Jake Ballinger
3 min readJul 31, 2018

You know that annoying ancient Chinese proverb people love to recite whenever you're late to the party?

You know, the one about planting a tree.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second next time is now.

I hate to break this to you, but…

…the ancient Chinese knew what they were talking about.

And when it comes to your business's marketing? You should totally have started 20 years ago.

If you can't swing that, the next best time is now.

Photo by Badder Manaouch on Unsplash

Marketing is like Networking

Start marketing now and you'll be way ahead of your competitors who haven't been paying attention.

I work with businesses on their online search strategy; I help them show up in the Google search results and craft content that appeals to their avatar.

And search engine optimization, which is the name for the work I do, takes some time.

It takes some time for Google to learn about your brand. What are you about? Who do you serve? What problems do you solve? How trustworthy are you?

And you typically don't rank very well in the search engine results while Google learning all this.

But your competitors? They've already done the work. Google knows and trusts them.

It's like networking in a small town — even though the other person's work is objectively shittier, they still get all the business.

If Google doesn't know you, it's not gonna send people your way.

And it takes time for Google to know you.

“A pair of glasses in black frames on a white surface” by Mark Solarski on Unsplash

The most powerful force in the world

Do you know how to make $1,000,000?

I do. Get an investment account that returns an average of 12% and then invest $1,000 every month for 20 years.

Because of compounding interest, that $240,000 ($1000 * 12 months * 20 years) you invested will turn into $1,000,000.

You'll have quadrupled your original investment. That's huge.

(If you don't have an investment or retirement account, please open one. Your future Mai Thai-sipping, yacht-owning self will thank you.)

Investing in SEO is like investing your money.

Just like the amount of money in your investment account grows over time because of compounding interest, so does Google's trust in your brand.

And that creates a virtuous cycle.

As Google trusts your brand, you'll rank higher for more keyword queries.

As you rank higher for more keyword queries, more people will click on your site.

As more people click on your site, your brand awareness increases. (It also teaches Google that people trust your site.)

As your brand awareness increases, you'll obtain more organic backlinks to your site.

And with every backlink your site receives, Google trusts your brand a little bit more.

And so the cycle repeats.

“A worn spiral staircase with dark wood and faded designs” by Won Young Park on Unsplash

The challenge of breaking in

The challenge is that you're not the first person in this space.

Your competition is already in Google.

They're already ranking for keywords.

This story is already playing out for them.

In other words, you're gonna need a bit of help if you want to break through their cycle and create your own momentum.

Does that sound like something you'd be interested in doing?

If it is, consider this your invitation to reach out.

Let’s Connect

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Jake Ballinger

Nomad, entrepreneur, super gay, SEO consultant, travel blogger, polyglot. Catch me at jakeballinger.com, flaneurfiles.com, or the airport bar.