As an online entrepreneur, I’ve had some success in my various internet businesses. And I’m asked a lot about what it takes to truly achieve success with your own online business from home.

So, I decided to map out an easy strategy for you to follow. This is by no means an exhaustive blog post, but it’s just a quick look at what it truly takes… in all the different areas.

How To Start An Internet Business From Home

There are 4 areas you need to focus on. I’ll go over them one by one. In future posts (depending on your response) I may break down each of these 4 into a further discussion… and no – that isn’t a threat.

Step 1: PRODUCT

If you’re going to make money on the internet, guess what… you’re going to need something to sell. I know what you’re thinking – wow, thanks for that brilliant observation, Einstein.

Hey, I get it. But believe me when I say that many people miss this step or at the very least don’t think about it like they should. My specialty is selling information products. This includes things like ebooks, audios, software, and even video courses. It’s quite a blast. I’ve sold things ranging from internet marketing based software to dog skin care products and everything in between.

I love info products because they are so darn profitable, especially when sold in the digital format. When you sell an ebook for $47, you pretty much just made $47 (minus marketing expenses). When you sell a widget for $1,000 but it costs you $990 to buy the darn thing you only made $10.

I know, I know, I’m a rocket scientist.

But you need to decide on what you want to sell… and info products are my favorite. I’ve got a decent post all about information product creation and marketing if you want to check it out.

But here are the basics of what you need to do:

1) Create Your Own Product
2) Sell Someone Else’s Product
3) Create A Content Site And Make Money Off Ads

That’s the gist of it. You need a product!

How To Start An Internet Business Website

Step 2: Process

After you have a product, you’ve got to have a way to SELL. I call this the process. What is your website like? Do you have a follow up marketing system in place? What message do you convey to your potential customers. There’s just so much about this step… I could literally write multiple books on this topic alone. Maybe I should

Anyway, suffice it to say you need to setup a system that takes your website visitors and turns them into raving customers. Customers who love you and want to buy from you again and again.

On the internet, you will do this by using a website. I love to use what my industry calls “Squeeze Pages” or “Lead Capture Pages”. In essence, these little beauties get people to give you their email address. Then, you can market to them on autopilot via an autoresponder software. Simple really.

Lest this turn into a multiple thousand word post, I’ll have to move on for now…

How To Get Traffic To Your Website

Step 3: People

So, let’s pretend during this short read you’ve got a product to sell and a way to sell it. Now what? You need TRAFFIC… or as I like to call them, people. Much more friendly that way, isn’t it? Never lose sight of the fact that you are NOT selling to nameless numbers. You are selling to regular ol’ people just like me and you.

We’re all littered with doubts and fears, goals, desires, dreams, and aspirations. We buy stuff for one reason only – because we WANT TO. And no other reason than that. You can’t guilt people into buying, and you certainly can’t beg them. It’s like that girl in school that would never go out with you..

If you’re desperate for  a sale, they can smell it.

But I digress.

If you want to get these people to your website you have 3 options.

1) You can PAY for traffic (paid advertising)
2) You can WORK for traffic (so called free traffic)
3) You can BEG for traffic (Endorsed traffic)

Paid traffic is the easiest to get. If you’ve got a credit card, you’ve got traffic. But there are a million pitfalls. For example, what if the traffic you get sucks? Guess what? You’re out of luck. So, when it comes to paid traffic my advice is to tread lightly and carry a big bank balance.

Free traffic takes more time than most people are willing to give. Especially playing the search engine game (SEO). I like to tell people to write articles and blog. That’s a good way to spend your time if you can’t spend money. At least that way you’re getting visitors to your site right away (usually) and you’re building backlinks.

Endorsed traffic is super fun and almost always the most profitable. This is just traffic from affiliates and joint venture partners. I’ll be honest, I’ve made a majority of my money from endorsed traffic and I don’t feel bad about it. To get this sort of traffic you have to get “in” with the big boys in your world.

It’s not impossible… but it is tough. You have to prove yourself first. And that can take time. Amazing super tip to speed this process up — go to an event with other people selling what you want to sell. If you’re a halfway decent person with enough social skills to avoid catastrophic awkward moments you’ll probably impress someone enough to want to promote your product for you. Seriously, it works like a charm.

How To Start An Internet Business With No Money

Step 4: Passion

I’m not naive enough to pretend that you’re reading this because you’re looking to diversity your ever expanding portfolio. There are some of you reading this right now who are looking for a financial miracle. Others are looking for a way out. You may have a great paying job, but let’s face it, sucking up to your boss and living on someone else’s schedule kind of stinkss, right?

That’s the main reason I do what I do. While it’s awesome to see more money in the bank than you can spend, it’s even better to know that you can live life on your terms and experience true freedom.

But this section isn’t about that… not directly, anyway.

If you don’t have money to start your own internet business, that’s ok. You don’t NEED money. But it definitely helps. Sorry for that dose of reality, but I know you already know this.

If it makes you feel any better I started with nothing. It took me about a year of trial and error and scrounging around while I figured things out. But that was fine by me.

And that’s where passion comes into play.

I LOVE WHAT I DO.

Coming up with a new marketing model excites me more than it should. I can stay up late into the night watching a video about improving your website copy. I get a kick out of digging through website traffic stats.

This stuff LIGHTS ME UP.

When I talk about websites, marketing, copywriting, google, and all this other stuff there’s a twinkle in my eye.

If you don’t have passion for what you’re doing you will fail. And I say that with all sincerity.

Because even if you get rich suffering through it I promise you will not be fulfilled and you definitely won’t be happy. Money is awesome and it makes life better. But what good is life when you don’t even like how you spend your time?

I don’t mean to get all spiritual and crazy on you here at the end of this article, but pursue your dreams and let the chips fall where they may. Don’t try to be like me. Be you.

Because when you tap into that infinite source that is your passion, you will move mountains and have the time of your life doing it. Pursue your passion, and the money will follow. And even if it doesn’t, you truly lived. But I’m pretty the money will show up right on time.