Is there a Ten Commandments for Web Startups?

Since I specialize in SEO business, my business model and 10 commandments may not be applicable to most people who intend to start a web business.

So, I started googling for the tips and guide on starting a successful business online.

With the information I gathered, I discovered that there were certain things in common with all the successful online business and the things that these business owners had done.

At the top of my web startups’ Should-DO list are:

1. Stay focused, stay narrow
2. Know your customers
3. Target the Long Tail

You will find a more comprehensive list of what you need to do to start online business at the Ten Rules for Web Startups by Evan Williams, former CEO of Odeo and co-founder of Blogger.

#1: Be Narrow
#2: Be Different
#3: Be Casual
#4: Be Picky
#5: Be User-Centric
#6: Be Self-Centered
#7: Be Greedy
#8: Be Tiny
#9: Be Agile
#10: Be Balanced
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary
Overgeneralized lists of business “rules” are not to be taken too literally. There are exceptions to everything.

This is definitely a plugin you must have for blog marketing and e-commerce. It provides one more way to monetize the traffic to your blog.

Using Amazon Build Links

Previously, whenever I want to add an Amazon link, I’ll need to log in to Amazon Affiliate Central and use the Build Links t to search for the product and generate the JavaScript. Then copy and paste the link into the WordPress editor.

Now, WP-Amazon simplify the tedious process of Amazon Build Links and put what you need right at where you need it – within WordPress editor. Check out the demo video here.

Here’s what I want for my trip to photo trip to Hokkaido:

Buy Now at Amazon – Leica V-LUX 1

The above image and link were inserted using WP-Amazon in less than 30 seconds.

Here’s what you need to take note when installing the WP-Amazon plugin:

1. You’re need an Amazon Affiliate ID.
2. Copy the WP-Amazon files to the plugins folder and activate it.
3. Go to Options and click Amazon tab.
4. You will need to enter your default country and Affiliate ID.
5. You need to use the visual editor for the drag-and-drop feature to work.

Now you are ready to recommend Amazon items and make a commission when your readers purchased the product. Good luck to marketing using your blog and making your blog, e-commerce capable.

You can now accept Paypal payment in Singapore dollars.

And with the SGD expected to appreciate against USD over the next 12 months or so, accepting Singapore dollars may not be a bad thing at all.

What Paypal has done will help you to expand your market to those Singaporeans who do not want to risk exchange loss and pay the higher exchange rates charged by Singapore banks which issued the credit cards e.g. VISA, Mastercard and Amex. And I know there are a lot of such people in Singapore!

Now, let me explain why the move by Paypal is important to search marketing… go search where the money is.

First, it shows that Singaporeans are buying online using Paypal. And they must be buying a lot for Paypal to accept the SGD.

Second, Singapore is not as small as that little red dot in terms of e-commerce for Paypal to accept SGD.

Hey! why not accept Malaysia Ringgits or Thai Baht or the Korean Won? These are big countries with far larger populations than Singapore.

Third, shopping is one of Singaporeans’ favorite past-time. Online shopping will be the past-time for many men and women in Singapore. So don’t pray-pray!

‘Cos, they are too busy at work spending more than 12 hours from Monday to Friday and some even on Sat and Sun. So they need to de-stress when they are not working, right? By going online and SHOP. Sometime, I wonder if the other reason why they are so busy at work is because they are surfing and shopping during working hours!

Can You See The Money?

So, you have to target Singaporeans and make sure they can find your web pages when they are on a shopping spree. That’s what search marketing is about. Know what your target audience are searching and give it to them. You’ll need SEO ranking skills to make sure your web page is on the first, second or at least the third page in order for them to see your listing and come to your website.

Now, even though there are only 4 million of us in Singapore, if only 50% of the population spent just $500 SGD a year online, we are talking about $1,000,000,000 moving through the Internet.

Ok, you don’t agree that 50% or more of the population will spend an average of $500 a year. So, let’s say just 25% will go online to spend just $500 and we still have $500,000,000 flow through the Singapore servers.

You Can See The Money Now?

Still not convinced that you have to optimize for Singapore related traffic or Singapore derived traffic will bring you more business and money?

Never mind. I’ve already started 2 years ago – I kiasu mah!

(Words in italic are Singlish and targeted at Singaporeans only… not for ang moh!)

He didn’t agree initially.

So I asked him if he’d built his list using any SEO related techniques i.e. his subscribers found him through the search engines’ organic listing. He didn’t answer. He believes posting lots of articles on his website is one of SEO practice. And he further explained that his articles bring him traffic and generate revenue with Adsense. Then he asked: “Are you trying to sell me something?”

Am I trying to sell him something? Of course not. It would be wrong to sell him my SEO workshop program if he has no need for it – at least not for the website which he makes money selling others’ ebooks and info-products. He does not need SEO because he has a sizeable emails list where he sells useful ebooks to his subscribers.

However, he would need SEO when he moves from email marketing or affiliate marketing or JV to expand his customers base and revenue. Eventually, when he find his niche, he will need SEO to help him sell to his niche through the search engines. SEO can help you to target your niche, position your product/service and convert sales.

So when I said “Internet Marketers do not need SEO”, I means people who peddle ebooks, softwares and info-products such as CDs and DVDs on making money on the Internet do not need SEO.

P.S. To many people Internet marketing means affiliate marketing using mass emailing. So from now on, I will use e-marketing (a subset of e-commerce) to mean marketing on the Internet.

This time round, he was talking about Butterfly Marketing. And he said this, “If you are one of the tens of thousands who couldn’t afford the $997 (now $1,497) Butterfly Marketing script, then I’ve got some great news for you!”

Motivated Marketing System is the system that he is promoting. This system comes with a backend management script which include the following components:

• affiliate program management
• payment processor integration
• opt-in lead management
• autoresponder and mass mail
• product management
• one-time-offer generator
• product fulfillment/download
• and more…

I thought it was a real bargain to get a system that Eric claimed to have more funtionalities than Butterfly Marketing but at a fraction of the cost. To cut the story short, I bought the Motivation Marketing System, read the manual, installed the script and have a demo for you here:

http://www.onepageweb.com/mms

Unfortunately, I am one of the tens of thousands who didn’t have the $997 to pay for Butterfly Marketing and could not make a comparison. But then again, it would be unfair to compare two products with such a huge difference in pricing!

What I hope to do is a review on the Motivated Marketing System(MMS). So far installing the script is a breeze. There are also numerous manuals which Eric has included that I think will help us to use the system better. These are the

1. MMS manual
2. Product Creation System
3. Product Launch System
4. Backend Sales System

I really cannot wait to get the system running and … yes, make more money with a better marketing system.

1. Log into Paypal
2. Click at History tag
3. At the Show pulldown menu select Subscription
4. Then select the period at the Within pulldown menu
5. Click Display
6. At the subscription that you want to cancel, click Details
7. You will see a Cancel Subscription button, click it to cancel the subscription.