subject: Competing Against The Major Players [print this page] For quite some time, the Internet was like a wild territory where everyone could set up a gold mining stake and try to strike it rich. Now, however, some of the major retailers are making themselves a significant presence on the Web, making it more difficult for the small business owners to realize their goals. And, of course, some of those original small Internet businesses have become mega giants themselves.
In order for the smaller business owner to be successful, you need to begin thinking not like the small business that you are today, but like the big business that you would like to become in the future. Here are some strategies to think about.
Know where you can compete and where it does not make sense
One of the biggest differentiators between small businesses and big businesses is the access to assets. Big retailers can afford to pay premium prices for the best keywords. The interesting thing is, while big business is shelling lots of cash for those number one spots, there has been recent research showing that there is not that much difference in traffic between the first position and the tenth position on the search engine rankings page. So, it is quite possible that you may be able to do just as well as your big business competitors while paying a fraction of what they are paying for placement.
Time is money
Another big business advantage is the ability to maintain staff to carry out their plans. As a small business owner, you may have to do everything from write website content to pick and pack products and do the accounting on QuickBooks. One of your most important tasks is the job of determining when it makes more sense to hire someone to do work that you are currently doing. There are several ways to think about that decision.
Can you make more money doing something else than it would take to hire someone to do a job for you? Shipping duties may fall into that category at some point. Is there someone better qualified who will make more effective, revenue producing or cost reducing decisions than you can? You may have started out as your own webmaster because that is all you could afford, but unless this is your primary skill set, you may want to leave this job to people who do it for a living. Marketing may fall into that category as well. Since marketing is so critical to your business, you may want to think about whether a marketing professional working on a small contracted basis could do more good than you devoting more time to develop less effective strategies.
Take advantage of your size
One of the great advantages of your size as a small business is the ability to adapt and move more quickly. There probably is not a large reporting structure in your small business. In order to make a decision, you may just have to pour a second cup of coffee and think about before you make a choice. Large businesses do not have that luxury. Your job is to capitalize on your speed and agility. The best way to do that is to stay on top of marketplace trends so that you can jump on them quickly, ahead of the big guys.
Bottom line, think like the big guys but use your size to your advantage.
by: Jane Dawson
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