Imagine a builder whose plumb line was somehow defective. Let's say due to magnetic forces. The plum line missed the perpendicular by one degree. Such an error would probably be inconsequential on a ten foot wall of a bungalow. It may not even be such a big problem for a 25 foot wall on a two story mansion. But it starts becoming a precariously hanging wall on a 80 plus foot wall on a ten floor storey building. If you building a one hundred plus floor story building like the former towers of the collapsed World Trade Center in New York, one degree error in laying the foundation of the walls would require you to bring down the building and start again.

So it is with your understanding of value in business. If you miss it you will create a business model that will need to be completely remodeled ground up as you grow and find yourself a misfit. Remember that the internet is a very agile environment, capable of accommodating some seriously warped business models. And there are so many "magnetic forces" that can even swing that plumb line to horizontal!

Unfortunately the term value often does not seem to communicate much to many. And to further complicate the matter is the subjective nature of value. This makes it hard to wrap ones mind around the concept. But the trick is to stop looking at value as a business and look at it as a customer. Basically the value of the business is often communicated in terms of shillings and cents; Return On Investment (ROI), Cost per Click (CPC), Earning per Milli/Thousand (EPM). But when it comes to satisfying you customers you need to look at it differently.

So what is value? Value is the feeling of worthiness you visitor derives from engaging your website. The greater the prospects or customers appreciation, the greater the value. For example when a surfer engages a page in your website do they find or feel that it was worth their time? If they buy, do they feel it was worth the money? Were they glad they found your site? Or do they think "Oh same old, same old". Are you revelatory or are you regurgitating? Are you insightful or shallow? Is your visitor thinking "Wow", or are they thinking"Oh Well". And God forbid they are thinking "Where is that back button". All the former states of mind and emotions show value while the later is a state of lack of it. But where they are looking for the back button, your visitor feels cheated and deprived.

Value is about showing that you understand your market. Ineffect, if you understand them than you can solve their problem, relieve their pain. It starts by creating value for a market. Then telling the market you have a solution. Understand what value is according to your market, create value for them. Then if you develop a system to deliver that value to that market profitably and sustainably, you are in business.