Many are looking at the Internet in their search for a home based business which would allow them to earn extra income for the family while keeping their current day jobs.

With so many emails and websites or sales letters screaming at them daily in their email in boxes with advertisements guaranteeing all types of Internet business opportunities with each one claiming theirs to be the ultimate solutions, it is understandable that many potential Internet marketers would be hesitant to part with their hard earned money to buy an e-book or an online subscription due to the uncertainties of such claims.

Many however would test the water by allocating only a shoestring budget for the seemingly very convincing programs offered by the advertisers just in case the offer turns out to be another scam.
Despite the many stories about millionaires being created in the Internet each year, the high failure rate of Internet home based business is a well-known fact. Therefore taking a cautious approach at the initial stage is not only prudent but sometimes recommended.

In any businesses, be it in the physical world or in the World Wide Web, you need people’s attention and awareness of your existence and hence your products or services. This boils down to one single important activity or process namely, “Advertisement” without which you cannot hope to survive let alone prospering.

Fortunately for most of us, there are many home based programs and businesses that could be initiated with very little or no cash although there are many so-called Internet business gurus who are asking for thousands of dollars for their training courses.

Many Internet marketers evolved from very humble beginning to gradually reach a level when they could earn sufficient Internet income to allow them to abandon their existing day jobs, a dream of many who are trapped in the rat race because of their day jobs working for some un-appreciating tyrant bosses.

As their earning grows, they could plough back some of their profits to invest in their advertising budget.

The fastest way to start your Internet home based business is by becoming an affiliate (or agents in the physical world) to sell some one else’s products. The approach is simplified because it allows you to make money from your website visitors without having to worry about packing, shipping, delivery and payment processing. In most cases, this would not cost you more than $100 to start off your business.

There are many forms of products and services from the affiliate owners. These are usually information products such as electronic books (e-Book) and software that can be delivered as a file that is then downloaded directly to your customers' computers. They could be repeatedly reproduced and downloaded and sold at no cost.

What you need to do is to advertise your websites and you can do this at no cost or very little cost using the following methods:

1) Direct Emailing

This refers to sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing your old customers to buy something immediately or with the purpose of enhancing your relationship with your current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.

We are being bombarded by emails in our inbox every day whether they are from business associates, friends or even spasm mails i.e. the unsolicited emails. One way to make full use of these emails is to respond to them with your own “teaser” emails to tell them something interesting about your sites. You can do the same thing with your own opt-in list.

2) Classified Ads

These are advertising appearing according to specific categories or classifications and it can be done either online or offline like a newspaper or a magazine.

It is the most popular traditional marketing tools used by small business to reach huge audiences with minimal investment. Very few people know the fact that in the year of 2006, advertisers had spent almost $18 billion in newspaper classified ads! This is more than almost every other category of advertising media.

Classified advertising is not only a valuable marketing tool offline, it is also a powerful way to reach thousands of potential customers and generate incredible profits online. You can check it out at Online Classified Club.

3) Publishing Articles

Getting your articles written with killer headlines that will grab the visitors’ attention, and distributing and publishing them on the Internet is one of the very best Internet marketing techniques in existence.

Once you have become an author of an article, you become an instant authority. When visitors locate and read your article they could obtain some useful information from it. They would most probably appreciate you. When appreciation turns into trust, it is very likely that they would click the link in your article resource box to visit your website to get more information.

Submitting your articles and getting them re-published on others' websites and newsletters/ezines is one of the most powerful Internet marketing strategies. Your articles will then start working as a free advertisement for you forever. And you do not have to pay even a dime for such advertising space. You will continue to enjoy free traffic driven to your sites for a long, long time!

4) E-zine Advertising

An online magazine that caters to a niche or special interest subject matter is referred to as an ezine. Ezines provide advertisers with highly targeted markets. Ezines are usually narrowed-down to a particular target market. All you need to do is identify ezines that cater to your target market and place ads in those ezines. You should look for ezines with at least 500+ subscribers.

5) Solo Ads

A solo ad is a stand alone mailing sent out to the entire ezine subscribers. It is known as “solo” because the ad does not have advertisements from other advertisers.

Hence, unlike safe list advertising discussed above, solo ads in ezines present your stand-alone advertisement to a more responsive audience. Most publishers allow you to have your own subject line i.e. a header, or the "attention grabber" that will entice people to click on the email and read what you have to offer.

6) Your Email Signature

Depending on the content and the addressees of an email, it can get forwarded many times and also copied to many other people. If you include your website link in your signature, it can spread like wild fire! Therefore careful design of the wordings in your signature is important.

If you encounter any technical problems, there are many online discussion groups where you can ask many questions related to Internet marketing strategies. Leading experts are always there to give the answers you are looking for and this does not cost you a cent! Also, for some forums, you are allowed to include your signature where you provide the links to your sites. A good example of such forum is Warrior Forum.

You could start home based business with a small budget and grow gradually when some of the profits can be plough back into your business by investing more in your advertising budget.

About The Author:
John Woon is a successful Latex Consultant and Internet Marketer. To know how he started to earn handsome money from the Internet working from home, go here now:
=> http://www.johnwoon.com
=> http://www.johnwoon.com/blog