I was talking to my good friend and fellow runner the other day about the difference between winners and losers. And let me tell you, she knows a lot about this topic. As an elite marathoner, this gal knows how to win. She said the single biggest factor (other than a dose of natural talent and some crazy mental toughness) is consistency. Taking the steps, day in and day out, that are required to succeed. Ah-ha! This simple piece of advice resonated with me both as an online marketer and as a runner. Being a successful online marketer is a lot like being a great athlete.

My takeaway from the conversation was this:

Winners repeat the right things over and over, knowing the outcomes will improve.
Losers do something once or twice, figure it didn’t work, and never do it again.

Let’s not confuse this with the definition of insanity, which is repeating the same mistakes over and over expecting a different outcome. In online marketing there are certain actions one must undertake time and time again, often over several weeks and months, before a desired result is achieved. Creating content, building links, participating in social media, improving the conversion process on your website, nurturing leads through email, analyzing analytics data, are some of these actions.

To win in online marketing you’ve got to remain steadfastly dedicated to performing the tasks that will eventually build your rankings, increase traffic, and boost your sales. Does that mean you keep doing something that’s obviously going nowhere? Of course not! But don’t assume that because you don’t see dramatic results the first time you try something that it’s dead in the water.

Look for increasingly incremental improvements in rankings, traffic, conversions and as long as that improvement is growing steadily, keep it up!

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