Leslie Linevsky loves catalogs. And she loves shopping.

Which explains, at least in part, why she and her husband, Richard, co-founded Catalogs.com, a website that helps consumers find and order the catalogs they want--without fear of receiving a spate of catalogs they haven't requested.

"Order a Sears catalog and get a Sears catalog," the website promises. "We won't send you an LL Bean, Lane Bryant or FAO Schwarz catalog, too. We do not share your name, address or e-mail address with anyone except the catalog company from which you requested to receive a catalog or special offer."

Catalogs.com was a logical progression for the Linevskys, whose first entrepreneurial endeavor was a necktie catalog called the Artist's Collar, which they launched in 1994. When another company offered to buy the Linevskys' catalog company, they agreed. They used the money from the sale of the first business to finance Catalogs.com.

They learned from the Artist's Collar that people who requested their catalog bought ties at five to six times the rate of consumers who received the catalog because they were on a purchased mailing list. "That's what made us launch Catalogs.com," Leslie Linevsky says. "The whole basis of Catalogs.com was built on lead generation."

The concept works. Catalogs.com now has more than 650 signed contracts with catalog companies and online companies. "They pay us either flat monthly rates or pay us based on leads or on the traffic we send them, or sometimes a variety."

Consumers can peruse 36 categories of goods. Say you want to buy a gourmet gift basket. Click on that category, and you'll be presented with an array of options. Site visitors can request a print catalog or peruse the catalog company's website and order immediately. Catalogs.com typically offers savings certificates, as well. There's also a B2B website, Business.catalogs.com, and Onlinecatalogs.com.

Customers find Catalogs.com in a couple of ways. No. 1 is through organic search. "We rank very, very high on tens of thousands of search words," Linevsky says. "We have three full-time people dedicated to nothing but helping us do that."

Catalog.com also relies on die-hard catalog junkies as well as those who prefer to shop online. "[Online shopping] has become such an incredible industry because people have to be able to maximize their time and be efficient," Linevsky says.

Linevsky herself epitomizes her clientele. She says she shops online almost exclusively. "I am a mother of three kids. I have 12 full-time employees, and I have two sick, ailing parents--one who's in hospice. There's just no way that I shop in a department store."

After 14 years of operating Catalogs.com, Linevsky knows what turns customers away. Often, she finds herself explaining to the merchants under contract why their website isn't working. "We've trained all of our salespeople to act almost like a marketing consultant instead of just a salesperson. Because you would be amazed at some of the big names that have been in business for close to 50 years that [aren't] up to speed on how to run a proper shopping cart on their website."

Linevsky points out several things that lead a customer to abandon a shopping cart midway through a sale:

1. Requiring customers to register before processing an order. The customer spent time finding the purchase, ordering the right size and color, inputting credit card info, and then the website won't allow the order unless the customer registers. "You're trying to sell a product, I've got a $675 shopping cart and you've got my American Express--and now you don't want it because I'm not registering? That doesn't make sense."
    
2. Asking for a credit card before revealing shipping costs.
    
3. Having promotion codes that don't work. "We have someone here in our office that every month tries to check all of our exclusive savings certificates that we offer on Catalogs.com to make sure the codes we were given by the merchant are working. Sometimes they don't, and then we're on the phone immediately. It's important," she says.

Top priorities for companies:

1. Keep really good employees, and treat them nicely to encourage them to stay. "Some of our employees have been with us eight and nine years," Linevsky says.
    
2. Make customer service a priority. "I think you need to be aware if there's a complaint. It's almost a tragedy when companies have a "contact us" with an e-mail address and they don't get back to you. If you don't have a person dedicated to do that, you might as well take off the "contact us" and just put a phone number.
    
3. Be respectful of your opt-in database. "Over the past 14 years, we've built in the hundreds of thousands of opted-in e-mail addresses. We send out newsletters periodically, but we do not bombard clientele. People are starting to get very concerned about giving out their e-mail because of so much junk that comes through."
    
4. Have real people answer the phone. "If a client is ever not happy--or if there's a billing issue or something like that--our policy is always to get back to them right away," Linevsky says.
    
5. Don't rely too much on social media. Certainly, Catalogs.com has Facebook and Twitter accounts, along with several blogs on the website. However, Linevsky says, "Social media is never, ever going to replace good account executives and salespeople. It might pique interest, it might be good for branding and for getting your name out there. But as far as actually growing the business and growing the revenues, I'm not sold on it."

Getting Catalogs.com off the ground was no easy task. "People didn't understand the internet," she says. "I was literally explaining to marketing directors and business owners how the internet could help them."

In addition, Linevsky was selling a promise: The website didn't go live until she had 20 signed contracts. "I was selling on the visualization," she says.

Today, Catalogs.com spends heavily on website development. Some clients, for example, want additional demographic information from customers. Catalogs.com can put in extra programming to ask for that additional information. The company has also progressed to offering virtual online catalogs, with pages consumers can flip through. Sears--which Linevsky categorizes as "technology savvy"--is one company making use of that technology.

Here is Linevsky's advice to would-be internet entrepreneurs:

1. Know what you're getting into. "Have a very solid plan and do a lot of homework, as far as what your competition is and what your realistic costs are going to be to get started. The cost of driving traffic is very high these days. If you don't have the traffic, you can't make the sale."
    
2. Be aware of your employee costs. That includes health insurance, 401(k)s, worker's compensation, liability, and licenses and permits. "As an entrepreneur, you have to have a really good grasp of finances. You've got to be able to have the budget to attract good people."
    
3. Factor in your domain name. "Don't think about going into the internet world if you can't secure at least a decent domain name," Linevsky advises.