Hello and welcome to. Seo is not that hard. I'm your host, ed Dawson, the founder of the SEO intelligence platform, keywordfewpleasercom, where we help you discover the questions people ask online and then how to optimize your content for traffic and authority. I've been in SEO and online marketing for over 20 years and I'm here to share the wealth of knowledge, hints and tips I've amassed over that time. Hello, welcome back to SEO is Hard. It's me here, ed Dawson, as usual, hosting, and today I'm going to be talking about building things and why you should just build things.

This is coming up because, well, it's coming up to Christmas. Now we're in December, I'm thinking about next year, new year's resolutions, those kinds of things. But I'm thinking about next year, new year's resolutions, those kinds of things, and I just wanted to talk about why I think that building things is so important, and it's a kind of like a philosophy that I've used not just in my sort of work life in terms of SEO and digital side of life, but also in the other side of life as well. So let's go back to what got me thinking about this. So I was literally, because at the moment, I'm in the process of building a new fireplace, um, in the farmhouse, basically, um, in one of the living rooms. It's like one of the last ones we've got around to renovating. Um, I've actually got to the point where there's this fireplace. Okay, so you know it's chimney breast in this old room. It's victorian, so it's about 100 and probably 130 years old this room. And when we stripped the plaster off in this room originally and we could see that where the fire was it was like a little sort of 1950s inset um open fire and which we pulled out. But we could just see that you know that that there was a big archway, they'd all been filled in with brick. So there's obviously a big old inglenook fireplace thing in there which was just waiting to be sort of taken out and sort of put back into, put back into commission um and for whatever reason, when we're doing that room and plastering it. We didn't do it, we just plastered over most of it and left a little insert fire.

But I got to it and I was thinking I actually want to go back in there and knock it all out and, you know, build the original fire fireplace back in, and so that's what I've been doing over, you know, the past few weeks. You know, bit by bit, you know, I dug out all the old um brickwork that had been built into this inset, into this original Ingle Nook fireplace, dug it all out, took it all away, reused that on probably about three tonnes worth of brick that I've reused on the farm for gateways and that kind of thing and got it all back to brick. And I've then been starting to build it back up to create a nice fireplace in there, because a lot of you know the original hearth had all gone from when the floors have been redone and that kind of thing. So I'm thinking I'm going to start and build something new in here. And it just made me think about this, the fact that I just don't seem to be able to stop building stuff in my life.

And it all started back in probably 2000 was it 2001 when I bought my first house. Okay, and back then, very little money, I bought a complete wreck of a house, a complete doer upper. We had to strip the house from top to bottom roof off, you know, all the floors up, all the plaster off the walls, all the electrics, all the everything ripped out and start again from scratch. Okay, and because when he was tight I did a whole lot of work myself. So when it came to actually doing some of the skill stuff, putting stuff back in I hired builders but I labored with them, worked with and learned from them, and I've done that through lots of you know. Now onto the farmhouse right now, which is, I think, the third, third big project we've done. Okay, and with each one of these I've always come and worked with the builders whenever I can the school crash people and I've learned a lot of stuff from them, to the point now where a lot of the stuff I can actually do myself like bricklaying, putting in lintel steel, all sorts of things like that I actually know and I've also collected the tools over time to be able to do it. So there's the kind of the three things there you need your tools, you need your skills, you need your resources, you need the time. Okay, and this is the same thing works with building websites, building assets for business, which I've also done over the period. So, again, going back to 2004, we started building broadband at coda uk. We started building assets. It's all about building.

Now, if you're listening to this podcast, what I want to do is encourage you to try and take on some of this building attitude rather than some of the overanalyzing, the procrastinating attitude that some people suffer from and I probably did myself in the past, but now I've just got so caught up in it. Maybe I'm a bit ADHD, but I literally just can't stop but start building things. Okay, sometimes maybe I take it too far, I've started more things than I have time to finish. You know my house, the farmhouse here, the farm. There are lots of projects on the go that aren't finished and, you know, maybe a bit more systematic might be better, but that's not how I work. I work on building things and in the main, it's worked out for me, but you've got to have a few little things, a few little strategies to help you do it.

So, if we take it back to SEO and marketing, a lot of people often get caught up in the latest strategies, the latest algorithms, data analytics, all those kind of things. Now, don't get me wrong. These are important, okay, but sometimes people will spend too much time planning and perfecting and forget the most critical step, which is actually building something. Now I know people who have, you know, for years had ideas for building websites and they spend months researching keywords, analyzing the competition and planning every little detail. Well, guess what? They never actually launch the site. Okay, they get so caught up in making it perfect that they never really take the first step. Meanwhile, there's plenty of other people probably myself pick, I will probably include myself in this which are less prepared but more action oriented, that just literally get on with things, launch something, even if it's not perfect completely, if it's not perfect, and this, and then start gaining traction, which is like the pure core of today's topic. You know the importance of just getting started, of building things even if they're not perfect, and learning from that journey.

Going back to when I've been working with builders in the past, or we've been trying to, you know, get projects done, renovate places, talking to the builders about why we're doing something in a certain way or why can't we do something, asking stupid questions. I'll always say to them look, you're the experts, you're the building, you're the construction guys, you know what you're doing. Why can't we do it this way? Can we not do it like this, asking them to tell me why they're doing something and then saying, well, how about we do this instead? And getting them to tell me what's wrong and learning from it, but not being afraid to ask stupid questions. The way you learn from experts is to ask stupid questions and not be afraid to ask those stupid questions, because that's how you learn and sometimes they might learn from you, because that you may approach something in a different way to how they've always approached it, and just by asking them the question might bring a better solution for both of you.

So you know why I just see people procrastinating over overanalyze things. Okay, it's because it's a fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, you know, and even sometimes fear of the success changes can actually bring. People tell themselves they're not ready, they need more information or the timing isn't right, but the truth is there's never a perfect time. You know, waiting for perfection is the enemy of progress. So, you know, when it comes to over-analysis, this is the analysis paralysis. You might have heard of it. So it's.

When people spend so much time analyzing every possible outcome, they become completely incapable of making a decision, and in a fast-paced world like the digital world, you know, this is a complete death sentence for your projects. Okay, opportunities come and they will go quickly, and if you don't take action, someone else will. Now you might be thinking to yourself you know, I need a plan to avoid mistakes. I need to plan, and, yes, planning is important, but only to a certain level. Excessive planning without doing anything is just another form of procrastination. You feel like you're getting somewhere, but really you're just procrastinating. And I've seen some very detailed plans for websites and businesses in the past that just turned out to be complete fiction. Okay, there's only so much you can sort of guess and predict up front. Okay, you know, the mistakes are not only inevitable, they're invaluable. You know, every mistake you make is a lesson learned. It's a, it's a stone stepping stone towards. You know the ultimate success that you're trying to get to. Okay, learned, it's a, it's a stone stepping stone towards. You know the ultimate success that you're trying to get to. Okay.

So let's bring it back to seo. Okay, I know I've been all over the place on this one, but many people hesitate to start a website or a blog or whatever, because they're overwhelmed by seo complexity. You know, they think they've got to master every seo technique before they can even begin. Well, here's the secret SEO is a journey, it's not a destination. I've been doing this for 20 years. I'm still learning stuff every day. Okay, and if you've listened to I mean, we're heading towards 200 episodes of this podcast.

Now I'll probably repeat myself at a little in places, maybe for emphasis, sometimes maybe because I've forgotten what I've talked about before. But you know, I'm still never running out of things to talk about, okay, and you're not going to learn everything all in one go. I don't know everything about SEO. Okay, I've been doing this for 20 years. I do not know everything. There's loads of stuff I don't know. There's loads of technical complexities in some things I don't know. There are domain experts in every little niche. I am very much a generalist, I know that. But if I'd waited till I thought I knew everything, I still would have never started a website now. I wouldn't be in the position I am now in life if I just waited till I knew everything.

So you've got to realize that you can't wait till you know everything. Get started. You'll make mistakes, it doesn't matter, you'll learn from them. You'll make mistakes, it doesn't matter, you'll learn from them. You'll learn faster by making mistakes than trying to do everything perfect up front. And famously, reid Hoffman he founded LinkedIn said this is a very famous quote in the world of product, online product. He said if you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late. So the idea he's trying to get over is that you know you've got to put your product in our case this is websites into the world and improve it over time, based on real user feedback.

When you start building, you create those opportunities for learning and for growth that you won't ever encounter otherwise. You need to begin to understand your audience better, see what works and what doesn't, and then you can sort of pivot and change accordingly, and hands-on experience is far more valuable than any amount of theoretical knowledge. Going back to me talking about building houses, I learned way more by working with builders laboring, helping them, having them teach me stuff practically than I could have ever learned from reading books or watching videos. Getting your hands dirty is what actually helps you learn. So how do we start building? You decided you're going to do it. Well done, brilliant. I'm totally behind you.

First of all, set a simple goal. Think of a basic objective. It could be something really simple, like writing a blog post a week or launching a minimal, viable product or creating a simple website layout. When we started Keywords People Used. We just did People Also Ask Discovery and Google Auto. Complete Discovery. None of the stuff we're working towards now, none of the content optimization stuff, none of the SEO intelligence tool stuff. We knew that that was like a long-term goal, but we just wanted to start with something to get some traction going, to get an audience.

Okay, so set a simple goal. Create a timeline. Deadlines do create urgency. Okay, so set a realistic timeline. It helps to keep you accountable. Break it down into smaller tasks okay. Do it bit by bit, don't try and achieve everything in one go.

The fourth thing is take immediate action. Do something today that moves you towards your goal, no matter how small, and embrace imperfection. Okay, you're not going to be perfect. Your first time won't be perfect. Your second, third, probably even your hundreds of times won't be perfect, but every time you'll get it a little bit better. And that's where we come to the last thing reflect and adapt After you've done something.

Reflect on the results. Did it work, what didn't? And use this information to move forward and improve. You've got to remember ultimately, the goal is progress, not perfection. You want to be moving forwards all the time, not being perfect from the get-go, and this is what will lead you into the greatest thing of building things, and that's the compounding effect.

So each piece of content you create, each product you launch, adds to your body of work and over time this accumulates into something much more substantial. And if you listened to my episode on the flywheel effect earlier a few weeks ago, this feeds into that perfectly. It's like planting seeds and I've said this in a previous podcast as well. Um, from my experience of farming, you know not every seed will sprout. You know, but the more you plant, the greater the chances of getting something to grow are and having a much better harvest. You know you've got to put the groundwork in for things to grow over time. Yeah, in the context of seo, the more content you've got to put the groundwork in for things to grow over time. Yeah, in the context of sgo, the more content you've got, the more opportunities you have to rank for various keywords.

Every blog post or page is a new potential entry point for new visitors and it is a numbers game to it to some extent. The more you have out there, the higher the likelihood you are of attracting and maintaining an audience. And taking action builds momentum and every initial push is always the hardest, but yet you'll get that fire wheel going when you do that, by building stuff. And also, at the end of the day, it's really good for your mental health, because when you accomplish something, you can stand back and look at it and say I built that. Whether it's a website, whether it's a website, whether it's a wall, whether it's a horse arena, whether it's anything that you've built, you can stand back looking back at it and realizing that you've done it. You've learned the hard way, you've made the mistakes, but you've learned from it and you've accomplished something. Nothing beats that feeling of knowing that you can actually build stuff and make stuff happen. And you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to worry everything up front. Building stuff will get you there and get you results, okay.

So before I go, just want to you know, hopefully give you a few words of inspiration. So remember everybody starts somewhere. Anyone who's an expert in any field now was once a beginner. Okay, and they just took the first step, okay. So just because you're not in a position where you know everything, now the only way to get there is by taking that first step and then the next step and the next step and building up. Okay, don't be put off by seeing people who know more than you. You know, you, you can catch them. They start. They started from scratch. You can start from scratch. You can catch them. They started from scratch. You can start from scratch. You can get there.

Secondly, don't compare your position now with someone's middle or end point. Okay, don't be disheartened that the first product or first bit of content you create doesn't get the traffic others are getting, or doesn't have the quality or isn't as good as what other people have created. Remember their product started at a low point too. Okay, so don't overcompare. That can be. Overcomparison could be the enemy of you getting anywhere.

It's fine to use people's success as an inspiration. Don't benchmark too early. Only benchmark people in the same position as you. That's where you'll know whether you're winning or losing. And finally, just remember action trumps inaction every single time. So an imperfect bit of content that's posted on a website will reach a lot more people than a perfect one that never gets posted. And a website with a very basic design or a tool that's very basic will attract more people than one that's pixel perfect, that never ever gets published, never gets out there to the world. So start building. Just get on, write an article, launch a website, create a product, learn from your experience, adjust your strategy and just whatever you do, just keep moving forward. Okay, that's it for today, so until next time, keep optimizing, stay curious and remember SEO is not that hard when you understand the basics. Thanks for listening. It means a lot to me.

This is where I get to remind you where you can connect with me and my SEO tools and services. You can find links to all the links I mentioned here in the show notes. Just remember, with all these places where I use my name, that Ed is spelled with two Ds. You can find me on LinkedIn and Blue Sky. Just search for Ed Dawson on both. You can record a voice question to get answered on the podcast. The link is in the show notes.

You can try our SEO intelligence platform, keywords People Use at keywordspeoplesusecom, where we can help you discover the questions and keywords people are asking online, poster those questions and keywords into related groups so you know what content you need to build topical authority and, finally, connect your Google Search Console account for your sites so we can crawl and understand your actual content, find what keywords you rank for and then help you optimize. Continually refine your content, targeted, personalized advice, keep your traffic growing. If you're interested in learning more about me personally or looking for dedicated consulting advice, then visit wwweddawsoncom. Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO. Is not that hard.