The trifecta that will win in 2007

There's some websites that have already figured this out, but they're few and far between. There's a surefire way to win on the web and that's what this blog is about. The triple-threat that will present itself as the winning solution in 2007 is as follows:

1. Provide a framework/API
   
   
2. Become the de factor portal for the things created in this framework/API
   
   
3. Create a marketplace for the authors of the things created with this framework/API

These are serial elements to success and follow a natural order. Let's examine these items in depth:

1. Provide a framework/API

Many people have figured out this one already. If you want to be the next best thing on the web, you need to embrace open-source development and allow the world to help you create applications, widgets, etc. By offering a framework or API to the hobbyist programmer to become a free developer, creating applications you would never have thought of, you're getting an infinite return on your investment. Perfect examples of this are Google Maps and Flickr. People have been creating a dizzying array of nifty applications with those two APIs. I include frameworks in this post to include things like Microsoft's .NET and the more recent XNA Game Studio which allows people to develop Xbox 360 games.

2. Become the de facto portal for the things created in in this framework/API

Offering APIs and frameworks to developers is great. It gets your brand out there when people are touting the products that they built on your framework. However, brand recognition is not usually as good as profits. That's why the next immediate step needs to be the creation of a portal or destination where people go on a regular basis to see the cool new apps and widgets created on your framework. This is an area where Flickr fails. They highlight some of the apps produced by the community, but they are in no way an exhaustive listing. A better implementation of this is Firefox's library of plugins. They got this step right. When I need something added on to Firefox (or better yet, when I'm just curious to see what other people are developing), I immediately go to getfirefox.com and browse through their library of plugins. There's no other site that even comes into my mind.

Naturally, if you can get people coming back to your site to grab the latest app developed by your community, you can then monetize that traffic via advertising or premium services (the two ways nearly every major web site makes the bulk of its money). You also further solidify your brand recognition as you iconify not only the provider of the framework, but also the developer community. You can easily keep an eye on the best widget builders and make them prime targets for recruiting.

3. Create a marketplace for the authors of the things created with this framework/API

This is by far, the most difficult but most rewarding and profitable of the steps. Step 3 is an extension of step 2. Having an API is great for your company, monetizing it is better. Similarly, your developers love your framework, but would love even more to monetize the products they build with it.

Anytime you can create a marketplace, you win. I can't stress that enough. Anytime you build a marketplace, you can implement some fee or middle-man scenario where you can take a cut of every transaction. Ebay, of course, is the biggest winner of this game. They have one of the largest marketplaces in the world. They enable people to sell their goods and create full-time jobs working off their community of buying and selling. Second Life is another great example. Give the developers in your framework a place to show off their products, then give them a way to monetize their products. They'll thank you for it and you'll have a new revenue stream.

Sure the big ideas are taken, but there's a millions of small ideas that are begging to be tackled. Software (that could benefit from a framework) needs to be written in a bunch of areas including but not limited to:

* Fantasy Sports Leagues
* Group Collaboration (this is broad and there's some forays into it)
* Media libraries, playback (audio and video)
* Website design (actual graphic and HTML templates)
* Cooking/recipes (Recipezaar.com is one of the smartest sites around, but they don't have any method of reward for people posting recipes)

I'd love some comments on this post about additional underdeveloped areas where this strategy might fit.

Keep in mind that there are some providers of these things already, and some of these providers even have frameworks or APIs available, but I doubt any of them have created a framework, portal and marketplace to really spur development in these areas.