All posts in Advice to Businesses

Flattr – The Social Way to Get Paid Online

If you haven’t heard about Flattr let me tell you how it works – its business model and you decide if it makes sense. For me, I think the business model needs further tweaking.

Basically, Flattr wants users to reward i.e give money to their favorite websites or people. Favorite websites here actually refers to all internet content eg; websites, articles, images, audio files, videos, text etc. People here refers to people who are on Twitter or Flattr itself.

How it works

You signup with Flattr and add some funds to your account. How much money to add is totally up to you. Once you are done adding, you just surf the web as you normally do. However, whenever you see a Flattr button on some websites and if you like the content of the website you can “Flattr” it, it’s similar to Facebook’s Like button. But instead of just “liking” the website, here you are actually giving them some money.

How much money websites will get?

They have done it very straight forward, all your money is divided into equal portions and distributed to all the websites that you have Flattred within the month. Let’s say you have added $1.00 to your account and you have flattred 9 websites. That means at the end of the month, each website that you have flattred will get 0.10 cents. And the remaining 10% which is 0.10 cents, will go to Flattr system.

What’s the catch?

From first glance, there seems to be no catch. Especially for people who are giving money away. However the idea behind Flattr is that, the founders believe that there are some people who do donate money to websites, normally via Paypal donate button. These are mostly websites with freebies or open-source stuff. So people behind Flattr want to make this process of donating or distributing money to your favorite websites simpler – as simple as pushing the “like” or “flattr” button.

As for the bloggers, it’s just one more avenue to make money. You just have to integrate the buttons into your website and hope that someone will flattr it :)

Below is the diagram on how it works:

My suggestions to Flattr

1. Very few people actually donate, and that’s a fact. I have experienced it personally before. I had done some freeware software and free website templates myself but got back very few bucks over the years. With this problem as a backdrop to Flattr’s business model, I think if it’s going to solely rely on “hope” that people will add funds to their accounts every month and diligently distribute it to all the deserving websites, then I think they are (gravely) mistaken.

2. Change the “flattr it” to something more simple and generally understandable, eg; “like it” or “love it” or just heart icon –

3. Currently only people who are registered with Flattr are able to “like” the websites. I think they should allow anyone (even non-flattr users) to click “like” buttons. Because asking people to register is a hassle, not many people will register. Let alone they have to make a little research on Flattr itself and how it works and add funds to their account and come back to your blog again and then click on “flattr” button…. i think it’s not gonna happen.

3. Here is a suggested tweak to their business model: Let anyone click on “flattr” button. But put security measures such as you can only “flattr” the same website once a week or once a month etc. So that people won’t game the system. Regarding the funds, instead of individual funds, combine all the funds, perhaps into different categories. So for example if I have selected “blogging” as my preference in my account, my funds will be allocated for “blogging” related websites together with all the other flattr users who have selected “blogging” as their preference too. At the end, you have a huge fund for “blogging”.

So this combined funds for “blogging” will then be distributed to all the blogs that people have flattred for the given month.

5. Introduce some promotional modules to the system. Instead of just me donating to others, let me submit my blog to the system and somehow allow me to promote it to others. StumbleUpon type of promotional opportunity would be ideal. Idea is to attract both: publishers and advertisers.

Website: http://www.flattr.com
AdesBlog on Flattr: https://flattr.com/thing/385363/AdesBlog-com

The surprising truth about what motivates us

Maximizing the Online World for the Offline Company

You run a nice business. Maybe you’ve been running it for years. Your business is a “tangible” one. Perhaps you operate out of a storefront or maybe you deal in personal services, like catering or landscaping. You’ve thought about going online. Heck, everybody else is doing it. offline_online.png you’ve already gotten your feet wet using the Internet a little to build business leads. Maybe you even have a home page. Or maybe you’ve even gotten hold of a generic template and patched together a bare-bones website, just to show everyone that you can be as cool as they are. But, truth be told, you haven’t really given the Internet a whole lot of thought. How could you? You are way too busy running your offline business to start worrying about the online world.

So when the day finally comes when you see enough of your competitors coming up with flashier and fancier websites, will you be prepared to do something yourself? And when you do something, will you have given it enough thought and preparation to do it in a way that will help your business more than hurt it? Here are some tips to help you make your online presence most effectively complement your offline business:

  1. Invest in your website. Managing the site properly takes time and effort. So don’t skimp on the resources you devote to site management. If your budget allows it, hire a full-time site manager who knows what he/she is doing – or even better, develop a web team. Make sure they have a wealth of knowledge about the Web and that they understand design techniques, color theory, spacing, etc. Many companies make the mistake of assigning web management as a corollary duty to a person already busy with “higher-priority” assignments. In some larger firms, web maintenance is often relegated to junior staff members who have neither the experience nor the clout within the organization to push the site forward to its rightful prominence. Invest in your website so that it can become a good investment for you.

  2. Keep your message consistent. Your website is an online reflection of your business. Therefore, it should have the same look and feel as your store, your ads, your signage, and your business vehicles. Your brand identity should be mirrored on your site in every way possible. Pay attention to thinks like colors, logos, fonts, visuals, and even the style of language you use on your site. Remember that one of the biggest advantages to having a website is that it gives you a permanent conveyor of round-the-clock publicity for your business.

  3. Use social networking properly. Prominent links to social media tools such Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are great ways to extend your reach and interact with new and diverse audiences. But you have to be sure that you do this in the right way. Always keep in mind that the primary purpose of social networking is for people to engage Continue reading →

Next Big Idea: Internet TV

If you are an entrepreneur or company that missed making big money from the dot com era, overall internet business after that, and missing the boat from mobile applications at the moment… then perhaps you should start getting prepared for the next big wave – Internet+TV.

Google is already into it as we all know it, they are trying to figure it out at the moment. But there are so many great products and services can be built for bringing internet to the TV. Just a food for thought!

google-tv.png

It’s all about the “pivots” when it comes to startups

If you are an entrepreneur who wants to hit big in Silicon Valley, this is the video you must watch. Lots of great advices by Mike Maples.

Update: Watch it on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H69IK0B2ods

Jack Ma’s Philosophy on Shareholders

MBA books teaches you that – shareholders are the most important stakeholders of the company and that company’s main objective is to increase shareholder value.

However the founder of Alibaba.com, biggest online company in China, says that for him “the most important groups are customers and then employees. He says that customers are the ones who pay him and employees are the ones who stick with him but shareholders come and go. And for this reason, shareholders come last for him.”

That’s a very interesting point that he makes. Read his other two company philosophies on TechCrunch here. Watch the full interview here.

Blackberry by Malaysian Telcos

Maxis and Celcom are two major mobile operators in Malaysia. They are always competing head to head with each other. Maxis is the leader with the largest mobile subscriber base of over 12 million users. Celcom is always the No.2, it has a subscriber base of over 10 million users.

Maxis was the first telco given exclusive rights to distribute iPhone in Malaysia last year. This year they lost that exclusivity and now DiGi – another (3rd largest) mobile operator started offering iPhone 3GS + packages. Celcom unfortunately, again, couldn’t get any iPhone deals. Not yet.

All these info leads to next two screenshots. It will be apparent why Celcom is the runner up and why Maxis is the leader. Both companies offer Blackberry services, however searching for “Blackberry” in their respective official websites will yield totally different results.

Search for “Blackberry” in Celcom’s Website

celcom_blackberry1.png

Search for “Blackberry” in Maxis’ Website

maxis_blackberry.png

Millions of funds are spent on marketing and outdoor advertising, yet they cannot even optimize their website for one of the most important products/services they offer – blackberry. Celcom, come on! Get your search fixed!

iPad, what do you think?

ipad.pngWell, as you know the whole internet is going crazy about the new product of Apple, iPad. I just wanted to know what is your opinion on it? As a product and what its impact will be on the PC industry in general. For sure it’s going to strangle Amazon’s Kindle, will probably cannibalize Apple’s own product – MacBook, because with iPad you can pretty much do anything what you would normally do with normal notebooks/netbooks. It also comes with accessories like doc, casing and keyboard in case you want to use it like a real notebook with real keyboards.

I personally think that it’s an amazing product, it will be particularly popular with marketing professionals who would benefit from this kind of beautiful tablet PC (Mac) for their presentation purposes. As with normal people, they would enjoy it for reading e-books and browsing the internet. And of course, there will be tons of great apps that will make the iPad more valuable and usable than it actually is.

One thing disappointed me though… the photo-frame like edges of the iPad. I thought some of the photoshopped ones prior to the launch looked a lot better. I know that they did this out of usability, so that there would be a place around the device that is not-touch-sensitive. This would make your handling of the iPad easier, it wouldn’t interfere with your work, you wouldn’t accidentally launch some apps..etc. However they could have left the preferences of the not-touch-sensitive margin to the user. Don’t you think?

For example, if you like all four sides to be touch-sensitive you could set all four margins to zero. If you like to hold the left-side while using, you could set only left side margin to 1″ and the rest of the sides to zero…. you know what I mean? Basically, it would be just like the Word document where you can specify the margin of your paper before you print. But anyway…

How about you? What’s your thoughts on this product of Apple? I would like to know your opinions, leave your comments under this post.

5 Tips to Improve Your Corporate Blog

blogswillchangeurbiz.pngAre you a company that is into corporate blogging? Do you feel that somehow your blog is not taking off? Nobody’s commenting?

Well, I think it’s a common problem in many companies. They are just into it (i.e corporate blogging) because they saw their competitors had a blog, or they don’t want to be seen left behind, or the boss said so!

If you want your corporate blog to be successful, you can’t take it as another PR tool only. Sure, you can post the news about your company, new products and services, events that your company is sponsoring etc. But corporate blogging is not about that only, if you restrict your blog into all the above mentioned things alone then it’s not a blog… it’s just a “news page” that is located under your domain dot com/blog directory.

Recommendations and Examples

For your corporate blog to be successful you need to do at least several things, the more the better, namely:

  • Write Interesting Articles in your line of Business * most important *
    So, we have established that people are not eager to visit your corporate blog and subscribe to its RSS just to receive updates of new products, services and all that PR stuff. What people really want is, to read blog posts that are interesting and relevant to your business. Things that they normally do not see or know. Things that you guys are good at.
    .
    For example, if you are an Online Ad-Network Company in Asia, it would be great to know things like
    • average click-through rates on banner types in Asia
    • future of banners, what type of banners are becoming popular, why?
    • regional studies on banner blindness, which banners are clicked most when placed in top, left column, middle etc.
    • what type of websites make the most money (i.e news, forums etc)
    • Banner standardization problem in Asia…. and many more related topics
    • Continue reading →

Rule No.1 of Flash Banner Design

I saw this flash banner few times but never really seen the end part. Whenever it came up I thought, well those Mudah.my guys are really advertising a lot! In fact, Mudah is really the biggest advertiser of Google AdSense in the region. So I thought it was their banner.

myclassifieds myclassifieds
myclassifieds myclassifieds

The thing is I never saw the end frame until today! They are not Mudah, but MySimplifieds.com (see below) Continue reading →

SitePal’s Talking Widget

SitePal, a website that offers animated speaking avatars has came up with a new free widget now. The talking character widget can be integrated into your blog or used as a messaging tool to send voice mails to your friends.

See the demo below… now you can have your own welcoming Obama for your blog :) I like the way he follows your mouse cursor.

Share button at the bottom gives you many options to share your newly created widget with your friends. Options include Email, direct URL, Facebook, iGoogle etc.

Some Suggestions

I think the idea of providing free talking characters i.e widget is great. Whether people will use it or not on their blog that is a different thing. However, I think incorporating the following suggestions into their next versions will increase the chance of people using the widget on their blog.

  1. Provide different sizes
    Especially compact widgets… web space is a scarce thing, more so on popular blogs and websites. If possible bloggers would rather monetize the space as much as possible than putting a widget that covers the half of the sidebar. Therefore providing smaller widgets will increase the chance of adoption by popular blogs. Continue reading →

How to be happy in business (diagram)

successful_biz.png

Just try to be in the Hooray point and you will be fine! :)

via whatconsumesme