Business owners and managers are routinely told that more traffic will help them to generate more profit.  Sometimes, they are told this by well meaning staff; other times they are reminded by consulting professionals and experts in the field of marketing.  This is understandable, and in many cases it is true: more traffic to the business means higher revenues and profits.

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But getting more traffic to the business doesn’t address the one of the most important questions that every business owner or manager must answer.  That question is this: what makes that business worth going to, instead of all of the other businesses like it?  To put it in the language of a potential customer, “why should I come to your location or store and buy from you?”

A website is essential for a local business.  It does serve as a reference for those who want to know what the business is about, as well as what it sells.  The website also gives prospects and customers an idea of if or when they can visit that business, as well as a way to contact someone it there is an issue that needs to be addressed.  It is, in effect, the public face of the business to the entire world.  However, some will ask, justifiably, "why does my business need a website?" 

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This is actually a good question if your business only serves as an online 'billboard" for your business.   It does cost money; without necessarily causing paying customers to spend any more with you.  However, there is more that a website can to do build your profits. 

Most businesses have a standard website that displays their hours of operation and directions on where prospects can go to make purchases. While these websites are effective in getting people the information they need quickly, it's also prudent to use some of the space to generate leads.

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When a potential customers come to your website, you can get statistics on what they did when they visited. You can also find out what pages they were most interested in clicking on.

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Identifying Your Visitor

There will be times when you will outstrip your budget in what you spend on advertising.  When that happens, the right answer might not be to spend more.  Sometimes the right answer is to use your resources more effectively to get clients and prospects to take action.  In this article we will discuss a few of those ways to use your existing business resources.

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One of the most important resources that you can work with would be those customers who are at your location or your website, and ready to make their purchase.  The fact is that once they have already committed to buy from you, you are much more likely to make an additional sale with them, than if you waited until they decided to come back to your location.

As a business owner, you know that one of the most important parts of your business is marketing and promotion.  Reaching people with the right message about what you do is crucial to getting prospects to try you and getting customers to come back to you.  In just the last two decades, there has been a dramatic shift from reaching people by newspapers, radio and broadcast television to reaching them on their personal computers.  That does not mean that the need to advertise in newspapers, radio and/or television has gone away entirely.  But it does mean that they take up a smaller percentage of what companies spend on promoting their business.

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Companies made this shift because people have dramatically increased the amount of time that they spend online. 

Getting interviewed on local media can be beneficial for any local small business. The fact that you are being discussed without having to advertise in the traditional sense makes your business's claims more believable. In addition to this, you're instantly seen as being worthy of the viewing, reading or listening audience's time.

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However, there is a high threshold for local media to place businesses in their daily programming. Most reporters and anchors receive numerous tips about potential stories every day. They must then decide whether there is enough human interest for viewers to be engaged. A press release announcing something new that's happening at your location will probably not pique their interest.

Whether you pay someone to structure your promotions and advertisements or you write them yourself, you can benefit from knowing and exercising basic copywriting tactics. Modern-day copywriting is primarily based on direct response marketing, which allows you to get immediate feedback from your prospect regarding your sales messages.

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By taking note of what causes the majority of buyers to make purchases when they see, view or hear your offer, you're able to know what's working in real time.  This feedback is crucial in being able to adjust quickly, and test new theories until you have a winning advertisement.

If your product meets the needs of a particular demographic or group of consumers, you may be able to use niche marketing strategies. If you notice that there is a identifiable grouping of people that always buy your products, it's probably time for you to do more extensive research on that grouping of people.

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You will want to know what their buying habits are, but that's standard for all marketing, regardless of whether or not you are focused on a particular niche. You will want to go to steps further in your research. One of the most important things for you to find out is what kind of media they consume...

One of the ways that you will promote your business will be to use relevant content for your audience. You'll likely start by producing blog posts about problems and/or goals that your prospects and customers have. In addition to this, you'll likely also create and upload videos that will be of interest to them. In some cases, you may go the extra step of providing audio conversations (called podcasts). In essence, you'll have text, audio and video content that you'll want to put in the hands of those who follow your company on a regular basis.

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Users will typically receive this content by being subscribed to your e-mail database. To notify them of the new content, you'll send out an e-mail by your autoresponder service...

One of the ways to get more traffic to your business is to have a ready solution to a problem that a potential customer is trying to solve.   In particular, if you can position your business on the internet, so that people who are looking for the solution that your company has can easily find out, you will have more customers.  Most companies make themselves findable by using search engine optimization (SEO).  SEO provides business owners with the necessary tools they need in order make sure that their website shows up in the search engine results, when a potential customer types in a related keyword.

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The search engine company, Google.com (Google), has made it easy in recent years for your company to be found for its specialty. 

When you notice that your sales lower then you are feel they should be, you will need to take action quickly. However, the common reaction is that your company may not be getting enough traffic to your location or to your website.

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While that may be true, there are other things to observe prior to spending more financial resources on traffic. In fact, you'll benefit most from looking at some fundamentals before you consider attracting new customers to your business.  One of the most commonly overlooked fundamentals is the location's conversion rate.