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You are making the most important step you will ever take in your business career. Without understanding how to build a good concept, good product, good service, and good content, everything else is a waste of time.

If you have already been surfing the web for an internet business that makes the most of your skills and experience, then you have already realized that operating a cyberspace business uses different techniques, methods, and tools than a brick and mortar storefront does.

For one thing, the storefront sets up, stocks the store, and then waits for people to visit. On the Internet, the store is set up ' but the business owner must create a net' of links, lenses, profiles, blogs, directory listings, search engine listings, and other tools to 'draw' readers to the squeeze pages and 'buy now' pages.

The biggest mistake is believing that a business only needs to create a Brochure Website where people can read a bit of information and then buy the product, in the same way they would read a price tag then purchase the product. These sites are not useless, but they are only a 'gateway' that will help people make the decision to buy.

Imagine the internet as the biggest mall in the world. There are literally billions of stores. Each one has a small storefront. The internet is hundreds of stories high, and has millions of hallways, twists and turns. It is almost impossible to find the store you want. However, the store owner can put up tags, pings, urls, redirects, and blogs to point the way to their storefront/website.

Now, imagine that the buyer is passing some business websites with nothing more than pictures on the front glass. Others have workshops, educational tools, places to meet friends, and even places where avid fans can have their own say. Which ones do you think the potential buyers would gravitate to?

The second mistake online business owners make is to try and satisfy everyone. The Internet is not the place to try and sell everything to everyone. The most successful online businesses find a niche, and develop it until they are the 'last word' on the subject. One such website is www.fool.com. Started by one man, it grew into one of the most read, and most trusted investment websites in the world.

This doesn't mean that internet business owners can toss the basic fundamentals of business development. They still need a business plan and a marketing plan. The plans should be updated every year. The business owner should look at what is working, and what is not working.

They should compare their profit margins, shave the waste, and improve their sales.

This doesn't mean the business can built it success on one of the 5 page plan that you download free from the web, but a 'real' business plan like the template created for small business by American Express: http://www133.americanexpress.com/osbn/tool/biz_plan/index.asp

The one advantage of an internet business is that it doesn't cost as much to start. This doesn't mean that it can be started free, a common misconception. The internet business doesn't need an office, or a $10 000 telephone communication system. It doesn't need 10 employees working in-house, or a warehouse.

All you need to start an internet business is knowledge, a good understanding of internet marketing practices, a 'needed' product, and a niche.