A vital question for anyone who has launched a dotcom company would be, what else, other than what they have done, would have made their website a success. To understand this we may have to first understand what makes any business a success. After all, every dotcom has to do other kinds of business that generate a stable revenue than merely providing information to the browser community.

First and foremost, the most important thing for any business, including a dotcom, is orientation. Orientation here means understanding what actually they are and in which direction they intend to go in order to see that they stay in the market and generate money. This is vital for the survival of their business. Basically, many dotcom startups fail to recognise just what they are good at. They should pin point their USP and carve a niche in the market in this particular field. Instead, what they generally end up doing is merely imitating the success story of other dotcoms or business ventures about which they hardly have any in depth knowledge.

The second important factor is a clearly defined target, that is, the sort of customers they want to cater to. The target, whoever it may be, should be happy to part with their money in return for some thing which they receive. Customers should genuinely feel that they have got a better deal than expected. This will ensure that that they continue to do business with you for years to come and even recommend you to their business friends. In dotcoms this kind of recommendation will be vital. A dotcom has to identify the target community and generate money from this particular source alone, make the target feel like returning again and again. To identify the target, they have to create a brand image in the customer's mind and stop wasting time and money in attracting people who are not going to be their targets.

The third most important thing for the success of a business is to see that customer loyalty is maintained. Those who have put their trust in your business should never feel abandoned or taken for granted. They are entitled to and expect full respect. In dotcoms and website business, once the user has become familiar with the services provided, care should be taken to see that the user is made comfortable and easily adapts to new changes that go into the web site.

A constant change in the market is always an expected thing since the tastes and demands of the customer are never static. To maintain their edge in the market, a business should keep track of the latest trends and modify their products and change their strategies to suit customer preferences. This applies to websites as well, and they need to constantly monitor what the user is actually looking out for at the present moment, which may be quite different from what the user wanted, say, a week ago. This calls for a constant check in the user response, but corresponding measures should be taken to see that certain user requirements do not harm the websites' branding or the target or other customer's needs.

With all the above, the cost incurred on the maintenance of the website should be closely monitored to see that it balances with the revenue generated by it. And revenue generation should be planned in short terms rather than long terms. A six month period would be ideal and the revenue generated during that time would keep the show running for the next six months to come. Most web sites fail because they keep long term goals and spend most of the money in the early stages itself in creating a brand name and finally end up having no money to implement their real ideas when the real business gets going.

The dotcom wave hit the roof and then subsided. But it is the nature of waves to rise and fall and rise again. Success lies in knowing how to ride the wave skilfully. Then, you'll be on your way to becoming a Dotcom Emperor.

S Kiran Kumar

|