I am always amazed that no matter where I go in the world, I run across McDonald's. I'll never forget the first time that I was walking down the street in Tokyo and saw my first foreign McDonald's. I had a bowl of McNoodles that day — it was 15 years ago.
This McDonald's is actually in a shopping mall in downtown Seoul called the International COEX. It is a huge underground shopping mall (200 stores) and was connected to my hotel. Very cool.
Global Reach And The Internet
It struck me in that mall halfway across the world staring a that McDonald's that the internet has really changed the playing field for small entrepreneurs like me and you. MasonWorld.com is actually available more countries in the world than McDonald. Amazing.
As amazing as it seems, my little internet marketing blog is read in 132 countries across the globe. Simply put, the internet gives me the kind of reach that McDonald's has. I am a multinational presence. Now all I need is the kind of revenue that McDonald's has, and I will be all set.
It's All About The Numbers
My personal opinion is that people in the United States tend to be focused on America. It's the kind of natural tendency that get's us in some trouble from time to time around the world. However, as an American Internet Entrepreneur, you cannot afford to think like that. You need to consider the fact that you have a world-wide audience, and make a decision whether or not you want to try to reach those people with your content.
See, it turns out that these people across the globe are contributing to the global economy, and they can impact your business. My simple little product Niche Adsense Themes for WordPress had sales from seven different countries in the first month alone.
The Bottom Line: The World Is Flat
So the message for today is — the world is flat. In the new internet economy, it is more important than ever to have a global view and think about your customers a citizens of the world community.
What do you think? Are you from a country that get's ignored in ecommerce? Do American websites act like you do not exist? Are you and American who could care less about the rest of the world? Is you business set up to be global? Let me know your thoughts.
Hey Mark. This is the exact reason that I’ve gotten so “into” blogging over the last few weeks. I welcome the opportunity too work from any where on the globe anytime I want.
Talk to you soon
T
Marshall McLuins idea of the global village is indeed true – for me the world is only a fraction of an inch behind my computer screen. The days of amazement of communicating with far flung place have been replaced by time zones – I know in my morning is late afternoon in the USA and eating dinner while dealing with clients who have just finished breakfast in London.
So while having readers/visitors from all over is only surpassed by knowing exactly where they are. I run CaricatureKing.com where we create digital caricatures and mascot images for all sorts of uses, including replacing same ol same ol photos on blogs with something a bit more interesting (see http://www.caricatureking.com/caricatureblog/2008/08/20/blog-mascots-and-avatars/ ) and I am amazed at the locations of some customers.
We have had orders from the Green Zone in Baghdad in the early stages of the occupancy, and recently an order from a customer seemingly in the middle of the desert on the UAE.
To make life more entertaining I often pop their address into Google Maps and get a street view of their house, or Google earth for a view of the UAE customer’s desert town.
The world is not just flat, is tiny 😉
That is very inspiring Mark. I should invest some time into looking at my stats to see where my traffic comes from other than USA, Canada and Australia. I’ll admit, I just don’t have the time to look at my Analytics all that often. But I do agree, it is packed full of interesting information. Excellent post Mark, I enjoyed reading it very much. I love it when you travel, these pictures you take are great.
Hey T Edwards,
I wanted to let you know that I did receive your email today and will be responding shortly. Also very glad that you found Mark Mason’s site… he has quite a bit of excellent information that you can read up on. 😉
Hey I only have 123 countries!
Great artukool Mark.
PS: Garry. are you now using Mark’s blog for your personal messages?