First, every website should allow customers to supply you with their e-mail address. You do this by offering them something for free, be it a sample chapter, newsletter, ebook, or article. Give them something that's hard to resist, and have a form on your site that prompts them to sign up and have information e-mailed to them.

Once you have their e-mail address, you have opportunity to give them your offer time and time again. Maybe first time they saw your offer, they weren't in a buying mood. By repeatedly sending them your proposition, you can hopefully catch them in a buying mood and make sale.

Use an autoresponder for this. Set it up so that a potential customer will receive an e-mail message from you every week for next few months. Just make sure to always give them opportunity to unsubscribe.

Step two of creating a profit powerhouse is to offer multiple products.

I get several email messages a day - and occasional phone call - about questions and problems from visitors to my website. Those people are more valuable visitors and potential customers because they care enough to ask their question rather than simply taking their business elsewhere. Are you losing them to your competitors?

Contact information is more important when your visitors can't see you in person, such as on your website. A real address, phone number and email address establishes credibility and reassures people that there is a real person behind website that can help them if they have difficulties using website or products they purchase.

If they can't contact you, many people just won't do business with you. Yahoo! has recognized this and now refuses to list business websites without contact information, including a physical address.

You must include your physical address (preferably NOT a PO Box) and an email address. I recommend you also include your phone number and a fax number, if you have one. To look truly professional, and encourage more people to call, your phone number should be a toll-free number.