CTR - Click Through Ratio:

Used primarily in affiliate programs and advertising, this is ratio between total impressions of a banner or link and number of times a site visitor actually clicks on (or executes), banner or link. For example, if a banner/link had 10,000 impressions in a month, but advertiser's banner/link was only actually clicked 2,000 times during that same period, CTR would be 20%.

CPC - Cost Per Click:

This represents amount of money (or other consideration), an advertiser would pay to site owner each time their banner or link was clicked by a site visitor.

CPI - Cost Per Impression:

This represents amount of money (or other consideration), an advertiser would pay to site owner each time their banner or link was viewed by a site visitor.

CPM - Cost Per Thousand:

This is amount an advertiser would pay a site owner for every thousand units. I'm using term UNITS to represent whatever site owner and advertiser agreed to base payments on - per click, per impression, per subscriber (in e-zine advertising), etc. For example, if you were being paid $.20 cents for each click through, and in a month your site generated 10,000 click throughs for a specific advertiser, you would be paid $2,000.

There are many more terms you should become familiar with, but these are most commonly used terms with regard to web site traffic, affiliate programs, and web site and/or e-zine advertising.

#3: Offer an area for Visitor Feedback & Interaction With You!

Just like Home Depot has customer comment cards, you should include an area for visitor feedback! The kind of information you can gather from your site visitors is vital to your success. They have looked over your site, looked over your products, read about your services, and now they can tell you what they think. They will be able to give you specific insight as to effectiveness of your web site, selection of your products, whether information you presented was enough, too much, etc. All of this and so much more can make or break your future business. Customize your comment area to ask about specific information. Specify a certain section to ask for comments about your web site set-up, or your customer service. Was it easy to find things, easy to read, confusing navigation, etc. With this simple addition to your web site, you will be able to IMPROVE YOUR SITES PROFITABILITY ALMOST IMMEDIATELY!

#4: Display Your Most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)!

An FAQ's page is very often used to offer instant assistance to those visitors who have specific questions. If you've been in business for a while, you will already know what majority of people ask about. Compile this information and let it be available to your visitors. These can be displayed on a separate page, or you can integrate them into an existing page with similar content. Displaying your FAQ's will save you BIG MONEY - by saving your valuable time! By not having to answer an email or phone call asking a common question, you have just saved 0.25 man-hours. Imagine how many of those hours could be saved every day, and how much money you DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY out for those hours. Best of all, your visitors will be experiencing superior, IMMEDIATE CUSTOMER SERVICE, while you are saving tones of time and loads of money!

Use these 4 essential elements in your web site and your online business will most certainly live to see another day. Remember that your exceptional customer service is what will set you apart from "other guys", and that can mean profit or plummet! Where will your site be tomorrow?