So here you are, you've been surfing around the Internet for quite some time or you're new and thrilled by what it has to offer. You say to yourself "Hey! Look at all those people earning money on the Internet," and you decide you want to be a part of it.

After you've made that first decision, you take a closer look. You know how to use a search engine, so you type in something like “home business,” “online business,” or “work at home.” OUCH! There are literally thousands of addresses to choose from. Your first thought, "If there are so many already in business, what chance do I have?"

Not to be discouraged you tell yourself, "If they can do it, then so can I." Now that was your first step to committing yourself to take action. It means you've expressed the will to start an online business, even though you're not completely aware of it at this stage.

My friend, I can't stress this enough. The next steps you take will most certainly decide on whether you will succeed or fail. This is the stage where most people make their biggest mistake. It just takes some common sense on your part.

Ask yourself this: "When was the last time I honestly and truly got something for nothing?" I'm sure you know the answer to that one. A business is a business is a business. (No, that's not a typo.) Any business online or offline is built on the six basic rules of economics.

Let's take a look at these six basic rules:

1. Investment

As I stated earlier, you can't expect to get something for nothing. To start an online business you'll be investing in:

• Your own Web site (this is your “shop” or “store”)
• Advertising
• Tools
• Products or service to sell
2. Market Knowledge

Here you're going to have to do some serious researching. Your market will depend on the product you're selling.

Example: Baby diapers are a specific product aimed at young mothers. Toilet paper on the other hand is a general product everyone needs.

My tip: Use the search engines. Start with Google.com. Type in your product and see what comes up. You can even type in something like “marketing reports (your product name)” or “market (your product name).” You get the idea.

Product

This is without doubt the major decision in your online business. What can I sell? All I can say is the list is almost endless.

• Digital goods

You can decide to sell digital goods: ebooks, software, information, reports anything that can be downloaded.

• Non-digital goods

This is much easier than it may appear. There are thousands of companies looking for reseller outfits on the Internet.

• Drop-shipping wholesale & closeout products

A “drop-shipper” is one that ships merchandise from their warehouse of inventory directly to your customers. This minimizes your inventory and overhead expenses. You are "the middleman." In other words you only pay for what you've already sold.

Advertising

No matter how good your product or how wonderful your Web site (store), if nobody knows about it then you're sunk.

• E-zines

One way to make yourself known is by advertising in ezines. If you're not much of a writer and don't know how-to write gripping ad copy to introduce your product, get someone to do it for you. There are some very good ad copy writers available on the Internet, but they aren't cheap. Read the ads of others to get an idea of how to word your own ads…but don't plagiarize.

• Search Engines

Get your Web site on the search engines. Get a good placing by optimizing your Web site such as pay-for-placement. There are various ways to do this, but it's beyond the scope of this article.

• Mailing Lists

Build a mailing list. Publish a newsletter with information and news about your product or line of products and then submit your newsletter to directories. Another way is to “buy” quality leads, but before you rush out and buy leads make sure the leads you buy will be accepted by your auto-responder service. By my experience they won't accept "Opt-in" or "Safelist" leads.

We will conclude the final six steps in the next issue.

Karl Mills is the owner of Successful Rewards - Home Business "In a Box" and Web Design System. He has published several articles about Online Business and how-to get started.
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