Anyone trying to start an Online business needs to have a number of resources before it is possible to build and promote a successful website. The following are essential tools that I have found very valuable.

1) Wordtracker

Before you build a website you must target the correct keywords, otherwise you will not have the necessary traffic to run a business. You may have a good niche but if you optimise your pages for the wrong keywords, you will attract little traffic.

And without traffic on the Net, you have no business! Wordtracker is an excellent tool that evaluates keywords for their profitability. A free trial version is available. http://www.wordtracker.com

2) Ken Evoy's Free Internet Marketing Ebooks

Ken Evoy of SiteSell has written some Free Ebooks which are essential for anyone contemplating an Online business. Topics covered include:

? How to be a successful Affiliate marketer.

? How to run a Net Auctions business without Ebay.

? How to develop your own Information Product. ? How to be a successful Service Seller on the Net.

http://www.merchant-account-service.com/free_courses_online.html

2) Website Building Software

Unless you know HTML you will need to use a HTML editor such as Microsoft Frontpage, Hotdog, or Dreamweaver which is a bit more advanced. Site Build It is a complete web building tool that includes web page building, web hosting, keyword research for your web pages, and continuous website submission to the search engines. Site Build It users usually get high search engine rankings.

Site Build It http://www.merchant-account-service.com/sitebuildit.html

Hotdog http://www.sausage.com

Dreamweaver http://www.macromedia.com

Microsoft Frontpage http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage

3) Forums

Internet Marketing forums can be very useful for the beginner. You can post questions and get swift replies from some very knowledgeable marketers including some of the big names.

Some of the most active are:

http://www.ablake.com

http://associateprograms.com/discus/

4) Article Submission

Articles are a good way to get free publicity for your business. A well written article can be published in ezines or on a website, thereby giving continuous targeted traffic.

Submit your article to article databanks where publishers and website owners can pick it up and publish it.

http://www.hugeaffiliates.com has a good list of article databanks where you can submit your articles.

5) Alexa.com

When your website is up and running, you need to check its ranking in the search engines and the number of sites that link to your site. Although it is not always up to date, it gives a good idea of the amount of traffic and links a site has.

http://www.alexa.com

6) Virus/Firewall Protection

You will need to install virus protection and keep it running in the background. If you have constant Internet connection, you'll also need to run a firewall program to keep out hackers.

McAfee http://www.mcafee.com

Norton http://www.symantec.com

Firewall Protection http://www.tinysoftware.com

This is a personal choice of resources and may not be relevant to everyone's needs. If you have a question about any aspect of building or marketing an online business, you can always post to one of the forums that I have listed above. In most cases, you will get an informative response quickly.

? John Lynch

For a review of Site Build It ? the leading website building tool for small and home businesses http://www.merchant-account-service.com/sitebuildit.html