Just the other day I was very pleasantly surprised when an old
friend of mine from whom I haven't heard since over a year
called me. After the usual "how's the weather over there?"
talking I quickly found myself engaged in an excited discussion
about web design. After half an hour of conversation where we
were talking about a lot of technical stuff I remembered how we
started this conversation and BANG, it hit me. Why?
My friend actually started this conversation by asking me about
my work as an ecommerce and web marketing consultant! So how did
we end up talking about web design and programming? Well, when I
answered him he only picked out what he found important and what
he could understand. And unfortunately the only thing he finds
important is web design and programming!
Like myself my friend is a trained web designer and network
administrator and we both worked already for a bunch of people
and companies creating websites and like me he recently started
his own web design company. The only difference between us is
that he still belongs to the 90 percent of people who have no
success on the web while I belong to the 10 percent who are
earning big money. So how does it come that some people are so
incredible successful, while others are not even earning enough
to pay their web host?
It's all about the mindset.
Ask 90 percent of all so called web professionals what you have
to do to build a successful web business and they will tell you
all the same: It's all about Web programming, web design and web
programming again. Their eyes start sparkling when all this
funny words start flushing out of their mouths and they tell you
for hours all about the things you can do with java and
javascript, php, flash animations, perl, cgi and whatsoever.
To be true. I can understand their enthusiasm about all this
fancy technical stuff because I really love it myself, but hey,
I did not ask about technical possibilities. No one answered my
question yet. They just got excited by all that technical stuff.
What I asked was:
How can I build a successful web business?
And the shocking truth is: The answer is so simple that 90
percent of all the people don't get it. It's just one simple
sentence:
Do not tell your customers what they need. Ask them.
That's a simple formula. It's easy and logical and everyone can
try it. You will be amazed about the results.
Of course, in order to practically apply this formula it would
need much deeper exploration, but that's not necessary at the
moment. Before we go into details we have to understand the
basics and the basic point here is that this mindset and ONLY
this mindset is the key to a successful net marketing business.
If you don't develop this mindset of putting your customers
first you can be a complete laymen or the most sophisticated
search engine optimisation expert, but you will NEVER succeed.
If you want a successful marketing business you need happy
customers and the only way to make them happy is by first
understanding and then fulfilling their needs.
Like my friend, most of nowadays "web experts" focus on
technical issues, programming and web design because THEY like
it. But they don't understand what their customers are looking
for. Their customers aren't looking for java, flash animations,
changing images etc. They are looking for high quality
information! I repeat: For...
...first class high quality information.
Therefore: Like in every other part of economy find out what
people need. Do a great market research discover a suitable
niche for yourself and focus on delivering high quality
information to your interested visitors. And once they see that
you understand their needs, they will build confidence in you
and will be happy to buy your products, cause they know that
your products are as great as the information you provide.
We all have the same possibilities. You have the same
possibilities as I have and I have the same possibilities as my
friend, but although the internet contains the same success
potential for everyone not everyone uses it.
It's your choice. You can choose, if you want to use it and be
part of the 10 percent successful people or if you want to
ignore it and stay in the gulch of failure.
You decide.
About the author:
David Asen, a professional webdesigner since over 5 years, works
together with worlds leading net marketing pioneers in order to
councel various companies on how to build effective web
presences. He is himself one of the leading net marketing
experts in the german area and successfuly runs several online
businesses himself. To learn more about his services go to:
http://www.webdesign-und-marketing.com
