Establishing a successful eCommerce website is a tricky proposition. As with any business, a proper marketing campaign is necessary to spread the word about your site efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. But just because it's an online business, you shouldn't restrict your advertising methods to online offerings and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I'll Take Geography For $100, Alex

Although it may sound a bit odd at first, small businesses that are limited to a particular geographic region actually have an advantage in trying to attain natural search engine rankings.

Let's say you sell seashells in Southern Connecticut. It doesn't take a Yale marketing degree to know that it would be unwise for you to spend money advertising to folks living in Utah. Instead, you'd focus your SEO efforts on phrases that included some form of geographic reference, such as "Connecticut seashells" or "seashells in New Haven CT". This is a way of targeting your marketing efforts to people who are actually potential customers. It also has the added benefit of restricting the number of competitors to websites that are within your geographical region.

Unfortunately, for small businesses looking to sell on a national or international level, limiting their marketing efforts to a small geographical region puts a severe limitation on the number of potential customers their ads will reach. Conversely, removing the geographical reference increases the number of competitor sites, and this often results in having to compete against the "big boys" with their stratospheric marketing budgets. It's a classic lose-lose proposition.

If You Build It, They Will Come

While this concept made for a decent movie, if you think it applies to websites, then you're indeed living in a Field of Dreams. If you want people to visit your website, they need to know you're open for business.

This can be difficult as many small business owners fall into an expensive and time-consuming process of trial-and-error, utilizing methods that focus solely on online advertising techniques.

Planning Is The Key

But the real key to successfully marketing your business is to actually market your BUSINESS - not your WEBSITE. And the key to any successful marketing campaign is to make a PLAN. Unless you're extremely lucky, the trial-and-error approach is a classic waste of time and money. And while it's a bit of a cliché, failing to plan really is planning to fail.

The advice I typically give to clients when starting up a new ecommerce site is: First, get the ball rolling by using some type of Pay-Per-Click program. They provide targeted traffic to your site, and most give you the ability to set budgetary limitations to keep your spending in line; Second, enlist the services of a professional marketer to construct a proper marketing plan. Small business owners sometimes see this as an expensive proposition. But it is, in my opinion, a necessary step to a successful online business. While it does involve a small investment, a good marketing person can help to ensure your advertising dollars are spent wisely. This is a must if you're going to play on the same field as the big boys.

Closing the Deal

One question I've heard a number of times is: "People love my site, and I get a decent amount of traffic, but why aren't they buying?" Of course there are many potential answers to this question, but the first thing to look for is pricing.

The Internet makes it very easy for people to find the lowest price (including shipping and handling). And if their perception is that everything else is equal, they will ALWAYS opt for the lowest price.

So if you're looking to sell something on your website, consider a PPC program to get things rolling, hire a professional to help you design an appropriate marketing plan, and be certain to set your prices accordingly. This should improve your chances at long-term success.