reportedly 1 billion blogs out there. That is, 1 blog for 7 people. How do you get noticed if you don't promote. As that beautiful imagery you used, only you in the datk know you're waving!
Hi Akoli, I have to go along with ChrisP's comment. My niche is health and wellness and it goes 80% writing 20% promoting.
If I am endorsing a product in a review I would switch gears, 20% writing 80% promoting.
Michael
Yes, you're in a very competitive niche and I guess promotion is important to stick your head out of the woods.
Thanks for enlightening us further.
Akoli,
I am with Neil Patel's formula of 80% of the time promoting the products/services/programs and 20% creating content
I am also with you on your evaluation of what most at WA do vis a vis that formula.
Once again, the risk of creating mountains of TLDR/DH/DS articles/blog posts/content no one may ever read/see/hear/use is very real. Without a focused and well targeted effort on bringing any/all of that content in front of a warm/hot audience or blue ocean, in the end it will be for naught.
Last but not least, it is not advisable to put new wine in old wineskins nor does one size fits all.
Blessings!
I like your very balanced comment on my blog. But I'll like you to see both videos and chime in. I think it'll help people.
Akoli,
I will do so, for my own benefit, however, hardly anyone cares to listen to the advice I chime in with, which is fine, I have plenty other things to do,
One thing I can tell you is that Neil's argument is supported by real math, which as a precise discipline is hard to argue with, unless we substitute it with Common Core Math or some other twisted kind of math. So as he says in his video, billions of blog posts/content out there more than any living man woman or child (considering they even care to) consume.
I have only a simple common sense question: Does anyone, other than new patent creators or new ideas generators, believe that there is one/any particular subject matter which has not been written/content created about it? Also, how many of us will ever write/create content good enough to compete with those who specialize in any of those niches and pass muster not only as to accuracy but as to relevancy or being of any substantive consideration? Why insist on re-inventing the wheel? There is an old, ancient and valid patent for that already.
We should realize that we are truly way deep in TLDR Willy Wonka adventureland when mountains of content are generated but no one will ever see/read/watch/listen to. Regardless of the niche.
Unless we have a captive audience to bring all of that content to it.
But I digress...
Blessings!
But then Income School argues how does Neil Patel's advice work for a small website with very little content?
Akoli,
I just watched the Income School video and it is full of distortions as to what Neil Patel has said in his video.
The Income School starts from the premise that Neil Patel's 80/20 formula only works for him because Neil Patel is a huge brand so he has a vast audience, therefore, such formula will not work for new websites/brands. By means of verifiable results, such is false because many entrepreneurs who have started out as complete novices, let us say using ClickFunnels, have within the span of a year reached millionaire status and became 2 Comma Club winners. Other platforms and online marketing programs have similar verifiable results, most of which relied very little on content/keywords/SEO/etc. but rather on Direct Response Marketing.
Another sophomoric lie and distortion by the Income School is in that they misrepresent Neil Patel's video and statements in which he said he would only create and post a "quality" post/content while in their crass example Income School use the phrase "mediocre" blog post/content in order to show that a new website with no audience will not fare well.
Last but not least, Income School says it outright numerous times in their video that they felt threatened directly by Neil Patel's video and so their video is from that angle. Damn the facts. If the end justifies the visibly shady means is acceptable to some, then we cannot really compare the formulas on substance.
Everyone is free to choose whatever formula they want.
I just think that Blockbuster Video, the video disc, Sony Walkman, the Polaroid camera, the IBM Selectric typewriter, the Dot matrix printers are all dead and the chances of them coming back are infinitely slim. Income School is still holding on to massive warehouses of such products apparently.
But I digress...
Blessings!
Akoli,
See my comments below.
You do not need content, you need a product/service/program which people need.
How else can Amazon affiliates, etc. or dropshipping be explained? Audiences do not need nor buy blog posts [those along with SEO, keywords are meant to entice audiences to their websites but they are not things that are being marketed].
We go to McDonalds to eat.
We expect the franchise building and staff to be there but we ONLY want the food. It is that simple.
A food truck can accomplish the same thing and even then we have no interest in the truck or the staff, only the food they serve.
Blessings!
Akoli,
We need to move away from the drama and the hype and rely simply on what is closer to verifiable facts.
Math is one such discipline. We can ascertain by so many means how many websites, blog posts, content is out there. As well as what the traffic and the desire by the audience to consume it.
While I could not ever compete with McDonalds, my food truck may get enough traffic proportionally to make me happy and wealthy and not burn me out to the point that I would have to scale my operations, add a new truck/route hire new staff or spend more money on foodstuffs and preparation.
So why does the Income School think that only McDonalds will do well. Do we know the bottom line at the end of the day as far as gross sales vs income after overhead, franchise fees, rent, utilities, etc., even if they got hundredfold more traffic than my crappy little food truck did?
As Russell Brunson says, a confused mind will always say no. And that is what the Income School is operating on, trying to confuse anyone who has an open mind and wants to discern which 80/20 formula sounds not only true but also sound to apply.
Once again, ClickFunnels by its very name do not use websites nor content [other than products/services/programs they sell] yet they have multiple 2 Comma Club winners, year after year. Do all members at ClickFunnels succeed? No. Like anything else, some do some do not.
We eat the food [product] not the location/situs [website/SEO/keywords] and we go to that location/situs if we are made aware of its existence by means of promotion or visibility.
I am returning to Willy Wonka adventureland now.
Blessings!
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Probably 80% writing and working on the sites and 20% promoting.
Nice idea also, Linda. Thanks for chiming in.