While reading Reddit I came across a\u00a0great story\u00a0on how to become a good programmer in 6 really hard steps. It was written in response to another story which promised \u201ceasier ways to make your code amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I love this line of thinking because it is also true in something as complex as online marketing. Anyone telling you \u201cit\u2019s going to be easy\u201d or offers \u201csimple ways to get online marketing results\u201d is kidding themselves. Experienced online marketers know there are no shortcuts to building long term web visibility.<\/p>\n
So taking inspiration from the programmer story, here is how to become a good online marketer in 5 really hard steps:<\/p>\n
Step 1: commit for the long haul or don\u2019t bother<\/strong><\/p>\n You can\u2019t dabble in internet marketing. It\u2019s too nuanced, there are too many details to understand and you\u2019re not going to instantly be fluent in it all. From web analytics, to SEO, to social media, to email marketing, to PPC there are a lot of tactics to learn.<\/p>\n Further, the web is constantly evolving: both from a technology and user preference stand point. You can\u2019t really be a good online marketer by only understanding the basics and\u00a0yesterday\u2019s\u00a0tactics, you need to live at the edge.<\/p>\n Accept that, like programming, this isn\u2019t a 10 year process: this is a lifetime journey. You need to do this because you want to.<\/p>\n Step 2: create and market lots of websites, brands, blogs, communities and apps<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re at an agency where you\u2019re working on a variety of projects you\u2019re getting experience here. This is also doable client-side as you should have no shortage of digital assets to market, content to create and communities to build.<\/p>\n But you need to go beyond this even if you\u2019re doing it professionally if you want to be a\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0good online marketer. You need to go through the process\u00a0start to finish\u00a0on your own projects.\u00a0Not just marketing something finished, but create your own brand from the ground up. The web makes this possible for any of us. Eric Friedman calls these\u00a0sandbox projects\u00a0and the experience you gain building one is not possible to obtain elsewhere. It\u2019s a distinct advantage and yet it is\u00a0shocking how few actually go through with it.<\/p>\n Step 3: study how popular web brands do it<\/strong><\/p>\n By this I don\u2019t mean just study the competitors in your niche. Study the popular brands on the web: media, B2B start-ups, everything you can find. Learn everything from\u00a0how modern brands of media touch emotions and play on sociology to\u00a0create\u00a0content\u00a0that gets shared at scale to analyzing how companies create successful\u00a0viral launch pages. Get your hands on as many case studies as possible, attend conferences, and network \/ hear lessons learned directly from other online marketers.<\/p>\n Step 4: learn multiple tactics, master a few<\/strong><\/p>\n If, ultimately, you want to be leading marketing for an organization you need to have a broad understanding of potential tactics. Throughout the life cycle of a brand different tactics make sense at different times (and some may make sense to work on long before you\u2019ll need it, like\u00a0building a community). But the point is you need to understand all of them and when they make sense to apply.<\/p>\n With that said, you need to become master of a few. I recommend you become a\u00a0data-driven marketer\u00a0as there is no online marketing tactic you should execute without using data to make decisions and measure effectiveness. Another is learning the art of effective web content as content is the essence of all online marketing. And the web continues to trend to a place that rewards good content as SEO\u00a0further continues\u00a0to simply be a byproduct of organic marketing success and social sites place emphasis on content.<\/p>\n Step 5: learn something no one else has learned yet<\/strong><\/p>\n I love this last tip offered to programmers in the original article linked, and I\u2019d suggest you do the same thing as an online marketer. There\u2019s no limit to what you can do with creativity and technology and after you\u2019ve gone through the first four steps here the bigger picture of digital communications should come into vision. That, in essence, it\u2019s\u00a0not about technology, it\u2019s about ideas.<\/p>\n Once you start to see this you\u2019ll start to think more creatively and less about simply processes and best practices. That\u2019s not to say you should skip developing processes and making sure basic optimization items are addressed. These things are necessary and should come first. But they\u2019re the easy part and where you\u2019re learning what everyone else (should) already get. Where you start to push boundaries and learn new things is when you\u2019re already executing proficiently and have enough organic results you can be freed up to\u00a0experiment.<\/p>\n I know the\u00a0original\u00a0article offered 6 steps and I only wrote 5. That was on purpose: what additional step would you recommend?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While reading Reddit I came across a\u00a0great story\u00a0on how to become a good programmer in 6 really hard steps. It … <\/p>\n