Mastering online marketing doesn’t have to be a long and difficult process. In fact, if you properly plan your learning you can master online marketing in record time.

Here are five easy steps to mastering online marketing.

=> Step 1: Pick a System

There are many systems and methods for doing online marketing. Some focus on SEO, others focus on JVs, others still focus on paid marketing.

It doesn’t matter what you start with first. What’s most important is that you pick one system, method or tool to master and learn it first.

If you have a natural inclination towards one method, or if you already know one method well, then use that method to start. Study a variety of different methods and decide on one that you want to learn first.

=> Step 2: Create a Four-Week Plan

Create a four-week plan for learning about and executing on the system. Include books to read as well as people to talk to. If you know others who have succeeded in using this system who can help walk you through, that can be a big plus.

Make your plan aggressive enough to inspire you to action without being so ambitious as to put you off.

Your plan needs to be fast enough that you will know whether or not it’s working in four weeks. You probably need to be putting at least two hours into the project per day, five days a week.

=> Step 3: Execute, Execute, Execute

Take action. By “action,” that means actually taking steps that have a fair chance of resulting in making money.

Actions include things like setting up campaigns, building links, outsourcing articles, etc. Action doesn’t include planning, learning and thinking about strategies.

As a general rule of thumb, the more action you take, the more money you’ll make. Action is what separates the people who don’t make money online with those who do.

=> Step 4: Track Results & Improve

By week 3 or 4, you should have enough data to know whether or not what you’re doing is working.

If you’re in paid advertising, you should be looking at your ROI and cashflow figures to figure out how you’re doing.

If you’re in SEO, look at your rankings and backlinks to see how you’re doing. Don’t aim for top five right away; if your site moved from page 20 to page 2, that’s a success.

=> Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

Figure out what worked and repeat that. Drop what didn’t work.

Multiply your success and keep learning about one method or technique until you get really good at it. Then, expand into other areas and different ways of making money and generating traffic.

Trying to “master online marketing” can seem like a daunting task when you approach it as a whole. But when you approach it method by method, small step by small step, it doesn’t seem all that difficult after all.