Can we really earn a living on the Internet?

Is earning a living on the Internet possible? What are your chances of achieving success online?

Experiencing success online is entirely possible. It’s not a dream, and that means you probably won’t be sitting in your underwear at your kitchen table making hundreds of thousands of dollars online (contrary to what you might have been made to believe).

If you want a successful online business the first thing you’re going to have to do is recognize that it will have to be run like a business. Too many people are giving poorly thought out, mostly false, information about how easy it is to succeed online. It’s a business so you will need a solid plan, an excellent work ethic, and the vision to know when adjustments are called for.

Here are some tools to help you improve your chances for online success.

1. Use a tried-and-proven formula

Unless you invent, fund, and create your own products or services, you are probably going to want to go with a formula that has already proven itself to be successful. You can sell the products of another company and collect a nice commission on every sale. In the online world this is known as affiliate-based selling. It’s similar to owning a franchise in the offline world, except it’s easier and cheaper to join an affiliate-based company.

If you’re going to join one of these companies do some research and choose one that has been successful, is something that you would buy, and also make sure it has a generous compensation plan in place. A good commission is about 15% and up.

Also, make sure that the company has an effective support team in place, ready to help you along your way. Talk to current successful affiliates of the company if you can. Choosing the right affiliate-based company can be the most crucial component to your online success.

2. Set up your own webpage and market it

You will need a webpage of your own. Some people say it is not necessary to have your own website, but if you want to have a successful online business – you will need it. There’s no excuse not to have one in 2007, so if you are a seller and you do not have a website, people will be suspicious of you and you are guaranteed to lose potential customers.

You can get a domain name for under $10. You can get a webhost for under $20 per month, and you can even get a nice-looking, professionally designed homepage made for you for around $100. We are not here to push one company over another so do your research or contact us if you cannot find anything in your budget range.

Once you have your website up, it’s time to get people to visit. It’s time to start marketing. Now, there are more and more methods of driving traffic to your website invented everyday, but there are some tried and true tactics that have always been around.

Email marketing is one such method. As you develop a list of email addresses from people you know or who have entered it on your website, you can send them emails promoting the products you showcase on your site. Just remember to always include a way that people can choose to stop receiving your emails. It’s the law. It’s ethical, and it’s good business.

You can also market your website by using Article Marketing, Viral Marketing, Banner Advertising, SEO Tactics, and Link Exchanges, etc. We will go into more detail about those methods in other articles.

3. Learn from (already) successful people

The next tool you should use to help you succeed online is to become a student of those people who are already successful Internet business owners. How was their situation similar to yours? What helped them succeed that you could do as well? What made them better? What made them stand out?

Remember, in life you are always going to be learning, and that goes doubly for life in business. Whether you need to read books, get interviews, or listen to audio programs – always learn from those who have already succeeded.

4. Form your Mastermind Group

The final, and possibly most important tool you must employ, is other people. Find those other people who have similar interests, desires, and goals, and team up with them.

Napoleon Hill – author of “Think and Grow Rich” – called this practice of gathering with similar people, the forming of your ‘Mastermind Group’. He knew the importance and significant benefit that naturally occurs when people of like mind come together to reach an objective. That’s where the saying: “Two heads are better than one” comes from.

Meet on a regular basis with your group – once a month or once a week. Talk about each other’s goals and progress. Share ideas and insights. You help them with their goals and they will return the favour. It’s a powerful tool that largely goes unused.

Now you have the tools, is there more for you to learn? Absolutely yes!

But you can use just the information from this article and have 90% of your business up and running almost immediately. Success online is possible, and if you do something with the tools you’ve just learned, your success will go from possible to PROBABLE.

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Author: Alex Chan

Alex Chan is an Internet Marketer who, with his team "Internet Success Network", is helping many to achieve success on the Internet. Visit his sites at www.chanalex.com or www.internetsuccessnetwork.com and www.successwithu.blogspot.com
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~ Internet Success Network ~