Nothing is standing in the way of your success but you, right? That’s absolutely true my friend but you are a sinful being and in order to fully understand the task at hand and how we’re going to succeed we’ve got to isolate these sins and free ourselves of them.

In the game there are forces that oppose you and those forces are…

The Seven Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing and I’m going to reveal them for you now because if you’re well informed then you’re well prepared. The rules of the game allow for these evil forces but you have all the weapons you need at your disposal to ensure they don’t affect you.

Let’s get to it…

I’ll tell you that we learn by failing. I told you that failure is wonderful because that failure brings us one step closer to success but it can unleash some pretty dangerous negative side effects. One of those side effects or one of those dangerous things that just might happen is our first Seven Deadly Sin of Internet Marketing.

It is…

1. A lack of patience.

Unfortunately we live in a world of instant gratification and it’s getting worse. In the old days if we wanted to change the channel on our TV, we actually had to get up and walk across the room and turn the dial sequentially through each channel. Furthermore, we were limited in our choice.

Today we can sit like a fat lump several feet away and randomly surf through a disturbing plethora of garbage packaged up nicely and catering directly to our specific interest at that given moment.

The internet has made it even worse. It’s hard to stay patient in today’s world and ironically when it comes to marketing, the internet can be painfully slow.

Working the search engines, looking and praying for traffic, it can be deadly. The most important thing to understand however that if you give it time, it will work.

I like to think of internet marketing like fishing. I personally don’t like fishing because I think it’s cruel, but I won’t bring my politics to the table because I like the concept of fishing. Maybe I can afford to sit on my high and lofty position and think fishing is cruel because I go fishing everyday…

Then again maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces.

Either way internet marketing is like fishing. You remain patient, you try different lures and you try to see where the fish are. Your goal is to catch as many fish as possible. Fishing requires patience but if you are patient and if you are always trying different lures and if you make sure you have lots of lures at your disposal – You will eventually become a very good fisherman and catch a lot of fish.

But your sin is a lack of patience and we all suffer from it. Rest assured if we overcome this sin, we will succeed.

More lakes, attractive bait and lots of patience with as many lines in the water as possible will ensure that you catch your fish.

As we turn to our second sin, I don’t think any of you would think I’m boring. You might think a lot of things but boring shouldn’t be one of them. Have you ever met anybody that was boring?

Personally I find the ‘excitement’ that many of those internet marketing clone guys have is pretty boring because boring is one‐dimensional and completely lacking any diversity – again remember, the human element and infuse it with magic.

Blather. That’s all we get from a lot of those internet marketing types but that’s precisely one of Seven Deadly Sins Of Internet Marketing – a lack of variety and variation.

It’s called…

2. Stagnation or a lack of diversity.

And the end result is boring.

Innovation is never boring. Dare to create different products or at least pitch them in unheard of ways.

Dare to be creative and try new ideas and dare to be…Not boring.

Keep everybody guessing. Be nuts and be creative. Diversify.

If you do these things it will also help to keep you patient because you’ll have lots of things to do while you’re waiting for those fish to find your bait.

Now of course you might get lots of nibbles and on the internet this might be called traffic or email inquiries. However you just can’t seem to reel them in and one thing you want to make sure of is that you’re learning at all times because another sin is…The failure to embrace failure as a learning opportunity.

Failure strikes terror in the hearts of people everywhere. Yet in truth, the fear of failure is the death knell of success. Falling down doesn’t make you a loser.

But staying down does.

Understand that failure is essentially a state of mind. True failure comes from deciding not to persist. It has been said that many of those who fail didn’t realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Walt Disney was fired from an ad agency because he demonstrated a “singular lack of drawing ability.” That failure led him to start his own studio.

Ray Kroc failed at the real estate business which gave him the chance to sell milkshake machines and meet the McDonald brothers. He parlayed a single hamburger stand into the largest food service company in the world.

Post‐it notes were born out of the “failure” of a scientist’s quest to develop the world’s strongest glue.

He didn’t make the glue, in fact it was so terrible that it made great temporary glue and that’s useful.

All you have to do is shift the focus from failure to feedback. Now you can view the situation as a catalyst for change. In essence, failure can be an amazing success coach and a great opportunity toward new and better things.

But you have to use the advantage you’ve gained because the next Deadly Sin Of Internet Marketing is an inability to implement. It’s called…

3. A lack of diligence.

There are lots of people with great ideas. In fact I once knew a guy who had great ideas and his mind was always reeling with sensational new innovations, but he never did anything with them.

People like that are described as all talk and no action.

You have to take action and you have to follow through on your ideas. They just don’t have any value as ideas unless you do.

Most people suffer from great ideas but I used to tell prospective employees that I didn’t need ideas; I needed people who could execute ideas because I have enough dumb ideas of my own, thanks.

Try to stay focused. Keep a journal or memo yourself with things to do as they present themselves. Plan your week. Plan your month and visualize where you want to be and what you want to have done Thirty Days from today.

You need to do it. I know you have awesome ideas but please stay diligent, focused and organized.

There’s another sin that’s difficult to control and sometimes if you commit one sin it leads to another. One of those sins is …

4. Careless spending.

Just because some site promises to expose your site to thousands of surfers or a shiny object that transforms a website into a talking monkey that will bring you drinks doesn’t mean that you should always just buy it. I realize that sometimes it seems tough and sometimes it seems like you’re willing to try anything – but don’t.

Come up with a budget and stick with it. I realize that sounds so boring and so painful but you must do it. Because otherwise your plan falls apart and speaking of plans. The next sin is something we all suffer from but it’s kind of funny because it just doesn’t make sense…

The Fifth Deadly Sins Of Internet Marketing is…

5. Not having a plan.

Have you ever gone on vacation and didn’t know where you were going?

It sounds kind of fun but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s only in states of sheer delirium that we would head out on the highway with no idea of where we going.

So why would we do that in business? We all do it. It’s crazy.

Just like when you’re driving, a marketing plan is like having a roadmap. It ensures that you’ll get where you want to go.

It doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t have to be impressive. You’re writing it for nobody else but you but you have to have it.

Now the Sixth Deadly Sin Of Internet Marketing is something that we’ve discussed before and it is…

6. A lack of integrity.

Remember that integrity isn’t just about having some sort of high ethical ideals, it’s about walking the walk and talking the talk. It’s about being true to yourself and understanding what you do clearly and understanding precisely how you do it.

It’s your voice and your method. It’s about not letting yourself be brainwashed by some guru and it’s about being true to your customers. It’s about letting your personality shine through everything you produce.

Really. Don’t think you have to pattern yourself off of anybody and don’t ever copy anybody else’s product idea. Certainly you can do your own version or your own unique spin but if you go through life trying to fit in or copy somebody else then you won’t accomplish anything.

You won’t find greatness by trying to be the next Amazon or the next Google. You will however find greatness by striving to create products that are uniquely yours and told, and sold from your unique prospective.

I see a lot of talk on the internet about how so many different internet marketing gurus have their own unique ideas and their own unique perspective, but try as I may; I have to really see it.

Is that because there are so many inalienable truths in internet marketing?

Sort of, but what I really see is a lot of duplication and a lot of self-promotion. I understand that is part of the game, but why does it have to be at the expense of their customers?

Sometimes it may seem to be an incredibly great challenge to convince a potential customer that they would benefit from our products.

Unless you are truly unique, how will you stand out? People buy people and they buy from people they like.

Say thank you and mean it. Be nice. Be courteous and be yourself.

People who spend time online are not sad, lonely individuals with no social life.

It’s quite the opposite because the social impact of new communications technologies is a greater number of social ties, more diverse social ties, more support. More humanity. Capitalize on that.

You may think it’s important to invest only in the marketing of your business but you should be sure to build on your aspects of character as well.

You should consider investments in honesty, ethics, loyalty and your communion with a higher power other than yourself to be all productive contributions toward a successful business.

Because a successful self will build a successful business.

Don’t be afraid to be good and show goodness. Love and respect both your customers and your competition because when push to comes to shove, your positive attitude will always give you the edge you need to succeed.

There’s nothing better than loving your competition because they will always provide so many laughs for you once you get them running.

Invest in friends and your family because they are priceless and if you’re stable in the real world, then you’re stable online.

Have a lot of fun, but play by the rules and remember, discipline makes the world go round and it will truly put a positive spin on your life.

Few things of value occur without discipline. Each of you can create a dream and go for it. This dream should encourage you to reach for the awesome and elusive concept of perfection and stretch you to your fullest.

Don’t ever cower from shooting high.

Poets don’t get quoted much anymore and that’s probably both a good thing and a bad thing but the poet Robert Browning said…

A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what is a heaven for?

The result of truly hard work can create the talent of your dreams. Many highly skilled people credit hard work for what others think is natural talent or just plain dumb luck.

God created the structure of the universe and your parents created parts of a life over which you have no control.

But you have no destiny and no preordained failure or success unless you make it so.

Your fingerprints, DNA and the structure of your eyes and every cell within your body identify you as a unique human, differing from all others. Because of this, you may do things no other person could do.

This makes each of us very special and we are all inherently unique.

Make it work for you.

And because we are unique, we should all aspire to embrace our own unique personal vision and strive to bring it into reality.

But never forget that your customer also has a vision: Look in on his dreams and help them to make their dreams a reality. Help enough people realize their dreams, and yours will also come true.

But you have to do it and do it now because nothing happens if you do nothing. Mark Twain said…

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones that you did do. So, throw out the bow lines and sail away from the safe harbor; catch the trade winds in your sails; explore dreams and discover.

This is your chance to do the things that you want to do with your life. Take advantage of this chance and go with it because you can do it and you can be everything you want to be and it can all happen by just getting started.

I wish you the very best of success and I know you can do it because I was in a very difficult situation and I am perhaps the most dysfunctional person I know. In fact that dysfunction compelled me to be a rebel and do everything my own unique way. It’s a perfect example of an apparent failure or flaw transformed into a strength and a success.

Halim, PhD, MLS(ASCP), SM, MB

Abdelhalim Elshawadfy is an ASCP certified Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS ASCP), Specialist in Microbiology (SM ASCP), and Molecular Biology Technologist (MB ASCP) with a distinguished career marked by expertise, continuous learning, and a commitment to elevating the standards of clinical laboratory science. As an ASCP Certification Expert and American Board Certification Expert, Abdelhalim Elshawadfy continues to make invaluable contributions to the field, leaving a lasting impact on the medical community.

DrHalim.com