Getting Organic Results, A Mind Library, Taking Bets

Good Sunday 🌝!

I took it easy on Friday because it was my wife’s big birthday. She waved goodbye to her 20s and slid into motherhood. That was rough (joke!).

And I’m not afraid to share that I need breaks. Like most entrepreneurs, I used to advocate for the hardcore working style: wake up at 6am, read a lot, network a lot, and do a lot. Now I see a fulfilled life to be one that is balanced and filled with joy.

Moving on to a separate note, I bought some Bitcoin recently.

I’m not going to dive into the Yes vs No case about Bitcoin because it is another thing that can never have a conclusion.

For me, I invested in Bitcoin because 1) I want to diversify my portfolio, 2) I read a lot about why people don’t trust the current system and I can see it, and 3) I look at Bitcoin as a high risk, high return choice, which I’m willing to take at this life stage.

I learned a lot from this article written by the Winklevoss if you’re interested. That's all for my little update.

This week, let’s talk:

1. Sharing my SEO results after 4 months of hardwork
2. Creating my mind library

🚀 Organic search results after 4 months

Last week, I tweeted my website’s organic search results and a few of my learnings so far. You should read the tweet thread before continuing, as I don’t plan to repeat myself here.

I’ll wait.

For those who don’t know what SEO/organic search means, let me quickly explain. To get traffic to my website, there are many ways. I could be super active on Twitter and share articles, I could buy ads to get readers, I could spam subscribers like you about everything I’ve written so far.

Are those sustainable approaches? Not for me.

1. I hate ads and spamming.
2. If I have to be active on Twitter all the time to get things going, what happen if I’m hospitalized for 4 weeks? Or like last month when I was busy with my newborn?

With SEO, it means that you’re slowly creating all these paths leading people into your doorway, and these paths will be there even if you’re not paving them. The best part is that people search for these paths (keywords), so you’re offering them what they want at the right time. Timing is key.

Then here for you guys, I want to share learnings that I didn’t post on Twitter:

1. I talked about creating killer content, but how? Pick a big trend that is happening and that a lot of people have questions about, then create content to answer all these questions. Where do you get these signals? Forum & Twitter, spend enough time observing and you'll find it. This is not just hard, but it takes quite some time, but that’s how you win. If you want to brainstorm a little together, reach out and let’s talk.​
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2. So far, I mostly talk about my Building in Public guide because that’s my main focus for the last 3 months. But for every article I publish weekly, I take time to write a title that is SEO friendly. If you go to my blog page, you can see them. I won’t sacrifice the title for SEO, but SEO must play a part.
   
   “How to Start? Full-time Indie Hacker vs Side Hustle” → keyword “indie hacker”
   “How to Write a Newsletter No One Will Unsubscribe” → keyword “how to write a newsletter”
   “How I Use Basic Human Behavior to Grow My Twitter Audience” → keyword “grow twitter audience”
   “How to Validate Your Tech Startup Idea” → keyword “validate startup idea”
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3. Be picky where you spend your time. When I first started, I coded and hosted my own blog and I spent a lot of time on the technicals. I loved it, but I knew my time could be better spent growing my site. Now I use Webflow and it is as easy as a few clicks to get a new article out. Most people, especially developers (quite a number of you here), fall in love with the technicals. Maybe now is the time to review that?

💭 My mind library

Ever since I started creating in Nov 2020, I’ve been patient to find out what I stand for. I know it would take time, and now after 4 months, I have my first version.

To bring the most value to you, I cannot just write whatever topics that interest me. I’m here to help you, and I’ve been actively listening to feedback. You told me you learned valuable skills in Building in Public, Copywriting, Storytelling, and People/Relationships from me.

Now, this triangle represents the things I care most + what is most helpful to you.

I referenced this hub-and-spoke strategy. This means I’ll be creating content within my hub (triangle) and that your learnings will be maximized because they’re focused.

I’m super excited about this. And by the way, I’m also planning a new project, stay tuned!

💡 Inspirations

​Take Asymmetric Bets by Erik Torenberg

I resonated with this article a lot as this is why I decided to do more under my own name.

I thought a lot about my career. I was always interested to join another tech startup to grow together, but soon I figured it would have been a bad move. If I get a job, I’ll be working very hard and giving all I have. Then I’ll lose everything when I leave, and have to come up with credentials (resume, portfolio, whatever) to get my next job. I will be stuck in this infinite cycle of doing a lot → losing most → getting the next job.

On the other hand, building things under my own name means everything I create is compounding. Nothing will go away. My life meaning is then finding my spot in the world to provide value, not finding a job that pays me a stable income every month. And to me, this is a much better way to live.

I am taking a risky bet, but potentially rewarding.​

​The 25 Worst Pieces of Advice I’ve Seen (And Why) by The Art of Purpose

I love advices. Some people take all of them, but I am super aware that some might not apply to me. Most “advices” are bad, be careful.