Successfully Promoting Your Offline Business In An Online World

For many businesses, having an Internet presence may mean little more than an online business card with their phone number and brick and mortar address. Ten years ago maybe a business could have gotten away with that, but not in this new century. The very idea of having a business without a substantial web presence is almost ludicrous, especially when you consider the comparatively minimal cost.

If you look at the two business worlds, online and off, there are some pretty big differences that can in certain cases almost justify not having a substantial web presence. Of course, the Internet is best suited to certain types of business. It is unarguably the perfect business for digital goods that can be downloaded like books, and coupons and music and movies and news and information of almost any type.

But the fact of the matter is, there are thousands of other brick and mortar businesses that can be equally enhanced by a substantial web presence. Except in cases where the product is common and the shipping costs are correspondingly and prohibitively high, the Internet has created a global marketplace that will allow almost anyone, anywhere to do business around the world. However, even if you are selling something as common and heavy as concrete you can still enhance your brick and mortar business by posting pictures and descriptions and prices and how-to ideas and estimating and ordering and buy-up information online that will make your hometown customer choose your place as their concrete supplier of choice.

This is especially true with younger customers. The younger generations have grown up with the Internet and they do not grab for a phone book. If they are looking to make even the simplest of inquiry or purchasing decision they pull up Google and add the name of their hometown to the query. Bam! Instant gratification for them, not so good for you if your business does not pop up immediately with the information they need! If you are lucky they might take a moment to call and inquire further, but heaven help your chances for making a sale if they do not get an immediate answer or get put on hold for more than 10 seconds.

A substantial business website in today's world is every bit, if not even more so, important as that yellow page or billboard or newspaper ad, and even the smallest or the largest business needs to realize that and take action. Given a year of a correctly orchestrated Internet presence, and the company website will become a vital part of the business operation—so much so that the business owner will come to depend on Internet driven sales as a substantial portion of their business.

There are steps, of course, to creating that successful website. First the site has to be built and built correctly, that means things like no large or flashy graphics that take forever to load, and no frames that the search engines have difficulty in following. That means good, unique, topically relevant, regularly updated content, because search engines need text to rank your site's relevance, and they are set up to favor sites which they perceive as dynamic and greater in value and relevance. It also means Search Engine Optimization* to make sure that your website pops up when your hometown customer searches for business like yours in his or her hometown.

So once you have your site up and running, filled with good content and popping up in the search engines—especially when your hometown is included in the search—then what?

Then you need to devise a strategy to draw those Internet shoppers out of their homes and into your store or business--either via telephone, email contact or best of all by actually walking through your front door. The best way to do that is by offering a variety of promotions—just like you would do offline.

Some strategies for this are…

Online coupons that can be redeemed only in the retail store.

Online sales items that can be picked up in the store. Many online shoppers might prefer to have the product shipped to them. So you will have to “sweeten the pot” by making shipping charges out of the question or by adding a special promotion if the customer picks up his or her purchase in person.

Contests. Everyone loves to win stuff. Need we say more?

By promoting special events that will occur in the store. You can stage a major cyberspace promotional campaign for a book signing of an author or celebrity that will occur live at the store itself. The costs of the promotion and having the in store event will be offset by the increased sales.

If your web site routinely uses promotions and positive incentives that will lure your customers into your store or business, before long a customer base of loyal consumers will get used to first going online to see what you have going on this week and then visiting your store to cash in. That kind of ongoing momentum is what makes a website the perfect companion to almost any retail business or just about any other business or service you can think of or name. It just takes a little creativity to turn that online surfer into a real live brick and mortar customer.

* For more information, see my articles on:
Practical Search Engine Optimization or SEO For The Small Business Owner
What is LSI SEO and How Do I Do It To My Website?
Beyond Basic SEO Practical LSI For The Small Business Owner

****
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to
be generous, frank and independent.
– W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915


Successfully Promoting Your Offline Business In An Online World - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.

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