Lesson 5: Planning For A Successful Web Store

In our previous post we looked at what the important metrics are for measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

1) Total Views
2) Click Through Rate
3) Conversion Rate

If you're not sure what those 3 items measure, you can take a quick refresher here. But the last time, we talked about how your landing pages can have a huge impact on the conversion rates for your web store.

Lesson 4: Measuring The Effectiveness Of An Online Ad

In Lesson 3: What's with all the promotion, we talked about the various Search Engine Marketing (SEM) techniques that can be used to promote and build traffic for your web store. But with so many ways to advertise, how do you know which one is the most effective?

Lesson 3: Understanding Advertising Online

In the previous post, I talked about the first important step that makes or breaks a web store, and that is growing traffic and increasing visitors to the store.

One of the most commonly used tactic is SEM also known as Search Engine Marketing. According to the people of Wikipedia, search engine marketing is the marketing and promotion of your web store centered around the search engines. (i.e. making your webpages more visible in the search engines result pages) These marketing methods can include SEO and paid advertising like ad placements, paid inclusions and contextual advertising.

Lesson 2: An Online Business Is Not An Easy Business

When I realized that I was good with the tech stuff, it made it easy for me to decide making my first startup tech related. Especially when this was a time when social networking sites was just starting out and Friendster had just launched not long ago. Totally pushed me over the fence.

Plus, every blog, book and article I read about passive income ranted about how easy it was to earn money doing an online business. So hey.. when someone tells you that its easy to make money doing this.. wouldn't you be panting to get started?

Ladies and gentlemen.. That is a lie


Because running an online business is every bit as HARD (if not HARDER) than running a real business. The only difference between the 2 is that you pay cheaper rent for 1 of them.

Lesson 1: The Defining Moment

I started my first job when I was 17. Fresh after A levels with 6 months to spare.

It was a temp job working at a bank, promoting the automated banking services in the auto lobby. A month into the job, I started to get tired of the work and I wondered how working adults could handle the monotony and dreariness of doing the same thing over and over again at their jobs.

It was there and then that I decided.. as much as I needed money, I hated working.

And then when I started university, I decided.. it wasn't that I didn't like working, I just didn't like working for others. And it was a good thing I studied IT in university. Because it was the one skillset that could give me the freedom to start something on my own.

So there I was, just turning 20.. while all my friends were thinking which companies paid fresh grads the most.. the career path they were looking for.. at what age they wanted to be managers.. I wanted to be an entrepreneur.