Small Business Trends in 2007. Ready?

Ken's Blog

"Ken, what are the major trends that will impact online small business people in 2007, and what should they be doing now to get ready for them?"

Wow! A great question during a recent interview.

Out of all the "noise" that bombarded us in the 100+ blogs, news feeds, e-zines, and Web sites that we followed during 2006, what was the "signal" mixed among all that noise? What are the major trends that will have a tangible effect on small businesses, and what can they do about it?

Could it be Google and its ever-improving search algorithms? Only if small businesses depend on SEO for traffic. SEO-driven sites are doomed to chase the algorithm.

What about Google's frequent new product launches? No, Google is already learning that they have to simplify, to make the Web accessible by a single search through its home page.

Is it Google at all?  Blogging? Web 2.0? YouTube? Yes and no. Here we go, black and white, no vague predictions... Here are the trends for 2007, extrapolating what we have witnessed during 2006...

1) Content and the Long Tail

For years, we have been a lone voice in the wilderness, explaining the death of SEO and the importance of "keeping it real" by delivering visitor delight. Well...

2006 suddenly became "the year of content." Everyone has jumped on the "content is king" band wagon.

Contrary to popular belief, the Web remains a level playing field. Small businesses can outperform large ones, but only if they work niches they know, and only if they work it by providing what surfers seek... original content that OVERdelivers.

Think of a Web site as a "product." Your online business is part of the long tail of Web sites. You can't begin to compete with expedia.com for the entire travel industry, but you can "own" Puglia, Italy.

More importantly, you can monetize Puglia, whether you sell Google AdSense ads (essentially making Expedia your advertising partner), provide tour guide services, or rent villas. There is no end to the monetization options once you have built PREsold traffic.

Result? You build a growing, stable, diversified business.

Unfortunately, "content" is being misinterpreted and sold nowadays as...

• finding "hot niches" and writing about them, providing "pap" content (after all, how can you stand out if you are not an expert in a field?)
• buying content from others and "modifying" it... more pap
• software that slices and dices other content sites, providing junk/spam content
• SEO sites that measure how many synonyms it takes to master a page, along with elaborate linking systems designed to "fool" Google, instead of merely writing superb content.

Ignore all that nonsense. It's fatal in the long run. The real advice for 2007?

Build a site about a niche you love. Create original, useful content that people will rave about. Ignore all the "noise."

As the Web gets more and more congested, as Search Engines get smarter and smarter, you will simply do better and better.

How can I be so sure? We've proven it thousands of times.

2) Web 2.0... For YOU

Until now, Web 2.0 has been about "big guys" aggregating and monetizing "little guys." Check out Seth Godin's list of top Web 2.0 sites...

Ignore the likelihood that most of these "hot companies" are forming a Web 2.0 bubble, much the same way VC-financed "hot companies" died when the Web 1.0 bubble burst.

And realize that it is beyond the ability of the average small business person to create sites such as this, which in any event are irrelevant to their businesses. Instead, think about Web 2.0 this way...

Every content-driven Web site has its own long tail of keywords and clients. While an SEO-built Web site gets found (if they do a great job, which is getting harder and more expensive to do) for the top 20 keywords that account for 25% of a niche's potential, great content sites are found for thousands and thousands of keywords... naturally.

Aggregate those visitors with so many interests related to your site's theme. Turn your site into a mini-MySpace. The average surfer has no idea what Web 2.0 is, but if s/he finds your outstanding site all about single malt scotch, s/he will be delighted to tell you about a trip to Scotland, share a favorite, rare Scotch from a remote isle...

That is the type of content that is far more than just a comment on your blog. This is more passion-driven, quality content. However...

They won't contribute, of course, if all you have is a store. Or if you write pap. But if you win fans through passionate PREselling, watch your site explode by aggregating your own long tail into your own mini-MySpace.

There's a right way to do this and a wrong way, of course. Watch for SBI! to launch Content 2.0 shortly, an entirely new, real, and high-quality way to put many hands to eager work building your content sites exponentially faster... and better... for free.

Web 2.0 "for the rest of us."

3) Video in an Increasingly Visual World

I've written about the efficiency and power of communicating through video. John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends and his exciting new book, Mind Sets, speaks of how society is turning more and more visual. The signs are all around us, not just in the "real world" (as he describes so well -- highly recommended reading), but in our own world of SBI!...

• New Site Build It! owners use the video version of the SBI! Action Guide twice as much as the written one. They rave about it.
• Our Conversion rate has increased dramatically since releasing the Video Tour due to its clarity and ease of following.
• And see these videos made by SBIers, about SBI! -- a few weeks ago, they knew next to nothing about video. Compare the power of video to written success stories.

We are putting a heavy emphasis on video at SBI!, an important form of Web content now that enough of the world is using high-speed connection.

The power of video is undeniable. Preference by surfers is clear. As the entire world "goes high-speed," video will become more and more important.

Yes, words will be important for at least another decade. But if you're not seriously learning about video now, if you are not making your first mistakes with your first productions now, your competitors are going to pass you by.

Real Content in the Long Tail....

Web 2.0 With You as Mini-MySpace...

And Video content...

The three major trends for small business in 2007 (and beyond).

Ready? Here they come! Do something about them... now.

All the best,