10 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

We all like to avoid mistakes, but if we don't know what they are in the first place, how can we possibly accomplish that?

Learning what mistakes new marketers typically make can really help in staying away from those mistakes and doing things right in the first place.  That's what this article is about - helping you learn from others' mistakes and staying away from the trial and error that those people had to experience.

Mistakes Can Be Costly

If you are making marketing mistakes, then you are likely spending money ​unnecessarily on things that will not help your business.  For instance, if you don't understand about Pay Per Click marketing and you start using it, you will pay a lot of money for clicks that won't convert at all.  I've seen this time and again.

Here are the top common mistakes that new marketers often make:​

We'll explore each on of these situations next.

Information Overload

To state that there is a ton of information these days would be a drastic understatement.  It seems like new resources are coming to the scene every single second that we are online.​  And it's natural for newcomers to want to learn everything they need to know as quickly as they can.  But slow down a bit.  That information will be there for the most part.  And if you decide to get yourself a mentor (more on this later), he or she can really help chart out the proper course for you to take so that you are not going all over the place.

Domain Ownership

I get it.  We all want to save money.  That's why setting up one of those free domains is tempting.  But remember, you don't control what content you can put on those.  They may let you do what you want in the beginning.  But eventually, they will probably change the rules on you.  This means that any content that is no longer adhering to the terms of service will need to be modified or deleting.  Just think about what happened to all those Squidoo lenses a while back.  Get your own domain.  It doesn't cost much at all.​

Unrealistic Expectations

This one is often not your fault.  You get all these cyber "experts" that will feed you with the baloney that you're going to be a millionaire in two weeks.  You just have to pay them for their "wisdom".  All they usually end up costing you is a lot of time and money.  But the dream of being a millionaire fades along with the so called expert.  See which one of those jokers actually contact you to see how you're doing.​

Procrastination

One great way I find to get around procrastination is to think about how much I disliked working for other people.  If you are not in that position right now but wish to be sometime in the future, use this fact to help give you the push you need.

Taking Too Many Projects

If you think you can manage 50 websites by yourself and get them all generating income in a short period of time, I am here to tell you it's not going to happen.  Plus, you will likely jump from project to project, never completing any of them.  This is not a recipe for success and you will fail if you go down this path.  Get one website generating income.  Then you can use part of that income to start another project

No Loyal Customer List to Speak Of

The biggest asset you can obtain for yourself, bar none, is a list of customers that continue to buy from you.  They have come to trust you so it will be a lot easier for them to whip out the credit card when you make them an offer.  Now, you have to be really strategic about how you go about doing this.  Otherwise, you are going to burn your list and you'll be spending the majority of your time getting new customers as the old ones leave.  But learn how to build a list of loyal customers and that will mean less work for you in the long run.​

Untargeted Traffic

I touched upon this one before with regards to Pay Per Click advertising, but the truth is if you are not targeting the right people, they won't buy from you - end of story.  So your marketing efforts are completely wasted and any budget that you may have piled in to get it.  That's not working smart and once you learn the right ways to target the right kinds of customers, you will find that you can actually increase your budget.

Not Taking Your Business Seriously

When you are trying to sell to people online, you have entered into a business whether you like it or not.  The government will recognize any revenue you generate and will expect you to pay any taxes on those revenues.  Customers that buy from you will be expecting you to perform the contractual obligation that you made when you set up a Buy Now button that they took advantage.  And if you don't treat this as a business and are complacent about all of this, you are looking at some trouble - both for your reputation and perhaps even legally.  Treat this as a business or don't get involved.​

Doing Everything Yourself (or Trying to)

​Setting up a online business takes a lot work and you only have so many hours in the day, so if you can get people to do several of the required tasks this will give you a tremendous advantage in your success.  Sure, it may cost some money to do this, but in the long run you should be making that back quicker than those that try to do everything themselves.  By employing the concept of leverage in hiring others to do many of the necessary tasks, you will be further along in your business than those that don't.  Your website will be ready for all the aspects that give it the ability to generate income.

​