Shopping mall or a tire manufacturing plant? Down here in real-world land, it’s nearly impossible to mistake a store for anything but a store. We walk in, see a store, see things to buy, and assume that we have walked into a place to buy things. It’s a pretty safe assumption.

The same can’t be said for websites up here in Internet land. Some sites I land on are obviously stores because their brand is so strong that I just know they’re stores, like Macys, Sears, Amazon. Tough to get those messages wrong.

But what if those messages aren’t so clear? What if the brand isn’t as strong, the name isn’t so well known, that just walking in the front door and seeing things for sale isn’t enough? 

I received a review for The Wine Lass a few days ago that drove this message home:

Visitor: Nice site. I really enjoyed my visit, although I wasn’t sure what to do there.  Is it a store?

Me: [blank stare while thinking I wonder why he had to ask THAT].

There’s a balance point some place between the obvious bright red sign reading This Is Really Really Really A Store. Buy Stuff Here and the completely obscure hidden front entrance with the private club aura that implies that nobody is allowed past this point without an suit jacket, tie and secret password.

What clues do you look for?  What can small webstore business owners present on their landing pages that bring that message home?