I just read an article by Daniel Rasmus on Macworld called 10 things that CIOs can learn from Angry Birds [macworld.com.au], and it struck me that even though most of us don't really think of our job as being a CIO, the article's ten points were excellent about achieving success with Google.

1. You have to play to figure out the rules
So many webmasters want to know "the best way" to do this or that - but there rarely is a one-size-fits-all answer. Many times, we simply need to play the game and see what happens, building up the real world knowledge of what is right for OUR situation as we go.

2. You succeed best when your site's unique contributions are recognized
Too much energy goes into being "like site X". Once you've got the basics of webmastering down, what's important is making your site's unique qualities obvious in the marketplace.

3. You can’t recover from a really bad start
Sometimes you do need to cut your losses and move on. That's just the reality of the world.

4. Different problems require different specialists
Running a website is a diverse project, and you simply cannot know everything required to make the right moves in every situation. Knowing when to bring in outside help or develop a new skill in-house is key.

5. Blowing something up isn't necessarily felt everywhere
If you want to make a major change in an established web business, you often need to think holistically, and realize that there are many factors to take into consideration. You can't just fiddle around without having some idea of how your entire web ecosystem will react to that fiddling - and that includes how it will look to Google.

6. Most improvements are incremental
Great breakthroughs in search traffic are rare. Mostly it's just putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. Google even has safeguards that keep a site from exploding onto the scene too fast.

7. Just because you've mastered one task doesn't make you master of all
It's a natural pitfall because webmasters do need to have a lot of diverse skill. But sometimes you need a business plan tune-up, or a conversion optimization, or a usability assessment in order to reach the next level.

8. You can never do the same thing exactly the same way
And that means you can never do the exactly same thing that someone else did, either. Google moves on, each website exists in a unique larger web presence, and repeating the same patterns over and over will eventually smack you into a brick wall.

9. Some goals require more "birds"
Sometimes you can make successful changes to a website, only to discover that the business can't sustain the new level of success. It's not just Google that needs to focus on "does this scale." Webmasters who want major success need to look at that question in advance, too.

10. There is more than one way to win
Even in SEO this is true. There is more than one keyword or set of keywords that can tap into your audience. There is more than one way to get other sites to link to you. There is more than one way to structure a website. There is more than one way to write HTML, CSS, PHP. etc - even to achieve the same end.

I really appreciated this article on Macworld - as you can see it renewed my horizons, and I hope it renews yours.

[edited by: tedster at 12:01 am (utc) on Apr 7, 2011]