September 11, 2006

Presentation for Sports Retailers

Yesterday, yes on Sunday, I gave a presentation to a small group of independent sports retailers that were having their seasonal convention at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. The presentation was on basic web 101 strategies and what these small businesses could and should do to be online. Of the fifty or so people in attendance, the usage of the Internet was across the board from those that had no site to those that were doing full ecommerce.

Five years ago this presentation would have been largely an education on what the Internet was, but I felt comfortable that kind of presentation would have been too remedial. Instead, I focused on the various types of websites available from a marketing/brochure site to full ecommerce to a blog. Not surprisingly, the most popular topic was blogging.

These business owners have made their living by having a voice. You go to Sears or Walmart if you want to buy something off the shelf. You go to one of these independent retailers if you want to talk about how to better use your fly fishing rod or which glove is going to fit your daughter best in her first year of T-ball. Blogging can give these retailers an opportunity to maintain that voice online.

And, as has been the trend of late, the conversation eventually found its way back to “The Long Tail.”

Posted in Reno-Tahoe, Web Design