The third reality that we must face is that building a thriving on-line business can be hard work. I've put in many 18-hour days and fell asleep at my keyboard many times. It takes time to build a list and to build credibility. I haven't discovered any foolproof shortcut to this reality.

Having faced above realities, I go on with my clients to look at what they are doing to build their businesses and how they can improve them. On internet it all boils down to traffic... to reaching an audience and convincing them that your product offers solution to their wants or needs. That means using search engines and email to attract traffic. It also means learning to write good copy or getting someone else to do it for you. I don't see any shortcuts there. Words sell, and putting right words in right order is a science. It's something anyone can learn. Poor webcopy is biggest problem on most of websites I visit that aren't making any money.

There are literally hundreds of ways to reach your target audience and attract them to your website. The first step is properly identifying who you should be targeting. That one step allows you to spend your promotional dollars in right place ... place where you will get greatest return. For some products, and some businesses, paid-for search engine listings are a great option. For others buying banners on other websites (exit popups, etc.) are a great idea. I gain great exposure by having my articles appear in others' ezines and on others' websites. This takes time to build up momentum though. I also have an army of affiliates driving traffic to my sites. This also takes time.

When I look at my secrets to success, building relationships with a lot of prospects over past seven years has played a big part. That's just path that I took. I've seen people achieve incredible success in a matter of month, but I have seen many more fail. The one thing that I want all of my clients to ask themselves is, "If it was so easy to come on-line and make your fortune, why aren't many more quitting their off-line jobs and doing it." That's a very important question to at-least contemplate.

Hopefully, this article wasn't too negative. I just see a lot of similarities between envelope stuffing schemes I fell victim to in early 1970s and on-line world today. Fortunes are being made on-line. It takes a product or service that people need and want, and then you have to make them aware of it. That often takes a lot of hard work. However, when you finally make your breakthrough, it will be worth every ounce of effort. Make absolutely certain that you start out with right products though.

To your success.

I'll use my shopping cart mentioned above as an example because it is my favorite project :-) With shopping cart featured at http://ProfitAutomation.com, an affiliate earn a 30% commission on each referral. Clients pay from $19 - $69 per month. So affiliate earn from $5.70 to $20.70 per referral per month. I prefer to think of that as $68.40 - $248.40 per year. Looking at it in those terms, you see that time spend generating just one referral is much more productive that selling your typical ebook or piece of software.

A very important key is to select quality products to spend your limited time promoting. With my shopping cart system, it's something on-line entrepreneurs really need. It becomes very center of their on-line operation since it allows them to automate so many tasks. You refer them, and many will use service for years. You refer them once and many will be earning you that $248.40, per year, for years to come!

There are literally thousands of suitable products and services that fit model we just described. If you can't readily identify them then you may need to shift your niche slightly. There is no point spending a lot of time riding a dead horse. If you are in a niche where you can't implement model we just examined, then it will be nearly impossible to go for that low hanging fruit.

Spend some time today looking for or examining how you can create products or services that offer you that long-term, residual income that really makes your hard work pay off. Otherwise, you'll only experience temporary successes and will forever be searching for latest thing that will solve your dilemma. There is no need to get such predicaments.

I do recommend Joe Kumar's book by way. I found lots of great ideas in it. You can get it at: http://williecrawford.com k k.cgi?kumar A lot of successful people brainstormed for this book and offered their best ideas for quick success. However, you need to make sure that quick success is not also fleeting.