If You Build It, Will They Come?

QUESTION:range of clientele, and increase your revenue without
I recently launched a website for my sporting goodsadding overhead. Don't sell your website short. Make
business. Do I need to do anything special to attractit work for you.
customers to my website? I know nothing aboutIf you are seeking a global audience, your marketing
search engines and marketing as such. Please tell meefforts will be quite different. Attracting customers
where to begin. -- Sean M.from around the world is a more difficult task than
ANSWER:attracting customers from around the block.
Sean, that is a question that has been asked byFortunately, the task is not impossible. The Internet
every business person who has ever launched ahas leveled the playing field in many ways. Now
website. If I build it, will they come? Of course theyevery business, no matter how large or small, has
will -- if you've built a website that appeals to deadthe ability to do business internationally.
baseball players.In the most basic sense, an online marketing
For those of you who didn't get the "Field ofcampaign to attract global customers should include
Dreams" reference, let me put it this way: No, Sean,the following efforts.
if you build it they will not come, at least not withoutRegister With Search Engines
some effort on your part.There's not enough room in this newspaper for a
Assuming that a website will automatically attractthorough discussion of search engines and their
customers is the single biggest mistake that manyeffectiveness (or lack thereof) in driving traffic to a
business owners make. It is this mistake thatwebsite. Suffice it to say that 95% of search engine
eventually leads them to dismiss their website as atraffic comes from Google and Yahoo, so start there.
failure and abandon their online sales efforts.It's also important to realize that just registering with
I can't tell you how many times I've heard a clientsearch engines does not guarantee you traffic, but it
say, "Well, I threw up a website, but nobody evercertainly can't hurt.
came to it and I didn't sell a single thing from it! DangUnfortunately, the free search engine lunch ran out a
thing was a waste of time, if you ask me ..."couple of years ago when search engines figured out
Forgive me, but "threw up" is the operative termthat people would actually pay for listings and higher
there. These short-sighted entrepreneurs (God loveplacement. Since that time the only way to
them) mistakenly think that all they have to do isguarantee a high (or at least higher than others)
throw up a website and that their business willranking is to pay for it. The two most popular
automatically double overnight. And when nothingpay-for-placement programs are Yahoo's "Yahoo
happens they blame it on the infallibility of theExpress" and Google's "Adwords." Visit their
Internet, on El Nino, on the Bosa Nova, on theirrespective websites for details on these programs.
customers... everything but their own lack ofBe prepared to spend several hundred dollars at a
marketing efforts.minimum to get your site listed.
If you build it, will they come? That, Sean, dependsExchange Links With Similar Sites
totally on you.One free - and potentially effective - way to drive
When it comes to attracting customers, opening ancustomers to your website is through link exchanges
online business (or an online branch of an existingwith sites of similar interest. Locate sites that make a
business) is no different from opening a traditionalgood match to your own and contact the owner to
brick and mortar shop. Without a little fanfare and aask if they will link to your site in exchange for you
well-devised marketing plan, chances are yourlinking to theirs. If you sell golf balls on your website,
website will become just another spot of roadkill onset up a link exchange with another website that
the Information Superhighway.sells golf clubs. You post a link to them and they post
The first step in devising your marketing plan is toa link to you. It's called digital back scratching, and if
ask yourself this question: Who is my customer?done properly, can work well to drive traffic your
Who is it that I want to attract to my website?way.
Believe it or not, this is a question manyGo To Where The Customers Are
entrepreneurs fail to ask. The identity of yourIf the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then
customer is incredibly important because if you don'tMohammed must go to the mountain. One little
know who your customer is, how can you expect toknown way to attract customers to your website is
market to them?to market your products on a mega-site like eBay.
The next question concerns the locality of yourThere are thousands and thousands of people on
customer. Do you want to attract a local or globaleBay at any given time and each one is potentially
clientele to your website? If the answer is local, thenyour customer, so it's a great place to drum up
you will gear your marketing efforts towardbusiness. Your goal is not to make a living selling on
customers in your own backyard, which meanseBay, but to use eBay as a marketing tool to drive
incorporating your website launch with your offlinetraffic back to your website. Go to where the
marketing efforts.customers are, then bring them back home with you.
If the website is the online branch of a brick andLet's use our golf ball example. Post a few auctions
mortar business, include the website URL in all youron eBay selling your golf balls at a ridiculously low
print materials and advertising campaigns. Considerprice so your auction attracts plenty of attention.
running ads in the local paper, on radio or TVWhen customers make a purchase, add them to
announcing the launch of your site. Use direct mail oryour client list and send them an email inviting them
in-store posters to announce the site launch to yourto visit your website for more great products. eBay
existing customer base. In short, keep doing whatalso lets you create your own "About Me" page that
you're doing to attract customers to your physicalyou can use to advertise your business.
store, just add your website address to the mix.We have just scratched the surface, but hopefully
Just remember, it's important to consider yourthis is enough to get you started. I wish I could tell
website a branch of your brick and mortar businessyou that attracting customers to your website is
because that's exactly what it is. A good businesseasy, but the truth is, it's anything but. It takes hard
website will help you sell more products, widen yourwork, creativity and above all, perseverance.