It's never been easier to start a business on the Internet, and never been  harder to make money  at it.

The very fact it's so easy means everybody is doing it.  Boomers deciding to exit the corporate rat race, mothers not wanting to return to the office, marketing guys, software developers and even kids in school  - they all find some new idea that's going to make them rich, with not a lot of effort.

It doesn't matter whether the choice is blogs carrying ads, social media consulting, or the latest buzz, like Social CRM.  Entry costs are close to zero and so is the need for expertise.

As a result the web is becoming a very crowded place, and potential customers becoming more and more confused.  Google's making money through Adwords, but it's hard to see how anybody else is.

Everybody expects services to be free, and the provider to make money some way other than them paying for use. They don't care if the service doesn't last, or doesn't add any value.  Like buses there'll be another one along in a minute.

But this isn't the whole story.  We all know the web is where everything is going.  Eventually the wheat will get sorted from the chat.  The professionals will separate from the amateurs and customers will be happy to pay for services that add value.

The question (for us as well as everybody else) is how do we stake a place in the game, learn how to market and provide value in this new paradigm, and husband our cash so we're still there when everybody else has decided it's all too difficult.

We need to win the "race to the bottom",  creating a value/cost combination that others can't achieve, and drive our expense line to places they can't go.

Seth Godin recently set the scene.  In True Believers he explains fancy features won't do it - gimmicks never last.  In Fear of Apples he explains people are worried about too many opportunities to look foolish or to waste time or money.

The message I took from these insights was

• we need to stay focused on creating genuine value, and not get seduced by the fashion gurus into feature fights.
• we need to spend our time and money showing how we create value and how customers can take advantage of it - remove the fear with guidance, not create it with hype.

And the message we'd already got loud and clear - Adwords is the road to ruin, because everybody else thinks it's the right way to go.

This journey back over our thinking caused by Seth's articles has seen us arrive back where we were.  Only this time we're even more confident we're right.

Content Led Selling is the new paradigm.  Use articles to explain we understand our customers day to day problems and show how we address those for ourselves with the product they can buy in the sidebar.

Race to the Bottom, Anybody?