The SEO Formula

Looks pretty simple right? That’s because it is. This is as hard as SEO gets.

I am not just saying that for dramatic effect, I mean it. If you understand this formula, then you understand SEO and you understand the work you are about to sign yourself up for.

Not sign an agency up for, or sign a friend up for, or sign a consultancy up for. This is the work that you must do. I am not writing this for them, I am writing this for you. I am writing this so that you will get the skills you need to show up. That’s all I can do, you will need to do the rest.

SEO is boring. It’s boring because it’s math, and science and a little bit of art. There’s a system, a discipline you can follow. You don’t have to chase Black Swans, but you have to do the work and for some people that’s terrifying.

Are you scared? Are you ready to get started, or are you already eyeing up the Keurig for a little break? Feeling the email or Slack itch right about now, good, stay with me. There’s a deeper part of you that wants to learn this, that wants to rank that wants to turn something, into something better.

There you are. Let’s keep going.

Let’s break it down even further to three simple questions.

If there are no impressions, then you are done. If there are no impressions then there is no market. An impression here is an eyeball, a potential customer, someone searching for what you have into The Machine. No market, no growth. That doesn’t mean that you can’t grow somewhere else, but search engine optimization will not be your lever. You need impressions to grow, how many? We will get there.

Are you good enough? Can you compete? Do you deserve to rank? Do you deserve a click? This is where the rubber meets the road and where the work begins. If you are not good enough, or if you are worried that you aren’t good enough you might not be, it’s a big world out there. The good news is that you don’t have to be the best… yet. You do have to want to be the best though, and you have to want to make a difference and earn the top spot. If you are looking for a hack or a cheat, you should just leave right now. I am going to show you how to do the work of growing inch by inch until you reach the top.

Do you understand the problem? Many don’t even get a chance to ask this because they don’t do the work of finding the right market, and building something worthy to compete. If you do both those things right then you earn the right to ask the question, do I understand the problem. That’s what a conversion rate really means, if given the chance to connect and sell, do I empathize enough with you to convince you that I’ve got something interesting to say? Does my offer match what you were expecting? Are you selling vitamins or painkillers? If you do the work, you will earn the right to ask this question and get an honest answer.

If you show up, if you ask hard questions and if you say no to right things, then you will not fall and each day you will get one step closer.

So let’s get started, I’ll see you at the top.

Originally published at Kent Fenwick.