A real must read....
MediaGuardian.co.uk | New media | Why only fools and children use portals: "here, for the benefit of AOL, Lycos, Yahoo and any other portal that might still be thrashing about, is my Three-Step, Cut-Out-And-Keep Guide To Surviving And Thriving In The Kingdom of Google.
Step one: realise that Nicole29 doesn't really exist and that, even if she did, she wouldn't visit your crappy site. The only people who use portals are children and idiots. These are not people you should be relying on for revenue.
Step two: identify your strengths and concentrate on them. Lycos: you have an incredibly popular viral chart and SMS service, Yahoo: you have brilliant communities, and AOL: you have a strong paid-for ISP business which puts you in a prime position to develop micropayment services. Choose one service, become the market leader in it and stop trying to be jacks of all trades.
Finally, step three: take a leaf out of Spring Street Networks' book. SSN created the web's best dating and personals service but, instead of offering it directly to the public, it licensed it to sites such as Salon, Esquire, the Onion and Nerve, making a stack of money in the process. There's nary a 'fairly web-savvy, smart, educated professional' in the world who hasn't seen one of its ads - you could easily do the same for whatever service you decide to focus on. And that's really all there is to it - shut up, strengthen up, clean up - a foolproof strategy to transform weak three kings into three wise men. It's so simple that even Nicole29 could manage it."
posted by Jen @ 6:39 AM
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