The five stages of launching a successful Internet startup | Site ...

Every Internet startup goes through five distinct stages on the way to making money and succeeding. This article shows you how to identify and guide an Internet startup through each stage and succeed early.

Startups can be any type of enterprise ranging from a blog about baking, to an affiliate marketing website, to an eCommerce store. Whatever your startup does, it will go through the same five stages on the way to success.

Identifying and understanding each of these stages in your own business can help you to tackle the right business challenges at the right time.

If you are thinking about starting an Internet business, or have just started one, then it is likely that you already know that coming up with a good idea, and identifying a need or niche to fill is crucial - so I won't rehash that here.

Instead, I'm going to look at Internet startups from a different angle. I'm going to tell you what you "experience", what to look out for, and where to find more information once you've identified where in the business life-cycle your enterprise is.

1. Your Internet startup is launched

Once you've had your business brainwave and put in the sleepless nights putting everything together, building a website, researching the competition, learning about the market, it comes time to launch your business.

Characterized by: Lack of customers and traffic. Little to no revenue. Technical issues. Bugs. Procedural problems. Poor design. Poor implementation.

Strategy: At this point, you need to work hard to ensure that the visitor or customer experience is improved at an exponential rate. Recognize that it is often not possible to make a startup perfect out-of-the-box, and endeavor to eagerly take on advice and criticism in order to improve your business offering.

For a blogger this could mean, rethinking your writing style. For an affiliate marketer, this could mean offering more high quality content with less advertising. For an eCommerce site, this could mean upgrading to a better quality eCommerce shopping cart platform.

Further reading: In this early stage of your startup, everything should be about learning. Learn whatever you can. Follow people in social media. Read news articles. But, above all, learn from the practical experience of running your own Internet startup.

Here are some resources you'll find useful:

2. Your Internet startup is operational

With many if not most of the bugs ironed out, some more efficient procedures in place, and a bit of experience, you are ready to start operating in earnest.

Characterized by: Low traffic. Low income. Occasional bug fixes. Cosmetic improvements to the site.

Strategy: Reach out to your niche. Seek to make relationships with influential people in your industry. Make connections and strategic business alliances.

Often marketing directly to your customers can be too expensive for an early stage startup. It can be far more rewarding to connect with people who have greater trust and authority in the market and get them to evangelize your business.

Further reading:
If you want to learn more about how to make industry, niche and strategic connections online, then the following articles and resources will help:

3. Finding clients and building a revenue stream

With some decent industry connections and a bit of trust built up with some influential people, bloggers, entrepeneurs, journalists and news sites, you can start to market to your customers in earnest.

Characterized by: Low traffic. Low revenue. Frustration at inability to penetrate the market. Frustration at not being able to get sufficient coverage or generate "buzz".

Strategy: Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Do everything possible to drive sales and revenue.

It's at this point that many startups close their doors because they didn't focus exclusively on building a solid stream of revenue. Without an income sufficient to meet your operational costs (yes, this applies to bloggers too) then your startup is not sustainable in the long run.

Further reading:
If you want to learn more about Internet marketing, driving traffic, and converting with a high ROI (Return on Investment) then these articles and resources will help:

4. Nurturing and encouraging growth

If you have done a good job of marketing, advertising and promoting your Internet startup then you can shift the business marketing campaigns up a gear.

Characterized by: Increased revenue. Increased traffic. Potential technical problems - scalability, hardware, etc. Unsolicited coverage and social buzz.

Strategy: Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Start diversifying your marketing strategy to include existing fans, followers and customers. Offer promotions, discounts and deals. Get into the news. Leverage previous successes to gain additional coverage. Build further trust and authority.

Improve and upgrade. It is likely that up 'til now you haven't had a moment to implement all the new features and system improvements the business needs. Now is the time. Invest income back into the business.

Scale, and grow.

Further reading:
With your business starting to achieve real growth and financial stability, you'll have to think carefully about the direction you want to take. The following resources and articles can help:

5. Competing in the market

Arriving on the stage, you will be greeted by stiff competition in your market. It's likely that there are a few competitors none too happy that your growth has eroded their market share. This is where it gets fun...

Characterized by: Strategic business decisions. Competitive research and analysis. Focus on both existing customer or fan base as well as new opportunities for growth.

Strategy: Don't neglect the customers, readers, fans and followers who got you where you are. Don't diversify unless you know that you can continue to meet the needs of the people who constitute the livelihood of the business.

With one eye firmly on your existing customers, look around for growth opportunities and strategic moves that can help to out-compete other businesses in your industry.

Remember that no business is immune to change. Especially Internet businesses. If you don't continue to adapt and grow, your customers will eventually be drawn elsewhere.

Take a break. Take some family time. Celebrate a job well done. Then, get back to work.

Further reading:
If your business is operating successfully, but you are looking to grow further then the following articles and resources may help:

What stage is your Internet startup in? What tools, strategies, services and business techniques have you used to help you succeed online? Share your advice in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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