What’s a Web portal? I’m going to give you my definition. It’s a website that acts as a gateway to a type of product, an activity, a profession, a business process, an industry, or any one of a number of other things of interest to people. Let’s call the thing of interest the topic of the portal. For instance, if you created a Web portal for mountain climbers, the topic of the portal would be mountain climbing.

What can you expect at a Web portal? Everything! That is, everything that’s relevant to the topic of the portal. Why is a portal important for online marketing? Because it’s an attractor. It brings people in.

Let’s take a look at what we might expect to find at a Web portal for mountaining climbing:

Everything

The ideal portal includes everything relevant to the topic of the portal. Why is this a good idea for online retailing? Or, more specifically, why is this a good idea for you?

It may not be. You have to evaluate the retail situation in regard to the topic. For instance, suppose you are a mountaineering retailer. You may not want to do a mountain-climbing portal for some or all of the following reasons:

• There are already too many mountain-climbing portals. • You’re not an expert mountain climber and don’t feel confident that you can create or collect the amount of content it takes to operate a robust portal.

• You are so busy with your online mountaineering retail sales that you don’t have time to create and operate a portal.

• You sell only mountaineering clothing  (not equipment), and mountain climbing is too broad a topic for you to support with a portal.

If the above are true, what’s the answer for you? Well, one answer is to create a portal that’s more narrow in its scope; that is, the topic is more narrow and more manageable.

Suppose you create and operate a mountaineering clothing portal. You have more closely tailored your portal to your retail business. You have narrowed the scope of the content you need to create or collect for the portal. You have less competition from other portals. And if you’re not an expert, you can learn about mountaineering clothing faster than you can learn about the full scope of mountain climbing.

The goal is to assemble enough content in one website so as to be an attractor to potential customers. If you have a niche into which you are selling, a Web portal may support your sales quite well.

Gradually

But lets look at one more issue: You’re too busy with sales to take the time to build a portal. Yet good retailers always look ahead and do things today to maintain or increase sales in the future. A Web portal is a way to do that. You may need to take time now to ensure the future success of your eBay retail business.

Can you develop a strategy to build a portal slowly? That makes sense. For instance, suppose you add only content to your portal that will be as fresh in five years as it is today. (An explaination of why a doublefaced Dacron polyester fleece is a safe frabric for outdoor use written in 1985 would be as accurate and timely today as when it was written.) You try to add something every month. You can gradually build up your portal, but the content will have a timeless quality to it. After three or four years, your portal will look pretty impressive and presumably will be a sales-producing attraction.

The Partial Portal

A portal is an ambitious project. It’s most likely to be done by a person who’s an expert and goes into the retail business. After all, an expert can create content or may already have some usable content. An expert certainly knows how and where to collect appropriate content.

But if you’re not an expert or don’t have the time, what’s another alternative? Certainly the idea of a portal works to some extent even if you don’t go whole hog with it. In other words, add content to your website that will attract the sort of people who are your potential buyers. Good content will attract people even if it isn’t a comprehensive portal. Indeed, assuming your content (topic) is in line with your retail sales, providing your customers and potential buyers with information related to your products is great customer service.

Content

Certainly Web portals draw on the information. Relevant content is an attractor. Whether you present it in a Web portal, a partial portal, or just as an occasional feature of your website, content attracts.

Attractor or What?

The assumption of this article is that you will use content on the topic of the portal as an attractor to generate more sales. The Web portal is the ultimate expression of content as an attractor. But that’s not the only use. Content that generates sales also provides customer service both before and after a sale. So, there is a huge dimemsion of customer service in any Web portal.

Affiliation

Rather than creating a Web portal, it may be a better idea to join and support one that already exists. Be an active affiliate. Support the portal with money (advertising dollars) and also contribute content. Have your own section on the portal website, if possible. In order to get recognition for your participation, you need to do something more than just advertise. If you appear to be one of the “owners” of the portal due to your presence on the portal, you will get more sales than just through banner ads.

Web Mall

A Web mall is not the same as a Web portal. A Web mall is normally a shopping center on the Web and does not necessarily present content related to any of the mall storefronts.

If you find a relevant Web portal in which to participate, don’t be put off by the fact that some of your competitors are also affiliated. A collection of identical retailers in one place becomes an attractor in and of itself. And besides, the competition will keep you on your toes.

Cost-Effectiveness Review

I believe that the Web portal idea can provide a lot of bang for the buck. But it really depends on your situation and the niche in which you sell. The portal idea is a customer-service idea as well as an attractor idea, and it’s hard to go wrong with customer service.

If you’re selling in a broad market or niche, a Web portal may be too ambitious for you. If you’re an expert selling in a narrow niche, a Web portal may be just your cup of tea.

You have some flexibility in what you can do. You can take the gradual approach, do a partial portal, or make an affiliation. The point is to help your customers by including content related to your products that they can use . The important thing to remember about a portal is that it’s a long-term marketing technique that works day after day. An investment in some long-term content will pay off in the long-term, but you probably won’t see results next week.