8 Questions about you and your SEO journeys

[AmicableSkipper]

I was wondering if you guys could share your journeys into becoming an SEO publisher?

1. Where did you start?
2. How did you get into SEO?
3. How much do you make?
4. What are the exact sources of your income?
5. How much did you put in (time, money, etc.)
6. What was your biggest obstacle?
7. What is your best advice for new people starting out?
8. Where do you plan on taking this?

Thanks for the insights!

 

[Potatoe]

If you don't mind my own curiosity, of these 8 questions, which ones do you think will help you? Is this for a school research project or something?

I bet you'll get a lot more engagement if you narrow this down to maybe three questions.

It feels like you might be trying to get at something here, and dancing around it a bit with the questionnaire, when you're really asking might be closer to "Is this worth it? Can someone reassure me?"

I can, and I will reassure you, but I have to know if that's what you're really asking first, or if you genuinely care to know my line by line tax return and the hospital I was born in.

 

[AmicableSkipper]

@Potatoe I don't need reassurance, I know that it can absolutely be worth it, if you really put time and focus into it.

This was mainly to get to know people around here, as I'm new to BuilderSociety. I always enjoyed asking coworkers and bosses how they got where they are, what were difficult patches in their careers and what life advice they have. I try to take some of that and implement it into my own life and share it with others.

I added the money questions to get a feel, if the people responding are actually successful at what they do, as I can't see them or look at their post history yet (due to me being a new member). If I ask a coworker, I know their skillsets and their success, I can't really see that here, so that's where my mind was.

With exact sources of income, I actually meant: I make X amount of dollars with my sites, 70% comes from ads, 20% affiliate and 10% digital products or whatever your split is. Should've clarified that

Now to break my questions down:
1. Where are you with SEO right now and how did you get there?
2. What were your biggest obstacles?
3. What advice (any kind of advice) would you give somebody else?

 

[freshpeppermint]

I wonder these questions aswell like how much people are earning otherwise their advice isn't the best.

So in this thread people are https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...ntent-publishers-guild.4893/page-3#post-64495

there are people discussing and arguing, if they posted their results and how much they earn, it'd be so much easier to see who's advice to take and who's you shouldn't listen to. What works better? Content being 80% good enough or 70% vs 100%? Quality or Quantity? There have been people who hire cheap writers who never say how much $ they made then there are people who have gotten super high quality expensive articles with tons of images (according to them) and never said how much they earn on their bigger projects.

What's better like really nit picking things and trying to micro optimize and know every little SEO detail and stuff or just some guy who hires cheap writers and produces in scale. If we know the income for some individuals we could see what approach is the best.

 

[AmicableSkipper]

I wonder these questions aswell like how much people are earning otherwise their advice isn't the best.

So in this thread people are https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...ntent-publishers-guild.4893/page-3#post-64495

there are people discussing and arguing, if they posted their results and how much they earn, it'd be so much easier to see who's advice to take and who's you shouldn't listen to. What works better? Content being 80% good enough or 70% vs 100%? Quality or Quantity? There have been people who hire cheap writers who never say how much $ they made then there are people who have gotten super high quality expensive articles with tons of images (according to them) and never said how much they earn on their bigger projects.

What's better like really nit picking things and trying to micro optimize and know every little SEO detail and stuff or just some guy who hires cheap writers and produces in scale. If we know the income for some individuals we could see what approach is the best.

Well, I'm gonna heavily doubt that cheap writers, which often come with low quality, are the way to go. Just write content that is better than the rest in the SERP and you're eventually gonna rank. Given your keywords aren't too competitive.

Don't overthink it and just start. In the end, you will be the only one to find out what works for you.

 

[freshpeppermint]

Well, I'm gonna heavily doubt that cheap writers, which often come with low quality, are the way to go. Just write content that is better than the rest in the SERP and you're eventually gonna rank. Given your keywords aren't too competitive.

Don't overthink it and just start. In the end, you will be the only one to find out what works for you.

Ok but then where do you get quality content?? How much per word should be "decent" quality??

 

[JamaicanMoose]

Well, I'm gonna heavily doubt that cheap writers, which often come with low quality, are the way to go. Just write content that is better than the rest in the SERP and you're eventually gonna rank. Given your keywords aren't too competitive.

Don't overthink it and just start. In the end, you will be the only one to find out what works for you.

I wonder these questions aswell like how much people are earning otherwise their advice isn't the best.

So in this thread people are https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...ntent-publishers-guild.4893/page-3#post-64495

there are people discussing and arguing, if they posted their results and how much they earn, it'd be so much easier to see who's advice to take and who's you shouldn't listen to. What works better? Content being 80% good enough or 70% vs 100%? Quality or Quantity? There have been people who hire cheap writers who never say how much $ they made then there are people who have gotten super high quality expensive articles with tons of images (according to them) and never said how much they earn on their bigger projects.

What's better like really nit picking things and trying to micro optimize and know every little SEO detail and stuff or just some guy who hires cheap writers and produces in scale. If we know the income for some individuals we could see what approach is the best.

I was one of the people posting in that thread. I earn $20k+/mo exclusively using inexpensive writers. There are people on this forum earning way more than that doing the same strategy and/or using AI to write the content.

The beauty of this forum is you get exposure to multiple strategies that work. One similarity you'll see among the successful people on this forum is that they work their asses off and are consistent. That's it.

 

[AmicableSkipper]

I was one of the people posting in that thread. I earn $20k+/mo exclusively using inexpensive writers. There are people on this forum earning way more than that doing the same strategy and/or using AI to write the content.

The beauty of this forum is you get exposure to multiple strategies that work. One similarity you'll see among the successful people on this forum is that they work their asses off and are consistent. That's it.

If you and others found the right cheap writers, then very good for you. Generally, I still would try to go after price, but rather after quality and hitting search intent when it comes to writers.

Low-quality content can make some short-term gains, but can easily be outranked.

Also, what do inexpensive writers mean for you and where did you find them?

Do you have a link to an AI-content case study? Would be very interested in learning more about that topic.

 

[JamaicanMoose]

If you and others found the right cheap writers, then very good for you. Generally, I still would try to go after price, but rather after quality and hitting search intent when it comes to writers.

Low-quality content can make some short-term gains, but can easily be outranked.

Also, what do inexpensive writers mean for you and where did you find them?

Do you have a link to an AI-content case study? Would be very interested in learning more about that topic.

I only use @Hemux nowadays - https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...checked-free-samples-writing-for-10-yrs.5027/

I've used dozens of inexpensive writers over the years, at roughly the same price point. Haven't had any problems ranking and sustaining those rankings (aside from the usual fluctuations from Google Core Updates that we all experience from time to time).

Remember who you're writing for.

You do you, man. Good luck.

 

[AmicableSkipper]

I only use @Hemux nowadays - https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...checked-free-samples-writing-for-10-yrs.5027/

I've used dozens of inexpensive writers over the years, at roughly the same price point. Haven't had any problems ranking and sustaining those rankings (aside from the usual fluctuations from Google Core Updates that we all experience from time to time).

Remember who you're writing for.

You do you, man. Good luck.

Damn, happy to hear that.

I've tried out a similar service, which was promoted on here (something like "contentwriting" was the same I think). What I got back was pretty much useless, but I'm gonna try yours out thanks

Do you provide anything other than the keywords and a general template for your orders?

Edit: Nvm, I checked. It's that service that I've tried out. Wasn't too happy with the quality.

 

[freshpeppermint]

I only use @Hemux nowadays - https://www.buildersociety.com/thre...checked-free-samples-writing-for-10-yrs.5027/

I've used dozens of inexpensive writers over the years, at roughly the same price point. Haven't had any problems ranking and sustaining those rankings (aside from the usual fluctuations from Google Core Updates that we all experience from time to time).

Remember who you're writing for.

You do you, man. Good luck.

Ok will try out this guy, but my question to you is:
1. Do you provide that guy a content brief? Or just a keyword?
2. You said you're making 20k+per month from this, are these review keywords, best of/buyer oriented keywords that are you buying from cheaper writers? Or are they strictly informational? I understand you can get away with lower quality content on informational posts but, will it work on buyer oriented posts? If you do hybrid on your approach do you do 50/50, 80/20 or what sort of percentage split between buyer and informational??

 

[JamaicanMoose]

Ok will try out this guy, but my question to you is:
1. Do you provide that guy a content brief? Or just a keyword?
2. You said you're making 20k+per month from this, are these review keywords, best of/buyer oriented keywords that are you buying from cheaper writers? Or are they strictly informational? I understand you can get away with lower quality content on informational posts but, will it work on buyer oriented posts? If you do hybrid on your approach do you do 50/50, 80/20 or what sort of percentage split between buyer and informational??

1. Topic and format I want the post in
2. 60/40 informational/review. 80% of money is made from review posts.

 

[freshpeppermint]

1. Topic and format I want the post in
2. 60/40 informational/review. 80% of money is made from review posts.

Thanks and lastly, I was stuck on images. What images do you do for review posts? And what about for informational? Can stock images work fine or what do you do exactly?