Don’t Settle for the Proverbial End of the Year Top 10 List

It is a rite of passage in every facet of life, in every genre of business, in every bit of personal reflection and in every David Letterman episode. As the year comes to a close, clichéd top ten lists abound. In performance marketing, the following top ten lists are most prevalent:
The Top Ten Email Marketing Campaigns
The Top Ten Search Initiatives
The Top Ten Affiliate Programs
The Top Ten Moments in Social Media
Yada Yada. Yawn.
Top Ten lists do have a way of wrapping up the year into a tidy bow of performance. But online performance marketing is not that simplistic. A performance campaign, regardless of the channel, should never be wrapped up. It must be continuously improved upon, optimized and tracked. In this way, the campaign never completely comes to an end. There should always be an improvement strategy in place.
This calls for something akin to an Anti-Top Ten List. Not just for the end of this year but for years to come.
The Top Ten List of Performance Marketing Dont's
1 - Don't settle for your current conversion rates. Rely on performance expertise to conduct continual testing and drive better results
2 - Don't sit back and rely on the status quo. Revise and optimize your content to increase relevant traffic
3 - Don't join the first affiliate network you find. Connect with a robust, trustworthy network to successfully expand your reach
4 - Don't link for the sake of linking. Implement a sound link building strategy to improve popularity and authority
5 - Don't begin an email marketing campaign without proper targeting. Hit your target audience and drive conversions-to-sale
6 - Don't launch dynamic banner ads without a plan. Get the data needed to find the audience that will click and convert
7 - Don't create a Facebook page and call yourself a social media expert. Leverage knowledgeable social media professionals to drive traffic to your site and engage actionable consumers
8 - Don't lose sight of the profit potential of the Internet. Publishers must utilize digital marketing expertise to properly monetize their email lists, data acquisition campaigns, affiliate networks and display markets
9 - Don't neglect your lead database. Incorporate lead management strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your existing customer list and to better oversee your customer procurement approach
10 - Don't forget online performance marketing is about driving results. Make sure clients understand what they have to gain from incorporating expert digital marketing solutions into their campaigns
So as you pop your champagne corks and turn the calendar to 2011, keep this list top of mind. It will likely help you maximize your online reach, conversions and ROI in the present and future.