Running an online business sounds like a piece of cake. You hire someone to develop a flashy website, your throw a few products on a few pages and then you sit back and wait for the cash to flow in. You should have thought of this years ago! It's practically a no-brainer.

Well I am here to tell you that you should choose a very cushiony chair to wait in because you will be waiting for that cash to roll in for a long, long time. Running an online business is as easy or as difficult as you make it. The secret to online business success is simple- choose the best tools, the best customers and offer the best product. You should not be running a website. You should not be focusing on technology.

You need to zero in on your business. If your business has nothing to do with website design then I recommend staying away from website design in your day-to-day operations. Getting caught up in the technological jungle is devastating for online businesses. You must focus on your customer and not on the technology it takes to drive your business.

You have a few options. You can hire a designer, but this will cost you several thousands of dollars. This will also become a pain as you need things updated. I can almost guarantee you that every time you want to add, change, delete or fix something on your site you will have to wait for days if not weeks. You will also be charged. Hiring a web designer is like tossing money out the window if you ask me.

Your other option is to do-it-yourself. The sheer amount of hosting companies that offer a template for you to build your business around is staggering. The best way to sort through the marketing hype and clutter is to do a gut check. What does your gut say when you read these hype campaigns to buy a domain, a year of hosting and a template to build your website for $60? Is it possible to invest $60 for the year and expect to have a legitimate and profitable online business?

You tell me. What does your gut say? The bottom line is that there is a lot more to running an online business. You need more than a domain, hosting plan and template. You need support. You need a way to rank well at search engines. You need to know how to rank well at search engines. You need to know the best way to earn income through your site. You need to be able to track each and every visitor back to the referring source. You need to know how each and every page of your website ranks at all the major search engines. You need to know exactly what to do to make them rank better.

Beyond all of that, you need a newsletter to keep in contact with your visitors. You need a blog. You need a way to create a contact form. You need a way to easily update your site in a minute or less, without the hassle of calling a designer. You need to provide excellent customer service to your customers via excellent information and targeted products. You need to draw free hot leads from the search engines every single day.

All of those things require more than a domain, a hosting plan and a template. By the time you add up all the costs of most do-it-yourself web business plans, you are spending close to a $500 and up. Sure it beats a designer by thousands of dollars, but what is the cost for all the time you are going to spend creating and learning the new technology?

Running an online business is hard. It takes time to develop and it takes courage to stay with it. Running a business involves taking calculated risks. Any good business person knows that they need the best tools and the best companies to succeed.

Here's a solid and responsible online business plan of action. Find a hosting company that delivers everything you need in one swift swoop. Find a company that allows you to create custom reports about your visitors. Find one that knocks your socks off. Find one that makes your gut happy!

You will be more successful. You will be happier and less stressed. You will finally be able to focus on your business and not the technology. You will have cracked the secret to online business success- choose the best tools, the best customers and offer the best product.