Would you allow people to shit on your store floor?

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.

The importance of being #1 in Google

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.

5 things I'll do by the end of the year. What will you do?

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….

1. Launch a store on Baybayin.com
2. Develop a new webapp for PinoyTattoos.com
3. Expand SendPera.com
4. Launch a clothing line
5. 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

How Zappos solves the online coupon problem

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”.

2009 Web2.0 Expo afterthoughts

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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Tokyo Five Jeans fails to capitalize on UFC 96 exposure

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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5 business lessons I learned as a model

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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4 things I'm doing to combat possible competition

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.

Adapt your "Green" company or die

Organic pharmacy, Elephant Pharm closed all their stores in the San Francisco Bay Area on 2/3/09. Below is a letter sent to mailing list subscribers.

February 3, 2009

It is with a heavy heart that we bring you this news:

Elephant Pharm, which has served over 1 million customers in four Bay Area markets, has closed indefinitely.

As a small business, we’ve been hurt by the terrible turn the economy has taken and the tightening of the credit market.

It’s been a very special six years since we started this drugstore revolution, and we certainly couldn’t have made it as far as we did without you—our customers. We hope that you will continue your pursuit of a good, long life, well lived.

Please check our website, www.elephantpharm.com for further details.

To have your prescription filled, or re-filled, please contact your doctor.

We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause you.

In good health,
The Pharm Team

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8 tips to battle online smack talking

Recently, I caught wind of someone talking smack online about my artwork on a couple of posts of a somewhat competitor. While this person is unknown in the online landscape, I take this seriously as a possible business threat. While I’m proud of what I’ve done with my PinoyTattoos.com project over the last year, I’m under no delusion that someone can knock me off the top.

1. Take screenshots of the offending content
It may come in handy if a confrontation happens or if they delete/deny it.

2. Do a SWOT (Strength.Weakness.Opportunities.Threats) analysis of your competitor
You need to see where this person stands in your industry and compared to yourself. Is this person a legit threat?

3. Don’t write a post about the situation or link back to them
It will very tempting to do so but you must hold back unless it’s necessary to do so. Linking back may give them Google juice.

4. Don’t leave comments on the offending post
Don’t even think about doing it under a false name. If you do, that means someone is listening and may add fuel to the fire. No comments is worst than a negative comment because that means that it’s possible nobody is listening.

5. Research about them on Pipl.com
Getting to know your competition is important. It may give you ammo if needed.

6. Be honest with yourself
Does this person have a point? If you have more than a few haters, maybe they are right and you should change or adapt.

7. Spy
Subscribe to their RSS feed. Pose as a potential customer….ask questions.

8. Take it as a compliment
Some folks need to try to drag people down to help them move up. It’s an old tactic. Talk crap about the top, get mentioned by them, and get legitimized in the process. There are a lot of haters of Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and PerezHilton because they are at the top of their industry.

There will always be someone that’s smarter and hungrier than you. If not now, there will be a time. Use this as motivation to create a better product. I’ll admit that it does bother me a little but it only added fuel to the fire. If I didn’t receive any smack talk, I wouldn’t have redesigned my site last month. Now I’m in the process of developing 2 now products. Take that!