Archive for May, 2008

For a small business or first time online entrepreneur looking for the perfect opportunity to make a living from the internet, the failure rate is high, and in my opinion one in a million succeed online.

The most money made on the internet is still information products like e-books and software, and the 80/20 rule applies. Millions of wannabe internet marketing startups are individuals who try to succeed in the info product arena, but lack the business skills of veteran entrepreneurs. Personally, I don’t have the time or interest for it, yet those 20% are doing very well once they get rolling, and most make money telling people (that 80% who fail) how to make money online. The 80% keep buying every new idea that comes along, then realize it’s hard work, and quit that effort just to buy the next best offer hoping it’s get rich quick without any work.

A person can follow 1000 dead ends in search of that 1 real opportunity for selling info products online. One in a million succeed online, and those that do set up joint ventures and cross promote, so the top feeders continue to dominate. The secret to success for new online ventures is finding a narrow niche that will still attract a reasonable following with 1000′s of prospects instead of millions, and then working on providing value to that niche with an interesting website and quality products.

A newly released document from WAI provides an opportunity for developers to comment as well as design test sites to the recommended standards for accessibility.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) group of the W3C released WCAG2.0 Candidate Recommendation on April 30, and web developers and designers are invited to review the guidelines for newly recommended standards for web accessibility.

The purpose is to allow designers to comment on the developing standard aimed at improving website usability for disabled persons and elders, and volunteer to create test websites to fully meet A, AA, and AAA levels for accessibility.

One aspect will be particularly challenging for full AAA compliance, and that is optional content media for audio and video productions. For example, for a podcaster that would mean a text version of the program for hearing impaired, and videos would require alternate presentations of content for blind persons.

Podcasters using a script would find creating a text or readable PDF fairly simple.Alternate content for videos would be more challenging, yet for small business website owners, meeting the needs of disabled persons visiting your site is worth investigating.

In this early stage, designers are welcome to provide feedback on implementation obstacles or solutions, as well.