The Internet Advantage - How to Overtake Your Rivals

There is no doubt at all that the internet has revolutionized not only the way in which traditional business operates, but has resulted in a wide range of business opportunities which would have never previously been conceivable. Far and away the most powerful aspect of this internet business revolution is the way in which it has broken down any geographical boundaries which would otherwise exist.

Suddenly the potential market is not merely the local town or city, not even the country, but the entire globe is your market now. Coupled with the ability to communicate directly and instantly with people across the world, and transmit your message into virtually every country, it is no surprise that almost every established business has welcomed the World Wide Web's advances.

However, it is not just the established businesses which have embraced the technology. Indeed, the internet revolution has at the same time broken down the walls which helped to protect the bigger businesses from the smaller. That might seem a fairly cynical assumption - and one might argue that big business shouldn't have to, or even try to protect themselves from small business, but in a chiefly capitalist world, this is undoubtedly the way it works. Big businesses have the muscle to dominate with larger, centralized stores, buying in bulk, selling cheaply, and using communication links around the world to source goods more cheaply than local stores might manage.

But this has now all changed, and it is every bit as possible for a small business owner, possibly even someone working from home, to outmaneuver a larger retail outlet within the world of the web. The advantage which small businesses, entrepreneurs and those working from home have is the ability to move quickly, identify a niche and manoeuvre into it quickly. This is the strategy which works so well in the world of the internet.

Technology is not slow to move, and with billions of web pages and millions of users every day, the web is fantastically dynamic and changes very quickly indeed. Larger corporations can sometimes find themselves working a little like oversized ships in the ocean, which might move very quickly, but only in one direction. When it comes to turning or maneuvering, this could take a very long time.

The smaller nippier businesses however can quickly move in and take prime locations. In terms of how this works in practice, one only needs to look at the fundamental way in which businesses succeed online - search engines. To be at the top of the search engine listings is to have the prime pick of the customers. When you realize that 98% of those people who search online never even look past the first page of results, you can easily see just how important it is to have prime position. Clearly the bigger industries and retail outlets will be at the top for searches which fall within their specific category, location or which include their name, but surprisingly these may well not appear anywhere near the top for more general searches.

Specifically - those searches which users are actually carrying out. Small business owners can keep a careful eye on the trends developing in searches. These tools are freely available for webmasters and business owners to examine, and are updated daily. For example, Google provides regular statistics on searches being carried out, popular keywords, popular subjects and so forth. Clearly, this is likely to change quite regularly - possibly even as quickly as the weather or the news.

Smaller business owners and entrepreneurs can take advantage of this, and steer themselves into developing markets, niche markets and then promote for all they're worth to get up into the top results. Sometimes it pays to be a small fish in a small pond, because someone has to be on top, and it's usually the one who sees the opportunity first, and has the freedom to just get on with the job rather than passing the idea along to a committee to be discussed at the next board meeting.

There's clearly no point trying to compete against larger established businesses, unless you really enjoy a challenge! However, for the home business owner or entrepreneur, the World Wide Web and internet technology can be a fascinating way to outmaneuver the larger businesses with your smaller size and ability to identify niche opportunities and then work at them immediately. Through a combination of methods, such as establishing backlinks, keyword analysis, search engine optimization and pay per click advertising, often it is the smaller businesses which appear near the top of the search results, enjoying that 98%.

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