Forum Moderators: skibum
I don't think that most sites are going to be able to count on SEO for positioning. Positions will be paid for with only the largest sites having the wherewithal to do well.
I don't think that content will have much impact on SE positioning in the future because more and more of it is going into databases where it can't be crawled. Databases will generate XML formatted content on the fly and SOAP will mean that much of our content will be stored on original source sites.
Finally the lack of being able to target well will burst the email bubble. A small number of direct emailers will emerge with database that will perform well, but by and large most sites will not be able to afford them.
I think that paid content will be very similar to the TV model. Overwhelmingly it will be free but a small lucrative Pay-per-View market will exist. Generally the entry into this market will be priced beyond what most sites can afford.
I am not gloomy about the prospects of the not-giant sites ability to make money. I just think we are evolving and our approach must be different in 2005 than it was in 1995.
What will things look like in the future? If I had to pick just one site to speak about it would be elle, the site of the magazine elle. I don't know anyone there so I can't really talk with authority about elle, so this is only a projection.
Why elle? They are strongly branded from their successful magazine.
Their audience is well defined demographically.
They are well known to media buyers.
They have lots of content and it turns over quickly.
They have enough critical mass to do things quickly.
They know their audience intimately and they constantly getting feedback about their content.
A site like this does not have to rely on SE positioning for an audience. They work hard at getting opt-ins and could potentially make a lot of revenue from both onsite advertising and from their back-end advertising.
This is my opinion, what's yours?
Could very well happen friend, and that scares me. Having been inlove with the internet and the web since the mid to late 90's I enjoy the ability to get my message (great cooking and a passion for food and recipes)out to many people for little to no money. I really about 95% on free listings.
Many people say it can not be done anymore short of google which is the end all and that is what I am a bit worried about for the distant future. For the time being I think my little site will be fine. I think google will continue to send traffic to my site and people will continue to enjoy my content, recipes and newsletter. However, several years from now all this could change. I am in no position (like many small fish out there) to spend money on marketing my site. I already spend many many hours writing content, learning about search engines, submitting to other sites ect .... bla bla bla
Kinda scary right now, in one light I can see my site being a huge success in several years. On the other hand it would not supprise me one bit if it all ended 6 months from now.
Me hopes the later does not become a reality..
Cheers,
For now anyway ;-)
Chef Brian
But let's say you are a small to medium size clothing retailer; I think you will experience greatly increased difficulty making it into the top 10 on a search engine.
The big guys will big money can effectively shut you out.
There is no easy way to convey your unique approach or to distinguish your better made / lower priced products.
But here's a thought I have pondered on for the future:
The Internet evolves into a data mine. Rather than browsing the Internet with a web-browser, the Internet becomes mostly a repository of data, and mined through some specialized client application.
Chef Brian: you run a food cooking website. Perhaps in the future, the companies that create Recipe Software will create a web-function that draws upon recipe databases stored throughout the Internet.
Your website will evolve into a recipe database site. All hundreds of recipie database sites like yours will be structured using XML, using a common Document Object Model.
The software user can then run a search of recipes across these recipe database sites. They can search by ingredient, ethnicity, style, etc.
Chef Brian will make his money by licensing his content to the software maker through a multi-user license agreement. And in fact, he may set up contracts with other software makers.
And not just recipe database sites, but articles, photographs, sound-bytes, video, etc.
We already have stuff like this going now. Windows Media Player acts the same way. It's just a client app that retrieves music and video from a variety of database sites.
To put it in perspective, Sunday, I golfed in humid 90+ degree heat. Today, I'm freezing when I go outside (think high 50's perhaps at best).
Affiliate programs would not work if it were not for the few affiliates who develop a way to use their knowledge against the market. Those individuals quite literally, make a continuos kiling. Hundreds of thousands can be made annually right now by the people who know this stuff well... No joke, no company... Individuals.
Many SEOs can spend less than $100 to keep a devoted site running for two years making them thousands per month right now. 10 years ago, that couldn't be done (easily).
It will all boil down to the unforseeable changes in the Internet marketing world. Whether that be browser based, client based, or what not - it will take some pioneers to set a standard in creating the next affiliate cash cow.
Then again, this is just my opinion...
