There is a huge value to be gained in life and in business, by being unique. If you are the first business to deliver a unique product or service or can do so in an innovative style, then so long as there is a demand for that product, then you have a great early mover advantage to leverage – a “unique” opportunity. Before long others will come along and copy your idea, perhaps doing it better. Hence, the desire to be unique can be counter productive – Uniqueness isn’t necessary, and being unique is overrated. There is a lot to be said for copying successful ideas that work over reinventing the wheel.

The web is still growing, and exciting innovative, new, Web 2.0 business models are emerging. Currently communities are highly valued, and whether your digging, twittering or Facebook profiling, there are novel and unique business models emerging almost daily. Could you be the next YouTube? Or the pioneer of the new wave of Web 3.0? If you are, then you’re set for life. If not, you aren’t washed out. Often when the topic of conversation turns to web business models, there is an assumption that the business should be unique – and often in turn, people are put off the web for fear that their idea isn’t unique.

So, you want a unique idea? What makes you think, that out of 6 billion people in the world, you’ve had a unique idea?! (or that you’ll ever have a unique idea!) How do you know that someone hasn’t come along before you and already failed when testing your idea? There is a huge element of risk in ‘unique’ – and that will account for a lot of the failed web businesses that experimented with a novel business model.

The truth is – It Doesn’t Have To Be Unique! If you walk through the physical world, down the local high street, you’ll see shop after shop selling the same thing – 20 coffee shops in a row, a dozen clothing outlets – and who is setting up next door? Another coffee shop. That’s because a coffee shop is a tried and tested business model – people want coffee, and go to shop. There is nothing unique about opening a coffee shop, just like there is nothing unique about starting a “copy-cat” website. Crucially there is less risk involved in doing so.

So how do you stand out? The key is not in uniqueness, but in differentiation. Find something that someone is doing badly and do it better. Adapt a successful business model to add some new features. In the physical world, the best presented coffee shop, with great service, pleasant music, and delicious coffee will stand out. On the web, again design, functionality and style can make you stand out. You don’t have to be unique – you just have to do things better than the competition.