As you might have guessed from my last post, I’m going to be out of town for a while.

Today I suddenly discovered that I could not purchase an item I need locally, so I headed over to Google.

In my search for the out of season item I used both Google’s natural results, and Adwords. I searched both last night and this afternoon. Last night I clicked a couple ads, and looked at a few sites, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Earlier today I went shopping and realised my only option was to purchase the item online.

After spending about 5 minutes looking around Google I finally found a site that had a big inventory. It didn’t have exactly what I was looking for, but after a little reading I realised I what I really needed was something a little different. A few clicks later and that sites had an order from me for over $100.

As an internet marketer, I ask myself, what did the other sites do wrong? Number one, limited selection. While one site had roughly what I was looking for, all their inventory was low cost. This made me skeptical of the quality. I wasn’t looking for a bargain, I was looking for something that works. Other sites sent me to a landing page where I had to re-enter my search term, and then it send me to a very ineffective search results page that was even more confusing. Finally, the site I landed on had a very inventory of items. Each item had user ratings and a very comprehensive description. Minutes later, they had my order.

Whether you are an internet publisher or an internet marketer its critical you look at things from the eyes of your customers. How can your visitors buy your product if they can’t even find it? How can visitors register for your message board if they never see the register button? The list goes on and on.

A successful website is a machine. If you want it to work it has to be well engineered. It has to function in a way web users are familiar with.

If you understand this, along with the other fundamentals ofbusiness, success online is virtually guaranteed. It may take time, but if you work hard and smart, you’ll make it.