Many have this wild imagination that once they can set-up a website, thousands of dollars will start pouring in... Only in rare cases this is true, and only for those who take the time to understand what the internet really means to their business.



WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The internet is like a telephone, it's like a fax machine, and it's like a TV... In short, it is an advanced medium of communication, nothing more.

This may seem obvious, but after browsing through the web, studying everything I can (As I like to do very often), I have come across many business websites that made me really wonder... "Do these people understand why they are in business in the first place?"

I too fell into the same category years back, my first website was nothing to write home about, but at the time I felt it was the ultimate and that it will bring me closer to my millions... I was clearly wrong.

HERE'S WHAT I DISCOVERED...

Although running a business online may be different in many ways from running one offline one, a major constant still relates both: You are still dealing with real people.

IMAGINE THIS...

You go into the business of selling mobile phones. Your first step is to register the company name, give your shop a name people can remember, pay for a nice location, you put up the signboard that tells people what you do. You then stack up your products for sale, set up competitive prices, hire a sales person to handle clients inquires and you're ready to go...

NOW WHAT NEXT?

Assuming you paid for a location where there is a lot of traffic, people visit your store daily and you make a few sales... You are excited about your first sale... then you receive a second order. As time goes by you receive some more orders and at the end of the month you find out that you made good sales, enough to pay your rent and still leave you with extra cash to spend.... The same thing happens the next month.

IS EVERYTHING OK?

Put yourself in the shoes of the shop owner and relate the above scenario to your website:

Hmm let's see...

- You have a great product/service

- You have proper website for selling

- You offer great prices

- Your have substantial traffic

- You made enough sales to cover up this month's cost and still came out with a profit.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

If you haven't figured it out I'll tell you.

But first I'd like you to try to answer as many questions as you can from the list below:

- How many clients came into your store this month?

- How many didn't buy?

- Why is it that some people made a purchase?

- Why is it that others didn't?

- Have you sold all you can? Is this the best possible sales figure you can come up with each month?

- What efforts have you taken to make sure each client made the best decision?

- Have you seen what your competition is doing?

- Will someone who visited your store and didn't buy, come again?

- Why will they come back?

- Do you know who your clients are?

- Do you know why some months are better than others?

- What effort has your sales staff made to convert visitors into clients?

HOW MANY OF THE ABOVE QUESTIONS WERE YOU ABLE TO ANSWER?

If you were not able to answer all the questions above, it means that you have left your business in the hands of faith, hoping that things will work out just fine ... This is the worst thing that can happen any business!

In the scenario above I took an offline store as an example, you noticed things still worked out well initially without much effort, but on the internet things don't work out exactly that way... There is no right location for your website. You need to market your business online so people can find it, and that too is a challenge for many.

However, unlike the traditional offline business activities, results online are easier to measure using different tracking tools. So you never have to leave your business to faith.

THE FREE TOOLS YOU NEED TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS

Tracking, measuring and analyzing your online activities may sound expensive, complicated and hard work for many. However there are tools ready to help you make the process simple and best of all they are free.

Here are two free useful tools to consider:

1: GoogleAnalytics is an excellent tracking tool that really gets specific when it comes to tracking and measuring results. Google has now released the power of Urchin for free. You will need to apply for an invitation code before you can signup to use the tool. But this tool is well worth the wait.

2: Your web host should provide you with free tracking tools for your entire website. The following are some tracking tools most host provide.

- Analog

Analog produces a simple summary of all the people who have visited your site. It is fast and provides great lightweight statistics.

- Awstats

Awstats produces very pretty stats.

- Webalizer

Webalizer is a more complex stats program that produces a nice variety of charts and graphs about who has visited your site. This is probably the most popular stats engine available today.

With a combination of the above mentioned tools you can give your business meaning.

Become organized and have a vision! Track everything you can so that you can understand your target market and what you clearly need to do to make things happen for your business.