media seo analytics | push2digital - Filed under 'process'

My New Year's SEO Resolution ...

You ever read something and say, "hmmm, interesting" and then move on without another thought?

Then a day later, it pops back into your head after you see it applied in real life. Then it happens again two hours later, then three days later, then over Christmas vacation -- well, you get the idea. Or at least I got hammered with this one, over and over, until I decided to make it my SEO-analytics-new media mantra for next year.

It could apply to life in general (why not mix philosophy and SEO, it's New Year's Eve). And it came from a much bigger thinker than me. Seth Godin pointed out in just 60 words an idea I just can't shake -- that there are two kinds of challenges: ones that center on events, and ones that center on a process.

It's a process, not an event.

Dating is a process. So is losing weight, being a public company and building a brand.

On the other hand, putting up a trade show booth is an event. So are going public and having surgery.

Events are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about. Processes build results for the long haul.

Seth's Blog

Being in the media biz, I can attest to the fact we love events. The Super Bowl, election night, an ESPN New Year's No-Limit celebration that involves death-defying displays of daredevildom. We're good at them, we gear up, we work late, we adjust on the fly -- and then we usually drink. That's an event.

It's much harder when there's no finish line, when your mission requires coaxing, planning, measuring and, dare I say it ... even development. These are the things that cause many to say, "it's just too hard, takes too long, requires too many people, and I'm not even sure it'll work." And therein lies the incentive. Most people won't invest in the process. They'd rather pursue events.

So when two of my kids this week pedaled away from my grasp on their new bikes after several days of practice, I said to myself -- long live the process.

Here's to 2010, may we have the stomach to pursue the tedious, the painstaking, the complicated and the difficult. And next year, perhaps we'll bask in the glow of our dedication to the long haul.

Happy New Year everyone.