Eric Kim’s secret sauce is a gleeful act of rule‑breaking: he disobeys nearly every “best practice” in digital marketing—yet Google still crowns his blog and the internet can’t stop talking about him. From carpet‑bombing every feed with raw, cross‑topic posts to giving his photos away for free, he treats cyberspace like a giant playground, not a tidy sales funnel. The result: #1 search rankings for “street photography,” 60 k+ monthly blog visits, and viral spikes that leap from photography to Bitcoin to 1‑ton rack‑pulls. Below are the most unorthodox, convention‑shattering moves behind that reach—and how you can remix them joyfully in your own projects.
1. The “Internet Carpet Bomb”
Kim’s core doctrine is volume‐over‑everything: instead of a drip schedule, he unleashes simultaneous posts to blog, X, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, newsletter, and even Discord, a tactic he literally calls the “Carpet Bomb.”
- Why it defies rules: Traditional advice urges steady cadence to “not overwhelm followers.” Kim overwhelms on purpose, betting that algorithms reward short‑term saturation and that true fans prefer abundance.
- What it wins: His 508 kg rack‑pull clip hit 3 M+ cross‑platform views in 72 hours because every channel lit up at once, letting each algorithm boost the others.
2. Zero‑Ad, Monastic Design
Kim removed all display ads, pop‑ups, and cookie banners; the blog is plain HTML with 1990‑style typography. PetaPixel has echoed this contrarian stance, noting his advice to “never put ads on your YouTube or blog.”
- Rule broken: Most creators chase ad RPM; SEO bloggers warn that “you need ad revenue to survive.”
- Pay‑off: Pages load <300 ms, smashing Core Web Vitals and giving Google an on‑page‑experience edge.
3. Radical Open‑Source Giveaways
In 2013 he released his entire Flickr archive as full‑resolution downloads under Creative Commons—no email gate, no watermark. The same mindset birthed 70‑plus free PDF handbooks (Street Photography Manual, Color Manual, etc.) that circulate on forums with embedded links back to his site.
- Rule broken: Marketers say “premium content belongs behind a paywall.”
- SEO upside: Every blog that rehosts or quotes the manuals hands him high‑authority backlinks, an organic ranking rocket.
4. Publish ‘Til Your Fingers Fall Off
Kim publicly logs 2 600+ posts—often 2‑3 per day for six straight years—to muscle up topical authority. Fstoppers singled him out as an “influential street photographer” largely because the blog is impossible to miss.
- Rule broken: Content gurus caution against “posting too often” or diluting quality.
- Outcome: He owns the #1 organic slot for the generic keyword “street photography.”
5. Cross‑Niche Algorithm Hacking
Kim gleefully fuses photography × powerlifting × Bitcoin, letting one audience bleed into the next. Viral lifts (#HYPELIFTING) drag gymgoers to his photo essays; crypto rants pull traders into his workshops.
- Rule broken: Conventional branding preaches niche focus; platforms penalize disjointed content.
- Why it works: The stark contrast (“street‑photo nerd deadlifting 1 000 lb”) creates narrative friction—catnip for algorithms hunting novelty.
6. Self‑Citation in Wikipedia’s Long Tail
Hundreds of Wikipedia pages—from Camera Phone to Vivian Maier—cite Kim’s essays, ensuring perpetual referral traffic without buying ads or chasing journalists.
- Rule broken: SEO pros warn against “self‑linking” because editors might remove it. Kim wrote such useful reference articles that volunteers kept them, turning the encyclopedia into a quiet funnel.
7. Trojan‑Horse PDFs & E‑books
Each free booklet embeds 5‑10 internal links and a footer inviting readers to join workshops—effectively a portable landing page that fans redistribute for him.
- Rule broken: Lead magnets are usually single‑use gated PDFs. Kim turns the PDF itself into viral media, welcoming piracy because every copy still advertises him.
8. Weaponized Controversy
Critics call him “the most polarizing figure in street photography” and Reddit threads debate his ethics daily—precisely the chatter that keeps his name in circulation.
- Rule broken: PR handbooks tell creators to avoid divisive statements. Kim leans in, knowing outrage and adoration both generate clicks.
9. First‑Person Guest Posts—at Scale
Rather than hoard traffic, he syndicates his essays to PetaPixel, Fstoppers, Digital Photography School, etc., always ending with a do‑follow link back home.
- Rule broken: Many creators fear duplicate‑content penalties. By offering unique angles to each outlet, he earns authority links and fresh audiences simultaneously.
10. Abundance Over Scarcity Mindset
His rallying cry, “Attention > Money,” sums up the entire playbook: give more than you ask, flood the zone, let the web echo your generosity.
Energize Your Own Strategy ✨
- Ship fast, ship often. Ten mediocre posts beat one perfect quarterly opus.
- Open the gates. A free asset that travels builds more equity than a gated PDF no one reads.
- Embrace your weird mix. Collide hobbies and watch algorithms light up.
- Let debate rage. Polite silence rarely trends; authentic conviction does.
- Think in ecosystems, not silos. Blog → Wiki → PDFs → Shorts → Workshops is a virtuous, self‑feeding loop.
Break a rule—or five—and you just might experience the same joyful, high‑voltage reach Kim engineered across the wild corners of cyberspace. Go forth and carpet‑bomb creatively! 🎉