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The Home Business Decision: Online or Offline
By Rick Carbone

If you are serious about starting a home based business you will need to decide if it will be an online or offline home business. Offline home businesses normally fall into the network marketing category. I say normally because there are some Network marketing businesses that can be run online. Additionally offline home businesses can run the gamut from an MLM to Childcare.

If your offline home business is successful you may decide to have a web presence primarily as a soft advertising tool such as "See us online for more information at http://hipurl.com/211". On the other hand an online home based business can fall into several different categories, and is dependant on traffic and a strong search engine ranking.

Both business types have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example with an online business you can almost be anonymous and, for the most part, you do not need to deal directly with your customers. I say for the most part because there are exceptions to everything.

In an offline home business you must deal directly with customers on a daily basis. If you don't like being full on all of the time this may not be the business for you. On the other hand an online home based business requires some technical expertise, such as basic html skills and a rudimentary understanding of how the online community works in ecommerce and marketing. I can't make the decision for you but I can tell you that I personally believe that the Internet offers far more opportunity for a home business than an offline business does. I say this from experience.

You can have any number of business types online from a merchandise site to an informational site which sells advertising. There really is no limit to what you can potentially do online. You really don't even need to know how to build a site because there is either software which simplifies it or online tools that help you create a site online in real-time.

Think about an offline business in the Network Marketing realm. You'll need to have direct contact with customers and potential customers. You will need to recruit others into your down line sales force, which means strong recruiting and communication skills. The upside potential to an MLM is if you build a large and strong down line you won.t ever have to make a sales call on your own. You really need to be a 'people' person with a tough skin because direct sales calls are rough on the ego. So before you commit yourself to either business type, do your homework and ask yourself, "What kind of person am I, an offline or online type"?

Rick Carbone is the owner-editor of Home Business Research a top website focused solely on online home business development and management since 1998.
You can get a free copy of his ebook "Go Online1-2-3" by clicking here