Online marketing reality

Here are three things to consider:

1. Remember that high traffic isn't the goal. Most of the surfers who link to your site via hyped-up, traffic-generating ploys are probably not your ideal prospects. You need people who are interested in what you sell.

2. Don't pour all your energy into search engine ranking. This can be time-consuming and expensive. You want valuable traffic, not just voluminous traffic.

3. Get the word out offline, too. Make sure that everywhere people see anything about your business or brands they see your web address, including business cards, signage, printed material, etc.