We built it, why won't they come?

There are a plethora of visually stunning websites that retail businesses have spent thousands of dollars developing. The site gets launched after many months of design and development time; the business owners are convinced that their sales are going to exponentially explode!

And then they don't. A whole lotta bucks and zero bang.

"Why don't people buy from my website?" The business owners ask themselves. "My site is gorgeous; it's hip; our products are great!"

Just like any other business venture, websites require creative and persistent marketing strategies in order to draw a crowd. The method of marketing can be considerably different, while sharing many similarities to the opening of a new retail location: you have to let your existing and potential customers know what the address is in order to entice them to shop at your online store.

• If you have a storefront, be sure to place your URL (website address) on your signage, stationery, shopping bags and anything else that you would normally put your logo on
• Tell people about it! Make sure that your staff are trained to talk about it: "Check out OurShop.com; you can preview and purchase our new spring line there!"
• Don't put images that make your product look poorly; nice pictures are very important
  
• Make sure the content on your site is indexable by the major search engines
• Make sure your commerce solution works; test it!
• Ensure that as many payment options as possible are available to your customers, (There's nothing more frustrating than getting to the checkout and discovering that the store won't accept your preferred credit card.

Be excited about it! You have just opened a new location! Celebrate it; everybody loves a party!