The idea of an online business is great — no inventory to deal with, no storefront with utility bills and maintenance, and it can be started with no employees and on a shoestring budget.

But the biggest problem most people run into when they decide to get into internet marketing, is figuring out what their next step should be. Because once you dive into this world, you’re inundated with new products coming out seemingly every other day, and each one claims to be EXACTLY what you need in order to be successful.

There are so many options that many people find themselves paralyzed because of information overload. Too many tasks and not enough time.

And while there may be half a billion things you could do, there are only four main areas that you really need to focus on:

Infrastructure — This is the stuff like a web site, autoresponder, shopping cart, etc. And while it may not be exciting, it’s necessary if you’re going to build any kind of online business.

Product — You’re going to be selling something online, and while you could just promote someone’s product as an affiliate, selling your own product is usually much more lucrative and opens up doors you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

List Building — Creating a list of prospects and customers that you can continue to promote to is probably the most overlooked aspect of internet marketing. Over and over I’ve seen people do everything else right and then fall down in this area.

Traffic — This is the most significant part of the four pieces, because without prospects (traffic) you have no chance of making even one sale. There are many places you can buy traffic, and several free ways to generate traffic.

In this series I’m going to cover each one of those areas in detail and give you pointers that will clear up frequent sources of confusion. I will recommend specific products that are known to help in certain areas, but those products aren’t required — everything I’m going to tell you about can be done with just some good old-fashioned elbow grease.