What can you learn from Lonely Planet?

I think a lesson that can be learned from this is that you have to build a brand around your business; a brand that is strong enough to have a cult like following so that your viewers make your "company" a part of their daily or weekly routine. This will lead to them eventually evangelizing your "company" to a degree that they will want to be apart of it. That could mean they add user generated content or they are quick to pass on info about an article or listing etc from your site to friends and whomever else.

I put quotes around Company because i still think that ultimately you should be trying to build a reputable company or brand. Im not saying that you should be trying to build up to having 50 employees and trying to seek venture capital but just try to build something reputable that will be around for a while, which is what Lonely Planet is doing. I see so many people talking about this "business" and that "business" and yeah, my "dog training business" and my "plr business" etc etc. Dont go for the quick hit by throwing together a shabby site and selling the same crap that everybody else sells, that says theoretically you can make a Gabillion Jillion dollars in the next 38.7 days, or you can train your parrot fluent mandarin with these 12 ultra under cover secrets that until now only the CIA and the British Secret Service knew about. Instead, focus on your own interests and some things you have a passion for. Do the research and see which might be the most successful long term or that fills a hole in a certain sector and maybe something that lord forbid differentiates you from current market offerings......and build a presence around that. Develop a solid product and brand the hell out of it.

Im just saying, theres nothing wrong with creating a manual for teaching your parrot how to speak fluent Farsi by next week, but you've never owned a parrot, could care less about parrots, and wouldnt know a parrot from a toucan....so honestly, how far are you really gonna take this product? You may make money from it but the point is youd be much happier building a community site based around your Jeep wrangler. Just because theres a niche doesnt mean you need to half assedly exploit it. Theres tons of niches and Will be until the end of time. Focus on something your passionate about and make the internet commerce world a better place.

Don't forget that the BBC bought Lonely Planet recently so they now have a *huge* backer that knows exactly how to do video properly. Kind of funny though that Lonely Planet is seen as so "alternative" but it's now owned by one of the biggest "establishments" in the UK :-)

Lonely Planet now regularly features on the BBC website, which is pitched constantly in their TV and radio shows and is one of the most visited UK sites so it will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next few years.

Will all this extra promotion help them or will be seen as "selling out"?

All the best,
Richard