The Marathon of the Blogging World #2
Commanding Influence: Build A Strong Online Presence
This is a guest post by Don Gilbert. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out the guest posting guidelines here.
This is part 2 in our series. Be sure to check out The Marathon of the Blogging World #1 to get caught up.
There will always be people ahead, and there will always be people behind. Every day the number of runners grows. All of them coming out of the gate at a different pace – some walking, some jogging, some even sprinting. But rest assured, 90% of them will fizzle out, and the other 10% will remain below you. But then, suddenly, you see one of that 10% starting to catch up.
You watch him weave through the other runners and come alongside, then pass you. You glare at him. You’ve been running for longer, how could he have achieved such success already. What secrets does he have? Unable to figure it out you start running again. Gradually the running begins to wear on you. You begin to ponder, “Is it worth it?”
What else could you be doing instead of running this race? Do you really have a chance of success anyway? Unable to conquer this thought, it gradually begins to wear on you. With every hour of time spent you wonder, “Is this worth it? Is it leading anywhere at all?” Some days you’ll wake up, and be full of energy. You’ll immediately start sprinting, and begin to see some of that success you were seeking. This inspires you to run longer, but then your progress slows. You become frustrated again, and slow down to a crawl. Doubts begin to roll back into your mind. Should you quit the race? Or should you keep running?
There are also days when you’ve just plateaued. You can’t seem to gain any ground on anybody. You are just staying the same distance from everybody. You glance off the track and see people weaving through the woods. Trying to find illegal shortcuts, or just going on risky paths. They scrounge around looking for a way to sneak into the lead. Whenever they succeed you wonder if it’s worth the risk to stray off the path. Some succeed, but many others don’t.
Some days you just feel like you can’t run anymore. You start running and are already exhausted. You’re not in the mood to sprint or even jog, and so your jog slows to a crawl. You begin to see the other runners catching up to you, but you’re to tired to do anything. All these days of mixed emotions, and mixed feelings are a part of the race.
This marathon is full of so many different racers with different strategies. You never know whether to try and copy somebody else’s success or try to create your own. All of these success and failures, trials and errors, they all contribute to this great race. How long are you going to run for? What pace will you run at? Will you stay on the path? Or will you stray from the path and try and create your own? What type of runner are you in this giant marathon. The Marathon of the Blogging World.
Don Gilbert
Don is a self-taught PHP Ninja. He has been doing graphics, web design, and SEO for 3 years. He currently blogs at Masters of SEO with Will Fowler, where they demystify the often confusing aspects of search engine optimization. Don works for Electric Easel Designs. Don Gilbert has 2 post(s) at Site Sketch 101
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Dave Doolin said:
Don, you could be writing this directly to me.
I do see people getting ahead by doing things “the wrong way.” This annoys me. Sickens me sometimes. However, I’m getting enough search engine traffic I could walk away right now and still retain significant traffic, and that’s not the case for some of the “wrong way” folks!
Others, I see get getting ahead by doing things the “right way,” only better than I’m doing them. Yikes! In this case, I study them very carefully, and attempt to integrate everything they do into my style and method. Some things fit, others don’t, it’s all good.
Off to visit your site now, and read up on local SEO.
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Dana @ Blogging Update said:
Therefore, do not see other person, see your improvement instead. Let others little run, sprint, jogging, and what ever they like, but we should do what we suit on.
Ron Leyba said:
Im more into a sprinter. I will run as much as I can from the very start. I will make sure that I have a big distance to my competitors or to the other racers before I slow down for a few seconds.
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Olusegun said:
LOL. I hope the few second won’t be the opportunity the guys behind you are looking for to dust you for good
Olusegun said:
i prefer to just float along and regulate my breathing. I won’t be intimidated by the “big boys” or despise the new bloggers. I will be as unique as i try am.
I really enjoyed you post Don
Cheers
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Ron Leyba said:
Nice mindset. I love the way how determined and focused you are on what you do. That is one of the most essential thing we need to get going “focus”. Don’t be intimidated and don’t allow people to control your success.
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Kok Siong Chen said:
In my opinion, we need to learn from others or just copy others strategy at the beginning of this marathon. Sooner or later, we need to do something unique and suitable for ourselves to survive in this long run marathon.
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Ron Leyba said:
Its like learn from the leaders. I agree to the fact that we need to do what they are doing right, I mean, we should follow their steps. But along the way, we must make our own path or track for us to be able to outrace them. This is a very good point Kok.
Davor Gasparevic @ Internet marketing ebooks said:
This post exactly describes my psychological situation and emotions that surface every day. Today I was so inspired – I wrote a blog post, submited dozens of articles to article directories, now I am commenting on (dofollow
) blogs, and I will probably write the first half of my next blog post tonight (it’s 01:20 AM in my country).
But last 5 days I was doing pretty much nothing. And those periods slow me down. I feel like today I caught hundreds if not thousands of runners who outrun me the previous days and weeks. Still, I am not sure if I would continue with at least half of that effort the next few days, or I will just sit back and do nothing watching others getting ahead of me.
Motivational issues are my biggest problem, and I am semi-successful in beating my own-self.
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rabsin_d said:
*bow down* Inspirational indeed…
its a learning process. I am one of the runners and I listen to fellow runners and try to innovate and must have the initiative to excel.
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