Many people today with the economy in shambles, are desperately looking for ways to make a living. Some of these people are considering starting an online business and wondering if making money online is really possible.

My answer to that is yes, absolutely it is possible. However to really be successful online one needs to have the correct mindset before they even considering the possibility!

Here are a few questions only you can answer:

– Do you have a good work ethic? Please understand that working online is a lot of work, nothing earned is nothing gained and nothing gained is a waste of time.

-Can you set a work schedule where you can concentrate and get you daily tasks complete without interruptions?

– Are you willing to take the time to learn online skills necessary to market online and then implement the skills you learn?

– Are you someone that stays the course according to plan or do you lose interest and jump from one thing or the other?

So, if you answered yes to the first three questions above than you are a good candidate for self employment. The last question is the real deal, if you have a history of completing set goals than it is likely you will be successful running your own business online. If you however fall into the group that most do, lose interest quickly and never quite get things done, than I recommend not starting an online business.

An online business is not unlike any other business when it comes to work ethic, skill set and perseverance. Without these three qualities it is unlikely you will be successful online or off when it comes to running a business.

For those that understand and believe they have a strong work ethic, ability to follow a business plan and get things done, here are the basic steps for making money online.

– Have a product or service that you wish to sell. Develop a marketing strategy to bring value in front of your customers. Value will be your only real asset!

– Learn basic online skills. Develop these skills before building your website and web-business. Learn on page and off page SEO (search engine optimization) so that your website gets traffic. Either take the time to learn keyword research or pay some else to do it for you, but get it done and understand it. Use these keywords in all articles, videos and sales copy content.

– When you have your branded or keyword rich domain name, build your website. Make sure you use keyword rich content an internal linking structure within your website.

– Get your website hosted. I recommend not spending a lot of money on hosting to begin with, just get the basic plan and upgrade as your business grows.

– Develop an advertising campaign and monitor the results. Always testing new content and copy.

– Develop a social and business networking campaign and get your brand out to the world.

When your website is up and running and you understand these basic online skills, as a business owner you need to focus most of your attention on creating value for your customers. Take the value you create and make it part of your brand and get it into the face of your customers.

By taking the time to learn these online skills you will have a good understanding of what needs to happen under the hood of an online business. In time you will have the ability to outsource the busy work you either don’t have time to do, or that others do better. The sooner you are able to do this the better for your business. The key is to thoroughly understand the basics so that you can monitor the results and make adjustments along the way.

We have a lot more good information about internet marketing strategies on our website for those interested in learning more about starting an online business. Remember this, how you market is more important than what you market when it comes to being successful online. Therefore take the time to learn a few online skills and internet marketing strategies before you do anything else.

It is not as simple as people seem to think and there are a lot of tricks on the Internet. It is therefore important to be “Smart”! Let me explain about being ‘smart’ and how it ties into planning and goal setting and finally into running your own Online Business.

Smart is being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. So let us start with Planning and Setting Goals using the ‘smart’ system.

Planning involves a business plan, and if you want to have a successful business you need it to be a ‘smart’ plan.

Specific: The more specific you are in what you want to achieve and the more specific you are in setting guidelines for your achievement the easier it will be to follow.

Measurable: You choose your own system for this, something that means something to you. For planning, it can be how you set out the plan and how you measure success. Setting Goals is easier if you can measure the results against success.

Achievable: When planning and setting goals you must ensure that your ultimate plan and goal setting is achievable otherwise you will give up easily. It is also very unrewarding to work without achievable goals.

Realistic: Planning and Goal setting must be realistic. If you are Specific enough and everything is Measurable and Achievable they should be realistic. It helps if the plans and goals you set are what you want to achieve for yourself. It is never the same if we set plans and goals into motion for somebody else.

Timely: Set plans and goals into motion with standard guidelines for when you want to achieve them. Be realistic about time and be prepared to adjust your time if necessary.

Apply the ‘smart’ technique to running an online business will help you to run a successful internet business. So lets apply ‘smart’ to your online business:

Specific: Have you decided on what your Niche Market is and do you know exactly who your competition is and where to find them online? Do you know who your potential online customers are and where to find them? Have you worked out an online marketing plan taking into account Search Engine Optimisation and Traffic Generation? Do you already have a web site or do you need to obtain one?

Measurable: Once you have gathered all the Research data on the Niche product, Customers, Competitors, Search Engine Optimization and Traffic Generation you should be able to work out if you will be able to measure your growth and success.

Achievable: Set yourself goals and plan your approach to your business by allowing yourself time to learn what you do not know. You need to be able to enhance your skills and knowledge in order to achieve online success. Take the time to learn the basics of internet marketing which will make all goals easier to achieve.

Realistic: Have you worked out a budget, how long do you have to produce an income; what budget do you have to start up? Our motivated are you and do you realize that you need support from people around you.

Timely: Can you learn what you need, in time to launch your online business and start producing an income? Have you set yourself time sheets to accomplish certain steps?

Online marketing is an exciting prospect. Approach it correctly and you will succeed. If you jump in without any goals and with no planning you will join the many who abandon their online home business dreams.

Be a success: Research It, Develop It and Cultivate It.