Change Your Online Business Model Or Watch Your Business Die!

Is your business suffering because you’re too “emotionally tied” to your old, tired and worn out business model?

I’m telling you, there is nothing that baffles me more than watching people waste thousands of dollars (or pounds) on building a website and then deciding it’s not good enough and then spending thousands again to have more of what they had before.  If the first model didn’t work, why are you pulling it down and creating more of the same thing? 

I’ll tell you why shall I? 

It’s comfort! 

You’re so emotionally tied to what you’re familiar with, that you’re too afraid or too complacent to move away from that comfort zone and follow a model that is proven to work.  A model that could take your business to a new level. 

This I believe is the same trap that the Associated Press is falling into right now because they’re so attached to their old paradigm … that people still want news the old fashioned way …. like paying reporters to travel and write stories that they then syndicate to traditional news organizations.  They’re even suing Moreover for linking to their stories and now in defence of their action, the CEO Tom Curley states that: 

“We — the news industry — have come to that fork in the road.  We must take bold, decisive steps to secure the audiences and funding to support journalism’s essential role in both our economy and democracy, or find ourselves on an ugly path to obscurity.” 

The sad truth is, in my opinion the Associated Press are probably already walking that “ugly path to obscurity” and it seems that the only people not recognizing they’re probably on that path is them.

It was only about four months ago whilst watching Working Lunch here in the UK that a journalist being interviewed said that they recognised how poweful blogs were for bringing up to the minute news to the masses and as journalists, they had to adapt to blogs or watch the profession die.  Perhaps Tom Curley could do with listening to some of these pearls of wisdom.

But, that’s the Associated Press - they’re big and whilst someone will hang for their downfall (although not literally) the CEO will just go and get himself another job elsewhere. 

But let me ask you this, 

“Could your business be on an ugly path to obscurity because you won’t step out of your comfort zone and change your business model?”

If the Associated Press ever does go under, I’ve no doubt that someone in the organization will say “we should have seen it coming sooner.”  And if you’re trying to build an online business, it shouldn’t be too hard to establish if you’re on the slippery slope to failure because you’re either:

1. Not making any money from your website or blog,
2. Your business is stagnent and has been stagnent for some months
3. You’re having to work twice as hard to bring in the same level of income that you previously enjoyed

Now listen, I know competition is tough on the net, but every day, someone brings out a piece of software that enables you to automate your business, or comes up with a business strategy that is guaranteed to make you more money.  All you have to do is copy one of the “proven” methods that best suits your business and your personality - I did say personality - there are some methods that I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole simply because they just don’t suit me.

Also, it’s a fact that over 90% of businesses do not know how to market on the Internet so unless you’re in a highly competitive market such as Internet Marketing itself, you have a very good chance of winning online in your chosen field of business.

A word of advice though …

If you already have an offline business and you want to take it to the World Wide Web, but you know you’re not really interested in marketing on the Internet - i.e. you just want a web presence rather than really working your online business - then in my view, a website is what you shouldn’t have!

Personally, I can’t see the point in having a website unless you’re going to work it.  And just because you found the best designer to build you the best site, does not mean that you’ll get any visitors to your site, make any sales or sell your services.  And my best advice to you is that if you don’t know anything about either SEO, article writing or linking strategies and you’re not prepared to either outsource or learn them (bearing in mind, SEO could cost you an arm and a leg for very little return), keep your money in your pocket and build yourself a basic blog.  At least you can become recognized an authority even with your infrequent but ”quality” blog posts - a status you’ll never achieve online with a “third person speaking, corporate looking, dead as a doornail website.”

I know this might sound harsh, but there is nothing worse than visiting a website and it feels as though “no one is at home!”  Ever get that feeling?  I personally feel that about membership sites built with Joomla, but that’s another story!

My point is though, if you do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always got.  So don’t think that by tearing down your old website and building a better “same old” site is going to make any difference to your online business.  

But you’ve seen the figure … over 90% of businesses do not know how to market online and so my guess is that by following a proven online business model, you’ll not only bury your business for fear of moving away from your old outdated business model, you’ll build a better stronger business and in the process, a stronger you.

To Your Online Success,

   

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