Surely you’ve heard that newspapers are about to fall off the edge of earth. New York Times’ revenue has dropped profusely, but on the bright side their Internet revenues have grown 6.7%. Lesson be learned: if businesses don’t hop on the Internet marketing train, they’re going to be left behind with the newspaper stands.

FACT: The Internet isn’t just about putting up a Web site anymore and telling people to go to it. Attention spans are too short, nowadays. Aside from the fact that newspaper stories are written longer and in a different style, a newspaper doesn’t have the ability to be as specifically tailored or as virtually available as Internet material does.

Advice to your business: You must begin finding your niches and addressing each one, tailoring the message to best fit each. The Internet has an incredible ability to reach huge groups of niche people at once, people that would be interested in your product if only you figured out how to reach them. Here are the steps you should be taking:

• Tell people how to find what they’re looking for. For example, New York Times could send out e-mails to certain niche groups that would include links to site pages containing information their niches want to read about, instead of just links to their main page.

• Find niches in Social media. This means making friends and sharing information directly aimed at what they are looking for.

• Continue to communicate. Your audience won’t be coming back if they don’t think you care about them or if you give information that’s not what they’re looking for. Keep up with them, respond to their needs, and even ask what they’d like to see from you.

Remember, the world is made of billions of different kinds of people. Some may not benefit from your product or service the same way someone else does, which is why niches must be recognized.

In a way, it’s like you have a bunch of kids- you need to tend to each and every one and ask what each one wants; then give it to them or they’ll wander off.

The entire world of the Internet is your competition, not just Web sites in your market. To best reach a new audience, determine who those niches might be and cater to their specific needs.