I was corrected recently in a forum and told that in business you should appeal to as many people as possible. This was in response to a comment I made:

I’d rather be hated by 50% of people and loved by 50% than cause no feelings in 100% of people.

Well I stand by my comment and I think it’s a good guideline for your website.

It’s also interesting to note that all that ‘free’ advice you pick up in forums can be more costly than paying someone who knows what they’re talking about. After all, how many millionaires are going round forums giving help?

Exactly. But I digress…

Why

It’s hard to differentiate your business while keeping everyone happy. It simply doesn’t work. A grandmother isn’t interested in the same things a teenager is. A hardcore environmentalist will have conflicting views with a capitalist. We’re all different, that’s just life.

We’ve heard so much about product niches recently, especially online. Well don’t forget the emotional niche as well. If you’re too busy trying to impress everyone with the same thing you’re missing out on taking your business to the next level.

How

Now you don’t really have to go out and try to make people hate you. You can if you want, it’s worked for quite a few people. But you can differentiate yourself in other ways. The important part is you don’t worry about keeping everyone happy. Pissing off a few people can be a good thing.

One thing I use is going after bad web designers. I’m quite happy to state that most web designers have no clue how to make money on the Internet. They may make pretty websites but when they start giving advice where they aren’t qualified, I get a little *grrr*

Can you be an advocate in your industry? Can you use your personality to make you stand out? Can you berate and anger 90% of the world while 10% will walk over hot coals to support you and buy your products?

Homework

Based on what was different about your business, how can you take it to the next level? How can you make your website take the high ground…or the low ground? Though, whatever you do, stay away from the middle ground. That’s where businesses go to die!

And for those that want more, there’s another 4 pages about this is the free Members Only Area.

    

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Customers, Growth, Internet Marketing, Mindset. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.