Just like traditional business you need to build a reputation, network and advertise. What makes it tough is as online business owners we need to understand how it all works without getting caught up in hype and scams. Remember there are plenty of people out there promising the world but delivering nothing leaving you with empty pockets and no income.

So where do you start to get your business known? That is the six million dollar question. If you ask a web designer they will say submit to search engines - good but not the total answer, others will say traditional advertising - this is also good but also not a total answer. Ask a marketing professional and they will charge you a heap to give you a document of information that will take you a month of Sundays to get through.

So what do I suggest? I recommend a bit of everything but the best place to really start is article submission.

What is Article Submission? What is Article Publishing?

Simply put it is writing an article about a topic you are familiar with that usually relates to your business. You don't need to have them professionally written unless you really want to. What you do need is basic writing skills - somthing that most of us have. You don't need to be a genius just have a passion to share information with others that is mutually beneficial.

Before I go on the most important thing you should know is submitting articles to publishers is totally free.

Once you have chosen your topic to write about it simply a case of publishing it to an artilce site. This is where it is a little tricky - but don't be afraid now - you have come this far - let me make it easy for you.

What not to do: A search on article publishers - you will be bamboozled with hundreds of them. You will then be totally confused as to where to sign up and who will actually be getting your article out there. OK so don't bother with this one.

What it is recommended you use an article submitter. Article submitters submit your article to the most important publishers in one click. They are usually the mainstream big daddy publishers that the smaller ones tap into so your information is filtered out like a spiders web. What is more exciting is the search engines tap into your articles and you will probably see it pop up in searches.

Now here is the added bonus. If you are writing articles that are informative and constructive many websites will use them as content in their own websites. This is free advertising for your business!

My final recommendation is when looking to build an online business or extend your traditional business online don't discount anything but research everything. But most of all seriously consider article publising or article submissions. They are proven boosters to your online success.