So what are the pits that internet marketers fall into?

The first one is time management; most people spend too much time learning about the technical aspects of the internet instead of taking advantage of inexpensive or even free website solutions. The average internet marketers spends about 75% of their time working on the website or other type of technical solution instead of 25% of the time, which is about the time spent by those who succeed on their technical solution. This means that those who succeed have about 25% more time to spend on the copy writing and marketing. A study done by Redknight Marketing and DesignEuropA showed what the average startup or in-house website development team spent their time on. (These are approximate % of total time spent on website development.)

Average time spent on developing a website solution by inexperienced people. This study was based of interviewing approximately a 100 businesses that had a website up and running. People where asked to give estimates of their total time spent and quantify it into the following five categories.

To give you an idea here is how the average of those who are, or have been extremely successful online, spend on their time developing and working with their online solution.

As you can tell there is quite a difference between the hours spent on different aspects of the online solution. But let's take a closer look at what each of these mean.

1. Planning / IA design

This is laying out the website, figuring out what the purpose of it is and how the website can be streamlined in order to deliver the best results for the user, and to do what it was designed to do.

2. Content

This is the time spent on creating the content and diagnosing what content is needed for the site. Most companies and individuals spend far too little time on this aspect simply because they lack the foundation from above to do this effectively.

3. Creating the website

The reason those who succeed online spend less time on their solution is usually because they either have someone else build the initial solution or they simply spent more overall time on their entire online project. They also spent more time on outlining their site before starting the development which cuts down on time and makes the website more effective. Time spent on this part includes time finding the right software, learning how to use it and then setting up the solution online.

4. Marketing the website

In order for an online solution to be effective it needs to be marketed. From a time perspective, the less time you spend on technical stuff the more time you can spend on marketing it. This and the maintenance factors are probably two of the most important aspects in this study, simply because it shows how much more time those who are successful spend on making adjustments and making sure that they are driving traffic to their site.

5. Maintenance

This means making any type of changes to their site, be it adding news, blogs, products or simply adding content. It also covers making adjustments according to statistics gathered once the website is up and running. This is why you see successful sites make slight adjustments on and off during the lifetime of the website.

Of course there are many other aspects that you need to consider before taking your business online, or starting your online business. The difference between an online and a brick and mortar business is smaller than what you may think. Education is one of the fundamentals behind getting started right online, so make sure you educate yourself about how to do things effectively if you are not going to use a professional marketing firm. I would also like to note that unfortunately the same statistics apply to many companies that did use a professional website designer. Many website designers do exactly the same mistake as startups and in house developers do, simply because they think the website itself and the development of it should take more time than the other aspects. So for your own sake, make sure that you get started off right!

This means that if you are about to take your business online or start your business online. Then educate yourself and make sure that both you, and if you are using a website designer, understand where to spend your time. It could be the difference between sinking into a pit instead of climbing a mountain.

About the author

Gudmundur Sigurdarson (Gummi) is the founder of RedknightMarketing.com, Mindformula.com and 10make90.com. He is the former VP of DesignEuropA where he worked with several hundred businesses over the course of 6 years, helping them grow their business both on and off line. Mr. Sigurdarson created the sales manuals, sales training, franchise model and franchise training program for DesignEuropA. In addition Mr. Sigurdarson has written a number of books on personal and professional development, online marketing, website creating and business startup guides. Mr. Sigurdarson has a dedication to helping people succeed, be it in their personal or business life he does this both as an author and a coach. If you would like more information about Mr. Sigurdarson, or would like to get him as a speaker, then feel free to visit either the Redknight Marketing or Mindformula website. For more information about the business and marketing books collection visit 10make90.com