If you have ever had, or actually operate an online business you will know the need for traffic, traffic, traffic. Every where you look, everyone you talk to, they will all tell you to get as much traffic as possible to your site, by whatever means, in order to be successful. But does it always work?

If you are running an online business which is actually selling something or a service, then what you really need is focused traffic. Unless the traffic visiting your site is from the correct market then there is little chance of you increasing your income. There is a need for focused traffic in these situations, readers whom you know have an interest in your products, your services and your site. In the situation it is probably better to have less numbers, but more focused traffic.

However, if you site is for information only and you use the likes of Adsense for your income, then you can benefit in two ways from as much traffic as possible. If some of the people visiting your site end up not having an interest in what you have to offer, then there is a still a chance that they might click on one of your adverts – bringing income into your site.

On the other side of the coin, if they are interested in your site then assuming that your Adsense (or other online adverts) are focused onto your subject matter, there is also every chance that they will bring in advertising revenue.

Ideally you want traffic which is focused upon the subject of your site, but if you are buying a website based on traffic figures you should be aware that these can be doctored.

It is easy to pay a few dollars to one of these traffic sites, and receive thousands of visitors who will have no interest in your subject, or clicking on any of your adverts. This is often used by those looking to sell websites based on traffic. In this instance you should also base your decision to make an offer on the income which the site brings in – something which can often bear no relation to the traffic, and should ring alarms bells with you.

While each years seems to bring out a new trend in the online advertising market, from embedded text links to adverts which grow before your very eyes when you hover over them, is the old banner style now dead in the water?

If recent research is anything to go by, it seems that banner adverts have lost their appeal, with click through rates as low as 05.% being recorded on some websites. But surely it will be different for each website, for each sector and different times of the year?

The truth us that while banner adverts may not be as popular as they once were, they do have a part to play in the online advertising industry. Would you be more likely to click on a Adsense advert than a Banner? Surely it would matter what the subject was? Would you really care if it was an Adsense advert or a banner as long as you got what you wanted?

Ultimately every webmaster would like to bring in as much money as possible, and while there is some mileage in actually embracing the latest trends, the advert placement, subject matter and the quality of your site all have a part to play, as does the quality of your cheap web hosting. Just because you change your banner adverts to Adsense does not mean you will be raking in the money, you need traffic, you need it everyday, and you need to be promoting yourself wherever you can.

Once you have decent traffic you can then try different placement methods, different advertising mediums and chop and change as much as you want. Do not get too tied up in the fine detail before you have traffic, because ultimately that is what will dictate your future income, and remember, what works for one site may not always work for another!

This is a very simple trap which many thousands of would be online business people have fallen into, which came first, the customer or customer services? While the majority of people may say the customer, you really need to do your homework and have all of your systems in place before going “live”.

While obviously you need customers to stand any chance of making money, but making money and being successful are often two different things. To be successful you need to ensure that your customers visit you over and over again, thus increasing your income and reducing the cost of your advertising revenue compared to your income.

Imagine the scenario, your site is ready to go, you are chomping at the bit, everything is ready, then bang! You are live. You sell your first product, money in the bank, great, but then the customer comes back and asks for some help or advice, what do you do? Who can help? Is there a system in place?

Unless you are able to offer after sales care then there is every chance that customer will not return to your site, and they may pass on their concerns to others. That means that each new customer you bring, is potentially only going to buy from you once, before moving on - what a waste!

In order to be successful you need to ensure that all of your systems and procedures are in place before you go live. While you will need to adjust some elements as you go along, you need to be ready with the answers which your customers will ask, you need to be ready with some good old fashioned advice, something which will ensure that come back to you time and time again.

A non-repeat customer is a wasted customer, and very expensive to replace!

While the need to create a continuous stream of income is paramount if you want to be successful in the online industry, there will come a point when some of your indirect or direct competitors may look to advertise on your website. But would you take them on? Would you dare open up your readers to the competition?

In a normal world you would not even consider taking an advert from a competitor, but the internet is different. You may be able to use a competitors interest to strike some kind of bargain, whether it be cross marketing, a joint venture or some kind of network to ensure that customers to both sites get what they are looking for. You would be surprised how many takeovers and mergers have been agreed as a result of a very innocuous initial contact.

The problem with the internet is that size is everything, if you are not well know your site will curl up and die, although if you are well know you are there for your competitors to shoot at. A joint venture, merger or partnership with a major competitor may be just the ticket to secure the future for both of you. Critical mass means more advertising, more income and hopefully a larger brand name, which should in turn allow you to bring in more business.

One of the main elements to success online is the skill at taking all opportunities when thy come your way. There is no point in sitting back and waiting for things to happen, it is up to you to get out there, ask questions and MAKE things happen for your business. It is not easy, but there are few successful businesses which have not had set backs and problems along the way. It is all a learning curve!

While the majority of regular online surfers will probably have heard of Web 2.0, you may just have dismissed it as some tech talk and moved on. However, there is ever chance that you have already come across a Web 2.0 application as they are growing in numbers on the internet. What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is the new form of online advertising which is interactive with the user, without them actually knowing it! It is a very complicated system which basically tracks your movements on the internet, which sites you visit at which times of the day and what you look for. It is being used by the main search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! in order to get the best return out of their customers. So how does it interact with the user?

After building up sufficient information about your surfing habits, Web 2.0 can then control to the smallest detail the style, type and number of online adverts which you will see on relevant sites. By changing the colour of the ads at a certain time, or realising that a certain style has passed its sell by day, the system will move to the next most successful and formulate a new plan of “attack”. The systems have become so thorough and precise that they may actually know where you are going online before your do!

So what are the benefits of Web 2.0 adverts?

By calculating where you will be at a certain time, the application can deliver an advert which is about a subject which will interest you, and in a style which has shown to be popular to a certain social class or country. By making the adverts as easy on the eye as possible, it has been shown that resulting advert income can be increased dramatically.

We are not talking about just a few percentage points, we are talking about a whole new level of income! Web 2.0 is here and it is here to stay, although it will attract some controversy due to the “tracking” nature of the process.

While the internet offers the chance to create and run a variety of different types of business, due to the massive traffic on the internet, many people choose to offer free services and use online adverts for their income streams (with Google Adsense by far and away the most popular). The problem is when do you add the adverts and where about do you place them? These are questions which could really make or break your income projections!

The first dilemma is when to place your adverts on the site, although we have a few simple guidelines for you :-

Do not place adverts on your site until you have sufficient traffic to make it worthwhile.

Only place Adsense adverts when your site is optimised and the adverts automatically pick up on your content. There is no use showing adverts which are not relevant to your site and subject matter.

The next big question you will face is where to place any adverts, and again we have a few guidelines for you :-

Do not over kill your site with adverts, as this will mask the overall reason for your site and potentially scare off your readers.

Never try and dupe your readers by placing ads under false pretences. Always be up front with your readers, and ensure they know they are clicking on an advert. Apart from the fact it is against Adsense rules, it is also against the spirit of online business.

These are just a few of the simple clues as to when and where to place Adsense (and other advertising services) on your website. Each website will be different, with a different crowd, different feel and different subject matter. Do what is best for you , but stay within the guidelines otherwise your life online will be short and sweet.