Whatever you may be marketing online – whether it's a product, service, or information – one of the most basic yet most important step in growing your business online is to Build Your Database. There are many beginners out there who are believe it to be enough to direct customers to the order page on their site. A sale equals success, the belief goes. But that is false. Now that they have bought from you – now what?

Who were they? Where are they from? How can you get in touch with them? They bought from you once, wouldn't it make sense they may want to buy again? Or refer someone if you're running your business properly? Folks, these are very valid questions. No good business person, online or offline, is going to be successful off of one-visit clientele (with some exceptions, of course, such as highway rest stops).

Do your research. You will find it common knowledge that it costs a lot more money to gain a new customer then it does to keep an existing one. You have to generate repeat business. How do you do this? There are a few ways, but what we'll be discussing here is creating a data capture page.

Your goal is to have your prospective customer fill out his/her contact information (name, email, possible phone number) before placing their order. The trick is to do this in a way that it doesn't turn them off, and make them hit the back button and look for another site. If you are going to be shipping the product to them directly, then you should already have something built in to capture this information. However, that doesn't necessarily mean you're legally allowed to contact them.

What you want is to be able to gather contact information, and to be able to use it. You want to be able to reach out to your contact list to let them know about promotions, new products, sales, special offers, etc. If you're seeing the big picture here, you realize that this translates into instant cash. Once you've built your database to a substantial size, you've pretty much created a cash machine. Yes, you'll continue to market your business online for new prospects. However, anytime you have something new to offer or simply want to remind your customers that you're there to increase sales – all you have to do is put together a sales letter and shoot out an email to your database.

Most of them will have bought from you in the past and will trust you. If you've kept contact with them with regular newsletters, they'll be familiar with you already. Both of these are huge advantages over any other company.

One of the most effective way is to have a data capture site at the beginning of the sales process. Offer something beneficial to them in exchange for their data.

A free coaching session

A free report

A special discount

Free access to an Ezine/newsletter/course valued at $XYZ.00

Be creative, or go online and look at some successful sites for ideas. It just has to get the prospect to want what you're offering, so they'll quickly and eagerly fill in their info.

It goes without saying that this all has to be done with integrity. Offer something genuine and of value, and once you have their info, always contact them out of good intention. You must always have your customers best interest in mind, or your business will eventually die. Karma exists in a big way in business.

I hope this gave you a good idea of how a data capture page works, and the importance of building a customer database for your business. Good luck with this, and if you need any more information, help applying this, or just some examples – please don't hesitate to contact me and ask.

To Your Success