When promoting your business online, it's easy to get caught up in the SEO (search engine optimization) game. It's important to always keep things in perspective. So let's look at the SEO "game" through the eyes of a coach, Mike Ditka.

When you put in so much time and effort in SEO tactics and promoting your website, typically, one of two things will happen. Your site will shoot to the top of the search engine results pages, and your Pagerank will go through the roof. Or like happens to so many, your efforts will appear to have been futile and your poor website will be lost out there in the suburbs on the information superhighway.

Before I get too ahead of myself, take note that these are the extremes! Obviously, most people will find themselves somewhere in the middle.

So let's look at the first case, your SEO adventure leads you straight to the top. Your results are astronomical, and you're feeling pretty good about yourself! Following Mike's logic, this is exactly where you need to check yourself. When it comes to SEO, success is most definitely not permanent.

Keeping your place at the top is a constant battle. Yes, it's great that you made it up there, but without continued diligence you can be back at the bottom or worse, in the infamous sandbox in the blink of an eye!

Alright, so let's assume that, sadly, you have practically killed yourself working so hard optimizing your site to no avail. You have read everything out there. You've implemented every strategy the gurus have preached. And yet, your site is nowhere to be found. It's easy to feel like a failure.

Well, don't get too disillusioned. Just look to the second part of Coach Ditka's philosophy. Yes, in the short term, you may have failed to accomplish your goal. But don't let that get to you so much that you throw your hands up and head to the classifieds looking for a job that will keep you as far away from the internet as possible, at least not yet! Because again, Mike is right! Even in SEO, failure is not fatal!

It may feel that way for awhile. But again, just as in the case of success, failure is fleeting online. The only way you'll really fail in the game of SEO is by forfeiting!

In both cases, and all those in between, the most important part of any online marketing strategy or SEO game plan is consistency. You must practice good SEO habits daily. Never let your success or failure allow you to procrastinate or completely abandon those techniques that have so often proven reliable!