If there is just one obscure fact that you should know about me, it is that I love reading the auto-biographies of sports stars. I’ve always found it incredibly intriguing to read the athletes true stories, discovering the soaring highs and the shattering lows that have brought them to where they are today. The lessons and the insights that can be learnt from these other people’s experiences are invaluable, and can often be translated into many facets of life. Surprisingly, they can even be adapted to SEO.
There is one particular quote that has been etched into my mind for a very long time. I can’t remember what book it was from, or even what sport they played. Nevertheless, the quote goes a little something like – ‘Those who fail to measure fail to manage’. At the time I saw this, I honestly didn’t understand what the quote meant or why on earth my sporting hero would even be saying it. However, as time has gone by I’ve come to not only understand the quote, but to also appreciate this little gem.
Those who have performed SEO on a website before will know that it is quite a painstaking task. Just like sports, a Search Engine Optimization campaign requires a unique combination of skill, discipline and determination in order to succeed. It can be quite easy for either an SEO consultant or a client to become disheartened throughout the campaign, with that coveted #1 ranking seemingly out of reach.
When faced with mental hurdles like these, we can begin to unravel the importance of that quote I read many years ago. If you are able to continually look back on where you began your campaign, you will be able to follow your journey and grasp exactly how much has been achieved. Whether you track your campaign with fortnightly or even monthly rankings and analytics reports, you will have provided yourself and your client with the foundations to manage feelings of frustration and push through the plateau to the next level.
This measuring technique has allowed me to manage countless SEO campaigns with a high degree of success. For those considering trying this technique, my advice would be to not get weighed down in the numbers. If pictures and visual cues are more your style, don’t hesitate to get creative. At the end of the day, just remember one thing – if you measure where you’ve come from, you can manage where you’re going.
