Okay this has to be the most bizarre comparison I’ve made regarding organic traffic… but give me a chance and hopefully you’ll see I can justify it! To be honest I’m not the first person make a connection between the challenges of growing organic traffic and horticulture. However, I’ve yet to see anyone draw a comparison between growing organic traffic and wasabi specifically!
Perhaps you know otherwise.
So why have I chosen wasabi especially? The simple reason is that experts generally consider wasabi to be one of the most difficult plants to cultivate. It requires very specific conditions to grow, and unlike most other plants, wasabi simply dies if its environment is not correct.
Growing organic traffic is also a challenging pursuit, since like wasabi it requires very specific conditions. It’s a sensitive creature that requires an enormous amount of care and attention. For many people it’s something they won’t achieve because they’ll give up before their traffic grows.
So let’s look at wasabi and then I’ll come onto why I feel it’s valid to compare it to growing organic traffic.
What is Wasabi?
Wasabi is in the same family of plants as horseradish and is native to Japan. It grows naturally in only a few places as it requires very specific conditions. It is notoriously difficult to grow, and as a result it’s a commodity that is very scarce outside of Japan. Hence we tend to eat a synthesized version of it outside of Japan!
Most of us know wasabi from our visits to sushi restaurants. However the truth is, it’s not real wasabi, but a synthesis of it: actually horseradish is most often used for this. Even the color of the wasabi paste we order is added to make it look like the real deal!
Since it’s so difficult to grow and because real wasabi is so scarce, it’s very expensive. In 2019 Business Insider estimated wasabi costs to be around $250 per kilo! Perhaps there’s an opportunity for a well-paid side-hustle, for anyone who likes a challenge!
The Similarities Between Growing Organic Traffic & Growing Wasabi
Environment is Important for growth
In order to grow wasabi you have to create the exact conditions, within which it can flourish. It needs:
- Humid environment.
- Temperate climate, without high or lows.
- Shade.
- Steady supply of fresh water supplying the nutrients it requires.
- Soil that drains well.
Organic traffic shares a similar sensitivity to its environment. In order for it to grow, it requires the following:
- Fast and reliable web host.
- Well coded and robust website.
- Promotion.
- Regular and consistent supply of fresh content.
- Interface that responds well to different devices.
If the environment isn’t right, your organic traffic will not grow… and neither will your wasabi!
Your site must load quickly, running well-written code without delivering problematic errors. Your host has to be lightening fast and your code as lean as possible. Search engines reward sites that load quickly and it’s no secret that page load speed is an important ranking signal.
Updating your site regularly with unique and high quality content is also vitally important. You need a regular supply of nutritious content to encourage people and search engines to return for other interesting nuggets you’ve posted.
But how does anyone ever get to hear about your latest posts if they don’t know about them? Content needs promotion, and lots of it, but not the type that gets you a Google SEO penalty!
It Takes Time to Grow Organic Traffic & Wasabi
One of the things deterring potential wasabi farmers is time. It takes each plant two years to produce wasabi rhizomes*: the point at which they are suitable for harvesting. If you decided to try your hand at growing wasabi but didn’t know this detail beforehand, you’d be mighty miserable after a few hard months of commitment and constant TLC. You’d also likely quit trying to grow them immediately.
Organic traffic is very much like this. Assuming you’re doing all the right things, it’ll take at least a year to see any green shoots suggesting growth. You have to nurture organic traffic throughout this time and create an environment where it can flourish. Without the required commitment and TLC it simply won’t grow.
For anyone not understanding this before starting out, it’s easy to hang up their tools and give up.
But it’s not just time that’s important to grow organic traffic and wasabi. Continually maintaining the right conditions over the long term is what makes growth possible.
*Rhizomes are the roots used to make wasabi paste.
Without Care Wasabi & Organic Traffic Growth are Prone to Rot
One of the biggest problems of growing wasabi is it is highly prone to disease when grown in large quantities. This is generally attributed to the difficulty of maintaining a perfect environment over a large area.
Diseased wasabi plants pass on infirmity very quickly to their neighbours. Without fast remedial action, infection can spread like wildfire. Imagine committing your time, effort and investment for 18 months only to lose your entire crop in a matter of weeks.
Something similar can happen with your organic traffic if you don’t stay focused and keep your environment well tended. Tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help you detect problems and respond quickly.
It’s also highly important to play by the rules and not do anything that causes search engines to see what you’re doing as rotten. If you don’t adhere to search engine guidelines, there’s a good chance they’ll smell something bad and kill your organic traffic by pulling your site out of their indexes.
Nobody wants that… except your competitors!
Organic Traffic & Wasabi are Highly Valuable
I’ve mentioned that wasabi is a very fussy plant, and supply of the rhizomes is scarce and expensive.
Organic traffic too is a scare resource to a certain extent. There are only so many people making searches for any given keyword, and there is a great deal of competition to rank in search results in the positions that tend to drive visits.
There’s also a sense that organic traffic is free. This is simply not true! While you never pay directly for organic traffic, there is a substantial cost involved in growing it. That cost is time and effort… and perhaps patience too!
Organic traffic is HIGHLY valuable since it’s the gift that keeps on giving… so long as you’re doing the right work to keep your site ranking. That means making sure your environment is suitable for growth, producing great content and promoting it correctly over a sustained period.
Summary
Growing organic traffic is a long haul game, throughout which you have to tend to your environment with a great deal of care and attention.
You need to ensure you’re providing the right environmental conditions:
- The right platform for it to grow.
- Regularly feed it with high-quality content.
- Promote your content (without upsetting search engines).
- Keep your eye out for potential problems.
You’ll also need to do all of the above with a great deal of commitment and love.
If this sounds like a challenge you can take on, in a year’s time you might start reaping a bumper harvest of organic traffic!
That’s it for me… for now!
Paul
Over to you! Drop me a comment and let me know what you think about this post!
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