Over the course of this series, we've looked at the steps you can take to put your business on the web - from registering a domain name, to finding a web host, to actually designing and uploading your pages... to getting listed in the search engines and accepting payments on your site.

If you think you're done, think again! A website is almost like a your child - you need to nurture it so it will grow... and as it does, you'll identify additional functions you'd like to add. Here are two that you should be thinking about right now - one of which can bring you the additional traffic you need to make more sales... and the other which will help you measure your success.

* INCREASE YOUR TRAFFIC THROUGH RECIPROCAL LINKING

When I launched the ParentPreneur Club website back in 1999, I frankly did not feel I had much to offer the work at home community. Yes, I had written what I thought were some pretty good articles and was working on building the ParentPreneur ezine - but the entire site consisted of about 10 pages (it now weighs in at over 300).

A vital directory of outside resources became a major feature of the site and I devoted much time to searching the web for other sites that would be of interest to my target audience of work at home parents. After adding each of these links to my directory, I would email the webmasters to let them know they had been added. Most sent me a very nice email in return, thanking me for adding them and letting me know that they had added my site to their directories.

Little did I know that I had stumbled upon a major website promotion strategy: Reciprocal Linking.

There are two reasons why your site needs a links directory:

1. It's a numbers game - Let's say your site has been added to the links directory of 100 other sites. Let's say that each of those 100 sites generates one hit a day to your site by a unique visitor. At the end of a month, you will have received 3,000 unique visitors just from those links. That's 3,000 people who will see your sales message.

2. Many of the search engines determine your rank by the company you keep. If you link to a number of sites that also link back to you, this helps your ranking in the engines. If you can get a major site to link to you, that boosts you even higher.

The act of finding compatible websites to link to, adding the links to your pages, and exchanging emails with those webmasters to request a reciprocal can be a time consuming exercise. You can maintain your links directory in a fraction of the time by implementing a links managing program.

Many of my webmaster friends swear by a program called Links 2.0, by a company called Gossamer Threads. This is a cool script which creates a Yahoo-style directory on your website. It's shareware, which means you can download it directly from them to test it out - but if yours is a commercial site, it will cost you $150 for a license:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/links/index.htm

We found a less expensive script (just $45) which is advertised to perform the same function:

http://www.info-pack.com/alink/

My personal favorite (and what I use at the ParentPreneur Club site) is a third-party solution called LinksManager. This is hosted on another site - so I didn't have to deal with the hassle of a complex CGI install. Plus, setting up my links pages was unbelievably quick - and EASY. It imported the links I had already accumulated -- in just minutes -- and automatically checks to see which of these links are reciprocated. I can choose whether or not to display the links to sites that do not reciprocate. (For example, I think having links to the Small Business Administration is useful to my site visitors - I do not expect the SBA to link back to me.)

The service allows site visitors to add their link to your pages and automatically emails them with a message reminding them that they need to add your link to their sites. The new links are not live until you have had a chance to review them - you retain total control over your links pages.

I cannot begin to tell you how much time this service has saved me - signing up for it was one of the best webmaster moves I ever made. Check it out here:

http://linksmanager.com/cgi-bin/welcome.cgi?parent

* HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?

Your site is up, it's listed in the engines and you are starting to gain some sales. But how many people are visiting your site each day?

Your web host keeps a log of hits to your website, but reading and analyzing that is not an easy task for a novice. Your host may also have a facility that will give you a quick and dirty look at how many pages are being accessed and how many visitors you're getting per day.

But it may not give you all the information you need. That's where third party services come in. You can find out:

* How many pages on your site were viewed and which ones were viewed the most

* How many different visitors viewed pages at your site and where they came from

* How many visitors are coming in from search engines, which ones they came from and the keywords they used to find you

* How many people come to your site more than once a day

* The most popular order of pages visited on your site

* Which operating system your visitors use and the browsers are being used to view your site

These are just a few of the kinds of stats and reports you can view, all of which can help you to fine-tune your site and your sales message.

You can sign up for a third party system that is free to use (in exchange for a visible button with an ad) or for a fee. Here are some popular ones:

Sitemeter: http://www.sitemeter.com/
WebTrendsLive: http://www.webtrendslive.com/
WebSite Traffic Report: http://www.websitetrafficreport.com/
Hitbox: http://www.hitbox.com/
The Counter: http://www.thecounter.com/

For more information, read download these free eBooks from our ParentPreneur Library:

Power Promote - Tips Every Webmaster Should Know Seven Secrets for Getting Unlimited Traffic Tips for Your Web Success

http://parentpreneurclub.com/cgi-bin/ez/pl.cgi?me