An old Dog, seeing the same old tricks.

As an 'older' dog, a great deal of my business experience was in the post-internet explosion and was by and large, 'face to face'. Marketing and advertising were via offline media (of course there was nothing else). Contract negotiations, sales and dare I say it, smoozing, was a great way to break up the monotony.

Nearly 10 years into the world wide 'whatever' I am finally starting to see a more structured and formal business approach.

There are no longer as many wide eyed loonies with a VC or some friend's money about to get rich. We know how that sonnet plays out. Now the 'bigs' are in the game. Sure it's no fun to compete against the big boys as far as advertising bucks go, but they have brought some semblance of order.

A successful long term business on the internet is no different that one that isn't Last I checked in the order of 80% of all internet business endeavors will go down the tubes within the first 5 years. My little firm has treaded water doing business on the internet for nearly 10 years now. We build those businesses to boot. So we've seen our share of 'great ideas' that 'couldn't miss'.

Relax, It's Just an internet business

To begin, let me say that I believe every business should have a reality based foundation. That is to say, you are grounded outside of the web site/servers. The website business should be part of the scope of the main heading of 'the Business'. Thinking of your business in ONLY terms of the website, you are missing out on the vast number of opportunities that lie within the world around you.

Such thinking will also allow you to maintain a more objective view of the web business portion of your over all company model.

The main components of an Internet business

This simple break down is the starting model for a web business that you can use to understand, in simple terms, the elements and divisions there are in a standard internet business atmosphere.

It can be as technically broken down as you see fit. This is the short version....

Financial;

• Accounting
  
• Start up and maintenance forecasts
  
• Cost planning and budgeting
  
• Pricing research and development (can be a function of marketing)
  
• ROI analysis and reporting
  
• Sales analysis tracking

Marketing;

• Advertising - Paid ad campaigns (non search engine), PPC,
  
• Search Engine marketing - SEO, PPC, Featured paid inclusion, search engine submission,
  
• Viral marketing
  
• Promotion - Article writing, press releases, print materials
  
• Analysis - data gathering and analysis, split testing and the like.

Customer relation Management;

• Customer feedback
  
• Help desk and/or trouble ticket systems
  
• Live help
  
• Support Forum
  
• FAQ sections documentation
  
• Site usability reporting and maintenance

Technological;

• Servers used for hosting (or remotely hosted) for the site and other applications
  
• Programs and applications that 'run' the site, (ecommerce, content management, intranet, statistical data, secure file storage).
  
• Web site development and maintenance
  
• Security systems and monitoring.

Look at the BIG picture

My main goal is to get internet business owners to look at the larger picture. In my consulting practice I get a majority of 'new' clients believing that SEO is some magic bullet that can solve all of there financial imaginings. The first thing I do is look at the over all structure and capabilities of the business in questions. Guess what? 99% of them are severely lacking in one or more, (usually many) of the requirements of the business entity.
Sure, the odd person does 'get rich' on the internet. It is no more common than a lottery winner or some one 'in the right place at the right time'. It is the exception, not the rule. Most success is from the same old tried and true methods of hard work, perseverance and commitment.

Be the tadpole. Just don't get eaten by the Frogs.

This is a tadpole compared to the structure and complexity of the larger internet business interests. But for a small to medium sized business wanting to make it past the 'rookie wall' and get to the 6th year, it's something to think about with your web business.
Try to incorporate as many of these areas in your thinking.
Then move on to building the 'rest' of your business outside of the WEB.

The Web.... Even sounds scary, doesn't it?

Author; David Harry
When you want to see the forest AND the trees. - The Business Developers.com

David Harry is a professional business development and marketing consultant. He is the CEO of Comprehensive Development Services, President of Verve Developments and a controlling interest in Myos Hosting.