Internet marketing is a tricky business. Even those who know “marketing” find themselves at a loss from time to time. With computer algorithms, fluctuating traffic, and the ever-changing whims of Internet users, few things are cut and dry. And even marketers with the best of intentions will end up scratching their heads in confusion from time to time.

There are a few things that anyone marketing a site on the Internet can avoid to help ensure more success online.  So in no particular order, here are the Top 5 Internet Marketing Mistakes:

1) An SEO-only Focus

SEO is important, there’s no doubt. Since the majority of Internet users find what they’re looking for online by way of a search engine, it’s critical for any website to make sure their best foot is put forward to the spiders and crawlers that find their content. But in and of itself, SEO alone isn’t enough. Good content still matters more so than any SEO techniques. You can have the most optimized site on the Internet and still have lousy numbers if your content isn’t engaging enough to keep people coming back.

2) Not Testing and Making Changes

Change is good when it comes to your website. New content, new approaches, and constant refinement of your code, writing, landing pages, etc are critical for a number of reasons. First and foremost, change keeps the search engines coming back. The more you update your site, the faster your site gets crawled (generally). But changes can also dramatically affect your traffic, conversions, and sales. Take a look at our Success Stories series for examples of online businesses who were able to see huge improvements by simply testing and making changes. Unless you’re already #1… there’s always room for improvement.

3) Not Tracking Changes

It’s pointless to follow the advice of number 2 and make changes if you don’t track them. Why? Because you’ll want to track what those changes do to your site’s performance. It’s not enough to simply track the change in traffic, conversions, etc. You need to be able to link those changes back to something you did on the site. Make changes slowly, document exactly when you did each one, and wait to see the effect before changing anything else. Sometimes a change can have the opposite affect that you’re shoot for. So it’s important to be able to roll those changes back. If you change too much too quickly - and don’t track what you’ve done - you may find yourself with a big, confusing puzzle to figure out. Bottom line… document everything… and document it well.

4) Not Remembering Your Users

Don’t build something just for Google or Yahoo or any other search engine. You can see it time and again - someone will invest a lot of time and/or money into researching something that they think they can get to rank well in a search engine. But they fail to take into account that people - not search engines - have to actually want what you’re offering. If users don’t want what you’ve got it does no good to rank well. User considerations should always come before all others.

5) Not Track The Industry

Things change online in a flash. It’s imperative to keep up to date on what’s going on in the world of Internet marketing, search engines, and the net in general. The best way to keep track of the industry is to monitor the blogs and websites out there that dedicate their time to keeping tabs on these things for you. A few great places to start include:

• ProBlogger
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Land
• Bruce Clay

And we hope, of course, that the Internet Marketing Monitor adds something to the industry as well. Take my word for it… there are a lot of resources out there at your disposal. By monitoring the best of the best you’ll be sure to stay on top of what’s going on… and one step ahead of your competition.

This post is part of ProBlogger’s “Top 5″ Group Writing Project.