Innovation is wonderful. We all like new, shiny things.

But the secret to making tons of money? You don’t need to be the first in your market. You just need to do it better, different, or prettier.

The iPhone wasn’t the first cell phone – wasn’t even the first cell phone to also play MP3′s. But’s it’s really, really pretty.

My Badder Adder wasn’t the first MySpace bot. But I did a hell of a better job marketing it then other bot owners.

These crazy eyeshadow stickers aren’t the first eyeshadow, but they’ve re-purposed the way the product is applied/used to make it easier for regular folks to look cool.

Linux is making headway against uber-giant Microsoft.

Detoxing & cleansing is nothing new. Kinoki foot pads are sure different though. (My husband is so sold on these things -he totally wants them).

Competition is good. Then you know people are buying. Don’t shy away from a market because something has been “done” before. Just do it better, different, or prettier.

You don’t have to be first. You just have to do *something*.

There’s the whole “repackage your content” idea. Turn an ebook into an audio. Produce video demonstrations.

In markets where there is already a ton of competition, like the diet market, you’ll have to be more creative. Starting a diet pill review site, while a great idea, has been done to death. So what kind of value add-on can you provide? Community features? Co-op discounts? Auto-ship? Video reviews instead of written?

If you’re stuck and can’t come up with ideas, survey your market. Find your #1 comeptitor, then ask your market, “What features would you most like to see added to CompetitorsSite.com? What’s the most annoying thing about CompetitorsSite.com?” Implement their suggestions into your site.

Add something the other guys don’t have: ascetically, features, ease of use, novelty factor, whatever. Then highlight that addition as a main benefit & make sure everyone KNOWS about it when they get to your site.