All of my websites have a domain name of its own.  Ever since I read about the article from CMSWire, I have been wondering if a web presence can survive without a domain name.  There has been a lot of people saying that it is possible to have a website of its own where we can operate without a domain name.

It is always advisable for any one of you to have a domain name simply because of branding.  Having a common name consistently in the social media is a necessary step so that your social media users will be able to identify you wherever you go.

The start of a new case study

I decided to start a new web presence about Android phone tips since I have just bought myself a HTC Desire.

Tools used:

1. Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Android-Phone-Tips/140369539324334)
2. Twitter account (http://twitter.com/androidphonetip)
3. Tumblr (http://androidphonetips.tumblr.com/)

This is a case study that I will use to understand myself how a website can operate without a domain name of its own.  I will want to see how far this android phone tips can go, and to see how much value it will bring to the world of Internet.

Different brand names

In this case study, you will notice that I have not consistently put in the same branding. i.e. “Android Phone Tips”.  Instead, it has 2 different brand names of their own.  One very obvious reason is that I have not been able to get the same consistency name across the three platforms.  Twitter cannot take in the whole name as “AndroidPhoneTips” because there is character limit.

If you are an Android phone user, do support my small little android project!

This recently, I was approached twice by phone from different friends.  One called me that he has a business opportunity for me, and would like to meet me up for coffee.  When I say no, he said it is ok and would like to give me a free ebook.  The other kept on wanting to share something with me, and even put in a date if I am free on that day without me asking for it.  Subsequently, I also received followed-up emails asking if we can cooperate for a business.

Please let alone about the thought of any attractive business opportunity.  The person who wanted to share with me something is actually annoying… Or in another word, he’s very irritating…

And if anybody asks you for a business opportunity and yet keeps you in suspense, I think it is better to give up about that opportunity.  The reason is because it is very suspicious, and that person is bound to find ways and means to brainwash you in that very long “1 hour” of meeting.  I will find it very annoying because it is so irrelevant and interruptive to me.

Because of their desperation, it looks to me that they are looking for customers rather than asking for a business cooperation…

In my opinion, business opportunity should be restricted to non-customers only.  Meaning to say that this money opportunity should only be beneficial to the business partners, and not the customers.  But the customers must be benefited from the product or service that they have purchased.  By asking your customers to help you to sell your products, it’s like having a double-edged sword in your hand… It not only irritates the people around from buying your product because they still have to work for you, it also hurts yourself when the people are simply not appreciative of what you are doing in their interest.

Photo by: floridapfe

Business opportunity voices down to two factors: Time and Money.
It only means that you can invest your time and/or money to make even more money for yourself.  For sure, nobody can ever buy more time for themselves.

If I were to spend my time in a business opportunity, it is as good as asking myself to be “employed” to that business opportunity.  What this means is that I have found a job for myself… But I will only get paid if and only if I make a profit for myself.  It doesn’t matter if we are talking about which type of business model here actually… It matters most when we tell ourselves if we have the invisible money to survive through the tough times before we start to make money!

And if anyone who is sincere in giving a business opportunity, I always think that it is good to tell that person what industry it is and what business model it is adopting before he or she comes down for your business opportunity.  It is so irritating if we found out that this is not what we are interested in… And I think this is what the investors are looking out for to spend their money on to make even more money…

I really appreciate the existence of ghostwriters and copywriters. It’s not easy to create original contents in a saturated market. That one product where you find several competitive websites selling the same, i tend to see duplicated contents somewhere. It’s not 100% original. Given that they are actually selling the same products exactly, the only difference you can see is price…

We can’t really blame them that they cannot create original contents.. But even if they didn’t copy anything from other websites, there’s a high chance that they will still write the same features and benefits. And that coincidence of similar contents is very high.. Don’t you think so?

What they are missing here is that they have been focusing on creating contents for the sake of it because of the nature of the internet. The internet is very driven to look for more contents. The web owners may think that it is ok to copy and paste, but it is not ok for anybody else! Your competitors will not like you.. The internet search engines will not like you either..

I’m now on my way to create another two sales pages of different markets. The whole process is very similar.. It’s to find out what the problem my potential customers are having.. And to find out how my products and services are going to solve their problems.

Although it may sound very simple and stupid, i think that’s what we want when we are surfing the web. Looking at competitors’ websites, i can learn more about the various ways they have used to increase pre-sales..

What do you think about the contents when you create your own sales pages?

Before I start, I just wish to clarify that “client computers” mean the actual desktop computer or laptop that you are holding right now.

Long time ago, the client computers have very low specifications in terms of graphics, memory, hard disk and CPU speed.  That’s because we rely on the centralized servers to process the information, while we only use keyboard to enter the information in a black screen (with no fancy graphics to appreciate).

Very soon, there is an increasing need for the client computers to be more powerful (if not it will be the same or even better than servers).  The main usage is to watch videos, listen to music, play games and so on… People don’t like the boring black screen, and they want something more.

Then, the Internet came into play between the servers and client computers.  Everyone of us simply use a web browser to surf the websites, install messenger programs to chat with our friends, and do many other things leveraging on the power of our computers as well as the servers.

Only this recently… With all the various tools created by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Adobe and so on, the power is now given back to the servers again!  We can almost work on anything with the use of a web browser only… We can use Google Doc to create our word documents and excel spreadsheets… We can use WordPress with Thesis to create almost any kind of website (not just a blog like the one you are reading right now). You can even use Pixlr to edit any images that you need!

Probably, the only things that we cannot use the power of a web browser is when we need to create videos and audio… I believe it’s just a matter of time as the whole world is now moving into an even faster Internet speed.

The only requirement that every client computer needs to have are: the latest version of web browsers, Java and Adobe Flash Player.

You probably don’t need to bring a laptop anymore in everywhere you go if you are doing an online business…

While many of you are building your communities on the social media, it is good to take note that the social media websites can be taken over faster than we can ever thought.

I can still remember using ICQ with so many friends… I thought ICQ is not going to be taken over by MSN easily even though it was introduced in every computer… The community in ICQ is so huge that it is hard to understand any reason why the community can move over to MSN without our knowledge!  But the fact is that I don’t know any of my friends are using ICQ now… They are mostly using MSN, or probably Yahoo Messenger…

Then, I can remember so many of us are using Friendster… I do believe some of my friends are still using Friendster… But I have not touched my account for a very long time!  I don’t even remember what I have last done with my Friendster account… Subsequently, everyone of us are using Facebook!  And it is so huge that I can’t remember asking anyone who has Friendster…

Now, we have Twitter… And we can find different varieties such as Blip.fm, Friendfeed, Facebook status, etc… Who knows if Google Buzz could take over as the number 1 social media in the realm of updating our status.. I do hope that they can make Google Buzz a standalone program and not to be integrated with my Gmail account…

What’s the lesson to learn here?

While it is easy to leverage on the high traffic of social media to build your community, it is good to have a standalone website to let your community fall back at when that social media website is falling apart… It can be disastrous if your community is affected by the business performance of that social media website… And the interesting part to know is that many of these websites are actually not making money, and they are waiting for big players like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to buy over once they have built enough awareness.  It is just a matter of time when those websites – which are not appreciated by investors – are shutting down without any notice… (hopefully they can give at least one month’s notice though…) And the reason for shutting down is their high expenses of maintenance with insufficient income to take care of them…

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog on some consumers being short-sighted, greedy and selfish.  It got me into some thoughts…

While you can’t satisfy some of your customers who simply ask for more, there are some businesses out there who actually over-promise and under-deliver.  As customers ourselves, anyone of us may actually encounter this issue where some of the items are not going to be delivered even though it was promised originally.

As a customer, it can be disturbing to receive under-delivered promises from companies.  It only tells me a few characteristics about that company:

1. The company is actually incapable. They are just over-promising things.
2. The company is handling too many businesses.  Hence, they are used to getting such complaints always.
3. Having a “good” portfolio of clients doesn’t mean much actually.
4. They have internal conflicts with their employees or with their outsources.
5. New employees are in the midst of taking over the work of old employees.

And I think that a good project manager is very crucial to make things work.  And it is not easy even if a good project manager is taking over a badly handled project.

In terms of operation, it is also crucial that enough resources have been dedicated.  It is understandable that a small company may suffer lack of resources when business is good… and that same company is suffering from over-staffing when business is bad… So, the company must really focus a lot on resource management.

And when a customer has been disappointed again and again for under-delivered promises, there are only two things he can do…

1. Give up and get it over…
2. Complain and give another chance… (probably this is the tenth chance already)

If you are the business owner, what will you do?

This recently, i’ve read a post from Mashable that the FTC is enforcing on transparency when working online. This means that people must disclose if they are affiliated with the sellers or not. I’ve noticed that transparency has never been the case in radio, tv and even newspaper.. And to educate people on being transparent online, i believe lots of companies will get caught before they understand the meaning of transparency.

McDonald’s has been the not-being-transparent victim of the recent monopoly game that they were promoting when they actually sponsored blogger to talk about the game behind-the-scene.

Looking at some of the ways that big companies are working on, some of them may even have provided their fans with the materials so that they can be their evangelists on the social media.. Some people may wonder how these social media evangelists can be so efficient.. Is this considered to be disclosed as well if there’s no monetary gain?

It’s just a matter of time when companies and agencies will start to realize that it is not ok not to be transparent online.. We’ll see how many more companies will get caught.

Photo Credit: Obi-Akpere

I was busy sorting out my messy files worth of 141 GB in size… Until then, I found this very interesting note that I have written it in a word document.  I believe it came from some great people out there… But I just couldn’t recall how I put all the words into this word document… It’s really meaningful… And it has taught me well in my life which I think it should help you as well.

Here it is..

1. Understand that proactive people do the right thing on time.
2. Make sure that you keep everyone informed.
3. Be a proactive person who initiates actions, rather than a reactive one who waits to be prompted.
4. Prepare specific objectives and agree them with your team leader.
5. Sort the important tasks from any unnecessary ones.
6. Make sure your job description is up to date and still relevant.
7. Remember, once you have identified your objectives, you can focus your mind on them.
8. Recognize the routine triggers you should react automatically to.
9. Act now if you already know what needs to be done.
10. Gather relevant data before you make a decision.
11. Critique your working processes and seek ways to improve them.
12. Look at whether or not you put off difficult tasks.
13. Remember, if you put things off, a problem can turn into a crisis.
14. Note down ideas that might lead you to better ways of doing things.
15. Set people’s expectations at achievable level.
16. Keep filing up to date and easily accessible.
17. Recognize that the perfect answer can arrive too late.
18. Remember that acting immediately takes less time than putting actions off.
19. Realize that it is sometimes more effective to decide not to take action.
20. Check that you are taking action because you actually need to.
21. Remember, if you do decide to do nothing, tell the relevant people.
22. Be ruthless in taking irrelevant actions off your to-do list.
23. See if there are any tasks that you could delegate.
24. Make sure you are not doing other people’s work.
25. Review your to-do list frequently and discuss it with your team on a regular basis.
26. Use your priority ratings to schedule your work.
27. Ensure your team understands the difference between what is important and what is urgent.
28. Give yourself the time to take up opportunities.
29. Predict and prevent problems before they occur.
30. Refer to your to-do list to check you are meeting your deadlines.
31. Add contingency time to projects, so that you can cope with unforeseen delays.
32. Make realistic estimates of how long tasks will take.
33. Get into the habit of tackling difficult issues first thing in the morning.
34. Analyse the reason why you are postponing a task.
35. Remember that procrastination only makes matters worse.
36. Gain a reputation for being decisive and acting with initiative.
37. Remain flexible so that you can adapt to new situations.
38. Change the plan if you anticipate a possible problem.
39. Be involved in tasks that use your strengths.
40. Ensure that all team members are working towards the same goals.
41. Ask your team members to keep reviewing their actions with the customer in mind.
42. Remember that good decisions are the result of effective thinking.
43. Schedule time to think in your weekly diary.
44. Realize it is not a sign of weakness to admit you do not have an answer.
45. Practice the decision-making process until it is automatic.
46. Look for and focus on the most crucial outcome.
47. Remember that the perfect solution produced late is a free gift to the competition.
48. Make sure you understand the real cause of recurring problems.
49. Consider asking customers for help in analyzing causes.
50. Avoid assuming the obvious cause is the only one.
51. Tell your team members and colleagues the process you use.
52. Discuss issues with others to help with your decision.
53. Look at all the issues before you make a decision.
54. Analyze the purpose of the decisions you have to make.
55. Make a complete list of your decision criteria.
56. Aim to generate creative ideas with your team.
57. Make sure that new ideas are achievable.
58. Plan when you will make a decision and do it then.
59. Create an environment that encourages timely decision making.
60. Encourage your team to look for the best decision rather than take an easy option.
61. Remember that if a decision is not an enduring solution it can lead to a recurrence of the issue.
62. Remember, never take for granted another person’s agreement to act.
63. Check how new commitments affect existing ones.
64. Make sure your decision will make an impact on your objectives.
65. Take time to prepare your communications.
66. Combine rational arguments with enthusiasm.
67. Identify the information you need in order to make a decision.
68. Assess which contacts possess useful information.
69. Recognize the benefits of gathering the relevant facts before a meeting.
70. Realize that the person who draws up the agenda tends to be in control of the meeting.
71. Review your file structure to ensure it is appropriate.
72. Check that you have passed information to the person who is in a position to deal with it.
73. Keep your file structure as simple as possible.
74. Encourage your team to adopt the same file structure.
75. Make sure you can see the file label as soon as you open the filing cabinet.
76. Print out the list of your electronic filing for reference.
77. Make sure that all your information is easily available.
78. Remember that you access some information daily.
79. Take the time to design a logical electronic filing system.
80. Set aside time to learn new skills from training disks and computer tutorials.
81. Make your diary accessible to your team on computer.
82. Block out time in your diary for unexpected issues.
83. Understand how new technologies can help maximize your performance.
84. Take care to use your time on the internet efficiently when you are searching for data.
85. Make sure you send information only to the relevant people.
86. Ask people if they receive information that you send them from other parties.
87. Remember that it is often favourable to summarise information rather than present it all.
88. Realize that if you stop learning you will soon stop being effective.
89. Put time aside to reflect on ways to improve processes.
90. Build on past experiences and benefit from improved decisions.
91. Encourage your team to work with templates.
92. Record successful decisions as templates.
93. Make sure that your team can access templates on a file server quickly and easily.
94. Share winning insights with your team and business partners.
95. Thank people for insights so that they share more.
96. Make sure your team members record and file information.
97. Remember that discussing matters with others reduces stress.
98. Use a separate room for work at home if possible.
99. Schedule time in your week for regular exercise.
100. Remember that exercise increases your energy levels.
101. Realize that overwork and stress can impair your ability to make effective decisions.

Although more and more people in Asia are jumping onto the Internet wagon to market their products and services, there is still a lack of experience and knowledge in knowing how they can do it.

First of all, the web agencies are not ready to serve the Asian businesses. Everybody is just trying for the very first time. In fact, they depend a lot on the Y-Gen’s experience to help them make the deals. This is nothing new in the US and UK as well. But i would say that i have found a few really good web agencies’ employees in US and UK are doing pretty well personally in the social media.

Secondly, the market is not really there actually. Unless your target market is more towards the X and Y generation, it’s pretty hard to market to the baby boom generation. But the Internet market cannot really be underestimated because of the increasing usage from the social media influence.

Thirdly, the business nature is still towards the usual retail style. People are doing cold calling because they still think that it’s still a number game after all. Internet is just a very small strategy which is part of the whole picture. The big strategy is still with their retail business. In fact, they think that they are not in the same business like Google or AsiaOne.

Well, if Google or AsiaOne can survive on just through Internet means, it does really mean something to other non-internet businesses. It’s just about how much involvement we want to take on the internet. It can mean a real dedication of an internet team! It really depends on how much we want to serve the Internet, and not how we can reap profits from it because Internet is best at pre-selling and building brand awareness.

This recently, I was captivated by this drama series about “Taiji” on TV.  I found taiji is a little similar when working with business.  While you may want to force everything out of  your business to make profits, you also have to convert all the forces which are against you  to become part of your force.

For example, when we found competitors along the way, we should always think of how we can leverage their strengths to become part of ours.  

One way is to outsource all our existing work to them to help us?  Another way could be to consolidate our efforts to become a more value-added provider?  

Or probably just helping your competitors to become successful, and trust me that it will make you successful in one way or another.  And this works very well in Twitter when many people simply don’t understand what’s so good about it even after joining in for a few months…

Anyway, enjoy this two selected videos which I have been watching when I reach home.

Learning how to apply Taiji against boxing

Using Taiji in fighting competition