Small businesses like us have inherent disadvantages compared to the big boys. This is particularly evident on the Web.

True that we can create Web sites that don’t look that it is a one-person based operation but a million dollar operation. However, the big boys still outgun us in terms of marketing resources, technological capability and scope of inventory.

In order for our web retail businesses to thrive and succeed amidst the competition, here are two important things we need to consider and harness:

1. Ability to attract TARGETED traffic = you don’t want any kind of traffic, but you want traffic that are actually interested in what you offer. Your traffic generation strategy should focus on what allowing you to get as much traffic as possible at the lowest cost that would be interested to buy whatever it is you are selling

This includes:

• Knowing how to optimize your search pages to get good organic search engine rankings
• Knowing how to maximize your pay per click strategy and improve results
• Knowing how to build your brand
• Knowing how to tap the media and press to raise awareness about your company

2. Ability to CONVERT visitors into buyers = you need to be obsessed with your conversion rate. From the “buy me” buttons to the categorization of products, every single thing on your website is a signal to a buyer and can spell the difference between browsing and buying

This includes:

• Knowing how to build customer confidence in your business
• Knowing how to maximize after sales opportunities
• Knowing how to improve the overall buyer experience
• Knowing how to improve product presentation (from the pictures to the sales copy)

You can get a few ideas on how to improve the sales and competitiveness of your online store from the article “How To Sell More on the Web: 30 Tips To Increase Conversion Rates For An Ecommerce Site”