if you are VC (Venture Capital) funded and have millions to spend on advertising to get your site recognised, this article is probably not for you, but you might still find it useful.

There are three ways for a visitor to get to your site :-

1. They type the address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of your site in their browser directly. The most obvious way for people to know your URL is for you to add it to every letter, document, invoice and business card you create, the same way you would with your address and telephone number.

2. They follow a link from either another site or an e-mail. Most web masters will be happy to swap links with you if you ask them or you can add your site to a directory service like Google, Dmoz or Yahoo. It is quite normal for these sites to get millions of visitors per day, if you want a piece of their action, get your site listed. Software like 'Outlook Express' or Demon's 'Turnpike' will allow you to create a signature file that gets automatically appended to any e-mail you send out. Normally this just contains your name, but there is no reason why you could not include you site's URL as well. Unlike printed URLs, the recipients should be able to click on the URL at the bottom of your e-mail and go straight to your site.

3. They type one or more words into a search engine and your site is one of many that gets listed in the results - assuming you submitted your site to that search engine. The real secret here is to be listed on the first few pages and pay as little as possible. If this appeals to you - read on.