I’m on a list kick this week, probably because I’m surrounded by holiday shopping lists.

Internet marketing is hard, but that doesn’t explain why so many campaigns fail. Here’s what I think goes wrong:

1. Late starts. Internet marketing starts when you decide to build your web site. Not a week after it’s launched, when your developers have all quit and your designer is on vacation in Aruba for a month.
2. Ignoring search. There’s no excuse for ignoring search engines. If you do, you’re ignoring at least 75% of your market. Even if you’re Nike, many searchers will find you buy searching on brand and product names. Have a paid search campaign and an organic search engine optimization strategy.
3. Insufficient resources. If you’re the CEO, and you’re responsible for internet marketing, you’ve made a mistake. You can’t possibly manage PPC campaigns, SEO, analytics, e-mail, testing and site design on your own. It’s not possible. Get help!
4. Optimism. If you’re planning to break even the first day your site launches, and be rich by month’s end, forget it. Do some real business analysis, and figure out how long it’ll take to turn your site into an earner.
5. Fear. I’ve seen one campaign after another fail because, when it doesn’t work on the first day or two, the advertiser shuts it all down. Set a schedule and stick to it. You can change things. But don’t turn them off.
6. Lack of testing. Test everything! Which ‘buy now’ button works best? Which headline? Which ad? You should test and continuously improve what you’re doing.
7. Smallthink. If you want to double sales to $500,000 in three months, chances are you’re going to have to spend more than $1,000/month.