
Some writers still waste their time running or starting a website blog.
They think they’re gonna become Tim Ferriss or Mark Manson because of their website and get a Penguin Random House book deal that turns into a New York Times Best Selling book. LOL.
Someone forgot to tell these writers the bad news. Few people visit website blogs anymore. They’re boring as hell.
When was the last time you got excited to visit a website? When did you last share your favorite website with someone?
Probably not for 5 years.
Websites suck because most of them are static. We get excited, put up a website, and update it every few years. There’s usually some cringe writer bio and photo. And a thousand buttons to click.
Then the user sees your store. It’s full of half-baked products and services that are always open and give people zero motivation to take action. Everyone needs to stop thinking about building a website.
There’s a better way.
The #1 problem every writer has
Let’s cut the crap.
The problem we all have is getting more readers to read our work. Creating a website does nothing to fix that.
A website published on the internet that no one can find is useless. And Google has zero incentive to promote your precious website. They’d rather show ads and make money while censoring information and labelling it misinformation.
Websites are a ghost town.
Even if someone does find your website the chance they come back is close to zero. The behavior of humans has changed.
We don’t wake up in the morning excited to find a website hidden between billions of others by randomly playing Google Search roulette. Nope.
We wake up and open one of about 10 apps. Those apps are where we consume content. And those apps don’t have your precious website that you’ve been playing with the design of since you were in diapers.
Another big trend made websites even more useless
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is becoming less relevant.
I built an 8-figure eCommerce business in my 20s thanks to SEO. I always knew it would die off over time. Why?
SEO is manipulation.
You spam-post content to your website and stuff it with keywords. You try to trick google into believing your website has authority and you’re legit.
Every month there are new SEO tricks. Google tries to stop people gaming the system but they haven’t succeeded in 20 years.
What this means for the user is they go to google dot com in their choir gown to search some beautiful godly topic and what they get is:
Useless AI answer as the first result
A bunch of ads
Followed by some websites that have little to do with their search query
Even if you do get an answer to a question with google, the answer is what a 5th grader would give you. There’s no depth. Google doesn’t understand nuance.
Unfortunately, google has also been caught doing heavy censorship by suppressing topics about things like, I don’t know, a certain orange man election winner.
Free speech is now the trend. Google is out of fashion and wearing 80s acrobatic activewear to prom night.
AI smacks google search over the head and shouts “say my name b*tch”
Since ChatGPT, Claude, and others came on the scene google has lost even more mind-share
Why ask google a question flooded with ads when you can ask AI and have a conversation with it?
AI is smarter, faster, and gives you real insight. There’s less clutter and it’s just a better experience. As this trend continues less people will search google.
This trend has been accelerated now that TikTok, Amazon, X, and others have become their own search engines. For example, when the wife and I want to find a low-status restaurant to eat at, we search Instagram.
Why? We want to see photos of the food before we waste our time. And we want to read feedback from real humans who’ve eaten there.
Google is no longer the main search game in town. Their monopoly is broken and that’s better for humans.
The solution is stupidly simple
Your social media profile is now your website.
Yep. You already have one on one of the main platforms. That’s where you write, share your ideas, and post photos.
No extra work. No need to hire an expensive website designer and fund his next Lambo purchase. No need for SEO algorithm gods to tell you which way the wind is heading according to google.
I love social media because it’s updated in real time and all the design decisions are already made for you. All you have to do is show and post. What’s more important is social media is where the people are.
If you go where the people are it’s easier to succeed online. Distribution matters more than a good idea, or god forbid, a pretty looking website no can ever find.
Write daily on one social media platform. Build a subscriber base. Watch it change your life.
Do websites bore the hell out of you too? Let me know in the comments below.
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A website can be static, or it can be a statement.
Social media gets you seen, but a website makes you remembered.
To be a writer is to claim your own space and in the minds of those who seek depth.
Write to be followed.
I think you have picked one aspect of websites to criticize and then argued it applies to everything websites do. I use them all the time. The point of them is to 1) provide information and reference material that is relevant to inquiry; 2) facilitate action - such as deepening the relationship by taking you somewhere to subscribe or connect or buy. It’s not either or, it’s both/all properly used.