Softly softly catchee monkey…

I’m not a very subtle person. I’m also one of the most impatient people I know. So I know how difficult it is to take things slowly.

But when it comes to promoting your website, you can’t rush things, unfortunately.

Like most marketing, one small change can make a big difference. But if you’re changing EVERYTHING, constantly, then how would you know which small change made the difference?

I know how it is; you read a book, a few blog posts, take some advice from a friend, and before you know it you have a list of fifteen things to change on your website. Each one is sure to be the thing that makes the difference to your listings / traffic / sales etc, right? So you change them all. And lo and behold, it works! Your listings improve / your traffic gets better / suddenly you’re making sales.

But which change made the difference? Right now you probably don’t care, because whatever it was, it worked. But what about in a few weeks, when all of the changes have caught up and suddenly your listings have dropped, your traffic is down and you haven’t had a sale for days? Which one made the negative difference?

You don’t know.

Now look at it another way.

Write a list of the changes you want to make, and make them one at a time. Give them time to ‘take’ and monitor the results for at least a week. When your website starts ‘getting better’, stop for a while before making the next change. That way you can see what is making a difference. If something changes for the worse, revert back to before the change that caused it.

Yes, it’s time consuming. Yes it’s a bit of a pain. But not as much of a pain as being banned from google and not knowing which of 50 changes you made is the bad one, right? ;)

Nikki

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  • The impatient behaviour you describe sums me up totally. The sticking point I have is not knowing how long to wait. If changes are unaffective, how long before you decide that this is the case and move on to the next change?
    Another thing I'd like to ask is, the advice you give is (as others have commented) so obvious but do you have the patience required and do you practice what you suggest or is it an ideal for you too? As Ruth says, "It's not easy!". :-)
  • How come it's only obvious after *you* say it? :)

    S
  • Morag
    Waiting. Such a pain in today's want everything immediately world! But so necessary.
  • You're so right! I've just been told by my prospective SEO-er to be patient and wait and see how the changes I've made work out. It's not easy!
  • Very helpful blog post as usual Nikki, thanks for sharing your insight. Will now add to my to do list :)
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