I receive a lot of mail, both snail and e, asking how to market a small business on the Internet. Mostly, the request contains words to the effect of, “. . . but we’re different.” My answer is always the same, “Yes, but your clients and customer’s aren’t!” Let me explain.

When you meet a potential client, you often introduce yourself with a business card containing your company name, address, phone number, what you do, and your name. When your contact shows interest above politeness, you elaborate with words designed to determine if there is a specific interest in what you do. If there is, you talk about one of your products or services your contact wants to explore. You may leave a brochure or invite them to visit your business or make an appointment to visit them, but you always talk in terms of helping them in some way. You may even include some pricing information.

Your website should contain the same basic information in the same easy-to-understand format. If it doesn’t, you’re wasting your money.

YOUR HOME PAGE
Forget the glitz and glamour. Flashing pictures, scrolling text, audio, video, and similar action items don’t attract customers, they cause a delay in discovering the very information you want to convey! Not all of your viewers have a 1.5gh computer with a T-1 line connection; some are still using computers, browsers, and modems from the 80s.

Your home page should contain the same basic information as your business card, plus the next level of information you would present to an interested contact. Keep it simple, but make your home page an entry or ‘portal’ point for additional information, just as you would do in a face-to-face meeting. For examples of this approach, visit some of the ‘portal’ websites like www.yahoo.com, www.aol.com, www.netscape.com, and the new www.quixtar.com.

At a minimum, your home page should contain your company name, address, phone & email contacts, and a basic overview of what you do. In addition, you should have a directory of your site (preferably on the left side of the screen) directing the viewer to a specific group of products, services, and information.

If what you do is not easily explainable in a half dozen words or so, include a picture. For example, if your business has how-to books for sale, flower baskets for corporate gifts, and you offer classes in tie-dying, the left side of your home page could list these with an appropriate picture explanation of each. Don’t get fancy, keep it simple! Remember that pictures and graphics slow the site, so keep these at a minimum!

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
If your business is supplying products and services to other businesses, you can include the information your prospects want to know right on your home page. For example, if you supply shrink-wrap packaging systems to manufacturers, it only makes sense to put a phrase right on your home page that says this! You are not looking for business from the public; so don’t waste space and your prospect’s time with cute graphics and sayings or inefficient data. Come right to the point. A great phrase or sentence could be: “We supply shrink-wrap packaging systems to manufacturers.”

PERSONALIZE YOUR SITE
Yes, www.amazon.com remembers your name and what you bought last time, and will tempt you with new books and CDs in that same area. As a small businessperson you can’t afford the horrendous cost of the massive databases and back-office processing this entails, nor can you afford the additional time and cost of maintaining these products. But you can offer personalized service, on or off the web. A simple comment on each product/service page that states something like: “Call us if you have specific needs not listed on this page. We love challenges!”

WEB SALES
If you don’t have the whole package of web selling, don’t bother. Today’s sophisticated web buyer wants to use their credit card, have instant verification of it’s use, expects an email confirmation within minutes, and delivery to their door in three days or less. These services are available (ask your ISP and web developer for help in finding them), and if you want or expect to do a lot of selling from your site, they can be economically justified. Oh yes, your web products should be less expensive than your normal pricing, otherwise why should your prospect bother?

ADVERTISING YOUR SITE
To advertise your site, hire a professional web developer with a track record of successful web sites. Check them out! Next, use every other media available to attract viewers. TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, flyers, brochures, and anything else you use should prominently identify your website. You might also indicate the money-savings prospects can expect by using the website!

OTHER ITEMS
I am not saying you shouldn’t use audio, video, or any other gimmick to attract attention to your website. What I am saying is that as a small business person, you probably don’t have the money nor the time to keep the website fresh and exciting for the people visiting. You want to make money. Keep it simple, to the point, and a more-or-less duplicate of your business card introduction and follow-up. It’s worked for years. It still works.