I’ve been watching online businesses succeed and fail for about 10 years now…

After a while you can almost pre-determine which ones will make it and which ones won’t - not always, but often.

There are some tell tale signs and I’m going to share them here with you.

A lot has to do with the small business owner. Their current skills, their passion for the topic of their online business, and their dedication to make the business a success.

And, partly following the trends. If you’re going to follow trends and pull up your business mission every 6 months you’ll have a lot of competition at every launch. You’re also likely to quit your online business around the same time as every other trend follower. But, if you want to make a success of it…

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There’s a basic roadmap to starting an online business.

The type of business I’m outlining here is a theme website that has all the qualities and money making capabiities of some of the largest sites online. Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest you build a monstrous website over night, but to slowly build a content website complete with products to sell, affiliate links and great information for your visitors.

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The Brainstorming/Research Stage

One serious advantage of running an online business is that you can start from scratch without investing thousands of dollars. This makes the opportunity irresistible to many.

I’ve got a few online businesses on the go right now so I thought I’d write out and share with you the first six steps I follow to launch an online business.

1. List your favorite top 5 hobbies, current interests or specialties. Online competition can be fierce - it’s not like the old days - if you want to start a new business, you’d better be knowledgeable about that topic, so choose one that you like and have experience with.
2. Start building a list of key phrases related to those hobbies and interests. This is the start of your search engine related research. You’re going to see if a sizeable market exists for your business idea before you invest time, money and energy into the business. Here’s an example - if you are going to sell small airplane collectibles or an info product or resource on the same, some possible keywords could be: airplanes, aeronautics, war airplanes, and so forth.
3. Research those keywords with the free software tool Good Keywords to locate problem statements that have high search results and low competition. Good Keywords is a nice piece of software that allows you do perform research to find out how many times your keywords are searched online and how popular your keywords on search engines are. Those keywords may represent problem statements. Take notes. You’re looking for popular statements with low competition in the search engine results.
4. Research those problem statements further to determine if you can develop a product to solve the common problem you defined. You may use search engines to see how many people are offering products that can help to solve those problems. If you find a popular problem and there are not many people offering solutions online, you’ve found a great and viable market - or business idea!
5. Find or create a product based on the research and information collected above. If the product is an e-book, you might like to write it yourself or you could always hire someone else to do it. If your product idea is a physical product, you might like to research further to find companies online that can manufacture the products for you.
6. Write a long copy sales letter for your new product or business! Many top internet marketing specialists will admit that long sales letters out-perform short sales letters. So get writing! Even if you don’t have your product yet or if your ebook is merely a draft, your enthusiasm for your new project, product or business will transfer into your sales letter.

If you’re really serious about starting up an online home based business I highly recommend a free resource (selling elsewhere at $497) on starting up an online business. It has already helped over 10,000 readers get their home business off the ground and into profits.

Online Customers for Your Business

Your customers - past and present - will make or break your business.

For that reason, you’ll want to treat them with respect and dignity and do your best to ensure that you operate from the perspective that the customer is always right.

Of course some customers are more trouble than they’re worth. These are the clients that you should do your best to serve, but don’t over-serve, and hope that they won’t be back for repeat business, but that they also won’t bad-mouth you either.

This takes some class and fancy footwork, but eventually you can ‘lose’ the troublesome clients and only work for the best that the internet has to offer, or that wander into your offline establishment. Basically, you are in the business to build relationships with people - don’t waste your time on less than perfect clients.

If a problem arises between client and company the trouble is usually around, and can be righted with, correct communication. At times over-communication is necessary, even though it feels as though you’re talking and listening more than serving, knowing your client and expressing the ways you can serve your client will help to bridge gaps of mis-understandings between you.

Online Business Start Ups - Helping Others

Do you remember your first online business? You probably had questions and problems along the way and wished that someone would help you make sense out of this new world.

Perhaps, if you could have afforded a mentor, or knew of one you could trust, you might have signed up for an online business course.

But with all the talk you heard back then of scams and people out to steal your credit card information, you likely just muddled through and made a success of yourself anyway - with lots of bumps and bruises to talk about later!

Remember those days the next time you a start up online business owner sends you an email asking for help and advice. Remember how you felt back then and try to answer their questions and solve their online business problems.

If you don’t know the answer they’re looking for, try point them in the direction of another online business owner you trust.

Why would you go to all this trouble when you’re busy enough trying to run your own business?

Because it makes good online business sense.

Consider these points:

• One day you’ll be able to see their progress and know that you had a part in their start up success.
• They might one day become your business or joint venture partner - often a very lucrative way to do business online.
• Helping others looks good on you.
• You’ll be making a name for yourself in the industry.
• You may get a testimonial or endorsement for your time.
• They will likely repay you once they’re successful by becoming a customer.

There are probably many more benefits from assisting a new online business owner. I’m sure you can think up a few of your own or leave a note on how helping another, helped you.

Let’s talk about internet business ideas…

Here’s how to make your living, from the comfort of home, with an online home based business.

The tools and resources necessary to work at home online are a website, an autorepsonder account and lots of well written, focused content.

Your site’s content will interest anyone trying to find information in your area of interest. This is the easiest way to get started with a home business. Write about what interests you, what you’ve learned, share your ideas and information and when you start getting regular visitors, sell ad space on your site.

Once you have a taste for internet business income, you can investigate affiliate programs that your readers would be interested in. Whatever you sell or promote on your site, make sure you believe in it or endorse it with your highest recommendations - your visitors will love you for it.