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Virtually every online business model I analyzed recently relies to a large extent on one of the giants: Google, Amazon, Facebook, or Apple. It seems like with each year it's getting harder and harder not to base your online business on one of the big companies. Just to give a few examples:
Let's say I want to start a new online business and can afford to spend some money to promote it. What do I do? I set up a Facebook account to promote it and bam, I'm banned like that for no reason (been there, done that) with no way to get my account back. I choose to advertise on AdWords instead, but with the crazy high CPCs it's extremely unlikely to ever turn a profit. Then maybe SEO? Well, Google doesn't like new websites so it will sandbox you and then a new algorithm update can screw your business overnight even if it's completely legitimate (like Examine.com). Maybe social media? No luck—there was a new update that limited your reach to a fraction of your followers and you need to pay just to deliver new posts to them (and prepare to pay double if you want them to leave the platform and visit your site).
Wherever you turn, there's a gatekeeper who has no issues banning you overnight or changing the way it operates in such a way that your business can be badly hit overnight.
I'm beginning to think that with an online business it's now very hard not to violate the commandment of control. Of course, you can try to diversify yourself, but in many cases there are only two viable options at most and both rely on the giant companies who don't give a damn about you. The smaller platforms disappear or are consumed by the giants and there's more and more power (and less and less interest in an individual) in the hands of the big companies.
Any thoughts? Solutions? Personal experiences? Is it time to move on to offline businesses or do you think they're affected by this problem in the same way? Are there any business models where you can still feel relatively safe with your revenue coming in more equal percentages from many different sources?
- self-publishing - Amazon controls almost the entire market and people are unwilling to buy books if they're not Kindle books. Consequently, as an author your fate is mostly in the hands of Amazon (particularly in fiction). Whatever changes they make to their platform can ruin your business (been there, done that).
- content marketing (in various ways) - you're dependent on Google (when you want to rely on SEO or YouTube traffic), social media sites, or if you use paid advertising, it's most likely ban-happy Facebook. As for monetization, it mostly comes down to Google (AdSense) or Amazon (Associates).
- mobile apps - Google or Apple (good luck selling your app if they don't like it).
- most product-based businesses - Amazon, who's happy to steal your business if they discover it's profitable.
- podcasts - Apple (good luck growing your podcast if it's banned on iTunes).
Let's say I want to start a new online business and can afford to spend some money to promote it. What do I do? I set up a Facebook account to promote it and bam, I'm banned like that for no reason (been there, done that) with no way to get my account back. I choose to advertise on AdWords instead, but with the crazy high CPCs it's extremely unlikely to ever turn a profit. Then maybe SEO? Well, Google doesn't like new websites so it will sandbox you and then a new algorithm update can screw your business overnight even if it's completely legitimate (like Examine.com). Maybe social media? No luck—there was a new update that limited your reach to a fraction of your followers and you need to pay just to deliver new posts to them (and prepare to pay double if you want them to leave the platform and visit your site).
Wherever you turn, there's a gatekeeper who has no issues banning you overnight or changing the way it operates in such a way that your business can be badly hit overnight.
I'm beginning to think that with an online business it's now very hard not to violate the commandment of control. Of course, you can try to diversify yourself, but in many cases there are only two viable options at most and both rely on the giant companies who don't give a damn about you. The smaller platforms disappear or are consumed by the giants and there's more and more power (and less and less interest in an individual) in the hands of the big companies.
Any thoughts? Solutions? Personal experiences? Is it time to move on to offline businesses or do you think they're affected by this problem in the same way? Are there any business models where you can still feel relatively safe with your revenue coming in more equal percentages from many different sources?
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