Importance of Having a Website for Business and How to Avoid Online Business Mistakes

1. Hong Kong Drupal User Group
(HKDUG)
Importance of Having a Website for Business
and
How to Avoid Online Business Mistakes
DrupalCamp Hong Kong
2014 May 10th

2. Edison Wong
● CEO, PantaRei Design
– hswong3i@pantarei-design.com
● Drupal developer & contributor
– https://drupal.org/user/33940
● HKDUG Co-founder
– https://groups.drupal.org/drupalhk
● Startup founder
– 2009 - PantaRei Design founded
– 2010 - YBHK applicant
– 2011 - ITF SERAP applicant
– 2011 - HKSTP Incu-Tech applicant

3. PantaRei Design
● Hong Kong based Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) service
provider
– Content Management System (CMS) with Drupal
– Cloud hosting with Amazon Web Services (AWS)
● Business Partnership
– 2012 - AWS Consulting Partner
– 2013 - Acquia Partner
– 2013 - Atlassian Experts
– 2014 - Rackspace Hosting Partner
● FOSS Contributor
– 2008 - Hong Kong Drupal User Group Co-founder
– 2012 - Drupal Services Provider

9. Outline
● Importance of Having a Website for Business
● How to Avoid Online Business Mistakes

10. Importance of Having a Website for
Business
● Far Cheaper and Much More Flexible Than Print
Advertising
– Space is cheap
– Advertisement is accessible for a longer period of time
– Can DIY Content with CMS
– Potentially reach a wider audience
● Market Expansion
– Break through the geographical barriers

12. Importance of Having a Website for
Business (cont.)
● Diversify Revenue Streams
– e.g. sell advertising space to other business
● 24x7
– Tell customers to visit your website for information they are
looking for
● Offer Convenience
– Website is a self-service medium
● Add Value and Satisfaction
– Help customer to remember you better

14. Importance of Having a Website for
Business (cont.)
● Standardize Sales Performance
– Pitch with your website on every customer
● Improve credibility
– Many people use the Internet for pre-purchase
research
● Guide potential customer graphically
– By a dummy map which shows directions and
landmarks graphically

16. Importance of Having a Website for
Business (cont.)
● Growth Opportunity
– Show potential investors what your company is
about, has achieved, and can achieve in future
● Two-Way Communicative Marketing
– Customers can quickly and easily give feedback
● Cheap Market Research
– Website statistics show you how much traffic your
website receives

18. How to Avoid Online Business
Mistakes
● Not Using Your Own Hosting
● Starting Without a Plan
● Teaching Something You Haven’t Yet Learned
● Expecting to Work 4 Hours a Week
● Looking for a Magic Button to Press
● Not Spending Enough Time on the Content
● Never Getting Started

19. Not Using Your Own Hosting
● Unprofessional
– Test blog using some free hosting service
– Running business with yourname.blogspot.com
– Using email with yourname@gmail.com
● Taking yourself seriously
● Buying your own domain and web hosting

21. Starting Without a Plan
● Success means getting to a certain point
– Need to know when you get there
– Waiting to see what happens is just waste of time
● Before you begin
– Have a good idea of what your website will be
about
– How you want to generate an income from it

22. Teaching Something You Haven’t
Yet Learned
● Focus on a subject you know
– Write for your reader
– NOT for your wallet
● The money will follow
– As word gets around about your expertise

23. Expecting to Work 4 Hours a Week
● “4-Hour Workweek” is just the eye-catching title
– Don't take it too literally
– You still have to put the hours in
● Working smarter =/= Run a website in-between
looking after the kids or a full-time job

25. Looking for a Magic Button to
Press
● There is no single secret to success
– So no one can sell it to you
● If it sounds too good to be true it is fake
● Save your money
– Learn from the free resources on the web
– Put your new knowledge into action

26. Not Spending Enough Time on the
Content
● Content is KING
– Distribution is QUEEN
● Quality content draws visitors to your site
– But marketing can't turn bad content into a money-
making enterprise
● Say something interesting and in your own
voice

28. Never Getting Started
● You shouldn’t jump into a web business without
learning something about it

29. Q&A

30. References
● http://www.webworldindex.com/articles/12-Benefits-
● http://www.projecteve.com/7-classic-online-busines

31. I Need More Help!
● Read documents from Drupal Community
– https://drupal.org/documentation
● Join Hong Kong Drupal User Group
– Event organizing: http://www.meetup.com/drupalhk
– Technological discussion: https://groups.drupal.org/drupalhk
– Business connection:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/?gid=6644792
– General sharing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/drupalhk
● Contact us for one (1) month free-trial support service
– http://pantarei-design.com/services/support/#support-service-plans

32. Thank You
● Please feel free to contact us:
– Unit 207, 2/F IC Development Centre, No.6 Science
Park West Avenue, Hong Kong Science Park,
Shatin, N.T.
– +852 3576 3812
– http://pantarei-design.com/
– sales@pantarei-design.com