Part of the fun of working in the online marketing industry is watching marketers try to navigate new territory. In the dozen years or so since the commercial explosion of the web, marketers have learned chiefly by experimentation. Along the way, experience has taught marketers not only what to do, but also what to avoid.

If we're lucky, we learn a valuable lesson without spending too much money.

If we're unlucky, sometimes that lesson is learned expensively. In full view of the public. With thousands of internet users pointing and laughing.

Some of the lessons learned here are personal experiences. Others are very public learning experiences like I described above. In any case, they're clear examples of marketing blunders you need to steer clear of.

Here goes…