Start Your Own Free Portal Services Company!

I've noticed a lot of similarities between all these portal service companies (ie Yahoo!, Google) and also the ISP's (AOL, MSN) so I decided to post what seems to be the essentials to starting your own!

1. Search Engine. This seems to be the fundamental element. You can disguise your search engine as a "directory" but you'll probably need something to help the average person find their "naked pictures of [insert current popular young female celebrity here]."

2. Free Web-Based Email. Get a good spam filter and a ton of storage and you're rolling!

3. Browser Toolbar Utility. Include a pop up blocker for those people not using Mozilla or Windows XP SP 2. The toolbar has to include at least a few mysterious icons and a search field. It would also be a good idea to include your logo on this toolbar.

4. Instant Messenger Service. Also known as "IM" service. Start one of these so people can communicate with each other using obscure abbreviations and smile faces. In fact, if you can design a cartoon face set of emotions to substitute for the generic ":)" you'll be that much further ahead of the competition.

5. Personalized "My" Page. This page should have as many little custom boxes as possible. Let people customize it so they can have instant access to sports scores, weather, stock prices, news items and HOROSCOPES of their choice. You can use this to connect to your other portal services as well.

Optional:
The following services are optional to your portal services company. You could do without them but it is HIGHLY recommended that you pick at least three of these five and add them to your blooming company.

1. Desktop Search Program. This is the new frontier of portal services. If you could create an all-encompassing desktop search program that also integrates with the operating system and your internet search engine, you'll be in business. Be careful!!! Make sure you have a plan to reassure users that your program isn't going to spill their computer's contents all over the internet. Then make sure that your reassurances are true.

2. Calendar. If it can sync with a PDA or Outlook, it would be better.

3. Web Hosting. You're already offering 3GB of web based email service, what's a few more GB for web sites?

4. Blogging Service. Goes hand in hand with web hosting. Censor your blogs if you like, but if that's the case, have a reassurance plan to your users. Perhaps hire the same PR people who will get you out of the "Desktop Search Program" jam.

5. Groups/Newsgroups service. Because who really knows how to use newsgroups? Make it userfriendly and the people will come.

Finally, a word about advertising. You say, "Blogman, if I'm giving all this stuff away for free, how does my portal services company make any money?" (Yes, you are giving all the above services for free). Blogman says, "Advertising. The future is advertising."

Look at every one of these portal services as an opportunity for advertising. By offering services you'll get more subscribed users. Then, you can charge advertisers higher and higher rates as your market share increases. As mentioned, the search engine is the centerpiece of this. Anytime someone uses your service, there should be ads around.

Good luck starting your own portal services company! Remember, it's a tough market out there but if you're successful enough, maybe Microsoft will try to take you down! Once you start getting hate mail from Bill Gates, you'll know you've made it. I can't believe I wrote all this for free!