Imagine thousands of customers visiting your new retail business all without extensive advertising or expensive promotional campaigns.

It could happen if you bootstrap your on line business with the proper social networking and tagging tools, many already standard in the pro blogger world.

One great way to bring in and measure that traffic is through the search engine, social network and tagging site known as Technorati.

This video from SAGE Lewis talks a little bit more about how this search engine of the blogosphere works and what's so cool about it:

Then check out this tutorial from the 45n5 blog about how to use other search tools like Google and Yahoo to track who's linking to you:

My own Technorati listing now shows 1,152 "blog reactions" generally links or comments on my blog from others using Technorati. Those links, of course, translate into many more visits to the site from readers of those blogs who find their way to mine.

But how in the world can you increase the number of other sites linking to yours even if you can track those that do so?

Well, Technorati also features a nifty social function that allows you to tag other members and their blogs as favorites. The tagging then identifies you as a "fan" on their profile which may in turn encourage them, and others visiting their profile, to visit and link to you.

So here are some suggestions if you have an on line business that needs traffic to boost overall sales:

• First, create a blog for your business, either one linked to your main page or in some way built around your business.
• Then join Technorati (It's easy and free!) and check out this exhaustive list of social sites and another provided by Tom Pick at WebMarketCentral.
• Browse around and find the ones that seem to cater to your potential customers or blogs that might appeal to your customers. (One that caters to musicians might be ideal to join for an on line guitar or music store.)
• Join the appropriate social networks and create a profile for your business explaining who you are and what you do.
• Start networking like crazy, make friends and link to folks you find that might be interested in your product or bloggers whose readers might be interested
• Monitor your progress using Technorati and other similar resources

The reason for using a blog is that most of the networks in question thrive on new content and return visits may often depend on you having something new to say.

For more on creating a blog to bootstrap your on line business, see this post.