The Three Stages to Mastering Digital Marketing (and Avoiding Costly Mistakes)

Digital marketing can be overwhelming. There are so many options, abilities, and strategies that it’s easy to get lost.

Sam Oh from Ahrefs learned this the hard way, and his experience can help you avoid the same mistakes.

Pick One Thing

When Sam started in 2009, he tried everything – forum spamming, paid ads, and viral coupon codes. This scattered approach wasted time and money.

His advice? Choose just one area to focus on:

• Email Marketing
• Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing

By picking one, you’ll get better results faster than trying to learn everything at once.

Learn the Basics

Once you’ve chosen your focus, learn everything about it. Don’t just jump in and figure it out as you go – that costs time and money.

For example, if you pick SEO:

• Learn why businesses need SEO
• Understand how search engines work
• Master keyword research, link building, and technical SEO

The basics might seem boring, but they’re the foundation of your success.

Practice What You’ve Learned

This is where you turn knowledge into skill:

• Stop looking for new techniques and focus on mastering what you already know
• Spend time on tasks that build your skills, not on things like tweaking your logo

Speed Up Your Learning

Sam suggests two ways to learn faster:

• Work at a marketing agency to get hands-on experience and mentorship
• Build relationships with others in your field to collaborate and learn together

Sam’s Expensive Lesson

Early in his career, Sam bought backlinks through a service called BuildMyRank.com. It worked at first, but then Google penalized his website. He lost 85% of his traffic overnight.

The lesson? Shortcuts often lead to dead ends. Learning the right way takes longer but lasts.

Bottom Line

Mastering digital marketing takes time. Focus on one area, learn the basics, and practice what you learn. Connect with others in your field. This approach might be slower, but it will save you from costly mistakes in the long run.