The Long Tail

Why It Is Important For Small Businesses

An Interview With Chris Anderson

"The long tail" is a phrase that has been buzzed into our consciousness by Chris Anderson, executive editor of WIRED magazine. His book, The Long Tail, is an "impact book" -- the most important book in years. Read it.

If you understand The Long Tail (and you must -- this is why The Long Tail is the only "must-read" recommendation I have ever made), you understand the future of small business, how you fit in, and how to capitalize upon it.

So... understand it. Profoundly. If you skip this book, you do yourself and your small business a disservice. The capsule summary...

Site Build It! In the physical world, there isn't enough shelf space "to carry everything for everyone." As a result, the industrial business era has been mostly about a small number of mass-produced-and-sold products, the "head of the long tail" (red part of the graph).

The digital era turns the tables on traditional thinking about supply and demand. We are moving into the (yellow) long tail of the curve. That is the world of infinite niches.

As a small business person, it is your world. You both live in it and you market to it. The Long Tail describes the "three driving forces" that you must understand to master it...

http://longtail.sitesell.com/ivaldo.html