Accelerate Your Business Using Web Technology

Allan ChaoStartup V8allan@StartupV8.com

San Francisco SBA 2011

IntroductionsWho you areWhat you doWhat you would like to learn about

The Agenda Ways to Build a Website

Ways to build a website yourself How to Hire a Freelancer Website building process and companies

Mobile and Smartphone Technology iPhone vs Android vs Blackberry vs Windows Mobile Native apps vs web apps

Customer Relations Management (CRM) Your memory Excel SalesForce vs HighRise vs Others

Cloud based apps What is the Cloud? Google Apps IP telephony (Skype, Grasshopper) Cloud storage (Dropbox) E-Contracts, Digital Signatures (Docusign) Digital Invoicing (Freshbooks)

Websites… before we startThink about your target budget first!!!

$0 = Ask a friend to do it for free… (more on this later)$10-$100 = Do-It-Yourself website building tools$500-2500 = Individual freelancer$1500-7500 = Full service company$20,000+ = Hire someone full time in-house

Also think about your target timeline2-6 weeks = Full service company2-3 months = freelancer3-6 months = a friend doing it for free

You get what you put into it (money, time, effort)

DIY Website BuildingAdvantages:

FREE! (or very low cost)Total ownershipChange content at your willEasy? (if tech-savvy)

Disadvantages:Lots to learnMost time consumingAlways template-based, not customizableMust be moderately tech-savvy

DIY Website Building ToolsBest and the worst

Best Wordpress.com SquareSpace.com MoonFruit.com

Worst Web.com Vistaprint Instant Website GoDaddy Website Tonight

Let’s Build a Basic WebsiteAre we going to learn HTML? NO!!!For this example, we’ll use Wordpress.comAny ideas for the topic?

http://www.randomwebsite.com/Choose a template designWrite some basic content, add a picture or

twoAdd a contact formWe’re done!

Hiring a FreelancerFinding a Freelancer

Craigslist Online web browsing ($$$)Online freelancer sites: (high risk for the non-technical)

RentaCoder Odesk Elance

In-person Networking and Referrals Most Common Mistake: Having someone you know do it

for free (or for almost nothing)Never finishesLow qualityEventually end up re-doing it completely

Questions to ask a FreelancerWhat area do you specialize in, and who does the

rest?Graphic Design = the look and feelProgramming = the codeMarketing = the search engine placementCopywriting = the content on the site

What CMS platform do you recommend (if any)?Wordpress – popular, but not a silver bulletJoomla / Drupal / dotnetNone

Project cost and timeline?Most importantly, ask yourself: Do you trust them?

Common Freelancer PitfallsStrength in a single skill, weak in others

Great designers don’t program!Great programmers don’t design!Neither group does marketing!

Jack of all trades, master of noneMutually exclusive skill sets…E.g. auto mechanic vs paint job

Poor project planningGoes over budget in both time and moneyConstantly feel “out of the loop”

Why use a Company?Aspects of Website Creation

Architecture and platformUser interface designGraphic designProgrammingCopywritingMarketing

SEO (organic) SEM (keyword bidding) Ad Networks (display ads, banner ads)

More expensive in the beginning, but better resultsBetter as a long term investment

SEO = Search Engine Optimizationaka “organic” listings“I want to be on the top of Google!”For small businesses, target “long-tail” keywords.

E.g. “San Francisco flood repair”, not “flood repair”Very complex algorithms, constant changesCan be very challenging, depending on market

saturation“Guaranteed rankings” are “blackhat”! Google will

ban the site!Trust is very important, fraud/cheating is pervasive

SEM = Search Engine Marketingaka Keyword advertisingGoogle Adwords, Bing,

YahooPay per click, $0.50-$20,

depending on keywordsMuch more stable source

leadsMust be set up correctly,

or else could be wasting money

Many factors still at play, such as quality score

What about Social Media?What is Social Media?

Blogs (Wordpress, Blogger)Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn)Microblogs (Twitter)Location-based (Foursquare)Events (meetup.com, Eventbrite)News and Bookmarking (Digg, Delicious)Much, much more

Free or very cheap, but massive time investment with questionable payoff

Useful for branding as a “modern” company in touch with community

Technically easy - Mostly unrelated to your main websiteAdditional services could be offered by a company or freelancer

Other notes about websitesTechnology platforms

PHP vs .NET, Wordpress vs Joomla, etc.Very difficult to change platforms after much useMust be strategic about technology platform choice

Ecommerce and payment processingEcommerce sites have much more complex requirementsPaypal, Google Checkout, Authorize.NET

High tech web startup idea?“I have an idea!” (next Groupon)Software development teams (internal or external)Management and Product Development can be very complexUnlimited cost potential… $$$$$+ (e.g. Google is a website…)

Mobile and SmartphonesHuge growth… very analogous to .com boom

in 1990siPhone and Android

Blackberry and Windows MobileTablets (iPad)

Mobile Payments (Square)Location-based social media (Foursquare)Location-based advertising for B&M stores

Mobile App vs Mobile WebsiteWhat’s the difference?

Interested in building a mobile app?What’s the purpose?

Generate income? App sales? In-app sales? Marketing? Branding? Customer service?

http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/mobile-app-dev-cost/

iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Win7Market share?

All platforms are very different, apps are not transferrable between platforms

Native app vs Web appHTML5Huge cost of development difference5 Common Reasons for Native Apps

PerformanceOffline ModeFindabilityDevice AttributesMonetization

Native-app onlyGeolocation APICameraAddress BookAccelerometer

Customer Relations ManagementThe “database”Used for B2B sales and account management

LeadsProspectsAccountsNotes

Non-web solutionsMemoryAddress bookExcel

Web-based CRMSalesForce is popular for enterprise

Very full-featuredLots of integration (e.g. mobile phones)Lots of reports (e.g. outstanding accounts)Lots of management (e.g. user roles)

HighRise is popular for startupsMuch simplerCheaperFewer features

Many other options

What is the “Cloud”?Web-based, as opposed to installed on desktopAdvantages

Accessible anywhereMore reliable (practically 24x7, backups handled

automatically)No upgradesPricing

Cheaper, recurring payments instead of one-time purchase Usually freemium = free trial, or free basic version

Can be faster (doesn’t depend on your computer)Disadvantages

Question of data ownershipQuestion of reliabilityTrust in the cloud service provider

Examples of Cloud ServicesPersonal Cloud Services

Email (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail)Photo sharing (Flickr)Video sharing (Youtube)

Business Cloud ServicesGoogle AppsIP telephony (Skype, Grasshopper)Cloud storage (Dropbox)E-Contracts, Digital Signatures (Docusign)Digital Invoicing (Freshbooks)

Thank you!Please fill out the evaluation formAsk me if you have any specific questions

Allan ChaoStartup V8allan@StartupV8.com

Startup V8 helps entrepreneurs turn their vision into reality. We handle the entire engineering and product development for new web and mobile startups. Contact us to learn more.