One trip to the gym will not put you in shape nor will you lose weight. We all know this. So why do we expect the same results from other things in our life? My husband Tim and I have been marriage coaches in our community for several years and we often relate working on your marriage to working out at the gym.
To build a different life or to change something it has to be a consistent and continuous effort. To change old or bad habits we have to implement new habits and then stay consistent so that they actually do become a habit. The same goes for marriage, working out or losing weight; the more we stick to a plan even if we mess up from time to time, the better the overall result will be the longer you go.
SEO Should be Natural
The same is true for SEO. It is not a once and done, quick fix maneuver that will solve all of your problems and get you on the first page of Google within a week or two. I remember doing a blog post a couple of years ago about a client that put over $1000 a month into Facebook ads plus article writing, and hit it right out of the gate as fast as he could go, but because he didn't get as many clients as he thought within six months, he frazzled out, quit everything, and when into a different line of work. He did not put the consistent and long-term time into the job in order to get the reward.
You may have heard the term "good things come to those who wait" but I prefer the term "good things come to those who work their butts off and never give up." The beginning is always the hardest. Anything you work hard at will reward you and it's the things we work hard is for that will reward us the most.
This couldn't be more true for online marketing. Remember, whether you started 10 years ago or last week, if you were consistently at it, don't drop the ball, try not to let your actual day job get in the way too much of ongoing marketing. You will reap the benefits even though it does take time.
New to SEO?
For brand-new websites and those that just don't have a lot of online presence yet we always recommend pay-per-click marketing. This can get you into the market quickly, get you on the first page, and let the PPC system run the marathon for you while you are gearing up and exercising for the next sprint. Once you have a good basis of business from your PPC campaign, then you can start to back off a little bit and put money towards Facebook promotions, content marketing, and start building backlinks from guest posts, high domain and page authority places, social media postings, boosted and promoted posts across the inter-webs.
What about Black Hat?
Is it hard? Yes. Will it pay off? Eventually. Are there any shortcuts?… I'm going to say yes but they're not always a good thing. You can shortcut a lot of SEO work but it may not give you the reward you're looking for. A lot of black hat SEO can get you banned or penalized from Google and coming back from that can take a while.
So what should you not do?
- Spam everyone you know five times a day.
- Buy backlinks unless you are purchasing local citations or a one and done from a high domain authority website such as a press release or newspaper article.
- Post 30 times one week and then nothing for 2 to 3 weeks.
- Give up too soon.
Stick with it. Search engine optimization and online marketing is not easy, especially with the millions of competitors out there. There will always be someone that will spend more than you, work harder than you, and do more than you but there will also be thousands that do a lot less. Find your groove, get yourself into a habit, and find what works for you and then work it consistently.
More for the SEO-minded:
10 things to know before designing or redesigning your website
Do you want an SEO'd website or a pretty one?
Are you too busy to blog?
Can you really do your own SEO?
What do Yoda and real estate agents have in common?
Google wants content, but people get bored
Ranking Means Nothing If Your Conversion Rate Is Low
The hidden cost of getting and keeping a WordPress site
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