Top Seven Reasons Your Idea for a New Website Will Fail

Oh, the internet. An industry so young, still so new and so horribly misunderstood. We have yet to see the pinnacle of what the internet can become, but we know what it is not. Fortunes are made and lost on new websites, applications and other new IP's. Everyone is grabbing for their slice of the lucrative web pie - and you just had the most amazing, revolutionary epiphany that will set the broadband trail ablaze with people who cannot wait to type your domain name into their website browser's URL. Congratulations, you will most likely fail - In this article, and subsequent follow-up articles, I am going to tell you why.

It's an Idea, not a business

I understand that you believe you have something to offer every digital surfer in the world Everyone wants it, already does it and people are already making a ton of cash on it. The only problem is you won't make much money, at least not for a while. Be honest, you don't know how cash is made on the internet, do you?

Funding

You have made it this far, did your research and still believe in your idea - now you have to pay for it. Although you consider yourself a renaissance man and know everything digital you can't do everything, and you won't do everything - at least not correct. You can write CSS style sheets, know everything about HTML - but do you know internet design? What about digital marketing? What about ad network contacts? In a future article I will give you some leads on some great up and coming and developers/marketers that will do an amazing job at a good price; then tell you why you can't do it yourself.

It's My Site and I Know Best

Today the most successful sites are about user freedom, not what you can cram down the throats of consumers. You don't like controversy? Too bad, get thicker skin and a stronger stomach - go look at your teenage niece's profile pictures on Facebook and ask yourself if Bill Gates (yep, major investor in Facebook) personally approves of her "I got so drunk, put my head in a toilet bowl and threw up while wearing a bikini when my friend took this picture but I posted it because I think it is cool" photo? That's your competition, later in the month we can discuss the current trends in online media.

I'm going to get a great PR firm and Advertise in traditional media

Your idea is so great the masses and media will flock to it; you just need the right people. Wrong again. Just look into Press release services and save yourself some start-up cash. That TV spot you saw for some dot-com? Either they advertised on television after their site got huge, partnered with a media group or have very, very deep pockets. I will examine why traditional forms of advertising for an online property usually makes no sense until the site has grown and matured.

Revenue

This section is not for people who sell niche items (cowboy boots and the like) - but it is for the rest of you that will realize that the internet is an advertisers and sponsors sandbox. You will soon see a trickle of cash coming in from AdSense, but the real money won't come until later - but you honestly have no idea how to get to that point, do you? Since you still are on Wikipedia looking up "CPA" we have plenty of time to discuss this gem of a topic - just make sure you have plenty of funding to sustain what you have started to build.

One - Trick Pony

You have your idea, understand digital marketing, put the funding in place, realized you have to make it on the internet first, humbled yourself, have a team and ready to endure a minimum of a year without much cash. So what's your Plan B? Didn't see that coming did you? Ask yourself this one question, "Am I still arrogant enough to believe that this singular idea will make it or should I start looking at back up measures to ensure a safety net? " "What can I do with my website if my first plan fails?"

And Finally.....

Content. Content is King but it isn't cheap. Whether it is a gaming site (no, those games aren't free and if you overpopulated your site with them get ready for some traffic slip), online magazine (writer's actually like to eat - models have to buy clothes) or social media site (yes it is user driven content, but the space on a server to hold all of their assets is cash driven) - it is going to cost and it better be good. With over one hundred million websites for a person to choose from, why should they visit a site that has "value" content? There will be some in-depth discussion on this topic.

Having a new idea for a website is just the beginning - but get ready for a lot of work. Most ideas are similar to those horrible people auditioning on American Idol, and allow me to be your personal Simon Cowell. Success and failure depends on what you know, how well you put it into practice and what the market actually would like. We all want to be the next Facebook, Google or Addicting Games, it just isn't that likely to happen. So please don't quit your day job, work on ideas much more and get ready for a huge amount of rejection. This contrasts what you have already read by other web developers, but then again - they are the Paula Abdul of internet.