reportonbusiness.com: The building blocks of success

Mr. Eich launched his business online with a domain called "My toys need a name,"

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He devotes a minimum of 50 hours weekly to his toy business, including about 10 hours on his blog.

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"I grew up online and have been involved with social media for a long time," says Mr. Eich, who spent part of his childhood in Africa, often playing with simple wooden toys. "When I began, I had practically zero money and no tools to do a big business plan, but I knew I wanted to do this toy company. So I created a framework online and asked for people's ideas and feedback. It was all about interacting with people and trying to set up meaningful relationships. The business evolved out of that."

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"Everyone in the blogosphere is trying to figure out how they can monetize social networking," Mr. Eich says. "But Web 2.0 is not a quick fix or a golden nugget. I actually thought it was in the beginning, but it's a long-term process. The return is in the future. Every kid growing up right now is involved in Web 2.0, so [businesspeople] who aren't involved within five years will be non-existent."

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Even if a business isn't active in social media, it can't hide from Web 2.0. "Your brand and personal reputation are now up for others to discuss on the Web,"

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Don't launch a product or service before you're ready

Have a strategy and a contingency plan in place first. "Web 2.0 is more instantaneous in terms of success or failure," says Jean-Jerome Baudry, founder of Cybernomics, a Toronto company that advises companies on green IT technology. "If it affects your brand - especially with a new company, a new app or a new service - and your first impression comes across as sloppy, you can put yourself out of business."

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Don't Astroturf

(and no flogging, either)

This is not the fake green stuff. Astroturfing is public relations dressed up as independent opinion - that is, pseudo marketing reports or faux grassroots feedback about a product or service that has actually been generated by an individual, business or organization. It's easy to detect who's behind such bumph using tracking tools like Whois or Google Analytics. "If somebody figures you're doing that, they'll immediately dismiss you from the Web 2.0 forum and your traffic will die," Mr. Binns says.

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