Deep down you know you need an internet marketing plan.

But how can you create one that you’ll stick to rather than a pipe dream that ends up languishing on your hard drive?

The first step is to know where you want to get to

Yes, I know that sounds trite.

But the number of people I come into contact with who are clueless about their internet marketing destination is scarily high.

So start by knowing where you want to end up.

You do it if you go on a journey.

You probably do it if you go out for a meal – or at least you know the cuisine you fancy tonight and then narrow it down from there. You don’t usually just say “we’ll go to the first restaurant that looks fairly busy”.

And you need to do it with your internet marketing.

Once you know your destination you can start to create a plan.

So, if necessary, brainstorm with yourself or someone else to figure out where you want to get to.

Make your destination precise

Whether you believe in things like the Law of Attraction or not, they’re at play in your life.

It’s not just the Karate Kid that needed to focus – it’s you as well.

Ideally, don’t make it just about the money.

Money is a target, not a goal.

That’s a subtle difference but it makes a big difference about how you get to reach your destination.

Nowadays we don’t see real money very often.

Payment for lots of things is by card – maybe even touchless card. Or automatic payments out of your bank account.

So even if your internet marketing earns you an extra $100 or $1,000 or whatever, chances are it won’t physically be a note that you’re holding.

It’s much more likely to be a figure in your PayPal account that you then exchange for digital products and services with the money untouched by human hand.

So translate your money target into an actual goal.

Maybe it’s a treat for yourself – that meal out, a trip somewhere, some TLC for you or someone close to you, whatever gives you that warm feeling inside and encourages you to go for the goal.

The same goes for any other goal you set – it should spark off the production lots of endorphins (natural feel-good chemicals in your body) so that you know you’re doing something that’s working for you.

That kind of end goal will make you close to unstoppable.

You’ll be driven towards it, even when you aren’t consciously doing anything to reach it.

Those kind of goals are top notch.

Then – once you’ve got the goal – start making a list of all the things you need to do to reach it.

That list will be different for everyone as their goals will be different.

But it should be a list of some sort – whether that’s scribblings on a piece of paper you carry around with you, a list on a spreadsheet or any other method you decide on that works for you.

That list is your internet marketing plan.

It’s got all the stuff you think you’re going to need to reach your goal.

And it’s got a nice amount of room to add in all the things you need to do but haven’t remembered yet.

You know – all the “gotchas” that creep up on you just when you thought you’d got everything under control.

Then chip away at your list

I say chip away because it’s unlikely that you’ll complete everything on your internet marketing plan in one sitting.

Partly because if it was that easy you’d probably have done it already.

This is where that tatty piece of paper comes into its own.

There’s a kind-of subversive pleasure at scratching out or obliterating each item from your list when you’ve done it.

Much more that there is just ticking it off or deleting it from an electronic document.

So even if your main list is electronic, take the time to scribble it down on a piece of paper and take the time to indelibly cross each item off your paper list.

And feel the satisfaction when you do that!

If you’d like more help creating your very own internet marketing plan, click this link.