Position your business for today AND tomorrow.
February 19, 2008
A little boy was at the street trying to sell lemonade. His stand was well built, and he had distributed flyers across the neighborhood to let everyone know that if they wanted a refreshing glass of lemonade, his house was the place to get it. It was mid-afternoon now, and the boy had been manning his stand since early that morning, but made no sales.
A few minutes later a neighbor came by, walking his dog. The neighbor was wrapped up in a heavy coat, pulling it tightly to him. Even his dog had a sweater on. The neighbor saw the boy with his lemonade stand and was shocked.
"What are you doing?" the neighbor asked the boy. "It's below freezing!"
"That's true," the young entrepreneur replied, "but in a few months it will be warm, and I'm planning for the future!"
I can't tell you how many webmasters I've heard from who are trying to sell lemonade in the middle of winter. By that I mean that they are trying to out-think Google and build their sites around what Google may or may not do in the future instead of what is known to bring results right now.
Don't get me wrong — you need a long term plan. Without long term goals your business has no direction for growth. But countless webmasters are sacrificing the short term profits that will help them achieve their long term goals by ignoring what works today.
One big example is link building. After my Search Engine Myths Exposed report was launched I read a few blog posts from people saying, basically, 'It might work to get off-theme links now, but at some point Google is going to stop counting them.' Their point was that because Google might take some action in the future, you should ignore the benefits gained from receiving off-theme links today.
It's beside the point that I completely disagree with those who claim that Google will one day ignore off-theme links. The point is that those folks are encouraging people not to do what will help their bottom line today, because they think it won't work tomorrow. Meanwhile, their competition is out-ranking them in Google by getting off-theme links.
Look at it this way: if the creators of the VHS video tape knew that one day the DVD format would come along and blow them out of the water, would it have been a wise decision never to go forward with VHS? Hardly! VHS was the format of choice for well over a decade. Billions of dollars were made with that format before DVD finally did come along as the wave of the future.
Let's extend that even further: Sony's Blu-Ray has officially won the war against Toshiba's HD DVD format. If Blu-Ray eventually replaces DVD, would the creation of the DVD have been a bad idea from the get-go? Of course not! Again, billions of dollars later, it was hardly a bad idea just because the future may turn a different way.
The same thing applies to your business. You want to have long term goals that take into consideration the winds of change, both with search engines and other traffic generation techniques. But you should also have short term goals that exercise the methods known that work right now.
The key word here is "balance." Don't put all of your time into your long term goals and miss out on today's profits, but don't focus so completely on short term methods that, if they ever do stop working, you're dead in the water. Put time into both. This, of course, is much easier once you are at a point where you can outsource the daily grunt work tasks.
You see, the problem with the winds of change is that they are by nature very unpredictable. Who can foresee precisely what will or will not happen next month, or next year, or five years from now? There are far too many variables. Weather forecasters have long since demonstrated that the more variables there are, the less accurate your prognostication will be.
So the best thing you can do as a business is to have more general long term goals: "I want to achieve one million visitors per month to my web site in the next 3 years," or "I want to create a new product in my market each year over the next 5 years." As you get closer and closer to those deadlines, you mold and craft your goals to fit more closely to the actual climate and environment of the time you're in. Meanwhile, the profits from your short term goals are helping to make those long term goals a reality.
Yes, the boy with the lemonade stand would have been better off selling hot chocolate during those cold winter days, and in the evening working to perfect his lemonade recipe, or improve the design of the flyer he intended to use come summer. Had he been selling hot chocolate, he would have had the money he needed to really launch his lemonade business when the time was right. As it is, he'll have exactly what you would expect a person selling lemonade in freezing weather to have: nothing at all.
Please leave your thoughts and comments below.
Comments
76 Responses to “Position your business for today AND tomorrow.”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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Short term goals leading to long term goal is a good approach …Quarterly goals leading to annual goals
Lots of great truths and analogies there Jon. I have just read your SE Myths Exposed report and found it to be one of the best free reports I've read. (I've even printed it out)
Just for the record, out of the 100s of factors that go into determining how high a site is ranked for a "certain keyword", how much of the pie (out of 100%) do you think external links take up?
God Bless,
Kelvin
Another great post Jon. To sum it up:
Hope for the best! Plan for the worst.
My philosophy
Very well put Jon… great post…
Many are caught up with long term goals that they run out of gas to fuel them through the present into the future to achieve those long term goals… indeed you do need to work on short term and medium range objectives as well to keep you running and moving forward.
Cheers!
Roy
That was great Jon, another well thought out article. As the old saying goes, have a plan and work the plan. You have today, but tomorrow may never come. So as you say, work with what works today and worry about tomorrow when it finally arrives.
Steve
Kelvin:
I can't really give you a percentage, but I can say this: for niche markets, focus on a great, keyword-relevant title, quality content, and links, links, links. The other hundreds of factors pale in comparison.
Well put Jon….you have to do what is working now but in the back of your mind you still have to think of what will work in the future without forgetting what is actually working as we speak….
I really enjoyed the story you gave with the boy and the lemonade stand - it highlights the reality of the situation and how to apply what you're talking about rather than just talking theory that people sometimes can't relate to.
You are so right Jon…i could not agree more….
I have seen people saying that 3waylinks wont work in the future because google will eventually disegard those links….
To that i just say…welll i am currently making close to $2000 a month from one single website most of that is because of 3waylinks….
Of course i am building other links…but i know for a fact that 3 waylinks is THE Reason why i am making that kind of money….
The rest of the links i am building is just to make sure i obliterate the competition…..
I do beleive in what you say a lot more than other Im…because you actually back your clamis with facts and tests….
Keep up the good work, and thanks for your help
Jonathan,
I agree with your idea that we should focus ont only on the furture but on what is working now. you always provide us with knowledge we can and should use.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the quick reply.
*Scurries off to create more external links now*
Peace,
Kelvin
That makes a lot of sense. I run an article directory and, short term, buying links works to get traffic but, long term, I want people to use the articles on the site so my links grow naturally. Had I focused only on the long-term (and I did for a while) I would've gotten no where! Now my site pays for my rent!
Jon,
Very good post once again from you.
I would love to have a post from you about the process to find a great keyword, maybe you should cover it in one of the post soon.
Thanx
Pankaj
Jon,
Thanks for another insightful and educational post! I always open your emails the minute I see them and am never disappointed.
Joy
Great post as usual Jon…
Thanks,
Tim
Sometimes I try the approach "throw it to the wall and see if it sticks" and sometimes I go for the long term building a website or trying a technique.
Great post agian, thanks Jon
gr,
Remco
Another insightful article Jon! I have always been of the opinion that this is the way forward, and have incorporated such methods into my online setups.
With regard to the off topic links and Google's future outlook on them, I don't think they will penalize you for having gained off topic links in the past. Best advise would be "get em while they're hot" and conform to the new rules as they come up. Great post Jon!
Jon;
Very good advice. One other thing is that many times 'long range goals' cause procrastinating short term goals or even doing anything until timing is right before jumping into getting started.
Some I know have been so flustered waiting for the right timing that they get overwhelmed with trying to sort out all of the info about the future, the present never starts.
As soon as they "think" the timing is right they discover that the opportunity has passed them by. Or as the "Lemonade Stand in cold weather" assume that since the lemonade did Not sell, they have no market.
The results are seen on the stats of internet business startups and the failures.
Keep up the great work and writing.
Mike
Great post, Jon. Lots of truth here.
This is dating me, but there was a song in the 70s(?),
"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with…"
Carpe diem - today and tomorrow
- Dave
What you have said about having general business goals, but tighter short term goals, can apply to life as well. Goal setting is something we don't often do very well. David
Great analogy. I think it is all about balance.
I always compare it with riding a bicycle. There is no point in peddling like crazy without steering or steering without peddling - mix them up and you have a winner!
As for non related links, you aren't going to get penalized for them, so why not add them to the mix? Every little helps!
Your point is well taken. He should have been geared for products people need now instead of what he wanted to do. Was it because all he had was lemons that he was selling lemonade? Are you saying that because he had lemons he needed to 'spend the money' for hot chocalate supplies?
Specifically, what do we need to spend money on in our businesses to get launced and making money? Frankly, I feel like I am selling lemonade, and I need to know where to get my hot chocolate supplies
I think my problem may be exposure. Therefore, I am working on getting some of that. Maybe that is one of my hot chocalate supplies. How do we identify our hot chocolate for our businesses?
Thanks,
Juan
Goals! Everyone talks about the need for them but I have the hardest time coming up or sticking to them - even for a week!
Bob
Jon,
I think that people tend to identify with groups, football teams, political groups or groups influenced by a particular Internet Marketing Guru to name a few.
Many times they do not care whether their position is right or wrong, it is what their TEAM believes that matters most to them.
If their TEAM believes that random links are bad then they will believe it no matter what evidence you provide to the contrary.
Most of your TEAM on the other hand will believe that they are great…
I think that whether a person succeeds or fails at internet marketing has a lot to do with the GURU they first choose to affiliate themselves with.
There are too many GURUS teaching that you should sell lemonade in the winter or that selling refrigerators to Eskimos is a great idea.
Well said. That deserves a "Stumble Upon."
You definitely do make a point about being too forward-looking. Preparing for the future does take some paying attention to the present.
I agree Dave. Carpe Diem-Seize the day.
Go after what works now, today…..but keep in mind some long term goals and your business will thrive.
Hey Jon,
That boy selling lemonade in the winter season was a great analogy.
—J.J.
As always a good post Jon.
I'm also building links to my sites. Mainly from article writing and posting on far-flung blogs. Your 3-Way Linking program is probably one I'll join at some point as well.
This post is very true. I think every newbie should read it before they encounter people giving them bogus information that will hurt their bottom line.
Rhonda
Another great post and nice analogy.
The best proof for your point of view is that it actually works. The main goal is getting the links wether they re themed or not.
Maybe in the future may change their rating algorythms. But i'm very sure: If this happens, there will be technologies to work around.
Very nice Story!
Thanks for that.Of course a rough comparison is not acceptable.
/i think of Life Situations as Love and similar that an exchange of whatsoever kind is wrong/
Only i can add here is a fact that we don,t know what good opportunities can come out around.Sometimes,i expect much more from one thing,but i get all that to the other side.That is why i watch everything happens online and respect every person on the Net./You as well./
Thank you
Slavica Todorovic
Nice Jon
"If you dont plan ahead, you plan to fail" is always in the back of my mind when laying down a platform for tomorrow.
Keep up the good work
The analogy is good, but at the same time, it can pay off to be on top of what WILL happen.
Of course, there's massive difference between what WILL happen, and what we fear/hope might happen. With Google, there's no will, only a might at the moment.
Jon,
Very well addressed. Both short term and long term goals are needed for someone to be successful. Too many people are also always planning and planning for the future without actually doing anything. They only think and plan with little or no action at all.
- Welly
Your practical, no fluff outlook is simple wisdom. Every post you make reminds me not to "accidentally" unsubscribe.
Thanks
Hi Jonathan,
Great post like usual. The old saying that "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush" is just as true as it was years ago.
The strength of any company is in what there doing today. Always plan for the future but today due those things that pay the bill and build net worth.
Terry
Jon
The flip of your train of thought is not to keep doing what you've always done just because it's worked for you up till now.
You need to keep up with what's going or you will still be trying to sell your Hot Chocolate in Summer (and blaming the guy who advised you it was a good seller in Winter).
Dave: Your quote from Stephen Stills reminded me of this one from John Lennon.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Paul
Jon,
Good post.
Short term goals that in turn lead into and long term goals are needed for prolonged business success.
Another great post Jon!
Your post reminded me and brought home something I learned once. I once heard one of the gurus refer to having different sources of traffic as legs on a table. Off theme links are just another leg to the table. As long as you have more than one source whether it be off theme links, on theme links, ppc ads, ezine ads, etc., etc., etc. if you should lose that one leg to google or whatever….so what? Say ouch and move on to making more legs.
Switch on your business radar and pick-up early signs of how others in the same market as you react to new developments… behind the scenes you need to test and TEST any new development, and if found to be of benefit to you, implement on a larger scale. This way you always stay one step ahead of your competitors. Winds of change power great inventions…
Great post Jon! I know that I go back and forth with taking advantage of today and planning for tomorrow. Great reminder to keep it in balance.
Just how long does it take before we learn this lesson … the key to being really successful online is developing the perfect back end product that sells to our customers needs not wants over and over again? How much money are we leaving on the table when we only sell one product and nothing else after going to the trouble of getting the visitor to our sites? … Not new marketing fundamentals then lol
All my best to you and yours
Phillip Skinner
Jon,
As a newbie to this game I constantly struggle to keep a balance between building something for now-sites generating income to put back into the business-and down the road-where do I want to end up in 6 months, 1 year, 10 years.
Balance is the key here and in life.
Best,
Jeff
I've heard both sides of the argument and I think you're right about doing what works right now with one eye on the future. Nice post.
Bruce
Jon,
Some really good points! To achieve a goal, it would seem essential to have a clear vision of your goal, a vague idea is not a goal. Once you have a clear vision, you need to form a plan of action. Then I would suggest you build in some form of accountability to ensure you follow through on your plan.
AWWW
Jon you tend to help me redirect my thinking and place it out of the box! I look forward to your posts
I enjoyed reading that article. Nice analogy with the kid and the lemonade.
This is a brilliant story Jonathon. And you're so right - it's totally mad to plan for the "just in cases" - especially trying to second guess what Google might do next. It's barely ever the problems we think we're going to have that usually happen; it's almost always something we don't expect anyway.
I totally agree on longer term planning. The bones should be there, with the end in mind, but the in betweens should be flexible.
Pretty interesting post and good advice, Jonathan. Indeed the naysayers don't deserve nearly the audience they seem to get. Regarding one of you examples … how many people remember the notorious format wars between Beta and VHS tapes. Everyone "knows" of course that beta lost, so pity the poor people who didn't wait until the 'war' was decided, correct?
Well Beta format tape is still a TV broadcast industry standard and studio-quality Beat tape machines still sell, even used, in the $x,xxx.00 range … so if someone had started a website on Beta machines years ago, who would have the last laugh now?
If there's a market, serve it … let the future take care of itself … it will anyway.
you're so smart
Great post as usual.
Been really strugglin' as to who I am going to regularly follow and try to learn from this year (as last year - my first year in - was a shocking disappointment to put it nicely) and now I've decided -
Jon Leger is 'THE MAN'.
After your SE Myths Exposed report taught me that the things I was doing WERE NOT WRONG as the U Know whos suggested, I've been reading your blog ever since. Thanks Jon keep up the TRUTH you share.
Great post, Jon. In theory this is 100% on the money, but in practice… it can be a bit harder than that. I don't mean this in the sense of link building- I agree whole heartedly that off-theme links work. 3WL's has proven that to me beyond a shadow of a doubt! But in the sense of everything that goes into your online marketing business- and by this I mean ALL of the tidious details- it can be a bit overwhelming, especially when looking towards the future of your business. We all want to be prepared for the worst, right? At least that's been my experience. I'm still toying with the idea of outsourcing that you've suggested before, but haven't fully committed to doing it. Maybe this post (along with your last one) is giving me that swift kick to the butt we all need sometimes! Thanks for writing thought provoking posts, Jon!
An insightful post. I have been having the same thoughts for a while now. It's great to see someone speak up against the so called gurus who keep preaching idealism and not practical reality. The reality that a lot of things that the gurus predict are "going to be doomed" still work and make money for a lot of people.
Your post got me thinking. I need to make a lot of changes to my "lemonade stand." Off to work…
Cheers,
Rohit Sinha
thanks jaun
great truth of business.
we must have to plan our business today to grow in feature.
yes seling lemonade in winter helps . to build future one must do things in advance
I agree. Do now what works now. Planning for the future should remain just what it is: planning. When the timing is right, execute the plan.
Luc
Another great post Jon, I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us. I am happy to be on your list, I actually take the time to read everyone of your posts when they come. Why some might ask (these may be new folks) because you always have something beneficial to say to assist us in some way, I for one appreciate this immensely. I do have a potential future topic for you to consider, putting all your energy and resources into only one thing..this as you know could be the ruination of someone who doesn't know better. Being one dimensional could have severe consequences if the winds of change would bring about a severe departure of normal operations. But than again you can write about whatever you want, it's your post..lol I'll be reading it whatever the topic is!
David
Another interesting post, Jonathon.
As always, you're one of the few making good common sense comments regarding the state of the net NOW. We don't have crystal balls and we hardly know what the next month is going to hold with the likes of google, never mind a year down the road.
So live for today, optimise for people not search engines (a less on you taught me indirectly), and the future should take care of itself.
After all, google isnt going to screw things up in such a way that nobody googles anymore, particulary with Bill Gates sniffing around Yahoo. Think of the adwords revenue they'll lose.
BTW. Never mind cds and dvds, betamax and vhs - how many remember cassettes and 8 track machines (and vinyl versus cassettes, and music rolls versus 78s? OK enough already - enjoy the future)
While I certainly can see the value in both concepts, I personally have come to the conclusion that if I simply do my best Google will take care of the rest. Yes, I optimize my pages. But is that my focus? Certainly not. I'd much rather gain exposure from places like Craig's LIst and Ebay which I do almost instantly, than stressing out about where my site ranks on Google.
I created a website about treadmills about 1 year ago. Good content, good quality… I simply have not touched it just to see what would happen for over 6 months. Despite the fact that there is no new content on the site I continue to get Google Adsense traffic coming thru. What makes me excited about this is that I have a site I work with daily, and when it reaches maturity it should receive 10 times the amount of traffic for doing the exact same thing as I did for treadmills.
The moral… optimize for today and tomrrow, but then get on with the program and put your attention to more important things.
Great Post! I often get asked a similar question about directory linking working in the future. My answer is usually, I don't know and don't care because it is working now. When it stops working, then I'll know what is the next phase of backlink strategy. But until then, I keep plugging away making enhancements to my directory submission software with the expectation that it will continue to work.
Tony
Very interesting topic. The long term planning should be the foundation in business and the short term the extras that add some spice on earnings.
Ulla
I've heard that story before, well scripted Jon.
Thanks
Hi Jon,
The world's richest are not so much inventors or creators but marketers. Without marketing skills, no business stands a chance, whether internet based or brick-and-mortar.
To this I would add "information." Obtaining the right information, tools and systems must preceed everything else. Plans, strategies and approaches designed around insufficient or erroneous information will fail, regardless how brilliant.
The best product and the prettiest building or website counts for very little unless one masters contemporary marketing skills…and relevant information.
And the emphasis is on contemporary, not previous or yet-to-be-discovered strategies and/or scanty data.
Your post is, as usual, very well expressed and apposite. I couldn't agree with you more that it's great to invent something better than the wheel, but for now, ignoring the wheel will only result in a coming to a grinding halt.
Regards,
Dan
I really like your story of the lemonade stand. Your article is well written and appreciated.
One idea (since you've given so many good ideas in the past few months) is to put together an "executive summary" post. Recap your stories/recommended products and key ideas for anyone who may not have had time to digest everything.
PS - I just tried the "Easily Rank in Google
Google wants links. We give Google what they want. 'nuf said." link up top and didn't get a page - just an error. May want to fix the 3waylinks.net site
Houston:
The problem must be on your end — working fine here.
Jon
Jon, you always provide tons of value which I'm sure people sell in membership sites.
No kidding, no matter what, laser focus is really what it takes. But there's def. a balance on focusing on things today as well as for tomorrow.
Blessings brother!
alejandro
Hello Jonathan,
You are really a good student of marketing and thinking ahead most times. Even Jay Abraham and late Gary Halbert would agree with you. I am!
The problem with us in this 'modern' days is that we tend to discard simple ideas that works for complicated stuffs in order to justify ourselves. That is main problem of those who argued against off-theme link building tactics.
However, this point for me, is coming now that I am on putting together a long term project. So can you imagine how helpful this advice is to me?
Thanks brother.
Another great post!
It seems to me that there are two schools of thought when it comes to Internet marketing: those who say it's just the same as doing business offline, and those who say it is significantly different.
As with most similar situations, the real answer is probably somewhere in the middle, but in this particular instance, it would seem to be a universal truth that in the vast majority of cases, you have to sell what people want and/or need (unless you're one of the rare few who can create a massive market for a product that people didn't know they needed, like the Sony Walkman).
[…] Jonathan Ledger had an interesting blog post a few days ago that I recommend you take a look at. Here's an excerpt that caught my attention: … Let's extend that even further: Sony's Blu-Ray has officially won the war against Toshiba's HD DVD format. If Blu-Ray eventually replaces DVD, would the creation of the DVD have been a bad idea from the get-go? Of course not! Again, billions of dollars later, it was hardly a bad idea just because the future may turn a different way. […]
I really like your story of the lemonade stand. Your article is well written and appreciated.
Very interesting topic. The long term planning should be the foundation in business and the short term the extras that add some spice on earnings
The problem with us in this 'modern' days is that we tend to discard simple ideas that works for complicated stuffs in order to justify ourselves. That is main problem of those who argued against off-theme link building tactics.
How much money are we leaving on the table when we only sell one product and nothing else after going to the trouble of getting the visitor to our sites?
If you want to make your business successful, you should set for long term goals. Long terms makes the business to have a solid foundation.
Another great post! Thank you for sharing jon..!
So far I think that 3 way links is working for me. Lets hope it doesn't go "off season" anytime soon
Jon,
Once again, SE Myths Exposed hit the nail squarely on the head! Sometimes it is so very easy to get "wrapped in the weeds" trying to generate income from listening to what "all the competing gurus" tells us is right to be successful. That, coupled with the major algorithm changes that Google makes every 3-4 months is literally enough to make the “dog chase his tail!” so you never know what is actually right.
Think for a minute if all the “real rich and successful" marketers told the truth and gave away all of their secrets, how would they maintain the aura of riches and invincibility?
I’m a firm believer in letting technology help and not hinder you in your efforts, so there are very few, I listen to! Jon, you are one that I do listen very carefully to!
Keep up the good work and fighting to speak the truth!
Best Wishes,
Steve
Hi Jon,
I have read your blog several times and have to say it is in my limited knowledge opinion about internet marketing…by far one of the best. It has provided more information and more answers to questions than you know. I hope you can answer one more.
You see, I am a complete newbie when it comes to this sort of stuff. But I made a decision to begin the process of studying to change the way I make a living to something a bit more user friendly on the body than my normal day job. (I build custom iron furniture, fences and gates–fingers don't like 4 pound hammers too much–keyboards are much easier on them) Anyway, I read your recent post about positioning business for today as well as tomorrow with great interest.
I have studied adsense, affiliate marketing, adwords, etc, etc. At this point I feel like I am on information overload. I have never made a single cent from anything online yet. But I am ready to get my feet wet. I am ready to DO something now and not just study it. It is time to get off the Beta/VHS/DVD fence and get something going.
Recently I was involved in an accident that was..shall we say a real attention getter. I was run over by a tractor that was accidentally started while it was still in gear. No need to go into details. Lets just say I came up on the loosing end. Currently I have my left leg still in a cast and a huge gash on the inside of my left leg that was caught under the plow that was attached to the tractor. Yes I am very lucky to even be writing this to you right now. Words cannot even come close to describing how fortunate I am.
But yet here I am. And even more convinced and determined to change the way I make a living. But now the desire has changed from a "one of these days want to" to a "right now have to". And I was wondering if you could provide a little help in the suggestion area. Maybe you could even create a blog entry about it. I am sure you would get a lot of interest. But here it is:
If you were in my shoes, having no experience of earning one dime from online marketing, but you still had the benefit of the knowledge that you have acquired over your years of experience, and you were in the situation of having to create the greatest amount of income to make a living but do it in the least possible time that was possible with your knowledge with the least amount of initial cost. Where would you begin? What would you do first? What would you concentrate on to get the cash register ringing the loudest in the least amount of time?
If I could put it another way, If one day your head was transfered and transplanted onto my body successfully. Where would you begin and what would you do first if you were me to get things going? I know it sounds like an impossible question to answer, but the fact is, it is a very real situation. It is an impossible question that somehow has to find an answer. Because it is the reality of what I am facing today…right now. And I have no answers…only more questions.
I realize that long term profits have to be built and developed over time, but surely there is a preferred way to "buy time" while this is developed. Surely there is a way to create an accelerated "TODAY" income, even though it maybe short term, while you build and develop the long term "TOMORROW" income?
Is it possible to do a "case study" about something like this?
Grateful to be able to write,
Carl