Over half of all US online adults use search engines most or every time they are online, according to a recent "How America Searches" study from icrossing. "How America Searches" takes a detailed look at why people turn to search engines, which engines have the most loyal users, how well people can distinguish natural and paid results, and other questions.

This kind of information can be incredibly helpful to your business. For example, the vast majority of search engine users (88%) say they use search engines to research specific topics and shopping is the activity of choice for over half (51%).

So what happens if one of those surfers lands on your website from the search engines and they're doing research for a product or service they'd like to buy? Are they gone in an instant never to return again? That could kill your business.

Maybe not if you have a clever way to capture just who those visitors are. And that is very easy to do. You have only a few seconds to grab the contact details of this visitor. You can accomplish that objective by offering a free report download or newsletter sign up that compels them to give you their contact information in exchange for your valuable freebie.

Once you have those details captured, you have many opportunities to connect with that prospect over and over again.