According to Atomica.com, "copy" is defined as "the words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement." (And "advertisement" is defined as "a notice or announcement designed to attract public patronage." It's selling something, in other words.)

But word "content," on other hand, is defined as "the subject matter of a written work, such as a book or magazine." And keep in mind that there's no mention of Internet, here.

Nevertheless, this is why I submit that, with its multitude of links and hypertexts, web transforms passive reader into an active, responsive participant. (Make that "response-able.")

A book or magazine is limited by its front and back covers. The web, however, is not. If your content does not strive at getting reader to do something, whether it's to buy, join, subscribe, call, email, fill out a form, download, click or whatever, then you need to seriously rethink your content and words you use.

Here's my explanation of difference between content and copy.

Content informs. Copy invites. Even if content invites readers to keep reading, it's still selling an idea. It's still calling for some kind of action. And it's still copy, in my opinion.

If your web page is only meant to inform people, like some kind of book, it's content. (And like closing of a book once it's read, only action left is to close browser window.) But if it contains links to other parts of your website, then it's copy. And you need to write your content with that mindset.

Ultimately, write your content by incorporating a direct response formula that compels and propels your readers to act. Don't leave them hanging. Take them by hand. In your content, integrate a call for some kind of action, in other words. Ask your reader to "buy now," "join today," "get this" or "download that ..."

... Or better yet, at least ask them to simply "click here."

Michel Fortin is a copywriter, author and consultant dedicated to turning businesses into powerful magnets. His specialty are long copy, email and web sales letters. Subscribe to his FREE monthly email newsletter by visiting http://SuccessDoctor.com/.

1. Do you know what segment of population would find your web content interesting? What economical, political and social background are they going to come from? What's going to be gender, and age range, and educational qualification?

2. Are you aware of their surfing habits, their Internet awareness level? Do you know what's frequency of their business transactions through Internet? Are they first time service buyers or seasoned buyers?

3. What's hardware/software your audience is expected to use while logging on to your site? What's their surfing speed and connection speed? Do they have to pay a lot while surfing? Many surfers don't surf with ease because they have to bear heavy telephone connection cost in order to use Net as in Europe and Asia.

It's not sometimes technically and logically feasible to accommodate all points mentioned above, but as one evolves as a webmaster, things can continuously be improved, according to feedback garnered from users, day by day, week by week, month by month.

After you've designed and planned out your web site, you can take following steps to get traffic of your preference:

1. Define your keywords properly for search engines. You don't have to incorporate entire thesaurus for your product. The more you narrow down, more target audience you'll get. Limit yourself to 6-7 keywords if you want to target a highly focussed group. You can also do keyword bidding at various pay search engines like RealNetworks and GoTo.

2. Formulate a concise and to-the-point description of your index page. Try to include words, in a manner that sentence makes sense, that might help search engines find your site.

3. In directories like yahoo!, always choose right heading to add your URL. Don't think that more general heading you choose, more visitors you attract. Remember it's not quantity that matters, it's quality. So go to lowest level before submitting your URL.

4. Try to include major searchable words in first paragraph of your web site content. Many search engines read first 250-300 words of a page to index it.

5. I've noticed search tools like Google use title of page to give it recognition. But recommendation by gurus of web development is that title should be name of your company. Still, since Google spiders all pages if your web site even if you submit just index page, you can play around with titles of other pages. Just make sure that from every page, there is a link to you main page, and link should be attractive enough.

6. A compelling signature that accompanies your e-mail messages many times generates useful visits. It should constitute of a two-line, pithy description of your business, and link to your URL.

7. Although this I wouldn't suggest to people who have to pay for online time according to usage hours, you can look for various message boards and bulletin boards to spread word around about your business. Don't outright start your media blitzkrieg though. Introduce yourself first, participate in various discussions and debates, and during on of interactions, you can tell about your business.

I hope these steps help you generate hits that in return generate business for you. For any sort of design consulting, you can write to me at mailto:amrit@bytesworth.com