Stone Soup of an Online Business

Ever since I have signed up my first website with Geocities, it was a quick 10 years down a road - with lot of change. It was not about CSS replacing HTML code, but the values converted from a website. Web developers are in a cut-throat business while everyone is capable of creating a website with Blog, free of charge. Please don’t feel bad at all, we have a narrow escape - we love to change!

It’s been a year where a4trip.com realize that best travel experience is without a guide, a year where our average response time is more important than anything else. And finally, on a personal note, I wish to complete my book, talk to even more entrepreneurs and understand the world better!

Anything to share?

YouTube, Gmail, Picasa, Blogspot and all other range of Google products are hard to resist. They are comprehensive, easy to use yet free! Meanwhile, Google runs the world best advertising programs - Google Adwords.

The smart engine behind the Google Adwords, marks it as one of the most targeted advertising channel out beat many other conventional medias. The revenue derived from this channel provides unlimited fund to continue improving Google products. The more people use their product, it provides even more eyeball for Adword.

“They are many newspaper publishers, but no one is controlling all”

Even one can make it, new media channels will be launched, such as Blogs.

Google creates content, but that can never cover all. Wikipedia, Facebook, WordPress - examples of other content providers who share the Internet eyeball with Adwords. Don’t forget, new media will be introduced too.

At one point, Google will find it hard to cover the ever rising cost of maintaining those free applications.

One day, Google search will be so accurate that it is no longer a search, but answers. Gmail is near to perfect after years of Beta too, who knows.

Remember the targeted ads appeared on the right column of search result? If Google aims to perfect the search, isn’t it is contradict to have sponsored listing which may or may not related to your search?

If Gmail is so-called the best email tools, isn’t that it should have no ads? Or, if YouTube is your personal video channel to show only video you want to watch, why bother to include the embossed ads?

Finally, Google will charge users to use their tools or services. Just like how Microsoft Words stayed in our PC for the past 10 years. From Paid to Free, and it would be one day going into Paid again.. and another player will emerge - with a new set of free services :)

What do you think?

There are two types of questions on an exam paper, subjective or objective. Both require you to provide answer and that is how you are judged. But, we are never asked to ask a question in an exam, why?

“Ah-Pin, is your company closing down now?”

This was the same question asked by my dad when I was back to my hometown. Good thing about my dad is, he is always very supportive in what we are doing. If you’ve read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, I can be very sure that he belongs to the Rich Dad type. He never too care about our result in schools those days, but encourage us to start our business than working for others.

He has got the impression that my company is not doing well especially when I have more time cycling now. It was never a bad ideas to work 4 days a week as we have been practicing now, but might sounds not too productive to him.

To be frank, I am not sure how long will we still keeping to having technical, marketing and operation in separate department? See, I can be a technical guy when I am setting up a Blog. The next minutes, I am doing marketing when I am posting an article on the Blog. When I am replying a comment posted by a visitor, I am into operation!

Less noise means we can plan our trip better!

(haha.. this post is not complete, my mind is wild and couldnt express correctly. Ideas was mixing up)

I never come across any ’successful’ marketing campaign when the products/services are not good. Hype can not last long, only the best survive!

Young entrepreneurs start a company. The company grows and operation become an issues. The founder has never ending work load and always not enough of time. The company engages their first operation manager and thing starts to go well as:

1. Dedicated support team sit 24×7 to answer phone call & replying email

2. Service Level Agreement to cover you and your customers when thing goes down, than preventing it to happen

3. Assume that customer will renew services subscribed with you next year

4. MYOB or UBS are the best accounting software, and is easy to use

5. Original invoice must with a company stamp, signed by a human being

6. Don’t work on Saturday, it is a trend. Keep it to 5 day work week.

7. Punch card & access card help you to monitor your staff movement

8. Fax, Email and Phone line (PBX.. hmm) are must have!

9. Chatting during work is monster, blocked & firewalled!

10. Boss usually has a private room :)

Collaboperation - Yupe, it’s not a typo although Google suggested so. It is a new word, at least Google does not find any website with content with the same word!

I am going to share with you why dedicated operation might not work, and how collaborative operation give more values to your company and customers.

Stay tuned for my next post!

“What’s the goal of your website?”

Most of my client will say “The goal is to create more traffic and generate awareness.”

Traffic is not a goal. Traffic refers to visitors. Visitors are not customer. Visitor must do something to become your customer, including making an order (yes!), submitting an enquiry form (near), or download a demo (closer)… This something is goal, not the traffic.

I used to ask customers the question above when they have approached us for website revamp. Many of them do not have an answer. If you are running an e-commerce site, a goal can be quite easily identified as when someone made an order. But how about corporate website that does not have an order form online?

For a lot of corporate website, visitors are not converted into customers directly through the website. Instead, we use the Contact us form to measure how effective is the website.

But, we have some problems especially when not all visitors will fill up a form. Some might call or write in through email. Streamline all channel of contact into one seems to be another good alternative but it is not easy too.

Check out the Contact us form in 1.com.my, you might get some ideas out of it.

Real time response time to increase use of Contact us form

Looks like Public Bank e-Banking system has learnt the lesson from Maybank2U and start to include the following alert of the website. Too bad, they might want to stick to just one domain and make people less confuse.

Why not stick to pbebank.com only?

Sometimes, options may not be a good thing :)

Too often, I met up with people who share with me their online business ideas, and try to highlight that this is one and only, or first of its kind. Until recently, I managed to find an answer to this.

Be the first doesn’t make you the best!

Look at YouTube, Gmail, Facebook and Google, I won’t say that they are something new, but they stay focus and create the best user useful website/content for their visitors. Well, what happen to Hotmail, Friendster and Yahoo?