Whether a person is looking to earn extra income at home or wants to build an easy home based business that will allow them to support themselves and/or their families, proper planning is the key. Most Internet marketers fail because they don’t plan. This is unfortunate, but quite common. When I started I made the same mistake. I jumped right into Internet marketing without proper planning and setting clear goals. The results were miserable. I’ve learned a lot since then, and now understand the importance of developing a detailed and measurable IM roadmap.

Newbie Internet marketers are notorious for not planning. This is often because they fail to treat their online marketing endeavors like a real business. Instead, they either approach it as some sort of “magic button” scheme or don’t take it as seriously as they should. Both will eventually lead to failure.

In order to make money online it is important to plan ahead. It gives you a clear sense of direction and purpose. Not doing so, has the opposite effect. Having a clear, measurable vision of what a person wants his or her business to look like and accomplish, and then setting goals to get there, will make the process much easier. Those that attempt to create and manage an online marketing business without a vision or clear-cut goals will find themselves floundering at times and often veering off course. Because they have nothing to aim for, they are more apt to fail or not do as well as they should or could.

A vision is defined as “a vivid mental image.” As it relates to Internet marketing, it is simply the end-goal, what a person wants his or her business to look like at a certain point in time. When creating a vision for one’s online marketing business, it is a good idea to think two to five years out. It is also important to dream big. Doing so takes courage. However, its nearly impossible to truly excel without having big dreams.

When setting goals, it is important to have both short-term and long term ones to make money online. Weekly goals would be considered the former and yearly goals the latter. When creating weekly goals, you will need two tools, a calendar and a goals planner. Once a week, for instance, each Friday, you can write down your goals for the week in your goals planner. This can be done in an actual planner, on a blank sheet of paper, on a to-do list or by utilizing the memo function in ones cell phone. It’s a good idea to write down the 3-5 most important weekly goals, and then 3-5 additional ones. Recording specific, daily tasks on a calendar is recommended as well, but not too many, or you may quickly find yourself overwhelmed.

In addition to setting goals, it is important to set aside some time to study Internet marketing. Keeping up to-date on new IM products, tactics, industry developments and trends, new systems and approaches to business will help you and your business stay relevant and on course.

In Summary

Remember, proper planning, setting clear goals and inspiring goals are the keys to making money online. If a person fails to do any of the aforementioned, even an easy home based business can fail. Well, that’s all for now. Be on the lookout for part 2…

Author Bio: Tim Pond is an author, coach and Internet marketer. Find out more about effective online marketing opportunities, and claim your free special report on Easy home based business .

Category: Marketing
Keywords: make money online,easy home based business,earn extra income at home