As hundreds of dotcom companies ended up shutting down, more net entrepreneurs are also looking for new opportunities. In this short article, I’ll share my personal experience and knowledge with you on how to minimize your risk in order to build a successful and profitable Internet portal on World Wide Web. 1. First of all, determine your area of interest and a niche market that has potentials. Choose an area that would utilize your existing resources, knowledge and expertise.
2. Research and study scope of your market. If you serve both domestic and international markets, your will have a stronger chance for survive. If you only serve domestic, find out what services would make your business more competitive.
3. Clarify scope of your business and ask questions before opening your checkbook. Do you have efficient resources available to build a B2B or B2C portal from scratch? Do you need to leverage current website, customers and sales staff to produce additional revenue? Do you want to do all IT functions in house or should you out source? Do you have a sufficient revenue-generating model? If you are running a one-person operation, do you have enough time and technical skills?
4. Identify your clientele and need to come up with some unique ways to attract your customers and keep them coming back. Remember, content is king!
5. You are running a portal for profits. Identify and develop some solid revenue models. In past, it has been proven that banner advertising model and transaction model may not be as effective as expected.
6. Identify effective marketing and partnership strategy in order to establish a strong Internet presence. Much failure of startups occurred due to lack of step-by-step strategy and long term plan on growing business. Much just hope someone will buy out their site and make money quick. So how to differentiate your portal from others is your vital task from day one. There are hundreds of portals on B2B and B2C fields. It is very critical to think about what makes your portal stand out from others in this competitive market.