We've all heard elementary school bands where one or more students play off key or squeaks. We applaud their effort and may even smile at their various faux pas.



What we can appreciate and overlook in a beginner we tend to frown on when someone should really know better.

A high school band will be better than an elementary band and a touring band will be better than a college band. We expect improvement. We expect that practice will help perfect the skills.

Just like playing an instrument Internet marketing takes practice and perseverance. You may not be able to simply look up an article on SEO and conclude that you have learned everything you can about the subject. What you've learned may be more like learning to play one note on one instrument. And just when you finish learning a single instrument you have to learn all the others. This is how Internet marketing works. Each instrument requires new skills. Instruments like traffic building, ezines, email marketing, social media, blogs, web branding, podcasting, auto-responders and RSS all possess a certain learning curve.

Once you have learned everything you can about each ‘instrument' you need to begin to direct the ‘orchestra' and work to find ways for the Internet marketing strategies to work together in harmony.

Yes, this requires dedication, hard work and a great deal of concentration, but when the elements of Internet marketing work together it's a beautiful thing to behold.

The good news is once the primary instruments of Internet marketing are learned it may not be as difficult to manage the overall direction of your marketing orchestra.

New techniques will come along and they can be treated as if the orchestra must learn a new song. Sure it's a little bit of work, but it's not impossible. It can actually contain an element of satisfaction.

OK, I'll leave the orchestra analogy behind for the moment and simply emphasize the need to develop as many Internet marketing tools as possible. They are important instruments in helping you reach your goals.

I like how former NFL player Steve Grant defined goals, he said, “Goals are just dreams with a deadline.”

I like that phrase because it keys in on the passion (dreams) we must have in business with a benchmark for the evaluation of our success. Learning the skills of marketing is essential to meeting our dream deadline.

Without marketing you are unable to accurately aim at your goal. It's sort of like target practice with your eyes closed. It might even be a bit dangerous; at the very least your efforts are ineffective.

I know I promised, but just one more allusion to the orchestra. Tune up your marketing instruments and play on – may the music be sweet to all ears.