Like most things, internet marketing goes in waves.

A few years ago, it was made-for-Adsense sites.

Then the commission on those faded and other things – “sniper” sites, article marketing, that kind of thing – came along.

After that, Digg and other social bookmarking sites seemed to swamp the search results.

Then Web 2.0 sites (remember Squidoo before it got sold?)

Now it’s things like YouTube videos, CPA (cost per action), Google Hangouts (video in another guise), Bing ads and a few other things.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of all of those is next to impossible.

There are too many things to keep track of.

And in the meantime there’s the very real danger that you’ll lose track of what’s currently making you money.

So should you keep your finger on the pulse?

My personal view is a qualified “yes”.

Qualified because I think that it’s something you should watch but only lightly.

Sure, discoverers of new trends can make a lot of money.

But they’re also more likely to end up in a dead end – one that seemed promising at the time but that, for whatever reason, didn’t quite work out.

New ideas are constantly appearing but they don’t always run the course.

Look at Google+ for instance.

That’s been through several incarnations but Google still haven’t quite got it figured out and in my view it has its work cut out to catch MySpace let alone Facebook.

Yes, I’m on Google+.

No, I don’t put much effort into it. I usually (but not always) post to it when I add a new page on my site but that’s about it.

So, yes, I’m just about keeping my finger on its (very weak) pulse.

If that changes, I’ll see my stats show that it has started sending visitors to my site. And then I will re-examine it more thoroughly.

Until then, the light touch works for me.

I did the same wih a Facebook group.

That kind-of worked.

But due to continual changes in Facebook’s algorithms, the number of people who got notified about the posts I made in the group dwindled.

So, for me at least, Facebook groups fell in into the “more trouble than they’re worth” category.

Your mileage may vary but judging by several groups I’m in versus the email list that spawned that same group, I don’t think I’m alone in finding Facebook to be less valuable than I originally thought.

I’m keeping another finger on that pulse – checking every now and then to see how active the group is versus how active the email list is.

It’s not perfect but it’s a quick and easy test.

Of course, if I notice a change then I can re-visit the idea.

If you do the same, that means you’ll probably be quietly monitoring things in the background.

That’s fine – it’s a bit like watching TV (something else that’s in decline) while eating food and talking with friends in person or via some kind of messaging system.

The important thing is not to get overwhelmed

If you try to keep your finger on the pulse of too many things, that’s far too easy to do.

I strongly recommend using some kind of 80/20 ratio where around 80% of your allotted time each day is spent on your main focus and the last bits – and they should be done last, not first – are spent doing this kind of pulse checking.

That way you’re not stuck in the analysis paralysis that so often hits internet marketers.

Feel free to add a comment below if you’d like to contribute your thoughts on keeping your finger on the internet marketing pulse.

And if you want a weekly dose of helpful internet marketing advice (enough to be meaningful without the overwhelm side of things) then take a look here.