There are 3 basic ways online shoppers will find your web site:

1. Word of mouth
2. Links to your web site
3. Search engines

Word of mouth means someone passed it on through an email or told a friend during a conversation. Either way this is a great way of getting targeted shoppers to you web site.

Links from other web sites pointing to your web site can also help potential customers to discover your web site. Exchanging web site links with other web sites that are somewhat relevant to your business can be a great way of driving targeted traffic to your web site at no cost. Personal blogs from previous customers who have linked to your web site can be both a good testimonial for your business and help drive new customers to your web site. In addition, most manufacturers have store locators on their web sites with information and links to resellers' web sites. This too can help new potential customers find your store's web site.

Search engines are the most common way online shoppers will find your web site, such as: Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL. Most people today with high speed Internet connections are using the Internet as their Yellow Pages. This is why it is becoming so important for businesses to add search engine marketing to their overall marketing strategies. More on search engine marketing in future posts.

If you plan to use search engines as one of the main means of driving web site traffic you need to understand the following:

It is estimated that 80% of all click-throughs happen on the first page of the search results.

What this means is: if you're web site does not appear on the first page of the search engine results for any keyword search phrase relevant to your web site you are not in the game! Whatever keyword phrases your targeted audience will use when searching for your products and/or services you need to be listed on the first page of the search results in order to have any chance of getting those targeted customers to your web site.

In terms of attracting local buyers that are using the search engines as their Yellow Pages your site needs to be listed on the first page of any geographical search term that includes your products and/or services. As examples: "Milwaukee carpet store", "flooring Los Angeles", or "Chicago auto dealers". I will explore this concept further in future posts.