We all make mistakes, and ironically, most beginners tend to make the same common mistakes. Rather than following in their errant footsteps, here are a few pointers to keep you on track while you start internet business.

Failing to find a niche. All too often, beginners tend to think that the more products or programs they represent, the better their chances for success. After all, they reason, something has got to work. Unfortunately, this "shotgun" approach tends to make your site look like a "flea market" and/or diffuses your efforts, so that you don't effectively market any of the opportunities or products that you represent.

Failing to diversify. This is just the opposite of initially failing to find a niche. While I strongly advocate learning to market one product or opportunity at a time, in the long run, you want to develop multiple streams of income so that if one market or product taps out, you still have other irons in the fire. The best approach would appear to be to concentrate on one product at a time, learn to market it effectively, and then pick up other, non-competing products or opportunities to promote.

Designing a flashy web site with no substance. Many beginning web masters seem to think that flash effects, wild graphics, and other "visuals" will attract their visitors. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. While your web site needs to be visually pleasing, it is your words that sell products, not the fancy graphics. Also, research indicates that you have at most about 20 seconds to either capture a site visitor and get them to stay, or you lose them. If all of your fancy graphics take forever to load, your potential customer is long gone from your site before they ever actually see it. An interest-grabbing headline and good copy on an otherwise relatively plain page will sell a lot more than all the fancy graphics.

Picking a highly competive market. A surprising number of newcomers tend to want to develop and sell internet marketing ebooks, perhaps because they are among the best-selling products online. But this is not only a case of "the blind leading the blind", but also a strategic mistake. Think about it. How could you, a newcomer, expect to compete with people who have been making a living on line for as many as 8 to 10 years? They have that much experience, huge mailing lists and followings, and high dollar budgets. You'd be a lot smarter to pick a much smaller, less competitive market, and one you actually have some expertise in, and focus your efforts there.

Failing to develop a plan. Ken Evoy calls this one the "fire, aim, ready" approach. With few exceptions, successful ventures are the result of a well thought out plan and methodical execution, not just randomly trying one thing after another, and giving up too quickly on all of them, hoping in vain that something will work.

Trying to "sell" rather than "pre-sell" This is another gem that I picked up from Ken Evoy. Since most of us are affiliates rather than product developers, we are spinning our wheels and losing sales by trying to be sales people, which most of us are no good at, anyway. Most people have a built-in resistance to a sales pitch, and if they visit your web site and immediately feel "pitched", they are likely to leave before they ever see your affiliate link.

Your job as an Affiliate or Network marketer is not to "sell" the product, but to "warm up" your visitor to whatever product or opportunity you want them to look at. Once they click through your affiliate link, they go to the actual sales site, which is most likely designed and operated by someone who truly knows how to sell. Your job is to get the click through the affiliate link, not to get the sale. Leave that to the experts.

These are just a few of the many mistakes that beginners make. To learn more about these and other beginner mistakes, you might want to take a look at the very fine e-book Affiliate Mistakes.

If you're just starting out, and you want to avoid these and other mistakes altogether, you might want to give serious consideration to signing up with Ken Evoy's free affiliate program. Among other things, you'll learn how to develop an internet business idea, how to avoid common mistakes, and become an expert at affiliate marketing.

Take it one step further, if you like, and develop your first web site using the superb Site Build It service, a truly comprehensive solution for anyone, especially a beginner wanting to develop a web site.

Another expert about whom not enough can be said is Corey Rudl. Corey is the author of the best-selling marketing course on the internet and is legendary among internet marketers.

If you do nothing else, grab a subscription to the free newsletter Corey puts out and treat yourself to some quality education.