With the economy the way it is many people are looking for home based business ideas. Over the years I have been involved in many network marketing or multi-level marketing businesses where in order to succeed you must build a business by getting other people to become distributors and then get those people to also find distributors and on and on.Well… it looks good on paper, but the reality is that 97% of the people only bring in 2 or 3 people. No matter how good the products are, or how enticing the compensation plan is, the reality is that most people simply won’t talk to their friends and neighbours about business.I became very good at giving in home presentations on different products from different companies and for awhile seemed to be headed for the stars in each program that I became involved with. However, like most people I learned that I’m a little reserved and don’t have that bold entrepreneurial attitude to talk to everyone about my great opportunity using the 3 foot rule. That’s the rule that says that you have to talk to everyone that gets within 3 feet of you.So although the companies I joined all had very good products, and their compensation plans looked like I could be a millionaire, after considerable effort and expenditure on products, demonstrations, and various forms of advertising, I was told I simply didn’t have a big enough dream, or my why wasn’t important enough.So was it time to quit? Absolutely not. I don’t think it’s time to give up on home based business ideas. The internet is the great leveler when it comes to the 3 foot rule. You see, you can be scared to walk outside your front door to meet the world each day and still be a huge success online. If you know the right techniques you don’t have to approach anyone…they will approach you…online.You can be a great success online. There are definite strategies and techniques that you can use to make your online business a success. Below I have listed just 5 of the many possibilities for marketing your home based business ideas.1. Search Engine Marketing: This form of marketing is achieved by promoting a website through paid placement with venues such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter, and a host of others.2. Blogging: This is like a journal, the term coming from the words web log. In it you place regular entries of events or commentary that the search engines pick up so your website becomes visible.3. Interactive Marketing: This is the ability to remember what the customer has said by collecting customer information online in what is commonly known as a contact management system.4. Viral Marketing: From the word virus which implies a spread of ideas, viral marketing can be used to increase awareness of products and ideas.5. Web Analytics: Understanding how people use the internet can translate into much higher response to your marketing.There’s lots more. So…don’t give up. The potential for home based business ideas and particularly for network marketing on the net is huge and I have barely scratched the surface.