rogerd - 8:35 pm on May 3, 2002 (gmt 0)

Eboda, for e-commerce sites, relevant traffic translates directly into sales and profits. Google can provide traffic that is highly relevant, and now has the search volume to make a difference. If you are getting the right kind of traffic, and not closing deals, I'd check pricing, products, etc. If you have known successful competitors, see what they are doing. Keep in mind that some products are going to sell more easily than others. An e-commerce site selling Rolls Royces might get a lot of traffic, but not close a deal for years.

I do find the concentration of power in Google worrisome. With their recent penchant for banishing sites, including apparently sites who are not spammers, the stress level around update time is pretty high. One site I work with is deriving 3/4 of its traffic from Google and Yahoo/Google. The volume is great, but if Googlebot hiccups that site will fall off the radar.

As far as reciprocal linkage, to some degree links are their own reward. Many end up generating little or no traffic, but a good link campaign will almost always net a number of winners.