Lots of people start an Internet business lured by the promise of quick riches, cash on tap and more business prospects than they know what to do with, but the truth for most people falls far short of the hype. This does not mean I am implying that riches cannot be made or that there are not millions of prospects because I am not, the truth is that most people starting online follow the bandwagon, suffer from information overload which stops them from being effective or plain old analysis paralysis (analyse everything so never get anything done).

Most good offline business throw all common sense and principles they learnt offline in the bin when they go online and forget that the same principles they applied to their offline business can be applied to online businesses with a few enhancements. The most important of these offline skills that a new Internet business can apply to their business is a SWOT analysis.

For those of you that do not know what it is a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a common strategic practice in the business world. It is a valuable tool and it can be an extremely useful in assessing the status quo and future direction for your business. So it’s important to use S.W.O.T in every business you plan even online.

You should consider all the elements: -

Strengths: – This is what you are bringing to the table, your strengths, what makes your business stand out differently to your online competition. If you have done no research of your competitors how do know you are offering anything different. However your strength does not have to be a difference in product for instance it can be in quality (hint: never base your difference on cost, cheap is not always best and people do not necessarily want cheap). This step should never been under estimated and should be performed to analyse your strengths so that you can grow your business online (Knowledge is power).

Weaknesses: – This is often the hardest part for business owners because most of the time they tend to be blind to the bad parts of their business or the way they work/do business. Now some of you are probably saying you do not have a business yet so this does not apply to me – word to the wise IF YOU are new it doubly applies to you, Why you may ask?

–        My question: – how do you grow so your business has strength?

–        My answer: – by looking at the possible weakness that can stop you from being successful of course, if you never factor these in you will never understand why your site does not work or worse why you are throwing good money after bad.

We all have strengths and weaknesses and these can translate into the way we do business, but by being honest with yourself and identifying your online business weaknesses you can take essential steps to ensure your success.

Opportunities: – Identifying an opportunity may be the best reason to take action; as soon as you find an opportunity that currently fits with a model you can use or understand in your area of expertise you can apply it and take action now. Opportunities will not wait for you to take action it will just go to the first past the post (your competition will not wait for you, neither will the opportunity). It is really important to quickly analyse whether that opportunity is the right fit for you an example could be you have found a unique niche (place, position) for your online business product or service, if so you need to explode it now so that you can take full advantage of it. Remember you need to assess every possible opportunity regularly for your business growth.

Threats: – Sounds awful doesn’t it!  But its not that bad a threats is often in form of competitors, however change in consumer behaviour or economic issues can also be major threats. Some threats may already exist in your business that you are aware of, others may become real threats in future to how you operate online. All threat types need to be researched in order to optimise your long-term strategy for the future safety of your business. Don’t let the threats you identified prevent you from taking action, if anything they should encourage you to take action in a specific way as they have helped you identify which direction to take to ensure you are heading for a successful online business.

Every successful business or person who have made their fortunes online have learned to use and problem use a S.W.O.T analysis in one form or another to grow their business and save it from current and future threats. The old adage ‘if it ain’t broke then don’t’ fix it’ truly applies to SWOT analyses it is as important online as it is offline and should be a must use tool to aid you in your online success, if you are not sure how to perform a SWOT analysis and would like some help do use the contact form on The Internet Business Coach homepage for help.