My Egg Noodles

Traffic to my one of my businesses main portfolio of sites that bring home the bread is up, but the revenue has dropped significantly from this time last year. The economy, price wars, and the fact that internet users are becoming more savvy are some of the reasons everyone in this industry it feeling the pinch right now.

Today I decided to jot down a few notes on what I have done since my revenue started to drop, to hopefully give you some inspiration if you start to see a decline in your online earnings.

1. Ask for advice
I emailed the smartest people I know for advice. A quick 2 to 3 sentence email meant it wouldn’t take long for them to respond (whenever you email busy people, keep you questions short and direct). The overall response I received was amazing, and got me thinking about my industry, sites, revenue and traffic in different ways than I had before. In my experience, entrepreneurs go out of their way to help other entrepreneurs – so don’t be shy to ask for help!

2. Market Research
It had been a while since I last visited my competitors site’s to see what they were doing, and it was interesting to see what they were up to. Looking at price points, marketing strategies to other elements that effect conversion rates, I was able to get some new ideas I could implement and test on my own projects.

3. Explore different routes to market
While I highly recommend getting good at a couple of online distribution methods when first starting out online, it’s still worth educating yourself on the other distribution channels that can drive targeted traffic to your site.

For example, my background is SEO so most of my traffic and content creation is around optimizing my pages for organic search listings. However late last year I allocated a small monthly budget to invest into paying for traffic (PPC) across the major ad networks. The success rates have been a mixed bag, but I’m pretty confident my “budget” will more than cover it’s self over the long run. Exploring different routes to market your products and services can be a great learning experience, and can also be a lot of fun to work on.

4. Web properties and features

I’m a huge fan of creating web properties around the niches I’m involved with. And with the help of open source software, it’s never been so cheap to create value added verticals or services that not only benefit your customers, but also can be a great way to build some links for SEO value. From Social Networks, to Blogs, Q&A sites, forums, reviews to Affiliate Programs, these are just some of the distribution channels you can build to further promote your brand, products and services.

5. Split test
It’s simple: If you split test different elements on your sales pages, you WILL IMPROVE conversion rates. Do it.

6. Take a break
While in Bali last year, I did not have access to my notebook for a couple of weeks. Apart from checking email in internet cafe’s, I was offline and unable to work. At the time I thought my world had ended, however I managed to fill 2 note pads with ideas on how to improve this particular business and have since started working on my ideas I wrote down at this time.

Whether you take a weekend off hiking somewhere or a full week away, I think you’ll be rewarded for getting back to basics with pen and paper.

7. Cut costs
This should be a no brainier, but worth noting just in case you haven’t considered cutting costs within your organization. Hosting, staff, office, equipment… the list can go on. Work out deals, give up site equity to form partnerships…. basically just explore different cost cutting options that will make sure your business rides through the bad times while you work on getting the figures back up.

8. Network
When times get tough, it’s not a good idea to fly round the world for conferences, however there’s still scope to network with others in your industry via Twitter and Email. Networking, collaborating and sharing ideas with others is a sure way to get your creative juices flowing!

9. Diversify income streams
Diversify your revenue streams as much as possible. This could also be said for traffic sources. This is hard to do for most businesses, but one that is worth paying attention too.

10. Innovate
This is a must for any online business; innovation really does separate you from the competition, and when executed properly, will bring a whole bunch of other benefits such as viral marketing, market share and quality leads/traffic.

11. Forget about emotions
Most business owners grow emotionally attached to their business. I’m no different. Last year I sold a web property of mine and then bought it back again, even though the reason I sold it was due to the site not making any money. I bought it back because I was emotionally attached to it, I had put so much hard work into the site that I couldn’t let it go.

I’ve since re-sold the site, and was lucky to sell it at a small profit. But I know I was lucky… it’s better to make business decisions based on statistics and data rather than emotions.

12. Don’t quit… yet
Unless you’ve looked at the above points and can honestly say you’ve given them all you’re best shot, it’s not time to quit. There’s so much stuff you can do before it’s time to move onto something else.

I know a lot of my readers out there work online, so I ask you to add to the conversion in the comments below with your thoughts, ideas and strategies you take when the figures start going into the red.

And remember; tough times don’t last, but tough people do.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been in Singapore attending the ad:tech Singapore conference. Ad:tech is a conference covering branding, sales, conversions and many other aspects that marketers and business executives face when operating their businesses online.

This is the first internet marketing conference I’ve attended, and what can I say? WOW is probably the right word to use. I was blown away with the keynotes I saw and the networking opportunities I was presented with.

To be able to talk internet marketing non stop for 2 days in it’s self was great, but the true value come from the relationships I built and the extensive knowledge I learned on marketing, mobile and branding in the Asian market.

I know many people in Asia that work online and were not able to attend…. which I feel is a real shame. There’s no doubt about it that if you work online and are involved with the Asian web market in anyway, ad:tech Singapore will definitely have a positive impact on your business.

I’m going to make an effort to attend the Ad:tech Tokyo conference in October – so if anyone is up for joining me, please let me know! Failing that, I hope to meet more interesting people at the next ad:tech Singapore!

The entrance to the Suntec International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Singapore – where the conference was held.

Thanks to the amazing team at ad:tech, I was able to get a press pass! Shame they missed the “my” from my domain ;) Although saying that, it was a great reason for people to start a conversation with me wanting to now how I was involved with Egg Noodles. One lady took a look at my name tag, looked up at me and said “cute”… then walked off lol

I was invited to the press briefing – Francesco Lagutaine, the Chief Marketing Officer of Citi Group Asia Pacific (3rd from left) talked about where he felt the web and mobile space was going in Asia. Also on stage were Paul Beckley – the Vice President of DMG World Media (who operate Ad:tech), Ken Mandel – Regional VP of advertising sales Yahoo and Ruth Stubbs – President of Media brands Asia Pacific. All together, a stellar line up for the press briefing!

Yahoo easily had the biggest presence at the show… not surprising considering how big Yahoo is in multiple Asian markets.

I’ve been to many conferences before were the food has always been a let down, however the food at adtech was excellent! Seabass with white white sauce, beef rogan josh, Burmese chicken curry… to name a few :)

Nicole Mies from Lufthansa gave a great talk on the strategy behind creating a social community site to gain exposure to the Chinese overseas student market. A really well executed presentation that highlighted the importance of looking at additional routes to market your products and services.

Google demoing their most recent app, an app scans data from business cards and imports the info into your contact lists. A really cool app!

They also demonstrated Google Mobile Ads – which considering there are 37 phones sold every second, compared to 4 babies being born every second, is an area more of us should be taking note off.

With wine and beers flowing down every ones necks, the networking got even better as people started to chill out more at the after party. I met some incredible people during these few hours, including folks from Dell, a Thailand based ad network and the president of Win Rar file compression software.

We all then went onto the Yahoo! sponsored after party… which was great! Shame I got a little drunk due to the self service cocktails… although I left early to save myself from any embarrassing moments :)

Here are some interesting nuggets on info I learned at the Ad Tech Singapore conference:

1. Indonesia has the largest online audience in South East Asia (30 million plus)

2. Blogging is huge in Malaysia, where more people trust bloggers over traditional press.

3. In Singapore, Social Media is huge, with a wide range of user demographics.

4. Travel is the main e-commerce component in South East Asia.

5. In Vietnam, the internal net pipes are fast, however external are slow. So consider hosting in Vietnam if aiming to the Vietnamese market.

6. Vietnam has the highest click-through-rate in the world, due to impatience… Generally users refresh the page when it doesn’t load. Something you should be aware of if buying ad space on a CPM model.

7. 4 babies are born every second, while 37 mobiles are sold every second.

8. When Dell added ratings and reviews next to their products, sales increased by 20%

9. For every dollar spent, Dell requires 8-9 ROI if they are to invest huge financial resources into campaigns.

10. The importance of using ad networks to fulfill ad inventory was really interesting.

11. The importance of keeping communications personal. i.e Always start communications using the name (if you have this data), along with sending them a happy birthday email. Few brands do this, although easy to implement.

12. Cost of customer acquisition is 8 times the cost of customer retention.

13. Location based services, and 3G in Japan started in 2001 – Just proves how far ahead the Japanese mobile market is.

14. Japanese mobile penetration is at 92.4% households, 88.5% population (that’s near 100% if you take small kids into consideration)

15. Does your web site offers users to Share, Learn, Engage, Play and Connect?

Thank you ad:tech for putting on an awesome conference!

Having founded a couple of web development companies and having friends/family know I can “make web sites” – I’m often asked for my recommendations for a reliable hosting provider. At Gut Shot Studios we prefer the clients to set up their own host and domains, as this allows them to have full control. I think this is important for anyone setting up a web site – as if something happens to the development company you rely on, you still have access to all your files and can point the domain to another host.

After going through 4 or 5 hosting providers that were a pain in the arse to work with, I ended up biting the bullet and getting myself a dedicated server at Rackspace – the biggest hosting company in the world. Servers at Rackspace are not cheap, but their up-time and support is worth every dollar and for me, more than pays for it’s self within a day.

While working on a new project, I decided to give Media Temple a try, a host that many high profile brands, developers and designers use. I started on their shared hosting plan and was instantly impressed with their user interface, support and up-time, that a few months later I got a dedicated server with them. I know have a dedicated server at both Rackspace and Media Temple. Not surprisingly, these are the 2 hosts that I recommend.

Don’t be a cheap arse!

I’ve recommend Media Temple (shared plans) to 10 clients, family and friends this year alone. However, only one has taken my advice. Yes, just one! Instead, I’m given login details to hosts I’ve never heard of and cost peanuts per month. One client didn’t even have MYSQL on his hosting plan (For the non techy folks out there, this is a bit like checking into a hotel room without a bed).

I find this mind boggling as the clients are paying my company good money for a quality web site, although they feel the need to skimp on the hosting costs. Personally, I’d take an average site that will be up all the time over a stunning design that has problems.

A shared hosting plan on Media Temple goes for $20 per month (or $200 for a year), which is a fair bit more than the $5 per month deals you can get else where. But my argument is this; If your going to put your time and effort into a web project, pay for a designer and a developer, is it worth skimping on a few dollars to keep your website online and have access to knowledgeable support?

Take my advice, use a good host from the beginning, it saves so much time and head-aches later on.

I’m not saying Media Temple and Rackspace are the best hosts in the world, but from my experience I’ve had with them, they are amazing.

What host do you use, recommend or have had problems with?

For those that have been following my blog for a while know that I’m a huge fan of outsourcing as much of my work as possible. I’ve been outsourcing since I started out online when I was frustrated with trying to learn how to code, which eventually lead me visiting India when I was 19 to meet developers and designers over there.

One area of outsourcing that I’ve not really looked into until now, is hiring people in the Philippines. So today I thought I’d pick the brains of Dan who lives in Manila and employs locals to help build he’s web based businesses.

Dan runs a couple of excellent pod-cast’s that are worth subscribing too… one on lifestyle business and he’s newest venture, a podcast dedicated to outsourcing in the Philippines. You can also find Dan on Twitter.

Whether you already outsource your work or are considering taking the leap, hopefully Dan’s excellent advice below will help.

1. Tell us a little about yourself, your projects and how you got involved with working in the Philippines?

My name is Dan and I am an entrepreneur. I love traveling around and doing business. I’m also a big foodie so it’s pretty obvious why I’m a loyal reader of MyEggNoodles.com. My new hobby is telling everyone how awesome it is to outsource here to the Philippines. I’ve always been interested in outsourcing to scale companies faster. In the past, I’ve set up offices in China and Vietnam, and I’ve worked a lot with remote assistants/developers in India and North America. I’m currently based in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The prospect of setting up shop in the Philippines’ didn’t show up on my radar until 8 months ago. Once I understood the opportunity that exists here, I got on the next plane and haven’t looked back. If you are interested in following me, here are the best places: LifestyleBusinessPodcast.com, or @TropicalMBA. If you are an entrepreneur and want to outsource to the Philippines, check out outsourcetothephilippines.com.

2. Why did you chose the Philippines over other countries such as India or Thailand?

I’ve met a handful of entrepreneurs here in the Philippines who have begged me to keep a lid on this stuff! :) The world is going to be hearing a lot more from the Philippines in the coming decade.

First, the Philippines is an English speaking country. Everyone speaks English in this country. All the street signs are in English. Television is in English. In the second largest outsourcing hub in the Philippines, Cebu City, they speak a language called Cebuano. Here in Manila, they speak the “official” language Tagalog. I asked my Tagalog teacher what she speaks when she travels to visit her friends in Cebu. You guessed it! ENGLISH. Being an English speaking country gives the average Filipino a huge advantage over non-English speaking countries, not only in communicating via phone or email, but also in understanding Western cultural nuances, copywriting in native tone, and keeping up to date on the latest tech trends and software documentation.

Second, the Philippines have a huge availability of young, well-educated employees. The educational infrastructure is very strong here. There are tons of university educated professionals with exceptional English skills and broad range of highly sough after technical skills, including software development, web marketing, writing, legal, medical training, you name it.

Third, the Philippines is a country with a western mindset and culture. They’ve been colonized by western forces since the 16th century. The Americans only officially stopped governing the Philippines in the 1940’s. In terms of mindset, the Philippines doesn’t feel close to any other Asian country, and a lot of the cultural challenges you face when outsourcing to places like China or India are non-existent here.

Finally, it’s not only the best value outsourcing destination I’ve come across yet, but its also the cheapest.

3. Tell us more about what’s it like to work with the locals over there

Working with my staff here in Manila isn’t too much different than working with folks back home. I don’t feel much of a cultural divide here. While the average Filipino obviously has a much different life experience than a Westerner would have, in terms of attitude, approach, and basic understandings we have a lot in common as cultures. I can relate very well to friends and colleagues. If you would have told me that 8 months ago I wouldn’t have believed it.

4. What’s it like to live in the Philippines?

Big question! In terms of logistics, the Philippines is hands down the easiest place for a westerner to navigate. Everything, including court documents, is in English. Every landlord, shopkeeper, and taxi driver speaks English. The visa situation is very friendly and operating a business is relatively easy. Logistically, this is the most welcoming country in Asia for entrepreneurs. If you are in to adventure sports– diving, boating, treasure hunting, island hoping, kayaking, kite boarding– you’ve found your place! The islands and beaches are largely untouched and they are gorgeous. Many SCUBA divers believe the Philippines is the best country in the world for the sport.

Culturally, the Philippines can be a bit of a letdown relative to the rest of South East Asia. As a result, it doesn’t see close to the volume of tourists as its neighbors, and the ones who do come here are generally after either women or SCUBA diving. You also won’t find large groups of relatively young educated professional/academic class expats like you will in other Asian hubs. On the surface, the cultural offerings of the Philippines can be difficult to appreciate. This isn’t a great touring spot if you are in to history, food, or urban centers. All of the best restaurants are located in malls (incredibly awesome malls, if you are in to that sort of thing), there isn’t the great street food that you get accustomed to in the rest of Asia, and the architecture, ambiance, and filth of most of urban areas is positively depressing.

Part of the reason I ran the Tropical MBA program out of Bangkok is that I thought Manila would be too difficult a transition and not enough fun for an inexperienced world traveler. What’s exciting about Manila, and the Philippines in general, is the people (Filipinos are super cool and fun people), and the sense of opportunity you feel here. Also, the live music is incredible.

5. Do you think someone needs to be based in the Philippines if they have employees there? Or could this be done remotely? In your opinion, what are the benefits of the 2?

Its definitely not necessary to be based here to have employees or even an office. I think all the traditional advantages of having or not having an office apply.

6. Do you need to set up a company to work in the Philippines?

You do not. You can hire freelancers that can work for you as independent contractors. Labor laws here in the Philippines are very flexible and business friendly. If you’d like to incorporate here in order to set up a higher profile operation– say a call center with lots of office space– there are many, very reasonable ways a foreigner can set up an entity, securely stay in the country indefinitely, and manage most of the cash that flows through organization. Take that Thailand!

7. In Thailand, someone without a work permit is not allowed to work (although it goes on everywhere, especially those that work online) – even without any Thai’s involved. Are you saying it’s completely legal to work from your home or is the situation similar to Thailand?

The Philippines is incredibly business friendly and is actively seeking out foreign investors. Just in passing I saw some deal in Cebu where you get a free lifetime visa if you employee over 10 people. I’m not sure if that anecdote is true, but the spirit of it is in line with my experience here. I know countless entrepreneurs who create and manage a lot of cash within the country. Disclaimer: please don’t take my advice on the technicalities of your own visa situation, its definitely worth your own due diligence. The situation is nothing like Thailand, where I’d much prefer to live (I love Bangkok) and might even have set up my business there if it wasn’t such a pain.

8. What are the associated costs with setting up a company/office in the Philippines?

There isn’t one way to do this. You’ll need to consult with folks who’ve been there before and can help you organize your entity in a way that will keep you secure. You don’t necessarily need to incorporate in order to operate out of an office, either. In terms of official licensing fees, its very cheap. Office space rent varies dramatically based on your location.

9. If someone doesn’t want to open up an office, where do you recommend setting employees up to work? From home?

I’ve been in the country working remotely with my team since September! I occasionally meet with them in person to have diner and socialize. I’m only now looking for office space. It’s totally doable, you just need to find ways to ensure you are being productive. We have daily Skype “office hours.” In general, I think its much more productive to have an office, so as my team gets larger the costs of space become smaller than the cost of lost productivity.

10. What can one expect to pay developers, copy writers or designers in the Philippines?

A decent starting salary for a college grad in computer engineering is $220USD monthly. PHP developers are more expensive starting generally at $350 and anywhere to $1000 depending on experience. There is really a broad range. Computer animators start at $220USD. Folks who are more connected to freelancing style internet work can have some inflated rates. You can get really talented people with SEO, Copyriting, HTML, CSS, Photoshop, etc. in the $250 to $600 dollar range. Internet and call center workers can tend to make more than traditional professional, for whom $200 bucks is a great payday. Salaries outside of Manila can be much more affordable.

11. I know you’ve gone over this is a podcast, but can you quickly give us some tips on finding talent in the Philippines?

I’ve been telling everyone this is a great business opportunity. There isn’t a good, cheap solution with a critical mass of users that I know of. The biggest site for jobs in PH far and away is Jobstreet.com. It is the end all be all. Its a relatively expensive subscription service but if you need results, its the place to go. Besides that, I suggest getting scrappy. Blogs, forums, online boards. Most of my talent comes from networking and I’ve received tons of referrals.

12. What are your top 3 tips you would give to someone who is considering outsourcing their web development work to the Philippines?

Do it. Do it. Do it. Okay, kidding.

1. If you can afford it, come here to the Philippines and meet your team. I believe there is a huge long term opportunity available to entrepreneurs interested in the Philippines. Advancements in digital communications are making it possible for most business processes to take place anywhere on the globe. The Philippines has the absolute highest availability of super affordable English speaking trained, westernized people on the Globe. If you are an entrepreneur, you are sure to find some value.

2. Outsource Higher Level Tasks Than You Feel Comfortable With – Forget just sending off a bunch of article writing tasks. Consider hiring someone to coordinate your entire content campaign for you. Filipinos are sharp, they know about the web, and they can communicate with you 100%. I treat my guys (and gals) just like I would a California employee, and they are just as talented. I am lucky enough to have a layout designer on staff who does better web layout work than any designer on my staff in California (that’s 6 highly trained California designers!).

3. If you are frustrated with outsourcing, give it another chance.  I’ve tried to do this stuff in India and had some bad experiences with it. If you haven’t yet tried to find employees in the Philippines, its a totally different scene and I believe the chances of it working out are might higher. Focus on hiring employees, not task-specific robots, and you’ll soon find a group of very affordable people on your team working with you to grow your business.

Thanks Dan!