By Terry Dean

I always take this time of year to regroup and create new plans for my business. Part of this planning phase is to research and decide where the Internet market is going during the year. Below are some of the observations I have made which should help you in decisions you make for your Internet business.

These are 7 of my predictions for the year 2004:

1. There will be less Free Advertising

The honeymoon is over. Investors are requiring online corporations to prove they can earn a profit instead of just generate traffic. So, search engines and other free methods of advertising are beginning to have to change their policies.

Yahoo requires ALL business sites to pay $299 to even be reviewed. Looksmart is charging the same fee. Other search engines are partnering with Overture for the top three of their rankings.

If you think these fees are flukes, watch out. You will find that more and more of the free advertising sources online will be changing over to pay-to-play services.

Does this concern me...Nope, not even a little bit. This just means you will have to be smarter with your advertising, test everything, and work more on making sure your web site can produce sales from the traffic it gets. In other words, your business will have to grow up!

2. There will be more use of Audio

Up until now, text has been the only really logical way of communicating to your visitors. It will continue to be the primary Internet medium for years to come, but 2004 will see a lot more uses for audio online.

We are already testing using audio introductions for our web site and have been speaking with companies running online radio stations. Both show extremely promising results coming up throughout 2004.

Video delivery is still a little while away with too many bandwidth problems to make it a really practical selling tool in 2004. Sure, you can use it, but it will still have problems.

3. Markets Will Become Even More Defined

You witnessed one major company after another going out of business during the year 2000. All tech stocks took a nosedive right through the floor as people realized just being on the Net was no guarantee of success. You still have to have a solid sound business plan.

On the Internet you need one other thing that these large companies haven't had...You must have an easily targeted niche market. You cannot focus on selling everyone on the net. This is one of the major differences between the Internet and offline retail stores.

You can sell toothbrushes as Wal-mart because everyone needs them. You cannot sell them online because you can't figure out a niche market just waiting to buy your product. You wouldn't be able to tell me where your "toothbrush" customers most often hang out online. So, you won't be able to cost effectively target them.

The Internet is going to become even more "nichey" as it grows. As we grow by hundreds of millions of more web sites next year, you will have to focus on targeting your "best customer" even more.

4. Real World Stores Become more Involved

We haven't seen a lot of involvement online from "old world" stores. This is going to change in 2004. We are going to see smarter uses of the Internet to combine the advantages of the Internet (free email contact, follow-up, research) with the retail world (product delivery, appearance, etc.).

Watch as stores start collecting email addresses in store for "Specials" they send out. Watch more companies combine online shopping with local same-day deliveries. The smartest uses of the Internet may come from some of these older companies.

5. Smarter Medium Size Competitors will Appear

Small businesses haven't had to worry about big company competition at all. The big companies were too busy trying to sell to everyone without being able to target anyone.

In 2004 we will see the rise of medium size companies which go after targeted niche markets. They have to if they want to have a chance at succeeding online.

What does this mean for small businesses? It means you will have to clearly define your Unique Web Position and never focus on just trying to have the lowest prices. Try to do something in your niche which can't be easily copied.

6. Loyalty Based Programs will Rise

The coming years will require you to focus more on a "select" group of loyal customers instead of focusing on the whole world. This will give rise to more loyalty based programs.

Discount clubs and frequent flier programs are extremely successful for the companies using them. Tape, CD, DVD, and book clubs have flourished throughout the past.

The Internet is going to take lessons from these types of services and will give birth to many loyalty based programs of it's own. Membership sites, monthly services, and more are going become the norm during the next year as companies learn they must earn some type of residual income from their customers.

7. eBook Publishing Goes to the Next Level

So far we have not really seen any reason why ebooks are better than hard copy books. In 2004, they will start showing some of their advantages including being interactive and instantly updateable.

So far ebooks have only focused on straight text just like hard copy books so the only advantage they can give is the speed of delivery. Watch them take another step forward during 2004 and offer many more advantages giving them a real place in the marketplace.

---

Terry Dean's Brand New Fr-e eBook, "10 Quick and Easy Ways to Increase Profits to ANY Web Site Overnight!" Reveals More Time Tested Proven Internet Marketing Secrets Than 99% of the Paid Products Available...Showing You Step-By-Step How to Increase Your Traffic, Drop Your Expenses, and Drive Your Profits Through the Roof: http://www.bizpromo.com

---