Esther C Kane

The great majority of small businesses have yet to take advantage of Internet Marketing services.  For some, it’s the cost, for others, it’s the inability to comprehend what it is.  So often I hear comments from callers such as…”Well, I guess I’m supposed to have a website so can you build me a website?”

I imagine this must have been what it was like when television or radio first came out.  Trying to educate business owners on the potential these venues have for their businesses is not easy.  If they don’t understand it, they don’t want to participate in it.  Well, at least some of them.  We do have callers who say they don’t care to know how it works, just that it works.  And boy, does it ever!

Yesterday, a small business client that sells one niche product (a natural product for the care of gums) emailed me.  We’ve been marketing his website for only 2 months (so we’ve really just begun) and although the number of visitors to the site has grown his sales were minimal and he felt he wasn’t getting as much business as he should have.  He also felt that the “language” we used on the website for marketing wasn’t correct.  He had investigated this whole “SEO Thing” and he advised me that he’s learned enough about it to know that what we’re doing just wasn’t right.  (I’ll have to let my 40+ clients who’ve been with me for 5+ years know that I’m just faking it!)

My response to him was this…

#1 -  we have to get traffic to the website, we have to let people know that this product exists and what it could do for them establishing why they should purchase it.

#2 – we have to accomplish #1 by going after the keyword phrases that people are already typing in.  We can’t sell a product on the Internet by it’s name only.  If people don’t know the name, they’re not going to find the website.  So, we have to sell it by what it does.

#3 – I repeated my request to him for about the 10th time that he absolutely needs testimonials and recommendations from dentists.  Without those, the product doesn’t have any credibility.  You have to build trust in the viewer coming to the website and you can’t do that by just talking about the product and how great it is!

The client didn’t agree, he just felt he needed to go in a new direction.  Well, can’t win them all I say.  But I felt sorry for him in a way.  I mean, I know that the product could do well for him if he understood how the Internet works.  The ROI (Return On Investment) that he could have gotten from our services for him would have been great.

How do I know?  Because I know that if you give the viewers what they want, you will do well.  It’s happened over and over and over again.  I’ve seen it with great products and services and I’ve seen it with products and services I didn’t think would have a chance, in any market!

Give the audience what they want and you will succeed.