It seems that everybody is selling secrets on the Internet that are hyped to unravel secret procedures or secret methods to make a living online. There are so many secrets being offered for sale everyday that you might expect to see the secret location of Atlantis or the "real truth" about UFO landings any day now. Everybody loves a secret.

There are, however, some "secrets of success" that you just have to master if you are serious about starting any business, offline or online. Business is business and, except for building rents and physical inventory, there's not much difference between online and offline businesses. You will need a winner's mindset, marketing knowledge and the ability to attract customers in either business model.

Basic "secrets:"

• Let's start with the organization mindset you need to develop to start your success. You will have to develop a strong ability to focus on what you need to begin creating your business success. Your next step is deciding what products or services you want to sell. Choose a niche you are passionate about. Your last two "secret" beginning processes are keyword research and determining your competition.

• You need to decide what terms or words people will use to find your website. Using keyword suggestion tools, you will see how many searches have been conducted for each of your words during the last month. You can determine the amount of competition you will face by doing a Google search on each of your chosen keywords and checking the result numbers listed on the top right side of the page of returns.  Example: Results 1 - 10 of about 41,000,000 for apples. 41 million competing websites is a lot of strong competition.

The information in those two paragraphs above have been stated and restated in probably hundreds of "Secrets of Something" ebooks and reports all over the Web. They are not secrets, but very well-established techniques any successful business owner uses everyday.

Common sense & hard work "secrets:"

• Successful business owners know how to deal with their customers. Their customer service is based on courtesy and professionalism at all times. They know that there will be customers they cannot please, but they do not drop their courtesy. It's no secret that successful businesses require happy customers.

• If no one knows you exist online, you will not have any customers. There are several ways to promote your business. Two ways are advertising and networking. You can announce your online business in forums and in related newsletters and ezines, to name a few.

• You can also use viral marketing techniques and post articles on directories or give away an ebook or short report. You can create videos for your webpages and post them on YouTube. Marketing is hard work and requires diligent attention on your part and that is also no secret.

All those hyped up promises that fill your email everyday and chant that you can get rich overnight without doing any work at all are myths. They offer the ultimate "secret" to becoming an overnight millionaire. The truth is that success demands hard work and commitment and will not happen overnight. There's no way around that. No secret magic wand.

Your journey to a successful business will be buried in frustration, failures, and rejection. If you persevere, you will build the business you want to build and, after months or years, be the success you always knew you could be.

The only true "secret" is what's in your heart and mind, a picture of your goals and your real pride in your accomplishments.