Here are just a few of the thousands -- yes, really, thousands -- of things I’ve written and published in my life:
Critical literary essays
Insurance guides used by Fortune 500 companies
About a dozen poems
Articles in trade magazines
eBooks published on Amazon
Massive case studies for blogs like this one
...and, of course, a sh*tload of SEO-driven articles for the web
In fact, the last time I took stock, I’d written and published close to 1,500 articles on various websites, all of which I’d classify as “SEO copywriting.” That’s not an exaggeration.
Here’s the crazy part, though: of those 1,500 articles, only about 200 were ones I wrote for myself -- for my own websites -- to make myself money.
The other 1,300 were written mostly for one giant website.
If you know me now, that probably sounds crazy. I’m a site builder. I hire writers. I don’t write stuff for other people.
Would Perrin really write 1,300 articles to make someone else money?
Yes, he would. And it’s kind of a funny story.
It starts with me moving to Chicago on a whim smack-dab in the middle of the 2008 recession. I won’t retell that story, since I’ve already told it in this blog post, but here’s the gist…
In 2008, there were basically no jobs -- especially if you were a young, fresh, 20-something college grad with an English degree. After sending out 700+ resumes, I got the crappiest sales job in the entire world and immediately started looking for a way out.
I found my escape route in an Craigslist ad.
“SEO Copywriter Wanted. $8hr.”
I applied, got the job, and took it despite the 50% pay cut.
In the first week, I was tossed into the proverbial deep end of SEO copywriting. Not only did I have to learn the ins and outs of the technical aspects, I had to start producing tons of content immediately.
We’re talking multiple articles per day on subjects that required ultra-deep research and that had to get past two hyper-strict editors whose comments on my work would often be longer than the article itself (literally).
It was as much of a trial by fire I’ve ever had in my life. Lots of writers didn’t make it past the first couple of weeks.
Did I make it? Well… More Info>>