Advertising is the key to success for any home business, as people can’t turn into customers if they don’t know you exist and don’t know how you can meet their needs. Traditional advertising, such as print media has been around since the invention of the printing press and broadcast media soon came after the birth of radio. But despite all the years of using these types of advertising, the internet has cast a new light on how to successfully market a business without spending a fortune.

While the cost of Internet advertising may seem cheap considering the number of potential customers it can reach for businesses that only offer a local product or service advertising globally just may not make sense. If your business is located in Iowa and your advertising appears in England or in Africa, chances are the return on your advertising investment will not be what you expected.

While internet businesses can gain tremendously from internet marketing, it can get expensive over time depending on the type of advertising venue you choose. The best advertising you can hope for is to have others send your message to their friends, free, without being asked and without complaining. This is known as viral marketing.

The use of viral marketing has been growing and simply involves having internet users distributing your advertising message of their own free will. One of first and most successful uses of viral marketing was when companies such as Yahoo began offering free email accounts. A brief advertising message appears at the bottom of every Yahoo email sent, usually including a link for the advertiser. Then whenever people signed up for the free email service, every email they sent out contained an advertisement.

Talk about viral marketing! Unfortunately your business probably doesn’t have the capability to give out free email accounts but you can come up with other great ideas to virally get your message to the masses. Try giving away an eBook you write that shares useful information about your product, service or industry and of course has your advertisement tagged throughout the copy. Another idea is to create an online ezine that people could subscribe to and share with others.

Whatever idea you come up with just remember that people love free stuff and if what you give away has value then your prospects don’t mind recommending others to your business or website. This means massive exposure for your business and you don’t have to spend a dime.

What type of business you operate from the home is totally up to you, but there are certain things that you will need to do to help insure its success. While visions of making it big comes immediately to mind for many who choose to run their own home-based business, they often forget that it is a business. Running a home business often gives people the misunderstanding that they can dictate every part of their operation and while there are many aspects of a home business in which they are completely in charge, customers and clients will also have input on many functions.

Tip #1 – Set a work schedule.

The first thing needed to run a successful home business is a set schedule. It may be easy to stay up late to watch a movie and repeatedly hit the snooze button on your alarm clock, but when dealing with clients over the phone you really do not want them to think their early morning phone call rousted you from a sound sleep. While having a lot of free time may be appealing and taking naps in the middle of the day may be attractive, keeping regular hours is important to any business.

Tip #2 – Have a separate office.

Make sure your office is only used as an office. In addition to the tax benefits of carving out a space used strictly for work, you will also have the feeling when you walk into the room in the morning that it is time to go to work. Similarly, when the day is over and you leave the office you need to feel as though you have gone home for the day. Just as you want to keep family distractions out of the office, you need to keep work distractions out of the rest of the house.

Tip #3 – Keep it professional.

Being professional in all business dealings when in your home office will help preserve your image as a business owner. If you cannot afford a separate telephone line for the business, during your normal business hours answer the phone in a professional manner.

Tip #4 – Marketing is key.

Unless your business is the field of dreams, simply building it will not guarantee customers will show up. Advertising ad marketing is essential to any business, even those run exclusively online. Chances are there is no sign in front of your home that indicates you are open for business, inviting passers-by to stop in and see what you have to offer. The only way anyone knows you are there is through advertising.

Tip #5 - Build a website.

Even if you will not be conducting any business online a website can serve as your web-based sales pamphlet and include information about you, your experience and your business. Including prominent contact information on the first page of your website is a key to obtaining more business, but you should also have a contact form available for people to simply send in a request for information or for answering questions.

There are some things you should NEVER do in business if you want to succeed. If you are already a successful business owner you might be well aware of these things but for aspiring home based entrepreneurs than these tips could save you time and money.

The first thing you never want to do is to skimp on advertising and marketing. Without proper advertising your home business will never get noticed. If you don’t get noticed how can you expect to make any sales?

Here is an example:

Let’s say you have a small home business that publishes how to audio CD’s and you just came up with a new product. Your business is new and practically unknown. Although you have a website and a small advertisement in the local newspaper you still aren’t making more than a handful of sales.

The reason is because only a small area is going to be aware of your company and your new product. A single local newspaper ad only has so much reach and you have a product that could be sold all over the world. A better form of marketing for you would have been to advertise in several larger newspapers, buy billboard space in a heavily trafficked area, or create a Google adwords and Yahoo search marketing pay per click campaign. Although these strategies might cost a bit more you are able to reach a much larger customer base which means more eyes checking out your product.

The second thing you NEVER want to do is let your guard down with your home business competition. If your business has a competitive market (and most of them do) you want to definitely keep your competition close at all times.

Here is an example:

Let’s say you are a member of a health and wellness network marketing company. This is a very competitive industry with thousands of companies and distributors vying for new customers. You always want to be aware of what others are doing to build there businesses. You can learn from other people’s failures or successes so use them to find out what you should be doing but more importantly what you shouldn’t be doing.

Finally, the third thing you NEVER want to do is jump into a home business without doing thorough research. You want to be sure you know all of the details about the business opportunity you are involved in. You want to know financial details as well as information about your competition. When you take the time to research a specific business you insure success for yourself. You wouldn’t want any surprises popping up and you want to be able to set yourself up so that your business operates as smoothly as possible.

In the end, starting a home business isn’t an easy thing to do. But if you make an effort to follow the above guidelines on what never to do in you will create a solid base for future success. Be sure not to jump into any business decisions without research and well thought out planning. Care for your business like you would your children. Give it what it needs to grow and you will be pleased with the end result.