How to Leverage Your Past to Build Your Site’s Future
March 18, 2008 - Written by Gyutae Park
Whether you like it or not, your past actions will affect your future. This concept is especially important when building your sites and marketing them to a wide audience. One slip up could potentially destroy the future success of your site. On the flip side, one small investment now could be a huge leveraging chip for future endeavors.
Let’s look at an example of mine here on Winning the Web. Back in December 2007, I invested about $1,500 in a contest. I bought a $400 John Chow review to give away a free John Chow review on the blog. I did the same with John Cow and bought some banner ads on each site as well. People have told me that I “spent too much money” and that I could have gotten the traffic and subscriptions for cheaper doing PPC advertising.
However, what they didn’t know was that I was actually looking a couple steps ahead. Sure the traffic and the buzz resulting from the contest were great. I added about 200 subscriptions and a lot of new loyal readers. But what I was more interested in was leverage. I knew that conducting a “crazy” contest like this would help me to gain enough credibility to start an even crazier one. Enter the Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You’ve Ever Seen. Without the leverage from the John Chow contest, I would not have been able to get even a quarter of the sponsors and supporters I have received in this contest.
Remember that with your marketing campaigns, it’s not just about the immediate results and return. By thinking ahead and performing actions that give you leverage, you are building momentum and preparing for success in the future. A snowball rolling down a hill will only get bigger.
Below are some tips that I’ve put together that will help you to find success in the future by emphasizing your past work and focusing on the present with a forward-looking strategy.
Look at the big picture
It’s important to always look at the big picture. Why are you blogging and how do you plan to monetize your site in 5 years? How can you leverage your past marketing campaigns to gain an advantage now and in the future? It’s easy to look for immediate results but seeing the big picture will help you to be patient and make more money in the long run.
How do you do this?
Establish goals for your site from the start as well a time line for milestones. Having this sort of focus will help you to develop marketing campaigns that build off of each other and work together to accomplish your goals.
Think long term – 2 steps ahead
Again, what you do now can be leveraged later to build momentum that will work in your favor. For example, you can start a blog giving away free content, then leverage the blog to sell an informational ebook, and then leverage the ebook to offer premium consulting services. Each step in the process builds upon the previous one to generate maximum exposure and sales.
Plan out your marketing funnel before you start on the first step. Doing this will enable you to think long term without obsessing over immediate results.
Emphasize your past accomplishments to get what you want
In order to leverage your past accomplishments, you have to announce them loud and clear for all to hear. Below are some examples of actions that you can leverage and build upon for something bigger:
- a successful contest
- a high Feedburner count
- an ebook you wrote about a specific topic
- an authoritative article you wrote
- a media mention in a top publication
Use past successes to your advantage. Show them to potential clients, readers, and customers to increase exposure, use them to gain partnerships and sponsors, and leverage them to build relationships and make contacts in the industry.
No marketing campaign is an island. Maximize results by using leverage. What’s your long term strategy? How are you leveraging your past to build your site’s future?
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Well put. I don’t often think much past the current week.
Thanks for the tip. Care to give a hint as to what is planned 2 months from now?
Michael
That’s for you to find out. Should be good so stick around.
Great blog post. So, you have proven now Gyutae that your previous investments in this blog was not meant for nothing but of a future marketing strategies. Great plan.
When your planning any type of business it is always best to plan a year a head rather then just for tomorrow. Example – I am starting a new site with b5 media called tool belt tips ( my working background is in the trades ) and it is a do it yourself blog. My plans are not about getting it live and writting my first posts. They are about what I want to be doing a year from now, making a small internet TV show.
Always thinking that way will help you find your way to your goals.
That’s awesome. I recommend you start video blogging. That could go a long way for you.
Very nice post Gyutae. Looking towards the future is very important in this industry.
Leveraging contacts is an extremely important resource as well…
Correctly said.
Experience makes the man perfect.
The contest is gaining lot of popularity and is becoming the biggest
Interesting take. It does seem as if your marketing from back in December is definetly helping you with the current contest.
Leveraging your past to build your sites future: Over the past 2 years while earning my MS degree, I was “forced” (I actually enjoyed the work) to do a lot of research into market trends, finance, management principles and economic trending. Taking what I learned and sharing it on a blog that allows me the freedom to interpret what mainstream media is telling us in an informed light has been my competitive advantage.
Based on traffic and subscriber trends…visitors to my site (Jcyreus dot Com) appreciate what I’m saying.
Great post G!
Things that I am “forced” to do for jobs and clients often lead me to doing more of what I love.
It’s definitely important to emphasize your past accomplishments. I like how you discussed using leveraging to gain credibility and sponsors in your current contest. Nice post Gyutae
But the T-shirts you promised are still missing ….
I’m wondering if you have read the book Think Two Products Ahead by Dr. Ben Mack. This is essentially a book about branding, but the concept of strategizing is like what you describe in this post. It is a must read, in my opinion, for anyone in business.
I am going to differ with you on the notion that one slip-up could ruin you, and here’s why.
Because I know that some of the most successful businesses are built around the turn-around. Mark Cravens did his due diligence before investing but still lost six figures; he didn’t realize at the time that he was being scammed. Now he has written an ebook and is developing other coaching programs around what he learned since this financial disaster. His site is http://www.TheTenCommandmendsOfInvesting.com. He learned from his mistake and is building his online career around showing you how to avoid his mistakes.
Ken Jensen is an ex-marine who used to be a real bruiser with a violent streak and addictions. He discovered that he had bipolar disorder as well, which only made things worse. His search for normal took a lot of time and effort, but once he put together his system, he got himself on an even keel in 4 months. Now he’s teaching the system he used to get himself well. His book is currently available as an ebook and his site is http://www.ItTakesGutsToBeMe.com
So actually the story of your road of trials can be profitable rather than disasterous.
Thank you.
The Story Lady
Emphasize your past accomplishments to get what you want
- Many people use the checks they received.
Good tip…I think those points are applicable in every kind of business.
These are some good tips, I usually don’t keep sites long enough to worry about this factor. lol.
Great post!
#1 is always have your goal in mind. otherwise, how do you know when you’ve finished the sprint? great article!
Great post! You can never predict the future, but you can stay aware of your goals and future plans in order to take actions to help yourself succeed in those situations. Thanks!
851 subscribers now. I would say your marketing strategy worked, lol. My long term goal? For Trend Spike to become one of the largest online men’s magazines. I’m focusing on working in the blogosphere right now, but that’s only a stepping stone.
This is quite relevant, as many have accomplishments that they think are not relevant enough to point out until they see another person pointing out accomplishments that are even smaller, and getting positive recognition for the act.