Taking Your Internet Business To The Top Part 2

25/06/2007 by paul

In Part 1 I laid down the 4 basic components that any business needs to survive and prosper:

1. A hungry market
2. Supply
3. A plan
4. A goal

Before any business can become successful it needs to have a clear definition of these components, if for no other reason than to understand how changes to one will affect the others. I'm going to look at these components in a bit more detail.

Your Market v Your Supply

If you already have an Internet business, your market is already defined. You should have customers already, and by ‘customers’ I mean website visitors, not just people that place an order. The question is, are you providing the right products and/or services to these customers? Is your supply right?

Finding the answer to these questions starts right back with how you attracted your customers in the first place. Set the wrong expectation, or offer an ambiguous description of what you do and you're already culling numbers from the people that will eventually place an order, or at least substantially increasing the difficulty of converting them.

Why do so many people visit your website and not place an order? Maybe they thought you were selling oranges, when you're selling apples. How many of those customers will remember you when they want to buy oranges? Very few.

Now, before you rush off and check where your customers are coming from and what expectations were set that led them in your direction (things that are largely driven by emotion and therefore very difficult to measure meaningfully), perhaps instead you should ask 'what do most of my customers want?' ('most' because that's where you're likely to make greatest profits - by catering to the masses). Are they looking for oranges? Are they looking for cheaper apples? Are they looking for apple seeds?

It could be that apple seeds are what you throw away whilst making the apple juice that no-one buys!

If you're selling apples and haven't considered these questions previously, I'm sure you'll agree that they could provide some very powerful answers. By asking these questions, you may conclude that your market is actually very healthy, and that you're in an ideal position to take advantage of that, it's just that you're not providing what it wants currently. Understanding and defining your market is the first area that must be addressed in your Internet business, because it forms the foundation for everything else.

Consider how much more difficult the alternative is, to define what you'll supply and find an appropriate market. How do you know that there even is a market? More importantly, why would you throw away the very healthy market you're already attracting in this way? Why would you risk the opportunity to finaly capitalise on the customers you've been attracting to your website all these years? And, if you're starting something new, why would you invest time, energy and money in creating a supply before confirming that there is a hungry market willing to pay you for it?

Remember the idea of 'leverage' from Part 1? It is highly likely that leveraging your market will provide greater immediate gains than leveraging your product. Once you've identified what your market wants, you just need to create the supply. Only once you've addressed that (addressed rather than achieved, because it's not always possible) is it time to look at your original product and decide if there is a market for it, but by then you'll have a thriving new business to fund that research.

Imagine discovering that there is an orange grower next door that is having the same trouble, but in reverse.

As part of this process, you should also consider whether your current method of supply is suitable for the newly defined market. Like the neighbour in the example above, perhaps you'd be better off letting someone else capitalize on your market because they are able to do it cheaper, faster or - most importantly - at greater profit for you. I mean, not many people do their jobs just becaue they enjoy doing it. Many people do enjoy their work, of course, but if it didn't provide income at the end of the day most wouldn't be able to do it, right? So why would you pass up the opportunity for someone else to gladly do the work (you didn't even know you had this opportunity until you asked the questions, anyway and they'll appreciate the opportunity to add to their business) and provide that income to you whilst you develop your next idea, or return to an old idea that needs more work?

Part 3

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