To get found, to get exposure for your business; to stand out from the rest is a task no longer for the weak of heart. I think about when I started over 12 years ago. I opened my “Internet Studio” in a sleepy little town on the IL/WI border. Folks thought I was nuts. They thought I was perpetrating credit card fraud and pornography. But I was the only game in town. No competition on or off-line.
Fast forward 12 years later and the competition is fierce. Everyone is a “Web designer” in a market where your target customers barely know enough to determine who knows what they are doing — or not.
The same applies to all online businesses — rare are the niches that are not yet saturated with serious business start-ups and fly-by-nights alike. It is to the point where opening up the physical “brick and mortar” may offer a competitive advantage. At least in that case you can rely on locals who will frequent your establishment.
Still, there are those who believe that standard business practices, lack of any sort of time or monetary budget, marketing plans, inventory or a unique product at a good price are not necessary. Many still believe that by slapping up a Web site, that it will get found and the money will roll in. It won’t.
Now, online is the arena of rabidly competitive serious businesses. If you don’t look the look, walk the walk and back up the talk — you won’t get orders or inquiries. To think that online you can market an established business for pennies on the dollar or start a new business and quit your day job in the year 2007 is a thought based in wishful thinking.
Don’t get me wrong. There are still wondrous opportunities and endless potential for those who approach their program from a business point of view based on solid established principles and the necessary costs to get there. These smart businesses know the difference between the hype and the reality.
They know the difficulties in truly succeeding on or off-line and rather than ignore them and try to find an easier way (that many times is non-existent), they embrace them and make things work for their enterprise.
For those who believe business staples, budgets, marketing and what one needs to do online to get exposure are moot, well there will always be someone, somewhere, out there willing to agree with you and take your money without any hope of ROI.
At your service,
Judith
