The choice to analyze where the investment needed to be made, what skills needed to be learned, was an easy one.В The money was tough, but do-able.В The time it took each day to study and look at a «bigger» picture was an invaluable discipline.В В Re-branding myself became my 8 hour a day job.В OK, a good 6 most days, but there were plenty of 10’s and 12’s in there around final’s time.В Paying attention to my mentor Jay Berkowitz, we began to blog, created a reputation as a social media instructor, began publishing other articles in syndication, and established an optimized website for the business.В Everything was new, from what to charge, to billing, to properly setting client’s expectations.В Slowly over the months of my routine (wake up, check emails, publish blog, reach out to my business group on FaceBook and LinkedIn, and at least 2 webinars or podcasts a week to keep current) there began to be a bit of traction.В The last time I Googled my company name it occupied the entire first page of the search results.В It almost brought tears to my eyes.
With a bit of practice we were able to get several of our clients to be ranked #1 for their local businesses in LinkedIn.В It never seemed possible to me to be able to effect search engines THAT much, but the incremental discipline of doing that little bit EVERY DAY is finally paying off.В My routine only takes me about an hour a day in the morning, and the rest of the day can be spent working on client projects, mentoring, or the occasional Giants game.В It’s all good as long as I invest that hour or so every day in myself.I have also learned a few things along the way that keep me from beating my head against the walls.В At first I tried all of the techniques I learned in business school that were taught to me by people who had worked for Coca Cola,В McDonald’s, and Sprint.В Some of those techniques were transferable andВ scale-able, and some not.В I never thought it would come down to abandoning SEO as we know it, but I have to admit the Google/Bing/Yahoo universe is no place to spin your tires.В Its just not worth it.В В В В В to be continued.Jim Beam Bacon Mustard, 11-Ounce (Pack of 6)
