
The structure of this book follows the idea of former Harvard psychology professor and LSD-guru Timothy Leary. In 1967 Leary uttered the line “turn on, tune in, drop out” to the Be-In, a peace and music festival of 30,000 in San Francisco.
According to Leary’s own recollections he first heard the phrase from the philosopher Marshall McLuhan over lunch in New York. McLuhan’s ideas and how they apply to SEO will be discussed in the book’s last chapter. For now, a good question would be what does this mean and why the hell are we using it?
This is the template for this book and the template you should follow going forth in 2014. Turn on to what’s happening now in regard to SEO. Tune in by creating content which conforms to those principles. And finally drop out by charting your own course that puts you on a path to your own future.
C’mon! This Book is a Put-On and You Know It!
Part I – Turn On
Finding Your Big Brother: The first chapter discusses a lot of the terms in this book and should help you find sites you can follow, learn from, and then move past.
SEO as Science, SEO as Art: In this section we’ll take a look at some of the basic principles of SEO, many coming from copywriting, and some of the ways it more resembles art.
Content Curators: Today’s Bodhisattvas: This chapter discusses how important it is for you to find curation sites that will give you loads of content quickly, saving you time and resources for more important pursuits.
Multiple Landing Pages and Traffic Conundrums: Here we’ll discuss the power of landing pages and how you can tap into those you didn’t even know you had.
Exit Pages Give You Value: Lots of people hate the pages that people exit on, but the truth is you can learn a lot about what your visitors don’t like, and how you can turn things around as a result.
How the Hell Do I Close This Ad?: For many pop-up advertisements are a great source of cash and contacts. For most users they’re just a source of consternation. This chapter discusses them in a way that could give you pause.
Social Media and the Urge to Share Too Much: Ever regret letting that friend into your life, you know, the one that shares too much? Well that’s how a lot of people are thinking of you, and here’s what you can do about it.
Video Blogs, Pod Casts and…Puppy Videos?: Reading just takes too much time, and besides, the medium is just all wrong. That’s how lots of people subconsciously think, and videos will only grow in popularity.
Guest Posts: The Best Advertising You’ll Never Buy: You don’t have to join the lecture circuit to get your message across and come off as an authority in your field – that’s what guest posts are for!
Part II – Tune In
Why’s Your Website Telling Me to ‘Go Fuck Myself?’: That’s what you’re telling me when I come over and you’ve got nothing new for me. What, are we supposed to just read over the old content and pretend this never happened? Jeez, give your hours of operation at least!
Writing a Website’s Mission Statement: Most companies do it, and most governments at least try. So why aren’t you doing it with your site? Hey, maybe they’ll frame it in bulletproof glass one day!
Always Be Increasing Blog Traffic: I think this chapter kind of speaks for itself, but judging from how many sites out there are actively trying not to increase their traffic, I thought it could be discussed once again.
Editing Your Website Long-term: Your site’s like a tree – growing and branching out. Sometimes you’ve got to get in there with the pruning shears and cut out all the dead wood. When Google’s your neighbor this is a good idea.
How You Can Get Your Blog to 100 Posts Fast: If you can get your site up to 100 posts you can really do anything with it. It might seem like a small number but this milestone is one most will never see.
Part III – Drop Out
Why Websites That Say ‘Fuck It’ Do Better Long-term: Are you going to do what others tell you to do for the rest of your life? This chapter discusses ways to begin pushing the envelope while targeting in on your goals.
Panda’s, Penguins and Hummingbirds…Shit: Each year Google releases another beast from their growing menagerie. Many lose focus and waste time chasing the tails of these critters, only to do it again the next year. Is that really how you want to be spending your time?
Sun Tzu and the Art of SEO: This Chinese General was always busy kicking ass and taking names, exactly what you should be doing with your content and mailing list. In this chapter the General’s own words will be applied to SEO.
Ditching Advertising Short-term for Long-term Gains: If you’re doing anything right you’ve asked yourself many times if advertising is worth it. Perhaps it is, but maybe now’s not the time, and this chapter discusses why.
The Untapped Power of Blog Comments: Nothing can unravel a great SEO campaign like one bad blog comment. Few options allow you to get your message to so many for so long. This chapter will analyze what blog comments can do for you.
Throwing the Rulebook Out the Window: There are lots of common assumptions about SEO. Many are good, many are dangerous long-term. This chapter looks at ways those rules can be broken.
The Anti-Intellectual Backlash to the Global Village: Here we’ll analyze the thoughts of Richard Hofstadter and Marshall McLuhan and how their principles of education and communications can be applied to SEO
Conclusion – The Night They Drove Old Thought Leaders Down: Here we’ll discuss the cyclical nature of communication and democratization and how our own attempts to attract an intelligent and engaged audience are at risk from the very content we’re creating.
Pretty far out, huh? Buy it today!