The guy you p*ssed off just might be your next competitor.

Like everyone else trying to earn a living online, I joined a number of different marketing systems and online marketing tools.

Some turned out great, but others were crap. Some tools started out great, but eventually become junk as the people running them lost interest in their customers and just grabbed what money they could.

Most customers either put up with the bad service or they quit and go looking for an alternative product.

But I’m NOT most customers.

The most successful Internet product I created came about after the web site of a tool I used every day disappeared for weeks with no notice or contact from the site owner. It eventually came back up, but in the interim, I was already deep into the planning and saw how I could create a far better version of the tool. A few months later my first successful product was born.

My second product came about in a similar way. This time, it was a lead capture page system. The web site didn’t disappear, but the owners were very unresponsive. Here is what happened.

• They stopped replying to support tickets

• They never added any new templates in the year or so I was a member

• They never added any new features even when I suggested some great ones

So, once again, I built my own system and my second profitable venture was born.

In both cases, my systems offered many more features at a lower cost than their predecessors and made money in the first month I launched them.

My third online marketing tool, currently in production, comes from the same theme. A service that works great for me but which lacks a lot of features. Once again, the owners are unresponsive.

What is the lesson here?

Well, it is actually two lessons.

If you are a site owner, listen to your customers. Implement their suggestions that make sense and make sure you keep adding value. If you don’t you may be facing a new, better competitor sooner than you think.

The second lesson?

if you are a customer upset over the bad service you are getting, perhaps this is YOUR opportunity to create your own online venture. After all, you probably aren’t the only one frustrated at the lack of features and responsiveness of many major online sites.

Garland Coulson, “The E-Business Tutor”

Here is a strange confession for a traffic exchange owner. I don’t want traffic. I don’t even pay attention to which places send me the most traffic.

Why not? Because I want to EARN MONEY. This is how I earn my living, so instead of traffic I want subscriber signups and sales.

If one traffic source, such as a traffic exchange sends me 1,000 visitors with 3 signups, this is not as good as another one that only sends me 300 visitors with 10 signups.

So when I track my advertising, I don’t track clickthroughs, visitors and traffic, I track where the actual signups and sales come from.

Because those are what actually pay the bills each month!

Garland Coulson, “The E-Business Tutor”