With so many people wanting to have an online business the options that have become available to these budding entrepreneurs are almost endless. Unfortunately most people starting out online opt for the easy way out which usually results them making no money and giving up. The biggest mistake made by new Internet marketers is that they choose to promote someone else's website and not their own.

Getting an opportunity up and running can be done very quickly; you sign up as an affiliate, get your link, and start advertising. That all sounds very easy right up to the part were you do not make any money - in fact you can loose money if you paid for the advertising. It all sound easy, and on paper it should work, but advertising on the Internet does not get the same response as a newspaper ad for example. Now while the business model is a very simple one, there are a few things you can do to make it work.

The first thing you need to do is to stop promoting the main site directly and set up a similar one of your own. It can look like the sales page for the product or a review of a few similar products, but the key element will be that you now control the visitors, and that is the difference between making money or not.

The fact is most people will not buy at all and very often not on a first visit. So now what? Well, you have a few options available to you and you should use all of them if possible.

Email capture: Ask for their email address and offer them something in return. Build a list and market to them. A good hosting account will come with an auto responder or use a service like Aweber.

PPC/PPL Advertising: If they don't buy at least get a few cents when they leave.

Offer Other Products: Join other related affiliate programs and promote those also on your site with banners etc.

Sell Advertising: Everyone's always looking for back links - give them a free trial period until your traffic grows.

I realize these suggestions have taken this hands off business model from zero cost and about 20 minutes start up time, to something that will take weeks and hundreds of dollars, but you will have built an online business that with some work will be profitable. The first example was only an opportunity

If you we're looking for a zero cost business that will actually make money I really don't know of any. There are some passing opportunities that you may make a few bucks with but residual income is the solid foundation that allows you time to build your business and enjoy life; after all that is what it is all about.