According to the Google God, research shows 7.2% of the UK's GDP is now accounted for by Online Business, or in figures,
The online marketplace is becoming a strange one. I wonder if people do the same due dilligence buying online as they do walking down the high street? You need a good website just to fit in, although will we get to the stage where there are so many good websites that the odd dodgy one will actually perform better because it stands out from the crowd? Credit-Manager.Net
“You need a good website just to fit in, although will we get to the stage where there are so many good websites that the odd dodgy one will actually perform better because it stands out from the crowd?” The only good website is a converting website. Its not about shiny bells and whistles, it's about reputation, and customer confidence. I just think the average online customer has higher expectations than say 5 or 10 years ago. As for standing out from the crowd, isn't that something we all aspire to?
Online spend will only increase. Customers are much more sophisticated now. It is also much more competitive and difficult making money off stores in some of the mainstream markets where you sell goods as the big boys have completely taken over. Smaller businesses are doing the niche market very well. The service industry seems to be the domain of the small business. It is also no longer just about having a site...people forget to add a price tag to seo...they think is free...even if you do it yourself it's not free as it's very time consuming and your time equates to money! Ryan
“So anyone that knocks online business will now have some food for thought, but this also means, as the Internet has matured, users expectations have in quality, security, and customer service have greatly increased. I think the days of the home made commercial website are numbered, as we move out of the frontier mentality and into a more professional and established market place.” I have been trying to convince peeps of this for the last few years - to get up there before the masses do! As an online markter, I do have a fear with this though and that is the rising costs of online marketing spend as the market becomes more and more competitive. Will is squeeze the SME market? Will we only see the big boys will deep pockets get those first page listings on SERPs? Time will let I suppose!
I totally agree...it is now becoming very difficult to rank well unless you throw money at it. It will only get more difficult with time. Ryan
Agreed PPC is getting more expensive and organic seem to be the playground of the cash cow's. but with the advent of new channels such as social networking SME's may be bale to eek out a niche. lets hope so other wise Mr S will be homeless  Stavros
...you will find social networking will soon cost money. If you consider ecademy and linkedin that group then it already costs. I'll tell you one thing though, I have awarded business to several people in these forums. However, I prefer to give my business to the small business. On the flipside, because we are a local business, I have not had the opportunity to pitch for any work through the forums. Ryan
“...you will find social networking will soon cost money. If you consider ecademy and linkedin that group then it already costs.” Its' interesting the direction social networking is going, its steering towards social and commercial search. Myspace threatened with the charging model, and I dont think it recovered from the backlash as people voted with their mice, I wonder if facebook will be more cautious? “....On the flipside, because we are a local business, I have not had the opportunity to pitch for any work through the forums.” Looks like we need to attract more londoners for you! 
Theres a challenge for you.  I saw an opportunity the other day. Everybody was offering their services more or less free. Hope this does not make me sound like a bad person, but I don't want to give up an hour of my time before charging. I don't like working for free. And I pay my guys so, I have to charge. I also prefer to be straight and say I would charge. It may also be because I am in a situation where, I am only going after clients that come and find us....this is constantly changing and evolving. The cynical me thinks that some of this online lark is also driving down prices. I suppose it works in both way. Ryan |
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