More and more people these days are looking for an alternative to selling their soul to a job they often dislike and pays them a wage that keeps them just above the poverty line. The internet home business opportunity has become the target of many of these people as it offers the potential of great flexibility and independence. However, this is alien territory for many people who have become so used to the structured routine of the nine to five work day. Here are some simple pointers that should help you with this new lifestyle change.

1. Determine what you want to do This is incredibly important as you are probably packing in the day job because it did not satisfy you; therefore, do not make this mistake again. Ensure that you pick a business that firstly you feel passionate about and secondly one that offers mass market appeal which can only help in the overall sales process.

2. Set up your home workplace Working an internet home business opportunity requires a lot of self discipline since you are at home surrounded by numerous distractions. Therefore, it is imperative that you create your own dedicated work space that is preferably a study or spare bedroom. Trying to work from the kitchen table is far from ideal and you will soon notice how unproductive this really is, especially if you have children.

3. Make sure that you have a back up income Making a success of your chosen home based internet business is no easy task, contrary to what the companies behind these opportunities state in their promotional blurb. Do not forget that you worked your forty hour week for a far from satisfactory pay cheque. So in the initial stages of your online venture, expect to work a whole lot more than this for only a fraction of the money. It is therefore essential that you have some form of financial back up during your first few months. This can be anything from savings you have accrued to a part time job just to give you that little boost in your early steps towards online success.

4. Pick a proper domain name and register it with a reputable registrar Your domain name is your online identity so choose it wisely. Try and choose a name that has a word(s) in it that people may search Google for when looking for your product. For example, let's say that you are promoting a log home business. Do some research to ascertain what terms people search for when looking for log homes. When you find one that suits you business well, use it. If your business is regional you could also incorporate this into the domain name. Using keywords in the domain like this can really help your site rank higher in the search engines.

You will notice that a lot of the best domain names have already been taken, so the best way to find out is to go to one of the reputable registrars such as Godaddy and put your idea into the search box. You will then find out if your chosen domain name is available and if not you will be offered a number of alternatives. Don't be tempted to buy your domain from a little known registrar, as you could have trouble maintaining your domain name should the company goes out of business.

5. Find a reliable hosting service for your business As with the domain registration, the choosing of a good hosting company is also very important. Again, select a company that has a good track record and offer 24 hour telephone or email support. This is vital because if your site goes down at any time of day, you will want the situation resolved immediately. Choose a package that provides sufficient web space for your site's needs. Most companies offer a lot more space that most businesses actually require but if you are unsure pick up the phone and call them to find out.

6. Design and Promote Your Website Your website is your shop frontage so getting the design and optimization right can lead to the ultimate success of your internet home business opportunity. Design a simple, vibrant site that is easy to navigate. This is often an area where people make big mistakes. A common fault is to build a website that is just too cluttered with excessive flash elements that detract from the site's actual role. Once you have developed a visually appealing site, it is time to move on to the most important aspect of all; getting the site seen. Having a beautiful looking site is pointless if no one is visiting the site.

Websites require a lot of effort, time and nurture before they begin to achieve high rankings on the search engines, so in the early days setting up a pay per click (PPC) campaign with the likes of Google Adwords is a good idea. However, ultimately you will want a site that is found by visitors searching the organic (free) listings. To achieve success in this field, a great deal of dedicated research is required. Your site will need to be focused around profitable keywords that are tightly themed to your business idea. By profitable keywords, I mean words that have a good number of monthly search engine searches but do not appear a great deal on web pages across the internet. By dotting such keywords throughout the content of you web pages, you will easily leap frog many of your competitors.

Once you have a keyword rich, tightly themed website, it is time to move on to the next important stage, which is back linking. Back links or in links, as they are also known, are simply links from other websites to your website. Search engines value back linking very highly; this is because the more back links your site has, the greater the perceived value your site has in the eyes of the search engines. A great way to pick up links quickly is to submit your site to online web directories. However, a truly great way of boosting your site's traffic and link popularity is to embrace article marketing. Article marketing is simply the writing of articles based on your site's content and then submitting them to article directories. Naturally, you will place a link in the article back to your site. The top article directories have very high traffic volumes and page ranks and therefore a link back to your site from these sources carries a very high value.

Starting and making a success of any internet home business opportunity is no easy task. However, if you follow the guidelines set out here and adopt a never fail attitude, you will be well on your way to online glory.