If you are going to "grasp the nettle" and start up your work from home Internet business, you're going to have to make plans to get started. Sounds obvious doesn't it? But too many people think they can master the net without a plan and end up getting nowhere or going round in circles accomplishing nothing.

Does that sound familiar?

The best way to get your Internet business up and running in good order is to focus your efforts on producing three distinct plans. You need to make a business plan, a marketing plan and a home plan.

Your business plan will be needed for loan applications, the hiring of employees, for business affiliates and personal goal setting. You'll need to come up with a name for your business and create a clear mission statement. You'll need to be able to define your product or service and who it will serve, that is, who is your target customer base? What will it cost to make your product and what can you sell it for? What will be your end profit? These key pieces of information are needed especially when you require start up funds, whether in the form of a bank loan or from an associate who is willing to become a financial backer of your company. Create a binder or portfolio for your business plan. Make copies and keep this accessible for times when it is needed.

Included in your business plan should be a marketing plan or an advertising campaign. How do you plan to provide the consumer public with information about your business, product or service? Will you be renting a billboard, running newspaper advertisements, magazine ads, television, radio and so on? Will you have a website or be running Internet ads such as those sponsored by Google ad sense or Microsoft ad center? What is the cost of each form of advertising? Do you have the necessary funding for these advertising efforts or will you need to find outside funds? A plan along these lines offers proof to any outside parties that you have done the research that is required to understand how you intend to identify and sell to your particular market. You can also include research statistics and charts that show success of similar advertising campaigns and how well your marketing choices will relate to your business.

A home plan is for the benefit of you and your family while your business gets off the ground. You have to be realistic and appreciate that a business does not become successful over night. Money, time and effort are needed before you will see a solid flow of income from your home business. You need set a clear household budget on a weekly and monthly basis. Be sure that you have at least three months worth of savings to allow for household expenses including utilities, food, and other necessities. This will allow you to apply other funds to your business without creating strife in your home. You may also want to keep your current job or find a more convenient part-time one elsewhere. If your spouse works it may not be required. The exact plans for a household will vary on the specific family needs. Preparation is key to a successful Internet business start-up as well as successful home life as the transition from an outside job to a home based career take place.

David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com

Are you losing good employees to the Internet? The increasing number of Internet business start-ups is something that more and more employers may start to struggle with as a section of their most proactive employees find that they prefer working from home on the Internet. 

If you one one of those employers you might find yourself left with a bunch of people who aren't very good at the job and who are not able to produce the quality of work that you were able to expect from your good employees. There are several things that you can do about this. First of all, you can help your employees by allowing them to keep working for you, but do most of it from home.

It all depends on your business, but most likely there is going to be something that your employees can do at home. Think about all of the things that they do each day, and unless they are working with customers the entire time they are there, they can probably do some or all of their work at home. Remember that if you can work out a system where your employees are allowed to do some or all of their work from home, they will probably be happier and better able to do the work that needs to be done at the office.

If you allow your employees to do what they can do at home, without having to worry about taking a dock in pay for it, you are going to find that you will have much better employees. This means that you will be able to take advantage of the morale that your employees have, and you will also be able to make them much happier with you and much happier in their lives in general. Allowing your employees to do what they can do at home will mean that when they are working in your office they are less likely to be bored or frustrated or burnt out. If you can have them come in several times a week for meetings or to do what they need to do, you will find that they are better able to have the morale that you need for your business.

Boosting morale is always a better way to get things done, rather than trying to drive your employees to work harder than they want to work. If you can make them happier with their lives by allowing them to have some time to work at home during the week you will find that they are actually going to produce more for you ,and be happier with the business overall. This might be the best way that you have to keep the good employees you have and attract new employees.

Although the cry "article marketing is dead" can occasionally be heard on certain forums, I would be surprised if there is an online entrepreneur left who does not recognize the immense power and potential that article marketing offers. Sure, text links and banner ads are great, but when it comes to creating the kind of advertising vehicle that consumers will hold on to and even pass on to others, you cannot beat article marketing! Of course, like any other good thing there are pitfalls to navigate around and blunders which must be avoided at all cost if your company's reputation is not to suffer!

So here, for the record, are 10 common article marketing mistakes:

1. However else you may want to promote your affiliate marketing article, do not use it to spam a blog or a forum. Some self proclaimed marketers have attempted to use such articles as forum posts and while they might write different introductions for the article to make it look like an ad hoc posting in response to another forum poster, within a few short sentences it becomes painfully obvious that the post is little more than an unwelcome sales pitch. (Actually, some forums such as Warriorforum and Conquer Your Niche have special sections where you can legitimately place your articles.)

2. Unless you are an experienced and fluent writer, have your affiliate marketing article ghostwritten. The sheer volume of badly written articles - be it diction, grammar, or punctuation - is legion and there is little more embarrassing than having your customers point out a number of mistakes and errors.

3. Fact-check your articles. This is vital when you use statistical data or quotations.

4. Keep it pithy. 400 to 500 words are more than sufficient to write a worthwhile piece of non fiction to market your company, product line, or service. Exceeding the 800 word count is pushing it.

5. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Write, or commission a number of articles that look at the topic and product from several different perspectives. This puts volume behind your marketing campaign and gives it a more impressive platform of authority. Also, while one approach may not appeal to some of your readers, another one might have just the hook you need to turn them into buyers.

6. Don't overdo the pitch in your affiliate marketing article. Sure, you want everyone to know that your products and services are wonderful, but if you fail to offer value beyond a sales pitch you will not find too many readers.

7. Do not promote more than one thing per article. Choose your product, your company, or an email newsletter you are offering for free. Cutting down on the things you are promoting will enable you to employ greater focus and more convincing detail throughout the article.

8. Forgetting to include an opt-in link to your mailing list or email newsletter subscription database is perhaps the most egregious of affiliate marketing mistakes. Any article that goes out without a link back to your main website is simply not working for you!

9. Having too many articles that differ in tone or style is to be avoided. While some articles may lend themselves being spiced up or more intellectual, the failure to have your article ghostwritten by one writer will lead to a number of different voices and styles in your writing. Instead, request that one freelancer be given the assignment to make sure the tone remains consistent from article to article.

10. Last but not least, cutting and pasting freely available material from the Internet might not get you into trouble, but it will convey the impression that you have nothing new to bring to the market.

Article marketing is very much alive and well. It is one of the cheapest and most effective ways of getting your message in front of a wide audience on the Internet and beyond, provided you avoid the 10 article marketing mistakes outlined in this post.