Over the last few months, my wife and I have been running a lot of great races! The first one was back in May, the 5K San Carlos Fun Run. One week ago, I’m pleased to announce that I ran my first 10K race, the San Mateo Bay Vista Run. You can see some pictures from the race in this post. The 10K is definitely an endurance race, one that requires a lot of persistence both during the race but also in training. My persistence certainly paid off and I finished the race with an excellent time and more excitement for running than ever! In addition to my running career, persistence has been absolutely critical in my pay per click career and today I’ll tell you why!
Persistence, A Requirement For New PPC Campaigns
Pay per click is very different than it was in 2004 when I started. Back in the day, I could simply launch new campaigns and they would turn to pure gold relatively quickly. Sure, there would be some optimization required, but profitability usually came within a few short days or less.
These days, however, profitability typically takes some time. That time is typically anywhere from one week all the way to a month. Why? Two big reasons: competition and quality score.
The competition side is simple enough. The pay per click marketplace is saturated. The bids are high, the landing pages are outstanding, and most of the keywords have been discovered. Because of all this competition, it takes a lot longer to really figure it out and make your new campaign profitable.
Now, let’s add the concept of quality score on top of that. Not only do you have to optimize around the fierce competition, but you need to establish a strong quality score from day one. I’ll keep it short because I recently posted a video about launching a new AdWords account where I cover this very topic. The takeaway: It’s always smart to go out the gate with strong bids so you establish a great quality score from day one. The downside? This will definitely lower your profitability in the short run (but will dramatically increase it in the long run). When you launch new campaigns, it’s all about persistence. The rewards will come, but it definitely takes time!
Persistence and Career Longevity
I’m a huge fan of the pay per click career path. I’ve made it big in online marketing. How? Hard work and persistence.
There are two main reasons persistence will pay off handsomely in your online marketing career. First and foremost, this is a difficult career path. We’re managing multi-million dollar budgets and have a lot riding on our shoulders. As such, pressure can exist. I actually embrace the pressure (I view it as excitement) and harness its power to my advantage. It’s a rush for me.
However, many people don’t look at it this way. They can’t take it and leave the industry. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen leave a great PPC gig because they didn’t have the persistence. What happens when you’re the last one standing? You learn a lot really quickly and have the opportunity to get promoted very fast. Leverage persistence to your advantage, career longevity is your secret weapon.
The second reason persistence pays off in your online marketing career: It’s all about stock options. My stock option batting average has been simply amazing. However, to really cash in on stock options you need to vest as many of them as possible. What does it take to vest a lot of options? Persistence!
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