Many emails I recieve start with "I paid for 10,000 visitors and I didn't make ONE sale. You'd think I'd make at least one sale"

Many instant "traffic building systems" DON'T work. Why?

You've seen popup windows. Many times these traffic building systems automatically pop open a browser window showing your website. That counts as a visit. Yes, a person who wasn't looking for what you sell and was in middle of doing something else. So of course they close annoying window.

Bottomline: You have other options to build traffic. The goal is to get a return on your marketing dollars. You want throngs coming to your website to BUY.

Bad Idea # 3 - Where can we buy some banner ads?

Here's skinny: Targeted banner ads are placed on sites that have visitors who may want what you offer. Even these banners typically get .3 of 1 percent clickthrough. That's 3 clicks per thousand views!

Bottomline: If you absolutely want to do banners, only do them if they are free. By free, I don't mean banner exchanges where you pay by putting banners on your site. By free I mean free as part of your own affiliate program for example. There are better tactics to spend your time and money on.

There you have it. Three common website marketing mistakes you can avoid. This frees up your time and money for things that DO work.

A friend of mine wrote an ebook for men who want to be more successful in attracting women (see www.dreamwoman.net). He drew on his extensive experience and knowledge and produced a great book. At first glance, you might think that this is a mass market product - surely most men will want a book like that? But look more carefully and you will see that this is, in fact, a product for a niche market. It could appeal to men of all ages, but my guess is that most of interest is likely to come from men between ages of 20 and 40, they will mostly be unmarried and un-partnered, they will be 'straight' not 'gay', they can read English and are motivated to find a female partner (or several).

So before you launch your next web marketing project, spend some time thinking about which niche market you want to appeal to - and then do some research. Draw a mental picture of your target customer and look at your site from their point of view.

Ask yourself - what problem does my product solve for them? In case of my friend's book, problem may be lack of self-confidence. In case of Stop Snoring Spray, it may be sleepless nights. If you can define problem and offer a readily-available and affordable solution, you have found yourself a nice niche market!

((((((((((c)P J Chandler))))))))))))))

P J Chandler writes about online marketing and other topics. His web site, with excellent web site promotion, submission and marketing resources is at http://www.domainomania.com

((((((((((c)P J Chandler))))))))))))))