Internet marketers have to understand that they really only have two great resources in this business, their time and money. Your time is critical because you only have 24 hours in a day, of which at least 4 to 6 of those hours are spend sleeping or resting, even if you are a vampire. Then a few of those hours must be dedicated to running errands or seeing the family. Therefore, you are only left with a small portion of your 24 to work on your business, so every moment you spend wasting time is anti productive to your business.
Obviously, your money is a key resource because you worked hard to earn it, but it allows you to leverage yourself, hire other people to work in your business, or purchase additional education programs or resources to help your business. Therefore, this resource must be used wisely.
However, most Internet marketers waste their time and money doing many very silly things throughout the day. Are you wasting yours?
Here are the top ten ways Internet marketers waste their time and money.
10. On Twitter all day – Don’t get me wrong, Twitter can be an effective tool if you are using it right. But if you are setting on the regular Twitter.com page reading update after update cause you are just curious of what the world is up to, then you are wasting time. With all the Twitter applications available on the Internet for marketers, there is no reason to be on the main Twitter page. And if you are, then at least spend your time in on the search page looking to build relationships with people that could make a difference to your business.
9. On Facebook all day – Like Twitter, Facebook.com is a great place to expand your business, network, and more, but it is definitely a time trap. I can see you know sitting there watching the updates, chatting with friends, messaging, and playing the ultimate killer of time….Mafia Wars!! Sure, some of these activities are very relevant to your business, but don’t fool yourself. There a lot of things that you need to be doing to be successful as an Internet marketer and they all don’t lie on social networking sites. Do yourself a favor and close the page from time to time.
8. Playing video games – As a computer, tech literate person, it is likely that you enjoy video games. There is nothing wrong with PlayStation 3, X Box, PSP, or any of the other gaming platforms, but remember you only have 24 hours in a day and less than that to work on your business, so each hour in front of these games is an hour away from your business. And if you are not working on your business, then how can you expect it to be working for you?
7. Watching television or YouTube – I like television like the next next guy, but unless you are researching a post, then you don’t need to be locked into this time warp. A small intention to watch a 30 minute show can quickly turn into a two hour ordeal and most of your time gone for the day. Do yourself a favor and create a schedule to watch your favorite shows. Or better yet, DVR them and watch when you are spent from working on your Internet marketing business and just need a minute to get away.
6. Not using Internet productivity tools – There are literally thousands of tools out there on the Internet designed to make you more effective as an Internet marketer, even a better person. But if you are not taking the time to research them, finding them, and utilizing them in your business, then they will never work for you. Take a moment and find out what tools people are using that are making them seem to be in 12 places at one time while building their brand, credibility, and reach.
5. Staying busy, instead of effective - This is one of the toughest things for all entrepreneurs to get a grasp of. I will admit that it took me a while to figure out what the business of Internet marketing consisted of and what I needed to be doing on a daily basis. Here is a secret; much of these activities do not require you to be on Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter for hours at a time. Much of your work will consist of link building, networking, planning, and outsourcing work that doesn’t take all of your know how and expertise. The key is to remain effective in all you do and not just busy.
4. Buying materials, reading them, and not putting them to use – Why would you buy a product, read it, and not put it into action? I am not sure, but people do it all the time. Why do you think these Internet marketing gurus love you so much. They know that if they get your trust that you will just purchase and purchase and purchase.
Nothing wrong with purchasing, but you have to ready, willing, and able to implement the systems and techniques into your business and websites. Seriously, you can have the best ideas, strategies, and techniques in the world, but if they are not working for your Internet business, then what good are they? The only thing better than knowledge is applied knowledge.
3. Not having a plan – How can you reach a destination if you don’t know where you want to go and don’t have a road map to get there? You can’t. So don’t fall into this trap of having big dreams, but don’t want to do the mental work to figure out how you are going to reach those goals. Your plan doesn’t have to be a 35 page business plan, but it should be on a physical sheet of paper and stuck to the wall above your desk. As your plan develops and changes, then make the alterations to your physical paper and keep rolling. This is your business, treat it like such and make it happen.
He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Remember that and get it done!
2. Not having a daily agenda or schedule – Maybe you cannot plan out your week in advance, but surely when you get up you can set goals on what you want to accomplish during the day. A day on the Internet can be so distracting that you have to remain disciplined everyday not to get side tracked and get your goals accomplished. If not, you can waste so much time in many of the activities that we talked about above. If this is your business, treat it like such. Set goals and complete goals. This is the bottom line and the only way to make your Internet marketing business come alive and generate the income you desire.
1. Doing everything themselves – I know outsourcing can be a dirty word to those that have an old fashion thinking process, but come on people. This is the 21st century and outsourcing is the best way to make yourself more effective, save time, and get more done that you could do by yourself.
Most new Internet marketers think they can save a buck or two by doing everything themselves, but never consider that if they turn over those mundane task that can be completed by skilled monkeys, they can free themselves up to work more on their business instead of in it.
Task like article writing, site set up, backlinking, answering emails and more can easily be outsourced to someone that you trust or hired through sites like elance, Odesk, even Digital Point. Do yourself a favor and consider taking your business to the next level by hiring someone else. Not to mention, there actually might be things that you want to do, but don’t have the skill to get it done. Outsourcing could quickly solve this problem and keep your business as an Internet marketer rolling in the right direction.
