Search Engine Optimization

SEO:

Before Start on Page and Off Page SEO:-

• Keyword Research and Analysis – 10 to 15 Keywords
• Competitor Research and Analysis – top 5 on major search engines and directories
• Website Analysis
• W3c Validation

On Page Activities:-

• HTML Meta tag, Alt tag, H1-H6 tag and Title tag optimization
• Necessary changes in page content
• Creation of new pages if required
• Change in Page name, Image name and folder name if required
• Change in Site navigation if required
• Individual Meta Information per product for dynamic site
• Inclusion of robots instruction file
• Inclusion of search engine site map
• Google Sitemap generation
• Yahoo Sitemap generation

Off page Activities:-

• Directory Submission
• Article Submission
• Content Writing
• Blog Creation
• Forums posting
• Social Bookmarking
• Blog Directory Submission
• Twitter Marketing
• Classified submission
• Digg Marketing

Guest Blogging Is Nothing New As Compared To PR

Guest blogging is nothing new. In the world of Public Relations (PR), we are writing articles, press releases and features. The concept of PR is to create awareness, especially to the industry which you are targeting.

Likewise, in blogging, we talk about SEO and having content to beef up the site. Blog owners may also face challenge in writing daily or frequent blog articles to feed their subscribers or readers. Blog owners may also become opinionated and fail to write objectively. Nonetheless, the question is not about having an objective perspective to an issue. It is about your personal contribution and how you feel about the topic.

Back to PR again, our message may tend to slate towards a product offering. As a PR practitioner, you wanted a particular publication to feature your articles. And somehow, you do not want to lose the value proposition when you present the goodness of the product offering, while fending over a close competitor with similar products.

Likewise, in guest blogging, you may have become too affixed with your blog that you may not be able to inject new ideas. That’s when your content becomes repetitive and you may just sacrifice content over traffic.

The idea of guest blogging could probably originated from PR. Having guest bloggers on your site not only improve content, it gives a wider perspective to a topic that your site is trending on. Compared the narrow insights one author may have, few or several authors make it the discussion more lively and interesting. Like PR, host site of guest bloggers serves as an authoritative source. Guest bloggers are “established PR practitioners” in their own field or “trending”. From there, they will create a more dynamic content, linking to their sites or other authoritative sites. As a subscriber or reader, we will be pampered with information on the topic we thread on. This information may be difficult to discover as Internet is full of spam.

Truth enough, information may still contain a certain degree of spam. Sieving them out is another process which host site has to take note as well. Just like a publisher, filtering out commercial-related articles.

Alicafe Featuring Our Local Singapore Comical Artist 辉哥

Three Builders

An inspirational story which was shared yesterday by our Advisor. Nothing fanciful, however I believe most of us have heard this story before.


There was a construction going on. A pass-by asked 3 workers whom were on the site, what they were doing.

Worker #1 - Can't you see I'm laiding the bricks?
Worker #2 - We are constructing a building.
Worker #3 - We are building the House of God, so that everyone can visit this temple and worship him!

Though these three workers were tasked with the same job, each of them interpreted their role differently and mostly, how they view their role and how significantly they can contribute.

Each of us are tasked with different gifts. We are not "equal" in talent, physics or academic but we can contribute in the most significant ways. Be it our society, our community or our peers.

Also let's not forget the purpose of serving and what's the reason for you to serve in the first place? Over time, we may have forgotten our goals and we need to re-look again.

What Do You Think - Using iPad As Incentive For Marketing Campaign For Consumers?

Feel free to input.

Kaki - A short film on colorectal cancer

 

Roystan Tan, local Singapore-breed director has done another wonderful short film on colorectal cancer awareness. Playing on friendship and emotional bond, the story portrays 2 different ethnic friends on daily matters. Jokes, Pranks and Laughter are key elements on the set.

Health Promotion Board has taken this opportunity to launch a new quick and effective test kit. Look similar to a pregnancy test kit, it is used to test for colorectal cancer.  Cancer of the stomach is the 1st killer in Singapore and ranking #3 globally.

For more information, you can visit HPB website.

Fruit Juice & Yoghurt In Perfect Harmony

Volkswagen TSI & DSG

Stay tuned! Video clip coming soon. Meanwhile visit http://www.thinkblue.sg/#!/stories/

Five Things To Consider In A Job Search

Article extracted from My Paper, Page A18

Time May Be Running Out For Your Bones

Execs Find New Ways To Skive At Work

An article extracted from My Paper, 27th July 2011, Page 2 - How social media & free apps have changed work environment.

Win iPad2 With Chix Rice

Creative QR Codes

"Scan and Print" - that's what enable us to scan and print our document fast, and while we are on the GO.

With modern technology and creative out-of-box advertising techniques, marketers have been able to put a Fast Marketing Campaign, without complex deployment.

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data. - quoted from Wikipedia

QR code is unique as it generates a URL (for G2000), allowing the mobile users (since it's downloaded using mobile app) to create bookmark for http://www.g2000.com.sg/ss11/

Instead of memorizing the URLs, it typically makes use of graphical capturing technology of a barcode reader or camera. Mobile phone, nowadays, comes with camera - more than sufficient to cater for such needs. Making a campaign much more "enjoyable" and fun for consumers. Marketer may also require users to have a login - this, in turn, loops back to CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for loyalty and retention programme.

The challenges may arise when users do not have a "reader". QR codes may need proper tagging and categorizing by marketers to prevent mix-up.

How long can a marketer use QR codes for advertising purpose? Who's there to keep tag? What's if the barcode mis-read? Will it cause a commotion, especially for a campaign which lacks of proper control and reporting?

Side note:
Considering using a QR code on Name cards, which you can re-direct recipients to more information - Read more

Great Singapore Sales 2011

Great Singapore Sales (GSS) has finally come. This annual affair is uniquely Singapore, where the May-June period features retailers and fabulous promotions. Business owners dish out huge marketing dollars to entice consumers to make the extra purchase.

Looking at this form of marketing, GSS appeal is slowly dying. Will consumer make the purchase just because of the additional discount given?

We look at the recent crave: group buying coupons and discount phenomenon - Example, Groupon. How are they changing consumer behaviour. I look at Groupon as more of a sampling method for consumers. To advertisers, they are getting bulk sales which is ideal for new setup company to create awareness.

The pitfall for consumers come when they make purchase in GSS. Similar analogue in "Relativity and Immediate Gratification", a simple sales tactic "20% for 2nd Pair of shoes, 30% for 3rd Pair", in fact ask consumers to buy more FAST. Intentionally, discount is given but at tier level. This is good for retailers to clear their stock. Not to forget, their product costing includes shipping. With bulk order, the 20-30% is relatively covered. On top of that, they may save on warehousing since you have help to clear their stocks. Of course, all these are done with carefully planning. You do have to give credits to the merchandising department.

Create more Social Media Links

Someone just tasked me to create more social media tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn. Well, I do agree to populate the internet as these provide useful backlinks and garner more eyeballs. My only concern would be to manage them.

Operating in an Asian context, users are still skeptical on sharing their personal information online. Personally, LinkedIn offers upload of resumes, thus allowing resume search by potential employers. This is not ideal if your boss realise you are going on a job shopping spree.

To man the various new media tools require articulated use and proper monitoring. Being a user, I'm caught in a dilemma: resources management VS KPIs

When an organisation decides to embark on the new media platform, it must prepare to take on a new online identity. Thus, also allow for headcounts for such projects.

GE 2011 Aftermath

This was a sensational weekend. With GE 2011 coming to an end, all rallies and political lobbying would not be allowed in public places without first obtaining a permit and without a cause.

In this GE, we see the rise of a new political landscape which could bring forward many new evolutions. Gone were the days that people are living in "fear", nor are they ignorant. Though I foreseen this day, I have still saddened by the facts.

The loss of Aljunied GRC with a political leader, a liberal Foreign Minister. The team were average. The Opposition team has brought in new blood and rise the "voices" of the residents. What really sadden me is: whether people vote just because they want to see the changes, or are they "slated" by the Opposition or they are really aware of the current situation facing by the Nation?

Cost of living is increasing, do we want to remain stagnant for the sake of people who can't catch up with the pace?

I, for one, dare not to answer as I believe in self-achieving. But I'm still concerned after my forties, what will happen if I do not have enough for retirement or no job?

Am I still going with the crowd or apathetic towards National policies? Or are Singaporean remaining in their "comfort zone" as neighboring nations turn over and "eat" us from within, and external forces crushing on us?

Emotional Attachment In Election

Coming this 7th May, General Election 2011 is a great day where our Nation, Singapore may undergo political changes.

With the media proliferation, politicians and lobbyists have moved onto the online platform to call upon human self-gratification. This year, I feel the emotional element setting in.

"Who won, who lose; we are all history sinners" - a quote from a local writer. "谁输谁赢，我们都是历史的罪人"

Through media channels, we are able to communicate in a much "faster and efficient" way. Facebook has many "Likes". Through the tools available, key players have tried to engage communities. But perspective wise, it is still to the basics. We are looking at issues which are not easily comparable - "Relativity and Immediate Gratification".

 

Marketing basics have taught us relative and cognitive. Hopefully, this clip serves its purpose and its useful applications in many scenarios. This clip was done by Jeff Monday. He uses dots to make complex ideas easy to understand and apply to your life.

Cloud Computing - The Next BIG Thing

We heard about “Cloud” but have you heard of “Cloud Computing”. For the non-savvy, basically it means virtual servers available over the Internet.

Cloud computing services are provided either by subscription-based or pay-per-use, in real time over the Internet.

But "How does it work for you?"

Imagine being an executive of a company, with the responsibilities to ensure all your employees have the right hardware and software for their jobs. Typical company setting would be one computer to one head count. However, software licenses may not, due to costing. Therefore, you may have to be selective in your purchase decision.

Instead of installing a suite of software on each computer, you can make use of Cloud Computing service. All you have to do, is to run a cloud computing system's interface software. This application allows employees to log into an Internet-based service which hosts all the programs a user need for his job. A simple cloud computing system's interface software is a Web browser.

Remote machines owned by the service provider would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs.

Think Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail; perhaps you may already have some hand-on experience with cloud computing after all. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you are logging onto a Web email account “remotely”. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer - it's on the service provider's "computer cloud".

Think Now: Cloud computing may be revolutionized the technology era in next few years.

Marketing Campaign

Adapted from Silver Bullet Marketing,

They hoped and believed – erroneously – that they could deploy a single message that would bring them instant fame and fortune.
What they failed to do was to rely on two very helpful friends in marketing: repetition and frequency. Instead of thinking in terms of a campaign, they took what they considered to be their best shot.

So what do you do when you need a silver bullet and don’t feel you have the time to sit down and do some serious planning or the resources to implement an expansive campaign?

Don’t knock social media because you think it is beyond your means, time, or abilities.

I agreed to a certain extend. Frequent emails may create a nuisance rather than having a reminder effect. Then again, a "reactive" message can trigger off a chain of activities, over a boring message without any content.

Use of Social media is on the rise. In my previous post, there's a mention that Facebook is becoming popular. I agreed with the writer that social media is a way to crawl to "other users" but what makes them want to sign up with you? Your content e.g. your website is irrelevant or obscure, should there is a viable business transaction when you fail to deliver your first impression?

Chartering a course is pretty important especially in a management in strategic role. Wouldn't that be the case?

Interesting Statistic from Facebook

"Like us on Facebook", a familar phrase you heard around probably on the Internet. Nowadays, it's becoming very common.

Asiaone.com presented an article called "Facebook Obsession", which shows interesting stats yet true data on how Facebook has garnered attention from users around the globe.

Companies and marketers are no doubt harassing whatever media power it can rein.

Support Earth Hour - Spread the Word

The latest online campaign craze is on the Earth Hour 2011. Companies are also showing their supports in channeling the campaign message to their partners and clients.

Creative Software Pte Ltd in Singapore has began its movement to do her bid to support Earth Hour. Let's do our part and share tips on how to save our Planet Earth and show our deep condolences to the people in Japan on the latest disaster.

Microsoft Office 2007 Interface

Many may have upgraded from the 2003 to 2007 version of the Microsoft Office software. With every updates, the interface and efficiency would be greatly improved, thus allow users to better perform their tasks using the new application.

Some users may have experienced unfamiliarity with the application as compared to the older version. Most of the previous updates, interface has remained unchanged unlike the current one, which has changed the "many" functions and grouping them under a tab feature.

Call it good, I personally find it troublesome, especially to search for your "wanted" feature on a multi-level interface. Confused?

I have downloaded a classic menu manager which you will find it familiar and much easier to use. See how "nostalgic" it is (see below).

Facebook "Check-In"

Facebook has launched the "Check-In" feature, which I believe strongly opposed foursquare.

They allow users to "check-in" to their current location, connect and share with friends on their locations. I heard there is even a feature which gives users and their friends interactive ways to explore the cities and earn game points. The very thought is very entertaining, plus educational factor. I have not used it personally though.

Now FB comes with the "check-in" feature, enables to do all of the above. Maybe not the game portion.. yet..

I do realise that it will be a useful App for "social butterflies" who like to interact and meet up with people which are around the vicinity. It is also great to know the whereabouts of their friends if they have plan to meet up. And that saves the hassle of even communicating your current whereabouts.

With proliferation of online web space and technology, privacy remains a concern. We may just let our gadgets "automatically" log on for us. But will we want that? There are still skeptical people out there. However, my concern falls on individual who comes under the category of "stalker".

Importance of Distribution Point

In Singapore, we have free circulation of "My Paper" on every weekday. Publisher gains their revenue from the advertisers. In turn, advertisers will get exposure to hundred thousands of readers through their circulation base.

It is clearly a marketing fundamental. Everyday, I walk past the MRT station, greeted by the "circulation man" who was trying to distribute the paper to the morning passing crowd. What's amazed me, was that he has placed the newspapers in different locations.

Firstly, not to jam the point of entry to MRT station. To increase efficiency and definitely, increase take-up rate. I may not be the "recipient" but I do read the paper online. Personally I just felt the printed copy redundant, as I do not know where to "throw" it after reading. Reading the content online is much easier for me.

The same applies to marketing. We need ROI, thus distribution points are very important when it comes to giving exposure. Yes, I DID not take the paper but there are also online exposure, where potentially, it can reach up to millions of people, not forgetting crossing the international boundaries where the traditional prints are not able to.

How do you develop an innovation culture in an organisation

Some time back, I ponder on this question.

"Innovation culture" - I define as an environment which interesting and creative ideas will be present and flowing continuous.

Then how do we develop an Innovation Culture in an organisation? Having working in both SME and MNC environment, I have this perfect "culture" in mind. Many of us love to log on to Facebook and other social networking website - either to kill boredom at work, to relax your mind, or to simply connect with friends and colleagues.

I have read an article commenting how much time is wasted by employees while browsing social media sites (unfortunately I'm unable to retrieve the file). As an management executive, I would agree totally and definitely would not like to see my staff doing that.

However as the marketer's side and coming from an employee communication channel, I find that rather an intriguing idea to use social media to connect with corporate staff, and not forgetting the corporate leaders and management too. Privacy may be one issue that we are not going this direction. Many of my Facebook friends are still concerned letting their bosses know that they are on Facebook. What about WhatsApp and eBuddy on our iPhone and Blackberry? I'm sure they know whether you have been messaging during office hours by just checking when you are "online".

There are also various articles which show that playing with online social media can improve our memories and decision-making process. Read "Video games lead to faster decisions that are no less accurate" and "The Right Decision".

How can we have an innovating organizational culture when the users are not embracing the new era of new media. I seriously think for HR and employee communications to take on this step. It does not apply to marketing communications. But as a way for us to "gel" in a different dimension.

Worry about the system being abuse? I'm sure employees will exercise self-discipline provided the companies have laid down the terms & conditions. Many companies have security system. Though it may not be a true reflection, it definitely tells us which site you "have been to".

Marketing gurus have also shared the same sentiment in using new media to advocate communications. It is not surpised to see our Minister exercising this move since he started blogging.

Also read:

• http://www.innovationfactory.eu/blog/2010/04/14/how-do-you-get-people-to-share-their-knowledge/
• http://www.innovationfactory.eu/blog/2010/04/07/roi-of-internal-communities/
• http://www.innovationfactory.eu/blog/tag/culture/
• http://rapidbi.com/management/creating-an-organisational-wide-innovation-culture/

Galaxy Effect

It was a great analog using "Galaxy Effect" in SEM by one writer in Search Engine Journal. Earlier, I mentioned that online information is added everyday. With the vast of possibilities in searches, SEM will become irrelevant.

I would see this more as a "random sampling" method and once you define the keywords to help in your products & service, after conducting "experimental" campaign, I gathered you may find astonishing result which will up your yield.

SEM is definitely getting interesting!

Is Search Engine Marketing Dead

A recent article from an online marketing agency, OOm (Click here to download) discuss on this topic.

Summary of the articles as follows (those highlighted in Blue are my comments):

Define Search Engine marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization

A normal search displays a few pages of information. Links or information related to your search may pop out at the side of the pages, giving you extra clues or links to other sites.

How can we measure and improve on the profitability of our ad campaign?
The real goal is to connect your business to the right searches, engage them, and turn them into paying customers.


“What if you could come up with a way to advertise on the same page as web search results – without annoying people and achieves measurable results at the same time – a form of advertising that targets potentially interested customers, yet doesn’t bother people needlessly?”


This is the underlying premise of Pay-Per Click (PPC) Marketing, leveraging on Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search and Bing and why you should considering it as part of your campaign.

 

Five Key Takeaways
Using KAPLAN as the case study,

There are at least 5 takeaways from this case study.

1. Landing page and website quality are increasingly important
2. Related to the first point, there is increasing evidence that Google engineers think about similar relevance issues in paid search as they do on the organic side. One example in this case study was a strong effort we put into information architecture (which included keyword – rich page titles, headings, and well-formed URLs) for the KAPLAN site. This effort seems partly responsible for the high initial QS. = lots of spamming words messed up search quality 
3. The principles of tight targeting and granular campaign organization are borne out by this success story.
4. The little extras in terms of segmentation and granularity – in this case, targeting one particular local area within campaigns that mention the city in the ad copy (in this case, it’s only Singapore) and on the landing page – seem to be advantageous = a “narrow” geographical location is easier to manage, compared to branding “worldwide” 
5. All the above points to be value of a cautious, two-stage account buildout process. Building loosely at first and then tightening up later is bound to give you a poor account history that will reflect on your whole effort going forward. A strong, tightly relevant campaign will, by contrast, give you the firm foundation that will allow you to gradually search for ways to expand your ad distribution without incurring a whole lot of extra cost

I personally find SEM & SEO the minimal for any online campaigns. Yes, do let other people find you. But with internet, there's whole lots of information online and more being added each day. We are overwhelmed with so much info that there may be the search results can turn out irrelevant. Of course, the internet search engine giants such as Google and Yahoo are doing their very best to minimize such.

Yes, it does help if you know how to go about it. But will it generate the ROI with "heightened" awareness?

Also read:

• http://learntoduck.com/search-marketing/seo-is-dead
• http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/seo-is-dead.php
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Five-Steps-To-Help-You-Avoid-The-Search-Engine-Optimization-Dead-End-With-Your-Site&id=5741364

Facebook Group vs Facebook Fan Page

The question always pop up whether you should setup a Group or Fan page account on FB since it is getting popularity.

Here's a quick overview:

• Pages are generally better for a long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers;
• Groups are generally better for hosting a (quick) active discussion and attracting quick attention.

I have maintained two FB Group accounts and I don't find "Group Page" function suitable for my needs. One of which: AHRC5, I haven't been able to create content which I really want, and basically uploading info (which serves similar info as a blog). I DO need to create a "featured writing" over an "event" tab. Maybe, it's time for me to start looking out for a FB fan page.. should there be sufficient content to create one?

Also read:

• http://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-group-vs-facebook-fan-page-whats-better/7761/
• http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/
• http://www.squidoo.com/facebookpage

Menu in F&B marketing

I was having dinner at a cafeteria at Far East Plaza last evening. Menus are placed on the dining table, you have to order on your own and "self-service".

As I walked towards the ordering counter, I was pondering what I should eat. And my first instinct was to "look at the menu" but none could be found. Distinctively I looked up to see the signboard but choice was limited. I stared to the side and saw the menu on a dining table. Without hesitation, I grabbed it, placed it on the counter which was in front of me. This simplified my orders.

Likewise, as the crowd came, they looked at the menu at the counter, which facilitated their ordering. The stall keeper removed it shortly but that made the customers who came later, pondering on their orders.

I believe from this reaction, we can see a simple menu at the counter beats several printed menus lying around. You do not have the waiter to serve your order. To enhance customer service, you would have to anticipate what the customer needs first, and not what they want. There is a difference between what you "want" the customer wants, and what the customer really "needs" is what the revenue you be earning.

The "counter menu" concept exists at all successful fast food outlet. Fast and Efficient, such as Mcdonalds, KFC, Burger King etc etc. So you know what you should do next.

Understand potential threats from social media

Social media is the "In" thing now and many companies have began to embrace it, be it for business or for communications.

Experts have identified 3 key threats to this trend: technology, content and behaviour.

Fear of being attacked by malware and computer virus; inappropriate content dissemination; and lastly, attitude. The need for IT Security, HR and Management personnel to look into these aspects and improve integrity. Can you build a pseudo-persona online and manage the content? And where you going to get the content when in reality, the "fake" you doesn't exist, there is "no experience point" for you.

As a staff, I see social media as a useful tool to connect, either in business or personal level, especially during office hours. However, on the stand of management, I felt that it was more on the loss of employees' productivity. Traditional companies will hold their ground against these new media platforms but what about the newer generations of companies, and especially those who are into IT-savvy stuff?

To connect within the social media landscape, I strongly believe in a true identity, not persona. Privacy issue is still a concern, though many social sites have customised option for privacy setting. You never know who is tracking you, especially you are becoming a "hot favorite" on the cyberspace. And "hot favorite" is what you want to get, if you want exposure. What's "next" after social new media?

Also read:

• Next big thing for businesses
• Social networks to meld with enterprise apps

Are Singapore rude and lack of civic mindedness?

Today, I was slammed with an article and was supposed to make a 2-3 pages response to the question. I choose "courtesy" over heritage, as I really have no interest in history. But I do like an argumentative essay question.

Though I was given 30 minutes, my ideas were free-flowing. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to complete it. And I really felt a pity not having to finish it.

Just some highlights which I have included in the essay - racial issue between Indian and Indian-Muslim family, smoking & banning of cigarette, loving pets & animal abusing.

Generally, I would think civic mindedness is very much associated with patience or EQ. We are generally nice people. However, in our society, we are hastened to excel, to accomplish tasks in any faster means. As a result, we lose on EQ.

Courtesy and kindness campaign, does that help at all? A recent article published in June, 2010: Singaporeans slammed for being rude in Australian newspaper

Campaigns are meant to be public broadcasting system, generating awareness. However, do we listen? And do we digest the message? Do education still have its power over people? Much on the surface but no "depth"? How can we do the "depth" in campaign messaging? What are the better alternatives in term of marketing communications?

Customize your Facebook Profile Page

Recently, customised facebook profile page is getting popular and fun. This is how I do it:

The most easiest version:

1) Get an image file you like to place on the profile page Resize it to 500px (width) x 68px (height) Cut into 5 equal portion (100px x 68px), and save thumbnail image

2) Upload to Facebook
3) Tag the most left thumbnail 1st, then 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th is the thumbnail appearing on the rightmost

You are done! (also see "Facebook Profile")

Also read: 10 Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS]

Online Presence

"you can see yellow pages commence book is so thin now as compare to last time. bec future advertising is all online.. so online skill must be strong.. must have a unique skill to advertise on youtube.. and a place to hang out in web.. the world changed.."

This was the comment made by a friend on my FB. Internet has hastened the process of globalization, making the playing field level nowadays. Gone was those days that you have to listen to TV broadcasts or radio to get fresh news. Just Google on the web and you have all the info. The widespread of Internet has also brought along vast data, which many of them coming from unreliable source. This make a marketer more challenging to bring a piece of news across, using the correct channels and tools. Not forgetting, he may have a budget constraint too.

I glad I come across HTML & Frontpage, which further my interest to do website, content update and blogging. Blogging requires patience. My practice in Journalism and corporate stint in copy-writing have helped me in this area. I like to move on further to corporate and regional, and hopefully globally.

AHRC5

Finally finished my AHRC5 blog site, will be using it as a site for detailed information.

Primarily, Facebook will still be the main media tool for information dissemination. Now I need to input more content. Furthermore, to improve on some scripts.

Pink Taxi

I saw a pink taxi this morning and sparkled my curiosity. There have been some commotion on taxis in the past and I can see this cab having "Hello Kitty" in the vehicle.

Some of the past incidents as shown above.


Facts
There's many taxis on the road now. 2010 statistic compiled by LTA show a population of 26,000 taxis in Singapore, out of 945,000 vehicles registered. That gives us an approximately 2.75%

We have around 4 millions in Singapore and only 25% have cars. Such a small island but we do have a sizable car population. According to NationMaster.Com, we we are ranking #49 out of 133 countries involved in study comparison. (Source from United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook)


Back to the topic:
There were exposure gained from this "out-of-box" promotional tactic. But what is the overall net gain? Branding? ROI? or bad Publicity?

Facebook VS Blog

I'm been contemplating the use of blogging vs the use of facebook media for AHRC5. It seems that most of the content will be available on Facebook and it is easy accessible & simple to update.

Unlike for a blog, AHRC5 do not require the need to have a comphresive data. Perhaps, I should just create a "parking" site and use it when there's a need for it.

Customer Loyalty

Two days ago, my girlfriend and I was discussing on why people prefer the new mall NEX over others.

NEX is designed in such a way that food outlets, fashion retailers and other merchants are randomly scattered around the mall layout. Most typical malls such as Vivocity, their retailers are clutter-located. Ie. to say, you can never find a F&B with fashion, or any others together. Reason being, it is easier to design the venting chute for F&B as they need to exhaust the cooking smoke and smell away.

Though it is good, would customers still prefer to go NEX? Maybe it's the convenience. After all, Serangoon is a huge heartland, not to forget the nearby crowds from Ang Mo Kio as well. Customer loyalty to a particular outlet? Doesn't seem to me to work..

Just as we spoke on this topic, she has already terminated her dog grooming services with the existing one after the membership & session package ends. Talk about loyalty program.. People will just move on when there's something better and value for money..

Disclaimer

This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

My thoughts and opinions may change from time to time as I learn more and develop my understanding about things and issues that I am blogging about. This blog only provides a snapshot of the knowledge, views, and opinions that I hold at a particular point of time and these might probably change over a period of time. I reserve the right to evolve my knowledge, thoughts, and viewpoints over time and to change them as I please.

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Facebook Profile

My interest sparks when I first seen this facebook profile done by one of my friend. That's really arouse my curiosity and I came upon this site which offers me insight.

So now I got my own customised page, I gather this is a good to garner publicity if you have particularly interesting stuff to showcase