Given unlimited time, money and patience, they might succeed. For those that do not have unlimited supplies of these precious resources, aiming for a smaller niche market can be a much smarter way to start your online business.

So just what is a niche?

If you want the long answer, you can buy any one of the thousands of e-books being sold online about niche markets. You can go to a dictionary and see what definition of niche it gives. But the short answer is niche simply means distinct or individual.

Everyone and their mother wants to start a business focusing on Internet Marketing. This is how the big guns are making all their money, so it must be the way to go. That is the problem. The market is totally saturated with people who have years of experience in this area. A new person trying to compete in such a broad market does not have much chance of success.

On About.com, Susan Ward defines Internet Marketing as “the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing”. A new person coming online to start a business has little chance of knowing enough about all the above areas to be able to compete in this market.

So how is a new person to have any chance at success?

Thing Smaller – Think Niche!

Just from the above definition you can come up with the following pieces or niches:

Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Copywriting
Web Site Design
Promotion
Linking
Email Marketing

Even if you are lucky and are extremely experienced already in one of the above niches, you will still have a lot of competition in such broad niches. This may be what you decide to do in the end, but at least be willing to explore niches within the broader areas. You may find a niche you are much better suited to.

When it comes to finding a niche market, the best resource available online is Wordtracker. You can find pieces of this program on different sites and software programs but Wordtracker brings everything together in one place for those trying to find a good niche to go into.

Using Wordtracker is a breeze. If you want to break Internet Marketing down to many more niche markets, just type in Internet Marketing and look at all the ideas that pop up. Each of these can become keywords that you decide you want to focus your niche on. Or you can pop in those keywords and keep defining your niche.

Using Wordtracker, what you will end with is a list of niche keywords that you can focus your Internet business on. Having a smaller niche will give you a much better shot at being successful then trying to build a site around a broad topic like Internet Marketing.

Remember, success in any business always comes back to supplying a product that the public has a demand for and that the market has room for. Find the right niche and you are on the right path.

Are you offering a genuine product that is in demand on the internet? How can you know if people are searching for this product? Go to Google – search for Google Keyword Research Tool and enter your keywords there. This chart shows you how many searches are performed monthly, thus giving you an idea of online demand.

Is the company sound and honest? This is perhaps a hard question to answer, but you can look up your prospective company on the Better Business Bureau’s website. Do a little research online; what does the average consumer think? Of course, every company should have a company page on their website you can check out.

Getting Started: How to Run an Online Business

Once you have selected your online business, now you want to know how to run an online business. How do you promote your business online?

1. Know your company’s policies regarding the internet and follow their guidelines as you run an online business. This is especially important if you’re in affiliate marketing or work independently for another company–they will want you to follow their rules for conducting your business.

2. Buy a domain name from Name Cheap or 3Essentials and your web hosting for the site from Host Gator. When choosing your domain name, include either your business name or the company’s product. If your domain name contains keywords that apply to your company and products, this will make marketing your site easier and more likely to be clicked on.

3. Build a professional looking, yet easy to navigate website. If this is your first website, I would suggest using WordPress or hiring a web designer. Depending on the type of company you have, you may want your website to include a form to join a newsletter, videos embedded into your site and perhaps a pop-up offer. When writing the content (product/company descriptions) for your website, make sure you have a keyword density of 2-5%. So, if you are writing the info for product ABC, make sure you use the product name in the description 2-5 times per 100 words. Do NOT overuse the keyword or it’ll look amateur.

4. Although your business will be online, you will need an office of some sort, even if it’s just a corner at home. Besides a computer, you’ll need a toll free number (800) for clients to call. This is extremely important; without an 800 number, people won’t call you – you’ll loose lots of business. I would use TTI or Kall8. Kall8′s plans start at about $10/month. This is basically the full extent of your office, unless you want a system for filing phone/mail orders. Some clients will want you to mail them a hard copy of information on your products or services, so keep supplies handy and mail them promptly.

5. Customer service is very uncommon these days. So, I would suggest you work very hard giving outstanding service. Ultimately, this could get your business and give you a cut above your competitors. Just listen to your customers concerns and questions and answer them knowledgeably (or offer to find out, if you don’t know), be patient and don’t sound rushed at all, be prompt with shipping, returning phone calls, mailing information, answering email, etc. As you run your business online, you’ll find customer service is a bigger part than you’d imagine.

6. Marketing is a whole article of its own, so just suffice to say that you’ll want to include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. Which could include article marketing, blog posts, blog commenting, forum commenting, link building, social bookmarking, etc.

Strategic planning in business is a vital back end exercise, and one that demands your own thoughts and ideas. Unlike most other business areas, strategic planning can’t be outsourced or passed on to other parties – it’s something you, as a business owner, will need to concern yourself with, and your drive and passion is the main factor sitting behind any success you do ultimately achieve. Thus your personal investment in strategic planning is fundamental to growing and improving the way your business operates, and without some element of strategic planning on a personal level, your business would simply stumble into problem after problem, and more than likely tread water in financial terms. For any small business owner, the importance in business strategy planning is obvious and essential to long term success, thus it is a factor that should be considered on a frequent, if you weekly or daily basis.

Small business loan is often given by lender on the basis of your business plans. If you are starting a new project, you should preferably have a blueprint of everything that you intend to carry out as a businessman. Once you apply for small business loan, you would also be required to submit your business plans. The lender will check the feasibility of your business plans and then sanction the loan only if he finds that there are good chances of you being successful.

A business loan is highly versatile and can be used for almost any of your business purposes such as; starting up a new business, buying office space or a new building, purchasing stationary, machinery and other essential equipments, for making payments to your suppliers or for expanding your business etc.

Business plans are a must for the small business owner, looking to gain capital and seeking loans from lending institutions. They are likewise necessary for those publicly traded companies that need to let stockholders know what their plans for the future are. Even if neither of these is true, business plans are an excellent way, even internally, to set down goals on paper and give a direct path of success to a business or company.

Having a functional business strategy can help your business to grow. Planning ahead can significantly increase the business you can do with a minimum of effort while preventing you from driving your business into financial trouble. Knowing your resources, market, and an approximate plan of action should be a part of every company’s business strategy and should help your business to succeed.