Work at Home 5-Step Blueprint for Success!

What's a niche? A niche is a topic that a certain target audience is interested in. For example, parenting is a niche and expectant moms are part of your target audience. You need to pick a niche that appeals to you because you'll be working in it for the long haul.

It's preferable that you choose an evergreen niche - something to sustain your profits for years, not just until a quick fad phases out of the marketplace. First, brainstorm a list of topics that interest you or that you know a lot about.

Next, conduct some research to see if there are already products on that topic online (that's a good sign! Check Amazon to see if there are books or magazines on the topic (that shows you there's an audience for it).

Use a good keyword research tool to see how many people are online searching for solutions in your niche. You want a decent amount of traffic - 30,000 a month or more is a good starting point for you to look for.

After you've chosen your niche, it's time to build a presence on the web. You have many options. Don't get intimidated by this step - there are many newbie-friendly website creation tools online now - it's not like the old days where you had to either know coding yourself or spend a small fortune hiring a pro.

A web presence can be created in one of these ways:

1.) A simple, free blog. Many new entrepreneurs start with a blog through WordPress or Blogger. (WordPress is preferable because you can control it by hosting it on your own domain). Pick a free theme from one of the thousands of WordPress theme sites and install it on your blog before you begin posting so it will have a professional appearance.

2.) A free web 2.0 landing page. See this page you're looking at? It's a Squidoo lens and it's free and easy to build. You can create a page just like this by registering for an account and then using the building blocks called modules that allow you to post content to it.

3.) Your own domain. This is the one that intimidates people, but it shouldn't! You can go to GoDaddy or any other registrar and buy a domain for under $10. Then sign up for hosting at a site like Hostgator (under $10 a month) and you'll have your very own website online! You can then install a blog on it if you want or create a simple page using a variety of website building tools.

What will you promote as an online entrepreneur working from home? You have several options here, too. The most popular is affiliate marketing. As an affiliate, you're promoting other people's products to your target audience and earning a commission for it.

You can promote tangible items from sites like LinkShare, Amazon, or Commission Junction - or go the digital download route and promote eBooks and tools from sites like ClickBank and PayDotCom.

You want to look for a product that you feel will truly benefit your audience. They'll trust your opinion, so you don't want to steer them to invest in a product that is shoddy or turns out to be a scam.

If you prefer, you can create your own info product. Buy a guide that teaches you how write an eBook and then follow it step-by-step so that you can share your own expertise and become an authority figure in your niche.

Content is the appetizer to your website visitor. They're going to come to your landing page, see if you have anything worth knowing, and if they like what you have to say, they'll be inclined to click through and buy from you.

If you provide sub-par content from the beginning, then your visitor will have no reason to stick around and read more or trust your opinion and click through on your links. So make sure you create good content!

If you don't have the skills yourself to write, then you can go to sites to find freelance ghostwriters to hire. Amazon Turk is very inexpensive, Elance is where you'll find many professional writers, and Rent-a-Coder even has some writers who will create content for your blog or domain.

You have a niche, a product to promote, content, and a website - it will all mean nothing unless you work on getting traffic to your domain. Website traffic should grow over time, so don't worry if it starts out as a trickle.

You can do many things to improve traffic to your site, including:

1.) Optimize your website for search engines. SEO is a critical component to your site's ability to be found by consumers. Don't feel overwhelmed - the tasks are many, but they're easy to implement - just do it one at a time and you'll see results.

2.) Write articles. Article directories like EzineArticles.com help funnel readers through to your domain. In each article you write for your niche, you'll have a Bio Box at the bottom that links to your website and helps you gain more exposure!

3.) Post in forums with a sig file. A sig file is a signature that many forums allow their participants to have. It usually contains a couple of lines of text, and the site may allow you to include a hyperlink back to your domain. As you participate in the conversation in your niche, people will automatically follow your link to see what you offer.

Working at home on the 'net doesn't have to be complicated. Some people flit around from one offer to the next, but never follow through on a specific plan. Adhere to this blueprint and you'll have all the success you can manage!