By Kathleen Ferri

If mall space is so expensive, why do businesses go there? The answer is simple-traffic. Opening a store in the mall guarantees that the business has a steady flow of people walking by it. If that same store was located on a side road leading out of town, the volume of foot traffic would be greatly reduced.

Of course having a steady flow of traffic is not a guarantee of success, just as having a limited amount of traffic is not necessarily a guarantee of failure. Having people walk by your business does not mean that they will come inside. It simply means that they can at least see you, and make a decision from there. And just like the store on the road leading out of town, if people have heard good things about that business, they'll go there regardless of whether or not it's on the way.

Bricks-and-mortar entrepreneurs realize that in order to convince at least some of the traffic walking by their store, they need to create interest in their offerings. Even if it was located in the busiest mall in America, a store that had blacked out windows, no lit sign and that was dark and dingy inside would probably not do all that well. That's why retailers outdo themselves creating bright, flashy window displays and feature prominent signs touting their latest special offer or sale.

Getting a potential customer inside the store is still only half the battle, however. Once they're inside, the real challenge begins-getting them to actually buy something. So if you have a business in the mall, think about the types of people that you'll encounter. There will be general mall traffic that just walks by your store and hardly even knows you're there. The window shoppers will slow down and look, but not come in. The shoppers will actually come in, but won't buy. And then the buyer, the lifeblood of any business, steps up and actually purchases something.

An online business faces the same challenges. The enterprise must be able to stand out to the general traffic of the internet, and get window shoppers to not only take notice, but to get interested in what's being sold. It needs a lead generation engine that not only drives traffic to the website, but that actually draws shoppers in so they interact with the offer. A good lead generation program should take those shoppers far enough along the sales process to at least secure their e-mail address. And then the real challenge can begin-turning the shoppers into paying customers.

To your success....