Whether you run a business offline are online, if no one visits your shop you will not sell anything. If you know how to drive traffic to your web site then you will succeed. Here are 7 tips to get you started.

Make sure you are using the right keywords to get potential customers to your website. Do some researches on sites like overture.com. Type in the keyword(s) and keyword phrases you think are going to work on your site, and see if these are actually the ones that most customers use. Include commonly misspelled words in your keyword list so you don't lose a customer just because they don't know how to spell.

Have a page on your website where you can provide links to articles or information about products and services, the industry you are in or a topic related to something your customers want to buy or learn about. You can also provide a hot link within your content to take your customers to another place on your website where they can find out more about the work or topic you are talking about in the content.

Offer additional value on your website for affiliates and partners. You can place links to their sites and products, for example, and ask them to do the same for you. In addition, you can advertise affiliate or partner books or videos if these products relate to your industry, and are not in competition with your own product or service line.

There are thousands of search engines and directory companies. If you are adventurous and diligent, you may want to submit your website(s) to as many companies as possible.

Write articles for your website, for newspapers and for topic-related article banks. You can do a Google search to find the URLs of these banks. Publishing articles with your name and a link to your website is a great way to get credibility in your industry and with your customers. It will also bring new customers to your site.

Do you know who is buying your products? If not, you can check credit card records, or ask your customers to complete a simple contact form with name, address, age, gender, etc., when they purchase a product. This data will help you build a demographic profile of your customers, identify gaps and opportunities, etc. You can do research into their purchasing power and habits. See what media they rely on. The possibilities are exciting!

It is important to understand your customers, and one way is to collect demographic information about them while they are shopping on your website. If you go this route, be sure that it is optional for your customers to complete this information, and not mandatory for them to complete the order. Do not collect more personal information than you need to process the order. You must also provide Secure Socket Layering (SSL) on your payment page so that your customer's private data is encrypted and cannot be stolen by a hacker.