WHAT IS the best way to beg for money in Times Square, New York?

It's a question that fortunately, few of us need to consider! However, by considering it, one can learn a little about what it takes to be a successful online retail business.

Many of us in business know of companies who have set up online shops which haven't made a penny, or perhaps sold only one or two items per month - despite doing all the 'right' things - like spending a lot of money making the website work as fluidly as Amazon.co.uk!

If you have a website as sophisticated as Amazon's but your results are more of a trickle than a river, have you blamed your website designer?

Well, you can forget the blame game - it won't save your site!

For those retailers who have switched off their online operations - do you think that perhaps you have thrown the baby out with the bathwater?

Wouldn't it be great if you could turn your moribund hi-tech virtual shop into a selling powerhouse?

What you need...

Great marketing is what you need to get your website going, so if you are going to spend any money at all, spend it on a good book on marketing an online retail site then simply read and act.

You see, the success of an online shop has more to do with traditional marketing values than the ability to offer the best possible website shop.

It's like McDonalds - do McDonalds make the best hamburger in the world? I don't think so! But which is the most famous and successful hamburger chain brand in the world? No prizes for guessing why - it's that McDonald's marketing efforts have been generally superlative for decades.

Before the internet came along, successful high street retailers were obsessed with getting their 'marketing mix' right - the four Ps of Product, Price, Promotion and Place had to be Perfect.

SInce the advent of online purchasing, nothing has changed.

Let's look at our beggar on Times Square. If he begged holding a hat out, he'd get more money. If he had a little bell on the hat, he'd get more. If he were able to do a little busking act he'd get more still! If he moved his act into a place where the audience could stop and watch the act for longer, he'd get yet more money. If he could target the right audience with the right kind of music he'd make yet more.

Did you know that, before he became famous, Nigel Kennedy used to busk outside Tiffany's jewellers in New York? He made an absolute fortune!

So, in conclusion, think about how you market your business - get a good book on Marketing and apply the methods you read in that book to your WHOLE business. Then, apply what you have learned to the online shop and you'll bring your online shop back from the dead!