Why Websites That Say ‘Fuck It’ Do Better Long-Term

I go to a lot of sites each day.  I have them bookmarked, I read their blogs.  One thing that I’ve begun to notice more and more lately is how the really ‘good’ websites I go to will have great content.  They’ll put out some good ideas, often original, and they’ll make you think.

But the problem is I’ll go to my other favorite sites a week later and they’ll be saying the same thing as that other site.  This site is copying others, in a way, so that it can try and get traffic that the other site got.  They’re trying really hard, too hard.

I don’t try hard.  I say ‘fuck it,’ and let the chips fall where they will.  What, am I going to alienate readers?  WHAT READERS?  When sites finally decide that they’re not going to play nice, not do what the other schmucks are doing, and finally create something original, well, buckle your seat belt, that’s all I can say.

I can’t tell you how many times I see unoriginal content from sites.  If they’d just say ‘fuck it’ maybe they could finally write the piece that gets them that traffic.

Here are some recent examples of what sites are relying on too much, and how a ‘fuck it’ attitude could change that:

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• Headlines:  For some reason the idea of writing good headlines is getting a lot of traction right now.  I’ve seen a few sites do this, and then a week later everyone else is writing about headlines.  It seems like more thought is going into that than what you actually want the people to read.  Hey, I’ve got a headline for you: stop reading other sites and come up with an original thought!

• Social:  I’m getting so damn sick of hearing about social that I’m ready to take a fucking air horn, put it to my ear, and blow just so I can blast out my eardrums!  Now, I’m a bit biased because I sell books and social networking is often a black hole in that area.  I’m also a writer and thus, you guessed it, anti-social!  Plus Facebook makes me sick.
  

• Mobile:  You know that guy walking down the street in front of you like he’s got some stick up his ass?  Yeah, he’s probably checking out your site on mobile.  See that car wreck over there?  Yep, she just read your latest article.  There’s no question that mobile’s going to be important, but that doesn’t mean you need to tell me about it everyday.
  

• Mailing Lists:  You’d think that mailing lists are to the 21st century what dicks were for the rest of history.  Everyone wants to measure them against everyone else, seeing whose is bigger.  I’m gonna come out right now and say my mailing list is miniscule, soft, laughable, and doesn’t have much of a reach.  So get yours out of my face, will ya!
  

• Posting Frequency:  I hear this one all the time, and my second-most popular blog article each month covers blog posting frequency.  I used to think this was important, and I still think it is for new sites.  But you know what? At this point I could really care less.  People visit my site each day, around 300 to 500.  Not too much, that’s for sure.  Most are new visitors so they can look through all the old stuff.  Old visitors, well, fuck you: comment if you want to hear about something specific!
  

• Link-Building:  Jesus!  I know that this is one of the most important things for sites today and will be in 2014.  Hell, I just wrote a book for someone about 100 link-building strategies!  Let me tell you; I hate link-building.  I could give a fuck about it and I’m not going to be bothered with it.  Yeah, I guess I’ve just confined myself to blog traffic hell.  No biggy; I’ll have more time to write original articles.
  
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• Analytics:  Oh boy, 500 people came to my site yesterday!  Yeah, but they only stayed for 1 minute and 45 seconds, as you can see from your bounce rate.  I used to pore over analytics reports, but I found out I’d rather just write new content.  Yeah, another way to shoot myself in the foot, eh?
  

If you’ve gotten this far you’re probably thinking this guy’s lost it, another blog is about to bit the dust.  Yeah, that could be the case.  Mainly though I’m just tired of continuing on as I have been.

I’ve noticed my writing style on this blog has changed considerably over the past couple week, and honestly, I think it’ll only get worse.  Small sites have the luxury to say ‘fuck it’ because they have little traffic, no customer base, few if any comments, and no income to worry about.

And when your site says ‘fuck it,’ well, you just might be creating all those worries for yourself.  So say ‘fuck it’ today and start writing something I haven’t read at 20 other sites!