Making a living on the internet is no small task. If you’re thinking about starting an online endeavor you will hear the experts spouting off topics like SEO, traffic generation, how important your content is and what your market looks like.

If you have tried to make it online, you know how discouraging it can be to get the formula right. Not to discourage, but to assist you, this article is about a few “must do” steps before wasting your precious resources.

Step one is to define your niche market. In my mind the first thing I do is ask myself what I would enjoy promoting on the internet and how much do I know about the subject or product. Thinking down the road to marketing, it helps to know your offering. Make sure that you take some time to discover how competitive your market can be. For example, the niche “stop smoking” is difficult for competition. Yes, it is a great niche and sought after by many smokers. But, it is also heavily marketed which makes it hard for you to compete.

A closer look at niches: If you love to ride horses, show horses, work at a horse barn etc it might benefit you to look into promoting something in the horse world. It could be a digital download on managing a horses’ coat to shoeing. The point is, is that you are an expert. What about selling horse blankets, tack or simply horse “know how.”

Defining the product: You have two choices or a combination of both. Digital products can be sold alone or combined with physical products. Let’s take creating the perfect business card for example. Your choices are to sell a digital product explaining how to make the perfect card or offering a print and design service to actually design and produce the cards. It stands to reason that you could do both.

The second option to sell a physical product is without a doubt the most difficult. With electronic offerings and “how to” products all you need is a way to display the pages where the document can be downloaded and paid for. With physical products, you will need a website, possibly a merchant account, storage if you can’t drop ship the products and a logistical system for delivering the product.

Next is to create your site. If you choose to tackle this yourself, and you can, expect a learning curve at the least. Calling a good web designer right out of the gate might be your best choice. Most of them start at $199.00 or more for the setup and payments will continue as the site progresses. Just remember that if your store isn’t set up properly in a timely manner, it will cost you more.

The great thing here is that most web designers can help you crack the code on items previously discussed like merchant accounts and shopping carts. Buying and understanding a web design book for starters is highly recommended before calling a designer.

After setting up your site your job, forever more, will be to promote your online store and drive targeted traffic to your offering. This is one of the hardest tasks to master. Of all the tips offered here, if you’re not familiar with promoting a website call someone who can help. Trust me when I say that you will spend more money figuring out marketing than just going ahead and paying someone who knows how to bring in the visitors.

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