But as we start to learn what's actually involved, or when we begin to sell something online, we realize that it's not going to be as easy as we thought. We realize that succeeding online means putting our heart and soul into it.

This realization can be overwhelming and frustrating to many people. Even those who initially take action, say, create a Google Adwords campaign for an affiliate product, quickly realize that it's more difficult to be profitable than they originally thought.

So we move from one product to another, from one niche to another, from one "business opportunity" to another. And what happens? We never make any money. We jump into promoting something without doing any careful research or planning, we don't create a long-term strategy, and we fall flat on our faces.

Sure, some Internet Marketers are very successful, but most never make what they thought they'd make. What's the secret, then? What do you need to know to be successful? How did all of the so-called "gurus" do it? What special knowledge do they have that you don't?

The answer to that is actually very simple: you must treat your online marketing as a business. Yes, you can do it as a hobby, but don't expect to make very much money. So, what does having a business actually mean? For one thing, you must create a plan for yourself, and second, you must do your research.

If you decided to open a restaurant, would you just get a loan from the bank and rent the first open storefront you saw? No, of course not. First, you'd create a long-term strategy: what do you want to accomplish? By when? What's it going to take to make that happen?

You'd also research the area: what's the competition like? What are the demographics? Do people actually want to eat what you're offering? How can you make your food affordable and yet still be profitable. These are just a few questions that you'd have to answer long before you ever opened your doors.

Well, the same is true for Internet Marketing, and yet most people never take the time to do this. They see a "hot" product, and they think, "Great, everybody wants this, so it'll be easy to sell."

And when they start losing money, and realize that there's just too much competition, they move on to promoting the next "hot" product. Or they get sucked into the next great "business opportunity," and end up moving from one thing to the next without ever getting anywhere.

The solution to this merry-go-round is to take some time - even just a few days - to research the markets that you're interested in, and map out a plan for what's involved in promoting your product. Is your target market hungry for what you're offering? Can they find what they're looking for free? How are you going to get traffic? Do you need to outsource any of the work? How long will everything take? How many people do you need to see your offer in order to make the kind of money that you want to make? How much money are you going to need to spend in order to promote your product?

Honestly, you can answer all of these questions in just a few days. Go to forums, use the search engines, ask people in your target market about what they want and how much they're willing to pay for it. Believe me, after a few days you'll have plenty of information, and you'll be able to make an informed decision about whether or not you'll be profitable. If you think you will, write out your long-term plan. If you think you won't, then find another market or product and start your research again.

95% of Internet Marketers don't go through this process, and it's the number one reason why they fail.

Finally, stop buying every "hot" product that you see the gurus promoting to your inbox. Yes, you need to keep learning new strategies and techniques, but what you don't need are more E-books contributing to information overload that don't actually help you in your business. Before you buy something, stop to think whether it would give you a substantial benefit. If it would, by all means go for it. If not, just mark it as something you might be able to use later, and get back to your business.

Don't just want success; be the thing that you need to be in order to achieve success.