Firstly, you need to be found, and prominently, if you are going to attract any new visitors online. If you can be among the first-page results of the thousands of other companies offering exactly the same product or service, you have an immediate advantage.

Even then, you need to understand that this is only the start and that getting, say 400 more visitors a day, doesn't mean 400 more sales, just more potential for sales. Search engine users search online for many reasons. They don't just want to find a service, but also to research a problem they may have, or to read up on something they have heard about. These people, possibly as high as 60 percent of searchers, are unlikely to become paying customers on their first visit.

Of those who are left, more will be disqualified if, for example, you are a local business and they live outside your service area. This further narrows the field until you end up with the percentage of people who are in your area and looking for exactly what you offer. The remaining visitors will then comparison shop - comparing your site to the other search results, usually your competitors' sites. You will be judged on how attractive your site looks, how fast it loads, how easy it is to find what they want, and how your prices compare to those of the other results.

Of course, that's if everything shows up correctly; I have seen many first-page result sites which have errors when viewed in the wrong browser or on mobile devices.

The realistic bottom line is that the amount of search engine visitors who actually 'convert' to become purchasers is low, usually only one or two percent. Even the biggest e-commerce sites in the world only average about a three percent conversion rate.

This low percentage is the main reason we do not sell our clients pay-per-click campaigns.

With such low returns, the only companies who can make back pay-per-click costs are those selling very expensive items or services.

Instead, we work alongside clients to get first-page search results using our FirstPage system, which employs traditional, and more importantly, free methods to achieve first-page rankings.

To target your content more effectively and retain as many visitors as possible, you need to understand how many visitors you are realistically likely to get and how they are likely to react to the different elements of your site.

You can also analyze how your competitors are doing things, including pricing, to help you plan your online strategy to keep you competitive in the comparison shopping arena.
If you are ready to grow your business, now is the perfect time to consider our WebUpdate systems, which employ advanced marketing, promotion, and security features designed to give businesses the best competitive edge online.

Don Shipley - Extreme SEAL Experience

Terry Young is the founder and CEO of Internet Marketing and Design. Since 1997,
his computer programming and graphic design knowledge have kept his company
at the forefront of the latest technology in web development.