Why do so many beginners fail at their online businesses? And what can you do to avoid it happening to you? In this article, we'll address this problem directly - and with a good dose of common sense!

Having your own online business seems like a great idea, doesn't it?

You sit down at your computer, come up with a product or service idea, and start marketing it all over the world... without even getting up from your chair. Everything happens virtually on your website.

And some of the people you reach through your site will buy your product, sign up to your mailing list, get to know you and your business better, and stay on as loyal customers and repeat buyers.

Over time you will build a mutually beneficial relationship in a friendly, low-key, inexpensive way. By playing your cards right, you can even steadily build it into a big business that serves large crowds of clients, and pulls in huge profits.

Wouldn't it be great if that was how things actually worked?

Well, if you've actually tried to build an online business, then you know it's not like that at all. In fact, if you've tried it out, then you know that it can actually be more challenging than building a brick-and-mortar business in the "real world".

Why is this?

Well, for starters, it's this way because almost everybody else is dreaming about this 'ideal fantasy' of running an online business from their bedrooms in their pyjamas - and growing rich automatically. And the group of 'shovel sellers' who equip these 'pioneers' and cheer them on the way to their 'Gold Rush' aren't exactly being honest about how difficult it is to really make sales online.

But there's another reason, one that's much more important. And it has to do with the important point about how to focus better.

Answer this question: Have you ever visited the average business website? You know the kind I'm talking about. It's fairly decent, with a long one-page sales letter making the same, tired, predictable pitch for a range of products that are all pretty dull and boring.

But every once in a while, there's an exciting new one.

It is catchy, snazzy, even bizarre, and so it grabs you by the eyeball, sucks you in, and makes you eager to buy whatever it is they're selling. That's the kind of business and product that everyone wants to build and own.

And guess what? All the people try to blindly duplicate it. But they're doing it wrong, and so they don't gain any value from their attempt.

They pretend to study and derive from the winning model, but end up copying and cloning only the least important things. Worse, by trying them out at the same time, they are creating a shoddy version of the winning website - and don't get even a fraction of the selling power of the 'original' website.

It Doesn't Have To Be This Way

Once you decide to get this part of your business organized and streamlined, you must learn how to focus better.

One day, a new friend was explaining his 'system' for building an auto-pilot web-based income stream. At his house, he demonstrated the model and it was among the most simple, elegant things ever. Everything hummed along like a machine.

He described how he looked at different niche markets, how he identified potential hot-selling products in each, and how he built simple processes that made dozens of sales every day.

It was hard to not admire his genius. But the real miracle of his system wasn't the 'machine'... it was the simplicity of his process. Anyone seeing it would realize that online selling could work if this simplicity could be modeled and adopted.

Like any online business, some things worked well - while others fell flat. Slowly, steadily, this entrepreneur had developed systematic approaches to getting all the components integrated into a reproducible and sustainable sequence of steps.

A new world was open - and taking advantage of it gave this business owner a headstart over anybody else. Following the same principles can boost your chances of success at business, or indeed anything else.

To be successful, you need to understand two KEY things:

1. You must not do what everyone else is doing

2. You must find a system that works, and stick with it

And that's the key. Especially the second part. Because that what creates such a massive difference in your level of success as compared with anyone else. When you work with more focus on your business, you'll win.

Also, you must find the right things to focus on. But that's easier. The difficult part is to discipline yourself to focus better on whatever you are doing.

Without it, none of this would have worked. And anyone can do it, if only you maintain your focus! Far too many people expect to throw up a website, do nothing much else, and sit back and reap profits immediately. That won't happen.

On the other hand, if you carry out many small, inexpensive tests, and follow through on your action plan based on your results that expand what works (and drops what doesn't), you'll soon experience massive success in what you do.

Why then do we so lack focus? Why do we reach out eagerly for the latest, newest, flashiest stuff - and then not put it to good use? Why do we not work on a system that works, but instead prefer to waste time and effort trying to reinvent the wheel?

This is what Steve Jobs had to say about the importance of learning how to focus. The CEO of Apple Inc. was giving members of an indie record label a private presentation about the iTunes Music Store. People kept raising their hand to ask, "Does it do [x]?", "Do you plan to add [y]?".

Finally Jobs said, "Wait, wait -- put your hands down. Listen: I know you have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes could have. So do we. But we don't want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It's about saying NO to all but the most crucial features"

And that's the key to success. Developing a laser-like focus on what matters. And ignoring everything else until you get the first, important jobs done.

Know what are the crucial features that are necessary. Learn how to say 'No' to the rest. Focus on the important activities. That will make a difference between massive success and dismal failure.