Matauri,

As always, you bring several good points to the table, and as you note, there are several good contributions

Being engaged in the Oil & gas Industry, one of the most cyclic on the planet, I have been downsized 3x in 23 years from high end Engineering (R&D), Engineering Management, Marketing Specialist and Strategist positions. The last, being on December 14th, two months after 9/11. My wife and I were working two jobs and we had 2 businesses on the side. We also lost the B2C and kept the B2B. The company I was working for was being sold to a much larger company that would not need the additional Marketing Specialist/WebMaster/Editor-in-Chief. No, we have not recovered the $100K/year income and benefits lost.

You are absolutely right, it’s always good to have an out, “an ace up the sleeve”. However, those too, may have to be somewhat dynamic. What I really want to do with this thread though, is to examine just how competitive our industry is and some of the techniques or mechanics we use to “add eggs to the basket”, or “tend the eggs already in the basket” with special attention”.

The “Free World” economy has been in the “drinks” for over 2 years now, interest rates are at lows not seen by most of us in our lifetime. As business owners, we all have to ask ourselves; “How do I get the competitive edge?” If we can’t answer that for ourselves, we can’t answer it for our clients ----- and that is the business we are in!

Typically, the first industries to recover after a steep recession or depression are the “heavy”, industrial and manufacturing segments, which we and our clients are well poised for.

If most of my clients are in “Heavy Technical Industries”, coinciding with my background, then it is much easier to relate, copy-write, evaluate competitive analysis, express competitive terms in SEO design and generally provide value.

There is not a whole lot of room to place a static 3 page corporate brochure on the Internet and hope that someone finds it these days. Most of our income comes from updates. maintenance and SEO, not new clients.

The biggest problems we face in this industry right now are:
1. Do my clients really understand the dynamic nature of the Internet?
2. Can I provide the content depth and uniqueness required for top search engine traffic?
3. Can I help provide a busy entrepreneur with top keyword/key-phrase value without eroding their time?
4. Have I done everything I can to educate my clients on value and ROI (return on investment)?”
5. Am I competent enough to take a brochure with 95% graphics and do sufficient research and analysis to copy-write the HTML verbiage that commands multiple top search phrase results – beating all the top listings?

Many observations follow this path.

If you take the time to educate your client, they will have a better understanding of the value your firm provides and they will be more likely to utilize you for repeat business (maintenance).

Can you reach these levels of acumen without intimately knowing the industry or their business?

Can anyone portray that level of comfort and service to a client without an intimate understanding of their business?

The other benefit of taking on clients in related industries include a great competitive advantage at many levels:

1) Quoting initial development is much easier and takes less time, even if it requires slight modifications in a spreadsheet.
2) It is much easier to estimate maintenance projects.
3) You develop an intrinsic understanding of the SEO required, making it much easier to build value into the front end design.
4) It takes much less effort in expressing your company’s expertise to a client or potential client.
5) More likely to “prove out” against competition when bidding, requiring less marketing and sales time.
6) Competitive analysis takes less time because you know where to look.
7) Primary Linking programs are already established as far as major Industry Portals and Indices

This list goes on, but the argument for; added value, reduced logistics, and developing a competitive edge for your own company cannot be dismissed lightly, taking this approach.

All opinions are welcome,
Ken