The Top 10 Deadly Sins New Internet Marketers Should Avoid
For some time now I’ve been marketing or helping other people market online. I’ve seen incredible successes and a few dismal failures. Many of the failures are marked with some of the same mistakes over and over again. 
These are just a few of the common mistakes and pitfalls that beginning marketers typically face. Unfortunately, for many, these mistakes don’t reveal themselves until the negative effects of these actions began to surface. Many new marketers develop tunnel vision early in the online marketing process. Hopefully this top 10 list will help you avoid what I’ve come to call “The Top 10 Deadly Sins Online Marketing”
1- Procrastination – The King Of Failure
now_laterProcrastination is by far the KING of failure with respect to online business success. If you fall into the trap of “putting things off”, failure is right around the corner. Be certain that you develop a consistent habit of taking action. Even if you consistently make mistakes it is imperative that you take action consistently. Create some form of time management system that you can use consistently. Prioritize your tasks and keep lists of everything that needs completed. If you feel that your confidence level is not quite up to par, do not allow this to hinder your planned tasks. What ultimately matters is the consistent execution of your key activities. Your comfort level with specific tasks will improve over time! Develop A Plan And Work The Plan….
Many seek the perfect scenario as they begin to execute their online marketing plans.
2- Seeking Perfection From The Very Beginning
Many newbies seek the perfect web site, the perfect email marketing campaign, the perfect online ad or banner, unfortunately it’s VERY unlikely to happen. It really doesn’t matter whether your efforts are perfect or not! What’s important is that you get started as soon as possible with the plans you’ve developed. Your online marketing efforts will always be a work in process. As you move forward, you can easily tweak things to your liking. Some people set specific scheduled times to check work that has been previously performed and update as necessary. If you try to get everything perfect from the start you will hamper your long-term success.
[dt_quote type=”blockquote” font_size=”big” animation=”none” background=”plain”]“The fact is, no matter how hard you try, it’s very unlikely that you’ll hit the “home run” you seek right out of the gate.”[/dt_quote]3- Wasting Money By Not Prioritizing Your Spending
This is important and key to your long-term success. If not handled properly, this simple mistake will kill your spirit and derail your efforts immediately. If you don’t drain money money to try each any every enticing offer that claims to help your business, DON’T spend money unnecessarily!
The Internet is full of fantastic copy and enticing offers, some of which are great, others not so great. Don’t get side tracked by jumping from tool to tool, help program to help program, strategy to strategy. Stop buying everything that lands in your inbox. The fact is, most online business essentials can be obtained very cheaply or completely FREE. This is particularly true when you’re first starting out. If you commit to engage in a little research, you’ll be quite surprised with many helpful discoveries. Try to control your urge to buy resources, tools and every other “shiny object”. Think and evaluate carefully before you make purchases for your online marketing activities. Write a list of what you need, stick to the list. Examine the pros and cons, and make sure that your purchases are essential to achieving your goals.
4- Not Investing Enough Money On The Right Resources
Converse to point #3, many new online marketers fail to make the proper investment in the proper things. Anyone that tells you that you don’t have to spend ANY money to grow an online business is lying to you. Unfortunately you will have to spend money to sustain your web marketing efforts. When you initially start, you won’t have to spend much, as most of your time is better spent engaging in RESEARCH. You will need more money as your business continues to grow. For starters, you’ll need a domain, a hosting service and an autoresponder, all of which are quite affordable. As you move forward, the bulk of your expenses will be on testing and promotion. If you’re paying someone to create a web site or you’re buying needed services, you must account for these initial expenses as well. Starting out conservatively can greatly reduce these types of expenses and allow you to gain a greater understanding of the processes involved as you develop your online presence. As things progress, incorporate more of resources earned by your marketing into your plans.
5. Pursuing Difficult Markets Due To Ineffective Market Research
This is a typical mistake but an easy mistake to make for the new online marketer. Most new marketers pursue online target markets THEY THINK will yield results. Before you decide on a particular approach, research your target market, make SURE that you have performed exhaustive market research. If you don’t check your commercial viability, it could be months, even years before you realize that you’re involved in pursuing a target market that is NOT commercially viable for a beginning online marketer. Perform thorough and exhaustive research BEFORE you invest time and money in your online marketing campaigns. Understand exactly what the term “target demographics” means to your organization and adhere to that definition strictly.
All demographic markets are NOT profitable to pursue on every marketing channel online. Before you target your market make sure that customers within the targeted market are willing to spend money and HAVE the money to spend! If the market that you seek is not commercially viable, refocus your efforts and pursue a different demographic target! Don’t fall in love with non-profitable online marketing.
6- Lacking The Desire To Grow
Continual growth of your marketing knowledge and your perspective with respect to online marketing activities is essential. Learning online marketing is continual process not a destination. It’s essential that you develop this mind-set immediately and early. If you’re not open to continual learning and growth your online marketing efforts will become stagnant quickly. The skills needed to market online successfully are constantly evolving and changing. One of the most important things you can do is to constantly update your skills and knowledge base with respect to your internet marketing efforts. It is important to note that this doesn’t always occur in a linear fashion. There will be times where you’ll feel that your learning curve has stagnated but keep reading, listening and learning and your insights will continue to expand. Don’t get stuck using the same skills and ideas or doing things the same way for long periods of time without exploring ways to improve what you are already doing.
[dt_quote type=”blockquote” font_size=”big” animation=”none” background=”plain”]“You must develop an unquenchable desire to grow.”[/dt_quote]7- Trying To Do Everything That Needs To Be Done… Alone
When starting an online marketing campaign, there is lots of activities and tasks that you need to address. This doesn’t always mean that you have to do it all yourself. Of course, you can do it alone but it will make the road ahead much harder, and in most cases a much longer road. Without the proper support and assistance you are more likely to experience burnout very quickly. You don’t have to outsource each and every thing, however it is wise to target certain areas that will monopolize your time and obtain help from experienced professionals when needed. The basic rule of thumb, do what you’re good at and outsource everything else. On-line forums, blogs and other portals can be valuable sources of ideas, and great sources for finding assistance in many areas. Leverage your efforts by seeking assistance in areas that are not your best strengths.
8- The Pursuit Of Smaller Profit Sources / Setting Your Internet Income Goals To Low
Many new online marketers find it less intimidating to sell products or services that cost 10-20 dollars. They are misled into believing that these types of products or services will be easier to market. The fact is, in most cases, it takes just as much time, energy and effort to successfully market a $20.00 product as it does to successfully market a $2000.00 product or service. Don’t dismiss the idea of varying the types of offers that you intend to market. Be sure to include a few higher ticket items in your offerings. If you’ve done your research, and handled your marketing correctly you can find success marketing these types of items even during the infancy stages of your online internet marketing experience. Undoubtedly, your results may initially seem less fruitful, but you’ll also enjoy more profits with higher ticket items. You won’t know if you can market these types of offers unless you’re willing to give them a try. Don’t assume that these types of products and services are off limits to your internet marketing efforts. Do the research, target your market, develop your marketing campaigns and promote offers that give you a chance to earn higher returns along with your small promotional offers. Many high ticket offers perform better with existing customers. You typically have developed a relationship with these customers and many will try your offers based on your business relationship and your credibility.
9- The Failure To Separate Your Business Life and You Home Life
Many new or small business owners start their online marketing efforts with great zeal in hopes to accelerate results and optimize traditional offline business marketing. Don’t fall into the trap of creating another JOB for yourself. Though initially, getting your online marketing efforts up to par may take a little extra time and commitment, but you don’t want your online business activities to dominate your entire life. One of the biggest pitfalls of developing an online presence is the fact that work is inescapable and readily accessible online. Knowing how to separate the two is essential for maintaining balance and a healthy perspective. You’ll find that your personal home life can also creep into your work activities. The fact that you can access your online promotional activities from home mean you have to separate these two aspects of life or things will become blurred. Try to separate the two by establishing fixed times when you work, and fixed times for your personal home life. In many cases it’s a good idea to establish a specific schedule for performing your business activities. Work doesn’t have to dominate your life, define distinct barriers that separate your home life and your work life.
10- The Inability To Remain Positive and Ambitious
When you start to pursue your online presence for your business, you will undoubtedly have those that will not have faith in your long term success. Conversely, you’ll have others that will encourage you, support you and cheer for you every step of the way. I encourage you to surround yourself with positive thoughts and uplifting people to help you maintain your belief in what you’re trying to do. Any endeavor of this sort can be a daunting task. You absolutely must believe in yourself. your plans and remain ambitious to move forward. You must also be patient.
[dt_quote type=”blockquote” font_size=”big” animation=”none” background=”plain”]“Don’t allow ANYONE to tell you what YOU can’t do.”[/dt_quote]Focus on your goals and set them in stone. Decide to decide to decide…. Once you’ve made a quality decision about your online marketing goals stick to them and pursue them CONSISTENTLY. Over time you will experience tell tale signs of success that will keep you motivated and moving forward. Create your own profitable mind set and don’t allow anyone to rob you of that mind set. If you THINK you can you CAN!
Creating and executing internet marketing strategies that consistently generate successful results is not an undertaking for the faint of heart. Hang in there and continue to improve on the basics and over time your efforts will pay off handsomely.
Avoid these costly mistakes and you’ll be on your way to achieving your web marketing goals.