10 ridiculously simple tips I wish I knew about building an audience when I first started:

I mostly winged it 🤫

Let me share my lessons so you don't have to:

(a thread 🧵)

1/ Switch from being a consumer to a creator

If your default is opening social media and binging on updates from others, there's a problem. The world needs to know what YOU can offer, and I believe everyone can add value. So first, switch to intentionally becoming a creator.

2/ Start very small and build "Atomic habits"

Most beginner creators people aim too far high and crash. It never works for me. Instead choose tiny habits like 2 tweets a day in the morning. Or 1 video for Youtube. Or 1 short essay each day on Substack. Optimize for consistency.

3/ Pick one social platform to create and stick with it

What comes naturally to you? Writing your thoughts, choose Twitter. Editing interesting footage and layering a voice-over? Choose Youtube. Short essays? Choose Substack. Pick one and stick with it for at last 1 month.

4/ Find your niche

Don't focus on big bold segments with hundreds of active prolific creators already fishing. Find specific audiences and move towards them.

I was a no-code maker in 2018 so that niche came naturally. Later, I expanded to the community niche. Now #buildinpublic

Last month, 250k people visited https://t.co/nkcmLxbhzC, mostly from Google search.

Here are some things I've learned about SEO:

1. Second-and-third-order consequences

SEO is a "mind game" of second-and-third-order consequences. The work you do today will not yield results immediately.

Write an article, publish it, and then get no results. This makes you think you "did it wrong". Most people quit here.

Just go in with the expectation that you won't see results for six months after publish.

Instead of getting discouraged, just write more and publish more. By the time you published your 20th article, you might start finally seeing the results of your first.

2. SEO industry is mostly BS

Try to avoid SEO experts and industry nonsense, they are mostly distractions.

*Examples of distractions*: Google algorithm updates, schema markup, page speed, meta tags.

Do you think you’re smarter than Google’s algorithm? Maybe today, definitely not tomorrow.

Write and publish compelling content that answers the searcher’s query. That’s it!

@Moz:

The contemporary idea in online business is that you need to build an audience, get to know their needs, and then build something they want.

It's focused a lot on *who* you serve. (Who are these people? Do they have money? Where do they hang out?)

But is this the best way? 👉