A well executed website and Internet marketing strategy will, over time, have a tremendoes impact on the success of any organisation. Step by step, you will find that sales and marketing processes previously requiring constant effort and expense become automated. Try our free step by step introduction to internet marketing for more on this process.

Unfortunately, the process isn't instant. It takes investment of cash and/or time to create a body of remarkable content, build relationships and get found online. In the short term, the return is likely to be much quicker if you pay for some advertising, get on the phone to make some sales calls, or pay for a stand at an exhibition etc. But these channels also stop giving returns the moment you stop paying, whereas a well executed Internet marketing campaign just keeps on paying back for a long time after you stop working it.

This has a lot of resonance with the well-worn business model that I've inserted below in a slightly modified form:

The point the model is used to illustrate, is that in our working lives we all tend to spend far too much time in the "Urgent" quadrants, and too little in the "Important but not urgent" quadrant, and that this is a vicious circle because it's the "Important but not urgent" work that over time reduces the instances of firefighting and distraction.

You can see where I've placed "website" (and for that also read Internet marketing in general including the effective use of social media). Most of us know, in theory, that a strong and effective Internet marketing operation is very very important. But it's not urgent and never will be - there's always something more urgent to do. So like the toad that gently dies in a pan of slowly heating water, we never quite get round to it.

This article was triggered by a situation with a Hubspace client. They know without a doubt that they have to upgrade their website and commit some resources to Internet marketing, yet they're not doing so. The longer they fail to do so, the more critical their situation becomes, so the more resources get taken up with firefighting and distraction. And so on.

Have you taken steps to ensure you don't fall in to this trap?

This article was largely inspired by the book "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It", but it was triggered by a question I noticed and answered on LinkedIn.

I shall refer to the questionner as "Bob", and the question was this:

"I have spent the last 10 years learning, learning, and learning about programming, databases, and Internet. Right now, I can basically create any website with any functionality that is required all by myself, and within days; as an example, take a look at these websites: Wapcare Reviews, and Database and mySQL Tutorials(press esc to skip the initial ad). Yet, I can't create a viable business out of all this. Getting a job is easy due to all my accumulated skills, and I may have to just go back to that for now. But I want to establish a business of my own even if it makes me less money than working for a company."

Gerber suggests that there are three essential "personalities" required to run a successful business:

1. The entrepreneur - visionary, dreamer, catalyst for change, spark of the future.
2. The manager - planning, order, predictability.
3. The technician - the one that actually gets on with the work.

These three personalities can exist in one person, but it's difficult - each personality requires a large skillset and the personalities tend to be in conflict with each other - for example, the entrepreneur wants to dream and plan all the time, whereas for the technician, this is just a waste of time that prevents stuff getting done. Skills for the entrepreneur include presenting, story-telling, enrolling, inspiring people, business modelling, team leadership and much more.

A common issue with small start-ups is that they're founded by technicians (in the widest sense of the word - anyone who has learnt a particular craft from a hairdresser to a TV presenter) who lack the skills of management and entrepreneurship. Our Bob is a perfect example of this.

Someone with the skillset of an entrepreneur, who has no technical ability at all, is more likely to launch a successful business than a technician lacking the entrepreneurial skillset, because the entrepreneur will enrol the technicians he/she needs to fulfill the business vision.

Even within the technician level of an internet business, the skillsets include graphics design, UI design, usability testing, SEO and much more beyond the skills that Bob mentioned having studied.

In other words, Bob has spent 10 years learning a sub-set of a sub-set of the skills required to launch a successful internet business. I very much sympathise because in some ways I have a similar history myself, which I'm working hard to outgrow.

So if you're a technician like Bob and you want to be an entrepreneur, I would suggest earning money from the skills you have whilst learning the skills you lack.  This will involve the discipline of NOT developing any more technical skills than you have to for a while. Instead, read lots of books and go on lots of courses on entrepreneurship and management - we're talking marketing, sales, business planning, financial modelling, people skills, personal development, leadership development etc. Also, get yourself out to some networking events to mix with other start-up entrepreneurs, particularly those that have a track record of success.

To begin with, I suggest reading the book that inspired this article - "The E Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber. One criticism I'd perhaps level at this book, however, is that it over-emphasises the degree to which a business can be systemised. He argues for the creation of a business system that's so well designed any average employee can provide excellent service - with McDonalds held up as the shining example of this approach.  I'd say that with many businesses, particularly creative or cutting-edge tech businesses, you do need to be more flexible and responsive than that, which means enrolling and retaining remarkable people. As a complement to E-Myth, perhaps try "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" by Seth Godin.

As part of this process, think about whether you really do want to be an entrepreneur - the world needs technicians too. Perhaps you won't actually find all that thinking, envisioning, planning and managing particularly satisfying? At the very least, you should gain a deeper appreciation of the vital dimensions brought in by the managerial and entrepreneurial personalities you're working with, which may make communication more effective. One LinkedIn user answered Bob's question with the words "All it shows is that it takes more than just talent to succeed in business". This is a technician's answer and just needs the addition of one word - "All it shows is that it takes more than technical talent..."

At time of writing, I'm nowhere with Twitter. This is a fairly major, perhaps risky admission from someone who was modelling out online social networks fifteen years ago, who's current project includes creating websites that are "the hub of your online world", and who's constantly advising others in this arena. (On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook isn't particularly sociable either, apparently!)

So, I'm ashamed to admit it, but the fact is I'm not naturally a very sociable person. Give me a nice concrete project to design, business to model out, or product to sell and I'm happy. I love working in teams on something, but ask me to just hang out with people - online or off - and I start to twitch. I don't even like pubs.

To a certain extent I've been able to get away with this on Facebook and LinkedIn. I've created my profiles and "befriended"/"associated" people. I've acquired some nice testimonials and I've joined a few groups - but I haven't really been using these networks socially either.

The thing about Twitter (and what's so brilliant about it) is that you just can't get away with not being sociable. At all. Twitter limits you to a 160 character profile. That's it. Unless you tweet, follow and interact, Twitter's nothing - so up until now, that's exactly what I've been!

I've been following Twitter (though not in the Twitter sense) with great interest since it's inception and, with bemusement, I've watched it explode. I have to confess, only recently did I experience a bit of an "ah ha" moment and really start to understand how and why it's such a potentially powerful tool for networking and relationship building. For example, if I "mention" another Twitter user in a Tweet, my message is seen by all of their followers (but don't abuse this or you'll get blocked as spam!)

So this is part one of "My Zero to Hero Twitter Challenge". I think it's a big challenge for me. It's not about the technology, it's about a dramatic shift in my habits and comfort zone - a shift that I expect will equally effect how I use the other social networks and, indeed, how I relate and communicate in the "real" world.

My challenge includes:

1. Getting one thousand genuine Twitter followers in a month.
2. Tweeting something useful and/or interesting at least once a day.
3. Always replying to any private messages or mentions.
4. NOT using any "auto-bots" to achieve the above.

I hope that following my journey will prove useful to you if you're facing similar challenges - I'll be posting an update every week.

An article encouraging novice Twitter users...

The Twitter interface has been updated since the below video was made, but if you're a novice, this is still a pretty good intro.