The Internet, 2002!!! Will it bring us a sound business model?
Yes!
During 2001, two simultaneous and drastic changes took place on
Internet. Thousands of unprofitable websites closed down and business philosophy of “FREE” changed to “PAID”.
Economic reality has forced webmasters to realize that spending lots of time and money attracting thousands of freebie hunters to their websites is a ruinous business.
Although one can still pick up some useful free software here and there, most freebies are either outdated e-books or disguises for entry into paid programs.
The realization has dawned that it is better to have 10 buying customers than 10 000 bandwidth wasting freebie hunters. Bandwidth costs money.
Another notable change on Internet is rapidly diminishing number of programs making “overnight millionaires”. Not only has hype become ineffective, but it is also counterproductive. What sounds too good to be true, normally is.
A sound business model is gaining recognition it deserves. The calculators are out. Quality is replacing quantity. Prices are rising.
Hosting, time, bandwidth and other fixed costs are becoming powerful catalysts that are forcing a rethink of business strategy and philosophy.
What does this mean for Internet business in 2002?
An escalation of profitable business models. Flexibility will be a decisive factor in long-term success of any business enterprise. In an environment of rapid technological advances, a business model has to be able to adopt new technologies as they appear to avoid becoming obsolete.
Businesses in 2002 will have to become one stop shops to save time and increase efficiency. They will have to offer a combination of products, traffic generation, marketing strategy and all other aspects necessary to run a viable enterprise. Navigation and technical terms have to be simple to accommodate thousands of newbies that are joining Internet daily.
