Simply put, the lifeblood of any online business is traffic. You need to get targeted visitors to your website, capture their details and then work at turning curious visitor into subscriber and subscriber into customer. This is where the real money is. And yes, I have heard that the money is in the list! What I am sharing with you here is how to build that much talked about list, simply.

To build strong monetized list, you have to keep your visitors coming back. Unless you offer them something to come back to, then chances are they will not. You will need content on your web site that not only interests them, but also changes regularly.

1) Articles- Articles give your visitor something to read. Undoubtedly, sometime in the future, you customer will have a question, or want more information about the product or service that they received from your business. If the articles pertain to your business and the products and services that you offer, then they will be able to access the information.

You do not necessary have to write these articles yourself.

You can post information about your products directly from the package, or maker's web site.

There are several article directories online that provide good, quality content at no cost to you. It is as simple as visiting the directories, searching for articles that suit your business, and then copying them into your web site. You are only required to provide a link back to the original author's web site.

2) Contests- Who does not want to win something? By offering contests (especially if they change frequently) gives your visitors something to come back for. When the visitor signs up for the contest you may also want to include a link to your newsletter.

The key is to change the contest frequently, whether it is weekly, monthly, or semi-annually. The more you change your website information and give aways the more time times your visitors will return, and the more recomendations will be made for others to vist your site as well.

3) Coupons and Discounts- You may want to provide coupons or discounts for your previous clients to entice them to return to your web site.

Promotional Codes can be used in many ways. A few ideas are:

- A buy one get one free.

- A specific percent discount (such as 10%)

- Free or discounted shipping

Discounts are easy to administer, provided you have a shopping cart. The typical way discounts are given is by code. A code word such as "springtime" allows customers with the code word to receive a discount.

Alternately, you may want to provide a printable coupon on your, and accept it at your physical location.

4) Forums- Forums provide something that everyone craves: conversation. If a forum is provided on your site, the visitor will have a reason to visit your web site frequently, whether it be to ask a question when help is needed or to keep up on a conversation.

You can host your forum from your site, or you can choose to use a third party forum, the choice is up to you, truly it is whatever your prefer. Both have their pros and cons, it just comes down to what is best for your business.

5) Blog-- Believe It or not, people are interested in what you have to say! A blog will not only allow you to update your clients on your business and life, but it also gives you a great opportunity to add those much needed keywords to your web site.

There are quite a few free applications available that make blogging easy.

6) Newsletter- A newsletter is one of the best ways to keep your visitors coming back time and time again.

You will want to include part of a unique article or tip in your newsletter, and then a link to the rest. This will force your viewers to visit your site to get the remainder of the story.

Once again you do not have to write all the content yourself. Using free article directories will cut the time it takes to put a newsletter together in half

Copyright (c) 2007 Chris Sullivan