In the late 90s, web publishers were riding high with banner ads. Payouts were great, and many web owners actually saw their dream of sitting on a beach sipping tequila nearly realized.
The dot-com shakeup has made us realize that selling on the Internet is not as easy as it was portrayed to be. In fact, making money online maybe harder than earning from business offline.
Most of the small and home-based entrepreneurs we've interviewed attributed their online success to one thing: the quality of their customer service. They do not have deep pockets to advertise in national TV, or the resources to create a massive publicity campaign. Some don't even advertise at all. Yet their online businesses have been successful, and it is due to one major factor: satisfied repeat customers.
Many home-based online entrepreneurs keep their eyes on the ball, but fail to stop to check the score. In the rush to be online, these entrepreneurs focus too much on where they are going - e.g. increasing their traffic and sales, marketing their sites, improving their content, attracting a community of loyal visitors, and other goals. While important for the success of an online business, they often overlook checking where their businesses are. Many Web publishers fail to understand how users come to the site and what those users do once they get there. Not knowing where exactly a business stands is risky, particularly on the Internet where things change so rapidly.
Search engines have become a critical source of traffic for many Web sites. In fact, search engines can account for as much as 80 percent of their traffic.
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