Ricky’s Online Business Blog

I’ve been asked how to upload web pages to web server.  Might as well post here for the benefits of other customers.

There are a few ways to upload files to, and download files from, your web server by means of FTP (file transfer protocol). The most common way is using an FTP software for this purpose.

But I’ll show you a basic way which works, and which does not require you to install any FTP software.  If you know how to copy and paste files in Windows Explorer or My Computer, you can copy and paste files too to other servers.

1. Open up Windows Explorer or My Computer on your computer.
2. Make sure there is an address bar in Windows Explorer where you can type address.  Can’t see?  Go to View menu, click Toolbars, and turn on Address Bar.
3. Type this into the address bar – ftp://username@ftp.domain.com .  Please substitute username with your FTP account username, and ftp.domain.com with your FTP server name.  You can get these details from your hosting provider.
4. You will be prompted for your FTP account username and password.  Enter them to log on to your web server.
5. Once successful, you will be able to see the file content on your server.  If necessary, browse to the folder where you want to copy files to.
6. To copy files to your server, just copy them from your file system, and paste it to the folder.  Done!

By the way, I host a little Java applet which lets you quickly upload files by FTP here.  Try it out!

I had a conversation recently with friend on the famous Million Dollar Homepage owned by Alex Dew from England.

Alex, a student years ago, intended to raise money for his education. He thought of a very good idea, to sell advertisement space on Internet pixel by pixel for $1 each. He successfully sold all pixels in the 1000 x 1000 pixels space on his web site, and became a millionaire!

Since then, many web sites surfaced hoping to copy his success story. Any similar attempts from Malaysia? Yes, Million Ringgit Malaysia is one of them.

Two years ago, a teenager contacted me and would like to partner up with me to develop such an idea. I immediately saw it’s a copycat idea and didn’t go ahead with him.

Years have passed by and I have not heard anyone become another Alex Tew so far, either from Malaysia or around the world.

Recently, I came across TwoMAds.com owned by two young Malaysians. It seems they not only want to go for one million, but two million! I’m not sure how they are different from the original Alex’s idea. But from the statistics they publish online, it seems they are not selling too well as yet.

But just as two years ago when the youngster proposed to me, I still maintain that such idea to earn big money through pixel advertising does not work any more, not without changing some if not most elements of the business model.

But I venture to say that it may work under at least two circumstances. Firstly, the idea is not used for profit making, but to raise fund 100% for charity or a social cause.  How about use it for venture capital for social entrepreneurs?

Secondly, the idea maybe applied to other things that may generate such income. To start with, just list down all kinds of measurements you can think of, and see how you can sell one unit each for $1. But this is still “thinking inside the box”.

Any idea?

The blue ocean strategy is more than just a business fad.  Now we can hear more and more people talking about it.  I can read more bloggers talk about “blue ocean” and “red ocean”.  Consultants and trainers are preaching about it.  Businesses, even non-profit organizations, are starting to adopt it.  One author even predicts that BOS (blue ocean strategy) will be prevalent for many years to come.

Some time ago I received an email from a Singaporean who just took a course in BOS at UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre, and commended how good the training had been.  I soon surfed to their web site and found it interesting.  But I didn’t notice their building was quietly being constructed right near my house until I passed by recently!

It is good news that more and more businesses are becoming aware of the dangers competing in red ocean, and the importance of creating their own market (blue ocean) by making the competitors irrelevant.  Easier said than done.  But it is achievable.  And there have been many success stories, both locally and abroad.

It is good for the businesses as they can transform their businesses and earn like never before.  They will no longer need to rely on competitive tactics, and even unethical ones, to outsmart one another.  It is good for the market as businesses truly listen and study what it needs, and even discover what it really needs.  It is good for the society as our lives can be improved through creativity and innovation in blue ocean strategy.

But what happens when everyone is doing BOS?  Not every BOS will be good BOS strategy.  Some can be BS strategy.  It will be interesting to see what happens in future when “blue ocean strategy” is as commonly understood and practiced as “differentiation”, “segmentation” and “branding”.

Are you not on the BOS bandwagon yet?

One day when I was driving, I saw an advertisement at the back of a taxi that reads “Business, Finance and More”.  It’s BFM, a new radio station on business news and programmes!

I turned on the radio and tuned to FM 89.9 immediately.  I was so delighted to have found such a channel that I have long yearned for

I’ve been the type of person who don’t listen to music while driving.   No, I was not like this when I was younger.  I spoilt my car audio speaker before for playing rock music too loudly in early years of driving.  It is also not that I don’t like music.  If you go karaoke singing with me, most likely I’ll sing more than you.  But as I grew older, I just became the kind of person who would not turn on car radio for music any more.

But apart from its normal programmes, BFM is music most of the time!  In order not to miss any good business programmes, now I keep the radio on while driving and listen to music after so many years!

The moral of this story is that, BFM turned me from a non-customer into a customer.  Just as Nintendo successfully turned non-customers such as adults to its Nintendo Wii video game console, BFM just successfully turned me into listening to music!

Instead of taking away existing customers from competitors in the market, this is defining a new market boundary by appealing to non-customers and turning them into customers.  A blue ocean strategy!