Maybe selling hasn't changed so much

A good sign on the outside of the building once was enough. Today, if your business doesn't have a website, as a practical matter your business doesn't exist.

Your website matters.

But for your website to effectively attract visitors - those potential buyers we once called prospects - and then sell them, it helps to be aware that today's website is a first cousin to yesterday's more traditional marketing campaign: Knowing what you're selling and who is likely to buy it is as much a part of business success today as those factors were when we opened our first marketing textbooks.

Bigger - whether number of website pages or number of site visitors - is not necessarily better. Knowing your audience and targeting your message is.

Believe me.

Or believe Brian Basilico, director of direction at Aurora-based B2b Interactive Marketing Inc.

"Bigger is not better," Basilico is quick to say. "Targeted is better."

Target to attract customers who are likely to buy what you're selling is Basilico's approach. "I can get anybody (website) visitors tomorrow," Basilico says. But, he adds, "Too many people focus on the number of visitors. What matters is to get the right traffic."

Basilico's right traffic is looking for what you're selling. Find those shoppers; deliver an appropriate message and rack up a sale or two or three.

While the tools may have changed - the direct mail postcard replaced by an email message that comes with helpful data analysis, the newsletter replaced by information on your website - the process isn't all that different from it always has been: Find an unfilled need and fill it.

"You still have to know who's playing in your sandbox," Basilico says. "You need to be in front of people who need what you sell."

Here's another Basilico thought: Have more than one website.

"Most web visitors will give your site two or three clicks, maybe two minutes total time," Basilico says. But what if you're selling several items - clothing for Mom, Dad and the kids, for example, or a hardware store full of tools?

Think about not just one site with many pages but, Basilico suggests, two or three sites, each with an easy-to-navigate two or three pages. Featuring grass seed and fertilizer? A well-designed website with a page for each product so a homeowner seeking to refresh the lawn doesn't have to sort through, say, a variety of kitchen appliances or car accessories will help.

Seeking gardeners? Put a video presentation by a local master gardener on your second website - and build from there.

Basilico's thesis: The easier you make it for customers to buy, the more customers will visit your site - and buy. That's a marketing principal that hasn't changed.

In fact, marketing and promotion in many ways matter more than ever. It's your responsibility as a business owner to assure that potential customers know what you're selling and how to find your site.

© 2018 Kendall Communications Inc. Follow Jim Kendall on LinkedIn and Twitter. Write him at Jim@kendallcom.com. Read Jim's Business Owners' Blog at www.kendallcom.com.