Before I get into this, I want to be clear about a few things. I am tired, and I am sure you are too, of seeing promises online for this or that system that is THE way to make money online. I am also tired of seeing pyramid schemes and guarantees of specific amounts of money to be made online.

I truly believe this about the online marketplace: if you want to make money badly enough, you will make it. But there are many people online making money in many different ways---many legitimate, some not so legitimate, and others downright unethical and immoral.

Enough of my rant. No guarantees here. But this is sure to turn on some light bulbs in your mind about what is possible online. Perhaps you have simply been too scared of trying to build a web site from scratch, or of even using a site builder to do it. Maybe you just don't think you can spare the money to get a web site going. Maybe you just aren't sure what to do and how to do it.

I am going to show you a basic plan for what to do to get started. And that is what it will do. It will get you started. Long run, you need a web site. You need a professional presence online. But if you start small and reinvest your profits, you can grow big if you just stick with it.

Let's get started:

First, you are going to select someone else's product to sell. You are going to use someone else's product because you do not have your own, yet. To find a product to sell, go to click bank.com or commissionjunction.com and search for something you like. Sign up with either company to become an affiliate or publisher for their products.

Next, you are going to need an auto responder account. Basically what an auto responder does is allow you to set up a series of messages that go out to a subscriber. For example, someone will subscribe to your list and they will receive an automated, personalized email welcoming them to the list. On a pre-determined schedule (determined by you), the auto responder will send to your subscriber a series of emails with information from you.

Next, you must write a series of email letters. This may seem absolutely daunting at first, but just do it. The first ones you write may be lousy, but you will get better. The first email will just be a welcome email; thanks for joining my list; here are a few tips about (whatever the product is you choose to sell). The next few emails should be informative, offering the subscriber free tips about the topic of your product. At the end of the email, include a link to the product you have chosen to promote. Click one of my links at the end of this article to get a series of emails from me; that will give you an idea of what you want to do.

Once you have the auto responder account set up, with a few messages (I will cover the content of those messages later), you will generate a web form or link from the auto responder that will allow the subscriber to "opt-in" to your list.

Next, advertise the web link or web form in ezines, newsletters, or high-traffic web sites (as banner ads, exit pops, etc.). When the readers read your ad and click through to your link they will become subscribed to your list.

Keep in mind, that, as simple as I may have laid this out, it will take some time before you become good at it. You will have a steep learning curve. You will write good ad copy and bad ad copy. You will write good emails and bad emails. You will make a few sales. You will have dry spells. The key here is to test everything you do. When you run an ad somewhere, track the ad through your auto responder service (build a different auto responder for each ad you run) so that you know which ads produce the best response.