Monthly Archives: March 2011

Why it will struggle

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I recently checking out Foldees, a desginer greeting card, a small startup in Malaysia. The founder wrote a piece of good article in e27.sg.

After viewing the site a few time here and there, checking them out, and I notice why it doesn’t work and I believe spend some fund on it. Well, I did the same exact mistake before too :P

Foldees

User Interface, User Experience

Both are almost NIL on the site. Maybe the concept isn’t sync with the business concept itself. First off, it’s a designer greeting card. But the whole site doesn’t show the sense of designers. Instead, it looks more like the China website – Full information. There is no way one can navigate around the site easily and get to the wanted information.

Click on the picture, it load in the page; click on the title, open in new windows. I mean, there is the third-click on my mouse, there too have a right-click menu, why control how I browse the site? Let me decide how I browse with my own browser.

Poor SEO

A basic keyword of “Designer greeting card” doesn’t shows the site at all. Not even in the first 5 pages. With such age of website, keyword should be already in the search engine. Probably because no copywriter. Look into their copy, it is more like a casual blogger piece of content than a professionally wrote copy. I did that ALL the time back in the 90′s :P

Not only did the site has a poor SEO keyword and tags, the site is crumbed with Javascript on top of it. I do understand the Malaysia server, Malaysia users. But how about the International users they are expecting? That definitely bring down the whole search engine friendliness.

In my opinion, they did not fully utilised their fund in a way to help marketing. Instead, it is spent mostly on prototyping the whole system and marketing gimmick itself.

I do believe with such a unique idea of startup, it can still work well. But how well, will depend on how much hardwork to put in.

Does those sites actually helped you?

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Or you ended up learning the hard way? I for one, happen to be the hardway guy most of my time. From not willing to learn and use Geocities WYSIWYG to not willing to learn XHTML until last minute decision. There is always last-minute in my life, even getting an insurance from BCBS of NC, if not something happen in the family, I couldn’t care less.

Sites

I always open my Google Reader on a tab in my browser. I check most update I feel like it, and mostly are those web stuff. With so many web design showcases and tutorial exposure, I am still, in the middle of wondering my design sense, a sense that I probably totally lost.

It got me thinking, after reading so many online, does it actually help me? Or I’m actually use the “reading moment” as an excuse to lay around doing nothing. Or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to get myself away from really using my right brain?

A wake up call or stand up call?

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This morning there was a small talk at Sularis Dutamas, by Bernard Leong, the co-founder and CTO of Chalkboard. Mostly about how their product works and how it will benefit the retailers in Publika.

Chalkboard

It was an early morning for us. We wanted to avoid traffic jam from Sunway toll to Damasara, we choose to woke up at 6:30am, which is why I brought both my signature dark circles too. Anyway, as the talk finished (within 15 minuts, how sad :( ), we went for lunch.

However, that lunch turned to become brainstorming session for us. My friend, my wife and I are all looking forward to, how to start something and how to market it.

This maybe a wake up call for us…?

Your self-competition, how about us?

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I went to Miko for a hair cut the other day. For me, going into those saloon is a rare case, and I don’t know how their charges and what is their infrastructure.

Walked in, greeted and seated down. The first question, how do I want my hair cut. Then come the shocking question… Who do you want to appoint as your hair stylist? Erm… How about Andrew Collinge if possible?

But anyway, I just said “Whoever!”, so she just cut my hair, as a junior I am damn sure about that. But I’m not mad at the terrible hair cut I have had, hair does grow. What I don’t like is those colleagues attitude toward a junior.

Haircut

She almost don’t know how to continue in the middle of the cutting process, the senior? Walk beside take a quick sight… No comment? No giving a little guide and etc? Why? Because the commission isn’t yours? Or because you hope that she will be junior forever and you get to secure your seat as a senior or… a creative one or whatever?

That is it, because of business and competition among themselves, I as a consumer who in turn get the worst service I have had…

Time to go home…?

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While I was wandering with a friend in a pool center about his billiard supplies, the supplier came to me and asked “So, are you going to go home this mid-April?”.

At first I don’t know why he asked me to go home, until he said the word “State Election”.

Sibu

To be honest, I haven’t register as a voter yet, and haven’t have the desire to do. Maybe the affection of all those political thing haven’t really reach me yet; maybe I will not be getting anything from voting yet, I don’t know.

But I like the term “Go home” though. Because I would love to see some improvement made in Sibu. But that remind me of… The Sibu drivers skill… When a horn is a deadly thing to press; when their father owned the road. The word “What’s the point?” came in… So… Yeah, I’ll be still sitting here doing the same thing I do everyday – Work!