At a recent Internet Conference that my sons and I were teaching, I was reminded about one of the most serious problems that we all face in Internet Marketing, and that is information overload

What do I mean? Let's look at a typical day in the life of an Internet Marketer.

9am... you sit down to your computer, with the intent of writing a new website, because you just KNOW that this will be the most profitable project you ever built. But before you get into that, you'd better check your emails

You go through about fifty junk letters.... but look! Here's a message from some well known Internet Marketing Guru. I know he makes GOBS of money on the Internet every day, and he can teach me the SECRET of marketing on the Internet.... and my gosh he's only going to charge me $49 for the privilege of knowing that secret. I can't pass that up, so I better order it right now. After all the price is going up tomorrow you know!

So I order that ebook, and start to read it, but then the phone rings. It is just a telephone solicitor, but after I get her off the call, I sit down to my computer again. Let's see, what was I going to do? Umm.... not sure but I need to run a virus scan to make sure my computer is clean... and while it's doing that I'm going to get another cup of coffee.

10am... OK no viruses on my computer. That's great to know... now I can sit down and get started on that website right.... but I better check my emails first....

Oh look... here's a system that Mr. X used to rake in $40,000 last night while he was sleeping. Boy wouldn't I like to have that... let's go to his website..

Hmm.... seems like it's another program that says write an ebook on Internet Marketing and sell it to people who would like to learn about Internet Marketing..... no.. I don't want to do that.

Back to work... But you know I DID see something Frank said once about using public domain reports. I wonder if I could use that. So off I go to see if I can find that report. OK, now I have that, and I think I'll pass for now.

11am... I better get back to work here. Oops, here comes another e-mail. What? This one says the system I'm trying to use to build my business is dead, and now I need to buy their software or I'll go broke on the net?

OK, I can't live without that software, I better get it right now.

12pm.... Lunch time, I'll get back to that website after lunch

Sound familiar? Unfortunately it's all too familiar for ALL of us. There are so many different ways to generate income, traffic or whatever we want to do on the Internet, that we're constantly bombarded by offers.

Many of them are good, and many of them could make money for you IF you sat down and really applied worked on THAT program and ONLY that program for a few months. But the problem is that we get sidetracked so easily. Most of us never really take the time to focus on the ONE project that we need to get working BEFORE we start on the next

It takes a real discipline sometimes to say no to these tempting offers.... and yes... some of them come from me too. Here's five simple steps to help you FIX this problem with overload........

1. Set aside certain periods of the day that you check your emails and ONLY check your emails at those times.

2. Sit down and decide once and for all that you're going to build a SOLID website, ebook, program, or whatever it is that you want to do. You're not going to deviate from that plan until you've accomplished that goal. Along the way you MIGHT be presented with some software or peripheral program that would work well with what you're trying to accomplish.

If that's the case then GREAT... get it and integrate it into your online model, but if it doesn't mesh with your PRESENT project, then either don't buy it at all, or if you MUST, then put it into a separate folder on your computer called "Future Projects" and don't mess with it until you're on track with your present one

3. Make a to do list. This letter is an example. It was the number one item on my to do list for today, I wanted to contact you and write about this while it was still fresh in my mind

4. Find out what time of the day is the most productive for you and set that time aside for your most important tasks. Mine is usually 10pm to midnight

I realize that many readers must juggle their web site efforts with a full time job... but the real key is consistency. Set aside SOME regular time each week to work on your online presence

5. Resolve here and now that there are many ways that you would be able to make money on the Internet, but you can only do ONE AT A TIME... so you're going to work at ONE until you've either made a success of it or it truly has proven not to be what you'd hoped for. If it's the latter, try to find out why. Was it a problem in promotion? Was it the layout, the text, the headline?

You don't want to repeat the same mistakes again

My sons and I make money in many different ways on the net, but everything we do that is successful for us always boils down to this simple formula.

I could ramble on for a long time about this, but I think you get the idea. This entire article can be summed up in to one word

............ FOCUS

About the author:

Sign up for your free Cool Web Tips newsletter at http://coolwebtips.com. You'll receive many more PRACTICAL tips about getting more traffic, building effective websites, generating more revenue, and converting lookers into buyers. Frank Sousa is an author, teacher, & developer of the secretspidergenerator. http://www.secretspidergenerator.com