Benjamin Franklin's secret to getting better at SEO

"Well done is better than well said." — Benjamin Franklin

In the scope of world history, I think Benjamin Franklin is a fairly popular individual.

He’s one of the founding fathers of the US and is on the $100 bill.

Think about it…

If you’re making money online, then you are quite literally stacking bills with his face on them.

And in case you were wondering:

No, this email list hasn’t turned into a historical newsletter.

I’ve been harping on this concept a lot lately because it relates a lot to SEO.

Here’s the deal:

SEO theory will only get you so far.

How far?

Well, about as far as you can throw your laptop.

You’re not considered an SEO until you rank a website. You could read blogs or watch videos on YouTube (including mine) about SEO.

If you're not implementing everything that you've learned, then it doesn't matter.

None of it matters until you rank #1 on Google and make money.

Think about it this way:

Do you remember taking tests in school?

Of course, you do.

You would learn a chapter or unit over the course of a few weeks and then take a test on it.

Then learn more and test again.

You build up your knowledge over a long period of time.

But imagine if you were to go to school without ever taking a test. And then, on the day of your graduation, you were tested on everything you’d ever learned.

I’d imagine you wouldn’t do very well on that test.

Because you’ve not actually used any of the knowledge that you’ve been “learning” over the years.

It’s just sitting there, not getting used. And if you’re not using it, you’re not really learning it.

And I find that people who are new to the “internet money” space tend to have this infatuation with a term widely known as “mental masturbation."

Mental masturbation is similar to the busy vs. productive discussion. Basically, work an 8-hour office job where you accomplish 2-3 small tasks each day or complete a 4-hour deep work session where you accomplish 5-6 meaningful tasks.

People who say they do SEO often just watch YouTube videos, scroll on X (Twitter), and LinkedIn, read books, and don’t practice anything.

And for that reason, those people are not SEOs.

Think about it this way:

I love listening to podcasts about ultra-marathon running and other endurance sports.

But that doesn’t make me an ultramarathon runner just because I listened to a podcast.

That's stupid.

Similarly, just because you watch YouTube videos, tweet, and read about SEO, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it.

It just means that you’re learning about it.

And this is a major gripe that I have with a few of the talking heads on Twitter and X.  

Now, don’t get me wrong...

Many of the talking heads have done SEO at one point in their lives, but they aren’t practicing anymore.

They don’t actually run websites anymore; they just talk.

Oftentimes, it’s about nothing.

The best SEO practitioners you’ll find often execute in silence. 

I know an SEO who has less than 50 followers on Twitter—I bet half of those are bots. He works for Fortune-100 companies, and his freelance retainers start at $20k/month. 

He's way better than most SEOs, including myself, who have hundreds and thousands of followers. 

What I'm trying to say is that:

Good SEO is better done than said. 

If you say you’re going to do something, then you actually have to do it. 

That is all for today.

Until next time,

Kai Cromwell