Juggling projects and learning the ropes in online marketing
Juggling a number of projects is hard to avoid. We all know that completing one project before starting another is the best option.
But the temptation is usually overpowering to “just do a little bit” on another one, to get it ready for when you are, or tweak another a little bit here or there. Before you know it you have at least 5 projects on the go, like I have right now.
I mean, when is a project complete anyway? In online marketing you could say it is at product launch, but it’s not really done and dusted there. You can’t then just “leave it on the shelf” to sell itself. In some ways that’s more like the start rather than the end of the project, and for certain other products it almost literally is the start like a membership website.
I try to console myself that this is the nature of the business and think the best way to deal with it is to accept it and learn to enjoy multitasking.
My feeling is that for practical purposes an important staging post to get to as a minimum with each project is to get a website live. I’m not saying, put up a substandard site but if your website is your shop don’t leave the door shut!
The juggling also has to include time to read, listen to, or participate in e.g. webinars etc. all of the learning materials that you pick up along the way.
I’ve got some high priority webinars to listen to at the moment, for example and the most pressing of which is the last 2 in a series of Google adwords classes by Greg Cesar. I mentioned these in an earlier post and promised to update my thoughts on these after being very impressed with the first. They do last 2 hours and I for one reason or another have been unable to participate live in any of the classes. I’ve been listening and watching them via a Camtasia recording later which actually suits me better. I will be giving my impression here when I’ve got through these last 2.
For me though the need to get on and use some adwords in a campaign before I could learn everything there is to know about them! Has overtaken the time to do so, as it seems to have done in web design and almost every other area of internet marketing that I’ve been involved in so far.
Sometimes you just need to get going with something and pick it up along the way. This is not a bad thing as when it comes to getting back to the theory and teaching I find a bit of experience places it in context and makes things easier to understand.
Although so far in the case of Google ads so far I’ve lost money.
So I’m off to do my homework and to try to continue to keep all the balls in the air 
John
Add comment August 27th, 2007
