If you knew what not to do when considering marketing choices for your business, just think how much money and energy you would save! Put these helpful tips in your marketing toolbox and pry it open before you make any costly decisions!

1. Putting all of your eggs in one basket

Could be very costly. If you bank of success with one thing and one thing only to promote your business, you won't begin to realize return on your investment. Keep in mind that marketing is an integrated process. That means that it must consist of a variety of strategies to be successful. By diversifying your efforts, you will increase reach of your message and stretch your marketing dollars.

2. Shooting in Dark

You don't have a target. You're just hoping something will stick. If you find that you are throwing yourself at every marketing opportunity coming your way, step back and realize that's it's better to have a plan. Set your objectives first. What goals do you want to accomplish in what time period? Define your target market. Set your budget for next 6 to 12 months. When you have a plan, there is no reason for "crises marketing." This eliminates advertising rush charges and prevents you from straying to far from your plan.

3. Having a Rigid Marketing Plan

This means an earthquake couldn't get you to change your mind! Remember that marketing plans must be flexible. You must always be adjustable to marketing conditions, new opportunities and other factors. Your marketing plan should be re-evaluated at least every quarter. This doesn't mean that you need to add more money to your budget. If a great opportunity comes along, eliminate one piece of your plan and move money to your new idea. I always find it helpful to include a "contingency" line item in my plans. This is kind of like "emergency" funds.

4. If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it

Today your website sells x number of your products. How do you get it to sell twice as many, ten times as many, or more?

There is a simple reason holding you back. While many website owners don't know why sales are low, you may already, in your heart, know why.

To illustrate what reason is, let me give you two website marketing scenarios. See if you pinpoint problem.

SCENARIO 1 Imagine your website sells 20 inexpensively-priced widgets every day. Your present customers are delighted with it. You want to build sales. What should you do to sell more?

Pause for a second and give your answer. Play along. It's fun and informative.

Most people would say, "Advertise more." or "Get more traffic." At first, this seems logical, but there is critical data missing.

What is that data? An essential question you need to ask is, How many unique visitors come to website each day?

It makes a difference if it's 200 or 20000 unique visitors coming to your website each day. If you find you are getting 200 visitors a day and 20 sales, that's great. Get more visitors.