If you are serious about achieving long-term success in your internet marketing business, there are four tools you must invest in up front. Those tools are a domain name, a landing page, a hosting account, and an autoresponder. Last time we talked about why. This time I will show you what these tools do to help you achieve your goal of online money making.

First, your domain name. Using your affiliate ID link is unappealing for several reasons. It's ugly. Usually something like "yournickname.productname.hop.clickbank.net." It's not something anyone could remember. And, perhaps most importantly, a lot of people don't like to click on affiliate links. I can't explain why, but they don't like the thought of a stranger making money from them.

Get your own domain name. You can get one at GoDaddy, or lots of other places, for $9.99 a year. Make it something people can remember and associate with you. If you're selling a dog training ebook, look for something relevant like bestdogtrainingtips.com. It's easier to promote your own domain name. It sends the message that you have established your own internet marketing business in your niche.

Now that you have a domain name, you need to put up a website using that name. You want what's called a landing page, opt-in page, lead capture page, or squeeze page. All different names for the same thing. This is the page your customers are taken to when they click on your domain name.

Having a landing page rather than sending your customers directly to the product's sales page is the only way you can build a list. To develop a list of customers, you must collect your customer's name and email, obviously. After your customer has put in her information and hit send, she's taken to the sales page of the product you're promoting.

The landing page can be short and simple. The purpose of the page is to convince your visitor to leave her name and email. By doing this, she "opts in" to your list. Usually, people give away something in exchange for their visitor leaving her information. The "give away" could be a free report, audio, or email course. An effective landing page has a few more considerations than this. Take the time to look over lots of different landing pages, and then model yours after one that appeals to you.

While anyone can write the copy for a landing page, actually turning that copy into a website is slightly more difficult. Some people can do this. Most can't. For this reason, I've included this as an expense in starting your online business. You can have your page put up on the internet by an expert at Rent-a-Coder for around $100, usually less.

The other thing you'll need to get your landing page on the web is a hosting account. That is, a company that "hosts" your page on the internet. This will cost you approximately $20 a month. You can certainly find it for less (or more). It's important that you host with a good company, such as WebHotMonkey, so that your site is always up and available to your customers.

Finally, your internet marketing success is dependent upon an autoresponder. Aweber is the most popular. It's about $20 a month. An autoresponder is the service that collects your customers' names and email addresses. You can then go into your autoresponder and set up a series of emails to automatically go out to your customers at intervals of your choosing. You can also send one-time emails to your entire list whenever you choose. This is a great way to notify your whole list of a new product you're promoting that would interest them.

An autoresponder is how you build a relationship with your customer. Your emails shouldn't always just be selling something. Tell your customers something about yourself and your internet marketing business. Give them good, free advice. If they like and trust you, they'll buy from you next time you have a new product recommendation.

There you have it. All the tools you'll need to be an internet marketing success. But the tools don't work themselves. To start your online money making, it is critical that you now take action. WORK your online business. I know, work, no fun. Actually, this is fun. We'll talk about taking action next time.