7 Years At The Keyboard

Ok, for those of you still waiting, the Internet won't go
away.

Hang up the hopes that it represents a passing fad sharing
the fate of the Beanie or the Pet Rock.

With legitimate high-tech stocks finally in the market,
regular people doing "real" business online, and consumer
acceptance to the point of purchasing movie tickets and
homeowners insurance over the Internet, the Web is here to
stay.

However, many people still get that glassy-eyed, far away
dreamer look on their faces when they think of the riches
awaiting them on just the other side of their own dot-com.

Well, whether your business represents a laptop on a TV tray
in the basement, or a mega-corporation with offices all over
the world, my last 7 years in the Wild West online has
revealed a few "truths" which should last from here until
the end of computers.

** There is no get-rich-quick! **

I guess it's in man's nature to desire instant wealth.

Since the dawn of history, people threw common sense to the
wind and went off in search of "buried treasure."
Unfortunately, instead of discovering riches, most just
ended up buried under a load of debt, misery and despair
themselves.

In the late 1990's we saw the modern day equivalent of a
gold rush with high-tech stocks, dot-com companies, and
investors who threw common sense to the wind.

Well, we all know the result.

** The "Secret" to online business success! **

Would you like to know the real secret to making money
online that will govern the Internet for all eternity?

Here you go: Spend less than you make.

That's right! Simple math creates millionaires on the
Internet!

Regardless of the market, size of your enterprise, or the
nature of the product or service you sell, the people who
make money online spend less than they make in revenue.

The companies that make money are the ones who let someone
with basic math skills run the advertising department!

** People don't buy refrigerators online! **

That's right, most people don't buy refrigerators online,
but to look at the way some companies operate, you'd swear
they did.

Here's how people use the Web to buy a refrigerator (or any
other major purchase): they go online, research different
models and prices, look for a local store, go to the store,
and buy one.

Companies that use the web to make money (instead of wasting
it by the bucket-load) understand the difference between
closing the sale online and providing information that leads
to making the sale at a physical location.

** The quick and the dead! **

People who buy online have little or no patience.

They go online to get information NOW, or to place an order
NOW, or to get their questions answered NOW!

The online world is a "right NOW" world, where wait times
get measured in seconds and people get mighty testy if their
needs don't get met immediately.

Speed, not size, determines the victor in e-commerce because
the businesses that meet people's immediate expectations as
quickly as possible (if not faster) ultimately win.