"If you don't know where you are going, then it doesn't matter
which road you take, does it?"

-- Cheshire Cat in Alice in the Wonderland.
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A few days back a client was sitting with me when I connected to
the Internet and launched my browser. He was precariously
surprised to see that the default page of the browser was not my
web site, but a general purpose portal.

When I asked him why I should have my own web site as my default
page, he said, "In this way, at least you'll be generating hits
for your site if nobody else does so."

And then, after a philosophical cogitation, he raised an ominous
doubt rapt with alarm, "If you are not making an effort to
generate hits for your own site, how will you do it for mine?"

Luckily I was able to explain to him that a tsunami of hits on
the web site does not in anyway bespeaks of a flourishing online
business. Me visiting my own site 6-7 times a day does not make
sense because I'm not doing business with myself. What matters
is, those people should visit my web site who can make use of my
services - people who can be my prospective clients, and
subsequently, clients.

Generating hits is one of the major concerns of the newbie web
site owners. They want to see the numbers increasing
exponentially - 200 hits per day, 500 hits per day, ... 10,00,000
hits per day. And then they get depression attacks when these
hits do not generate a single sale.

Thousands of random hits, or in a refined manner, visits, are
important for those web sites who want to earn advertisement
revenue. Ok, even for those, just hits don't work out. They have
to be "Targeted Hits". Accidental arrivals have zero value, or if
you are very optimistic, a little more than zero value.

50 targeted hits are more precious than 5,000 untargeted hits,
because there is greater probability of them turning into
business. Targeted visitors visit your site because they are
actually looking for a site like yours, and once they are on your
site, it's up to the presentation of your site whether they do
business with you or not. Even if the targeted visitor doesn't do
business on the first visit, there is a big chance that she/he
would bookmark your page, and subscribe to your product
information publication or newsletter.

Untargeted visitors, on the other hand, needlessly consume the
precious bandwidth. They stumble upon your site through some
ill-conceived banner or wrongly defined keyword, or due to their
own state of confusion. They are not looking for your sort of
service or product. They are just giving you false notions and
hope by swelling up your counter.

The primordial step towards attracting a target audience is,
defining the goal of your web site. Is the web site a general
information source for your existing
clients/customers/employees/suppliers/relatives/friends/enemies..
. , or you plan to attract new people?. Once this is realized,
put yourself in the place of your prospective user. How would you
find your sort of service on the Net? How would you like to use a
web site similar to yours? Talk to your friends, accumulate and
analyze their feedback. Let your existing clients use a prototype
of your web site, and encourage them to give some constructive
feedback, in lieu of some incentive if necessary.

To make sure that you attract only those visitors who would like
to carry out transactions with you, you have to take into
consideration the following points prior to the design and
construction of your web site:

1. Do you know what segment of the population would find your
web content interesting? What economical, political and social
background are they going to come from? What's going to be the
gender, and the age range, and t