The other day I was talking with a friend, and as usual the conversation drifted to their website (this is one of the things that just comes with being an inbound marketer). They had recently built a website to compliment their handmade item business. They had been selling on Etsy for quite some time, and had decided they were done paying fees when they could sell it themselves.
So, they built a website using one of those DIY platforms, set it up with a shopping cart system and waited for the money to start rolling in…
…if you listen closely you can hear the crickets.
What Happened? No Website Marketing.
Their sales began to slip, and then fell to almost nothing as they quit posting things to their Etsy site and focused on adding products to their personal business site. The problem they ran into is the same one I see countless businesses hit all the time. They believed in the “Field of Dreams” approach to website marketing.
If you build it, will they come?
The short answer here is: “Probably not.”
Many people seem to think that all they have to do is build a website and customers will magically rush to the purchase button. Now, if you were an established brand this may just be the case. Unfortunately for most of us, this isn’t how it happens. There are a million, billion websites out there all vying for the attention of potential customers and the search engines. If you don’t make yourself heard, you will basically get lost in the cornfield.
You have to be The Voice.
Just a side note: How great was “Field of Dreams”?
In the movie, Ray is out there busting his hump trying to make it on the farm. And to be honest, everything would have gone hunky-dory had it not been for the voice. Once the voice has Ray’s attention, it is able to convince him to plow under his field and build a freaking baseball field!
Ray bought the idea and everything worked out in the end, but first The Voice had to get noticed. It had to put itself out there so Ray could make the decision to listen.
Marketing a website is basically the same concept. In order to make something happen, you have to put yourself out there.
You have to be The Voice.
Want to learn more? Download the FREE E-Book, The Ultimate How-To Marketing Guide, which includes great tips on how to get started with marketing your website!