One of my goals this year was to finally put together some data for my Filipino Tattoo website to drive business decisions and validate or invalidate some of my assumptions. Overall, I think I was pretty accurate. After 2 years of tracking, I finally have the ability to compare KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Here’s selected data I wish to share with you.
Transactions by day
- This one made sense but I didn’t think it would be so drastic. The best day is Monday and tails off by Thursday. Weekends were typically blah. This data tells me that I should launch my marketing early Monday morning. My feeling is that most of that activity is late afternoon/evening.
Transactions by month
- The tattoo season is Spring/Summer but last year, I had a big spike in September and November. I can see why September being big because students might want to get inked before going back to school. I have no idea why November was so big. Maybe new ink for Xmas?
Facebook demographics
Every company should have a Facebook page. Besides presence in a site that recently had more page views than the mighty Google, you also get a free basic analytics tool to give you some insight about your fans. Since I added a Facebook widget for my fan page, it has grown to nearly 4,000 fans organically. It’s pretty tough to get this kind of data for your website if accurate at all.
Two days before Xmas last year, I was contacted by the woredrobe stylist for Black Eyed Peas who was looking for a Filipino design for Apl. I believe it was for the Grammys. The dude was pretty persistant but without going through the usual process of a proposal. He wanted something futuristic tribal that was going to be patterned with shiny material on a black tight shirt.
Here’s the quick sketch of my idea. In the end, things fell apart because 1) He wanted me to incorporate some generic flash tribal tattoo he found and 2) Wanted all the lines cleaned up, meaning he wanted vector files. All without talking about payment. After that, I stopped emailing. The guy was 100% legit but was probably expecting me, as a “desperate” artist do to spec work and not seek $ because of the great opportunity.
If I did go forward with the project, would something else come out of it? I assumed not. I didn’t want to work over Xmas for a freebie for the “potential” for greater things. I had to take a minute and stop daydreaming about getting paid to design for Hollywood stars.
The lesson? Value your work.
If you use Facebook for your business/personal brand, keep your wall clean. Get rid of all that Farmville and horoscope crap.
You wouldn’t allow someone to mess up your store, then why allow it on Facebook?
Why should you take time to maintain your page?
1) Traffic – With Facebook getting so much traffic, it’s become an important extension of your business. For small businesses, it’s your best bet for valuable feedback and market research.
2) Story – When someone visits your page and the 1st thing they see a bunch of Pillow hits or Mafia Wars posts, they don’t get to the important content right away. People have a short attention span and you only have the top 2 posts to get their interest. Due to Facebooks currently poor archiving, your best content can get burried fast. You may find yourself posting the same content multiple times.
3) Response – you should respond to every wall inquiry. With your wall cluttered, it will take you longer to respond and even harder for visitor to read them. This may cause redundant questions wasting your time.
I recently made it to #1 on Google for the keyword “Baybayin” for Baybayin.com. This is my 2nd #1 after “Filipino Tattoos” for PinoyTattoos.com. It took me about a year to do so after using SEO techniques and through social/real-life networking. Basically, the way SERPs (Serch Engine Result Page) work is that the more quality incoming links you have to you site, the higher you ranking will be. Ideally, Baybayin.com should be just based on the domain name but since there wasn’t enough authority linking to my site, it didn’t rank very high about a year ago.
So why is it important to be the 1st result in Google?
Google is the most used search engine (for now). They control about 70-80% of all internet searches. With new products on the horizon like the phones, netbooks, operating system, partnerships with the iPhone and etc, it’s projected to grow. If your future customers cannot find you on Google or any other search engine within the 1st few results, you DO NOT EXIST.
Being #1 on Google means that your the authority on that subject keyword. Why that may not be the reality, the #1 online authority says so. In my example for the subject Baybayin (a writing system in the Philippines that predates the Spanish arrival), I know I’m not the most knowledgeable on the subject. There are people out that that know more than I do but because of my web and real-word presence, I’m appearing as the #1 authority on the subject in the world. This has lead to an increase on translation consultations, art commissions, invitations to speak and media features.
Most people do not go beyond the 1st page – A study shows that about 93% of people do not go beyond the 1st result page. Eye tracking studies show a big difference in heat between the 1st and 2nd result. If your the 8-10th result, making it to #1 would mean about a 1,400% increase in traffic.
It’s almost the end of the year and I now have time to focus on developing my sites. From spring to fall, I’ve been busy making the rounds at Filipino festivals around the SF bay area selling/promoting my artwork and recently launched book from my site Baybayin.com. Now that festival season is over, I’ll be focusing on updating my sites and creating new ones for passive income.
To do by the end of the year….
- Launch a store on Baybayin.com
- Develop a new webapp for PinoyTattoos.com
- Expand SendPera.com
- Launch a clothing line
- Start a new book
BTW, I have a full-time demanding day job and a family. What’s your excuse? Get off your ass and do something
Zappos does it again. One common problem with online retailers who provide coupon codes is that they display the promo box asking the customers to enter a discount code if they have one. Why is it a problem?
It interrupts the purchase process
Once they reach this step in the order, the customer has pretty much committed to buy the item.
Can cause the user to leave your site
The promo box tells them to google a promo code and try their luck finding one that works. While searching, they may get distracted and abandon the cart.
Loss of $
If the customer does find an online coupon, you as the retailer will loose $ on something that most likely would’ve been sold as list price.
Zappos does a great job dealing with this. The ultimate killer is that they don’t offer coupons. They also made a page (with a great title) explaining why they don’t do so. This of course is the #1 result when searching google for “Zappos coupons”.
Welcome to Zappos.com. Many other sites out there may claim to have Zappos coupons, but the truth is Zappos does not offer coupons. Zappos.com is based on service and selection, not price.
From Zappos coupon page. If you do offer coupons you can get rid of the box and just stick the promo info in the url or add an email form next to it so you can capture addresses. Say something like, “Enter your email to receive promos”.
I attended the Web2.0 Expo last week. Here are some of the highlights:
I recently attended the Web2.0 Expo last week here in San Francisco. The theme of the event this year was “The power of less”. Due to the economic environment, companies were pushing optimization of what you already have and what you can by for $$ to save your $$$$$$$$.
The buzz this year was:
· Cloud computing
· Enterprise mashups
· Enterprise social networking with productivity/collaboration features (again)
· Customer social networking
A list of presentation PDF’s, PPT’s and video can be found here.
My favorite keynote was Open Source Administration – John Maeda (Rhode Island School of Design)
Video after the jump….
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As I was watching the Pete Sell vs Matt Brown fight UFC 96, I noticed a nice looking shirt Pete Sell and his entourage was wearing. I did what everyone who thought the same thing, Google Tokyo Five. The 1st 3 results are a band, photo blog, and a fashion blog (that has some screenshots). After tying a different keywords, I finally get to the official Tokyo Five site. Upon entering, I get an overlay pop-up showing their UFC 96 sponsored fighters Pete Sell & Gabriel Gonzaga (who both lost).
Once I “X” out of the advertisement, I’m taking to an under construction site. No photos of their products. Nothing! What a wasted opportunity. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap to sponsor two UFC fighters. People are perhaps looking to buy your products. There’s no excuse for not being prepared after a major media campaign.
Here are some basic things Tokyo Five Jeans should have done to better prepare even if they would still be under construction.
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While attending college in the Philippines, I did some part-time modeling. It was probably my most eye-opening experience to date. Being a freelance model also meant that I was my own CEO, CFO, CMO, and CIO.
1) Perception rules
Modeling: As a model, it was all about how people perceived you. Casting directors didn’t care how nice of a person you were (for the most part). If you looked good, you got the job.
Business: In business, it’s how people perceive you is what matters. If you site is ugly but has great products, they may not stick around long enough to find out.
Lesson: Make a great 1st impression. Don’t release a product that’s not extraordinary.
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For over a year, I pretty much had a monopoly for my translation and design services on PinoyTattoos.com. Recently, I’ve come across a young go-getter that I’m treating as a possible threat. While I was initially a bit annoyed due to the “talking shit” nature of the callout of my business, I also found it flattering. Finally, I have some external pressure to get my ass in gear. OK, it’s perceived pressure that I’m probably overstating it as “competition” but nonetheless, I’m using the situation to be innovative. If there was no competition, it would be good to shadowbox to keep in tip top shape. Here are some things I’m exploring to react:
1. Additional products
I’ve been thinking of expanding my product line for a few months now. The challenge has been how to keep the buying experience simple since with custom art, there can be loads of options.
2. Wider profit margins
I have/had the advantage of being the only one doing what I’m doing, so I’m able to keep my prices and not go down the price slash route that’s been so prevalent during these challenging times (yuck, sounded like a newscast). The problem with my products is that it takes time for me to draw. Sometimes I’m definitely in the red for a “fully engaged” client 
So what’s a good product that has high margin? Knowledge. Create it once and that’s it.
3. More personalization
Customers want to be put up on a pedestal. With tattoos, they have to be 100% confident in what I’m designing for them is the best and will not look like anything else. The essence of tattoos is uniqueness. Even though I’ve done “strength” dozens of times, it must be uniquely fashioned towards my client.
4. Show off
I need to do a better job promoting myself. That means asking my clients for more photos of art I’ve done for them as well as testimonials.