Don’t Just Build a Website – Build a Brand

It’s too often when people talk about starting a business online with the thought in mind of just building a website. Most people who actually start a business online fail. Why? There are a lot of reasons you can fail online. More than I can start talking about in this article. However, there is one key factor that can take your website to the next stage of actually building a successful long-term business, and that is building a brand.

Let’s take a look at physical retail stores for a moment. Think about the businesses that are truly successful that have a loyal customer base. Those are the companies that decided to take their own product or a manufactured product and created great marketing, not just advertising. Those are the brands that believed in their company as more than just a store or just another product, and it is you who should believe more in your business than just another website. Build a brand.

Take a look at Zappos

In 1999, a man by the name of Tony Hsieh took on a project as a venture capitalist to back a company that essentially was just an investment on a website that sold shoes. With growing interest in the company and an idea to take a shoe website and create something much, much bigger than the idea of just selling shoes, Tony Hsieh created a website, that is now considered a ‘culture,’ with Zappos. While in 1999 the website was said to gross “almost nothing,” in 2007, Zappos sold $800 million in merchandise and grossed over $1 billion in 2009. In 2009, Zappos became part of the Amazon family for a deal said to be worth $1.2 billion.

So, how did Zappos do it? What did Tony do that most entrepreneurs don’t? He thought of his business of ‘selling shoes online,’ as a possibility to build something much bigger. Tony created a company culture where customer service was king and the product wasn’t actually the shoes Zappos was selling but the actual product is the consumer. By creating ‘happiness’ of buying through Zappos, the business became more than just selling shoes online and creating a great shopping experience. Zappos expanded to sell thousands of products in recent years.

Think of your website as a vehicle for promoting and enhancing your brand. Your business won’t just be creating a successful website, but creating a successful business that will one day be established as a brand. Having a brand instead of just a website will mean you’ll have loyal customers, increasing referring business, selling at your own price points (you won’t have to be the cheapest to compete), and the ability to keep expanding your business once it has a name.

Here are some tips to start building your brand online:

THE NAME REPRESENTS THE BRAND: Don’t just come up with a name for your website, think of a name that is brandable – that you can imagine being “big.”

MARKETING. NOT JUST ADVERTISING: Sure, putting an ad with Google AdWords will drive and deliver traffic to your website, but if that person isn’t being sold on any idea other than maybe a good product at a good price, that person may go elsewhere before buying from you. Your marketing is the message you will create that will speak to the consumer. The way Zappos is and has been marketed to the success they have today is if and when you shop at Zappos, you will have a great experience with the company and its customer service.

BE CONSISTENT: As much as we believe change is good, in business, you also have to be consistent. Be true to whom you are and once you establish an identity, be consistent with it. That very thing is what will always drive the consumers back to you.

BE PATIENT: Building a brand doesn’t happen overnight. A brand is something that has to be built and created. A growing organic process of your business growing will pay off with long-term success.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX: I know, saying this is easier said than done. Nonetheless, it is very important you take a look at your competitors and other big companies and gather ideas to create something else your company (website) can offer or do.

With some work and a brand focus, a small idea can turn into the next big thing.

Pablo Palatnik is the CEO of ShadesDaddy.com, one of the leading online retailers of name brand sunglasses. He has been involved in online marketing for over 8 years. Read more about Pablo here.

Matthew Toren

Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book:Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.