The London Marathon has just begun and 36,000 people are attempting the 26.2 miles through the historic London streets. Professional athletes, elite club runners and people who enjoy running all run alongside people raising money for charity, TV personalities and celebrities. Importantly, they are all advised to “pace themselves”. If you are not an elite runner who can complete the course in just over two hours, do it in your own time, the runners are advised. And it strikes me that this is sensible advice for Internet marketers. Far too many people see Internet marketing as a “sprint”. They want to get their web site to the top of Google, tomorrow; they want to achieve millions of hits within a week and they want to earn millions from their web site by the end of the month. But this attitude means almost certain failure; running an online business is a marathon, not a sprint. Aim for the longer view – see your business in several months time and then determine the stages you need to get their. Just as today’s runners in the London Marathon know their “split times” – the timing they want to achieve for each mile they run – so you should have your step by step achievements for your online business. So what month by month targets do you have for traffic, rankings and so on? Set those targets for your web based business; see it as a long term venture, rather than a quick way to raise money, and you will be rewarded.