You probably think that’s a clickbait title, don’t you? In a way it is, but in another way it’s a declaration of something I’ve finally come to grips with, something that almost everyone else in the world also needs to come to grips with.
Mitch the Blogger
It’s taken me a while but I now realize that it’s a fruitless quest to even aim for. No matter what I do with the remaining years I have to blog here, there and everywhere else, I’m never, ever, going to get to the level of blogging success that Neil Patel is at. The closest we’re probably ever going to get at this point is following each other on Twitter (which I actually thought had happened but I guess not lol).
You know what’s funny? I was never at his level, but this blog and my business blog used to be ranked fairly high back in the early days. This blog once dipped under a 90K ranking by Alexa, while my business blog was around 145K. Then Panda and Hummingbird and all the other Google animals got in my way and I tumbled so far that I stopped checking Alexa and pretty much any other ranking because it was just too depressing.
Let me get this out of the way; I don’t hate Neil Patel. Matter of fact, I’m fascinated by the things he puts out, so much so that I share a lot of it on Twitter and even put in his Twitter handle so he or his minions can see that I’m giving him lots of love. I even print out a lot of his posts in a pdf so I can take extra time to go through them again at a later time. I respect the guy that much…
Here’s the thing. Although every once in a while I’ll put together a post I feel is fairly epic, like my article on 31 Big Mistakes People Make Blogging And In Social Media, I don’t have the time to do a lot of the type of research he and his people can put together. I also have more than one blog, a mother living with me that has dementia and a few other things going on that it just isn’t prudent for me to even think I could take the time it would require to get it done.
Not only that, but I don’t write those kind of posts to begin with. As my friend Mitchell Allen stated in a comment on my 6 Blogging Tips That You Need To Consider, where he also mentioned Neil, he said this to me, which I’ll always treasure:
“I fear that many readers will overlook something very important: that your blog style is an aggregate of your philosophies. In other words, it is as unique a beast as any fingerprint.”
That’s kind of cool, right? Thanks Mitch (sometimes I feel like I’m talking to myself when I say that; then again, I always talk to myself… lol)!
It’s not that I don’t write some articles based on research here and there. I could have never told people about fixing the parsing JSON error for CommentLuv or giving a lot of tips on how to achieve better mobile speed numbers without putting some significant time into both research and testing.
It’s also not that I haven’t put more time into trying to write some longer posts, since that’s one of the biggest recommendations everyone’s putting out these days. Out of the 17 blog posts I’ve written so far in 2017, 11 of them are over a thousand words (2 of those just under 3,000) and 6 are under, with the fewest words I’ve written coming in at 825; I must have been slacking off on that day.
Here’s the thing. I recognize that no matter what I do, the Big G is never going to recognize me or my blog or any posts I write as being worth all that much. Another bit of research I did shows that my post titled What Is An Authority Blog Post comes up in position #10 on Google, even though only one of the links above me mentions the topic, and it’s a link to a pdf (which is a new one on me because Google never used to recognize pdf links). Put that same title in on Duck Duck Go or Bing and it’s the #1 post.
You want a bit more? When I check Analytics it shows that only 5.3% of my overall traffic comes from Google; isn’t that shocking? Even by using some of my SEO efforts (though I’m not doing anything drastic) I find that most of my posts never appear within the first 150 links (yes, I do check at least that far).
Every once in a while I get lucky, but I tend to always do better with the other search engines. I’m betting I’m not alone on this; how many of you will own up to being in the same position?
The fact is that most of us don’t write the type of posts that Google’s ever going to see as authority posts. Maybe we get lucky here and there, but we’re never going to be able to keep up with the output that people like Neil and Anna of Traffic Generation Cafe can, and even Anna can’t keep up with Neil! lol
What I am able to do is write about things I’ve experienced, things I’ve seen and things I believe should be true. Since I’m already breaking blogging rules made by other people way too often, since I’m already always telling people to write as much or as little as you want to (although writing too little won’t bring you many visitors, if that’s something you can about), and since I’m always encouraging people to write for many good reasons, I guess I’ll keep on writing about things like that because I’d rather work on being encouraging and entertaining and educating and just talking to people in my own way because I love blogging way too much to try being someone I’m not meant to be.
I’m good with that; I really am! Who’s with me on this?
Awww, you’re the best, man! I love that you can write about Neil Patel from such a fresh perspective; minions, eh? I never knew that! LOL
So, yeah, I too have flipped through the pages of Google’s search results to find some of my posts. I take comfort in the fact that, when it mattered, people did find my CAPTCHA tutorial – but that was probably more due to the fact that the plugin author sent HIS readers to my blog. Still, it enjoyed a spot in the top five for a while.
Going forward, I suspect you still have a surprise or two left. Never say never and always be creating!!
Cheers,
Mitch
p.s. I use DuckDuckGo and was tickled to see your post at #1.
Isn’t that something? I need to show the Duck way more appreciation than I do. 🙂 In any case, I’m a be me; it’ll either work or it won’t, but I’ll be true to who I am and stop worrying about most of that other stuff. Freeing! Also, thanks again for your words from before.
Neil Patel? Who’s he Mitch? I’m pretty sure I’ve never come across him. I take it he’s one of those A list bloggers. You know my view on them.
Me, I just go my own merry little blogging way and I try not to stress on whatever those search engines come up with, especially as there’s not much I can do about all their changes.
Why didn’t you just click on the link next to his name? lol He’s actually a bit more than an A-list blogger; he’s what we might have been if we’d been younger when we started blogging.
At this point I’m ready to stop worrying as much about search engines, while still making sure I’m mobile friendly and have proper mobile speed, since that’s more for the user’s experience than the search engines.
Hi Mitch, I’m with you but I’d love to be half of what he does online. I’d settle for the half 🙂
Some days I find I’m doing really well and then other days nope, notta!
I’m having a commentluv issue now that 2 tech friends are trying to figure out for me. It works for some folks but not for all. I just sent them your post on it too.
I think as long as we get something out of blogging we will continue to Mitch and maybe we’ll catch up with Neil one of these days.
Lisa, I think we have different energy and responsibilities that he doesn’t have. If we were both in our late 20’s or early 30’s maybe, but those days are beyond us; well, at least me. Heck, I’m getting close to 60; if I only had the one blog maybe I’d get to half… maybe lol
wow, I must say that this is really something different and interesting. Every one has its own greatness and strengths. It doesn’t matter who you are you could be the best in your work if you devote yourself into your work.
I really liked this article and it is very interesting to read this.
Thanks Mitch Mitchell for sharing this amazing article with us
I don’t know how amazing it is but thanks. lol All of us do indeed have our own strengths, and it’s best if we try living up to our own standards than trying to match those of others… especially in their fields.
You know why I didn’t click on it Mitch, because I have no interest in those guys and I don’t believe anything they have to say can influence my success in blogging.
This would be the one guy who could do it; trust me on that one. Thing is, it’s way more than either you or I could or would do at this point in our lives. I find it fascinating reading though.
I don’t even read Neil Patel, but I read your blog, Mitch!
Enjoy the journey!
LOL, thanks Mandy. I do check out a lot of his articles because some of it turns out to be quite useful. I just know that I can’t do those types of posts on a consistent basis; I’ve gotta be me! 🙂
Interesting!
Good you realized it is all about being who you and it is a waste of time trying to be someone else. It is also a valuable lesson for me.
True. I’m always going to be me, but in the quest for better views and more visits, along with the Big G liking me a bit more, I was working on being more than, in the long run, I realized I could be. I can be THAT person every once in a while but I have too much going on to be that person all the time.
Mitch,
This post just made my day! You nailed it on the head for small bloggers like me. I write because I love to write. I tried writing for SEO last year and realized really quickly that it took the fun out of writing. I’m never going to be a google favorite without a big name, so why waste my time. I want to write meaningful posts that help people. I do have to say, I really love Patel’s stuff, but I’m okay with being plain old Amy White.
Amy
Thanks Amy. I was trying to chase the Google love but realized that I’m just not that kind of writer… at least all the time. I mean really… these people and their H2 tags! lol
Hi Mitch,
from my perspective your blog delivers a lot of valuable thoughts and information. You started writing for a certain purpose (according to the about page) so you follow this path, not Neil’s, do you? Have a nice day. Brigitte
Thanks for your comment Brigitte. You’re right, I’ve stuck pretty much to the principles I set forth on my About page. However, for a while there I did a lot of work trying to make my site more mobile friendly, then working on the mobile speed, and I thought I was still lacking something while trying to get back to what this blog used to be many years ago.
When all is said and done though, I find I’ve stayed true to my essence… even if every once in a while my essence increases a little bit. 🙂
Hey Mitch,
It’s good to be yourself which I make a big effort of being. And one thing that we both have in common is we don’t have a lot of time to put in the effort that Neil Patel does.
For just one of his post it’ll take me about a year to create LOL. But he’s a big influence on me and I have took some steps towards his detail way of creating content.
But a great thing about you is that your perspective is what me and I’m quite sure everyone else is thinking. This blog post is a prime example of this. Most of us know that we’re not going to be Neil, but at the same time he gives us great tips and ideas to implement on future posts.
Thanks Sherman. It’s something I had to come to grips with. It’s a weird feeling being really successful at one point and suddenly falling behind like I did. It does change the paradigm of things but we all do end up needing to be who and what we are. Guess I’m stuck being my fussin’ self! lol
Geez, Mitch, if you were Neil, I wouldn’t have had some of those nice Skype chats we’ve had . . . or had the pleasure of our repartees in various venues.
I enjoy some of his output, too. But like you astutely recognized, without the benefit of his staff (or cadre of contractors), there aren’t many who can produce at the level he does. [Even if he doesn’t have a big staff, his consulting fees buys him the freedom to pick and choose his pet projects.]
You might be surprised, but I read YOU more than I read him … even if I don’t comment as much as I used to. Yeah, be you.
Thanks for that Vernessa; I’m honored! Sometimes we have to recognize just who & what we are and what we’re actually capable of. It’s not always something overwhelming because sometimes it pertains to style. I just realized that I have to be me… like Popeye says. 🙂
Hi Mitch,
Sorry for the late response my friend. When we write a blog post or any article, we do so for the readers. Give them some meat for them to chew on. If we try to write for G, then we shift our focus and get too caught up in SEO. Not that SEO is unimportant, we need to sprinkle some of it in.
Neil Patel is great, but so are you my friend.
You have created a good following, so who needs to be number one on Google if you are getting a low percent of people coming to you from that source?
-Donna
Thanks Donna, and you’re absolutely right. I started to get caught up in the Google trap and realized I had to be me. Neil does write some fantastic stuff though. 🙂