You will see Google Facebook soon because Google will do anything to acquire more traffic

1. The web developer end up does not secure the project. Web developer can deliver a website, not business.

2. It is usually ended up web developer is educating the customer than delivering their solution.

Around 0 - 50 Visitors a Day

After launching for probably a year, the Curve starts to show. Usually, you have around 100 to 200 visitors a day.

Around 100 - 400 Visitors a Day

‘The Curve’, good sign now! Steadily visitors and you can focus in conversion now! The Curve happens because source of visitors are stable.

More than 800 Visitors a Day

The peak is on Tuesday and the dip is on Sunday.

PageRank! Or, commonly known as PR (not public relationship)

Yeah, every page has a value assigned by Google. A new site probably has a PR0 (zero), while a busiest one will have PR10. The higher the PR, the higher your site ranking in search results. Remember, every keyword matches hundred or thousand of websites. Google check on each PR to determine who should go on top. How PR calculated is never published by Google, but it is known to be based on number of links pointing to your website. In layman’s terms, if your website URL appears in more other websites, the better. To Google, it sounds that your website is more popular and it deserves a higher place.

We will be talking a lot on PR later, so make sure you have a catch on this.

Forget about those marketing guru who can turn your online business a money making machine overnight, or paying RM499 to a SEO expert who can push your ranking to first page in Google. No one knows your business better than you. The best person who can drive your business is you, NOT marketing consultant, 1.com.my or any fortune tellers.

You, your partner, your staff, or anyone in your company need to do just one of the following to increase your site visitor:

1. Send an email to your friend about your website
2. Post a comment in a Blog you have just read
3. Google ‘Free Press Release’ and submit an article about your services
4. Interview your customer and post it in your website
5. Request a review from your customers and add to the testimonial page
6. Add 10 new keywords to your website
7. Email Pin to add your website to his Blog, why not? :)
8. ..

The presence of your website URL in the World Wide Web increases your PR. Having more text content in your website creates more keywords, eventually makes more impression in search results. Remember, if you buy and drive in NOT targeted visitors, the conversion will most likely not going to happen. Therefore, target your visitors wisely. Sending unsolicited Spam mail increase your visitor but definitely not the conversion rate. We are in a world of permission marketing now :)

Probably, it is more tricky when comes to how to increase Conversion?

Yes, it is likely that more people will click on a bigger ‘Order Now’ button than a smaller one. Yet, this is not the only way to increase your conversion rate. We are looking at smarter visitors who will evaluate your website before making a decision to buy from you. Why Blog always seems to attract more visitors compare to a corporate website? The reason is simple! Blogs speak the languages preferred by visitors. For example, ‘what is the best restaurant in Subang’ than ‘our restaurant is located in Subang and offer variety of blar.. blar.. blar…’

That is why, Blogs stay neutral and they help visitor to make decision.

Compare to a Blog, corporate website has too much ‘hard-selling’ content. If it does not improve your conversion rate, why not remove it? Save the money and use it to improve your services or products to create more happy customers. At the end of the day, those happy customers will be the one who contribute content to your corporate website. It is possible!

Assuming people like your product and services now…

The technical tweak in your website become important, and it will improve your conversion rate for sure!

I have once asked one of my customers about who is his targeted audience. Well, it was an ambitious answer from him- ‘The whole world’.

Remember, Korean is unlikely to use Google, instead they use Naver. A French-speaking visitor will most likely use keyword ‘Voyage Cambodge’ than ‘Cambodia Travel’. Your website will not be found if you have just English version. What about localization that shows your website in their currency than MYR?

We practice a test & measure method to decide what features to be launched in our website! Let the conversion rate speak for you.

For example, you can launch your online bookstore without a member login and shopping cart system. You just buy yourself more time to focus in the book business at the beginning. The right time to add more features is when you have a more steady traffic of visitor. Each time you have added a new feature, measure the conversion rate. With that, you can tell if the feature is really needed by your site visitors, or not, as well as justifying the development cost with your bosses :)

Also, I would suggest to create less pages in your website. Less pages means you have more time and more budget to spend on each page. Every single page in your website should lead to a next step, making it closer to achieve the goal of your website. It is not that difficult, just pretend yourself to be another new visitor to your own website!

There is no shortcut in doing online marketing. Spam your potentials does not get you the business. Remember those TV ads which popped out in front of your favorite shows every 15 minutes? Those are instrusive marketing done by our ancestors. Another example is, the huge Bigtree signboard along the highway. I wont buy a Bravia Flat Screen TV because I was so happened drive pass the LDP and have an eye-to-eye contact with the signboard. So, visitors are smarter nowadays.

They know how to read a review, find information they specifically want using Google, etc. When someone found your website using the right keywords, they are giving you the permission to feed them with more information. When visitors post a comment in your Blog, they also give you the permission to solve their problem. In a more layman’s terms, we need to get the permission!

And this is what we call Permission Marketing!

Now, let’s look at creating an online business…

You will be surprised with number of request we have received to develop a second Facebook or another Jobstreet for them. They asked us how much is to develop
e-Bay. We can’t answer them, because it is not website, but a business. Indeed, stories of Google acquiring one-person’s startup with millions are just too hard to resist…

Can you catch it so far? Pin, can you make it simpler?

Ok, you need to understand just two things: Visitors & Conversion

What is Visitor?

Visitors are people who visit your website. A visitor who browses 10 pages of your site is only one unique visitors, not ten. If you have 100 visitors a day, you are doing pretty well. If you have 500 visitors a day, hmm… something you can proud of. Now, you have some ideas about what is visitors ah!

Let’s now look at Conversion. Every website has a conversion. If the owner of the website didn’t define a conversion, then he/she shouldn’t do a website. Save the money for a movie then. But, more than 50% of our web design customers will walk in and tell us they want a website, without telling us what conversion they want :)

What is a Conversion?

It is the goal of your website. If GSC is mine, I would love to have more people to buy the movie ticket online. If I own a corporate website, I wish more visitors will fill up the enquiry form and ask me a few questions about my products. If I have an online store, I wish more people will order and pay online. See, all this actions are, to convert Visitors into Customers. The conversion refers to this process of converting, or when achieving a goal. The more it converts, the better.

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors hitting the goal. For example, if you have 100 visitors a day and 2 out of them make an order online, then your conversion rate is 2%.

So, it is not too difficult to understand afterall!

Basically, the ONLY two things you need to look into if you are a website owner or online business owner. They are

To increase number of visitors
To increase the conversion rate

Enough for lengthy text. You must be feeling sleepy now… pictures come!

Sample website statistic report

The above report shows that the website has about 100 visitors a day averagely. The report was tracked using Google Analytics (free)

Source of Visitors

Basically, website owner just need to know three sources of your site visitors

Direct Traffic: those who type the URL directly on their web browsers

Referring Sites: those who click on your URL from somewhere (email, banner ads, someone’s Blog)

Search Engines: any traffics from search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

Now, what is the values of each conversion? Important…

Assuming we have an online guidebook business. We sell each guidebook at 0.99USD. If we have 100 visitors a day, and with a 1% conversion, that means our sales is about 0.99USD a day.

To push the sales to 99USD a day, we can
- Increase number of visitors to 10,000, or
- Increase conversion rate from 1% to 100% and do nothing to number of visitors, or
- Increase conversion rate from 1% to 10% and increase number of visitors from 100 to 1000 a day

So, it is a game of conversion and visitors.

Who knows, the guru of this street-side shop has a deeper understanding of how to increase the rate too!

Packaging affects conversion?

An answer from Pin…

Sinchew-i's contact us form

Perhaps, it is easier to look at Sinchew’s problem this way,

Bad service triggers complaints
Good products triggers good review letters
Unclear navigation in the website triggers questions
Commitment triggers potential collaboration request
…

Solving a problem and you will not have to answer the same request forever. Including an updated FAQ before the enquiry form and many will be happy to find an answers than using the form.

What is left? Suggestion, improvement, sales enquiries, etc

You will be more than happy to listen to it. You want more, than finding a way to reduce them. Each of them could potentially become a successful conversion.

I have talked to a friend yesterday. She is doing her PHD on an interesting topic about if SME is doing their business planning or not? SME owner has too much noise and they usually find themselves no time to plan. Same to the enquiry form, too busy answering the questions makes the person-in-charge less time to think how to solve it. They choose to bear with it, the quick way.

Change!

Buy or not buy?

My friend Melinda popped me a question today.

“Pin, U think its good? Or not worth it?” asked Mel. The book she want to buy is not cheap. It is selling at USD97.

The book is about branding. What is branding? If only you have read my previous post.

“The book is kind of expensive. Why not spending your money this way. Buy each of your potential customers a free movie ticket worth RM10 each. Now, they will be more than happy to share with you how to improve your service. You money can get at least 30 quality feedbacks. The rest of the money, buy each of the friends in our Group List a Cornetto Ice Cream. This will make everyone remember the name of your project- Coconect.com,” my answer to Mel.

The good money you have spent along the highway, putting your signboard, can be of better use!

Web hosting business
It is more than enough for your website 12GB storage

Travel guide business
Try Red palm guesthouse Check out this xxx website and blar.. blar… blar..

Telco
Download about 20 movies in a month 20GB of data download

Email hosting business
Your email will be marked as Spam you don’t have a Reverse DNS setup

Web design business
It improves ranking in search engines revise your meta tags

You can write a lot, but your client may not have time for it. Remember, keep it short.

Solve the problem, not to show off your technical knowledge!

Last week, I have interviewed three students who wish to work as interns. Sadly, we are not able to take them. We can be wrong. One of them has written an email to us to ‘appeal’. I think this is somethng great, something we all should learn about it.

Her passion moves us!

Develop on Demand reduce the risk of setting up an online business. The system or website starts with only few features. More features are added when there is request from your users.

Don’t miss this out, check out Andy’s latest assignments!

Join the Class now!

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?

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?

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)

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

It was not the first time my mum couldn’t find the expiry date on a product. It is never too hard to print a clear one to make users’ life easier. But, what the fact is, how a packaging designer or the expiry-date-printer/integrator want to think from my mum’s view who don’t read English, or my view where I hate those date which I have to guess between Month and Date. Why don’t they use this format 10 Dec 2008, than 101208 (or 121008, or 081210, or 08xxxx…… never ending…)

Apparently, the potential of the website is very much underestimated by the management. The website can potentially become a new revenue channel. Interesting enough, we have put the revamp into a more solid figure, measurable. It’s not about improving the look and feel or serving more information after the revamp, but all about results. The result is derived from visitors and conversions. Conversion is the goal of the website, in monetary values. By identify the value of each successful goal, we manage to come out with a number in dollar and cent which will be finally presented to the management by Hakim next week!

Good luck, Hakim! By the way, Hakim’s new project has something to do with final year projects! We have a little talk about it, and I believe he can be a good driver for his project, the most important element in every online business!

Yes, comes the standard story…

Several web agencies were invited to present a mockup. The best one was chosen. A brand new website was launched after several months, Old marketing managers were happy about it, at very least!

The problem of many businesses is they don’t think big enough! Perhaps, they have tried to think out of box, but the box is just too small.

How far can a cruise operator’s website go if it can only allow booking of their own tour package? What is the difference when it was compared to a cruise booking website that allow visitors to book tour package of any cruise operator?

I have recently attended their private launch of the new Maybank2U 2.0 website. If only Maybank2U knows not all users are techy, and their new website doesn’t seem to address to this problem at all!

A common problem for many System Interface Designers is, they believe everyone knows hitting Ctrl+V is Paste, and no one will choose the Paste function from File menu.

The old Maybank website

Look at the amount of information, links and pictures in this page. Yes, this is catchy in a bad way- distracting users’ attention on important notice and security alert. Choice is not good, in this case.

This might easily help everyone (Including Mr. Ctrl+V and Mr. File) to fight phishing. This cost less to develop, no consultancy fee to pay (I’m happy to share), and most importantly, to convince more people to use Maybank2U!

Think about this classic Chicken and Egg question. Visitors to Youtube are looking for video clips uploaded by other visitors. Which come first, visitors or video clips?

Many online business owner do not want to touch this. It is no doubt a tough questions to answer, yet so important that one should be aware of this and has a plan!

They appear like a dream project to me. They are different from conventional business which involved only selling of services of products. I doubt dream project is unplanned (like many stories you have heard from those successful Web 2.0 owners).

Plan it now!

34 pages A4 size (Free)
60 pages, 4.25″ x 6.88″, perfect binding (USD8.23)

Post a Review if you like this guide

Just look at Stemlife & Stemlife Blog or Malaysia Airlines and its Malaysia Airlines Blog, this growing trend means you will see more business owner adding Blog to their main menu in the website.

Google treat everyone as personal. That is why you are not asked to enter your company information. See, one can work for more than one company, or even own a few companies. How many times you are asked to answer your income range or your age or your area of interest in those drop down forms? It is, in another words of saying – your age and income will never change. Or, what is the point of asking?

Well, behind business Blog, I’m sure you can find someone, or a group of people who is managing it. They are real people and the business Blog is actually personal to them, so as the official website :)

I used to think of how those amazing company still indulged themselves in their own sweet dream of having many years of existence, in decades. It doesn’t take Friendster or WordPress long to become successful. If you need a more solid example, check out Google.

I was talking to one of the biggest property developer in Malaysia recently, over the revamp of their website. This is the second revamp after 4 years time, and I expect them to have clearer understanding on the importance of what to achieve now. Change is pain, and when every web developers walk in and tell you the same thing about mockup, fancy flash animation, they have finally chosen to measure something unmeasurable – branding.

They have chosen Leo Burnett, one of the famous creative company. I’m not sure how much opportunity cost will be lost to this property developer after visiting Leo Burnett’s website. My mouse turned into a big pencil, to match with their tag line ‘All big ideas come out from big pencil’. What has this to do with me? The website is in ALL-Flash version. The navigation does not impress me at all (perhaps, to the group’s decision maker, yes).

Creative agencies are in the market for many years, long before any web design company. In those days, TV, Radio and other non-online media are the main advertising channel. Over the years, creative agencies are moving into the online channel and this directly put themselves as the role of web developers, without knowing what and how website can really help – another example of Meatball Sundae.

It is not that you are big and the golden words ‘starting since 18xx’..’ that makes you outstanding. It is about change!

Nokia wants to transform itself into a next-generation entertainment company. Last August, Nokia, the world’s largest cellphone maker, created Ovi, an Internet service and online music store. Its intent, analysts say, is to compete directly against Apple.

This is unfamiliar territory for Nokia, which got its start in the mid-1800s as a paper maker. But as Mr. Ojanpera explained, companies like his have no choice. “Change is painful, but you have to figure this out in order to be successful,” said Mr. Ojanpera, who is based in White Plains. “The question is, are you willing to play by the new rules?”

Further Reading: Criteria for selecting good web developer

I must admit that I’m the fan of National Geographic magazine. My earlier NI collection mainly on those featuring animals. Well, everything changed when I am getting older (older, serious…), I’d love to read more on places and people with different cultures. It was no more Savana lion’s picture with teeth dig into a wild buffalo’s back that attracted me now :)

I usually bought those outdated NI magazines, most of them dated 1980 – 2000, cost about RM8 each. I would consider them my little weekend retreat, besides cycling! Then it comes, last weekend. I was in Cineleisure looking for a gift for Shirley, our Langkawi writer. You won’t believe the number of NI magazines spread in 4 10-metre long table, full of them. They are really old magaizines, anything between 192x to 193x. You name it!

I picked one – an oldest I can find there! It wasn’t RM8 each, but RM80!

One of the reason I have decided to buy one, is to find out how advertisement looks like in those days. Here, some of the interesting advertisement I wish to share,

In the dead of night? Who would has think of that this is an advertisment from Bell Company. Yes, the one who invented Telephone. I couldn’t find any telephone numbers in all advertisements, perhaps this explains telephone still remains as for emergency use only.

New joys for Radio – What happen if they have an IPOP?

Colgate, still a dental cream

Sedan for $1,075??

Camera?

Modern bathroon has a shower?

To answer your question, yes, there are people who speak Latin, but we are few, possibly numbering in the low thousands. Many more know it as a written language, a few hundred thousand fluent readers worldwide. Millions of current and former students, again worldwide. All of us speak another language as our mother tongue. It’s a fabulous equalizer that way: no one is speaking their mother tongue at a spoken Latin conference.

Spanish on the other hand is one of the most spoken languages on Earth. Hundreds of millions of native speakers in dozens of countries. Even more as a second language. The confusion between Latin and Spanish arises because the part of the Americas where Spanish is spoken is usually called Latin America.

Thanks to Peter Sipes. In his recent talk to our team member Eunice, we have finally got a clearer view of how to make our website even more localize for all.

In sweden, online buyers are so used to getting the product first before paying. Well, most of their e-commerce websites support two payment options, Faktura and credit card. Faktura remains as the preferred one where the owners value the return rights of their customer more than anything. Invoices are sent together with the products. Buyers will have to just pay the invoice through their local bank account.

Another thing I might it interesting is the introduction of additional fee for a greener-packaging method. Yes, paying extra to have the website owner wrap your product in a more eco-friendly way. It costs 10 kr extra, but makes huge difference. So, opt in for MILJO next time :)

Thanks to Jian for sharing this. Jian just returned from Sweden, he was sent there to do research on how Nordic countries run their online business sustainable environmental…

With Internet flatten the world, you can now take an order from your website without meeting your customer. They are required to fill in a boring and long order form (all the way from first name to where they stay).

You have them all kept in a customer database. A literate society comes to believe that everything can be explained in words. What you’ve just seen is an example of how great a fallacy that is.

I bet the name of customer means nothing to you, especially if you have thousand of orders a day. They are just another must-have record in your customer database, because all online forms are designed the same!

I’m surprised! Most of us only add a friend from Meetic when a picture was attached with a profile, same goes to facebook and frienster! Same goes to the fact that you will never fall in love with someone by just their name!

I wish I don’t have to fill in anything while making an order. Instead, just to upload my picture, why not? At least, I don’t become ‘another record’ in the database, but becoming a friend to the online store owner.

A customer database made up of faces, indexed by nick name! I would love to have this!