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Archive for the ‘entrepreneurship’ Category

 

Should We Move Back to the Burbs to Save Our Economy?

posted June 12th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, entrepreneurship, insightful, Miscellaneous, technology

Ever since my trip to Asia, my perspective of New York has changed.  In the last few years, NYC has become a tech mecca that’s able to rival Silicon Valley.  It’s bubbling with young entrepreneurs who are hungry to save the world and it’s certainly a refreshing change of pace.  But lately I’ve been wondering if there’s too much saturation in metropolitan cities and maybe the solution is that some of the tech talent could venture to other locations to help save our economy.  Would it make more sense for someone with my skill set to help individuals in other up and coming communities? Shouldn’t professionals like us help these cities by creating new economies and sources of income?

Do we really need more Fashion and geo-location apps?  A bulk of the industry is competing in very similar areas and they might be better off in completely different surroundings faced with real problems and their practical solutions.  A perfect example – I grew up in Miami and every time I go back I’m astonished at the lack of infrastructure down there.  Can Miami continue to survive only on tourism and service based industries?  Florida was severely affected by the recession, so it seems like diversifying their income stream would definitely benefit them in the long run.  So as Tech Entrepreneurs how can we help these other communities?  As an innovative DIY tech generation couldn’t we learn the challenges and understand their dynamics to create new ways for individuals to generate revenue? I think so.

I’ve stumbled upon various articles lately about Social Media strategists who ditch their day job to move to a rural area to help farmers and other small businesses, and it’s truly been an inspiration.  These days being connected simply means having Internet access.  Farmers are increasingly using Social Media to communicate with each other, and various digital tribes are forming – I found this interesting blog that coaches people on how to become a digital nomad.

The main idea behind it is if you have an online business or technology skills you can offer your services from anywhere around the US or the world, and with our current economy crumbling doesn’t it make sense to utilize our skills to create our own alternative economy? These are the types of questions I’ve really been pondering lately.  Let’s face it – with technology, collaborating around the world is as easy as connecting to a Wi-Fi network, and there are endless opportunities to expand our global reach from any home base we set our sights on.  What are your thoughts? Would we be more productive if we went to our original cities or suburbs to help these communities?

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Debugging the Myth: The Ad Revenue Business Model Doesn’t Work

posted May 9th, 2012 & filed under entrepreneurship, Serious Stuff

Lately, I’ve come across a few entrepreneurs whose sole business model is based on ad revenue.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you probably need to rethink your business plan if all you’re doing is selling Ads.

The reality is:

1)  In advertising big numbers talk: Businesses solely based on ad revenue only works for large media conglomerates with substantial traffic.  With the ever increasing accuracy of digital advertising, marketers require precise metrics on traffic volume, demographics and conversion rates.  If your blog / website traffic is below 1 million unique visitors per month, good luck getting any traction. Let’s face it; to generate this type of traffic it really takes significant investments and years of persistence.

2)  Google Ads don’t pay the bills: Google Ads essentially work by providing advertisers with a huge network of blogs.  They accomplish this by bundling up various independent blogs by category and then providing advertisers different ways to display their content through AdSense.  The model is usually based on CPC (Cost Per Click) meaning that as a blogger you only get a few cents per click; bloggers might make between $50 to $200 a month if they’re lucky, but it’s very rarely a substantial amount.

3)  Banner Ads are slowly dying: The click through rates for banner ads keeps decreasing every year.  Banner ads also require partnerships with media agencies or direct client contacts in order to secure placements.  On top of that, banner ads also require a Cost Per Click model, which isn’t very profitable for the bloggers or websites involved.

via The Man Repeller

4)  Sponsored content: Sponsored content can be a good additional avenue to dabble in. It’s very often a common practice for brands to ask bloggers to review their products.  However, this is usually only extended through a barter or product gifting. Unless you have a fanbase hovering above 10,000 fans, it’ll be hard to get much more. One of the bloggers that I respect is The Man Repeller; she strictly states that as a business she doesn’t promote products based on a barter system and is only interested in partnerships.

Moral of the story – Here are some options you can explore to generate additional revenue:

1)  Create premium content that your community or client wants to pay for.

2)  Create a service based business where you can offer clients consulting in your specific area of expertise.

3)  Create a product:  Whether it’s a book, T-shirts or jewelry, whatever you do, make sure you’re able to turn your skills into a product clients will want to pay for.

I hope these tips have been helpful. There are tons of opportunities out there to get your business / blog going; you just need to study all of the different possibilities before you get your business off the ground.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on other ways to expand business revenue online.

 

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Do You Know How Influential Your Brand Is?

posted November 1st, 2011 & filed under entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, marketing/advertising, Serious Stuff, social networking, technology, tips

It’s funny how various brands measure their success by how many fans or likes they have on Twitter and Facebook. It’s not unheard of for a brand to have thousands of fans and still get limited to zero engagement for their products.  What is it that they’re doing wrong?  Do they care about your message?  Do they share content back with their peers and are they actually helping propagate the message?

Here are some great free tools to help figure out if your engagement on social media is sticking.

1.  Klout – What is your Klout rank?

Klout is a great tool. It allows you to monitor exactly how successful your campaign is and it shows you data you can use to revise and improve your content.

http://klout.com/home

2.  Edge Rank for Facebook

Edge Rank is another Analytics tool that you can use to monitor and assess the popularity of your campaigns and content on Facebook.

http://edgerankchecker.com/

3.  Alexa and Google Analytics

Even thought they don’t refer back to Social Media, Alexa and Google Analytics are both great ways to measure if your initiative is successful. By seeing your SEO rankings and traffic generated you can get a good idea if your push is working. At the end of day, the purpose of Social Media isn’t to constantly blab about yourself, but to get users to come to your website.

http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.google.com/analytics/

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Facebook Stores: Your Very Own Social Media Pop-Up Shop

posted October 18th, 2011 & filed under entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, marketing/advertising, Serious Stuff, social networking, technology

For a lot of small companies figuring out different ways to get their product out there can become a challenge.  I always recommend that start-up brands and even more established companies should have their own Facebook Store.

Why Facebook retail? Because the statistics are so strong in your favor.  Facebook users spend an average of a half hour DAILY on Facebook. That’s more than any other website, and even more then some other social media platforms combined.  It only makes sense to have your product accessible from where your potential customers spend most of their time.

You could even consider a Facebook store as your very own pop-up shop. It’ll becomes just another outlet to get people aware of your brand and eventually to buy your product.  Another thing to keep in mind is that people are more likely to click on a Facebook link than on an outside link, and a Facebook store gives them the ease of being able to shop right from where they spend most of their time online.

Here are some great apps you can use for you template Facebook Store:

STOREFRONT: http://storefrontsocial.com;

http://www.facebook.com/ShopTabApp

SAM / Social Application Marketing;

http://www.wildfireapp.com/

http://www.snapengage.com/

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Kickstarter #101 – A few tips for a successful fund raising campaign

posted October 11th, 2011 & filed under entrepreneurship, marketing/advertising, projects, Serious Stuff, social networking, tips


For a while Kickstarters have been the talk of the town.  Between Kickstarter, Indie Gogo, and a few other online fund raising sites, there’s definitely a huge variety to choose from.

Kickstarters are a great way to get some initial funds for a project, but let’s face it, you really need to get your project out there for it to successfully reach its goal.

Here are a few tips to using Kickstarters the right way:

1.  Think about the nature of your project – Will it get people exited?  What are you doing in return? If you plan on asking for funds for a new song or album you plan on writing, what will be the outcome once you finish the project?  Your direct peers might have more of a vested interest in your project because they care about you, but people who randomly stumble upon a dozen Kickstarter requests a day might not be as interested about your upcoming project.  Make sure you think about what your project really encompasses before you decide to launch it.

2.  Be sure to advertise well – Make sure you make it sound like a promising and interesting project when you begin to advertise it.  That way anyone who’s really interested in innovative and experimental projects will feel more compelled to help you raise the funds.

3.  Think of a charity to give back to – Let’s face it, people are more willing to donate when they know it’s for a good cause.  I think part of asking people for money also involves some kind citizenship or altruistic behavior.  It’s the old rule of when someone helps me now I’m going to give back. You don’t have to abide by this tip, but it’s a rule of thumb I’ve always stuck by.

4.  Proper Promotion – Once your fund raising project is launched now you need to start promoting it.  Think of blogs, media outlets, and even local media outlets that could help you get the word out.  Social Media can also be a huge facet in spreading the word on your new project.  Just be careful that your promotion doesn’t come across as excessive spam.  A good way to grab people’s attention is to make it a contest and ask for their kind help and a referral. Remember every dollar counts, and if you have a good story the word will spread.

5.  Make sure you have some concrete examples of what you plan on raising money for -  A solid example always helps people understand what goals you’re trying to accomplish.  You need to make sure you can commit to the goal and seeing a little intro and explanation will definitely keep people interested.

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The Positives of Failure in the Entrepreneurial World

posted September 20th, 2011 & filed under entrepreneurship, projects, Serious Stuff, tips

Failure is definitely a word we’re all terrified of but within the entrepreneurial world its something we have to learn to embrace. No matter what type business you’re in, no one is successful without a few failures along the way. The preconceived notion that entrepreneurs become successful overnight is a fairy tale or pipe dream. It takes dedication, headaches and a lot of hard work to bring any initial concept to the final stages of fruition. Let me share my experiences and bumps in the road in shaping my own entrepreneurial career.

In 2008 I decided to create a photo device called Fauxcialite which would take animated picture of folks at events and simultaneously broadcast them at the event and social media platforms (back than it included MySpace and Facebook). The main focus behind Fauxcialite was to extend the lifespan of the event beyond a single evening and provide brands with the ability to drive traffic back to their site through these pictures. I pulled some strings, got a small business loan and started production with the immediate interest of some major brands. Unfortunately, the recession soon followed and I quickly learned that my business had too many “costs” and not enough of a margin, and based on how quickly technology was moving, I learned that building a physical component wasn’t going to be the best option.

This was an essential entrepreneurial lesson I never would have learned if it wasn’t for trial and error. It was a simple but necessary business lesson to have learned; you always need to make sure your profit margin is high, and this is one of the main reasons software technology has become so viable. Software like iPhone and iPad apps for example  are extremely cost effective when it’s a good product.  Building an iPhone app has a much higher profit margin than building a physical product (unless you invented the next great thing).

This experience made me a much more confident and wiser business woman.
We very often get blinded by our own entrepreneurial concepts without really thinking enough about the potential returns; how will we charge for the services or how much will customers plan on paying for the services etc. is extremely important when considering new entrepreneurial ventures.

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