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If I can do it, anybody can do it. I am a self-professed computer dinosaur, but I believe I am well on my way to creating an internet marketing empire. On the first day of January of this year, my experience with internet marketing was entirely on the buyer's end. I had become proficient at ordering things from Amazon, Dell, and Barnes & Noble, et al, and I had learned to pay bills and manage bank accounts on-line. But, I had no clue how to go about SELLING anything on-line, not even on eBay.

In the past three months, I have learned more about the nuts and bolts of internet marketing, website creation, on-line advertising, etc., than I even new existed when I started my journey. My only prior experience with making computers do anything creative was over thirty years ago, when I would go down to the campus computer center after midnight to use the keypunch machines and submit programs written in Fortran IV on IBM punch cards, then work on my printouts until dawn trying to figure out why the computer wasn't doing what I thought I was asking it to do. Like I said, I am a real cyber-fossil!

What I have learned in the past three months is that there is nothing magic about computers or websites or internet marketing. It all makes sense if you pay attention to the details, and there are vast resources out there available to anyone with a computer to help you figure it all out. All for very little cost.

The basic elements necessary to building an on-line business are: having your own website(s), having products to sell, having a marketing plan, and having the nuts and bolts in place to process orders and payments.

Build Your Own Website ' You can own your own domain name for just a few dollars, you can get free software on-line to help you build your website, and you can get free courses on-line to teach you how to build your website.

Products to Sell ' You can create your own products to sell (physical products or cyber-products) or you can become an affiliate of existing businesses and earn commissions selling other people's products.

Marketing Plan ' You can find free courses on-line to guide you in developing strategies for promoting your website and selling your products.

Processing Orders and Payments ' If you sell through affiliate programs, these details are handled for you automatically. If you sell your own products, it is easy to set up order processing and payment systems through PayPal, etc.

To get started building your own internet marketing empire, just remember there is no magic and get on-line and start looking around. The teachers and resources are waiting for you.