You see a single hit is invaluable. It may have come from first visit to your site by one who will return to buy repeatedly. One who shares your name with others who do same.

The catch is you can't say which hit matters. Thus you need to assume every single one is crucial. Else you can strike out on ones that matter most.

So What Is A Hit, Really?

A hit is generated when someone visits your site. You don't really want off-target hits. If you get mention in a prominent newspaper, you might draw 10,000 visitors simply because of a delightful comment you made about cats. But where's gain, if you're selling water skis?

Maybe 1 in that 10,000 might coincidentally have an interest in water skis. The others are not potential customers. They only waste your bandwidth and often even your time with off-topic questions. And what happens if each is determined to share their favorite cat story?

You want only targeted hits. And you want these visitors to arrive with their interest front and center. This is why search engines listings, ads, and such, matter so. You want to draw only visitors interested in what you offer. A misleading ad is a waste of money, for hits generated are off-target.

CR: Conversion Ratio

CR is tossed about casually with a knowing nod of head. But many who use term don't really know what it means. It means different things to different sites, and in differing situations.

Confusion, deception, hype and downright dishonesty abound on world wide web (www). I should know. Like tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people before me - I've been caught. And it is highly probable that so many more will continue to be caught in future unless something is done to stop it.

The www is new frontier for those who seek to make money from inexperienced people. It's quick, it's easy and it is so impersonal. Specifically, I am talking about selling of high priced junk information (often referred to as "reports") to unsuspecting customers. It's almost perfect robbery.

Newbie website owners beware! There are hundreds of con-artists and specious operators lurking out there in cyber space. They are just waiting to pull you into their clutches.

How do they do it?

OK. What is one thing that every new website owner has to have? Answer - traffic. Pure and simple. If you don't have traffic, you might as well not even have a website - unless, of course, you just enjoy looking at it yourself.

Your quest for traffic demands that you seek knowledge from those who profess to have it. And that is root of problem. It seems that every second website seems to be selling information on how to improve your website. With so many experts, who do you trust?

Oh you can read sales "blurb" (yeah, I know, my site has "blurb" too. All websites use it) and be wooed by all so-called "facts" but who is offering information and does it really work? How do you separate credible information from useless junk? There certainly is plenty of junk out there.

There appears to be an increasing number of self-styled gurus professing to know exactly how to drive that precious traffic right through your site. In fact, if you believe everything they promise, you will need to install a set of traffic lights on your site just to control massive flow. (Or so they would have you believe!)

Your quest for knowledge can very quickly send your credit card into debt hyper-drive, or, I should say, hyper-dive! Just enter your details and zap - here it comes. It's answer to all your www dreams. (You wish!)

Let's examine some of things you need to be vigilant about:

The information you pay for might be:

1. - widely known among experienced net users - but not by you. If you want to pay for this information it might just be worth it to "fast-track" your education. In other words, you will be paying for fairly basic information but you will learn something from it. In that respect, information can be good because you can learn from experience of others. Many "special reports" and "secrets revealed" fall into this category. However, some clearly do not. (PS: What type of credit card do you have?)

2. - available FREE all over www. All you have to do is look. "Seek and ye shall find". If you are lazy and you need to be spoon fed then there are any number of hunters out there who will line you up in their sights. The information is probably current and will work but why pay for it when it is so abundantly available at zero cost? (PS: What is your credit card number?)

3. - "old hat" information. The internet moves at such speed that what worked several years ago or even several months ago now doesn't work at all. This type of information is totally useless and should be avoided. Often this ancient information will even contain broken hyperlinks. Now that's a real turn off. It says so much about quality of information being provided. In reality, this type of information is just a collection of worthless old junk, like a shoe with a hole in its sole. (PS: When does your credit card expire?)

4. - a precursor to spending even more money. This little technique will whet your appetite just enough to entice you to spend lots more money. Some "wealth creation" seminar presenters use this technique. It's just bait for "real" information which, of course, is far more expensive. "Caveat emptor" - let buyer beware! (PS: What are three ID numbers on back of that credit card of yours?)

5. - Steering you to other sites offering "fixits." This is something like point 4 above, except information provider suggests you go to a third party (a "friend" - more on this in Part 2) to purchase more programs or more specific information. Often these recommended sites can offer expensive or time consuming programs. (PS: Now, just press submit.)

6. - credible and/or valuable. This is information of best kind. Usually it will contain "cutting edge" ideas that are currently working on www. However, your ability to source this information from many traps above will range from difficult to almost impossible.