#CyberpreneurPH Community

Gone are the days when coupons are cut out from newspapers and magazines. Online businesses have digitized the tactic. For customers, coupons are a lifesaver, enabling them to purchase favorite items with huge discounts. Use coupons as a way to promote your business and enhance customer loyalty. How to maximize your coupon page For many e-commerce sites, coupons encourage customer to shop more at your website. Coupons are a win-win situation for both businesses and consumers. If you want to boost your coupon campaigns, you have to start by creating appealing coupon designs. Laying down the basics, your coupon should contain important information such as merchant logos, a brief description, and emphasis on the discount or amount off purchases. Make sure to feature good brands in your e-store, since it not only encourages more shoppers to buy from you, but also strengthens your credibility as a coupon provider. Like all things on the Web, coupons need to be regularly updated, so check for validity and promo expiration. What customers get from coupons The most important part of any coupon campaign is how much the customers get when using your merchant coupons. Shoppers love discounts, so attract them to your site […]

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 […]

You’ve probably noticed how SEO is getting more attention from the media. Some even say that SEO is dead, and that investing in it is like flogging a dead horse. But these statements are wrong because SEO is more alive than ever. However, people are ignoring this rich advertising possibility because of these rumors. Many statistics are saying otherwise. The truth is that SEO can help you to expand your business, improve your marketing strategy, and make a bunch of money. Here are some of the most important reasons why you should develop a proper SEO strategy. Marketing benefits If you are not interested in SEO, you’re missing a great marketing opportunity. Google algorithms are based on its principles. Surely, you want your website to rank as high as possible. People browsing the Net are not checking only one term on one website – they try different websites and modify their search terms. So, what can you do? You can offer your customers a great variety of material. This way, if they modify the term, your page will appear, again and again. Google will notice this and you will be one step closer to appearing on the first page. The rise of online customers It […]

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 […]

With the theme “Building inclusive economies, building a better world”, the 2015 APEC Summit that’s currently hosted by the Philippines puts emphasis on sustainable and resilient businesses. This extends to cyberpreneurs, who stands to benefit from APEC’s renewed push for liberalizing service industries. Gathering 21 member-economies from across borders of the Pacific Rim, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is where almost half of the world’s total trade happen. At first glance, it may seem that APEC is all about corporations, regulatory bodies, and economic ministries. But the importance of MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) in the region cannot be discounted. As highlighted by APEC’s Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group, MSMEs comprise over 97 percent of all enterprises and employ more than half of the workforce in the region. As many MSMEs move to the digital front, how can you benefit from APEC? 1. Join APEC start-up challenges Started in 2013, the APEC Start-up Accelerator Initiative is on a mission to match tech start-ups with possible mentors and funding opportunities. It offers hands-on business consulting among start-ups engaged in key innovation areas (such as interactive learning). The initiative has since sponsored six Asia-Pacific start-ups to participate in competitions held in Silicon Valley, helping […]

Truth be told, the thought of making a career shift – from the office cubicle to my home desk – as a freelancer/cyberpreneur has always lingered in my mind ever since I learned about the concept some years ago. I’ve felt that working from home was an ideal setup. At least for me though, a shift that’s not in the immediate future, but after x number of years. With that in mind, I had a plan – not properly drawn out, but all there nevertheless. Building the foundations For the past 3 years or so, I began to establish the foundations of that possible next career phase. I looked for writing contributions, both unpaid and (especially) paid ones. I completely overhauled my old blog, as I migrated the site to a new domain and a new hosting service. I did so, for my site to have ads for some additional revenue. Then early this year, I made the move to get myself registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as a part-time freelancer. Or as the BIR would classify freelancers, a professional. It was originally intended to fulfill the requirements of some publications that freelancers like myself should have official receipts to issue. But I was mindful at the same time that I would […]

A cog, no matter how small, is necessary for a machine to function. Similarly, in an online business, although each person’s degree of involvement may vary, everyone in your virtual team contributes to making sure that goals are reached. An online business, just like any sort of business, is dependent on people. A team is necessary for a business to take off and scale. Employing the right kind of people is half of the puzzle. Setting expectations and keeping them engaged are equally important. Here are some tips to create and sustain a dream team for your online business. Make sure they’re trustworthy Anyone can hide in the anonymity of the Internet. The concept of “stranger-danger” especially rings true when you’re not physically meeting the people you hire. How do you know if these faceless people can really be trusted? Background checks and screening can go a long way. A simple look at their accounts on various social media platforms can serve as your first impression on your potential virtual teammate. Professionally speaking, you can browse their LinkedIn profile. To ensure that you can trust their abilities as well, ask them to take a web-based test, depending on the tasks […]

You may be a programming geek, a tech enthusiast, or a millennial with a dozen social media accounts. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Are you the type who can’t figure out what a hashtag does or how to log in to a secure WiFi network? As underwhelming as this sounds, cyberpreneurship isn’t so much about what you know or what you don’t know. The playing field, rules, protocols, and whatnot may be very different and boundless compared to a brick-and-mortar store, but cyberpreneurship is still anchored onto the basic qualities of being a successful entrepreneur. Let’s start by asking yourself three basic questions: How passionate are you to learn? What are the things you’re willing to risk? Are you committed to conquer challenges ahead? But wait. If you have answered these questions pretty well, don’t jump the gun just yet. Although they’re basic questions, it wasn’t meant to be that simple. Here’s what you need to do next: Dip your fingers in Most successful entrepreneurs didn’t only start young. They started small. Entrepreneurship, like creativity, can be a strand in people’s DNA that are more dominant in some people, surprisingly turning the ordinary into an enterprising opportunity. A case […]

By using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, many small businesses have become more efficient and have since fast-tracked their digital transformation. A CRM for small businesses provides one-stop shop to record customer interactions, manage communications, and align internal processes for an improved customer experience. But with varying features – from business forecasting, contract management, to call center handling – how do you make sure that your investment in a CRM system is worth its buck? In terms of return on investment, G2Crowd‘s latest survey reported that it could vary from as early as 3 months to as much as two years time. If you’re a small business owner, it’s especially important to choose a system that fits your needs and hits the ground running. When deciding which CRM to choose, you can’t go wrong in prioritizing these elements: Easy to learn and use Some are put off by outdated-looking user interfaces in legacy CRM systems. Confusing UI and cluttered forms add to the steep learning curve that makes many CRM implementation fail. Per data from G2Crowd, some CRM for small businesses have adoption rates that fall below 50%. As with anything, complex is not necessarily complicated – so simplicity is […]

Apart from being a reputable stock trader/analyst, Marvin Germo is many things: entrepreneur, blogger, book author, newspaper columnist, and registered financial planner. All these, however, are just his ways and means of fulfilling his ultimate goal: financial freedom for every Filipino. Now, that might sound like a lofty dream (and indeed it is), but if Marvin’s life is an example, nothing is impossible. From completely ordinary beginnings, Marvin is now one of the leading finance experts in the country. He represents Registered Financial Planners (RFP) Philippines, an independent self-regulatory professional group educating and gathering financial planners in the country. He writes regular columns on stock investment for the Business Mirror and MoneySense Magazine. Marvin, who often appears in TV and radio interviews, also shares financial knowledge as a keynote speaker in various events and seminars. Here are insights on how he was able to carve his own path toward financial freedom through entrepreneurship. 1. Being an entrepreneur is a decision. Marvin wasn’t born to a particularly wealthy, business-minded, or financially-savvy family. His father, for example, was a long-time employee of a top multinational pharma company up until retirement. Marvin himself seemed destined for the same, safe path, having started out […]

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 […]

Being a cyberpreneur need not be hard. Considering the vast array of tools and techniques available to us web professionals, nothing can go wrong as long as we know the tricks of the trade. What could be that “little secret” to keep our online businesses flourish through time? The Power of “We” Having started my freelance writing career in 2009, I ventured onto the unknown path of a web content writer then. I racked gig after gig – writing over 5,000 words a day for a meager sum. Little did I know that there’s more to what I have been doing during that time. I would spend an average of six hours a day writing until my hands were sore. Well, not to worry, I thought, for by the end of the week, I would fill my heart’s desire – through new books I’d buy from the local bookstore (all from my hard week’s writing work). Months passed, and I realized how tough it really is to be a freelance writer. It took perseverance, commitment, and passion to weave through words. Months passed, and I realized how tough it really is to be a freelance writer. It took perseverance, commitment, […]