SEO, A marathon, not a sprint

Well, today is another themed-post day from me. I am just getting ready to head to Fargo, ND to run a half-marathon. I’ve been training for about 3 months or so. And it has not been easy or fun all of that time. Sometimes my legs feel like lead and it’s a chore to even run 3 miles. But then there are those miraculous days when I actually enjoy myself, I have a spring in my step and 8 miles is a breeze. During my training I was not always motivated to run either. I put off runs during the week, when I felt tired and lazy. But now, knowing that the race is tomorrow morning, I’m so happy I stuck with the training. I’ve run a half marathon before and I remember the feeling of accomplishment I felt even at the beginning of the race, just having made it to the end of the training. And finishing the race was a moment I will always remember.

So how can this relate to SEO, when it sounds foolishly sentimental and off-topic? Well earning the reward of search optimization is not instant. There are moments of gratification along the way, like a link back from another site, an increase in rankings and website conversions, but mostly the work you do seems to go unnoticed right away. Until the moment when you sit down and analyze your quarterly or yearly progress and you see that your traffic has doubled or your bounce rate has dropped dramatically. So even though writing a 700 word article about your product seems like a lame homework assignment – it’s one that can pay dividends later on. So persistence and endurance are key, until you reach that reward that makes all the work worth it.

Just keep your eye on the prize! (and Google)

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