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are we there yet? - an excellent article from e-consultancy.com - highly recommended for all web 2.0 start-up readers

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.