10 Reasons New Marketers Fail

I’ve worked with countless beginning marketers and see most of them making the same general mistakes. I have listed and explained these mistakes below in order for you to learn correct online marketing techniques.

These mistakes apply to ALL types of Internet marketers. Stay-at-home moms working from home or a small business wishing to capture some of the local online search market or anyone else looking to the Internet to boost their income are all prone to making these mistakes.

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1. Looking for Shortcuts: Most new marketers (including myself back in the day) fall for one or another Internet marketing scam. These scams always promise “easy” ways to succeed. Their premise is that there are “secret” shortcuts to online success. Nothing could be further from the truth. ANY offer or package that promises such things is, at best, far above the beginner’s ability…or it is an out and out scam. The longer one looks for these shortcuts, the longer real success is delayed.

2. Failing to Understand the Definition of “Niche”: Beginners usually fail to take into account the vast size of the Internet. They fail to understand the enormous potential even in areas they deem to be “too tiny”. Beginning marketers must spend time in areas where they will receive quick feedback as to whether or not their techniques are working. If a new marketer takes on a large area instead of a very small niche, the amount of time to get traction in the large area is too long for the beginner to quickly learn from mistakes. It can’t be over-stated just how vital it is for beginners to fully grasp the concept of niche marketing. The majority of beginners choose too large of area. They become frustrated and then simply quit. In fact, only about 2% of those who attempt Internet marketing ever have much, if any, success. Remember, it is MUCH better to enjoy a small piece of a small pie than NOTHING from too large of pie. Beginners must never make the mistake of thinking that choosing a giant area will result in at least “some” of the market trickling down to them….that’s a HUGE mistake in thinking and simply not true.

3. Too Much Planning and Not Enough Action: One of my favorite sayings is, “Relentless Focused Action”. This philosophy is the key to online success. Massive action is required to succeed. Too many beginners spend far too much time in “planning” their online efforts and course of action. For one reason or another they delay taking action. Success comes more quickly to those who jump right in and learn WHILE taking action!

4. Fear of “Failing Fast”: There is a favorite saying among Internet marketers. We all believe in and practice the art of failing fast. Many beginners bring with them old-school philosophies where failing in business resulted in severe consequences; they fear failure. It is different with Internet marketing. Online ideas can be tried quickly and with very little monetary risk. It’s a reality that even successful marketers only have 1 or 2 ideas out of 5 or 10 that result in success. Just as a great salesman realizes that he must hear a lot of “no’s” in order to make one sale, so too must new marketers embrace the idea of implementing ideas very quickly in order to find one or two that actually get traction. Beginning marketers see the success of ultra-successful “gurus”, but what they fail to see are all the trials and tribulations those gurus withstood in order to finally enjoy their success.

5. Trying to Use Too Many Methods: New marketers learn there are many marketing methods that work well. Then, they try to do them ALL! If one’s focus if spread across too many areas, nothing will work. New marketers must find just a few techniques they enjoy and can do well…and focus on those alone. In other words, if a marketers enjoys making videos, then video marketing should be one of the 2 or 3 methods they focus on. Instead, too many new marketers do a video now and then, submit and article now and then, write a blog post now and then, participate in relative forums now and then, create a new page for their site now and then, social bookmark now and then…and on and on with the “now and then” marketing. Sure, the marketer is “busy” all the time, but not enough time or focus is placed on any one thing in order to get traction with anything.

6. Failing to Build Web Design Skills: Success online, 99% of the time, involves creating web sites. In most cases, multiple web sites are required. Only in rare situations can success be achieved without web design skills. Many new marketers believe their first idea will be their “home run”. Rarely is this the case. For this reason, hiring someone to build a web site simply leads to a dependence that can’t be sustained. Beginners must learn to build their own sites; WordPress makes this process very simple now days.

7. Beginning and Quitting Ideas Too Quickly: Patience is a virtue all successful marketers either had in the beginning, or learned along the way. Success very rarely comes quickly. For example, adding web site content, writing and submitting articles, and social book marketing is a tried and proven combination of methods. A beginner often spends a few weeks or even a month of regularly writing content for their site and article directories and social bookmarking those efforts. However, this is not long enough in order to observe much or any success. Following that strategy religiously in a thoughtful and calculated way for 4 to 8 months will almost always result in observable results. However, when most beginners fail to see any results in a few weeks, they will ditch that idea and begin over with another. This is repeated over and over until frustration finally sends them on their way…away from Internet marketing.

8. Failing to Understand the Nature of Most Success: Rarely does success come in one big chunk. Usually it comes in small and hard to measure increments. These very small successes are what eventually add up to real success. Beginners too often expect to “hit it big” instead of having the patience to accumulate many small successes. A little bit of traffic from here, a little bit from there, a few sales from this, a few sales from that…and so on. That is how success usually arrives.

9. Hard Work Alone Is NOT a Guarantee For Success: All the hard work in the world is no guarantee one will succeed. Too many beginners believe all they have to do is “pay their dues” and success will be right around the corner. Here again, nothing could be further from the truth. Misdirected hard work ONLY leads to frustration and failure.

10. Waiting For Some Success Before Building a List: The money is not “in the list” but the money IS in how you work with your list. Too many beginners understand the importance of building a list, but then delay the process “until they have some success” in order to pay for an autoresponder service. No matter what form of marketing one is doing, affiliate, AdSense, or selling one’s own goods and services, a list is vital for success. Beginners often make the mistake in thinking that their web site alone will result in their success. For affiliate marketing and selling actual physical products on the site, it is 10 times easier to get a new lead than it is to make a sale. ALSO, it is ten times easier to sell to one’s list than it is to make a sale to a first time visitor. No, I am not making these stats up; they are true virtually across the board for all areas of online marketing. A quality autoresponder will cost about $20 per month for up to 500 leads. Beginners often fail to understand paying for an autoresponder service each month will almost always result in the highest ROI for any marketing method they use. In other words, 500 quality leads on one’s list can result in income which makes the monthly cost a no-brainer.

There you have it! Once beginning marketers correct and get past these common mistakes, they will be well on their way to enjoying great success online!