If you could create an income working from the comfort of your home in just a few hours a week, would you do it?  It is entirely possible — and here I’m going to show you how.

By no stretch am I putting a full-time effort into this project.  This is something I’m doing on the side.  That is of course one of the benefits of internet marketing…one can keep their regular job while earning money part time online.

You too, even if you are a beginner, can create an online home business that will provide you with a steady side income. Here are the seven simple steps:

Step 1. Identify Your Market

It’s most important to decide what market or niche you are going to target. When you identify your market, you will know who your prospects are, what problems they have, and what solutions they are looking for. And once you have that information for your niche market, it’s not hard to find a product to sell to them.

So how do you decide which niche to go after? I suggest making a list of all the things you are interested in and choose from that.  Zero in on your passions and top interests and give yourself lots of options.   Just because you have a strong interest in a certain niche market doesn’t mean there are enough people out there who share your interest and have money to spend on it.

Golfers, for example, are passionate about their game. They also have a lot of money and like to spend it on golf-related “stuff.” On the other hand  teenage boys may be into fast cars and movies and there isn’t any chance you will be selling to them soon.

Put Together Your Passion + Profitable Market = Great Niche Website

Step 2. Choose – and Purchase – a Domain Name

Choose a domain name that is descriptive of your website topic and benefit-driven. Ideally, it should also include your main keyword. And it should be easy to spell and easy to remember.

Step 3. Put Up a Website

If you can use a word processor, you can create a website with similar software.  Even if you are a beginner.

We use and recommend the Free WordPress Blog software to create  a site but there are many other low priced and free programs available.

Step 4. Add an Opt-In Form to Your Site

Having an opt-in form is one of the key things that separate successful a online home business from those that fail. It allows your visitors to give you their name, e-mail address, and any other information you may want to collect.

By capturing your visitors’ contact information, you can follow up with them on a regular basis via e-mail. You can send them valuable content, build a relationship with them, and bring them back to your website to sell them products they are interested in.

Step 5: Offer a Freebie

The best way to get people to give you their contact information is to offer them something of value in exchange.  A free newsletter or a special report or a tip sheet.

You could also offer a free special report or some type of tip sheet. Putting one together can be as simple as coming up with 10 questions that people in your niche are likely to ask and answering those questions. It can be just 5 or 10 pages long. Better yet, unlike a daily newsletter, you only have to write it once. Then you upload it to your autoresponder (the same software you use for the opt-in form) and have it automatically sent to everyone who gives you their name and e-mail address.

I recommend using a third party autoresponder such as Aweber.

Step 6. Drive Traffic to Your Website

There are many ways to drive traffic to your website, but when you’re starting out you’ll want to focus mostly on free traffic.

One of the best ways to get free traffic is by writing and submitting articles to article directories. One such directory is EzineArticles.com. (Ensure you include your website’s URL in the blurb or biography that runs with the article.)

Another good way to get free traffic is through social media marketing. Search for blogs and forums that are related to your niche market and answer questions and post comments. Most forums and blogs will allow you to link back to your website. Be sure you are providing good content and that what you have to say is relevant to the blog or forum’s subject matter.

Step 7. Follow Up… and Start Making Sales

The final step is to follow up with the people on your opt-in list and start selling them products. These can be your own products or products you are promoting as an affiliate.

This, too, can be done with your autoresponder. For example, you could write a series of five to seven e-mails, each one promoting a different product. And as soon as people opts in to get your freebie, you have those e-mails automatically sent to them, one at a time, every couple of days.

You don’t want people to think they’re just going to be getting sales messages from you, so change it up. Include some valuable content in your e-mails too. This will help you continue to build your relationship with them.

Those are the seven steps you can take to quickly and easily launch a new online home business, even if you are a beginner.  Once you have this basic system in place you continue to build on it by learning more ways to bring traffic to your site, building a bigger opt-in list, and starting to promote other “backend” products that are of interest to your subscribers.