Why I spent $1,545 on SEO courses.
I just spent $1,545 on SEO courses.
Is $1,545 a lot of money? Yes.
Is $1,545 relatively a lot of money? If I do what I say I'm going to, hopefully not.
Here’s why.
Overcommitting forces me to do something.
If I know there's something I want to do, but for whatever reason, I am hesitant about taking the next step, I overcommit by doing the one thing I otherwise try and avoid. I spend money — enough to make it hurt.
After some initial success launching my DTC brand, Liip, I overcommitted by ordering 10,000 lip balm tubes because I knew that would make me take it seriously and turn it into a business. I did it again with Liip when I started paying for ads before I knew how to run them so I would learn how to do it profitably.
If I didn't overcommit, I know I would spend too much time thinking, researching, and analyzing whatever I want to do to the point that it's no longer interesting to me or I've missed the opportunity.
So, for me, I sometimes simply need to force myself to commit to what I say I want to do by raising the stakes and putting some money on the line.
Right now, that's how I'm learning SEO.
And I don't just want to learn it, but start implementing it so I can make my money back.
Ideally, I'll earn back quite a bit more than my $1,545 investment. The upside could be limitless.
My plan is to use Liip as a playground to test what I learn and prove to myself I can do this kind of work. Then eventually, I'll offer SEO and content marketing services to other companies. Doing this is another step in my evolution as I work toward what I really want to be doing.
My path toward SEO and content marketing.
I got into advertising because I wanted to learn how to grow businesses.
Now, I've seen a lot of the creative side and how to produce work, but the problem with agencies is that they don't want to be tied to revenue or growth goals because it's never a sure thing if their work is going to affect the bottom line or not. But with SEO and content marketing, I think I can do that where the content I create can be directly attributed to revenue and the metrics that signal business growth.
So, that's why I'm doing this, and I'll get there eventually, but first, here are the courses I bought, why I chose them, and how I'm going to put them to work.
And, like I said, I've worked at advertising agencies for over seven years. First, as a project manager, and more recently, as a content strategist.
The only reason I bring this up is to say I'm not entirely unfamiliar with content marketing and SEO, just that I don't have a ton of experience creating and implementing it myself. Which is what I'm trying to fix with these courses.
Three reasons why I choose paid courses over resources I could find for free.
One. I know I can probably find all of the info in these courses online for free. I don't doubt that for a second. But I also know I would probably have to spend a lot more time searching for it and having to decide for myself what's reputable or not. Paying for this information gives me a shortcut to validated, high-quality content. The point is to implement these strategies as fast as possible, not just reading and thinking.
Second. I could have picked one of these courses to start with and then gotten another once I completed the first. And if I were just starting or unsure if I wanted to do this, then that'd be the way to go. But I know this is what I want to do, and by having these three courses, I've defined a curriculum and removed having to make decisions about how I will learn. Knowing where my information is coming from means, I won't have to think about anything other than going through the courses and practicing what I'm learning.
Third. The whole point of this article. I'm committed. Now it's on me to figure this out and make my investment worthwhile.
My SEO curriculum.
For what it's worth, I did take one SEO course, Nat Eliason's SEO for Solopreneurs, earlier this year before I purchased these other three. So I did do the thing I said above about starting with one to see if this is something I'd want to explore further. That and I've been reading a bunch of free articles, which I'll have to share the best of another time.
I guess I got to a point where if I wanted to take this seriously, I would have to do something to get to the next level.
So here are the three courses I bought, why I chose them, and what I hope to get out of them.
Also, they're in the order I'm going to take them if that matters to you.
Lean SEO by Pat Walls - $249.
I first heard about Pat Walls and Lean SEO on the 30 Minutes of Growth podcast a few months ago.
I'd been thinking about trying out content marketing with Liip but wasn't sure how much time or money I'd need to invest if I wanted to do it right. But, from my work experience and a general sense of things, it seemed like it'd be a lot. And mainly a lot of time because I wasn't going to pay other people to write for me. At least not yet. I like writing, and I think I'm ok to somewhat good at it, but it's something I have to work at as it doesn't come easily to me.
So when I heard Pat Walls talking about his Lean SEO method, I was intrigued.
His idea to take the minimum viable product concept from startups and adapt it to content made sense to me.
Lean SEO is a content strategy that runs minimum viable content tests for 30 days. After which, you evaluate how things are going, tweak what you can, cut what's not working, and double down on what is.
The point is to not waste time on things you don't know will work or not.
I know SEO is a long game, but as I'm just getting started, the quicker I can see results in my analytics, the better, which is exactly what Lean SEO promises to teach. Not that it will guarantee results, but that I will learn a framework to quickly and effectively test and validate my content ideas.
SEO Blueprint 2 by Glen Allsopp - $597.
In addition to growing my businesses, part of the reason I'm doing this is to start freelancing again and be able to offer SEO and content marketing services to clients.
I think the easiest and most low-risk way to do that is to offer SEO audits which won't take me a lot of time and aren't a significant investment for a client. Audits are great because, most often, they will always reveal some number of actionable quick wins that make the investment worth it.
I can also give audits away for free as a way into opportunities if they're interesting to me. This makes audits the best tactic I have for getting more into this kind of work.
Now, there's much more to SEO Blueprint 2 that I'm excited to learn, but there's a whole section on auditing that I think will make this entire course worth it as it will give me the ability to confidently start offering audits I know people will get value from.
After looking at the structure of the courses, I'll probably do the beginning sections of SEO Blueprint 2 and then switch over to the next course, Grow and Convert, before coming back to the second half of SEO Blueprint 2.
SEO Blueprint 2 has sections on content creation, but it seems the real value is in the technical SEO modules. That, and because I want to learn the Grow and Convert Paint Point SEO content strategy. I think their bottom of the funnel focus is exactly the type of content I need to know how to create to generate the business outcomes I want to achieve.
Grow and Convert Course - $699.
The Grow and Convert blog is full of incredibly detailed posts, and I'm sure a lot of what's in their course can be found here for free.
But knowing that, I still paid seven hundred dollars for their course for these three reasons.
First, if the quality of their free content indicates what I can expect inside the course, then I know this will be worth it. And while I said most everything seems to be available for free, I'm looking for insight into the framework and ways to think. So, while they outline their Pain Point SEO strategy in this blog post, I'm hoping they get more into the nuance and insights they've learned from implementing this strategy over time. Whatever mistakes they've made and can help me avoid will be a bonus.
Second, the course is structured around case studies. And not just their projects but their work for clients across different industries. They're not just showing one example and expecting me to understand how it applies to my business. Instead, they show examples of how it works for B2B, B2C, SaaS, Services, and eCommerce businesses. Doing this proves the strategy is adaptable and not just something that worked once or works in specific instances. I'm confident I, too, will be able to learn the method and apply it.
Then lastly, and this is the most important reason for me, the Grow and Convert philosophy is about creating content that positively impacts a business's bottom line. Their success is determined by their ability to help their clients achieve their business goals. So not only are they aligned with the brand, they're incentivized to produce work that moves them forward.
At this point, I've gone from a broader start with the initial course, SEO for Solopreneurs, and gotten much more tactical with Lean SEO, SEO Blueprint 2, and Grow and Convert.
What I hope to learn.
The purpose of this curriculum is to acquire the knowledge, skill set, and tools to start freelancing again with a specific offering and eventually turn it into a complete, done-for-you content marketing agency capable of launching and growing businesses.
The main things I hope to learn from each of these courses to help me achieve that are:
I want to learn a lightweight testing framework with Lean SEO.
I want to learn how to deliver valuable content audits with SEO Blueprint 2.
I want to learn how to create content that moves people to purchase with Grow and Convert.
Running my own business has always been the vision I've had for my career, and I'm finally taking control and doing what I need to to make it happen. So this isn't step one, but it's the next step after seven years of working at advertising agencies and learning the business.
What I know about courses.
All that said, I think it's important to acknowledge these courses won't make a difference on their own. I could go through them, and nothing could change.
Instead, it's what I do with the information that matters.
It's up to me to make this worth it and create the outcome I want.
So, while these courses aren't a shortcut, I'm glad I have them to teach me the frameworks I should work within.
That's why overcommitting only works when you know what you want to do.
When to overcommit.
You shouldn't overcommit to something you're not sure about.
Overcommit only when there's something you know you want to do but still find yourself not getting started. Overcommitting forces you into action by putting something on the line. For me, it's spending money. Though spending money might not be what does it for you. You'll have to figure out whatever your thing is.
So that's why I spent $1,545 on SEO courses.
I knew I wanted to do this, and I was tired of avoiding it or making excuses like I didn't have enough time or whatever else I'd been telling myself. I knew if I didn't do something soon, I'd lose my motivation and look back six months from now, wishing I'd started when I wanted to.
Overcommitting has worked for me in the past, and I know it will work again with this.
It's the one life hack I've found that helps me skip the busy work and do the things that matter.
