You’ve thought long and hard and decided you’re going to build a home based online business. After purchasing several products and studying dozens blogs and articles about earning money online, you’ve decided that digital wealth is the route to success for you!

Hang on, before you embark on building that website or selecting the domain name, or do any of a number of steps associated with running a Internet Business, please do yourself (and your future subscribers and customers) a massive favor… stop whatever it is that you’re doing (or are about to do) and spend some time to think about the answer to a question that is going to determine once and for all, the foundation of your home business and what you’re going to do with it.

Here’s the question? “What do I sell?”
Now before you start to worry, let’s get a couple of things clear. First of all, if you’re going to run an online business, chances are you’re going to be marketing Information Products. That’s not what we’re asking the question about, though.

And of course, if you’re even vaguely serious about getting a profit with your online business, you also have figured out that you must products that appeals to and satisfy the demands of your potential customers.

Okay, back to the question. There are basically two responses, and the resulting business model you’ll be using will depend mostly upon which one you decided on.

You can choose to focus all of your energy and time on promoting products and services created by other marketers, i.e. affiliate marketer. Several well-known online marketers have made an excellent living as an Affiliate or Super Affiliate. Some have even produced reports showing how to do this successfully.

Which leads us to the other option: marketing products and services that you have created. There are several reasons why you should choose to your own products and services; let’s examine some of these reasons.

First off, there is the job of product promotion. By owning your own products or services, you will have the ability to choose how to sell them. Not so with affiliate programs; that decision is made for you. As a service owner though, you can determine to allow higher commissions and free services to e-zine owners and marketers with their own personal lists. This is a very good method to get going—and for creating future joint ventures.

Next, owning your own services enables you to brand yourself. By choosing this route, you’ve created the means to get your name in circulation and for building an online presence. If your customers are familiar with you, and have known you for a good while, more often than not they will choose to buy again when you either promote your next product, or recommend another persons’ services.

Lastly, by producing and owning your own services you have a better chance for establishing trust. Listen, it’s much harder to persuade others to hand over money if you’re launching your own services. Of course, they must be great quality items. As a result, people will be more ready to trust you. And when that happens, they are also more likely to listen to what you have to say, which increases the likelihood of persuading them to purchase your product or services.