For every offline market in the world there is also an online market. Your market is simply a “community” of people that all share the same interests and these interests just so happen to relate to your products and services. You community is comprised of people that share thoughts, opinions and information with other people on message boards, blogs, twitter, etc. In addition they sign up for newsletters, take quizzes, surveys, play games and use websites for entertainment. All of these websites that your community uses all exist to serve your market. As more and more people and businesses continue to get online, your online market will continue to grow. Due to the nature of the Internet your market is expanding, and at the same time it is also becoming more specific and the actual marketplace is becoming even more targeted as we see new sub-markets/sub-communities evolve from existing markets/communities.

Every company should want to be a pillar of their online community, and in essence help the community while becoming an active part of it as it evolves (remember, your community is your market, so not wanting to become part of your community means you don’t want to offer your products and services to your market!) In order to become a pillar of your community, your company obviously cannot sit on the sidelines doing nothing at all. Your company will need to become an active part of this community in one way or another, but the bottom line is that by helping people find what they want, by brightening their day or making their lives better in some way you will be making the community better than when you found it. Basics rules to follow include: be kind and respectful to your customers and prospective customers (the whole community in fact!), serve the community in the best way possible and produce and distribute the best products to the community.

As a pillar of the community your company will then obtain sales from your market. The more active you are in the community, the more recognized your products will be and the more sales you will receive. This is not only the future of your online market, but this is also the reality of your present day market. As nearly 100% of all business will get online in the next ten years, the competitiveness of the online marketplace will continue to increase and online advertising will eclipse all other forms. In the future your online market will change, but if you are an active part of that market then you will be able to react instantly to these changes in a seamless manner that will make your business more profitable, while keeping your customers and potential customers happy.