So let us explain what most people cannot answer. What exactly causes an online business opportunity to fail? The answer is: Many things. One of the main reasons for failure is that by the time the entrepreneurs figure out which pitfalls to avoid, either their capital runs out or they feel that the learning curve is too steep and they give up prematurely!

The key is to have an unflinching commitment to your business in the beginning, to the point where you can put it on auto-pilot and reap the rewards of your hard work.

It follows that you can be exceptionally successful in your online endeavor if you faithfully follow some strict guidelines. If you already have an Online Business (or plan to have one soon), make SURE you follow these 5 pointers religiously:

1. NEVER choose to promote a useless product/service: Let's say you carry out extensive research and create a fantastic website design for your website. If you do not have a fabulous product to promote, your website design is useless. Sure, some customers might buy your product once, but as soon as they figure out the product was not impressive, they will be sure never to buy from you again. Having a BAD product is one of the sure-fire ways to get yourself killed in this business. Remember, you only make money if you provide a VALUABLE product to a HUNGRY crowd.

2. NEVER spend too much on advertising: You have to decide the maximum budget for advertising the website in the beginning. While I know that paying for advertising is one of the quickest ways to get subscribers and traffic, I personally feel that the steep cost you pay is rarely worth the trouble. Do not fall in this trap! Try to generate FREE traffic for your website in the long run. You can do this by submitting your articles and website info into article and web directories. You can also try linking to other heavy traffic websites, which guarantees free traffic to your website.

3. NEVER think traffic is unimportant: Generating consistent traffic should be your first priority when starting out. Rule number 1 states: No traffic, no income! It is as simple as that! A typical webmaster would set up a website and attend to all major aspects of it, but fail miserably to generate enough traffic and therefore would earn no income. Generating traffic is fairly easy if given adequate time to work out. Do not think you will have 10,000 people knocking on your website's door within the next 4 weeks. It is not realistic. Instead, your aim should be to increase your back-links (and therefore traffic) slowly and progressively. Way to increase traffic include linking to high-PR websites, using article submission services and submitting your website to the countless link directories out there.

4. NEVER have a complicated business website: If your website has too much text, your customers will likely lose focus and move on. Always make sure you have a simple website with easy navigation. Make sure you also provide a site-map on your website because doing so enables Google spiders as well as prospective customers to explore your website in an orderly fashion, increasing your website's effectiveness.

5. NEVER forget checking for broken links on your website: The grim reality is, broken links surface all the time. As soon as you modify your web pages, some links do not update dynamically and point to the previous target. While such an occurrence can be avoided if you are really careful, it is always good practice to take precautionary measures. A handy technique would be to provide customers with a feedback box where they can report any broken links on the website. This minor website tweak will improve your bottom line, because it will portray you as a responsible individual, resulting in increased customer trust.

These 5 mistakes, when avoided, make sure you start your online business on a strong footing. While these pointers alone do not guarantee success, they decrease your learning curve and ultimately the time you require to firmly establish your online presence.