KC HUT

Where you should get your logo designed?

I have recommended you to try out the forums to look for graphic or logo designers some time ago. However, you may find that it is difficult to find above-average quality in most forums. Hence, I would like to talk about the experience that I have with one logo design company a few months ago.

This company is Logo Design Team. This is the same company that I engage for KC Hut’s logo and WebSprout Consulting logo (see below).

Unlimited Revisions
To be honest, the design package that this company provides is pretty competitive. At $149, you will receive at least 5 unique logo designs within a week and you are allowed to ask the designers to revise the logo till you are satisfied (I finalized my logo after two to three revisions).

Excellent Customer Service
Although price is the first thing that attracts me to sign up their services, it is during the designing process that further affirms that I have made the right choice. I find the designers very patience and always deliver to my expectations whenever I requested them to try and include some elements.

Quick Turnaround Time
Another factor that you will love this company is their quick turnaround time. I receive the final version of the logo in less than two weeks even after two to three revisions. This allows me to quickly integrate the logo into other places like websites etc.

Design Format
I have received more formats than I ever need Normally, they send out formats in vector (.EPS), JPG and PhotoShop working file (.PDS). You can also request to receive in other formats up front without any further charges.

Portfolio & Testimonials
You can also take a look at their portfolio and testimonials and I think you will be amazed by their design standards.

If you have decided to sign up their services, you can follow my affiliate link here. I have some surprises for you (over 300 neat Web 2.0 icons) if you signed up via my link

Popularity: 8% [?]

Google’s SEO Starter Guide - Must Read!

Google has officially released a starter guide to illustrate some Search Engine Optimization (SEO) concepts two days ago.

To people who have read Aaron’s SEO Book or frequent SEO forums, you may already know 99% of the stuff inside this guide. However, this guide is extremely useful when you need it to prove and show your client that certain techniques are forbidden or not allowed. Having said that, I would still recommend you to read through the SEO starter guide here (pdf version).

For some of you (or may be a lot of you) who might not have the time to read through the 22-page guide, you can refer to my following summary:

Creating unique and descriptive page titles
To me, this helps a lot in ranking your page on the search engines. Having a unique page title should be your priority when designing or developing your site. Not only the titles have to be unique, but it also needs to describe the content on that page for optimal results.

Now, you may asking what if you have a site that has thousands of pages and needs to check for duplicated titles? Instead of checking them page by page yourself, you can simply use Google Webmaster Tools account to check if there are any duplicates (they have a reporting feature there)

Make use of the ‘Description’ meta tag
Yes, they are not dead yet! Google still advise us to put in descriptive words to describe a page so that they have more alternatives to choose what to display to the searchers.

Improve structure of your page URL
This means that if you have a choice, use readable and descriptive URLs for all your pages across in the site. For example, avoid using urls like 0987yrtiudc.html and use something secrets/paypal-login-password.html (just an illustration).

Improve your site’s navigation
This section advise webmasters to use text for navigation in your site. Avoid using entirely images or animations for navigation. They also recommend you to submit a sitemap to them if you have a medium to a large site.

Write better anchor text
A better anchor text will do a good job describing what is the target page about. Ok, maybe not so much for the human readers but this is critical for the search engines. To illustrate, use the second version below for better SEO purpose:

1. You can access the Google SEO Starter Guide here.
2. Go ahead and read the Google SEO Starter Guide!

Use headers tag appropriately
Using header tags in your page will also help Google to allocate relevancy to your page. In case you are not sure about what’s header tags, refer to this header tags illustration. You should also note not to overuse them thou..

Optimize your site’s images
Does your image contains alt description? This description tag is not only good for SEO purpose but will also benefit other users who are unable read off the screen. I strongly advise you to add in the alt tag for every images you put on your site for accessibility purpose.

The guide also cover other stuff like robots.txt, encourage web analytics usage and making use of webmaster console tools. All of these advise is golden if you are new and want to make sure that your site is being picked up by Google to send you some initial traffic.

In closing, don’t forget to read the Google Webmaster Guidelines to supplement this SEO Starter guide

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Starfish Story

Before starting my Consultancy Business, I went around gathering feedback and opinions from my peers and some business owners and a handful of them is skeptical about the model that I am adopting - one to one consultancy.

The main concern they express is how do I justify the amount of time that I am going to put in for one client. I am not leveraging my time here. The most common advice I received is to give courses instead and teach a number of students at a time.

To be honest, it is difficult to strike a balance between the consultancy fee and the time spent for each client at first. However, I am not looking for handsome compensation here. What I want is just to help people to understand and establish their online business to generate a stable source of part-time income. The difference here is that I am making sure that each of my client is taking actions and be able to appreciate the results.

I am reading a book recently, Small Giants by Bo Burlingham, and have came across this story that relates very well to my current business model:

A girl is throwing starfish into the ocean and an old man comes along and says to her, “Don’t bother. There’s a millions of them out here. You can’t save them. What you’re doing won’t make a difference.” The young girl looks at the starfish in her hand and says, “It makes a difference to this one.” And she throws it into the ocean.

Popularity: 7% [?]

How To Get Your First Google Adsense Check Next Month

Most of the new sites nowadays leverage Google Adsense to generate passive income. However, based on the questions and perhaps, frustrations of most new Webmasters, many give up before hitting the initial $100 mark. For the first time, I will be covering a detailed method of how can you increase your Adsense income base on a new tool recently released by a keyword research company.

Do you have a site?
Ok, let’s face it. It is not quite possible for you to earn from Google Adsense if you do not own a site in any way. However, you can use the following method to generate income by creating lens in squidoo. I would recommend you to put up a site that is driven by your passion or interest to start off.

Long tail keyword is the key
Now, the way this concept works is by finding the most precise questions that your target market asks. If you have a blog that gives advice to people on dating, you would want to know what are the questions people are searching online. The following is a tool to help you.

WordTracker Keyword Questions
Go the the WordTracker keyword question tool here. Based on the previous example, say that you want to know what people are searching about first date. We enter ‘First date’ into the tool and we are presented instantly the following questions:

1. When should i call after a first date? - 57 searches
2. How to act on a first date? - 15 searches
3. Where to go on a first date? - 14 searches
and many more!

So what’s next?
Your next task is to write something in your site / blog to answer or address those questions Pretty straight forward, huh. We are using two concepts here, Search Engine traffic performs the best for Adsense clicks. Second, it is pretty easy to rank high for long tail keywords (especially those with relatively low search).

Do I only need one month to receive my first Google check using this technique?
Depends on how much is your current gap from the $100 mark Seriously, this technique require time between you post and for the search engine to rank your page. Hence, it may take a week for Google to rank your page in the first page. However, if you write an article per day starting now, you will definitely see an increase in your Adsense earnings within a month.

Try it out and post your comments here

PS: In most cases, you will still be having difficulties ranking your page in first page of Google especially for more competitive keywords.. What are you missing here? I will post some techniques next week to help you gain a edge over your competitors

Popularity: 11% [?]

Questions I asked a 5-Figure eBay PowerSeller, Connie Ong

I am glad to have an interview with Connie Ong, who is both a friend and business associate of mine and is generating a 5-figure monthly income as an eBay PowerSeller. You will find out how she has started and most importantly, what and how she does things nowadays so that you can mimic her success!

If you are currently thinking or is already selling on eBay, the following answers from Connie in this lighthearted interview will most probably help you to accelerate your success in eBay.

1. When did you start to get into eBay business?

Actually to be honest my eBay business is really full of obstacles! The story below:

I was doing it pretty slowly on and off end of 2007 exploring the whole eBay site and then it was till end of Jan 2008 when I decided to step out of my comfort zone and resigned from my bank job.

I think that’s what they call putting yourself on the line…..Hahah then I told myself by hook or by crook I had to make it or risk going back to being an employee. But then after the resignation I started taking breaks like making long holiday trips with my mom to Japan and stock buying trips to Bangkok and the occasional KL trips….. just too lazy and I rested for 3 months whereby I play more than work. Then when I decided it’s time to get serious after resting for so long, I started selling aggressively and from May 2008 to Jun 2008 I saw tremendous improvement! It just shows that when you put in enough effort, you will get results! However around end of Jun my happiness was dampened and my accounts got suspended by eBay due to some unforeseen circumstances. I did not breach any of the regulations but I can just say what caused the suspension was due to someone’s wrong doing and in the end I still had to go about taking a lot of trouble to get my accounts back after waiting for 2 months as the person who had promised to help did not managed to do anything afterall! So then in AUG I started selling again from zero and I am happy that nothing bad has happened as yet till now.

2. What are some of the products that you are selling now on eBay?

I sell a lot of stuff meaning the quantity and not the variety. I sell merchandises like t-shirts, watches, accessories and stuff like books, collector memorabilia to some industrial related equipment.

Strange but true and I am lucky being able to get the stock supply contacts from some suppliers.

3. For your top selling product, what is the profit margin per item?

Taking my top selling product- Watches- (I shall not say what brand in case of more competition hee hee) My profit margin is about 30% to 50% of the cost price. So example if the cost price for a watch is $50, I sell it at $75 and earn half more. This is taking in consideration for listing fees, postage and packaging etc. Estimate more and you will not lose. Do your research on eBay and taking note of other sellers selling similar products, note down their prices and so you can stay competitive.

4. Do you currently have a eBay or an external e-commerce store? What percentage of the overall sales are coming from these stores?

I have a total of 5 eBay stores as of now and some do better than the other. I might be starting external e-commerce site in the future for fast selling products.

Overall sales seems to be 70% from stores and 30% on auctions.

5. How much time are you spending currently per day to manage your store / listing / shipping of products?

My typical day starts with checking emails and then replying to messages from buyers or people with questions for each account. Then I will do my standard listings for each account. These will take about 2 hours.

Next I will check my Paypal for the payments received and print out the shipping invoices/ labels. Then I will do the packing for each item that I need to send out. It’s all a one man show really (oops should be one gal show hee) for the time being till I get more orders or when I get sick doing it. Packing takes more time and perhaps takes me till around lunchtime. So after lunch I get a little lazy and either I check for last minute payments or just do some other internet stuff then I go to the post office around 3pm. I ship 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and on those days when I do not have to go post office, either I spend the afternoon at home doing some affiliate marketing or I go out to replenish my stocks.

6. How did you drive traffic to your listing or eBay store?

eBay is a natural traffic place and there are people looking around to buy 24/7 worldwide. I do not drive traffic to my store as I leave it on its own, I only use auction listings to attract people to my store. The other thing I do is to enclose some thank you cards in my package and ask the buyers to recommend my stores to their friends. I have many return customers with bigger orders as they are consolidating orders together with their friends and ordering one time for discount shipping.

7. What type of listing format generates the most sales for your products (BIN, normal auction etc)?

I would say the store format with BUY-IT-NOW option as I realized some people don’t like to wait for auction to end and fighting with others resulting have to pay more in the end.

Usually my items are priced reasonably enough for them to BUY-IT-NOW.

8. If you were to start from zero, what are the first three steps you will take to create a successful eBay business?

Well I think I have started from zero many times already! You wouldn’t believe it but it’s true! From the day all my accounts were gone till the day I started each one painfully again, you will know what is starting from zero!!!

First you got to know what kind of products you wanna sell. It can be a piece of $0.20 sticker to an expensive item like a laptop but you have to determine your product first.

Second thing you need to do your research on eBay for similar items and find out the prices others are selling.

Third thing is to do a decent enough listing to convince people to buy from you. Since you start from zero, I take it as it is a brand new eBay account with 0 feedback as well. The listing does not have to be complicated and as long as you describe your item properly with clear pictures, it will work for you fine bringing in your first sale. You do not have to write an exaggerated marketing speech just to sell one item. Once you have some feedback, you are on your way!

9. Have you explore or use any auction sites besides eBay to sell your products? Care to share your experiences?

Not really. I only use eBay and only eBay cos I’m lazy hahah. But I do use Auctiva and I subscribe to MyStoreMaps to enhance my sales.

10. Do you have any advice to give to people who would want to start up an eBay business now?

Why not Get in and explore your potential as a business person! I believe that there is nothing such as you put in efforts and not see results. It will not happen unless you are damn unlucky. If you put in effort, you will see results that even you yourself will be surprised at! It is all action really. Take eBay as your basic learning curve and then develop it into a real business. I am achieving my 5 figures per month soon in such a short time and I believe you can too! Good luck!

The following is a screen shot from one of the 5 Connie’s selling accounts for the month of Sep and Oct (You can read more about her earnings in her recent blog post here):

Best wishes for Connie and your eBay success

Popularity: 12% [?]