Thank you all for subscribing to my newsletter, I told myself I would start writing here more when I figured out what to actually say. I have been in head-down work mode for the past 8 months and thought I would share the things I have learned along the way.
When I started Grapplers Graveyard I did not foresee the amount of growth I could have in a short period of time, especially on Instagram. It was abundantly clear that on IG and TikTok the niche was popular and people loved the content but as Bull has stated in the past, followers do not always equate to money.
Running a content site has been a completely new experience for me. I have made many mistakes along the way and want to share those with you so you can learn and not do the same things I did. In this post, I will be going over the mistakes that I have made to this point and some wins that came along the way.
Mistakes I Made in the Beginning
Stop Being Cheap
Buy the tools you need in the beginning. If you are serious about this you are going to end up spending the money anyways. Ahrefs and Surfer are necessities for those looking to build a website that ranks for search inquiries, this is not an exaggeration. I thought I could bypass this by using free tools in the beginning. Free can only get you so far and if I were to go back and tell myself something it would be to spend the money.
As we speak I am going to have to go back to almost 75+ articles and essentially rewrite them so they are as optimized as they can be. This may turn out to be a blessing since the article has aged but I may have had drastically different traffic reports if I had done it properly from the start.
I have a ton of normie tendencies that I am working very hard to break. Being cheap was one of them and at this point, I feel much more comfortable with it.
I now pay for a number of services at this point and don’t even bat an eye when I have to hire outside of my capabilities. You have to be willing to invest in your business.
You’ll buy some dog coin shilled to you on Twitter but you won’t go and buy something that can make you multiples? Think about it, it does not make sense to be cheap.
I Sucked at SEO
Looking back on my first 25 articles was a trip. I was horrible at this whole SEO thing and had zero idea what I was doing. The SEO and written content on my first 25 posts were horrible and pretty embarrassing to read but in there I saw the person that was determined to move the needle forward on this business.
The most important part of wifi money is starting and pushing past this period of sucking ass at a new skill. Eventually, you will catch on to what works and how to formulate articles, and how to be a wizard with WordPress. I don’t think I am completely there yet but after 176 posts I am damn near close.
Index Pages - Google Search Console
Probably the most embarrassing part about this process was having to reach out to Tetra to ask why my posts were not getting indexed and finding out I just kept on submitting the home page thinking that it would index all my posts. Easily one of the most smooth-brained moments of my life but looking back at it its kind of funny.
I had about 75 posts that had not been indexed to Google. Be sure to follow these steps after posting content:
Submit the URL to Google
Add the Keyword to your tracker
Internally link the post
Wasting Time on Analytics and Affiliate Dashboards
I was so obsessed with “making this thing work” that I kept all the abs open on all my programs that I was in just to refresh them every morning hoping to see my first commission when I had zero traffic and an ugly-ass website.
Don’t be me.
Backlinking
Start reaching out for backlinks from day one. Find the established sites in your niche and start to connect with them in some way. I have found that guest posts have been excellent ways to build my organic backlink profile. To date I have about 20 live guest posts on other websites that are related to my niche.
You should also be buying some backlinks when necessary. Tetra has written extensively about this topic and highly suggests that you go to his substack to read more about that.
The Importance of Just Pulling the Trigger
The best thing I did was just start. I have always had an issue with following through and sticking with things for long periods of time prior to starting Grappler’s Graveyard. I am currently going back and updating all my old posts that were not properly optimized and have found a sense of gratitude that even though I had no idea what I was doing I pushed through and ended up creating over 100 articles in less than 6 months.
I look back on it and it’s nuts to think I did that just off sheer will.
If you are starting out the first thing you must secure is a good W2 job to fund your wifi biz. If I did not work in sales, I don’t think I would have been able to push through. I have invested thousands at this point and see myself consistently putting more in, locking in the strong W2.
Once that is secure, buy your domain and just start. I did zero research on my topic before I started. The only thing I did was listen to Opossum and Tetra through their Substack and got to work.
Vision for Grapplers Graveyard
Grappler’s Graveyard is the first wifi business that I see myself building and I am so happy that I started this journey. The rush I get from just building something and putting my full effort into something with growth potential is second to none.
As my traffic begins to scale I see Grapplers Graveyard turning into an e-commerce brand selling all kinds of products from natural soaps to athletic gear. Maybe as I grow as a BJJ athlete this will turn into a physical location thing with NFT passes of some sort but for now, that is the way in the back of my mind. Right now I am spending almost all my time updating old articles and seeing how that will impact my traffic/rankings on Google.
Slowly but surely things are moving in the right direction.
Building a Discord
Grapplers Graveyard is going to turn into a large digital community for people who either train in combat sports or are interested in sports in general. Right now, I have a small discord with less than 10 members in it that I do not really advertise.
If you want to come to join and join the conversation I would love to see you there!
Hope this was helpful for those that are looking to ride down this journey! I am always available on Twitter so never hesitate to reach out.
Keep it up bro! Nice work.