How do you get started? If you don’t market your site, nobody will visit it. If nobody visits, sales will be zero. And if sales are zero, idea will die. Here are 5 tips to get your on-line venture up and running:

Start Making Headlines: Is your new product or service an interesting one? If so, a publisher somewhere in world will probably agree and will be willing to write a news article about your new website launch. There are thousands of publications out there, both on-line and off-line, that are looking for news stories to pass on to their readers. If you’ve just invented a new type of model airplane, search Internet to find websites that are part of Model Airplane hobbyist community. Prepare a small news release or write website editor a quick e-mail to invite them to visit your site. If they like what they see, they will probably feature your new idea in an upcoming article on their website or magazine and they will likely include your website address. Now readers of publication can find you online, resulting in highly targeted free traffic for your business. COST – $0

Write your own Article: If you can’t get anyone’s attention for your new idea, then write your own article. Since your site is all about model airplanes, you are an expert on topic. Those same publications I mentioned above who are looking for news items are also looking for expert opinion articles and advice for their readers. So write a 500-word article on a current issue in model airplane community. Then find websites that publish articles on topic of model airplanes and send them your article along with a request to publish it and your URL if they find article useful. (At end of your article, type a few lines about your business, just as I have at bottom of this article. This is called a resource box, and it is included with your article whenever it is published on another website or in an e-zine). COST - $0

That's an obvious statement to be sure, but why is that true?

One factor often overlooked in my opinion is that many people make poor selections when choosing what they should sell.

People, more often than not, decide what business to enter based on emotion, excitement, or other's success. Rarely, do people take time to critically analyze what they will be getting into and whether or not it will be suitable for them.

Now, even if you're already comfortable in what you are doing, thinking through following set of questions will be beneficial to you. Reading through them will undoubtedly either enlighten you on how to further advance what you're already involved in, or it will give you necessary push to change to something that might work better for you.

Obviously, then, if you are already looking for an online business opportunity, or looking to change directions, this is for you.

For sake of this discussion, we'll talk strictly in products. However, realize that marketing a business opportunity or a service is essentially still marketing a product.

Carefully considering all of following aspects will put you further ahead than vast majority of Internet marketers, give you more flexibility in your marketing plan, and realistically bring you more success.

1. YOUR OWN BELIEFS

When selecting a product or group of products to market, start first with your own beliefs. In network marketing it's absolutely critical to believe, like, and use whatever product your business offers. Without that belief you'll never have any credibility with others or convince your downline to make purchases themselves.

Now, with regards to working auction services this is not nearly as important. Often, you can work essentially as a middle man connecting buyers and sellers. In this case, seller is one whose credibility buyer feeds off of and it's seller also who is responsible for any guarantees, refunds, and such.

'Instant' sale mini sites are those specifically designed to solicit 1 of 2 immediate responses out of it's visitors -- buy or leave. With this type of site, it's not necessary for visitor to even know who they are buying from so your personal beliefs are not as critical. (obviously if you are more personally involved in product and site then your personal beliefs are important. We could argue about which way works better, but point is if you do put your name to something you'd darn well better be a believer in it yourself otherwise you have no credibility.)

Personally, I would never market something without first believing it to be a good product. Often growing a business can be difficult enough without doubting whether what you are offering is really worth what you're asking for it or not.

2. CONSIDER YOUR TARGET MARKET

I believe many would-be entrepreneurs fail because they never NARROWLY consider who their target market is.

Someone marketing a 'work from home' program to 'whoever wants to work from home' is missing their mark. There's a big difference between someone working from home to market their own creations and someone looking to work from home re-selling others' works.

Answer following questions when considering what products you want to sell.

*Who exactly will be interested in this product? *Is this group large enough to support my business? *Is this a group I can reach? *Can I market through others already in contact with them? *How much competition will I have? *How well established is my competition?

3. CONSIDER AVAILABLE MARKETING TACTICS

I remember getting excited about a particular product, believing in it, wanting to share it with others, only to run into a brick wall as to how to go about doing it.