No doubt, it’s a lot easier to create an online business than it is to build a bricks-and-mortar storefront. No building inspections, remodels, fixtures, signage or utility bills with your web biz. No months of planning and waiting and budgeting. You can hatch an idea one Friday night and be in business by Monday morning on the web!

Let’s look a little closer at this. What do these steps in real-life business building do for your operation?

Building Inspections
Bricks-and-Mortar: Your architecture is sound, safe and reliable, and meets the highest standards.
Web:  Your web site is coded correctly to ensure reliability, up-to-date techniques, and online security standards are met for payment gateways.

Remodels
Bricks-and-Mortar: Your storefront is lively, interesting and current to attract customers who want to shop somewhere that understands their “vibe.”
Web: Your online business is attractive, well-written, always fresh, and cleanly designed; clients and visitors feel confident that you know your stuff.

Fixtures
Bricks-and-Mortar: Your business space is uncluttered and organization makes it easy to find the product they need.
Web: You minimize gizmos and distractions; your website is easy to navigate.

Signage
Bricks-and-Mortar: Signage is quickly spotted, easy to read, and portrays a powerful message.
Web: Your site is coded and written—optimized—for search engines so potential customers find you with ease.

Utility Bills
Bricks-and-Mortar: You can’t avoid these, but you can make your building efficient and take advantage of the bonuses of being a “green” business.
Web: Reliability and service are critical to keeping your business running 24-7. Ensure you have the best hosting service available.

Careful planning, attention to details, and keeping your customers needs in mind are key to success!

E-mail marketing is a cost effective way to build your business leads and get prospective customers to your small business. Adhering to ethical standards and making sure you are not spamming by allowing potential customers to actively sign up for the e-mail marketing newsletter is important and necessary. The trick to increasing your subscribers is to make your newsletter sign-up prominent on your website. Do this by adding repetition. Make sure the subscribe feature can be found on various pages throughout your website. For example, you can place the feature on a prominent section of the site and make sure it is eye catching enough for user interface to guarantee the reader takes notice, and then reiterate it on the footer section of your site for added effect. Some websites even have pop-ups that automatically appear once a site loads but be careful with this tactic as people often find pop-ups to be aggressive or annoying.

Another way to increase your e-mail marketing list is by offering something of value. People will be more willing to join a list if they get something out of it that they feel benefits them. Offering contests, discounts, or even a link to a free e-book is a great way to give back to a potential customer by letting them know you appreciate them. In doing so, you also give the positive impression that you give valuable information that will help entice and bring trust to your subscribers. A great relationship builder all around.

Make your content interesting. Your goal is to garner and keep people’s interest so that they will stick around. Content is king. Provide good content and success will be inevitable. Many services offer great e-mail marketing software including Constant Contact, Aweber, Graphic Mail, etc. Decide what you want to focus on for your e-mail marketing campaign to get a better idea of which service will best work for you.