Seven Secrets for Internet Success

Teaching Elephants to Talk Tip
By Matt Lewis
May 3, 2005

If you haven’t read Joe Trippi’s book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, you should.

Sure, he’s a liberal, but he makes some good points about the Internet. For example, Trippi describes the seven things your business, institution, or candidate ought to know about the 'net.

I’ve personally found them to be useful. Here’s his list…

1. Be First. “The first car company to let people pick the colors, the first beer to let people design the label…the first everything has a head start building a community.”

2. Keep it Moving. Don’t let your website just be a billboard. E-mail customers and voters. Respond to email. Have a blog.

3. Use an Authentic Voice. “The internet is not the place for safe, vetted communication.” In short, keep it real. Customers and employees know when a CEO is “emailing” them that it’s not really from him. It must come from a real person.

4. Tell the Truth. Don’t hide anything. “Put what you want up high. Put it on the first page of your website, at the top of the e-mails.”

5. Build a Community. Howard Dean used Meetup.com to connect his supporters all across America and create a virtual town square. As Trippi says, “Get people involved! This is not a top-dow, one-to-many anymore.”

6. Cede Control. As Trippi says, this violates everything they taught you in school. But to have a good site, you’ve got to invite people in – and let them have some control. This can be dangerous business: “If you let us choose the color of Mustang, you’d better be prepared to produce some squash-colored cars.”

7. Believe again. The Internet is about having faith in your readers. “Democracy is based on the principle that if we give the citizens control over their common future, they will choose the best path.”