Supernatural Agency: Online business tales

A few days ago Maholo founder Jason Calcanis posted a blog post about 17 ways to save money in a start-up. Because of one controversial statement in an otherwise mundane post, he started an intense debate in the blogosphere. I’m not going to weigh in because practically anywhere in the tech blog world you go you can find an opinion. What I am going to talk about is the real purpose of the post which, IMHO, had nothing to do with start-ups or saving money. It was linkbait.

Inbound links are gold from an SEO point of view. If they are from sites relevant to your site’s subject matter they weigh heavily in your favor with the search engines. They also drive a lot of traffic if they come from high traffic sources. Any savvy blogger is on the lookout for ways to acquire links and controversy is a proven tactic. This is known as linkbaiting- writing pieces that piss people off or invite lots of commenting and discussion on other blogs. Calcanis is a master of linkbaiting.

Other common ways to fish for links are insulting Apple Inc. (draws the fanboys in droves), writing contrary comments on sites like Techcrunch (however they get so many that this is no longer very effective) and guest-posting on the blogs of others. Guest-posting is pretty easy as most bloggers are thrilled to have someone else write for them and flattered if you ask nicely. Just write something and submit it to a blog you like.

Linkbait is a better tactic than simply requesting a link exchange because it is in relevant context which makes the links far more valuable.

If you blog and don’t have traffic, add in a few creative linkbait initiatives. Even one good link can make a huge difference in your popularity.

Here’s a pretty cool linkbuilding chart.

I still don’t own an iPhone but today I’m a lot closer to making the move. I’ll be waiting for the 3G version because with today’s announcement of the Software Development Kit (SDK) and Exchange compatibility iPhone will really be able to benefit from the faster network.

So what does all this mean to a non-techie? It means that Apple just reinvented the way we use the web and devices. Completely reinvented it. They’ve set up a system, with huge incentives (70% revenue share, $100 million VC fund for developers), easy as pie software distribution model, and a very complete kit for building applications fast. That means that the users of iPhones are going to see a flood of cool stuff you can do with the phone including business tools like CRM access, games, VOIP calling capability (free calls on your mobile phone anyone?) and a lot of stuff we can’t even imagine.

The Safari mobile browser has an incredible 70% of all mobile browsing after less than a year of existence and with a fraction of the installed market for mobile browsers. They just blew by the competition because the competition was awful crap. As others have noted, this should kill off .mobi. You simply don’t need it with Safari.

There are a couple of cool new technologies in iPhone that have been underutilized because developers could not access their capabilities without an SDK. These include multi-touch and the accelerator that ‘knows’ which way your phone is oriented. It turns out that this accelerator is a 3D sensor so it can be used as a controller for games and other applications. We’re going to see some wild stuff being developed that uses this. I’m imagining people walking down the street making Wii-like moves with their iPhones or being able to ‘aim’ their iPhone at an ad or building and receive info wirelessly based on geotargeting and motion detection. Multi-touch is a new interface that developers have had a year to think about and now they can get in there and make stuff that uses this UI.

But the big news is Exchange compatibility and a leap past RIM/Blackberry’s server-based sync mode. Corporate IT types now have no reason to object to their people using iPhone in their corporate networks and they may, in fact, have good new reasons for wanting them to. As any Crackberry user knows, you are dependent on RIM’s server farms in Canada to be up and running. If they go down, you go down. Microsoft and Apple worked together (!) to create a system that doesn’t require messaging to go through a dedicated central server which should greatly cut down on downtime while increasing speed.

The other corporate plus with the iPhone is that this thing is a major productivity tool that is just going to get cooler and cooler and more and more powerful as new apps start appearing almost daily.

Finally, anyone with programming skills, an idea and $99 can now start an iPhone software company. The 99 bucks gets you into the Apple AppsStore which automatically gives you a global distribution channel directly targeted at every iPhone user on the planet. And Apple deals with the money, takes a fair 30% cut and you get the rest which, because it’s software, is pure profit. You better believe that a lot of sixteen year-old geniuses are already writing code as I write these words.

Apple is amazingly adept at designing whole systems. The announcements today covered practically every concern the rumor mills were generating in the past few weeks. They will even allow developers of free applications to use the AppStore without incurring any charges. The brilliant thing about this is that there is no reason not to use their channel unless you are doing something underhanded or dirty (they won’t allow porn applications, however the porn business will simply optimise their websites for iPhone content delivery). Like iTunes, which will soon be the largest distributor of music in the US, AppStore will be the conduit that makes owning an iPhone as necessary as owning an iPod a few years ago.

One more thing, then I’ll stop. The same functionality is going to be available for the iPod Touch which is basically an iPhone without the cellular phone. Those who want to make calls without paying cell plan bills may have an option with a VOIP enabled Touch…

Cool stuff.

Kevin Kelly, the veteran observer of tech culture and human behavior, has a great post on how to build a fanbase or, as we see it in the web world, a traffic base. He theorizes that the tipping point is when you have 1000 true fans, visitors who will spend at least one day’s wages each year on your products, services or advertisers.

This makes sense on a lot of levels when it comes to building traffic. A blog that has 1000 feed subscribers and/or email subs is almost certainly a successful blog, both traffic-wise and financially. This sets a reasonable benchmark for building site traffic, one that is a lot easier to imagine than trying to emulate the million page view blogs and sites we all see daily.

So how would you find and acquire your 1000 true fans?

Adobe is officially launching its Flash-based hybrid desktop and web development platform, known as Air, this week. The platform enables application developers to build programs that run in sync as web applications (accessible via any connected device) and as desktop applications (accessible on your machine when you don’t have Internet access). These programs can run as Internet-connected widgets, meaning they don’t require a traditional browser. Microsoft offers a competitive platform called Silverlight. Google also has something similar in the works called Gears. Together, these new models for interacting with the Internet have the potential to totally change the way we access and utilize the web. So how do they affect the domain world?

These platforms could eliminate the exclusivity of access to web information that unique domains offer. In fact domains could become a much smaller piece of the pie because we won’t travel to individual sites as frequently as we do now. Just as Google is the default starting point for most web activity, various application-driven sites will suck up huge amounts of traffic covering very large amounts of information categories, all on a single domain. For a simplistic (on the surface anyway) example, take a look at Amazon. The company took ten years to reach profitability but when it did last year the results were spectacular. The reason it took so long is that Amazon was building an enormous application around shopping, the default shopping application. They literally carry or offer everything. Think about it. If you want to buy a sophisticated piece of electronic test equipment, say a Fluke 700, you can get it via Amazon. While most of us think of Amazon as a glorified bookstore, it is, in reality, the largest consumables site on the web, a sort of AOL for shopping. As this site grows all those millions of consumable-focused domains will become marginalized; the mom and pop stores of the Internet. Amazon is a platform, an application for shopping and a search engine.

Now imagine the ability to easily build similar search-focused information delivery platforms. Any kid with programming skills can do so with these new tools like Air. If they build them and put them on a unique domain (like the hundreds of goofy Web 2.0 sites out there) they will sink into the gigantic maws of the web and disappear. If, instead, they choose to join an online ecosystem like those being offered by Google, Amazon and others, they will be integrated into those systems’ search, marketing, fulfillment, data and monetization tools, giving them a chance to survive and thrive. But not on a unique domain.

One of the outcomes we’re already seeing is the commoditization of brands on the web. If I want a Honda Accord I really don’t care where I get it. As long as it’s the color and model I want (there are only 4 or 5 choices) and the price is the lowest, I’ll buy it via an Amazon or eBay. It’s a known commodity. Once I’m past an initial brand decision and on the web my intent is a deal. I’m not being convinced anymore to change brands. I don’t need cars.com, coolrides.com, convertibles.com- all I need is a search and that search is going to point me to a shopping portal 90% of the time.

This POV isn’t doom for domainers; it’s a scenario, not a reality. But it is a scenario that is unfolding as web access becomes ubiquitous and platforms like Air and Silverlight keep us synced with the web all of the time. Food for thought.

This is all, of course, speculation. But think about this: what happens when you can store terabytes of information on your iPhone? Maybe you keep a copy of the million most popular web sites on there, a copy that automatically updates itself each time your device connects? You might not need any other sites…