Home
>
Web Site Promotion
>
If You Build It, They Will Come?

If You Build It, They Will Come?

Many of you will remember the line from the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." Many businesses apply this methodology to their business model. I can't tell you how many times I've come across this misnomer in dealing with hosting and web design customers. They figure, "I've got a website now. The customers will start to buy my stuff. I can wait for the orders to start coming in." A few months later they call to complain that it isn't working and it must be something wrong. When I ask them what they have done to get customers, a lot of times they don't know what to say because they never thought of that approach. If we pause to think about the build and wait approach for a moment, we will soon see the error in this idea. Unlike a physical location, where you have customers driving or walking by all the time, online businesses need some way to attract traffic and customers to their website. In this article we will discuss a few methods that can be employed to bring customers to your website.

Search Engines

Getting listed in the search engines is usually a good place to start. There are two ways to get listed in the search engines; Pay-Per-Click placement, and organic search engine results. Depending on the industry and online competition, PPC placement can be a very inexpensive or very expensive way to attract customers to your website. If the cost per click starts to get high, be very careful, you could spend a lot of money and not be able to recoup those costs in sales.

Getting into the search engines themselves is quite another task, left for another article. There are many websites and articles that detail the process needed.

Advertising

Doing some type of advertising is absolutely necessary to gaining customers. Many times I hear "I can't afford to pay for advertising." My response is "How can you afford not to?" Owning a small business myself I know how intimidating advertising can be. However, there are a few methods of advertising that require little investment which I will discuss

-Direct Mail
There are many companies that offer postcard printing and mailing services at VERY affordable rates. Now the goal is to only send mailings to your target audience and avoid sending to those who wouldn't be in interested. This will maximize the success and minimize the cost of your mailing.

-Press Coverage
Getting your local media outlet to do an article on you can be a great way to get some local customers. Many newspapers like covering these local stories. Prepare a press release and follow up with a personal phone call to the reporter that usually handles these types of stories.

-Build a Sales Team
Now, the sales team I'm referring to isn't the one that sits in an office and cold calls people all day. Get rid of that overhead and get your friends, acquaintances, and family to "Sell" your product for you. Offer a good commission if they make a sale, and you'll have others doing the work for you. A good side effect of this is you've got lots of people spreading the hype about your business.

-Message Boards
Get out on the message boards and be active. Put you web site link in you signature and make good posts. It is much better if you are genuine in your postings, than if you just post the get your signature listed.

Good Service

If you provide an excellent product with excellent service the customers you've already gotten will help spread the word. Remember, it can't be just good service it needs to be next-level service. Service they don't usually receive. An impressed customer is priceless.

To sum it all up

Now the items discussed in this article are by no means the only things will work, and won't be a guaranteed method. A concerted effort of these tactics will bring customers to your site. If you work hard, keep focus and stay on the cutting edge you can have an advantage over your competition and be successful.

Scott is the owner and head designer for Smith-Concepts a successful web development firm. Related Links: http://www.smith-concepts.com

bedroom cleaning professionals Morton Grove ...

In The News:

Lyft rolled out safety upgrades with a new Safety Hub, driver blocking capability and a favorite driver option to give riders more control over their experience.

New research shows Americans increasingly trust AI for wellness guidance over social media, with 63% finding artificial intelligence reliable for health.

Luxury fashion brand Dior experienced a January 2025 data breach affecting customer personal information, and notifications were sent months after the discovery.

The commercial Unitree H1 humanoid robot weighs 104 pounds with 365 pound-feet torque per joint and demonstrates dangerous potential when software glitches occur.

Americans average 10-plus hours online daily, according to recent survey, splitting time between streaming shows on TV and browsing websites on multiple devices.

Boost your smartphone privacy instantly with these security tweaks for iPhone and Android that limit ad tracking, hide notifications and prevent unauthorized access.

Platforms like Hoax Tech and JS Click Cloaker help cybercriminals bypass detection systems using machine learning to selectively display scam content to victims.

A new battery recycling technique transforms old lithium-ion batteries into high-performance components that retain 88% capacity after 500 cycles with minimal waste.

Google's Android operating system can warn users about earthquakes before the shaking even begins – and there are ways to do it on your iPhone, too.

Meta's new gesture control wristband might just be the most seamless way to control a computer yet. And no, it doesn't require surgery, a camera, or even a touchscreen. All it needs is your wrist.

Long-haul trucks are now being upgraded with a surprising twist, thanks to California-based startup Revoy. Their electric boost doesn't replace diesel but works alongside it to cut emissions and fuel costs without major disruption.

PayPal and Venmo just rolled out something big: AI-powered scam alerts for Friends and Family payments.

As data centers multiply across the United States, energy demand is increasing at a rapid pace. This has not escaped the notice of large investment firms from Wall Street.

The Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit organization that maintains the Unicode Standard to ensure emojis work across devices, has announced Unicode 17.0, which includes nine new emojis slated for release this fall, in September 2025.

OpenAI is one of the world's leading AI research labs. Founded in 2015, it's behind some of today's most talked-about tools, including GPT, DALL·E, and ChatGPT.

Ever catch your dog staring at the screen during movie night and wonder if they're actually watching? Turns out, they might be. A new scientific study from Auburn University found that many dogs really do engage with television, and not all pups react the same way.

Stop the scammers from making contact in the first place. They're getting your parents' contact information and much more personal data besides, from somewhere.

The Walker S2 robot from UBTech autonomously exchanges its batteries in just three minutes, allowing continuous operation in car factories operated by BYD, Nio and Zeekr.

The FX Super One electric MPV from Faraday Future offers flexible seating, zero-gravity recliners and an AI system that creates a personal connection between driver and vehicle.

Practical solutions for reducing unwanted charity mail, political texts and email spam by opting out of shared lists, replying "STOP" and using data removal services.

Delta's new AI pricing system eliminates static airfares for personalized rates based on individual data, raising questions about fairness while promising optimized revenue.

AI data centers are straining the power grid across 13 states, contributing to a $9 billion increase in electricity costs, and PJM customers face monthly bill increases of $25 or more.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the music industry as AI-generated bands like The Velvet Sundown earn substantial streaming revenue, prompting lawsuits from major record labels.

Microsoft phishing scams use fake security alerts and links that redirect to credential-stealing pages with warning signs, including urgent language and unusual senders.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

If You Build It, They Will Come?

Web Site Promotion