NNFP Web HELP Article: So, When Do I Start Making Money from my Website, part 3 by Nora McDougall-Collins

So, When Do I Start Making Money from my Website:
Sites without a Brick-and Mortar Business

NNFP Web Services are sponsored by WERC

Purely online business sounds great! You can run your business in your pajamas - your customers can't see you. No more getting up at 4:00 am and doing hard physical work. You can make $$$$$millions! Well, maybe! Think of it like gold prospectors. Many of them became wealthy, but you can be sure that the folks that became wealthy were the folks who sold them supplies.

Not to discourage you from your enterprise, but if you don't have a brick-and-mortar business to back up your new enterprise, you have an extra hurdle to jump: trust and exposure. OK, that's two hurdles. Every quarter before my new classes at Dickinson Lifelong Learning Center begin, I receive calls from folks who are going to make it big by setting up a web site. Some of them do very well, but in the mix are the folks expecting that building a web business takes less work than building a brick-and-mortar business. The funny think is that many of these calls come from folks who want to skip the Web Marketing and Design course and jump right into the Development course. If anything, they need the first course the most.

Down to brass tacks. Yes, you can create a successful wood product marketing site without a physical location where people can visit. Let's say that you are a coop that represents the woodworkers in your area. You don't have a facility; can you market mostly through the web? YES!!! If you are willing to put in the long term commitment and work, you can have a great marketing site. Here are some things you should expect to do:

1) Work with a professional designer who will create a site that is fun and useable.

2) Have images of YOUR people doing their work. Not stock photography, but very high quality photos of real people and products. Why should I buy from you instead of IKEA where they specialize in making it easy for me?

3) Make sure that visitors see a clear call to buy the product immediately on your site. How easy is it for me to order that chair in the middle of the night, when I have time to shop online? You are competing with Ebay. Give me a great reason to buy from your members instead (even if I have to wait more than 5 days for my order.)

4) Update your site frequently - daily would be best. You are competing with every product site out there.

5) Market your site like you mean business. Do you have listings on every free directory possible? Do you have listings on paid sites? Do you have paid ads on online and print magazines? In other words, are you a brand?

6) Follow up on every response promptly and with local personality! The part-time person who answers responses once every week won't do. If your person answering responses is personally connected to your people, so much the better! I'd so much rather order from your local enthusiastic person who knows your members, than from an international call center.

7) Write press releases and stories to post on every relevant site you can find - regularly - even if you have to hire a local writer to do it. Make me feel good about supporting green, or local business, or artisans, or multiple generation business or whatever your cool factor is.

8) Work non-stop! This isn't something that you can give to the administrative assistant to do occasionally. If you are serious about running an online business, be serious about the work.

I haven't mentioned Search Engine Optimization. Avoid the tricks. Have a great web site. Do the items above. After they are an integral part of your work life, let's discuss optimization!