My good friend and I had a very interesting conversation recently about black businesses in general and starting black websites specifically. Of course, you know that my position was that it is a matter of economic survival that we actively support and create businesses that will empower our communities, and inspire current and future generations. My friend stated that he believes we should focus on simply doing business and not relegate it to the color of ones skin because by doing that we will alienate white and non-black dollars. I thought to myself, Wow! That’s a powerful statement and holds truth that should not be ignored, but in the context of supporting black businesses it can be a naive position to take without proper understanding.
One has to wonder, if that statement is true, and since here at BWS we focus on successful black websites, are we inadvertently teaching our readers to alienate other races and shortstop their own money? Are we being racist by focusing on blacks instead of everyone else? After all it’s called the World Wide Web, and the world consists of all shades of people with (mostly) green money.
Let me assure you that our intention is not to promote racism, nor alienate any particular group of people. In the following paragraphs I’ll explain why black webmasters must fully understand my friend’s statement so that they won’t foolishly end up alienating their OWN target markets and miss out on big money by trying not to offend those outside of that market.
SO DO BLACK WEBSITES ALIENATE WHITE DOLLARS?
Do black websites alienate non-black people and miss out on possible revenue by focusing on the skin color of its visitors? Simply put, the answer is no, or rather it should be no. Black websites should not alienate any specific group of people. On the flip side though, black websites should not restrict their targeting of black markets in order to include non-black individuals. If we are going to be honest, many non-black websites don’t even think twice about whether they are alienating black visitors. They simply focus on whatever crowd they are pursuing with no worry of gaining or missing out on black dollars.
Please don’t mistake this as a tit for tat thing, because that would be pointless, and petty. The point that I’m making is that black webmasters should focus on serving the underserved. If those underserved persons happen to be black people, then no shame should accompany that choice. The fact that they were ignored or not a main focus of non-black sites only creates opportunity for you. Don’t fall victim to the old myth that you must appeal to whites in order to be successful. Doing so could possibly take the focus off of your targeted black market and leave them still feeling overlooked because you’re not catering to them directly.
When it comes to web marketing, we should view black people as a niche in the same manner that teens, elderly, women, parents, couples, single people, religions, etc. are viewed.* The focus of your site should be to serve your niche and only your niche if you want to be successful. A website for classic oldies music aimed at the older generation isn’t worried one bit about alienating teenagers who are into hit music from today’s scene. They are too busy zeroing in on their audience instead, and that’s not anti-teen either.
*(Special note for those who need it said: I know that we as black people are so much more than a niche, so please don’t get bent out of shape)
HOW TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON’T ALIENATE WHITE DOLLARS
I stated earlier that black websites should not alienate any specific group of people. It would be an extremely foolish business practice that could actually cause you to lose business and money. Your black targeted website doesn’t have to focus on non-black visitors, but you want to make sure that you don’t exclude any visitors. The focus of your site may be aimed at black visitors, but anyone can have an affinity for the content and/or products offered by your site. If they are not welcome at your website, then you will truly be alienating them and their money. That’s not a good look.
The ladies underwear giant Victoria Secrets is marketed solely to women. Victoria Secrets concentrates on their female customer base, with no after thought of what men like me think because we are not their targeted niche. Although I personally won’t be wearing any lacey thongs and garters in this lifetime, I may choose to buy my lady a hot red bra and panty set as a gift, or even for my own pleasure of seeing her scantily clad. Victoria Secrets knows this and although they don’t target men, they don’t ban us from their stores, or website. They also make sure to not offend us in their ads, because if they were to do so, then they risk alienating our dollars.
THIS AIN’T JUST A BLACK THING
The key takeaway that I want you to take from this post is that your website can achieve success by focusing solely on black people, black products, black topics, black culture and more, all without having to water it down for people of other races. I also want you to know that the lessons of this post apply to more than just skin color. No matter what type of website you build, you want it to focus on your niche audience without alienating those visitors who may not be directly targeted by your site. If you build a forum for Corvette lovers, you still want Mustang drivers to feel welcome.
Back to our classic oldies example, if you have a site that celebrates soul music of the Motown, Stax or Philly Soul era and you choose to monetize it with merchandise such as T-Shirts, posters, concert DVDs, and albums, then you don’t want to turn away young teen visitors by saying “This is real music and not that garbage that the kids are listening to.” Believe it or not, many youngsters are into oldies but goodies and will spend money on your website to obtain it, but not if you diss or alienate them. It makes more sense to simply compliment what you like, without dissing what others like, plus it’s nicer.
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