Just because you've built it, doesn't mean they'll come.
By Jim Mroczkowski
October 2004
© R-Design, Inc.
Entrepreneurs opening a new brick-and-mortar store take great care to make themselves as visible as possible. They search for a bustling location; they throw a huge grand opening celebration; and of course, they advertise as aggressively as they can. No one would expect to succeed by simply turning on the lights on opening day and waiting for the money to pour in through their nondescript doors. Yet years after the dot-com boom took the world by storm, new web sites are still routinely behaving as if “going live” is the final thing a successful site needs to do. They open their doors in the middle of the roadless wilderness without even hanging a sign out front, and then wait to get rich off of the foot traffic.
Your work is only just beginning once your site goes online. "If you build it, they will come" is not a sound marketing strategy. Like everything else, your site must be promoted. Your site's address must be everywhere from your business cards to your letterhead. You must get as many other sites as possible to link to yours. Most importantly, above all else, your site needs to be listed with search engines. Your site can be a huge success, but only if it is seen by as many people as possible.
October 2004
© R-Design, Inc.
Entrepreneurs opening a new brick-and-mortar store take great care to make themselves as visible as possible. They search for a bustling location; they throw a huge grand opening celebration; and of course, they advertise as aggressively as they can. No one would expect to succeed by simply turning on the lights on opening day and waiting for the money to pour in through their nondescript doors. Yet years after the dot-com boom took the world by storm, new web sites are still routinely behaving as if “going live” is the final thing a successful site needs to do. They open their doors in the middle of the roadless wilderness without even hanging a sign out front, and then wait to get rich off of the foot traffic.
Your work is only just beginning once your site goes online. "If you build it, they will come" is not a sound marketing strategy. Like everything else, your site must be promoted. Your site's address must be everywhere from your business cards to your letterhead. You must get as many other sites as possible to link to yours. Most importantly, above all else, your site needs to be listed with search engines. Your site can be a huge success, but only if it is seen by as many people as possible.