Another point to be made in favor of starting at the low micros is that with the much smaller amounts of money the concept of long-term variance with hands will be a lot more solid. Bad beats and coolers will effect you less and you'll get a better understanding of the long term aspects of poker variance.

Once you get all the basics down get a HuD program, this is *essential* I think to your online poker play, and they all give free trials. Also, getting a rakeback deal of some sort if you play a decent amount is very important, I can pay my rent monthly entirely from what I earn via rakeback, rakeback is awesome.