Fact (5): This last fact is obtained from simple observation of search results on major search engines. If you search for any term on most major search engines, you will notice that many of top ranking pages in search results are home pages of web sites (i.e., default page of a domain name, such as index.htm, default.asp, index.html, etc). Also, domain names themselves often contain keywords being search for (e.g. a search for wedding gowns will result in pages with domains such as weddinggowns.com, weddingshop.com, gownsforsale.com, etc.). This is especially so with HotBot (www.hotbot.com). That is not to say that other pages do not rank well. It just means that your pages will rank better if domain name or page name contains keywords being searched for.

Now that you have seen how absolutely logical and easy it is to get that much needed traffic to your web site, you can now go ahead and make it happen for you. The only obstacle is one: to make a significantly higher number of web pages than those that you currently have, and make these for a wider variety of related keywords than you already have, and optimize them all for several major search engines, is not exactly a simple task if done manually. The hardest part is optimization because that is a mathematical and constantly changing thing (the engines use math to rank pages and they constantly change their formulas). There are several options available to you to make your work easier. You could find a consultant who does this. Usually, this is quite expensive but advantage is that you do not have to do anything yourself. You do have to be careful to choose a good consultant and not just anyone trying their luck at this. Your other option is to do it yourself. If you have a lot of time and know-how of workings of search engines, you could make templates and run them against your set of keywords to create your pages. The only danger with templates is that you could end up with duplicate pages that spam engines. And this method can be a messy process. Your last and best option is to use software specifically designed for this job. This is fastest, most reliable and accurate method. All you have to do is select right software package and everything else should take care of itself. This field is very new and currently very few packages exist that offer enough intelligence to do job correctly. A search at ZDNet's www.hotfiles.com should yield a selection of packages you can evaluate.

There are many other ways that people use to find new sites, such as following links on other sites, reading about sites on magazine, hearing from friends, etc. But no matter what other methods they use, they almost always use them in addition to using search engines, especially when actively trying to locate new information. If there was one thing you could not eliminate from a site's success driver and not ruin it, it is most usually its traffic from search engines. No other method of marketing is so powerful, effective, and affordable to majority of sites on Internet. In fact, it is virtually free.

Interest The primary reason people go online is to get information. Not to get advertised to, but to know something about something. That is how you create interest, by providing appropriate information. You must have a good amount of free information that is relevant, constantly updated, exciting and different. Obviously you still want to tell them about your product but that should only be a major part of your site, not an only part. You should get an arsenal of news, articles, facts, newsletters, polls and other features to keep them coming back. Yes, it sounds involving but remember, most sales occur after first encounter, so you must make sure you get more than one visit to your site. And very few people will return to your site just to re-read your product brochure.

Desire You create desire in a multitude of ways, two best being letting client experience product or service first hand. So you have to build interactivity. If you have a software product you are selling, give out a free downloadable demo. Financial services? Offer free online calculators. Real estate agent? How about an interactive room planner. The idea is to get someone experiencing product or service in some way or another so that they can desire to own it. See what you can do in your case, just make sure it is a useful free trial. Most purchases take place after buyer has seen product or service several times, better still when they have used it and experienced its benefits.

Action You will find that number of actions you want taken are quite a few. You probably will want someone to subscribe to your newsletter, get your free demo, recommend a friend or, most of all, buy something. Whatever action, create attention on it, get interest, build desire, then ask for action. You must ask for action to be performed. If you want them to click, put that down clearly. If you want them to buy, ask for sale very clearly (as in "Buy Now"). Most sales are lost at last moment because no one asked buyer to buy. So don't be shy. Ask for action.

There you have it. Probably only fundamental information you will ever need to get your web site to perform as it should. The reason I refer to it as fundamental is because if you use it as a foundation on which you build your entire web site, no matter how small or big it is, it will work. Well, granted you must have right products at right price, but even with those, fundamentals must be there for optimum results. Use this information when you decide on your site navigation, your pages, your graphics, etc. It will not fail you. If you need any more information on this topic, please see articles at http://www.positionweaver.com/articles.shtml.