By Jeff Grant
In 2001, my firm, TRIO Display, was essentially a retail design group that produced stores for professional sports teams, museums, and a myriad of individual specialty retailers. Staff was steady at four to five designers and artists and we pulled in subcontractors as needed. Display sales and design fees ranged from $500,000 to $650,000 per year, which was enough for all of us to live comfortably.

2001 was a wake-up year for me, as it was for many business owners. September 11 made me realize that if I got hit by a truck, my little business was gone and my family, while insured, would still suffer a diminution in lifestyle. I thought about expanding my business by growing the fixture end via a print catalog. I’d been in the mail order fixture business previously and knew that making a real dent required enough capital to send out at least 100,000 catalogs. Even then you were lucky if four percent of the people who received them actually opened them and that, in fact, it takes three to five mailings before customers take you seriously.

In 2002, the Web was moving forward, as was e-commerce, but the only way to reach the top of the search engines was through expensive search engine optimization (SEO, a method of manipulating website copy to push your website listing up in the natural listings) and that seemed like so much high-tech voodoo to me. Companies were spending lots of money to acquire catchy Web names and to promote them but these were no guarantee of success. In April of 2002, while using Yahoo (a portal site) for a search, I noticed some highlighted listings with a dollar amount placed after the entry. Something like this: www.dogleashes.com (.15¢). I was intrigued by the number, so I did a little research and it led me to a company called Overture.

I took one look at Overture’s program and had an absolute epiphany.

I discovered that Overture had set up a keyword brokerage (a keyword is the search word someone puts into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo). Working with Overture a firm could bid on keywords that would allow placement at the top of a Yahoo Web search. At the time our website was a 4-page brochure detailing our design services. I took one look at Overture’s program and had an absolute epiphany. I remember calling one of my associates and telling him that I had just discovered the future of our business.

Within a week we had interviewed several Web designers and hired one on a full-time, interim basis. We started building the site focusing on retail design. The keywords were very inexpensive and we spent less then $500 per month but gained new clients within days. In fact we pulled in $10,000 in design fees within four weeks and that was followed by selling the store fixtures to the customers we had designed the stores for.

With a little excess cash we invested in the site partnering with vendors to show their product on our site while they drop-shipped orders for us. Within a year, Triodisplay.com went from four pages to several thousand. We also kept raising the ante with our Overture bids and in the second year joined with Google in an Adwords campaign that soon eclipsed what we were doing with Overture. Sales doubled the first year and we hired more salespeople, designers, and a full-time Web marketer with whom I attended various industry seminars.

Five years later it’s 2007 and we now have 22 employees and still hire subs as necessary. Business is ten times what it was in 2002, and we show a profit every year while still providing competitive salaries, medical care, and profit sharing. As a 55-year-old businessman I went from a lifetime of very traditional marketing methods to embracing a new technology that was substantially different. It was a challenge but what helped was surrounding myself with open-minded, tech-savvy help that “got it.”

Within a year, Triodisplay.com went from four pages to several thousand.”

So the Web has worked for me. What does it mean to you? I talk to or work with approximately 50 retailers every week. I tell every one the same thing. If you don’t develop a Web strategy at the same time you are working on your bricks-and-mortar retail plan, you are not taking full advantage of the opportunities available to you. How so?

Most, if not all, Web-savvy customers expect a business to have a Web presence.
A Web presence provides opportunities to expand your business beyond its physical location.
A Web presence enhances your brand.
A Web presence gives you an opportunity to simply sell more stuff. Lots more stuff.

I can’t tell you how many clients I have who suffer in silence paying too much rent with too few customers just scrapping along earning less then they would if they just got a job. I typically have a discussion with every client about the idea of opening a website or marketing the site they already have. For every positive response I receive, I get 20 who provide me with the “Too’s”;
“Too expensive”
“Too much competition”
“Too much work”
“Too, too, too, too….”

My response: Too much complaining without taking any responsibility for a lack of research, diligence and effort. But for those of you who want to move forward, who want to make more money, and who want to increase the value of your business and the quality of your business life, read on.

Here’s what we suggest:

1. Figure out what you want to sell. Services or products, just make sure it’s something you have a passion for and understand. I had a conversation with a client in my office one day and we were discussing the process of product selection. I showed him a cafeteria tray that I had received from the Reagan Library for some work that we did there. I pointed out that they had bought it somewhere. So we Googled cafeteria trays, found a supplier, used some online keyword tools to determine how many people were actually looking for that type of product and quickly decided that with a little work and the addition of some other food handling products, there was the potential for a business. A decent medium-sized million-dollar business.

If you have your own business in place, the obvious choice is to market what you are already selling. You just have to make sure of one thing: That the product is sellable with keywords. Some months ago, we were helping a client sell inflatable figures for movie crowd scenes. So few people were clicking on the obvious keywords, “inflatable figures for movie crowd scenes” that it was difficult to drive traffic to the site. The people who did come were great prospects and in many cases became customers because their search was so specific. But we suggested that the client supplement his online ads with traditional media advertising and public relations efforts.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to sell dog collars, you may get so many hits with such a small return that the keyword advertising costs may be excessive. In many cases, using a broad base of keywords is not the way to go. Pick niche categories. For instance:

Don’t sell dog collars; sell leopard print dog collars.
Don’t sell musical instruments; sell harmonicas and harmonica music.
Don’t sell clothing; sell sun proof UV rated hats.
Don’t sell surfboards; sell surfboard bags and leashes.
Don’t sell lingerie; sell bras for large women.
Don’t sell cameras; sell underwater cameras.

Buy the keywords for the specific niche, not the broad category. Keyword costs will be lower and the targeted audience, while smaller, will be much more interested in the specific product your selling.

Get the picture. Sell a deep, narrow niche. Become the expert with the best selection in that category. Don’t worry about the competition as long as you can compete equally or better. Just make sure that there are keywords available on Google or Yahoo that will drive customers to your site.

2. Do the buying research. Once you pick a category make sure you have access to merchandise. Talk to your prospective vendors. Try for a drop-ship program so that warehousing and shipping inventory is not an issue.

3. Research the competition. Who’s already doing what you want to do? Are they preempting the field? Last year we decided to start selling mannequins. Talk about competition. There must be twenty fixture houses selling the same imported lines of mannequins at ever dropping prices. I had one of our Web researchers find every available mannequin line from low end to high end. We reviewed the competition, matched most but not all pricing, looked for ethnic mannequins, sexy mannequins, kids, pregnant, oversized, etc. mannequins. We found a source for foam body parts, heads, butts, hands, etc., that were not readily available elsewhere. Within 30 days we took mannequin sales from less then $1000 per month to in excess of $15-$20,000 per month. This month. Last month, and every month into the foreseeable future.

How did we do this in a packed field? By using keyword advertising in niches like ethnic mannequins, “voluptuous” mannequins, kids mannequins, etc. It also helped that we already had potential mannequin customers visiting our website in the form of clothing retailers looking for clothing racks, displays, hangers, etc, which we also advertise and sell. This cross-sell synergy is powerful and grows with every new category.

4. Hire a great Web tech and a great Web designer and an even better Web marketer. The Web designer will tell you how the site should look. Personally, I just looked at 100s of sites and picked a few I wanted to emulate. Then I gave my site to the Web designer to create. Note that the Web designer will probably be a temporary hire at least until you need full-time help.

The Web designer hands the finished design off to your Web tech who will put the site up, attach the e-commerce software, keep the bugs at bay, and more. He will also keep the site updated on a daily or as required basis. I hired a full-time tech early on and he’s been worth every penny.

The Web marketer may handle one or two tasks. Some are involved with SEO, which is not an easy thing to do and you’re fighting with lots of other SEO-driven sites. Further, it takes so long to reach the top ten in the natural search listings that you could be out of business before anybody ever found you. Not to mention that Google and Yahoo are changing their search parameters so it’s becoming much more difficult to move up the ladder naturally.

The Web marketer’s strength should be keyword campaigns. The challenge is to find and acquire the keywords that will keep you at the top of the search engines without costing so much that you can’t make a profit. In some cases we spend $1000 per month for a keyword campaign that provides ten times that in profit. In other cases that return is significantly less and the determinant is competition, pricing, availability, and a myriad of other factors we have no control over. In every case we have to test and adjust the campaign and then monitor it on a daily basis to see what works and what does not.

You may also need a writer. We did not hire a dedicated copywriter until last year because we had some good writers on staff. We decided that the site had to be more compelling, more interactive and more community driven. We needed a monthly newsletter, a blog, a weekly postcard and several articles a month to keep the site fresh. Enter a full-time writer and now a part-time public relations writer. What a difference. Our customers are happier. The site visits have increased, as have sales. In addition, all that content has driven us up the ranks of the natural listings.

5. To begin your site, (this is easy to say) just get started. Learn the marketing end by doing research on the Google Adwords site. Do the same on Yahoo and MSN’s advertising sites. It will sound like gobbledygook at first but persevere. Then do some basic Web marketing research on Google. Look for articles about Web marketing. Sign up for free Web marketing newsletters. Learn the language before you talk to a consultant. In fact, on a small scale the marketing end is not brain surgery. You may be able to handle it yourself. If not, look for someone who works with small businesses. Talk to their customers. Get costs up front. They will all want to maintain the site on a monthly basis. Do it yourself if you can. It’s not that difficult.

Set up the site and let it grow at your own comfort level. Don’t get in over your head and do realize that just like any other business a website is process driven. You set it up and do some initial marketing. You get a few orders and capture e-mails for your newsletter. You send out the newsletter on a regular basis. You put out regular press releases, add to the marketing spends with better keywords and slowly but surely grow the site. You stay on top of the competition and look for other synergistic products you can add to the mix. You add smart, savvy staff as required and, in time, you will make a profit and with luck and hard work, a big one.

I don’t mean to make this sound easy. My background is in law and business and I’m not a computer guy. I use my Mac to draw, to write, to run spreadsheets, and to browse the Web. I couldn’t program my way out of a paper bag. I started the TRIO site on a shoestring and bootstrapped it to where it is today. You can do the same thing. Get started, get help, and get going.

Jeff Grant owns San Diego-based Triodisplay.com. His firm designs retail stores and sells store displays and equipment. TRIO also performs website reviews and provides website keyword planning and pay-per-click implementation.