One of most popular questions asked in online business forums or even by my customers and subscribers is this :

"How hell can I increase my sales?" or

"I've got tons of visitors but nobody seems to be buying anything? What gives?"

FISHNETS WITH HOLES? ANYONE? Getting traffic is not be all and end all of a successful online business. It requires skills, specific online marketing strategies designed for your site and a robust customer service strategy.

So what if you have thousands of visitors per day! That does'nt amount to success, unless you close at least 5 to 10% of those visitors.

You see, when you get a lot of traffic from your advertising and marketing activities and nobody there to guide them, is like hauling a big fishing net in water with a major flaw.....it has a sizeable hole in middle. So you can say goodbye to eating fish...for now, at least.

Would you go and pick up items on display from a store that does not offer least bit assurance of somebody manning it? Sure! Sure, we're on work smart, work less attitude but hey, humans prefer humans, and they most certainly will buy from somebody they've talked to before. You see, they need to feel some warmth and yes, especially on internet where items are passed on in "cold" or "digital" means.

DOING THE BOTTOMLINE It's good that you have some or a lot of visitors to your website, but bottomline is that you should have best customer service and a lot of options for them to contact you, soonest. The more better!

Look around you. Take a look at most popular sites on net or even your favorite newsletter, they all have one common factor, customer service availability.

The most common or popular customer service strategy is through a form-to-mail which prohibits anybody from spamming your email account rather than having them email you directly, well unless you have a very good email filter software.

But you can offer them additional ways to contact you such as these options below.

PROVIDE MANY OPTIONS FOR CONTACT Online business is a contact sport. You want to close more sales? Then increase your customer service availability and options.

Providing them with a lot of options would mean that you are always ready to receive their inquiries, or issues with a welcoming smile. It would make you more credible. It would create a halo of success to your already plumed hat.

Let us take a look at some of free ways for you to interact with your website visitors:

CHAT SERVICES Mostly, website owners would be one manning these free chat services and if you'd like to be assumed as a pro-entrepreneur you can always advance anytime to a helpdesk solution or upgrade from your free account.

Bravenet.com - Free Webmaster Resources. Cut and paste services you can use for your site for free. They use LivePerson for their customer help service. (FREE AND PRO) http://www.Bravenet.com

Chat-Forum.com - They offer free Java Chat Rooms & Advanced Custom Internet Chat Solutions (FREE AND PRO) http://chat-forum.com/

Parachat.com - They're solutios enable real-time communication on their own web site for a host of applications, including corporate interaction, moderated events, distance education, visitor retention, customer service, dating and romance, entertainment, and family fun. (FREE AND PRO) http://www.parachat.com

Boldchat.com - Boldchat is a FREE live chat service for web sites to do live help and live support chats with visitors. They don't have ads and their free account is for unlimited personal use. (FREE AND PRO) http://www.boldchat.com

By Steven Presar

You know that a regularly scheduled simple maintenance may help keep your computer in shape. There are plenty of third-party programs to help you keep your computer in peak form.

However, Microsoft Windows provides you with a solid toolbox of built-in programs to help you keep your computer in shape. Check out Windows START menu, through PROGRAMS area, then ACCESSORIES, will reveal a group of computer hard-drive helpers called SYSTEM TOOLS.

Backing Your Computer Files

One of System Tools is Backup program. Backup may not be part of your default Windows installations. If is not installed on your computer system, it may be found and installed from your Windows system CD-ROM.

Although it will not recover personal files like email or spreadsheets, Microsoft Windows SYSTEM RESTORE tool may restore files for individuals who have accidentally delete vital system files or tinker so much that their computers fail to operate properly. Windows Restore creates a series of backup points at regular intervals that user can roll back to in an emergency.

Backing up your computer's data on a regular bases, including bookmarks, e-mail folders and personal documents, is an important task if you want peace of mind about your computer system.

Once you start Backup program, click on files you want to copy -- or pick one of other options Windows offers, including backing up all of your files -- and then choose where you want to save files. If you lose a file, you can also restore it from Backup program.

Your computer system can be backed up by a variety of other devices: this may be an external tape, CDs, anther hard drive or removable-cartridge drives like Iomega Peerless. Regardless of what method you use, making a backup of your files that matter most can save you aggravation or despair in event that something happens to your computer.

Cleaning Your Computer Hard Drive

Once you have backed up your important system files, you should delete files that you no longer use.

Windows users can remove old unused software with Add/Remove Programs function (from START menu, then SETTINGS, then CONTROL PANEL). Or you may use commercial software to safely remove old software.

Commercial utility software will not only uninstall old programs but can also clean up unintentional clutter around your hard drive. Temporary files, bits of previously viewed Web pages, disconnected shortcuts, browser-history files and other digital detritus hog space that you can safely reclaim.

The Windows DISK CLEANUP tool in System Tools menu does a good job deleting unneeded files, but commercial utility software like LIUtilities’ WinBackup, Norton CleanSweep or McAfee QuickClean may do a more thorough job.

Checking Your Computer System

If you have ever suffered a crash while working in Windows, you are probably acquainted with ScanDisk. The ScanDisk utility is run after an “unscheduled” computer system interruption. It checks hard drive for file system errors, cross-linked files and other problems. ScanDisk can do a lot more to your hard drive. It can seek out and find bad spots on drive where data cannot safely be stored, and then prevent Windows from using damaged space and possibly losing data.