Fulfill an Unmet need...Your Fulfill an Unmet need...Your
Internet Success Stories are becoming more common place than you
might think and they are not all dominated by big businesses.
However, big businesses are moving their promotions onto the net
in a big way.
The Internet has undeniably been the saving grace for the
economy particularly for small business. This new environment we
know as the World Wide Web is responsible for creating more
Millionaires faster and easier than anything that came before it.
I am fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with many
successful Internet business owners and have learned a great
deal from them. I want to bring to your attention something that
seems to be a recurring thought behind these successful sites.
Fulfill An Unmet Need.
It makes perfect sense to try to avoid competition. If you are
the first, or the only one fulfilling a need then your chances
of success are much better. Developing a web site is no
different than developing a product. Would you sell a product no
one wants..NO. Why then would someone develop a site that no one
is interested in.
A great piece of advice given to me from a very successful web
master who made over 3 million last year selling tools on the
internet was this. "Identify a need within a niche that is not
currently being fulfilled or is being fulfilled very poorly. I
would try to figure out how to fulfill that need better than
anyone else. I would then decide if I could make any money at
it".
A good example of this is Ray Owens from JokeaDay.com. Starting
with very little capital Ray had a vision to create a humor
mailing list that has now grown to over 300,000 making it the
largest in the world.
Ray, powered by his sense of humor met a need that was virtually
wide open. He then found a way to make money by selling ad space
in his popular zine and web site. Ray now enjoys a lifestyle
that many of us may only dream of.
Another excellent example of fulfilling a unmet need comes from
Steve Loyola from BestWebBuys.com. Steve designed a site that
enabled people looking to buy books and music CD's online to
search for a title of a book and then display all the online
stores that sell that book listing them in order of least
expensive to most expensive.
Online book and music stores are not new to the web but Steve
saw a need with in a niche that was not being met...so he met
it. Steve figured out a way to meet this need and make money
from it by signing up as an affiliate with the sites he lists.
He simply provides a search tool to help people find the best
deal and by doing so his site has now become more popular than
some of them he lists.
I want to share with you one last example that you may find
helpful when it comes to developing your own business online.
Bob Bingham and Jeff Swearingen saw a need in a highly
competitive market that was not being met. These two
entrepreneurs designed TheGift.com to be a benefit to the gift
buyer by helping them choose the right gift.
Giving a gift is a very personal thing and it can be somewhat
frustrating so Jeff and Bob made this process much easier by
designing their site in a way that actually assists the gift
buyer. You can easily select a gift by using their handy
GiftFinder tool, or shop by department, relationship or occasion.
I asked Jeff his thoughts as to why his site has become so
popular, he simply replied.
"It's an unmet need. Most e-commerce sites are like a department
store, which is a lousy way to select and send a gift".
When developing your business online you might want to ask
yourself if you are meeting the needs of those who are visiting
your site. You may not be the first one to meet this need but
you may be able to do it better than anyone else.