Let Your Customers Know You're OPEN For Business

By Denis Obrien

Having your 'OPEN' sign above the door to your business lets customers know you are ready to serve and they are welcome to come in and browse. The 'OPEN' sign also draws attention to your store, attracting new visitors.

The same can be said for your internet business. You put up your website and then you need to let potential customers know that you are open, or else no one will be buying anything.

With a traditional bricks and mortar business, location, location, location is one of the best ways to get your business noticed. If you are on the High Street or Main Boulevard, you can depend on plenty of foot traffic to see your business and possibly stop in and browse. If you're sandwiched in between top retail stores which heavily advertise, you benefit from their advertising.

But what if your business is only on the internet? How do you get that perfect location? How do you profit from other website's traffic and have their customers visit your web site? How do you get the foot traffic to beat a path to your 'OPEN' sign?

The amount of traffic you get to your business is dependent on letting your potential customers know your location. And you want to make sure that the people who you tell are the ones likely to buy from you. If you open a car dealership, no point in telling boat owners about your latest 'green' car. So, be sure you let the right people know you're open for business.

The foot traffic to a traditional business is equivalent to website traffic for your internet business. Just as offline business send out letters and flyers to their 'targeted' customers, you need to do the same for your internet business. You have to make sure that if for example, your internet business is for 'hockey equipment' your visitors are specific to either 'ice hockey' equipment or 'field hockey'.

One way to get the right customers to your internet store is to use a type of 'classified ad' for the internet, known as PPC or Pay Per Click.

When you place a classified ad in your weekend local paper you reach an audience that includes potential customers. You could also place classified ads in more targeted advertising mediums such as magazines or newsletters to ensure the response to your offer is higher.

On the internet you would use a search engine to place your classified ad. Search engines are where potential customers go looking for what they're after. The ad is written in such a way that only people interested in seeing your online store will click on your ad. If they click through to your web page from your ad, you pay for the click through.

The response from this type of advertising is fairly quick and you could experience an increase in visitors to your online store in a short space of time. And depending on how good your offer is, you may get quite a few sales, not just visitors browsing your store.

So, do an online search for a Pay Per Click advertiser who can help you to most closely match your target audience with your offer. And just as with offline advertising, you will be limited to the amount of words you can use to describe your offer and be sure to give your location.

Your location on the internet will be your internet web address. It's very important that this be included in your ad or else you probably won't get any visitors. They wouldn't know where to find you!

You can be sure then that the customer browsing your internet store is highly likely to make a purchase.