Social Networks for Everyone!! Blog

Inspiring product galleries for e-commerce websites

Luis — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:28:38 +0000

If you have an e-commerce website you know how tough competition is these days. Most of e-commerce websites are built in plattforms that allow customization of the look and feel but they have limited options on customazing how to present your products. As a results a lot of them looks like the one that your competitors have. Well it you are one of our customers these limitations are not part of the contract. You can really define how to present your gallery of products and how to make them more appelling to your customers. Related with this aspect of your social networking site or e-commerce site, websites like cuflinks.com and weber.com do a great job using Product Photogaphy and also videos.

As explained in a great article from smashing magazine. Product Photography could well be the single most important design aspect of any e-commerce website. Without the ability to touch, hold, smell, taste or otherwise handle the products they are interested in, potential customers have only images to interact with. Ultimately, the softer, tastier, flashier and more attractive your products look to shoppers, the more confident they’ll feel about purchasing from you and the better your conversion rate will be.

While any product can look great in a photo (sometimes deceptively so), keep in mind that your images should match your website’s overall aesthetic and your company’s image. This is key so if you are contracting a company to develop your e-commerce site be sure you can customize your product gallery as you really want and not as thousand as other medirocre e-commerce sites. If you need assistance with a new e-commerce site or to integrate e-commerce features in your regular or social networking site please do not hesitate to contact us. Rsitez is the leader on custom social networking sites and powerful e-commerce is one of our areas of expertise.

The examples that I mentioned have incorporated high-quality product photos onto their websites.

CuffLinks.com
CuffLinks.com clearly puts effort into photographing its vast selection of cufflinks. It offers customers a good view of its cufflinks from all angles. It also shows the packaging or box that the cufflinks will ship in, giving us a well-rounded impression. Fortunately for this company, the size and inflexibility of cuff links make them a relatively easy product to photograph. Take a look at their many other products and the different angles the shots have been taken from.

Weber
Moving out of the kitchen and into the backyard, Weber, a well-known maker of grilling and other cooking equipment, has a fine product photography area on its website. The website itself is pretty basic, as you might expect, without much in the way of attractive text or icons, but the sharp images and high-quality close-ups add a lot of visual appeal.

So, Product Photography can really enhance your e-commerce website and can make a huge difference on your customer experience. If you liked this post, then read Smashing Magazine’s recent article in How to Use Photos to Sell More Online for another look at photography and e-commerce. Also consider this extensive practical guide to photographing various products.

Inspiring monetization options for your social website

Luis — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:24:33 +0000

Personally, I always find TED presentations very inspiring. The latest that I watched is from Seth Priebatsch, a 21 year-old that runs SCVNGR. Two things impressed me about Seth Priebatsch: One, his infectious, get-you-out-of-your-chair enthusiasm. Two, the inventory of entrepreneurial feats he’s managed to accumulate at a remarkably young age. He got his first startup at age 12, and by age 18, he’d founded another — PostcardTech, which makes interactive marketing tours for CD-ROM.

Now he’s working on SCVNGR, “a massive experiment in building a mobile game together.” Backed by Google Ventures, SCVNGR is part game, part game platform. Players play SCVNGR by going places, doing challenges and having fun — outside of the office, beyond the screen, in the real world.

I think he points different ways in who you can use what he calls “game layer” to engage your website´s members or users and also make money. In his video there are different examples of monetization and here in rsitez we already developed custom social networking sites that contained some of these elements. The results varied by site but overall I agree with Seth these tools are very powerful. Anyway, judge by yourself if his presentation inspire you. Enjoy!

You can also follow this blog at www.rsitez.com/bolg

Great website built using Youtube technology

Luis — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:35:36 +0000

Checking the 2010 Andy awards winners, I come across this new website www.booneoakley.com that has been built using Youtube technology, see the video below. The results are pretty amazing and it got amazing buzz. This is one more way to use social media technology. At rsitez we helped some customers to built their social networking sites around video concepts and maybe this is what is coming next…I like it! good job Boone Oakley! Check it out

Social Networks replaces time spent in Email and Instant Messaging Online

Luis — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:31:23 +0000

According to the new Nielsen Co. report, the shift to social networks for communication is changing how internet users spend their time online. We already know it but this is one more confirmation in how social networking websites and software is affecting how people interact online. With Facebook leading the pack, social networks now account for 22.7 percent of the hours spent in front of a computer, a leap of 43 percent over last year’s figures.

The shift to social networks for communication caused a precipitous drop in email and instant messaging. Time spent emailing was down 28 percent and instant messaging dropped 15 percent.

Given a typical hour, Nielsen says the average user will spend 13 minutes on Facebook and other social networks, six minutes playing games, five minutes with email, 2 minutes each on browsing Internet portals like Yahoo, instant messaging, watching videos, conducting searches, and reading software information for a total of 36 minutes. The balance of the hour is spent on 77 additional categories measured by the firm, all of which take 2 minutes or less.

I can only see this trend continue to grow as more and more unique social networking sites and other kind of online communities are developed to cover more topics and users interests.

How to Create a Custom Social Networking Website

Rohan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:28:54 +0000

Maybe you have an idea to create a social networking website. Not one like all the others that you have seen. Many of them look the same and have exactly the same features. You have an idea that will make your site … unique. A vision that will make your social network stand out from the rest. You have thought about how to grow and monetize the site. You know what features you would like to have on the site. You have a targeted niche audience and a clear value that you would like to provide. The problem now is to find someone to build the site exactly the way you like and to do it within your budget. How do you go about this?

You can create a social network within a few minutes by simply going to rsitez.com. However, rSite go beyond the 1-site fit all approach often used with social networks.

rSitez makes creating a custom social networking site easy by using the UDD methodology to develop a custom social networks. These sites are based on your specific requirements. This approach involves 3 steps in the process.

rSitez UDD Methodology

Understand (U) – A Project Manager from rSitez team will give you a call to discuss your vision for the project. The technical responsibility of the project definition lies with the Project Manager, not you. So you don’t need to understand the technology, code, technical jargon or fill out long forms in order to try to explain how the software should work. You will simply need to explain in your own words on the phone with a live person what you want the site to do.

The project manager will be able to ask follow up question to get a clear understanding of your project, the features you would like, and how to implement these features. The focus will be on your vision for your social networking software. Once we are clear about what you want from our discussions with you we are ready for the next phase of the UDD methodology.

Develop (D) – Our Development team is responsible to developing the application per your specific requirements. They convert your vision for your social network to actual code for the application. For example, instead of searching for members by city you may want to search on members within a certain radius (ex: within 100 mile of your location). The development team will write the code to do this. Or you may want to have integration with your corporate system where someone can click a link from your corporate application and automatically login to your social networking site without having to sign in again. Our developers will write the code to do this or any other custom features you would like for your site.

Some examples of recent custom features our developers have created for clients include:

- Single signon where members from a corporate system can automatically login to their social network

- Facebook feeds with comments and friends

- Radius search to target geographical advertising

- Facebook integration where content and branding from the client site is posted direct to members facebook wall

- Full document library where any type of document can be uploaded and shared with other members

- Webcam and video sharing features

- Payment and monetization options and integration with different payment processors

- Different member types where specific features and access are given to members based on client specification

- Points and reward systems

- Management content reporting and downloads

and much more

Deploy (D) – Our development team will help you to deploy your application. This includes providing full documentation for custom developed features, responding to any questions about the application, and providing technical support. The team continues to support the application indefinitely after the deployment based on our licensing agreement. The team is also available to create additional features or meet new development requirements per request.

The end result is a custom social network with unique features that meet your specific requirements. This will enable you to provide a targeted offering and let your social network stand out from other networking sites online. This could help your site to grow faster and better than competing social networks. In the end your members will appreciate the specific details, value, and targeted approach provided by your network.

About the author

Rohan Hall is the Founder/CEO of rSitez, Inc. (www.rsitez.com), a technology firm that helps entrepreneurs create custom, revenue-based social networking sites. He is the author of Stop Working, a book that teaches entrepreneurs how to use technology, globalization, and networks to build a global business. He has developed technologies for a wide range of entrepreneurs and Fortune500 clients including HP, Corning, Oracle, Honda and various others.

He Made $364,000 in 2 Hours

Rohan — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:09:38 +0000

Seal Concert in Barcelona (www.rsitez.com)

I went to a Seal concert last night in Barcelona at Poble Espanyol. Poble Espanyol (http://www.poble-espanyol.com/pemsa/en.html) is a traditional Spanish village in the center of Barcelona. The village main purpose is to showcase Spanish history, culture, and architecture… and occasionally to have incredible concerts.

The village was packed last night with approximately 7,000 people paying an average of 40 Euros ($52 USD) per ticket. The crowd was well entertained as Seal performed songs from past and future albums. The concert was certainly well received and I think everyone had a great time.

The concert lasted for 2 hours. Before the concert even started all tickets were sold and before he sang the first song the concert had made approximately $364,000 ($52 x 7,000). I don’t know about you but I’m pretty impressed by the numbers. I don’t know of anyone personally that makes that much money from 2 hours work. The crowd went crazy with each song especially when he performed his hit song ‘Kiss From A Rose’.

Seal’s performance was excellent as he charmed the crowd. At one moment he bent over to sing to some screaming girls as they reached up to grab his hand and rub his head. He flashed some perspiration from his head in the crowd and they screamed even more. He had a great smile the entire time probably thinking … ‘I loooove this job. Oh yeah, and thanks for the cash!’

About the author

How to Manage your Online Business Brand with Google Alerts

Rohan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:06:36 +0000

If you have an online business it’s CRITICAL that you know what is being posted about you online as soon as the information is posted. This includes info posted on blogs, News articles, forums and even social networking sites.

You want to know if someone posted something positive about you so that you can respond in like to start creating a relationship with the individual or organization that made the post. These relationships can yield great results as you continue to build your brand.

Likewise, if there was a negative post about you online, you should know about it and respond appropriately to minimize the impact.

You should also track what your competitors are saying and what is being said about them so that you can react as needed to this type of competative news.

The process of monitoring, tracking, and responding to information that affects your brand is called Brand Management or sometimes Reputation Management.

You can use Google Alert (http://www.google.com/alerts) to monitor and track your online brand. It takes only a minute to configure this and it’s free.

You can enter any search keywords that affects your business and ask google to monitor it. This could include your business name, competitors business names, search keywords or other items of interest. Google will monitor these keywords in news, blogs, videos and discussions and send you an email each time it finds newly posted content regarding this.

Example: If the Washington Post include your business name in a new article online, Google would send you an email with the link of the article without you having to search for it. You will be able to click on the article, read it, and post relevant comments. This enhances your online presence, creates backlinks for Search Engine Optimization, and helps with your ongoing effort to create a solid online brand.

You can configure these email notifications to be received as the news happens, daily, or weekly – depending on your preference.

Once you have turned this feature on you will be able to keep track on your online reputation for your business and continue to build a lasting and powerful online brand.

About the author

Facebook Reaches 500 Million Users – 3rd largest country in the world!

Rohan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:19:06 +0000

Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social networking website now has 500 million users on the site. That’s half a BILLION users. Last year they announced 250 million users. So regardless of the negative press they have had during the last year, they doubled their membership in 1 year. That’s amazing!!!

What’s even more amazing is when you actually put this in perspective. Facebook now has more users than the amount of people living in every country in the world except China and India. Yes – more people than the United States, more people than the entire European Union, more people than Russia. If Facebook were a country, they would be the 3rd largest country in the world.

If you still doubt the impact of Social Media, think of the influence that the USA currently has with a population of 309 million people. The USA is actually the 3rd largest country in the world based on population. Imagine the influence and impact that Facebook has and will have in the future as it continues with this growth. How long will it take them to reach 1 BILLION users? How will they impact your future?

Largest Countries in the World by Population

1. People’s Republic of China	1,338,760,000
2. India	1,183,669,000
Facebook (not a country)	500,000,000
3. United States	309,786,000
4. Indonesia	234,181,400
5. Brazil	193,253,000

About the author

Is this Idea a Good Business Idea?

Rohan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:31:28 +0000

I had coffee with a couple friends this morning on the beach in Barcelona. I live only 2 minutes walk from the beach and these guys are my neighbors. They have an idea for an online business and wanted to get my opinion regarding how to pursue the idea and if the idea was a good business idea. This is the summary of my response to this question.

I don’t really believe in the concept of a good business idea or a bad business idea. Every entrepreneur has his own vision of their idea and why the idea would be successful. I have see what I thought was a good business idea surrounded with great technology fail miserably. And equally I have seen far fetched ideas become a success. The main factor in either case has been the founders of the business themselves.

When I think of business ideas, what is really important is how committed and available the founders are to making the idea a success. In many cases Plan A will fail, simply because it’s often hard to tell how cold the water is until you jump into the lake … so to speak. At that point it’s really how well can you swim. Can you come up with a Plan B or even a Plan C if needed?

Entrepreneurs ability to be creative in making their business a success in a difficult time was tested severely in the last 3 years. Many businesses that seem to be stable fell apart and other businesses flourished. Last year during the middle of the crisis our business more than doubled revenue and profitability. I think we were able to do this because we were able to implement Plan B and even Plan C when the getting got rough, and we created opportunity out of chaos. We’re doing the same again this year.

So is this business idea a good idea or a bad idea? In the end, it really has to do with you the entrepreneur. Do you have what it takes to make your vision a success?

News Years Resolution: Make Money Online with Social Networks (Part II)

Rohan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:43:26 +0000

In part 1 of this article I discussed how you can identify your target niche, create your social networking site, and market the site to start building your own social networking online business. In this article I will discuss how you can manage, monetize, and incorporate you business from any browser anywhere in the world.

Manage Your Business

If you think of your social networking site as just a website to hangout and share pictures then you have a nice hobby, not an actual business. Like any business, you will have some management responsibilities that will need to be done.

Engage your members: You will need to add value to the site by posting newsletters, responding to forums, add interesting photos, highlighting active members. You will also need to deal with the abusers of the site by warning, blocking or deleting these members. You should host contest, provide reward programs, and find advocates on the site. The more you engage users, the more they will feel a part of something live and keep coming back.

Provide more value: In addition to engaging members you should find ways to provide more value to this audience. The audience is niche and you should have some knowledge of the needs of the industry or the audience in general. What kind of content or articles can you provide that they cannot find anywhere else? How can you provide opportunities for them to gain recognition or financial value from the site? How can you create opportunities for them to use the site to help make their business successful? How do you add value to their personal life? What’s in it for them?

Track site visitors with Analytics: The best way to do this is to get a few lines of code from Google Analytics (google.com/analytics) and add to your site. This will show you how many visitors you have daily, where they came from, which page they visited etc. You will be able to see which marketing activities yield the best results and focus more on the message or source of the article that is providing the most visits.

Manage your Reputation: Among other things, Reputation Management includes the ability to see what people are saying about you online. Google has a free service called Google Alerts (google.com/alerts). With this service you can see each time Google index content with a specific keyword. This is important because you can tell Google to notify you by email each time they index new content with your website name in it. So each time there is a blog, forum, article or other content posted online by anyone that includes your website name Google will send you an email so that you will be aware of it and can take any necessary action. Additionally, this is a way to see what your competitors or others in your industry are saying or doing.

Monetize your Site

There are different ways you can go about doing this. It really will depend on your site, the amount of members you have, and the focus of your site. However, here are some ways you can monetize your site.

Advertising: This is the most common ways. You can sell advertising to the specific industry you are targeting for your social network. Once you have created a membership base you will be able to sell ads to businesses who want to sell their products or services to that membership base.

Membership Fees: Sites with a clear and specific value may be able to monetize via membership fees. With this you will be able to charge a monthly or yearly fee for access to the site or for access to premium content or features of the site.

Online Store: You can sell relevant product to your site members. If your site targets university students you may be able to sell books, laptops or other products they may find useful. If your site targets parents, you may be able to sell children toys, clothes, or products.

Sell Services: You may also be able to sell services that are relevant to your audience. A site that targets small businesses and entrepreneurs may be able to sell accounting and legal services. You do not have to perform the services yourself. You may be able to partner with service providers and use the site as the means to finding customers in need of these services.

To learn more details about monetizing your website please read my other blog How to Make Money Online like Myspace and Facebook.

Incorporate your Business and Open a Bank Account

Once you are able to monetize the site you should create a business structure with a business bank account to collect and protect revenue, and to minimize personal and business liability.

By having a business entity and a bank account, you will be able to create merchant accounts and collect payments from credit cards, debit cards, Visa, Master Card, Amex etc. You will also be able to write off business expenses to reduce your tax liabilities and separate your personal assets from your business expenses – therefore reducing the chance of personal risks.

1 – To start your business online:

Get your Employer Id Number (EIN) from the IRS. This is done completely online and can be done in a few minutes. Your EIN will be needed to start your business bank account and online merchant account

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html?portlet=4

2 – Register your business with your State

To do this you will need to go to the ‘secretary of state division of corporations’ website for your state. On this site they will have an online form or pdf to allow you to register with your state. For instance, if your state if Florida, search for ‘Florida secretary of state division of corporations’

3 – Create your Bank Account online

Most banks today allow you to create an account online without ever having to go to the bank. I don’t remember the last time I have had to go to a bank for any reason except to sign a couple documents here and there. Go to your bank’s website and find the link to open your account online. You should be able to manage and monitor your financial transactions from your bank’s website.

4 – Create your Merchant Account

You will need a merchant account to collect funds online. Some social networking site includes the ability to collect payment via different payment sources. However, you will still need to create the merchant account yourself that is needed for you to collect the funds.

Vendors: Paypal.com, authorize.net, paysimple.com

Summary

Once you have created your social networking business you are now on the path to participate in one of the most active and high growth areas in business. There are no real overnight successes and you will need to work at this business as you would any other business venture. But you will now be able to start pursuing your dream of building your own online social networking business.

To learn more about creating and monetizing your own social networking site please visit www.rsitez.com.

About the author

Rohan Hall is the Founder/CEO of rSitez, Inc. (www.rsitez.com), a technology firm that helps entrepreneurs create unique revenue-based social networking sites. He is the author of Stop Working, a book that teaches entrepreneurs how to use technology, globalization, and networks to build a global business. He has developed technologies for a wide range of entrepreneurs and Fortune500 clients including HP, Corning, Oracle, Honda and various others.