With the economy in the state it is in, more and more people are looking to add to their income, either by adding a secondary stream or by replacing their job entirely. And because of the ubiquity and power of the Internet, more and more people are starting out online. The question for may however is “can I really succeed in Internet marketing?”

The short simple answer is yes you can. But there is so much information out there that in some cases people become overwhelmed, get confused and quit. The key is consistency, daily action and breaking things down. Even if you only have 20 minutes a day, you will be able to learn what you need to be successful.

There are things to be mindful of when you first begin your leap into the Internet marketing world however, although many of them are not specific to the Internet itself, they bear repeating here:

First off, watch out for procrastination. This is the act of putting things off until the last minute. On the Internet this can be a more insidious problem than you might think as there are literally millions of sites vying for your attention. The solution? Have a plan, and if you don’t have one, make one. How? Set specific goals that you wish to achieve given a specific time frame.

I still “kick it old school” and before I go to bed at night, I’ll write down my goals for the next day on a pad of paper and leave it by the computer. When I wake in the morning, I prioritize my work, getting the least favorite jobs done an out of the way first. This way the work day is more enjoyable.

Finally, once you’ve crossed the last item off your list, THAT IS IT. Shut down the computer. You are done for that day. This way you can keep your Internet marketing efforts streamlined and efficient without burning out.

Another thing to avoid is call of perfection. By this I mean constantly striving for the “perfect” website or the “prefect” copy. This will burn you out quicker than anything else. An Israeli friend of mine has a saying: “sometimes great is the enemy of good.” What he means is that while you’re revising that sale copy for the 15th time, you’ll have lost the opportunity for sales that you may have gotten had you just wrote, revised once and gone live. Obviously, you don’t want to put out copy that is riddled with errors, but if it is error free, tells a story and flows, put it out there. You can always tweak along the way.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be careful that in your zeal for Internet marketing domination that you don’t neglect the one thing you’re doing this for: your family. It might sound trite but you absolutely need a proper balance of home and work life. It is so easy to spend hours in front of the computer without even realizing it. Before you know it, you’ve missed dinner and everyone has gone to bed. This goes back to earlier in the article, when you’ve reached your goals for the day, get away from the computer. Your family will thank you, you’ll avoid burning out, and you will find that your Internet marketing efforts will reap rewards faster than you thought possible.

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