I find that the cry for more traffic is deafening, but what people fail to realize is that the core of every business is marketing. Traffic isn't what drives your business - nor is it the determining factor in your business success. In fact, it is really easy to develop traffic - but targeting the right traffic - that's marketing.

So what is the true difference? Traffic is actual "visitors" to your virtual or brick and mortar store. They walk in and hopefully, purchase what you have to offer. But of the walk-in traffic - what percent actually buy? And what is their reluctance to buy? That's where marketing comes in.

If you sell auto parts, and a woman walks in looking for dresses - you won't sell her anything will you? BUT, you got traffic to your store, just like you wanted, right? No, not really, What you should be asking is that you want to market your site so that you gain more customers.

Marketing determines your target audience - the customers who are actually looking for your services and products. So what does this entail? You need to delve into the mindset of your desired audience. What are their likes, dislikes, age, gender, geographic location? Another overlooked point is what form of medium do they utilize to gather information? Is it radio, TV, Internet, newspaper? How and when do they gather this information? Live? Pre-recorded? RSS? Newsletter?

In other words, targeting an audience has so many more variables than a few decades before. It is, in essence, a challenge like none other.

Take for instance the 51.5 Million Americans age 50+. Only very recently has the target been toward these aging Americans. The Baby Boomers of today are not like the retirees of the past. They are more active, are retiring earlier and they are spending money much along the same lines as the average adult. Yet, this market remains, for the most part, ignored.

In a recent trip, I found myself utilizing the Internet to gain information about travel and hotels to Oregon . Not only was this fantastic, but I also found that many sites failed to rpvode information that was easily found, or lacked the information all together.

It seems that the cry for traffic has gotten lost in the need for marketing. Providing service is a valuable commodity and not only establishes you as a leader in your field, but more importantly, by providing information your customers want, even at the expense of sending them to a competitor, develops integrity honesty and instills loyalty. Thus setting your business as a company that cares more for the customer than the almightily dollar.

Today, everyone can have an online business. Unfortunately only a few establish themselves as "experts". If you build it, they will come but will they purchase and come back again?