ith information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make chang

Checklist for Launching a Successful Internet Business (Part 2 Of 2)

- Time Are you prepared to put in the time required to make your site a success? When the site launches, will you be ready to roll?

The biggest investment of time comes before the site is launched and in the period immediately after it launches. First, you have to do all the research. You have to understand how you’re going to break into your market, and know exactly what you want your online business to do. Once your first sites are built and launched, you have to do all the marketing. Only once it’s up and running will you be able to relax, move into monitor mode and begin thinking about your next opportunity. How long that takes depends on how much time you invest at the beginning and how successful your marketing efforts are. It usually takes a few months.

- Advertisers and Affiliates Have you identified advertisers and affiliates who will promote your site, your products and your services?

You can start looking for advertising opportunities and affiliate programs before you even launch your site. The more prepared you are when you launch, the quicker you’ll be able to move from inception to income.

- Opt-In Email Have you identified features for your site that will build a marketable opt-in email list? Have you though about what you’re going to put on your pop up and how you’re going to manage the list when you get it.

The people on your opt-in email list are like a little pool of potential customers—and repeat customers. The more people you can bombard with your marketing material, the more money you’re going to make. Ways to trap email addresses should form a part of your site design.

- Monitoring Have you identified monitoring features for your site that will provide you with information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make change

t you want your online business to do. Once your first sites are built and launched, you have to do all the marketing. Only once it’s up and running will you be able to relax, move into monitor mode and begin thinking about your next opportunity. How long that takes depends on how much time you invest at the beginning and how successful your marketing efforts are. It usually takes a few months.

- Advertisers and Affiliates Have you identified advertisers and affiliates who will promote your site, your products and your services?

You can start looking for advertising opportunities and affiliate programs before you even launch your site. The more prepared you are when you launch, the quicker you’ll be able to move from inception to income.

- Opt-In Email Have you identified features for your site that will build a marketable opt-in email list? Have you though about what you’re going to put on your pop up and how you’re going to manage the list when you get it.

The people on your opt-in email list are like a little pool of potential customers—and repeat customers. The more people you can bombard with your marketing material, the more money you’re going to make. Ways to trap email addresses should form a part of your site design.

- Monitoring Have you identified monitoring features for your site that will provide you with information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make chang

ertisers and affiliates who will promote your site, your products and your services?

You can start looking for advertising opportunities and affiliate programs before you even launch your site. The more prepared you are when you launch, the quicker you’ll be able to move from inception to income.

- Opt-In Email Have you identified features for your site that will build a marketable opt-in email list? Have you though about what you’re going to put on your pop up and how you’re going to manage the list when you get it.

The people on your opt-in email list are like a little pool of potential customers—and repeat customers. The more people you can bombard with your marketing material, the more money you’re going to make. Ways to trap email addresses should form a part of your site design.

- Monitoring Have you identified monitoring features for your site that will provide you with information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make chang

g to put on your pop up and how you’re going to manage the list when you get it.

The people on your opt-in email list are like a little pool of potential customers—and repeat customers. The more people you can bombard with your marketing material, the more money you’re going to make. Ways to trap email addresses should form a part of your site design.

- Monitoring Have you identified monitoring features for your site that will provide you with information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make chang

ith information about your target market? Do you have a way of knowing who has visited your site? Do you have a method of collecting data from your visitors to help you improve your site?

The Internet changes constantly. One week, you can have top rankings and a sales rate to die for; the next week, your site be down on page fifteen with traffic made up of spam from Romania. You have to keep track of your traffic, and be prepared to make changes to your marketing plan.

- Joint Ventures Do you have an idea who you could partner with to offer complementary services that bring real benefits to you, your partner and your users?

Joint ventures are your partnerships for success. They allow you to pool resources with other entrepreneurs to bring real benefits for all of you. Start by talking to the people who send the newsletters you like to read each week. Then move out into people who provide complementary services to the ones you offer. As you build up your business, keep your eye open for new opportunities all the time.

- Vision Do you know what you want to achieve and what you’ll do when you get there?

If your goal is only to make money, you can achieve that in your first week on the Web. Most of us have bigger goals than that though. Whether you want to be the Bill Gates of online marketing or simply set up an automated revenue stream that will bring in a constant flow of cash with very little maintenance, you can do all that on the Internet—as long as you know what you want.