What you have to do is forget about search engines. Just forget about them! I realize it's difficult, especially with all thats been written said over years about how critical search engines are to your business. Believe me when I tell you, it's all a bunch of bull! Businesses were doing just fine, when there weren't any search engines. Just fine.

In fact, I'm earning a very comfortable living on Internet, without any significant search engine presence whatsoever.

What's my secret? I don't depend on search engines! I never have. I refuse to play game. That's my secret in a nutshell! My traffic comes from dozens of articles I've written that have been picked up and published on popular websites all over Internet. I also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters and ezines that my articles are published in, and a few other secret methods that I use.

And you can do same thing. You just have to get out of that search engine mindset.

Now I realize writing articles may not be a desirable option for many of you. That's fine. However, there are many other proven and effective ways to market your website. Here are just a few: ezines, newsletters, forums, online magazines, sponsor listings on other websites, exchanging links.

Here are a few offline options: magazines, direct mail, shopper newspapers, cable television, radio, flyers, hospital newsletters, card decks, trade journals and directories, bulletin boards, tabloid newspapers.

In addition, do yourself a favor and buy book, "Guerrilla Marketing," by Jay Conrad Levison. It's loaded with low-cost ways to promote your business!

As you can see, you have plenty of other options available to you, besides search engines. All you have to do is use them--and a little imagination.

It's time to stop playing a game you can't win, and start playing a few that you can!

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net

This leads us into next group, group that chases free.

Bargain Hunters

Bargain Hunters shop free for anything. Converting them to customers is tough because of "free blinders" they wear. As long as they think they can find it somewhere free, they will keep searching for it. Time to money ratio for them is distorted -- even if they spend 40 hours looking for it and offsetting cost is $10. They relish in challenge of finding it free. They also like to brag about how they found it free (use this to your advantage).

Add a monthly giveaway at your site and you will attract these visitors. It does not always need to apply to anything they are interested in -- they want it because it is free. They may print out a 200-page free ebook and still think it is a bargain because it was fr*e*e. They don't make a connection that printing equals cost.

The upside to this group is that they are easy to please -- just offer them bargains. The downside is that there is less than a 1% chance you will convert them to customers unless you offer them free for a long time. Sometimes you hear them comment something like, "I've been checking out your web site for years and I've finally decided to buy from you."

Since "deals" travel fast, be assured that if you offer a deal they will pass along message at lightening speed. Great viral marketers in this sense. They can create noise to other ready buyers.

Contests and games attract them as well as giveaways that accompany an order. Adding lots of fre-e bonuses to your deals work well with this web browser. Suggestion: Make bonuses available after a purchase. Freebies are great pullers to get them to visit your sales page. Pile it on, they have a weak no threshold.

Like SISers, Bargain Hunters also respond to detailed product information. They also like to justify what they are buying to others. And for this they need to know benefits very clearly.

Bargain hunters are completely different from next group. The next group age range is from teenagers to 30- year-olds. Between 30 and 40 need for fast entertainment begins to subside.

Entertainment Seekers (ESers)

Entertainment Seekers get bored easily. They frequently browse web when bored. They like interactive games, interactive contests and flash. You can attract them if you provide animation, sound clips, contests, games, and latest and greatest in technology deliveries.

They frequently visit horoscope, recipe, sex, drugs, and music pages. They begin browsing at their favorite sites, then move towards searching for new latest and greatest stuff, and then return to playing their computer game. If first page seems flat, they don't even go past that page. They assume rest is boring as well. The exception occurs if they enter and can transition to SISer mode seeking a specific piece of information.

Bright contrasted pages, black and multi-colored backgrounds pull them in. Holding their interest is tough because of Internet's relatively flat presentation. If you want to convert them to customers, your product has to offer them same type of perceived entertainment before they will buy. Keep same color palette as well.

You will need to provide them with "advertainment". Provide advertising that sells your product while providing entertainment value -- similar to info-mercial strategy used in television advertising.

Unlike next group, this group likes cleverness, however, next group is one that most independent professionals want to attract.

Specific Buyers (SBers)

Specific Buyers have something in mind that they want to buy. They demand an easy ordering process and fast delivery. They want it now. Prefer ebooks to wait time of a book purchase. Make benefits of buying very clear.

SBers like ideas and creativity. Add a "what's new" page or some type of interactive shopping helper (help them to make a selection) to your site and they love it. For services, you need to offer a phone number they can call, preferably 24/7 and 800, where they feel free to ask questions without obligation.

SBers also like to purchase things in complete packages – a package with all answers to their challenges. A package that gives them everything from A-Z so that they do not have to look any further. Because of this, they usually do comparison shopping to find best package for best price.

In Conclusion

Now that you can define who you want to attract, keep in mind these five overall steps to get people to buy on your web site:

1. Know your current customer profile well. 2. Know what they are looking for on web and how they browse web. 3. Choose best approach to attract these buyers. 4. Deliver what you want to attract on your site. Like attracts like with all energy. 5. Make it easy for them to buy from you.