Speaker 1: 0:52

Hello and welcome to this Christmas special of SEO is not that hard, and it's me here, ed Dawson. As usual, and as it's Christmas week, I don't tend to record completely full new episodes. I tend to use it as an opportunity to sort of look back over the year and share some of my favourite episodes that have been in the last year, ones where I think there's maybe a particularly good story or where I think there's one that still stands up pretty well and ones that I would feel worth sharing again, especially this time of year. So I'm going to do that, but I'm also, with each episode, I'm going to do a SEO Christmas themed emergency question. So, without further ado, here's the question for today that I've got. So would you rather have a sudden surge in traffic on Christmas day or on New Year's Eve? So with this one, I think I've given it a bit of thought and I think I'd probably go with the Christmas Day one, which wasn't the one I thought I'd go with originally. Originally I looked at it and thought I want New Year's Eve, because that's a big surge just before the New Year. But then I thought about actually what would trigger a surge on Christmas Day year? But then I thought about actually what would trigger a surge on Christmas day, and Christmas day as anyone who's got a website will know, generally for most sites it's very quiet day on the website. So to get a surge on Christmas day means you've got to have done something particularly special, particularly clever, to get a whole load of people wanting to come to your website on Christmas day. So that's why I go with that one, because not because the traffic might be particularly useful as such on Christmas Day, but it means I've obviously done something really good. So I don't know what that would be yet, so I'm still thinking about it. Anyway, today's episode from the back catalogue that I'm going to share is one where it's all about creating more than you consume. So I hope you enjoy this one and I'll see you in a couple of days with the next episode to share. Hello and welcome to episode 76 of SEO is not that hard. I'm your host, ed Dawson, the founder of keywordspeopleusecom, the solution to finding the questions people ask online. I'm an affiliate marketer, seo, and I've been building and monetizing websites for over 20 years. I've built sites from the ground up, bought sites and sold sites in large exits. I'm here to share with you the SEO knowledge, hints and tips I've built up over the years.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Today, I'm going to talk about why you should create more than you consume. Today, I just wanted to talk a little bit on the subject of why it's so important to create more than you consume. Now it may be a bit ironic because you're consuming a podcast at the moment and I also, have to admit, I consume loads of podcasts too. Really important and what sort of makes the difference between making a success of what you're trying to achieve or just sitting back and never getting anywhere? Is that difference between creating and consuming? Now let's look at, say, some examples. So let's take seo, for example.

Speaker 1: 3:51

You could be someone who's spent the past 30 years consuming all the content you can around SEO, listening to all the viewpoints, all the knowledge, building up a complete factual library in your head of everything about SEO, and you might have the most SEO knowledge of anybody out there. But unless you actually create, create something, what have you actually achieved? You've not achieved anything. You know you've not built anything. You've not moved anything forward. You've not moved the needle for yourself or anyone. You might have all this knowledge, but it's not serving you. It's only going to serve you if you start by going out and creating something.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Now that could be creating a website on a completely different subject and using all the SEO knowledge to push that website forward, get loads of eyeballs on it, turn it into a business, turn it into whatever you want to do and help other people. You know, if you get that that other content in front of people, you help them. You help move them forward and that moves you forward. At the same time and I think that's just the real key you better to be less, you know, have less knowledge on a subject, but actually get out there and do something with it, and the actual act of creating also, at the same time, improves your own knowledge. Um, I know there's studies out there that show that that, for example, if you are taking in information, if you write it down, then you remember that information and understand that information much more than if you just take it in verbally, and then you can take it to another level. If you then go on and teach somebody what you've learned, that reinforces your knowledge even more so. The very act of creation whether it's creating written content for yourself or then going out and teaching somebody else on top. Each one of those steps actually increases your effectiveness, your knowledge.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Secondly, creating good content, or creating anything, is something that you start off with having low skills. You need to practice and experiment with creating content to actually get good over time. It's like anything you know, like you see a child starting to draw, you know no one is an artist straight away. It takes practice, it takes repetition and you know. That's how you go from being a child doing scribbles on paper to being, you know, a world-class artist. You only do it by practicing your art, and creating anything is an art. So that's why you need to be creating all the time and not just consuming.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Now, that's not to knock on consuming at all, because it is really important to consume as well, because that's how you find new viewpoints, how you learn new things, and that can help improve your creation process and the content that you create and whatever it is that you create. But the key thing is you can't just consume and do no creation whatsoever, because you'll just end up static, you won't improve anything. Like I said, you might learn a lot, but if you don't ever put it into practice, you don't truly learn. And if you don't ever put it into practice, you don't truly learn, and then you don't actually improve. You don't build anything of any value. Now I think the hurdle that most people need to get over when it comes to starting creating things is they worry that they're not going to be any good, that what they're going to produce won't have any value or will be of poor quality. And you know what? It's actually true. The first things you produce and create probably will be rubbish, but you've got to give yourself permission to be rubbish. It's better to be rubbish but then improve than to never start at all.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Take this podcast, for example. When I started it, it took me ages to record a single podcast just a few minutes long. And even now I'm not saying I'm making brilliant podcasts, but I know for myself that I am producing them faster. I think I'm producing them a little bit better. I think they've improved. I think there's still a way to go. But the whole point was I started, I got going, I started creating and see where it took me and actually the things I talk about. It's helped improve my thinking about some of the things I talk about.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Sometimes I come with a concept for a podcast that I'm going to talk about and actually just the whole process of producing the podcast and thinking about it and then producing that content actually helps solidify, sometimes, information, sometimes it helps me change my mind, sometimes it fills in some blanks that was missing just through the whole process of creation. So the important thing is you know you've just got to start and admit it's not going to be great to start with, but it's only by starting and then carrying on that you'll improve and that's how you get better and better. And it's like with many things I've done over the past 20 odd years or more is you know I'm much better at some things I've been doing for a long time, but if I'd never started them in the first place, I wouldn't have got as good over time. It was the starting, the creation, then carrying on the creation process that actually improves you and then brings you results. It's what's built me businesses. So, yeah, it's just don't be afraid to start, don't be afraid to create and don't be afraid to put it out there. Don't worry about what other people think. There's probably people listening to this podcast who haven't thought it was great but have never listened again. And that's fine, that's completely fine. But there's plenty of other people who listen to this podcast and got in touch and I've met new people and I've found new opportunities just by getting in the weeds, starting creating and putting it out there and seeing what happens, and that's why I strongly urge in whatever it's not to be a podcast, it's not to be a website. Whatever it is that you're interested in and whatever it is that you want to improve at and whatever it is that you want to bring to the world and bring to people, just do it, start it, get creating and just create more than you consume. You won't regret it because it will bring you results. Thanks for being a listener. I really appreciate it. Please subscribe and share. It really helps.

Speaker 1: 10:08

Seo is not that hard. It's brought to you by KeywordsPeopleUsecom, the solution to find the questions people ask online. See where thousands of people use it every day. Try it today for free at KeywordsPeopleUsecom To get an instant hit of more SEO tips. Then find the link to download a free copy of my 101 quick SEO tips in the show notes of today's episode. If you want to get in touch, have any questions and I'd love to hear from you. I'm at Channel 5 on Twitter. You can email me at podcast at qhpplscom. Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO. Is Not that Hard.