In a very similar fashion to the way that the industrial revolution re-shaped the financial world of business, we have seen the next great revolution begin to take shape over the last few years. Unlike the last one however, the gain is there to be had regardless of geographical location and levels of accessibility.
Up until the explosion of the Internet into our lives, it was virtually impossible to compete nationally with market leaders in any field, let alone globally. The only advertising mediums were either TV advertising which represents a significant cost barrier to entry, or magazines which are again expensive and quite often niche, national newspapers a costly medium again, or regional advertising in the Yellow Pages. This is one of the most expensive ways of advertising nationally, but until the swift take up of Internet technologies, was a reliable method of finding customers.
At many times in the history of commerce, it has been the businesses that are able to keep on top of new, emerging technologies and adapt their practises to them quickly and effectively, that stay a step above their competition and ultimately, succeed where others fail. Pioneers have led the way on many occasions, such as Henry Ford who almost single handedly invented the mass production line, and by the same hand, massively improved product consistency and quality, severely cut his costs and gained a huge advantage over the competitors, helping to guide the Ford Motor Company through harder times.
The difference between the companies that adopt new technologies and those that are set in their ways is often profound. Now that is more true than ever as the opportunities for advancement come at an alarming rate.
The Internet has taken down the barrier that was stopping the entrepreneurial masses from fulfilling their ambitions. Many great ideas went down the pan because of insufficient promotional funds. With the coming of the Internet (particularly Google) the financial curtain that shielded most of the big corporations is gone.
A quality sales funnel website will attract thousands of people, looking to buy your product, to your site, for a tiny fraction of what an advertising campaign of that magnitude would have cost before the Internet. A quality website costs next to nothing to have made and around two years of search engine optimisation might cost you 5,000-10,000, and could drive billions of people to your site.
Although we have all become accustomed to the Internet’s massive presence in the world of commerce, it is still in it’s infancy. Around 98% of online information isn’t accessible to strangers because it is unreadable to search engines. It is for this reason that, despite the power of the Internet, many good ideas are still going to waste. Search engine optimisation has only recently come to light amongst the public, so what will the Internet be like in 10 years time?
The companies that embrace the technology now and use it to their advantage will be the companies who are sitting on top of the pile in a decades time.
The world wide web is a truly brilliant gateway of opportunity for everyone and anyone with a good idea and a small pocket of cash for a website to turn their idea into their trade.
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