Remember a few weeks back when I had Facebook Ads pro Monica Louie on the podcast talking about her clients who make $15k-20k a month due to FB ads?
That’d be today’s guest: Deacon Hayes from Well Kept Wallet.
He’s also an OG personal finance blogger on track to hit a 7-figure goal in 2018.
#jealous
Key takeaways from the show can be found below, but in this interview we chat about…
- What are your blogging strengths? (is writing actually one of them?)
- Deacon’s journey to a world-class and huge blog
- Deacon’s goals for 2018 and strategies he’s using
- Casual SEO chat! Yay!
Deacon is a genuinely kind, smart, and impressive blogger in his own right, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy this episode đ
Drop us some comment below after the takeaways?
Listen to my episode with Deacon Hayes from Well Kept Wallet
Listen to my episode with Deacon Hayes from Well Kept Wallet:
or listen on Apple Podcasts \ Google Podcasts \ Spotify***
Show notes and referenced links
- Deacon’s blog: Well Kept Wallet
- Deacon’s new blog: Well Kept Body, a health and fitness blog!
- Good to Great, by Jim Collins. Really great read, but thick.
- Brian Dean (greaaaat guy to learn SEO from), Neil Patel
- SEMrush – Deacon’s go-to SEO tool
- Trello – Nice and free project management / task manager tool
- Flourish with Facebook Ads (use PETE20 at checkout for $20 off)
Key takeaways from today’s episode
Here are a few fave comments or perspectives I took away from my chat with Deacon Hayes.
For 80/20 easy mode SEO, focus MORE on UX, less on optimizing
Deacon might be the first podcast guest to speak on his SEO strategy (which is the 2nd half of his entire traffic strategy, next to his Monica Louie built FB ads)
So what does he do?
1. A minimal SEO optimization to start (20%)
2. Highly relevant and quality body content (80%)
First, Iâm incredibly sorry to report that you DO need to know at least a few SEO âtacticsâ and/or on-site optimization.
Include your keyword in the post title, URL slug, maybe an H2 tag or soâŠ
BORING.
I get it, but you some familiarity with basic on-page SEO, which you can learn /way/ more about on Brian Deanâs site here.
Youâre welcome for the additional backlink Brian, geez. Not like you need it.
Moving on to the 80%âŠ
When Deacon finds a past blog post performing fairly well on Google (i.e. on the 2nd or 3rd pages), thatâs a strong sign it could easily be on page 1 with a few minor adjustments.
*Those adjustments = adding and further improving the content and format.*
Thatâs it.
For one, making sure word counts are up. 2,400 is roughly the average 1st spot on Google. The average.
But of course you shouldnât just add more wordsâŠyou need to add quality content that satisfies Googleâs mysterious user intent.
When adding more words to your blog posts, focus on this perspective:
When a user searches Google for my keyword, does this post answer their question fully, and in an easy to read way?
Google is smarter than ever, and you should focus more time on correctly and completely answering your usersâ questions!
Thatâs Deaconâs SEO strategy, and should probably be ours too.
#Flexibility
If youâre not a regular financial independence, FIRE enthusiasts, you may not hear this often enough.
Early retirement and financial independence is NOT about not working.
Sipping Pina coladas on the beach can only happen for so many days in a row.
Instead, itâs about flexibility.
Nothing will make you happier than options. The ability to decide what to work on, when you want to work on it, and where in the world you want to work on it. Flexibility decreases stress, add happiness, and is the true /goal/ of pursuing FI.
Not money. Money is not a goal. Money is a tool.
Write for a damn purpose.
Donât âwrite for writingâs sake.â
This is a bit broad, but letâs leave it at this:
Every piece of content you produce should adhere to your purpose. Your blogâs purpose.
*What is the change youâre seeking to make within your readers? That defines your purpose.*
Write based on that.
Yes, you may absolutely blog only for your lifeâs desire, and only promote it to mom and dad.
Your purpose might just be to bring you joy (Iâd argue itâs not, but it could be). You could do that.
If you have any intention to grow, sooner or later youâll have to scrap the more meaningless content and focus entirely on your purpose.
Mission. Change. Impact.