At the beginning of radio and TV, I imagine people said they tried advertising in the new medium and got nothing out of it. Therefore, the medium of radio should have been doomed, and TV should have had no future.

The people who use the Net now are "opportunists." These opportunists might swim in the Business Opportunity pond, or in the big B-to-B heavy metal pond, or in B-to-C waters such as Lending Tree or Hotels.com. The point is there are things working very well, thank you very much.

Some opportunists work in large firms and advocate the use of Internet marketing, as well as constant testing and tweaking. FedEx, Dell and American Airlines clearly know how to use the Net as a value-add medium. Land's End's online catalog and promotions are worth following and using.

On a different scale, you may want to follow the likes of Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel. Those two are building a very interesting business out of selling ebooks to niche markets online. There are opportunities online, despite teeming hordes of people having lost their shirts in online marketing previously. If you don't believe me, just look at how much time you spend online.

Now look at how much time everyone around you spends online. Notice that a corresponding amount of time is now not being spent with traditional media as a result. So if anybody who's anybody is online for long stretches, the key then is to figure out how to talk to them in a meaningful and timely way. Is it a website, newsletter, keyword buys or all the the above? I know advertisers who advertise more online now than offline because it's cheaper and faster. That's a pretty attractive proposition, no?

Here's the Distribution Channel, What's the Product?

One thing I see many online opportunists do is first see which channels of communication and distribution are already in place, and then retrofit a product to it, rather than the typical, "I've got a product, now who wants to buy" model. The difference between these two approaches is sometimes referred to as customer-driven versus product-driven.

I've been at this game 10 years now. Here are my Ten Tips for Online Opportunists:

1. Test Everything You Can: If something doesn't work, do a post mortem and keep going.

2. Pick a Petri Dish: Publish a newsletter, track your website traffic and change your pages to see what works best.

3. Know When to Fold 'Em: Don't get married to an idea that isn't working. If there's absolutely no learning coming back from your efforts, think about abandoning the project before it drowns you.

4. Don't Give Up Too Soon: Sometimes people throw in the towel on the first or second try. Sometimes they should, while at other times, it's prudent to nourish the live embers of a project.

5. Don't Tell Stories... To Yourself: We all live with our internal narratives, but don't do a sales job on yourself until it's warranted. In other words, don't declare victory too soon.

6. Look for Competitors: If there aren't any, watch out. There may be a good reason. If you've really come upon something before the teeming hordes, make real sure there's a "there" there before you plant your flag on that new turf.

7. Use the Overture Keyword Bid and Suggestion Tool As a Bellwether: Use this invaluable tool to assess the public interest in a topic. "Internet Marketing" used to get tens of thousands of queries a month. Last I looked, it was a few hundred. I feel sorry for those who optimized their sites for those words.

8. Would You Buy Your Own Stuff? No? Then why would anybody else?

9. Price For the Future: Ask yourself how your department or company will have pricing power in three years, and how the Internet figures in that quotient.

10. Bring Your Sense of Humor: You'll need it. :) LC