A few days back I went for a motorcycle ride on beautiful roads and scenery and we ate at good restaurants and had great conversations. When I got back there was notification of sales in my email!

My business, this little ol' blog of mine, had visitors while I was gone and they saw fit to buy something. Some others joined my list! PayPal took their money and sent them to my download page and they got what they bought while I was having the time of my life out riding a motorcycle around Oregon.

That's an example of what I am heading into. I want sites that draw their own traffic to content that is matched to draw the right traffic. Then I want the sales process to be completely automated. This isn't some pipe dream. These sites are all over the world!

But, at first, I didn't really know what they were and I for sure didn't know how to make one. It took me a while but once I got the idea of what I wanted firmly planted in my head, I took steps to get there.

Automatic websites that spin out income. Low overhead. Low maintenance.

That is my dream! That is what I want. Maybe anybody would. But I am willing to do the work it takes to get that set up! And it's considerable. You gotta want it.

In this business (Internet Marketing) there are two types of people I have met. There are the ones who hear the dream and would like to have it but they don’t do the work necessary to get it, so they don't get there. I think some of them are ruined by the scammers in this business who say it’s going to be easy.

Then there are the other types. The ones who get it (the dream) and want it and are willing to put out the effort it takes to get it. They are my customers and advisors.

Here is what I found were the basic obstacles everybody faces when at first they consider the alchemy of making money online.

One – You have to be able to make a simple web page with an HTML editor.

Two - You have to be able to get a Domain Name and Hosting so that you can put your simple web pages up on the web for all to see.

Three - You have to be able to install an autoresponder and collect names and nurture your list. (learn email marketing)

Four – You have to learn how to drive targeted traffic to your web pages (sales pages) – including article marketing.

Five - You need to put up a blog and populate it with the content you need so that Google will bring you organic (free) targeted traffic. ie if you want acne sufferers you populate your blog with acne articles and videos.

Six – You need to be able to get paid (collect money) automatically and not have things go haywire on you. You need to be able to rig a simple download page, or how will you automatically deliver the info you just got paid for.

Seven – You need to become conversant with the language of this business and some of the small technical things that scare off the uncommitted. Things like FTP and Hyperlinks and anchor text.

When you get the physical infrastructure obstacles out of your unlearned way and actually WORKING for you THEN you can start marketing (selling) in ernest.

First you get your marketing machine (infrastructure) in place and working. Doing this builds the base you need for operation. Remember our goal! To build a business that operates automatically and then to GROW that!

Then you give it the content it needs to attract the type of people you need and just get down to the basics of marketing.

Stuff like writing sales copy. Stuff like coming up with products to sell to the type of traffic you have coming. Writing email sequences. Learning different methods of gaining traffic. Getting better at all this all the time. Growing the business. Once it’s growing and looking good…duplicate it. Or not.

I say "or not" because some people would be interested in having a good income from one website and it is definitely the right idea for some folks.

I recommend staying with one site until you have it all fleshed out and producing some income and building a list or you are not done with it yet when it comes to set up.

There is maintenance. You have to re tweak copy. You have to drive traffic. You need to pay attention to your list and email marketing.

After you have one site up and running you can decide whether or not to go to another. It'll be an easy decision. You'll know what it is and what you want, unlike the first time.