Why You Shouldn’t ONLY Write Blogs For SEO

Getting my hair cut twice in a single week was not only a waste of money, but as someone who lives practically in the middle of nowhere (the closest Walmart is 45!! minutes!! away!! for context), it was also a massive waste of TIME.

As you can probably imagine, the reason I did this to myself was because I wasn’t happy with the first haircut.

NOT because it was botched or I left the salon crying or anything dramatic like that.

It was a just-fine haircut. There was genuinely nothing wrong with it. And I was happy with it…

…for about a day.

Until I finally admitted to myself that I just wasn’t excited about it.

It was BORING.

Now, this is absolutely no shade towards simplistic haircuts and styles – but before booking this hair appointment, I knew I wanted something just a tad more bold. Something that I’d be truly excited about. A new style that I felt expressed ~me.~

So I reluctantly booked a second hair appointment and ended up with the shag cut of my dreams.

And not to be dramatic, but it has quite literally changed my life. It’s so easy to style, I’m 1000x more confident every day, and I actually feel like I look cool now.

I believe that just like I could have saved myself time and $$$ if I’d just asked for the dang haircut I wanted in the first place…

You should also save yourself the trouble of trying to force a super strict blog strategy and start having a little fun with it.

Pls Stop Only Writing Boring Blogs

“X Ways to ___”
“Step-by-Step Guide to ___”
“What is ___? A Comprehensive Guide”
“How to ___”

Just like my “just-fine” haircut, there’s absolutely nothing “wrong” with this type of content. In fact, it’s NECESSARY content.

Sharing your processes, your proven how-tos, and your strategies can be incredibly helpful in demonstrating your expertise to your audience — AND getting found on Google via SEO.

But the problem if you’re only writing these types of blogs is:

1. You’re going to get bored af with it, and probably eventually drop blogging as a strategy altogether because you can’t be bothered to actually DO it
2. While these types of blogs are great for SEO, they’re terrible for bingeability – meaning, they’re not going to make an impression on someone clicking around your site

When every service provider in your industry is targeting the same SEO keywords and talking about the same industry-standard tips and practices, it all starts to bleed together.

Sally the brand designer’s blog ends up sounding just like Jane the brand designer’s blog because they’re both writing about the same cookie-cutter topics.

So instead of thinking of your blog as ONLY an SEO tool, I want to challenge you to think about it like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. And to build a rabbit hole worth falling into, you have to actually put some interesting stuff in there.

Things like:

• The hot take (or even just lukewarm, doesn’t have to be steaming hot) you’ve been sitting on for months
• The industry assumption you genuinely disagree with and have thoughts about – for me it’s that newsletters don’t have to disappear after you send them to your list
• Things real prospects are asking you about how you do things or confusions you’re seeing in your social media circles
• Comparisons nobody else in your space is really making
• The behind-the-scenes of a decision, a pivot, or a process that didn’t go as you planned
• The philosophy and beliefs at the center of your work that make it different

Someone who’s poking around your website and genuinely curious about what you do/the solutions you offer is probably gonna click over to your blog.

You don’t want them to just take a glance at the first page and then “X” off because nothing really stands out or interests them.

You want them to get a little curious, click through to a blog, and then get pulled down the rabbit hole.

Because your content makes them think, oh, this person gets it.

Or maybe even: oh, this person is ME.

This is the type of content that causes readers to stick around and binge multiple blog posts of yours, subscribe to your email list because they want to hear more from you, and maybe even decide right there on the spot you’re someone they want to work with down the line.

Put It Into Orbit 💫

Open up a notebook or your notes app and use the “things like” list above as a jumping off point to brainstorm your next blog post topic. Don’t edit yourself, decide your ideas aren’t “professional” enough, or assume nobody will care. 

Ask yourself: what do your people need to hear from you, and what do you actually want to say? (not what does a keyword research tool tell you that you “should” say)