Sales don't just wander in your front door. Here's how to cultivate up a steady stream of shoppers.

Sanjay, Huntington, N.Y.
We have a retail shop of clothing and jewelry. I sit all day waiting for the customers. How can I utilize that time on my computer, and do something that will generate extra cash for my business?

By Dinah Eng, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
If you're not selling your products online, now is the time to start — and if you've already taken the e-commerce dive, you can use your down time to build sales-boosting buzz.

If you don’t already have a Web site for your store, you can ease in by selling on established sites like Amazon.com or eBay. If you have handmade items, try Etsy.com or ArtFire.com.

Whether you're selling on your own site or an outside one, a good next step is to compile an e-mail database of your customers. Realize, though, that technology alone is not going to sell your inventory.

Paul Schneider, owner of Twist

“Retail is all about relationships,” says Paul Schneider, owner of Twist, which started as an artists’ coop and now sells jewelry and art pieces through two stores in Portland and one in Seattle. “If you compile an e-mail database and use it to establish a line of communication, you’re three-quarters of the way to making a sale.”

If you have six customers a day, you could compile 36 names a week. The trick, of course, is getting people to give you their e-mail addresses.

“I try to make it fairly personal,” Schneider says. “'Would you mind if I got in touch with you when we have a special promotion for our e-mail friends only?' Make it a private, exclusive club. Don’t send more than one mass e-mail a month. To a small retail business, this is gold.”

Schneider says he uses his Web site for personalized pitches, sending customers links to pages with items that may interest them.

To attract new customers, he suggests finding the blogs and discussion groups online that deal with what you sell, and becoming a part of the discussion.

“Talk about your products, even if you don’t have your own Web site,” he says. “If you sell wedding rings, get on the bridal blogs. We’re starting to work with social networking, and have a fan page on Facebook now. There are search engine optimization consultants who can help you craft online ads.”

Richard Eiseman, Jr., owner of Eiseman Jewels in Dallas, a high-end boutique, is now in the process of inputting a mailing list compiled over 40-plus years into a database. To entice people to register online, he sent out direct mail pieces offering a free valet parking pass at the mall and a chance to win a $5,000 store gift card.

“Find ways to get exposure by doing something unique," Eiseman suggests. "Host a charity event in your store. Have the local school sell something at your store. You have to get foot traffic in based on some expectation other than buying.”

Utilize that time in between walk-ins by reaching out to customers on the phone.

“Keep a card on every person you’ve sold to,” advises Scott Marshall, a Los Angeles consultant who specializes in retail management and e-commerce. “Write down what they like, their family information, anything you can think of. Then think of how to help them with the products you carry. If you’ve got trendy teen clothing coming in, and their card says they have teenage nieces, call and tell them, but do it in a way that shows you’re interested in them, and not just the sale.”

Marshall says men, in particular, always need help with finding the right gift for women. Have their spouse or girlfriend fill out a store “wish list,” then offer to send the guys an e-mail reminder when a birthday, anniversary, or holiday is coming up — and suggest items that the women in their lives might enjoy.

“You have to decide to be in the game,” he says. “Too many people think 'I’m a small store, my customers don’t have a lot of money.' Everybody wants to find a deal without searching high and low for it. To somebody, your things are expensive, and to somebody else, the items are cheap. If you’re ready to just sit at the computer and do work for someone else, you’ve given up on your own store.”

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For retailers that don't want the overhead of stockpiling merchandise, drop shipping can be a cost-saving option.

Mike, Queens, NY
I started a home-based wholesaling business six months ago and got four credit cards totaling $18,000. I was scammed out of $10,000 and invested another $4,000 into a Web site and advertising. Now my cards are almost maxed out, and I need the cash or credit to purchase merchandise. Business people tell me it takes a few years before turning a profit, but I've worked like the devil these past six months to finally get the contacts and deals I've been searching for, only now I don't have the cash or the credit. Is there anything I can do?

By Kathleen Ryan O'Connor, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
Starting a business from scratch takes time and an incredible amount of energy – and setbacks are inevitable. It can feel like you're knocked two steps back for every step forward.

Lacking working capital is going to make it even harder, unfortunately. Credit markets have grown extremely tight, and the fact that you're using nearly all of your available credit lines pushes down your credit score, which makes you a less attractive candidate to the banks for extending further credit. That's never ideal, but it can be the kiss of death today, when even people with pristine FICO scores and very little debt are finding it difficult to find decent lending options.

So what to do?

One option is to take a break from working on your business full-time and find an outside job that will let you pay down debt.

But if you want to keep forging ahead, you could approach the suppliers you've already lined up and ask if they will open an account for you to buy on their credit terms. That may be tricky: When you run a credit check, you might not rate as a good risk.

Another option is for you to start an account with a drop shipper. Drop shopping is a "buy-as-you-go" model under which you advertise the merchandise, sell it to the customer, and then, after the buyer's money arrives, you complete your purchase of the requested products from the drop shipper, typically via credit card. The shipper then mails the purchased items to the customer on your behalf. The transaction is generally invisible to buyers: Drop shoppers offer a variety of arrangements, from plain boxes to packaging decked out with your logos.

Drop shipping isn't a new concept. One of the few studies on the practice, published in the journal Management Science in 2006, found that about one-third of Internet retailers rely on drop shipping to fulfill orders.

"Early on, there was a lot of hype around drop shipping," says Serguei Netessine, an author of that study and an associate professor of operations and information management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

The initial idea was that drop shipping would be a one-size-fits-all "panacea" for e-tailing. That hasn't panned out. In its early days, even Amazon.com (AMZN) used drop shipping, but the bookselling Goliath soon realized the practice wasn't a good fit for the volume of business it was doing. Amazon instead committed to buying its own inventory and building warehouses. It now offers its own drop-ship service to smaller retailers, Netessine says.

"That's kind of a natural evolution," he says.

Among the downsides of drop shipping: You are introducing a middleman into the transaction, the drop shipper, who has to make their own profit, so your margin is going to be smaller than if you acted as the wholesaler yourself. On some products, the profit margin is already so low that drop shipping makes it extremely difficult to make any money at all.

Another challenge: Drop shipping scams are all over the Internet. Key red flags include recurring monthly fees or difficulty in getting a live person on the phone. Try to hit a trade show. If a drop shipper has a booth there, that's probably a good sign. Several Web sites help connect online merchants with drop shippers and wholesalers; WorldWideBrands.com is one example.

And since your shipper will be packaging and shipping merchandise under your name, be certain to pick one that demonstrates a commitment to the same quality and customer service you'd want your customers to expect of you.

Also take care to thoroughly note your shipper's policies on backorders, returns and lost shipments. Chronic problems in order fulfillment have destroyed many a small business, online or not, and savvy consumers used to Amazon or Zappos boxes dropping on their doorstep a day after they've clicked in their order will not look kindly on poor or slow service.

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How to avoid Website trademark disputes, and where to turn when you run in to one.

Phil Schmidt, President, Capital Medical, Sacramento
I created a Web site in 2004 to help me sell medical equipment for a third-party manufacturer. Two years later a competitor trademarked [sic] my domain name. Recently the competitor threatened to sue me unless I shut down my Web site. They claim they have used my domain name since the 1990s to help them sell their product. They offered to pay me a nominal amount for the URL. Do I have to stop using my URL?

By Adriana Gardella, Fortune Small Business senior editor
Your situation presents a cautionary tale. The lesson? "Check the publicly accessible USPTO online database for registered trademarks, or consult a trademark attorney before adopting and using a domain name that may infringe on another's trademark rights," says Gayle Strong, an intellectual-property lawyer with the Denver office of Greenberg Traurig. Since it is already too late for that, we urge you to do the next best thing: Talk to a lawyer. To find one, you might start with the Sacramento County Bar Association, which has a referral service. Only a professional with a full understanding of the facts of your case can help you choose the best course of action.

That said, we can offer some insight into the possible issues raised by your question. Using the right language is a start. Your competitor did not "trademark" your domain name. Rather, it registered the trademark.

"The fact that your competitor did not register its trademark until after you registered your domain name is not controlling if the competitor was using its trademark nationally before you registered your domain name," says David Kelly, a partner with Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner in Washington, D.C. He notes that merely registering a domain name will not give you the right to use it. "Your ability to use a domain name is subject to the prior trademark rights of others."

"The first user of a mark will typically be protected," explains David Burgert, chair of the IP group at Porter & Hedges in Houston. "As with most trademark issues, the key question is likelihood of confusion. In your case, it sounds like both parties make the same or similar products and use the same or similar trade name to market it. So consumer confusion between the two companies seems likely." Burgert says the question will probably become: Which one of you first used the name for the product?

This column provides general information only and is not intended to replace the services or legal advice of an attorney. Always consult a lawyer regarding any specific legal concerns, as laws vary from state to state.

Hone in on your ideal customer and practice cost-effective marketing.

Tom Dunlap, La Verne, Calif.
I own a five-year-old Internet business that sells about $100,000 worth of printer toner a year. Our clients stick around due to the savings we provide – they typically cut 30% to 50% in costs – and our customer service. We’d like to stay small, but we also want to attract more customers. How can we accomplish this without spending much money? Advertising doesn’t seem to be cost-effective, and hiring salespeople hasn’t worked in the past.

By Leonora Chu, Fortune Small Business contributor
Dear Tom: Let’s try a visualization exercise. Before you attempt to attract more clients, write a description of your ideal customer. Spencer Tyler, co-owner of the Los Angeles branch of OneCoach, a small business growth consultancy, says it’s probably the person who spends the most, complains the least and sends you referrals.

Next, hone in on exactly what that client wants. It could be guaranteed product in stock, or hassle-free returns and free shipping. Once you’ve scribbled down these ideas, look at your list – that’s your marketing message.

Completing this strategic exercise will help you to maximize your marketing dollars and initiate higher response rates from new customers, says Tyler. Rather than casting a wide net for any customers, you’ll craft a pitch that’s directed towards the ones you want. “You’ll end up spending less and making more,” he says.

Now that you’ve got your message, what do you do with it? Tyler advises you to launch an e-mail campaign to attract new customers and reengage past clients. If you’re looking to expand your list of contacts, consider purchasing a targeted email list of potential customers from a broker.

Another way to expand your customer database is to form partnerships. Get in touch with complementary service providers such as printer manufacturers, paper suppliers or telecom equipment providers. This way, you can split marketing costs and offer multiple products at once.

Doug Williams, a Vancouver, Wash.-based market consultant, advises you to register for pay-per-click advertising with major search engines. Because you pay only when someone visits your website, pay-per-click offers a cost-effective marketing tool.

You should also focus on search engine optimization, he says. Improving your placement on search results will drive traffic to your business. You can hire a consultant to analyze your site and make suggestions, but there are cheaper ways to work on your SEO.

Start by making sure your home page contains plenty of keywords that characterize your business. The text should appear in the upper quartile of the home page. “Keywords at the bottom of the page won’t come up high on search engine rankings,” Williams says. “You can hit the sweet spot by using just 400 to 600 words of text.”

Another inexpensive way to get noticed is through social media. Set up a blog to share your expertise with potential customers. Williams’ ideas: Write about what to look for in a toner supplier, the differences between different types of toner cartridges, and the pros and cons of buying versus leasing copiers. “People use blogs when they’re looking for information, so it’s about branding yourself as the authority or expert,” Williams says. “Everyone likes to buy from the authority or expert.”

You should maintain a consistent theme and schedule with your posts, says David Jaeger, the president of About Results Marketing in Los Angeles. Blogs are search-engine friendly, so posting frequently will help you pop up higher on results. “If you invest 10 to 15 hours a month blogging, you should start seeing an increase in your rankings and an increased readership within two to three months,” he says. Considering the low cost of blogging, that’s time well spent.

Rodrigo, RNJ Fragrances, Miami
I started an e-commerce website. I have little knowledge of SEO and promoting my site. Where can I get some insight?

What do you recommend? Leave a comment below with your answer.

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To reach a targeted demographic, try driving traffic through portals rather than through search engines.

Claudio Batista, Raztro.com, Washington, D.C.
I launched an auction site in Spanish a couple of years ago, and it hasn't had much traffic. I tried sending e-mails to a Hispanic mailing list to make people aware of the site, but got no results. What do you suggest?

By Anne Fisher, Fortune Small Business contributor
Dear Claudio: You're smart to target Latino consumers, whose purchasing power has exploded from $653 billion in 2003 to a projected $1 trillion this year.

"The Hispanic market is one of the few real growth areas right now, especially online," says Michelle Villalobos, CEO of Miami-based Mivista Consulting.

Latino households with Internet connections are growing 20% a year, and 39% of those already wired are in high-income neighborhoods. Villalobos says those customers are more likely to find Hispanic or bilingual websites via portals than through conventional search engines. Three of the biggest: terra.com, univision.com, and telemundo.yahoo.com. To draw bidders to your site, Villalobos suggests linking with or advertising on one or more of them.

Marcela Gomez, CEO of Hispanic Marketing Group in Nashville, adds that the row of zeroes on your home page makes it painfully clear that no one has bid on anything. "No one wants to be first," she says. "You need to ask your friends and relatives to get the bidding started so there is some activity showing."

Then, to create buzz about your site, choose one medium-sized city – maybe Charlotte, which has a growing Hispanic population – and concentrate your marketing there before trying to go national. Once you see some auction action, Gomez adds, follow through with a toll-free customer service number staffed by Spanish speakers. That alone will make you stand out: Gomez says less than one-third of online businesses aimed at Hispanics now have one.

Give us your advice: Check out recent “Ask & Answer” questions.

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Hone in on your ideal customer and practice cost-effective marketing to draw more clients to your business.

Tom Dunlap, La Verne, Calif.
I own a five-year-old Internet business that sells about $100,000 worth of printer toner a year. Our clients stick around due to the savings we provide – they typically cut 30% to 50% in costs – and our customer service. We'd like to stay small, but we also want to attract more customers. How can we accomplish this without spending much money? Advertising doesn't seem to be cost-effective, and hiring salespeople hasn't worked in the past.

By Leonora Chu, Fortune Small Business contributor
Dear Tom: Let's try a visualization exercise. Before you attempt to attract more clients, write a description of your ideal customer. Spencer Tyler, co-owner of the Los Angeles branch of OneCoach, a small business growth consultancy, says it's probably the person who spends the most, complains the least and sends you referrals.

Next, hone in on exactly what that client wants. It could be guaranteed product in stock, or hassle-free returns and free shipping. Once you've scribbled down these ideas, look at your list – that's your marketing message.

Completing this strategic exercise will help you to maximize your marketing dollars and initiate higher response rates from new customers, says Tyler. Rather than casting a wide net for any customers, you'll craft a pitch that's directed towards the ones you want. “You'll end up spending less and making more,” he says.

Now that you've got your message, what do you do with it? Tyler advises you to launch an e-mail campaign to attract new customers and reengage past clients. If you're looking to expand your list of contacts, consider purchasing a targeted e-mail list of potential customers from a broker.

Another way to expand your customer database is to form partnerships. Get in touch with complementary service providers such as printer manufacturers, paper suppliers or telecom equipment providers. This way, you can split marketing costs and offer multiple products at once.

Doug Williams, a Vancouver, Wash.-based market consultant, advises you to register for pay-per-click advertising with major search engines like Google (GOOG). Because you pay only when someone visits your website, pay-per-click offers a cost-effective marketing tool.

You should also focus on search-engine optimization, he says. Improving your placement on search results will drive traffic to your business. You can hire a consultant to analyze your site and make suggestions, but there are cheaper ways to work on your SEO.

Start by making sure your home page contains plenty of keywords that characterize your business. The text should appear in the upper quartile of the home page. “Keywords at the bottom of the page won't come up high on search engine rankings,” Williams says. “You can hit the sweet spot by using just 400 to 600 words of text.”

Another inexpensive way to get noticed is through social media. Set up a blog to share your expertise with potential customers. Williams' ideas: Write about what to look for in a toner supplier, the differences between different types of toner cartridges, and the pros and cons of buying versus leasing copiers. “People use blogs when they're looking for information, so it's about branding yourself as the authority or expert,” Williams says. “Everyone likes to buy from the authority or expert.”

You should maintain a consistent theme and schedule with your posts, says David Jaeger, the president of About Results Marketing in Los Angeles. Blogs are search-engine friendly, so posting frequently will help you pop up higher on results. “If you invest 10 to 15 hours a month blogging, you should start seeing an increase in your rankings and an increased readership within two to three months,” he says. Considering the low cost of blogging, that's time well spent.

Give us your advice: Check out recent “Ask & Answer” questions.

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Jeanette Vallejo, Montclair, Calif.
My boyfriend and I started a small business on eBay using his credit. I developed all the forms, sent invoices, and kept logs of the people who purchased from us since we started this business. My e-mail address has been used for all PayPal transactions and questions from customers. I have never been paid for this service. He is now making $2,000 a weekend. I suspect that he is cheating on me. If we split up, what can I do? I would like to know if I can get at least half of what he has made. Is that possible?

What do you recommend? Leave a comment below with your answer.

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The government can help you get cash with the SBA's 7(a) program, but banks still hold the purse strings.

Chris Holm, LUK Industries, Chandler, Ariz.
I run an Internet retail store that has been in business for just over a year. The business is running in the black, so I want to move some of our start-up costs to a fixed-rate loan. Is an SBA 7(a) loan the right choice for us?

By Kathleen Ryan O’Connor
Dear Chris: Congratulations on making it through your first year of a new venture with a profit. That’s no easy feat.

Leveraging that success to consolidate some of your expenses may indeed be a smart move. But before you start filling out the mountain of paperwork required to obtain a 7(a) loan from the Small Business Administration, you need to figure out how big a risk you and your business pose to a traditional bank.

Contrary to popular belief, Uncle Sam doesn’t lend money directly under the 7(a) program – you must still apply through a commercial lender. But the government does guarantee 7(a) loans in order to mitigate risks that might prevent a bank from lending you the money directly, says Ron Goldstein, assistant director for economic development in the SBA's New York office.

Those risks could include the type of business you're in, the number of years you've been operating, a shortage of collateral, high debt-to-net worth, or concerns about your ability to service debt, he says.

Assuming that an SBA-backed loan makes sense for your business, you need to figure out exactly what you want to do with the money so that you spend it wisely, says Germain Boer, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

A clear plan will also help you get the loan. “That makes the bank feel more comfortable with you,” says Boer.

But small business owners shouldn’t look to the SBA program as some sort of freebie: “This is not any kind of a gift,” Boer says.

At the very least you’ll need to provide financial statements that demonstrate past performance, along with a detailed cash budget for the next two years.

Given the current credit crunch and economic uncertainty, the bank will probably require you to secure the loan with solid assets.

Ask yourself one crucial question before signing on the dotted line, Boer says: “Can I really risk losing that?”

Need more information? Free advice from the SBA is plentiful in your area. The agency’s SCORE program – the acronym stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives, all SBA volunteers - has two nearby chapters, the East Valley SCORE in Mesa and the Phoenix SCORE.

If your financial needs are relatively modest, you might look at the SBA’s Microloan Program, which is targeted to “start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns,” according the SBA Web site. You could be eligible to borrow up to $35,000, with an average loan of $13,000.

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Open-source e-commerce solutions are plentiful, but don't put your wallet away just yet.

Kenneth C. Fletcher, Oakland, Calif.
What are the best, free open-source solutions for e-commerce? My needs include robust international transactional functionality, a shopping-cart mechanism, and something that can be easily customized to handle products and Web content on a global scale, from Japan to Brazil.

By Kathleen Ryan O’Connor, Fortune Small Business contributor
Dear Kenneth: An open-source e-commerce application can be a boon for cash-strapped entrepreneurs hoping to become the next Amazon.com (AMZN).

Barrie North, a partner in JoomlaShack, a company that produces templates and customization for the open-source Joomla software, says small-business owners have a lot of great choices these days.

Well-known names include Ecommerce from Network Solutions (the popular MonsterCommerce software became part of Network Solutions in 2006), OsCommerce, Shopify, Virtuemart, Volusion, Zen Cart – and there’s still plenty more.

But don't forget that when it comes to open-source software, free doesn’t exactly mean “without cost.” Expect to pay hosting fees of at least $30 to $50 per month, or transaction processing fees, and design, consulting or other fees might be necessary for the more complicated solutions. There is also the less tangible cost of the time you’ll need to learn the software.

“If your technical level is e-mail, you are probably going to have to spend $500-$1,000 to help set your site up,” says North, who also blogs at CompassDesigns.net, and wrote Joomla: A User’s Guide. “But if you can set up your own hosting account or know FTP – file transfer protocol – you could probably do it yourself in a couple of hours” for minimal cost.

For the average small-business owner, a closed-system, hosted solution will be “the fastest way to go online,” North says – but he adds that customers are expecting more than just a basic virtual checkout aisle these days.

“You need more than just a shopping cart in 2008,” he says.

The best shopping experiences will feature “richer content,” such as forums and blogs in addition to a user-friendly checkout mechanism. He encourages small-business owners to look for an integrated content management system that will incorporate all of the above.

Michael Bloch, an Australian tech blogger who writes at “Taming the Beast,” prefers Zen Cart.

“It's based on OSCommerce, which has been around for many years,” he says. “The Zen Cart solution has a broad range of features, is very flexible and well supported. Like OSCommerce, there's an active community associated with the application, so if you have problems setting it up or in general usage, chances are there's info out there on the issue, or he can post a question to the Zen Cart forums. Zen cart also has many add-ons available, most of them free. If the reader needed custom applications made, there are many developers around who are experienced in modifying the application.”

Roy Banks, president of Authorize.net, the Internet payment processor acquired last year by Cybersource, says establishing an e-commerce presence can be especially challenging for small businesses.

“There really isn’t a quick and dirty answer,” he says.

He also notes that open source isn't a cheap fix. Integration and development isn't free, "and with a lot of open source you need to upgrade to other things,” Banks says. “You get what you pay for. That axiom will always hold true.”

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