Stop Mucking About and Just Finish Already
Right, I will try to keep today’s blog post just like me - grumpy and opinionated.
Oh no, sorry, I meant, short and sweet (not so much).
I know my two recent blog posts about how I like to do keyword research threw up a lot of additional questions.
So, I will try to answer some of the more frequently asked questions over a series of blog posts.
But, me being me, you can probably expect one blog post a month.
Stop Striving For Perfection
We’re told to create “Quality Content”.
However, it can be difficult to gauge what is deemed as “quality”.
One person’s quality is another person’s garbage.
For me, it simply means that the actual content of your article provides a complete solution to the query posed in your title.
Whether English is your first language or not, it makes no hide nor hair.
Whether this takes you 600 words, 1,000 words, or 10,000 words doesn’t make one iota of difference.
Basically, as long as your article “does what it says on the tin” you’ve nailed it as far as I’m concerned.
Now, whether you want to admit to it or not, we ALL tend to strive for perfection when writing an article.
We want to make sure it’s just right.
We research, we write, we tweak, we delete, we start over again, and we repeat this process until we are happy with the final outcome.
In fact, there is a tendency to “feel” that the article is not quite right.
So, we agonize over what we should add, what we should remove, how we can make it better, etc.
We then talk ourselves out of publishing.
Take some time out.
Come back, and go through this same process all over again.
My advice, stop striving for perfection.
If the article “answers” the title query, provides sufficient information to satisfy a reader, just publish the damn thing.
If it’s Good Enough For Neil Patel it’s Good Enough For You & Me
I recall reading an article by Neil Patel (and watching the corresponding video) some time last year.
I won’t link to the article or video (I don’t want to get told off by the “Queen of No Fluff”, but as always, she makes a valid point).
We are researchers are we not?
So, if you want to read the article or watch the video, use your research skills.
I’m sure a quick journey over to the land of Google or YouTube will yield the results you’re looking for.
Anyway, Neil produced some stats on his best performing articles.
He had recently deleted over 1,000 articles from his main website.
Plus, he had converted many of his articles into other languages (I bet you’ve never considered doing that, have you?)
But, at the time he had somewhere in the region of around 4,500 articles on his site.
Interestingly, approximately 250 of these articles provided Neil with around 90% of his traffic.
And remember, this is someone who has over 1,000,000 visitors to his site every month.
Plus, this is an expert in SEO.
And yet, 90% of his traffic came from less than 6% of his articles.
This tells a story in itself.
You Don’t Decide What Ranks & What Doesn’t - Google Does
I know that I have spent a couple of days researching, studying, writing, fixing, deleting, rewriting a pillar post.
I produced an awe-inspiring 8,000+ word masterpiece.
I felt like this was my best work yet.
I have also stumbled over the line, somehow produced an incoherent, barely legible, pile of stinking dross in about 45 minutes to the tune of around 1,500 words (yes, I think and type fast).
I’ll give you 3 guesses which article is nowhere to be seen, has barely had more than 3 visitors, and which article is ranked number one and gets nearly 100 visitors a day.
You don’t need me to answer that do you?
Okay, I will.
Absolutely crap article, could’ve been written by a toddler, is the more successful article - by a country mile.
Final Thoughts
So, judging by Neil Patel’s experience, which is actually extremely common.
Most of your articles probably won’t be a home run. So, don’t sweat it.
And looking at my own experience, sometimes what YOU believe to be your best work is ignored by Google.
And what you feel is potentially your worst work, simply terrible, is placed on a pedestal by The Big G.
You can strive for perfection all you like, you can spend hours-and-hours debating whether you should publish an article or not.
However, if the article provides a solution to what you’ve alluded to in your title - you’re good to go.
Obviously, I’m not advocating that you start producing crap and forget about quality altogether.
NO.
I simply mean stop agonizing over whether an article is “good enough” once you’ve written it.
So, my advice, pure and simple - Stop Mucking About and Just Finish Already.
Thank You For Reading
Partha
Recent Comments
73
Oh my goodness, Partha! You read me like a book…I’m exactly that person you described. I do want things to be right in my mind. I do tons of researching, yup.. I write, make lots of changes, tweak again and repeat over and over to the point I’m exhausted mentally and need a break… like a day or two. In fact, I get bored and find another topic (the other one is unfinished)
Thank you for writing this.
- I'll simply do my best
- Provide my solution
- I won't over-analyze
- I'm not even going to worry
- Move on (I love that word)
- Next article, repeat my process.
Lol... that song, 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' was my island song in Turks & Caicos and it was a wonderful feeling not worrying.
Your article is changing my mindset! Thank you, again!
Kind regards,
Monica
Oh so true! And I think that goes for a lot more than just writing good or bad articles.
Some of the people we at first think might not amount to much end up becoming our best friends.
Some of the places we go reluctantly at first end up being our main stay.
Some of the training we almost ignored and moved on past (even here at WA) ends up speaking to us and changing our lives.
I could go on. (but won't)
And the articles... well you spoke of those better than I ever could have.
Thanks for sharing your insights. Always appreciated (and always read by many!).
Good morning, ParthaB.enjoyed your post and your humor. I agree with you . There is only so much writing and rewriting we can do.
I call it the battle between quality and quantity- Really, we need to do both. We need lots of content in order to attract followers, but we need quality content to keep followers.
The time we spend fooling around with one post to get it just right, can be spent writing three more to boost quantity.
So,write one, finish it up and move on to the next. Much better to be a moving target. The more we write the better we get.
Hey Barbara,
Aaww, that's very kind of you to say.
I'm a great believer in what you've alluded to here - it is a case of both - quality and quantity.
I've mentioned in various comments below that it's simply human nature to worry, to strive for perfection, to believe that we're just not good enough.
And unfortunately in this business that can lead to inaction.
So, definitely do the best you can, but don't overanalyze, don't worry, move on, and repeat the process for your next article.
And as you say, the more we write, the better (and easier) it becomes.
Partha
Good morning Partha,
Thank you for an excellent article, it is so true!
I see far too many people trying to be perfectionists and actually end up not writing anything. I believe that Google actually likes to see activity; so adding a few simple blog posts regularly rather than writing an 8000-word post can do wonders!
A great and encouraging post.
Have a great Sunday.
Roy
Hey Roy,
Fantastic to hear from you.
I think this is human nature.
We all strive for perfection, we all believe occasionally that we're just not good enough, and this can typically lead to inaction.
So yes, my advice would always be "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".
No need to worry, just do the best you can, and keep going.
Partha
Thank you Partha,
My apologies for the late reply, not deliberate, my off-line business has been really busy.
That's very true, sometimes our human nature can hold us back. Your last two sentences sum up Internet marketing and running an off-line business very well, I hear you big time on that!
Have a great weekend,
Roy
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Hi Partha,
Well thank you for that. I certainly tend to be my own worst critic. I always expect to do well at whatever I set my hand to and I tend to get upset when I am not satisfied with the outcome.
It is interesting to note that people like what they like and your 'best work', can receive poor ranking as a result.
Much food for thought here.
THank you for this inciteful post.
Candy Benn