Not content with being a local merchant serving just your neighborhood? Now you want to be a merchant to the World!

If you don't have time to read this letter at least read the Bottom Line.

Consider this before you begin. Of all the reasons to have an Internet presence, the best reason is to extend the customer base of an existing "Bricks and Mortar" store.

You have already answered the first question one should ask before entering the online retailing business: Will your product sell locally? Since you are considering making an online presence for your "Bricks and Mortar" store, one must assume that your product(s) are selling locally. Let me explain. If your product caters to hunters and the hunters in your area are buying your product(s), then what the internet will do for you is multiply enormously your pool of potential customers. There are a lot of hunters connected to the internet. They would be your new pool of potential customers.

An on-line business needs to ride a "niche." A local general merchandise store will have little or no success with a web store. But if you specialize or have unique products then you can compete with the "Big Guys" like Walmart and K-mart who have a little of everything. What they don't have is a lot of one specific type of product. In other words their product list is a mile wide and an inch deep. You the small business, on the other hand, can have a very large selection of every variation in size, shape, color, and quality of a narrow category of a product. You can fight those Big Guy's on equal cyber-footing. A good example is http://www.Eco-Furniture.com. They sell only furniture that is environmentally compatible, or "green" furniture. None of the "Big Guy's" can match the selection available from them. This makes them the only major source of "green" furniture. In other words they own the "niche."

Stop thinking local! Think national! While your at it think international!!! Your store's clientele are no longer just the ones that can drive to your store. Your clients are now the ones that can visit your web store. And on the Internet they can visit your store from anywhere on the planet.

Below are some additional reasons why you may want to consider extending your "Bricks and Mortar" Stores reach:

• Remember, that the entire world is now your market. You need only a hand full of people from a few hundred cities who have a keen interest in your product(s) for you to succeed. This is particularly true in the world of hobbies, collectables and special interests such as pets.
• Your business on-line appears to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• In addition to your "new" online clients, you have now given your local clients additional service, and they will now also have access to your product catalog without you having to mail it to them or they to leave the comfort of their homes to visit your store.
• Your clients (read local and distant clients) will have direct contact with you, the owner, when necessary, by telephone, via e-mail or an online request form.
• Your Store can have personality! Your store can convey "your" personality right through the modem and browser, to the customer.
• You can have a catalog of your products:
  • It is expensive to produce and print color catalogs. It is even more expensive to distribute them to your customers.
  • Your online catalog is now available to anyone at any time at a fraction of the cost of a printed catalog.
  • Online you can produce a catalog that can be updated, as often as necessary, for little or no cost (if you do it yourself) or for a modest fee if you have it done for you. This ability to keep your catalog "alive" with current information can not be under stated.

What do you need to consider before you jump into eCommerce? You must research! Know your competition! This is important. Are other stores selling your type of products online? If so, then think about how you can do it better. Not necessarily "out do" their "shopping cart" program, but how you can convey the product to the potential customer that your product "feels" like it is the right one to purchase. Often the sophistication (i.e.; cost of web site) adds to the "canned" look. Just another web store of thousands of web stores. Be original, don't have your web site look like it came out of a box (even an Internet Tool Box!). There are more than enough of those!

You will need to market your web site and believe me it is totally different then the marketing you do in the real world. I must repeat my self here but you will need to "research" Using The Internet to Market your Brick and Mortor Business.

You will also need an understanding of the different laws that apply to running an online business. I suggest you get a Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business.

Don't make the mistake of so many web sites that set up shop and offer only to sell you something. Become part of a "community" by providing "Free" resources such as:

• Some history about your product(s). Or technical information about the product(s) such as a copy of the operating manual or instructions for use right there on line. Example: A lawn care company would offer tips for various lawn care situations. Or a company selling Bow's and arrows to hunters might provide up to date information about when and where Bow season will begin and end.
• Have a forum for people to discuss their interests in this type of product. This works especially well for collectable or hobby related items such as hunting, camping, fishing, model building, the collecting of coins, stamps, classic movies or TV Shows, Beanie Babies or Pokeman products etc. It also works for passion interests such as those cat, dog, horse lovers, etc.
• Consider having a newsletter that will announce sales or special promotions. Give tips on how to better use your products(s). Take article submissions from your local and web site customers.

In short: Be a destination and resource, not just a web store.

Research your web designer. Don't settle on the first one you talk to. Contact two or three, then settle on the one that feels right (they may be the first one you talked to after all). Don't deal with the "Big Guy" that has a salesperson that takes your order then passes you on to the next available technician. Remember the watch word above. Deal with a web design company that convey's personality.

A note here on the "Free Internet". Now that the DOT.com "Boom" is pretty much behind us, most of the "Free" is disappearing from the "Free Internet". There is a very good reason for this. The "old" economy rule still applies even in the "new" economy. "You can't make a profit if you give the store away".

To succeed in the "New" economy, like you had to do in the "old" economy, you need to make a profit. That is not to say you should not provide some "Free" services. As explained above you should provide some "Free" content/services as part of your overall online service. But don't forget, income minus expenses must equal profit.

Patience is the watchword.

• A web site is not like the movie; "If you build it they will come". It takes months before your web address is added to all the major "Free" search engines. Especially, these days. The search engines are being inundated with ten's of thousands of submissions, each day, to their databases.
• Don't rely on those web sites that promise to place you at the top of the search engines. Believe me they can't.
• Those Mega submission services that will list you with 200, 300 or even 500+ search engines will in the end cause you more grief than you bargained for, because you must provide a valid e-mail address (or your listing will be wasted). The problem is that 90% of these sites are nothing more than a "Free Links Page", with the sole purpose of getting your e-mail address for spamming. My own experience with these services resulted in me getting as many as 200 Spam e-mail's a day, all wanting to tell me about a service or product and to thank me for my submission. If that was not enough, they kept thanking me and thanking me. . . for months with some more product suggestions.
• Nothing beats you, the store owner, taking an active role in marketing your web site.
  • Marketing your web site is easier than the "Big Guys". They have to support dozens, if not hundreds of key words. While you only have to market those few key words specific to your niche. Your ability to focus your marketing will help with equalizing the playing field with the "Big Guy's" who are marketing without focus, nor have they the depth of products you have in your niche.
  • Add your web site's address to your business cards, company stationary and as a digital signature at the bottom of all your outgoing e-mail's.
  • If you advertise locally (real world radio, newspapers etc.), be sure and reference your web site.
  • Cultivate reciprocal links with other web sites that have a logical relation to your product line. Not competitors, but community related organizations and associations.
  • If your selling cat accessories get links with organizations such as the Association of Cat Lovers (if one exists) or advertise in the various "Cat Lovers" news groups and discussion boards and forums. These resources are relatively inexpensive to advertise in but do allow you to target people interested in your type of product and who are "Net Savvy," and can appreciate the resources at your web site.
  • The narrower you make your niche the better you will turn up in the search engines. Your page will be designed specifically for that niche. Not a broad "net" trying to catch any web surfer you can. But just only those web surfers who have an interest in your products and the niche you are trying to fill. You do not want web surfers who are not interested in your product as they will only waste your time (and theirs) and your resources.
  • Look for other "related" associations and organizations to establish relationships with.
  • Consider "donating" a small percentage of each sale for those associations or organizations that will help promote your product.
• For more information about marketing your web site go here, where I share my thoughts on marketing in today's post DOT.com "Bust" period: The "Mature" Internet.

Lastly, and most important! Look at your venture as an investment in your future not a "get rich quick" scheme. Remember the successful web sites loose money for a year or more before they are able to get on top. Look at Amazon.com, it took them years before they had a profitable quarter. Yet few doubted they would be a success. You too can be a success if you approach the Internet as a long-term business opportunity.

Bottom Line: To succeed with an online storefront find and exploit a niche and consider your endeavor as a long term investment in both money and time, not a get rich quick scheme!

Sincerely,

Thurman "Ray" Plumlee
The Web Helper