The Dabbler
Many web sites of major companies came down with a resounding
crash, and there are more to follow. Very few of the "deep
pocket guys" are making any money with their sites, and as money
tightens, they realize their pockets may not have been quite as
deep as they originally thought. Their sites are being taken
down in droves, and the, "techno-wizes" are falling into
disfavor.
As the Economy slowed, many companies down sized their
operations, and employee layoffs are on the rise. There is a
general "belt tightening" at every level, and the heady
expenditures of last year are being looked at with a "jaundiced
eye".
So what does this mean to the small entrepreneur? Is it time to
also crawl under a rock, and wait for better times? The answer
to this is a resounding - NO. While the unemployment rate
increased slightly to 4.2 percent, it is worth noting that the
proportion of the population with jobs, at 64.5 percent, remains
near a record high.
Now is probably the best time to promote your small business on
the web. You will be facing less competition from the web sites
that have gone south. Not only will your potential market share
increase, but the sites that have been monopolizing "surfing
time" will no longer be there. People will be looking other
places for their information. The question should not be whether
to get your own web site, but when you should get it.
Yahoo has made a major change in their policy of accepting web
sites for review. While it used to take several months to get a
site reviewed, they now say it will be done within 7 working
days. Sounds good on the surface, but is there a catch? Sure -
what used to be free, now costs $199.
A cursory examination of the results of any web engine search,
reveals a lot of "garbage" up there. Many of the sites are no
longer in existence, or you had to wade through a lot of "junk"
to find something meaningful. This could accurately be described
as the age of the "dabbler". People who got a new computer
thought they could make their millions on the web. The "arm
chair" entrepreneurs prevailed, and buried the serious ones with
their submissions. When their free AOL account expired, they
were out of business and their web site went away.
Will the new policy of Yahoo help? I think so. A lot of the
"garbage" will disappear, and you will find instead ads from
folks who are serious about doing business. Will the other
search engines follow Yahoo's lead? I would imagine so. So what
will this mean?
If you combine this thought, with that of many of the major
companies abandoning their web presence, it will mean that more
people will find your site. This is indeed, a golden opportunity
to establish your business on the web. But you can't expect to
"throw up" a web site and have the world beat a path to your
door.
You must first establish a business plan. What will you market?
What will it cost - who is your competition - what is the
pricing for comparable products? These are all questions that
should be answered before you take step one.
If your answers to the above questions are positive, get your
own domain and build your web site. If you can't do it yourself,
hire a qualified firm to do it. Unless you are a "dabbler",
expect to spend a few thousand to get your web site up and
running, register it with the search engines, get a merchant
account to accept credit cards online, and begin advertising.
When you think about it, if you are serious, this is really a
small expenditure to start a business. If you're not serious
forget about it, and consider a different part time enterprise.
You will probably make more money "flipping burgers" at your
local fast food establishment, than you will for the time you
spend trying to develop a "zero cost" web presence. The old
adage - "you have to spend a dollar, to make a dollar", is true
more than ever.
Will it take some time? Absolutely - how long depends on what
you do. A couple of months might be a conservative estimate. But
you can't lose heart, and like the "dabbler", try some other
cockamamie scheme when you don't make your first million in 90
days.