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I’ve just stumbled upon a story about how it’s better for web startups & web companies to focus on post-google VCs  & SEO professionals than those who were in business before Google (late 90-ties etc.). The basic idea being that Google controls web traffic distribution (and changed the rules of the “Internet” game) so much , that to be successful you have to know & follow their rules. From the article:

“Many entrepreneurs are so focussing on building such a great offering that they also assume virality of distribution is inherent or inevitable.  Unfortunately its not that easy, and Nikolaj is dead right to warn that getting help from people who “get it” is crucial.”

I couldn’t agree more with this remark. Many web startups are aiming at revolutionary service not thinking how the heck will they get traffic. They assume their idea is so great, that people will just flood to the site.

That’s not really going to  happen, unfortunatelly.

So instead of inventing a new facebook, isn’t it better to focus on more niche projects - with less potential incomes BUT much lower barriers when it comes to  SEO and PPC spendings? Would you prefer to target a general market and compete with all the big boys, or a niche market and compete with few folks who don’t really know much about SEO (read: “easy win”)?

Conclusion? Unless you have really revolutionary idea (and those are VERY rare - whatever you think about your project) it might be better to test it first on some niche market - OR target only niche markets. They might not be as lucrative as you would want, but they are still more lucrative than what you probably think.

One of the last hot news that is triumphed all over the blogs is that now there’s a free iPhone unlocking app available for download for anyone. People in US can buy an iPhone from AT&T, remove the SIM-lock, and use the phone also with other GSM networks like t-mobile etc.

I’m pretty sure I  know what Apple will do now. They will release iTunes *.0.1.2 of whatever, which will effectively update your iPhone in a way that the SIM-unlocker wont work anymore. Then we will see another (updated!) version of the unlocking app, and yet another iPhone firmware update from apple. And so on, and so on… Of course, some people say they will not update their iPhones, but eventually I’m sure they will be forced to do that - simply because at some point there will be some security patches or cool features that they _definitely_ want to have.

The single fact that is helping apple on this crusade is the nature of things - things change. Constantly.

And one of the funnies places to observe that crucial law of things are web projects. I’ve managed tens of various (large and small) web projects by now, and in many cases I can see exactly the same symptoms -  client wants to make a project X by deadline Y. After that, client wants the project to be “done” (permanently)  and we should just install it on the server and “let it live & grow”.

What most non-IT people doesn’t realize however, is that in IT just like everywhere else - things are changing. OS systems get updated. Programming languages as well. With critical fixes - so you just HAVE to make the update - even  if it effectively mean breaking your web app. Or with major version  releases, and abandonment of older version (like PHP4 being not supported by PHP community anymore). This means a constant flow of work  for IT people and a headache for clients - but hey, thats the nature of things as well

If you build a web application you can be sure of one thing. It will change. Updates will appear to the whole surrounding IT environment and you get forced to update it. Some additional expertise might be needed (read: costs). Its never the case that you just build it and its “done”. And the quicker you realize that, the less surprised you will be when you get yet another email from you ISP or IT team saying that “we need to update this and that” even when you thought that “that thing” is working just fine…