Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record to become the all-time home run leader. Regardless of whether you believe it's a tainted accomplishment, it nonetheless is a significant feat.
Ron Popeil was a businessman who became an overnight sensation on television with his Veg-O-Matic invention. He and his family invented it and its precursor the Chop-O-Matic in the late 1950s. According to Wikipedia, it sold over two million units. Talk about a direct marketing home run, that was before most people even understood that direct marketing existed!
How many of us grew up dreaming of knocking the ball out of the park or coming up with that invention that would make us instant zillionaires (or both)? While dreams of grandeur are wonderful and should be encouraged, particularly in our kids, I think it is equally important to set our sights on more attainable objectives that are notable and will amount to incremental accomplishments.
Rickey Henderson played professional baseball (in the major leagues) for 24 years. During that time, he both scored more runs (2295) and stole more bases (1406) than anyone in baseball history. Yet, he only hit 297 home runs during his career. He thrived on hitting singles and doubles. The skill set (physical and mental) required to play for that many years and deliver those results is incredible, but in many ways it is considerably more attainable than that of either Popeil or Bonds.
A fair question would be how all of this relates to Search and online marketing?
The answer is that just like Bonds and Henderson, each of us comes to work every day with something to achieve. And while it's neat to dream about the one home-run-like tweak we could make to our keyword density or AdWords campaign that would have an exponential impact on our results, the more realistic scenario is that there are one hundred singles and doubles we could hit with our campaigns that cumulatively would have a significant impact on our long-term results.
Most of us are very busy and daily tasks have to be prioritized. There needs to be, however, a commitment to looking at our online marketing efforts consistently and making small strides.
Start with reviewing your analytics data on a steady basis. This is a treasure chest of information that can lead you in the right direction. It's not about finding the glaring opportunities, instead it's about notching up your conversion rates by testing different variables that can improve your profitability and lead you toward greater successes.
Lastly, check out the Veg-O-Matic commercial. It's a classic!
