Are you a net dodger? Are you avoiding the Internet because it is too complicated? Have you decided not to have your own Web site because it is too expensive?

If so, I hope you are ready to retire. Every day that you are not on the Internet, you lose future sales! If you don't act now, your career in stock photography will soon come to an end.

Ka-Boom!

The explosion of the World Wide Web will have a greater effect on mankind than all the nuclear weapons we have worried about for so long. There are 55 million Internet users around the world today. Most have Email, many have Web sites. By the year 2000, there may be 200 million people using the Internet. By then the Internet will be as common as the telephone or TV, but more useful.

Many large stock agencies have already embraced the Internet, with more jumping onboard every day. Where stock agencies go, photobuyers follow. Yes, it is complicated. Yes, there are no standards to follow. Yes, technology is changing almost every month. Yes, there is something you can do to bring this situation under control.

Get The Lead Out!

Everyone will do business on the Internet by the year 2000. Why? Because they will all upgrade their hardware and software to be compatible with the year 2000. This new hardware and software will be Internet-ready. Business will figure "We paid for it, so let's use it to our advantage!" You must have your Web site on-line by then, or your existing clients will look elsewhere. You face two major problems.

The first problem is lead-time. It will take you at least three months to get you Web site up and running. It will take you another six months to re-organize and fine-tune your site so that its content will attract photobuyers. Even if you start today, you won't have a working Web site until at least February 1999.

Your second problem is competition. There are already thousands of photographers on the Web. Within nine months, there may be hundreds of thousands. You need to make your Web site stand out from the crowd by the year 2000. That means you will only have eight months to master the unknown science of Internet marketing. If you're not fast, you're last!

The Buck Stops Here?

Your Web site is your gateway to the photobuyers of the world. They will be shopping on the Web, and it is your job to ring up the sales for them at your Web site. If you fail to act now, you will have nothing to look forward to after the year 2000.

You can look forward to next month's article: "Internet Marketing -- Fact or Fiction?"

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Latest Revision: Saturday, 07 May 2005 08:52 AM