DOT.COM and get it. (The Future of the .com Industry)

Member Name: moonbailey

Product:	The Future of the .com Industry
Date:	17/10/01 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dot coms are the only way to progress your business

Disadvantages: they take time and lose moeny before gaining.

Internet start-ups received a bad press in just the same way as the media picks on celebrities. There's nothing really wrong with them - they're just trying to do the right thing and make a name for themselves.

Once the papers decide they don't want someone or something to succeed, they just do a little homework, pick a small flaw and broadcast it to the world as a giant hole.

Perhaps the only mistake that was made was timing. The internet triggered new hope for businesses all over the world. Multiplying the possible customer numbers infinitely. So much effort went into being the first to corner the internet markets in each sector that things got a little rushed and culminated in rather a lot of similar companies all competing for attention at the same time.

It also perhaps did not allow quite enough time for the trend of home computing to catch on and gave each company limited time to make or break before admitting defeat.

In a strange quirk of fate, a lot of the first companies to make the move into internet have been punished for their haste and have already gone under - leaving room for the slightly slower underdogs to catch their customers.

More haste - less speed.

I joined an internet company in 2000. It was meticulously planned but ended up shooting itself in the foot by being unbudging on the strict timetable. As the launch date approached, all the stops were pulled out and thousands were spent on advertising, press releases and promotions.

What a pity no-one stopped to check that the site was working!

Rather than showing the thousands of most likely punters a glowingly inovative site, they logged on in their droves to see a holding page that was not quite finished and did not lead to anything for another full month. This guaranteed that these thousands of clients would never visit the site again.

Thousands more was spent begging them to take another look and apologi
sing to as many as possible by phone.

Staff left in disgust and others were sacked in a desperate attempt to blame someone.

Finally the site was perfect, the client base built up healthily and people started to remember us when we called.

The first good feedback arrived and things were looking very promising.

The next day the sponsors pulled out as their profit deadline had been reached and they had not seen a return yet on their investment.

The office closed that week - and I have not been able to find work since!

The moral of this story is:

Dot coms are the future. They can work and do work.

BUT they most certainly aren't a fast way to make a quick buck. They need nurturing the same way as any business and as my editor used to say:

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail".

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