For the uninitiated, setting up an online business can be made so much more difficult if the correct path is not followed initially.

To many prospective online entrepreneurs the Internet presents an easy way to achieving a lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Whilst there are a select number of internet businesses that are making preposterous amounts of money, there are also those that are making a mere pittance if not nothing at all.

If you are reading this you obviously want to know how to be in the former category.

Well I can tell you that to be a top internet earner it takes more than merely registering your business, securing a domain name and publishing a site linked up with a few affiliates and then waiting for the money to start rolling in.

In fact most of the online businesses earn paltry amounts and fade away into insignificance in a short amount of time.

Take heart though because if you start off by following these guidelines to starting your own internet business, you will have a solid platform from which to grow your business.

The dismal performance of many home based internet businesses can often be caused by not adhering to one or more of the following;

" A sound Business Plan is essential and it should consist of the following:

" a short term plan (1-3 months)

" a medium term plan (6-12 months)

" and a long term plan (more than 1 year)

In this plan you need to record budgetary items as well as your objectives in terms of what you want to achieve in monetary value as well as lifestyle.

Reducing the above to writing is highly motivating and serves as an excellent source for inspiration when you are feeling flat and demoralized.

Remember: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

" Domain Name - Establish and register an appropriate domain name - not a freebie as it will hurt your search engine rankings for one thing and your credibility for another.

" Web Hosting - Sign up with a reputable web host, not a free one, and ensure that they offer enough web space and bandwidth for your needs and do not host 'bad neighborhood' websites on their servers.

This could have a detrimental effect on your site's rankings and effect server reliability.

" Website Design - The image, functionality etc of your website obviously needs to be out of the top drawer. It's no good having tons of traffic that is not captured and doesn't result in sales.

" Products and Services - Decide on the products and/or services that you are going to market.

" Affiliate Marketing - If you are going to do affiliate marketing decide on a niche market and promote the appropriate affiliates only.

Promoting many products and affiliates on your site will only serve to confuse the site visitor and result in no sale!

" Advertising - If you are going to spend money on advertising, spend wisely.

You don't want to spend your budget on non-effective marketing.

" Website Traffic - To establish a high profile for your website you will need to pay a lot of attention to Search Engine Optimization for your site to appear in the SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages)

" E-Mail List - Establish an opt-in email list to send out newsletters to.

As the list grows so will your business, however if you indulge in spamming practices your business will only go one way...down!

Their are many dubious offers out there that promise to drive huge amounts of instant traffic to your site...beware of wasting your money on them

You will find great inspiration, ideas and tips for your Internet Business at http://www.income.za.net and http://www.internetbusiness.co.za

Finally, remember that even the best laid plans will come to nought if they are not constantly implemented, monitored and applied with drive and passion.