January 12, 2012 at 8:40 AM

Building awareness of your Internet presence and providing incentives for customers to visit, leads to increased traffic and ultimately online success.

The first and most basic way to build traffic is to mention your website in all marketing efforts, from radio spots and banner ads to brochures and business cards. Print ads should refer customers to your site for more information just as your online content promotes your brick-and-mortar presence.

Businesses looking to reach customers across the country — or around the world — should register with the leading search engines.  

Your home page must contain HTML text pertaining to your business — as opposed to solely graphical elements — in order for most search engines to recognise and rank your site.

If your business is primarily local, advertise on local portals. Conduct Web searches to find the popular local sites that people frequent for information such as movie times and job listings. Online ad rates are highly negotiable.