“My son, observe the postage stamp! Its usefulness depends upon its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there.”

– Josh Billings

Many of us build web sites in the hope that they will drive our business growth. Instead what happens, is that not very much happens!

I believe there are three predominant types of web site:

Those that people get to because the business has a large volume of customers and prospects and uses their marketing muscle to drive traffic to the site.

Those that get people to the site through organic searches as a result of effective search engine optimization and pay per click advertising.

The third and definitely the most common are the ones that receive almost no traffic. They are seldom found by search engines, and the only time anyone finds them is when they search for the company by name or URL.

For most people having a high traffic website is a distant dream. They don’t have the time, knowledge or stamina to create a home page and site that is optimized so that people find it easily. This means that few people ever harness the power of the web to build their business. This may not matter if you are a local business, like a convenience store of local automotive repair facility, but if you could sell what you offer around the world, then you are missing a huge leverage opportunity to grow your business.

There is an alternative to the optimized site and it very effective and very inexpensive.

E-mail marketing may be one of the most valuable tools to marketers today, but it does require both knowledge and skill. Not only is it inexpensive but it has huge reach.

Firms that send regular e-mail to their lists, loaded with useful information are able to use e-mail to encourage people to click on links to special offers on micro-sites. These micro-sites sell one thing and one thing only.

This strategy although different from creating a high traffic web site, employs many of the advantages of traditional web marketing and is easier and cheaper to execute.

Good copy is the most critical element. If you don’t have good copy people won’t read your message. The message needs to focus on the needs of your target audience and not simply be about you and your firm. This is true for both the copy in your newsletter and the copy on the micro-site.

The second element is the size and quality of your list. Lists can be built through your normal marketing efforts but also adopting some techniques like co-registration with other news letters, endorsements from other newsletter writers, being offered as a premium for other similar products and services.

The newsletter builds a relationship and a sense of community with the readers. This builds trust and over time if your products and services are what your market needs, it also build sales.

If you want to harness the power of the web consider how you might use this strategy to grow your business.