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Among us are startup founders, online sellers, and freelancers. You’re also welcome as well if you’re a student or an employee thinking of setting up your own cyber business.
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Every business starts with an opportunity. Your online or cyber business idea has to be rooted to a real-world problem that a group of people are dealing with. In short, you’re selling a solution. You have to think about a particular problem, and then figure out what type of business you’re in. Broadly speaking, there are 3 categories of online businesses: service-based, knowledge-based, and product-based. Here’s a video we’ve prepared to give you a short introduction: Service-based online business This is the easiest type of online business to launch. Just by being online, you can reach out to potential customers – people or other small businesses – who need your service. There are many job sites where you can get projects from. Or you can even just promote your service right on social media, maybe a friend of a friend has an urgent requirement for your skill. Writing, designing, and coding are some of the most in demand skills that you can offer via the Web. Selling your services is also a good way for building the skills and experience that you need if you plan to transition to a new career. Knowledge-based online business If you have expertise or […]
Pokémon Go is nothing short of a worldwide craze. For the uninitiated, the game requires you to be alert to spot Pokémons and catch them with Poke Balls. There are stubborn Pokémons that can use up your Poke Balls and escape when captured. To get more balls and other helpful items (such as potions and eggs), you have to find Poke Stops. But there’s more to it than just an AR-enabled game. It’s turning out to be a business opportunity as well, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses such as restaurants. For cyberpreneurs, there are also great lessons to learn. Here are some. 1. Take more of the same to evolve A Rattata again? You may think you’re getting more of the same, and might even be tempted to pass up such leads. However, like your Pokémons, you can only evolve into something bigger and stronger if you’ve paid your dues (not necessarily with candies). For now, you may be struggling with your seventh blog post for a client about Creatine health benefits. But one day, you might have an online PR empire of your own to run. 2. Bring opportunities to where you are You can get the same opportunities without going […]
The rise of the Internet age has given us far more than just the capability to connect with friends or upload selfies online. It has also given modern entrepreneurs capabilities not possible several decades ago. As an online marketing consultant, one of the perks of my work is that it gives me a front row seat on the evolving landscape of business, and how the Internet is helping businesses who take the initiative of incorporating online elements in their operations. It also makes those that don’t obsolete in a matter of years and even months. Whether you have a primarily online or offline business, chances are Internet tools, widgets, plugins, apps and features play an important role in ensuring the success for your business. The following are some concrete examples: 1. Cheaper start-up cost The Internet has made starting a business simple and cheap. With just a website or even a fan page, you can already start a multitude of businesses – such as a bakeshop, an apparel store, or a bookstore – without the need for a brick and mortar office or shop. This also makes it very easy for you to test the validity of your business idea. […]
From the fixation of businesses in recent years with millennials (those born between the early 1980s to mid-1990s), many are now shifting their attention towards the millennials’ successors: Generation Z. How can products, services, and marketing approaches be devised to attract this new target population? Gen Z is generally the future of retail. Born after 1996, this emerging generation has a new worldview and different expectations as customers compared to generations prior. Marcie Merrimen, executive director of growth strategy and retail innovation at Ernst & Young mentioned to Business Insider that “if you see it from a spending perspective, teens or Gen Z are millennials on steroids.” Important Generation Z Characteristics that Businesses Should Know About Gen Z’s non-traditional mindset and different communication styles pose challenges to reach out to this population effectively. Gen Z are the most influential group of technology trendsetters, offering a prequel to predict upcoming trends in the aspects of retail, technology, and consumer behaviour. Hence, it is important for businesses to understand key characteristics that make them stand out from the past generation of consumers to identify effective ways to approach this generation. Despite sharing many similarities with millennials, there are also key distinctions that […]
So, if you are confident about your products and services and you don’t want to waste your time, take these learning into consideration and market wisely.
Maybe you couldn’t get a straight answer from a client, or a team leader won’t send you a project document as promised. For all the benefits it brings to the company, there are still many people who resist sharing knowledge. At the heart of the resistance is the fear of change: what would happen if I share my knowledge – and more so, if I depend on another person’s knowledge? As Thomas Davenport notes in Ten Principles of Knowledge Management, “Sharing and using knowledge are often unnatural acts.” To make things more complicated, sometimes people won’t even admit or show resistance openly. Not wanting to share knowledge speaks a lot about the interests (sometimes conflicting and competing) of people in your company. Understandably, people have various reasons for resisting knowledge sharing as much as they have different stakes. Here are some common reasons for resisting knowledge sharing and the troubleshooting tips to address them. 1. Insecurity “I don’t want to share what I know because it may reduce my value or jeopardize my job security.” Guarantee that sharing knowledge won’t diminish anyone’s value – on the contrary, it would increase respect and trust. Your company could assign knowledge-sharing objectives to each employee’s […]
In today’s vibrant online market, it’s not enough to create content for your customers and audience through your website or blog. There needs to be an interaction done to establish your brand as a thought leader and as a trustworthy creator of yummy treats. But how do you reach your audience effectively at social media? Here’s a low down of some tips that you can use: 1) Take great photos of your products. The first impression you make using your products will be the first step of convincing potential customers to buy it. This can be done by hiring a professional photographer to take art-directed shots of your food to make it appetizing on social media. For a more budget friendly approach, you can get inspiration from food photographers online and take your own shots. Many free photo editing apps are available for smartphones to help you post-process your shots in an instant. This is also convenient since you can upload it immediately upon shooting and post-processing. 2) Follow influencers, media, and potential customers who fall under your target market. Doing this can not only make these people notice your brand, it can also help you gauge what type of content they like […]
Businesses only become sustainable when its customers are happy. But even when it happens, this stage is still very temporary. When customers sense they’re worth nothing more than their money to you, they’ll shop around and go to where they feel they’re valued the most. Customer satisfaction should be a cornerstone of your brand. With the global market today, competition is everywhere. Since the market has gone online, it’s harder to build trust between the customer and the business. With a well-developed brand, it’s easier to spot if a certain product or service being offered is reliable, or if it is a sham. Here are some tips to consider in ensuring customer satisfaction and establishing a trustworthy brand for your business: Be accessible Customers want to know the fine print about your business. Make sure to have your communication lines open – listing your social media accounts, hotline numbers, and even operating address makes a huge difference. Return the favor by assisting them and eliminating their worries. This would lead to your brand’s credibility. Be honest Being open about both your business’s strengths and weakness (or more aptly, your limitations) lets your customers know you have their best interest at […]
The Philippines is getting serious in promoting startups as a way to grow the economy. Through Senate Bill 2217 or the “Start-up Business Bill”, the government hopes to set a favorable business environment for budding entrepreneurs. Before you get too excited, there are some caveats to the program since it’s designed for those new in entrepreneurship. The start-up business bill was filed on May 2014 by Senator Bam Aquino and is currently awaiting passage into law. Indeed, it’s a very positive step in recognizing the contributions of startups in: Job creation Production Innovation Trade What’s a “startup”? According to the bill, “start-up enterprises” are newly registered businesses either in industry, agribusiness, and/or services. Digital startups are covered under this broad definition, which also spans offline and more traditional sectors. It includes all ownership types – from sole proprietorship, cooperatives, partnerships, to corporations. What does the bill mean for you? As a cyberpreneur, you’ll be exempt from paying taxes in your fist two years of business! It covers both national and local taxes. A tax break! How cool is that? You get to keep your earnings and reinvest it to grow your startup. It also gives you time to organize, develop, and learn what works for […]
The website for your online business is not just about selling. It’s also for finding the right customers, influential people, and other websites that can promote you. Your marketing team should be spot on in finding online opportunities for maximizing exposure of your products or services. But how can they do this? Here are some actionable steps from the speakers of PeepCon 2016, the Philippines’ premiere search engine optimization conference organized by GDI Online Marketing. The event featured internationally acclaimed SEO experts such as Mike King, Dan Petrovic, Jon Cooper, and Jason Acidre. UX signals search engine about the quality of your content. User experience (UX) is a big indicator for search engines if you have a high quality website that they should rank higher for related keywords to your business. If you have your own e-commerce site, build your customer journey in the most convenient way. Do you have all the information that customers need in one page, or do they have to jump to different pages just to find relevant content? They may also leave your website because it takes too long to load, which is a big consideration due to the internet speed in the Philippines. Stop […]
What’s the first thing that you notice when you’re visiting online marketplaces? Is it the description of a certain item, or the image for the product? As humans, we’re visual in nature. For sure, most of the time, you remember product photography more than detailed description. Visuals can create an impact to get a response from a potential customer. It triggers a reaction – emotional, psychological, and even physical – among your audiences. Product photography can create a connection between the sellers and purchasers like you. Due to a shorter attention span nowadays, the challenge for online sellers is how you will attract and persuade potential customers before they move on or click out. Product photography is essential regardless of what you’re selling: it’s a major factor in capturing your customer’s interest. Here are some helpful tips on how to engage your potential customers using product photography: Show different angles As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” It can also be applied to online selling for the purpose of helping the customers decide whether to buy a certain item or not. The customers cannot touch your products physically, but you can let them visualize your […]
I’m a Filipino based in Taiwan, while my client is a Ukrainian located in France. We meet for the first time over a video call. I greet her with a “Good afternoon!”, and she thanks me for staying up late to meet with her. In my years of freelancing and working with multinational companies, I’ve dealt with clients in many parts of the world – the United States, China, and the Middle East – strictly online. Technology has eased barriers in communication across cultures. But we’re still fallible to misinterpret, misjudge and mistrust one another. The distance and time zone separation, the complexity of the work involved, and personal preferences make it harder to connect without the face-to-face dimension. So it’s really important to keep communications at a professional level. Try these 5 tips: 1. Have a work plan “What gets measured gets done” – especially if it involves billable hours. Spell out what your expected roles are, as well as your client’s responsibilities. It could be a short agreement or a detailed project plan complete with multiple milestones and deliverables. This sort of work plan protects you from out-of-scope requirements, sudden reshuffling of priorities, and other arbitrary demands. Have this plan signed […]
Challenging the big guys as a startup is no easy feat. Small businesses have their work cut out for them: obviously, they have limited funds and manpower to compete with conglomerates. However, there are many startup advantages that smaller businesses have over their larger counterparts. Most successful startups that were able to disrupt markets will tell you that it was their ability to listen to the market and the sheer speed of implementation that shaped their success. Ability to listen to the market You get what you focus on. When a company gets bigger, more departments are formed and more responsibilities are segmented. As a result, the larger the pie to handle, the more energy is needed to keep everything running. This leads to becoming more distant from personal contact. Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said that whenever he goes to lecture in big companies, what he sees are concerns for numbers and KPI’s. But when he gives talks to small and medium sized companies, he sees passion and dreams. Get feedback from your customers, all the while considering what is best for the direction of the company. The next step relies on this. We are so […]
The first thing your potential customer will probably do is visit your website. From that single visit, your customer will form opinions about your brand, product, or service. According to a Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab study, nearly half of all consumers (46%) said that a site’s design is the number one criteria when people are deciding whether a business is credible or not. If there is too much scrolling and clicking, or if the site is not well organized, the average consumer will navigate away after 60 seconds tops. Anyone can build a website these days, but it takes a skilled specialist to build a site that looks polished and professional. One glance could turn someone into a loyal customer, or force a person to click away. If your company is looking into the possibility of designing a new site, here are some of the ways it will help your business grow. Digital presence is everything A survey from Visible Logic found that almost 90% of respondents take a look at the website of every new product they purchase. People will turn to the Internet to research your brand and formulate their opinions – sometimes even long before they make a direct contact […]
A lot of local businesses are opting to use personal profiles as their business’ main marketing account in Facebook. This is very risky and ultimately counterproductive. Here are several reasons you shouldn’t do it: Reason # 1 This is against Facebook’s terms of service. Your account might get DELETED anytime. They have already deleted many of these the past couple of years. If you’re using your account to represent something other than yourself, you could permanently lose access to your account if you don’t convert it to a Page. via Facebook Reason # 2 Friend limit is only up to 5,000. Local pages can have 10,000 fans or more. Reason # 3 There is no engagement insights in your personal profile. You won’t be able to analyze how many people see your posts, the age range or location of most of your fans, the best time to post, the best content to post, and the like. Reason #4 Advertising features are very limited in personal profiles. You won’t be able to ramp up your business exposure, if so. Reason #5 Additional tabs are only available in Facebook Pages, such as business event calendar, top fans tab, quiz tab, polls, and more. . […]
Could your startup idea thrive despite the market competition? You need to check if there’s opportunity to gain ground in your area. See how you’re likely to fare, based on Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups data!
Hailed as a game changer, FinTech (otherwise known as “financial technology”) is seen to transform financial services in infinite possibilities. It has been many decades ago since there has been a real shake-up in the realm of the financial world. New and young players alike will experience its sweeping changes on how we manage finance and run businesses professionally. What is FinTech and Why It Matters to You FinTech can be best defined as technology that imparts disruptive elements (in a good way) to areas such as money transfers, mobile payments, fundraising, loans, asset management and even investment. In layman’s term, it is the thing that enables you to have access to various financial services from your own smartphone, tablet, laptop and other electronic devices. Furthermore, FinTech is one of the hottest areas that receive massive investment from around the world. This accelerates its exponential growth. Whether you like it or not, FinTech is about to drop a bomb on everyone. It’s very important to know how it can change money practices that we think we already know. FinTech: Threat or Opportunity for Business Owners? While one may argue that FinTech is just a change of paces and phases, the […]
Already secured a domain name for your business? After using it for your website, the next thing you’d want to do is to set up your custom email. This means receiving and sending mail as juan.delacruz@customdomain.com rather than from a generic Gmail or third-party account provider. Having this ability sets you apart as a serious business, however limited your initial offerings or small your initial market is. The great Zoho option If you’re looking for a free service to customize your email from your domain name, Zoho is your best option. You can create up to 25 free accounts for your domain in Zoho. At no cost, there’s really no better deal since it also gives you POP/IMAP, Active Sync and configuration settings. To link your domain with Zoho and set up as an administrator, follow the detailed steps provided by Zoho. Forwarding emails to Gmail If you’re one of the many people that depend on Gmail, you can automatically forward emails you receive from your custom email account in Zoho to your existing Gmail account. Follow these steps to configure your account. 1. From your Zoho inbox, click the settings icon, and then click Settings. 2. Under Mail settings, […]
Ask what an OFW wants to get after his or her return. It’s very likely to get these two big answers: their dream house and a big capital for a profitable business venture. For the latter, OFWs can save a big amount of money in a span of 10+ years, and then come back home to start their dream businesses. This is the part of the story where we stop and call it a happily-ever-after. The reality for some OFWs may be this: After investing their life savings on capital-intensive businesses (for example, a restaurant franchise or a fleet of taxis), somewhere along the line, they make a wrong turn. They might have misjudged the market demand or trusted the wrong persons. Everything crumbles and the ex-OFWs go back to the job market for another overseas opportunity. If you’re an OFW really into starting your own business and still see yourself retiring in the Philippines, cyberpreneurship can help you get started. Here are some of its advantages. It teaches you the fundamentals of running a business Why should you wait until your contract expires or that X amount of savings before you find out if running a business is for […]
There’s constant competition between brands for market domination. When companies are small, this can be done with quality improvements and price adjustments. But as businesses grow, there grows the competition too. The market battle becomes tougher. This requires taking extra moves in order to maintain and keep the customers interested. Brand awareness comes into play due to customers’ most important requirement that they’re usually not aware of (at least not always) – the emotional need. How to define brand awareness? Put simply, in the words of Jeff Bezos (the founder of Amazon): “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” One of the key steps in promoting a product is creating brand awareness – or the likelihood that consumers recognize the availability of a certain service or product. It is a rudimentary form of brand recognition. It’s important to distinguish it from brand recognition, although the difference between them is subtle. If the purpose of brand awareness is having customers keep coming back to you and having your products as their products of choice, then increasing it is extremely important. Here is what you can do to increase brand awareness. 1. Engage in social […]