Copyright 2006 Elaine Currie

Part 1 - Be Transparent.

Note the title: "Your" Internet Home Based Business, not just anybody's - yours. You alone will be to praise or blame for its success or otherwise. If you want to create a successful home based business you need to make sure it is visible on the Internet and that you, as the owner, are also visible. Running an Internet home business gives you plenty of opportunity to make yourself known to your potential customers without much effort on your part. Grab that opportunity when you first start building your home internet business and make the most of it. Your business might be home based but your website has an Internet presence and, if you don't want it to get lost in the crowds of other Internet home business websites, you need to stamp your identity on your website. Make sure potential customers know there is a real person at the heart of your home business.

If you are new to the Internet home based business scene, you might feel that you would prefer to remain anonymous because you are still learning the trade and have no expertise to share. The idea that someone might email you and ask you a question about your product will probably start you panicking. The suggestion that you place your photo on your home business website might fill you with horror.

So, what to do? - Answer: embrace all of the above!

The first issue is transparency: you might be new to work on the Internet but so are countless numbers of other people who want to start a home based business and are still looking for ideas, you will have a start on these people. Take the opportunity to communicate honestly with them - they are your potential customers and, if they don't convert into customers, they might become friends or Internet business colleagues. If you have only just started work on the Internet, don't put inflated claims on your website about the extent of your knowledge or the vast profit you are making, stick to genuine comments. You can make good use of testimonials from other people who are members of the same programme or have used your product and can speak from experience.

One important truth you need to remember when you are building a home Internet business is that most people are not stupid. If you go online as a freshly hatched Internet work at home newbie and pretend to be a guru with masses of knowledge and experience, people will see right through you to the very things you were trying to hide. Being transparent in your Internet business dealings is about being honest. If you lie to someone once, they will never trust you again and the value of trust in your home based business dealings cannot be over emphasised. Be honest in your dealings from the start. If somebody asks you about a programme you have only been in for a couple of weeks, don't make up a story to impress them. Tell this person that you are new to the programme and already love it, tell them you have a mentor who is making a good living from the programme, point out the things that made you want to sign up, just tell them the truth. People will respect you for your honesty and feel they can trust you and that is the best foundation for any relationship, online or off.

Don't try to avoid email contact from potential customers. Have a big bold "contact me" link on your website, communication is vital. Sometimes potential customers will just want to ask a simple question. Indeed, some people make a point of emailing website owners to make sure they are dealing with a real live person who will take the trouble to reply to enquiries. There is no need to be terrified in case you are asked a question you can't answer: if you are involved in any sort of decent work from home business programme, you will be able to get advice and help from your own sponsor or from a members' forum. The need to find answers to questions will help you to increase your knowledge of your business and you will realise one day that you can answer questions without needing to search for the information. Anyone who is building a home Internet business should expect to follow a huge learning curve - remember nobody is born knowing everything about anything.

When Benjamin Franklin said "Honesty is the best policy" he wasn't lying and Mark Twain had a point when he took the idea one step further: "Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it".