Ricky’s Online Business Blog

“How to develop the web site?”, asks the web designer.

“How to get more free search engine traffic?”, asks the search engine optimization expert.

“Is it the right business model?”, asks the Internet consultant.

These three questions reflect the three levels of Internet strategy when we decide on using the Internet to help our business. The three levels are technical, marketing and business levels.

The technical level concerns of domain name, hosting, web development, user interface design, programming, content, graphic design and e-commerce. The objective is to develop an attractive, user-friendly, informative and useful web site for the target visitors.

The marketing level concerns of online branding, keyword research, search engine optimization and positioning (SEO or SEOP), social media marketing, PPC advertising, email marketing, viral marketing, blog marketing, Internet marketing and others. The objective is to reach out to and attract web site traffic from the target visitors.

The business level concerns of aligning the Internet strategy to the business strategy of the organization (not the other way round!). It questions how the Internet can help in achieving the organizational goals and decides on the right business model. In many cases, the Internet can be used to gain competitive advantages. It can also be an enabler to transform the business strategy and even create a blue ocean of uncontested market space!

The business level defines the business model on the Internet. The marketing level creates the demand. The technical level forms the customer experience. They are not mutually exclusive, but are complimentary to one another.

But planning should flow top-down from the business level to the marketing level to the technical level. A company’s Internet strategy should be approached first from a business point of view, not from a technical point of view.

How are your web site doing now? Are you taking care of all these levels above?

I’m interested to take a short course on law for self-improvement. In particular, I wish to learn about laws applicable to businesses, intellectual property, e-commerce and cyberlaws.

However, as I browse through the web sites of law schools on the Internet, such as that of ATC (Advance Tertiary College), I don’t quite find what I want, unless I don’t mind taking a single subject in courses like ICSA. These law schools cater for those who want to be lawyers, but not working people who want to learn more about law like me.

According to an insider, the higher education industry in Malaysia is very competitive. Not many private colleges are making money. In fact, many are struggling and are on the verge of closing down. There are thousands of colleges, institutions and training centers registered with the two government ministries in Malaysia. But how large is our population?

The colleges need to seek a way out, not to fight head to head with other colleges, but to seek their own way. I guess they need their own blue ocean strategy.

One example is not to see what other colleges offer and follow suit. That is, not to benchmark others. But they are to look beyond their traditional customers and find out what non-customers want.

Take my case as example. Law schools like ATC could look beyond their traditional market boundary consisting of those who want to take up law as their career. Perhaps they could offer law courses to those currently not their customers who are interested in gaining some knowledge in law, and catering for what they need.

Colleges could design new courses in response to what the market wants. They could win by devising and executing a blue ocean strategy. But sometimes you need a paradigm shift to look beyond what is being done now…

How about you? Are you able to find the course that you would like to take?

As a domain name reseller, I process domain name transfers every month. Either customers transfer their domains in from other providers to me, or from me to others.

In order to facilitate smooth domain transfer out of me to other providers, I need to do the following:

• Unlock the domain if it is locked.
• Reveal the domain transfer secret code (EPP code) to customer to be given to the new provider.
• Approve the domain transfer when the new provider initiates the transfer.

If customers decide to transfer out, I’ve learned to give full cooperation to do the above, to the extent of advising them what to do to ensure smooth transfer, even continuing to support them although they are no longer customer.

Unfortunately, I sometimes come across uncooperative domain name resellers who drag their feet to let customers transfer out to me. In some cases, they are just not proactive enough to advise customers what to do. For example, they will only do this or that only when customers ask them to do so.

I see no reason why I should slow down the process if one customer decides to transfer out. I’m glad that he or she had chosen me as a provider and let me serve him/her. Now that s/he has found a better one, I should thank him/her for the business s/he had given me and I should happily send them out, just as I happily received him/her.

In many cases, I wish to serve my former customers in case they have any need. For example, there are some customers who continue to seek advice on Internet marketing, search engine optimization and web development issues. And it’s even free of charge.

It can make economic sense. Some former customers even came back to me after having found their new provider unsatisfactory. Even if they don’t come back, some have become friends.

It’s OK to lose a customer. But we can gain a friend. I believe a business exists not only to earn, but also to serve and to bless.