With more and more people getting interested in online marketing, it seems that I receive more and more questions on do’s and don’ts. People want to know what is the best way to do things, what to avoid, what mistakes not to make.
It’s perfectly understandable.
To be honest I’m still learning. Always learning. And still making mistakes.
No matter how amazing a marketer you are or how many millions of dollars you’ve made, nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s just that we learn from them and move on.
Here are 6 common mistakes online marketers make:
1. Not Taking Action
Even if you’re a new internet marketer, there’s no need to learn all the techniques out there. Having a vast knowledge of different online marketing strategies isn’t going to help.
The truth is, you’re still going to make mistakes. Having the knowledge about the ins and outs of everything won’t make you a good marketer – you need to implement and try stuff, put theory into practice, and you need to be able to do it successfully.
That being said, don’t try to do everything all at once.
We can’t possibly do everything. So don’t waste your time on wild goose chases.
Don’t keep thinking “Yeah, that’s cool, and so is this, and that, and this. And maybe someday I’ll try it out when I’ve learned that other technique, too.”
You know enough. Take a page from Nike – “Just do it.”
2. Giving Up
If you are expecting to make a lot of money right away, then put that idea out of your head.
As I said, the truth is you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to go through a learning process, and you’ll probably fail plenty of times before you succeed.
But one thing’s for sure – to just give up is a major mistake.
Tweak your system, make adjustments. Track your results and learn from what you did wrong. Keep trying. Sooner or later, you’ll hit that point where your site will take off and you’ll start to be successful, and when you are, such is the nature of internet marketing that once things get going for you, they get going fast, and things will snowball.
The idea is not to give up before you reach the tipping point. And once successful, don’t become stagnant. Repeat the process that made you money in the first place. Track, tweak, automate and perfect.
3. Failing To Have A Plan
You know the theory, but it’s not working for you. Somehow, you’re not getting traffic, your site isn’t converting.
This is probably because you don’t have a plan or a system in place.
Someone once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Remember to plan before you implement.
Don’t get excited. Do your research and plan out your ideas.
4. Ignoring Negative Feedback
I did a post on this before, on how to turn negative feedback into positive insight.
A lot of businesses both online and offline really don’t know how to deal with negative feedback. Most of them just ignore it or remove the comments. Or they curse and rage at the people giving the feedback.
This can be dangerous.
Many people underestimate the impact of their response to negative comments. It can be detrimental to your reputation, your brand, and your sales, especially if the situation gets inflamed and ends up going viral.
Learn how to take time to get to the root of the problem.
Don’t get upset. Learn from the experience.
5. Not Updating Your Website
Even offline businesses change their inventory every quarter.
Your website, similarly, should be updated on a regular basis.
If you have a blog, you need to post consistently and find ways to keep things fresh and interesting and up to date.
Your website needs to be in line with the times, technologically, and your content updated.
6. Over-Reliance On SEO
SEO is important, but it should probably be only 25% of what you allocate your time and budget on.
The other 75% is about reciprocal linking, social media, attracting users back to your website, and so on.
More traffic is a desirable result, but only if the cost is worth the results.
The thing is, all the traffic in the world cannot guarantee success. Getting thousands of people to your website but only making one or two sales isn’t success.
On the other hand, what happens if you only get 10 unique visitors to your website but you convert 9 of them?
Focus on generating TARGETED traffic.
I’m not saying don’t use SEO. I’m just saying don’t rely too much on it.
