Over 50 million people have access to the Internet - and yet it is still in its infancy.

Every month sees millions of newcomers and thousands of businesses setting up online.

Combine this huge, expanding audience with the fact that marketing and advertising can be done on the Internet at a fraction of the costs of traditional methods . . . and you have a situation where the potential for online success is unlimited.

Here is a 7-step guide to ensure that you will cash in on this growing boom.

(1) Products (2) Services.

1.1. Selling Products

When you sell a product you can either carry out the whole operation of handling orders, stocking and shipping the goods, processing the payments

Examples of highly successful information products are the 'how-to' and self-improvement books. If you are knowledgeable about a particular subject you could consider writing and developing your own product and delivering it via Email.

1.2. Selling Services

One advantage of selling a service is that you can often generate a 'residual' commission - a monthly income all the while that the customer continues to use the service.

An autoresponder spends 24 hours a day delivering information to enquirers from classified ads or news articles. If you have ever had to reply manually to 100 responses to an ad you will realise the importance of an autoresponder to any business setting up on the Internet: in a word . . . INDISPENSABLE.

The usual method of advertising is to have short Classified Ads which leave the reader in a state of enticement, so that he then asks for the full detailed information in your sales letter, ideally sent by autoresponder. The purpose of the ad is not to try to sell the product - it is simply to get interested people to respond.

As your ad may be competing with dozens of others in the same publication you must aim for a winning headline to make it stand out. Use key words which attract readers such as . . . Free, How, You , Money, Secret.

2.2. Using a Signature File

A Signature File is a section of text that you place at the end of your articles or Email messages. It should contain contact details and a brief summary of what your company offers.

Online Services Classifieds:

The major online services such as AOL, Compuserve, Delphi, Genie, Prodigy, MSN have sections for placing classified ads.

Ezines (newsletters):

Ezines are Email magazines which you can subscribe to - usually for free. Most Ezines offer low cost advertising and are also an excellent source of marketing tips.

WWW (World wide web):

You can set up your ads at web sites for free or at low cost.

3.2. Using Signatures in Discussion Groups

A discussion group is a group of people with a common interest in a specific topic. If you participate in discussion groups with useful contributions or helpful articles you can add your signature files at the end of your posting. Here are examples of discussion group areas.

Mailing Lists:

There are thousands of mailing lists available on every conceivable topic.

You become a member of a mailing list by sending a simple 'subscribe' Email message to the list. You can post a message to the list and it will be distributed automatically to all the subscribers.

Newsgroups:

Newsgroups (also known as Usenet) are similar to mailing lists except that you need to access the newsgroup with a newsreader online (whereas mailing list posts are sent to your Email box).

Online Services Forums:

Similar to newsgroups, usually better controlled and organised.

3.3. Other places for free ads

Newsgroups:

Some newsgroups allow ads. Examples are alt.internet.commerce, alt.make.money.fast, misc.entrepreneur, prodigynet.business.yourbusiness.

Online services Forums:

There are forums where ads are acceptable: try looking for forums which have sections with titles such as 'Opportunities', 'Marketing', 'Business'.

3.4. Direct Mail

Direct mail is the sending by Email of your advertisment or sales letter to a list of people who are looking for the product or service that you are offering. Such a list can be purchased from a mailing list broker.

4.1. Autoresponders

We've already shown above the importance of autoresponders for any online business. You can use them to respond to enquiries with any information you wish such as a sales letter, price list, catalog, ordering information.

4.2. Free Agent (for Newsgroups)

Free Agent is a powerful and easy-to-use newsgroup reader. It allows you to browse newsgroups both online and offline.

4.3. Navigator (for Compuserve Users)

CompuServe Navigator (CSNAV) allows you to set up in advance a script to navigate the Compuserve Forums, sending and retrieving messages, downloading from or uploading to the libraries.

4.4. Waytogo (for AOL users)

If you want to post ads on AOL classifieds then, instead of manually navigating the various menus and options, you can automate the task with a program called "Way To Go".

5.1. Design considerations

* Make your site easy to navigate
* Don't clutter up your pages with information
* Ensure that there are no long delays in loading web pages (the chief cause of this is the use of large graphics)

5.2. Content

Make a good first impression with your front page, make it interesting and let it show clearly what the rest of the site contains. You may only have ten seconds or so to keep your visitor's attention.

Offer free information and useful articles. Ensure that the content of the site continually changes, consider a weekly column of hints and tips.

When people are scanning the Internet for a specific product or service they use 'Search Engines' to feed in a 'keyword' to specify what they are looking for. You can submit your site to these search engines specifying the key words that make up the site, so that your site can then appear in such searches. There are over 20 major search engines, some popular ones being: Alta Vista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Yahoo

6.2. Publicity

Now that you have a web site you can include it in your signature and therefore publicize it.

* whenever you send an Email
* when you contribute to discussion groups
* when you contribute a posting to an Ezine

You can advertise offline by including your web address on your company stationery, business cards, letterheads, envelopes etc.

Learn from the work of others: Study other ads, other web sites, other signature files.

Study online marketing methods: Visit newsgroups and forums, and subscribe to mailing lists. You will find excellent marketing tips from Ezines - just see the footnote below.

Harvey Segal is offering all readers of Your-Biz a FREE copy of the full publication. Just send a blank mail to the autoresponder ax@infoback.net and put 'YB' in the subject field.