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Escort gave a good example.
The question to ask yourself in this or any industry is "You don't expect change?" If you aren't prepared for continuous change in all components of your industry you will eventually fail. The Internet has accelerated the traditional speed of change because now its a more level playing field and things happen in real-time. So your competition can literally come up with a creative marketing ploy in the morning and have it out on its site network by the end of the day and effectively outflank you.
One of my biz partners asked me the other day why I work so hard and get up at all hours to check on things. I said because I worry. I worry about the competition coming up with something new that will screw up my sales, or new laws, or servers going down, and on and on. And I do mainstream non-adult and non-internet biz stuff as well, so its quite a task, but I strive to be the first one at the fishing hole as much as possible in all the different things I do.
I see so many webmasters come into this business especially and start to make some bucks and think they can kick back and put it on autopilot. That's one of the surest ways to get clubbered. Start partying too much and you'll fall asleep at the wheel and crash. Someone else will get your customers.
The best way to compensate for a decline in sales is by implementing one or more of several strategies:
1. Outprice the competition.
2. Give the customer more value for their purchase.
3. Be more creative in your marketing and site presentations.
4. Expand your site network to offset decreased sales individually.
5. Network and get involved in mainstream sites.
6. Improve customer service to make sure your customers are happy and content with the service you are providing them. Happy customers means retained customers. The longer you keep a customer the more people he will tell about how good your service is and he'll stay longer also.
7. Expand advertising and promotion. Get your sites out there so surfers can find them.
8. Sometimes you can take the opposite approach to expansion and consolidate instead. Dump the dog sites, and focus on the ones doing the best. Don't ever lose the focus. That happens a lot in this biz too. Like when you get to the point when checks come in and you don't even know what they are for.
9. Boost your content up. E-mail your customers and let them know your updates. If you don't keep your publishing fresh and new, people get tired of looking at the same things and will leave.
10. Build up an affiliate program. If you have a hot site niche other webmasters will gladly market sites that convert.
There are lots more things you can do. But any of these is a start in the right direction!
Work Hard. Take care of your businesses and they will take care of you.
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