12 Lessons in 12 Months – MarketingProfessor.com Turns 1

Amazing that a full 12 months has passed since the first post went live here on the site. As the saying goes ‘Time flies when you are having fun’. This site, however, isn’t as much about design, commenting systems, or even the content, it is about you the audience, the consumers.  Therefore I thought I’d pass along some lessons learned while engaging readers over the passed 12 months.  This post is broken into 4 parts, across three categories, Business Lessons, Technology Lessons, and Social Media Lessons.  Oh, and it looks like there will be more than 12 lessons, we’ll call those ‘Bonus Lessons’, after all what is an online marketer without a few bonuses? Here are the first four.

12 Lessons in 12 Months – MarketingProfessor.com Turns 1

Gratitude: First, let me thank you my readers and subscribers. This site would never have lasted this long if it wasn’t for you.  You are the reason I do this, and the reason I’ll keep doing it going forward.  When starting this site in Brazil a year ago, I couldn’t imagine how much work and fun this would be.  Thank you.

Why This? As was going through the mental list of lessons, I began asking myself why exactly I wanted to write this post.  If you are interested, here are 3 reasons:
1.) While a year is not really that big o deal, in a world where blog’s lifespan is roughly the length of a Mayfly, it is a milestone worth commemorating.
2.) Based on what I understand from readers and subscribers, this content seems fitting, and the hope is that these lessons would be valuable for all.
3.) For me, writing crystallizes thought. I also happen to be forgetful, so while I’m writing this for readers, I’m also writing it as a reminder for me, and will be bookmarking it (you can too if you find it useful).

Transparency/Disclosure: There are links throughout this post series, these are intended to add value.  Some links may be affiliate links.  This means if a visitor becomes a customer of a product referred to from this site MarketingProfessor.com will receive a commission.  This revenue is used to keep articles and product reviews rolling here, and helping aspiring online marketers make sense of it all.  If you’d rather not have us receive these commissions, do not click the links.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

Business Lessons

One: Have a Handy Location for Content and Business Ideas

Ideas for content come from the strangest of places.  With that in mind, having a couple places to jot down ideas is a good thing.  Here are some that I use:

• A business journal – This is discussed at some length in the Marketers FAQ, I take the business journal virtually everywhere I go.  Maybe because I’m getting old and forgetful, but I find having this handy to be important.
• Google Docs – I have really enjoyed Google Docs, and have used it extensively the last 12 months, there is one just for logging thoughts while browsing the web, I start with the date, and bullet ideas below.
• Google Reader – Using the Star Feature in Google reader, users can identify valuable pieces of content, for quick reference later on (you can remove the star when you are done).  More on this later (Leverage RSS to manage content consumption and get ideas).

Two: Try to stick to a publishing schedule, but don’t obsess over it

For bloggers, it is important to publish regularly, for many reasons.  However, don’t let it rule your life.  Tomorrow is a new day.  However, if you miss your deadlines regularly, it is important to rethink your system for improvements, and perhaps review your original reason for starting an online business to begin with.  Pick up where you left off, keep rolling.

Three: Don’t Imitate, Innovate.

Embracing the “I wanna be like Mike” mindset online, can not only be bad for business, but can create an identity crisis.  While it is fair to admire folks from afar, these are people who lace ‘em up every day just like you and me.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many folks doing great things online, but they aren’t you.  You were born to be you, so be the best you, you can be.  Observe others, and determine ways you can improve on what they are doing.  This is especially true for those outside of the make money online or social networking for business online niches.  Follow those in your market, improve on what they are doing, and stand out on your own. Be real, be you, that is what people in your market expect and want.

Don’t be controversial for the sake of controversy, however if you don’t agree with something, say so (see: PPC Webspy Why I’m Not Interested).  You just might be saying what others are already thinking, but afraid to say.  Everything isn’t roses all the time, as some would have you think.

Four: Eat Your Own Dogfood

Make sure you believe in what you teach to actually do it yourself.  I was doing some research on email marketing analytics with the idea of doing a post on that very topic.  I decided to hold off because I wanted to test these things out for myself first.  Similarly with a YouTube Marketing Training Course I tested the product for a couple months, posted the results, that conversions from YouTube traffic were up 296% over Google search.  Now YouTube is an important part of MarketingProfessor.com traffic strategy.

Your Lessons

Enough about me, now it’s your turn.  What has the last year taught you about marketing online, making tough decisions, technology issues, financial decisions, etc.  What would you like to see in the year ahead?
Photo Credit: ssanyal

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