Enter Internet. Now, retailers see a way to make even more money, and to cut out middle men. By placing all their stock on websites, and offering coupons to fill in at order time, they don't have to operate stores, pay salespeople and staff, pay electricity bills, rent etc., The order gets filled in online, and shipped directly from warehouses, what a money saver! Take a look at sites like www.streamsofgold.com and www.oceansofgold.com and you'll see what I mean - some retailers have astonishing offers, up to 70% off items ordered online, $200 off $2000 purchases. It makes consumers think they are making a killing, but in reality retailers is laughing all way to bank.

Is it birth of something new? Or rather, are consumers becoming more receptive and savvier than before? Rather than having to fill a form out, send it in, wait for check in mail, it is far simpler now. Go to website, order, fill in coupon code, instant savings! No, it is not new, it is young sales executives who were weened on early Internet realizing its true potential, as a mass marketing medium for consumerism.

A) You have more money than time.

If you are so blessed, then you need to develop an advertising plan to help you spend your money wisely. An advertising plan requires you to research different advertising programs that are available, study demographics of traffic that you'll be receiving, make a budget, set up test purchases and analyze final results.

Well, you don't HAVE to develop an advertising plan. You can always just throw money at different potential solutions and hope for best. If you do that enough times then you will automatically end up in "B" category of "more time than money" because all of your money will be gone and you still won't have any traffic.

B) You have more time than money.

You've got a great blog going, few people who show up already absolutely love it, but you're in a financial crunch. Is there any hope for you?

Yep, there's plenty of hope. What you'll need though is a lot on ingenuity and time to turn your smarts into traffic. Believe it or not, you should still develop an advertising plan because even though you're not spending cash, you are spending time. Time IS money and if you waste time then you're wasting opportunities to get traffic to your site.

No matter which way you end up paying for your traffic, time or money, you should first make an investment in buying some "knowledge" from people who have already been there, done that and got T-shirt. That way you can spend less and get more bang for your buck or your time.