I had the good fortune this week to attend the 2009 Masters of Business Online conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. This event is hosted by one of our peers in the industry, Evereffect. The President of Evereffect, Jim Brown, did a tremendous job of scheduling outstanding speakers and visionaries from the Indianapolis area to speak. If you haven’t attended MBO in the past, make sure to do so next year.

Over the course of the day, I watched a great presentation from the CEO of Brandswag, Kyle Lacy, on the importance of social media. I had the opportunity to hear Jon DiGregory, Founding Partner of Cantaloupe, talk about video production and how it is evolving for the web. Another particularly interesting presentation was from the Founder of Slingshot SEO, Jeremy Dearringer, on how creating inbound links to your site is so important to your search ranking.

While each presentation during the day was about a different area, all of them had one particular theme that stood out time and time again…COMMITMENT.

You see, when you talk about organic search engine optimization, social media marketing or your overall Internet marketing strategy, one thing is always consistent; you need commitment.

I have blogged about this in the past. We have witnessed this over and over again with our clients. The more they commit, the better success they have. We can create the best Internet marketing plan for you, but if you don’t commit to it, you will ultimately limit your own success.

If you think about this scenario, it is the same with so many things in life. Take for instance, weight loss. You can hire the best trainer to create a fantastic workout plan for you, however if you don’t commit to the program, you will have little chance for success.

Even though each of my fellow Internet marketers had their own stories and products, each of them continually preached about one ever important thing…commitment.

Before you are ready to dive into your next web project make sure you ask yourself one important question.

Are you ready to commit?

When I started in this business over 12 years ago, I learned one thing very quickly. The cool new thing today will be a thing of the past tomorrow.

Think about it. Back in the day, Netscape was the web’s only real browser, and it was a few years before a search engine named Yahoo dominated the web. Most people connected to the World Wide Web through a little company called AOL. Remember all those free disks?

I recall actually having heated debates with my tech friends about how AOL would become the most powerful company in the world. (I know, sounds like a nerdy conversation, right?) However, look how things changed.

Over the years, technology has evolved and become better and more complex, but the one thing that has remained constant is that things continue to change faster and faster when it pertains to the Internet.  This includes the world of web marketing.

As you plan a web based strategy for your company, keep this in mind. Right now, there are boutique businesses popping up everywhere telling you to tweet, tweet, tweet. There are frequent seminars on how to run your business by just being “social.”

Be very careful when you partner with a company who has one particular area they specialize in, because they will have a very short life span.

A great example are the new crop of Social Media Advertising companies that are coming on the scene. Do I believe social media works? Yes, but I also know this area will change faster than the speed of sound. We have already seen it. Myspace has given way to Facebook; Jaiku has given way to Twitter. These two will give way to the next big things, and so on and so on.

Mark my words, when I write a blog post two years from today, Facebook and Twitter will be on their way down the technology cycle. How do I know this? That is the way technology works, especially on the Internet.

Do you need a web based strategy? Of course you do. Do you need to be involved with social media? Absolutely. However, I would encourage you to look for an Internet partner who understands marketing in general and doesn’t just specialize in one particular “hot trend.”

The Internet is here to stay and your Internet strategy needs to be the biggest part of your marketing budget.  However, it will continue to evolve and change and do it faster and faster. Make sure to spread out your efforts and your web based strategy. Make sure you don’t only get caught up in just one social media outlet right now, because one thing is for sure….

The next big marketing trend on the Internet hasn’t even been thought of yet.