Once you have your keywords, then you go to Google and start writing each keyword in "search". You will notice numbers underneath the "search" box.

Just to give you an example, if you type the word "home based business" you will see "Results 1-10 of about 13,900,000". To see if you found a niche market, all you have to do is do the following calculation.

Supply/Demand = Supply/Demand Ratio

In other words:

Google Results/Overture Count = Supply/Demand Ratio

Let's say that when you looked for "home based business" in Overture the count was 415461 so the result is:

13,900,000/415461 = 33.45681063

The lower the Supply/Demand Ratio number is, the better because it tells you that there is more demand than supply and you will make more money with this niche market.

2. Looking for a Product

Once you identify your niche market, it's time to look for a product.

In my case, since I don't want to get involved in shipping products, I look for companies that once I sell the product, they will ship it to the customer allowing me to save on shipping charges and time.

Nowadays, people are looking for information on various topics. Most of internet sales are on info products that the customer can download immediately, once they pay for it with a credit card. It doesn't involve any shipping charge and the customer doesn't have to wait 2-3 weeks to receive it.

There are suppliers that have over 10,000 digital products on every topic and the best thing is that they deliver the products, and pay you commission. They issue checks twice a month.

3. Building a Web Site

Once you have your niche market and products, you need to build a web site. Since I didn't know any HTML and didn't have money, I looked for companies that would allow you to build your own web site at a very low price and that included some type of HTML program so all I had to do was type the information and the system would convert it to HTML.

In terms of the design of your web site, make it as simple as possible. Make sure the navigation is easy for your customers and don't use too many pictures. Less is more. The background should be white with black letters to make it easier to read.

Don't have too many pages. Don't give your customer an excuse to leave your web site because it is too long or have too many pages.

Have a "subscribe form" built in your web site. It's very important that you collect as many email addresses as you can because those will be your customers. Provide a free newsletter every month with useful information to your customers.

4. Writing your Sales Letter

When I read about writing a sales letter, I wasn't sure I could write anything. To tell you the truth, I'm not a good writer. What I learned was that if your going to write something for your web site, write as if you were writing to a friend of yours.

Be honest, write the pro's and con's of your products. That way you establish credibility and your customers will be more inclined to buy from you.

5. Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Look for a company that gives you enough bandwidth, email accounts, and support. Look for their reliability because you don't want to choose one that have frequent problems with their system.

6. Autoresponder

You need to set up an autoresponder because if you're going to send information to your costumers, you don't want to spend time writing every month and sending it to them. With an autoresponder, you can type or even copy and paste articles in advance that will be automatically sent to your customers every week or every month.

This may take you 1-2 hours to do but once you do it, you can forget about it for a whole year.

7. Promote Your Web Site

I've found that the most difficult thing to do is this, promoting. Know why? Because there are lots of companies that supposedly "guarantee" that you're going to get lots of hits for a fee. Most are scams. I personally don't spend a cent buying "guaranteed leads".

Another thing that doesn't work for me is "free ads". Most of the time, people don't read them and because they are free, these ads are not sent to anyone.

The only ads that have worked for me are the one in Google Adwords. These are based on a "pay-per-click" basis. You have to make sure that if your are going to use this method of advertising, that you set up the parameters. What I mean by this is, establish the amount of money you will spend on a daily basis so you don't spend more than you can afford to.

During my first month doing business on the Internet, I generated $532.16 working only 2 hours a week.

The feeling of checking my account every day and discovering that I had made money was so great that I decided to look for other ways to make a bigger income.

I'll be honest with you, it hasn't been easy and I'm not going to tell you that I became a millionaire in 6 months because I would be lying, but every day I search for more information and ways to make money and it feels great to be able to pay my bills and still have money to do whatever I want.

Final Thought

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't make it. Believe in yourself.

The advantages of having an online business is that the expenses a very low, you get to have the flexibility of working the hours you want and the days you want, allowing you more time with your family and friends.

One important thing is to keep up to date on everything related to having a home based business. The Internet is changing every day and if you're serious about having an online business, make sure you read and educate yourself.

About The Author

Maria Estarellas is a former airline manager and mother of two teenage sons. Her website was created with the modern family in mind. She provides a variety of information and fun things to do for the whole family in just one place. Upon request, she also helps people find information when they don't have time to do it themselves. http://www.meg2.citymaker.com

meg2@aweber.com