With the effects of the recession still looming large over most countries, every second person is looking for an alternate source of income and there are several self employment opportunities on the internet. One of the primary advantages of starting an online venture is the limited risk in this type of business because the investment and the cost of operations is really low in such business; yet the profits can be surprisingly high. However, you need to be careful with an internet venture just like you would be with a brick and mortar business; you will have to thoroughly research the market place, the requirement for the product and service that you are offering and the competition before you start.

Also, do not jump in with starry eyed dreams of rolling in money next week; al those internet claims that talk about millionaires who took less than ten days to make their fortune are bogus. The reality is that like all other businesses you will need to invest a considerable amount of time and effort into an online venture. So, lets take a look at how you can determine if your business idea will sink or swim.

Research: Like all other innovative business ideas, you will need comprehensive research for an internet business as well, start by looking at some keywords that describe your business; the should be phrases that people might use to find your business; then use a keyword finder and look at the number of searches that these keywords have received These tools will also offer suggestions on related keywords that can be used. Once you have drawn up a list of keywords; find more by looking at what the various search engines are offering. If you have any other businesses or sites in the niche find out how popular they are by analyzing their Google Page rank and o he Alexa ranking. Use the keywords in major search engines to find out how much information is available about the topic on major search ezines. You will also be able to find out about your competition in e process and the strategies they are using to improve their search engine position. It is recommended that you use a powerful book marking program to help you to keep track of your search.

Learn more about the competition: Once you know that there are others online who are making money from similar or related business ideas, find out what they are doing in terms of their SEO strategies; how they are making money; for instance, are they selling products or services, do they offer subscription to their sites, product info or advertising . If there isn’t a lot of competition; this means that either you are ahead of the curve when anticipating the profit potential of the idea or there is not enough demand in the market for the product or services.

Find out the USP of your business idea; There are hundreds of websites dedicated to same niche or operating similar businesses; this would mean that the competition is stiff so you should b able to explain how your business venture is different from others what is it offering extra to the visitors, why should they buy from you instead of the others.

Research the marketplace: This is the analysis of the industry in general that you intend to operate in; set up Google Alerts for keywords related to your industry and track their performance on Google; this way you will be able to find out when one of the keywords is used on a blog, website or newsgroup. Doing so, will give you an opportunity to blog about your area of expertise in the niche and establish your online presence.

Build a list: Do not underestimate the importance of setting up a blog or your website; once this is done, you will need to build your list. One of the easiest ways to get people to offer personal information such as their email ids is to give them something free in return which is of value. One of the most common products used here is an ebook relevant to the niche.

Author Bio: Seomul Evans is an Marketing Services specializing in Marketing physician practice marketing and Healthcare Business Consulting.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: medical Marketing,seo,medical, doctors, internet marketing, online marketing