Although many independent retailers (your primary wholesale customers) are a bit behind the curve when it comes to technology – even for browsing online, putting up a website with online ordering capacity for wholesale offers many advantages:
• Your complete product catalog is on-line, where you may easily send customers .
• You spend less time (and expense) handing out flyers.
• Online shopping is another way for customers to order (along with fax, phone, and email).
• You attract buyers searching the web for “wholesale” products more easily.
• The automatic credibility of an online wholesale presence.
You can find tons of resources on and off the web describing how to develop and market a website. Rather than re-invent that wheel, I want to address just the unique steps to developing a wholesale website, where many issues and concerns are different than with a typical retail or information website.
A wholesale-only website offers all of the same sections as a retail website, PLUS an additional section or two specific to wholesaling. Most important, however, is to understand that your audience is different. So how you talk to your wholesale customer is VERY different to how you talk or write to someone who is going to USE the product. Following are tips, information, and recommendations I learned while developing my own sites:
1. KEYWORD and KEYPHRASE RICH. Keywords are words or phrases people enter into a search engine to find what they’re looking for on the Internet. Each word or phrase is a completely different search. To attract these free “lookers”, make sure your “copy” or selling verbiage, includes the most relevant words and phrases your wholesale customers are likely to type in. Also consider the needs of different target markets. For example, a gift basket company may type in “wholesale gift basket supplies”, while a restaurant with a gift shop might type in something like “wholesale food gifts from (state)”.
2. HOME or ‘WELCOME’ PAGE. Since this is the first page most buyers see, you need to explain immediately that you are a wholesale web site selling products only to verifiable retailers. Be sure to offer a link to your retail web site, to serve the many consumers who may bump into this site as well. Make you home page keyword rich!
3. ‘ABOUT’ PAGE. This page is important for telling your story and creating a personal perspective about you and your business. A bit of history and background to your company changes buyer perception about you from an unknown, faceless, cyber-entity into a real person and enterprise on the web. Spend some time with this section. Describe how and why you got into the business, any special ingredients or raw materials you use, and any other good stuff (which makes for interesting reading)!
