This was the title of a brochure from some “take-their-money-while-they’re-blind” company trying to sell Web sites to unsuspecting businesspeople back when the dot com boom was raging.. What utter bs! If even a small fraction of 40 million people did visit your web site, your Internet Service Provider’s server would die from overload. And besides 40 million was probably a substantially inflated overestimate of Web surfers at that time anyway.

The truth is that if you’re the average business-to-business Web site, you’ll probably have more like 100 to 1,000 visitors a week anyway. The key is to make sure you get the right kind of visitors, the ones who will purchase your goods or services.

While we’re here remember just ‘cos you have visitors don’t think it means you make any money … try Food Porn – www.foodporn.com … how many visitors are looking for something other than what they are offering?

Think of your web site as you would your physical business. Lots of people walking past your door, inside “just looking” or walking past not interested. Your web site is no different.

How does the small business person, like you, compete with the Coles www.coles.com.au, Harvey Norman www.harveynorman.com.au Ikea www.ikea.com.au or Rivers www.rivers.com.au ? You don’t have the capital to use the department-store approach and nor should you. The key for small businesses is to master the art of niche marketing.

1. Profile Your Customers First, profile who your customers are likely to be. Take an hour or two with a friend or business associate or spouse and describe in detail the characteristics they are likely to possess.

2. Where Do They Congregate? Next, decide where those kinds of people are likely to congregate on the Internet and in the physical world. If you haven’t discovered Internet mailing lists and news groups, there’s no time like the present and more importantly if you don’t know where they congregate in the physical world then things are pretty grim!. Contrary to what you think you’ll find many of your customers congregated into neat niches.

Many businesses forget to cross colateralise (?) …. link to their web site from their printed communications and vice versa. Provide your prospects with the ability to be informed in different ways in different environments about what values you deliver.

Will 40 million people surf to your store?
In your dreams!

But if 200 to 1,000 targeted people come and you have a quality product to offer, at a value for $$ price, with a convenient purchase and delivery system worked out, you may well be able to carve out a significant business from the Web. I’ve used the example of retail products for sale, but the strategy works well for services, too.

1. Create a profile of your potential customers.
2. Find out where they congregate on the Internet
3. Get your message out to them in a Net-acceptable manner.

Go do it!

Non-aggressive marketers seldom do well on or off the Net