If you’re dabbling in Internet marketing, affiliate marketing, information marketing, offline consulting etc. In fact if you are dabbling in any kind of business model discussed in the Warrior Forum (this includes what I am doing, blogging!) then I have got some bad news for us all. We are the bottom of the food chain. The very bottom. And these are the words of one of the UK’s top PPC and SEO experts that I was talking to the other night. 

 

Check out these two companies:

Chameleon Net

BLM Quantum

The above two companies are just two very fine examples of online advertising, marketing, design and consulting at it’s best, and these two companies are both based in London, compete at the very top end of our industry and are responsible for marketing some of the most recognizable brands in the UK and internationally. And there are dozens of companies just like these down in London (a commercial hub of activity Internationally).

In fact, there are literally dozens of these companies in nearly all major cities in the UK doing this kind of stuff, at a much higher level than many of the “guru’s” that are supposedly guiding us in this industry. What is more, there are even some larger companies based in the North East of England who operate a high level as well.

They’ve got online marketing and advertising down to a well rehearsed co-ordinated activity. It is run as a proper business. Most affiliate managers in our industry would not be able to cut it in a junior affiliate manager position on 18k a year if they tried. The software it involves, the reports that are required, the strategies they employ. It’s a huge science.

What is more, a lot of the London companies have got access not only to the best customers, but they also have access to senior figures in the search engines via meetings and organizations such as the UK SEO Council. So now, they’re getting their information from the greatest sources on the planet when it comes to SEO and PPC.

How can small enterprises and entrepreneurs survive with this level of competition?

Well there is always room for small business, but my prediction is this. As online marketing gets a lot more popular (and all the figures indicate that we’re only at the start of this upwards curve) then more money is going to be injected into this industry. More prime domains, search engine spots and keywords are going to be eaten up by the big boys at the top of the food chain. What is more, the more money that surfaces in this industry, the more legislation will be introduced and taxes. The bottom end of Internet marketing is reasonably lawless and unregulated (particularly in the UK but not so much in the USA thanks to the FTC).  This won’t last forever. Things will get harder, and soon all the crummy one-page websites selling ebooks with fake testimonials are going to drop like flies (and this is no bad thing). 

If you are selling your ebook online, you are NOT doing Internet marketing, no matter which half-whit self-proclaimed guru tells you. You are digitally self-publishing, you are in the business of publishing. You use Internet marketing as one means of selling that product. But the chances are, if you have been getting information from the wrong places, then you are not doing it well, or maybe even right. And if you chose to remain small-minded and ignorant of the big boys out there, and the competition you are going to get eaten alive. 

Think and dream big. Make sure the sources of information you rely on are credible and stand up to scrutiny. Aspire to be something more and you will move your business forward, and you may just have an undertaking on your hands that may compete with the big guns in London. 

Just remember though, we’re at the bottom of the food chain and the fairy tale won’t last forever.