How Vulnerable Is Your Internet Business?

While browsing a popular forum you often see the same question being asked by a lot of different people. It is about doing something using a very popular third party product.  You have some knowledge on the subject and decide to create a solution.

So you spend a few weeks creating an add-on software for processing the output from the product in question. The original third-party product is extremely popular and doesn't offer that particular feature.

Your product is a big hit!

You start getting many orders. After a while you get so comfortable that you quit your day time job.

A few months later disaster strikes!

The original product developer has updated their product and has now implemented the same feature into their offering, at no extra cost!

Is your on-line business vulnerable?

Most probably the answer is "Yes"...

• What happens if you are suddenly not able to process credit card payments? Do you have a backup plan?
• What happens if your web hosting company suddenly shuts you down? How long will it take you to be back up and running?
• What if 40% of your website traffic comes from a single source and you suddenly lose that source?
• What if a lot of your income comes from a single source (example?. Google Adsense) and suddenly you are shut off from it?

Many of these vulnerabilities exist because of using short term tactics instead of creating an overall strategic plan for your on-line business. Your ideal strategy should include multiple tactics to minimize possible future problems.

Short Term Tactics and Long Term Strategy

A lot of Internet based businesses are based on short term tactics without any thought to a long term business strategy.

In fact, most on-line businesses do not have a strategic plan.

Creating a practical and profit generating business strategy for your Internet business is probably the best way to ensure that your Internet business is successful over the long term.

It is a good short term tactic to create a service that expands a popular existing product.  But it is not good strategy to build a business that is completely dependent on a third party resource. Doing so creates a situation where a third party has control over your product. A simple tweak in their product can and will kill your business.

[to be continued...]