Take Advantage of Website Analytics Tools
You can use free web analytics tools such as Google Analytics to find out how many visitors you have, how much time they spend on each of your web pages, from where they are visiting, and what sites led them to yours. Are customers leaving your site quickly? Are you getting a lot of “abandoned” shopping carts? Analytics tools can help you determine why.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Make Sure Your Customers Can Find You
Many of your customers type keywords into search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, or MSN to find products and services. Optimizing your website for search engines—making sure your site is populated with these keywords—can improve your ranking and can drive more traffic to your website. You can then take advantage of this traffic to convert regular visitors to potential repeating customers.
Marketing Online: Promoting Your Site
In order to generate online sales and traffic, you need to actively market and advertise your products and services, both online and through traditional media (print advertising, brochures, signage, etc.).
Research your market before introducing new products, services, or expanding to a new geographical region. Take advantage of online social media tools such asTwitter, Facebook, Yahoo Upcoming, and YouTube to market and raise your customers' awareness about your products and services.
You can also advertise online on different search engines. For example, Google AdWords lets you target ads to different geographical markets based on different keywords.