With millions of web sites on the internet (and every one of them competing for the almighty visitor), we are literally being pulled in 50 thousand different directions by web masters all wanting us to visit their web site with hopes that once there, we'll buy what ever it is they're selling.

However, what does one do when you receive all this traffic and no one buys? If only we knew what all those visitors really wanted. It seems to me that many of us webmasters and web business owners are at a loss as to understanding some of the finer details when it comes to marketing online. Before I go on, let me say this. We who do business on the internet are, in some ways, at a real advantage to those who are only focusing on the brick and mortar model.

What Do Your Visitors Want.

You see, when someone leaves a retail outlet there's really no way of knowing what that potential customer really wanted, unless you ask them of course, but for us web business owners we can know. How? you ask. Well, there's hidden secrets right under our noses and many of us don't even know it. I want to share a true story with you about a successful web site owner who knew enough where to find these hidden secrets and turned his business into one of the most popular sites on the web.

Marc's First Clue.

About four years ago, Marc McDonald had a hobby where he ran an awards site. After a while he started listing everything by category. Shortly after that, he discovered that his freebie page was receiving more traffic than all his other pages put together. Now, what happened next was a crucial point in Marc's progress and literally changed his life.

One Change Resulted in 1.5 Million Visitors.

Realizing that his freebies page was the most popular to those visiting his site, he wisely changed his focus from an awards site to a freebie site. The results were astounding. Today Marc's web site receives over 1.5 million visitors a month and has a subscriber base of over 132,000 for his freebie newsletter. How many of us would like these kind of statistics to brag about. Marc has now quit his job and works full time on the web doing what he loves.

Marc's Discovery.

Did Marc just luck out ? NO, he discovered hidden secrets that are available to all of us. What were these secrets and where did he find them?, in his log files. That's right, hidden away in his log files were secrets that told him exactly what his visitors wanted. Sure they were interested in sites that were worthy of an award, but they were more interested in all the freebies that the web offered.

Give Your Visitors What They Want.

Now this is just one example of how to use little known secrets to expand or perhaps even, change your focus to your online business. If you discover that you have pages on your site that get more traffic than others, why not give your visitors more of what they want. Expand on those pages, maybe even let people opt-in to your list so they can be kept up to date with the most current changes or offerings. What pages on your site are the most popular ?, hey, your visitors might be trying to tell you something.

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Phil Clelland is webmaster and publisher of
NETzine, Internet Success Stories.
You can read Marc's full "Success Story" by
subscribing to NETzine at
http://www.netzinesuccess.com
"Where Netrepreneurs Tell Their Story"