In a very similar fashion to the way that the industrial revolution re-shaped the financial world of business, we have seen the next great revolution begin to take shape over the last few years. Unlike the last one however, the gain is there to be had regardless of geographical location and levels of accessibility.

Before the Internet became the main medium through which people communicate, it was extremely difficult to compete nationally, let alone world wide in any business field. The only methods of advertising were all very expensive; TV and radio, national newspapers or magazines (usually for a niche target market anyway) or an ad in the yellow pages. All of these methods are very expensive, but were a reliable advertising method, until the Internet exploded upon the scene.

At many times in the history of commerce, it has been the businesses that are able to keep on top of new, emerging technologies and adapt their practises to them quickly and effectively, that stay a step above their competition and ultimately, succeed where others fail. Pioneers have led the way on many occasions, such as Henry Ford who almost single handedly invented the mass production line, and by the same hand, massively improved product consistency and quality, severely cut his costs and gained a huge advantage over the competitors, helping to guide the Ford Motor Company through harder times.

The difference between the companies that adopt new technologies and those that are set in their ways is often profound. Now that is more true than ever as the opportunities for advancement come at an alarming rate.

The Internet has removed the barrier to entry that had previously stood in the way of many would be entrepreneurs. Many good ideas have gone to waste due to a lack of financial backing. With the advent of the Internet and especially Google, that financial barrier behind which many large corporations hid has now disappeared.

Instead of an advertising campaign for a product costing tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds, an efficient sales funnel website correctly optimized for Google and Yahoo will attract thousands of potential customers who are already pre qualified to buy from you, for a fraction of the investment. A good website and a couple of years Search Engine Optimization can be bought for less than 5,000 – 10,000 and will be seen by potentially billions of people.

The Internet is in its infancy, we are only just scratching the surface of this information revolution. 98% of all the information online is inaccessible to strangers as it has not been designed for search engines to read. Because of this, many good ideas are going to waste. It is only recently that SEO has reached the public consciousness. In 5 or 10 years what will the Internet look like?

The companies that embrace the technology now and use it to their advantage will be the companies who are sitting on top of the pile in a decades time.

The Internet is undoubtedly the business tool of the 21st century and a fantastic provider of equal opportunity for anyone with a good idea and little bit of money for a website to make that idea a reality.

Rob Fleming Can Drive traffic to your website or blog with his powerful SEO/SEM Article Promotion techniques. Find out how by sending him an email with his contact form. To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box.