It is absolutely essential that you create an effective web traffic strategy that funnels in consumers from the very beginning

Launching a startup comes with a long list of challenges and obstacles. Finances and resources are often tight and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done.

However, none of these issues can be solved unless the business is bringing in enough revenue to fund new ideas and hire more employees to get the work done.

One of the biggest startup mistakes that many entrepreneurs are guilty of is assuming that their web traffic will naturally increase over time.

According to statistical analysis, the leading cause of startup failure is incompetence and the inability to correctly implement essential strategies that support a growing business.

This is why it is so important that your startup has a concrete plan in place to support web traffic.

While some customers may come across your website through organic search, you cannot rely on this small segment to support your startup.

Let’s discuss four smart strategies startups can use to begin increasing those traffic numbers.

1. Post customer reviews everywhere

Customer reviews are not just a good sales tool to build confidence with customers; they can actually have a significant impact on your site’s searchability and keyword optimisation.

According to recent research from Moz, the presence and quantity of customer reviews make up over 15 per cent of the ranking signals that Google uses to determine SERP ranking.

Customer reviews are often rich in long-tail keywords that are going to be commonly searched by customers. Most search queries include descriptive words that are also used by customers to describe their experiences.

For example, a common search may include phrases like, “best deal” or “cheapest option” or “high quality, low price.” Customer reviews tend to contain phrases like these, which can help to boost your site’s ranking by matching up to query keywords.

Listing reviews on your own website are clearly important, but it’s also smart to include customer reviews on third-party sites as well.

For example, the reviews of Trustpilot are published on additional third-party sites to increase the brand’s searchability. Each third-party site also includes links directly to Trustpilot’s homepage to help drive in additional traffic, specifically from comparison shoppers who are weighing their options with competing products.

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2. Build a hefty external link strategy

According to the previously mentioned Moz studyLink, signals made up the second largest portion of Google ranking signals — which is why it is so critical for startups to get their name and links published on multiple sites.

Also Read: Hong Kong crypto exchange Gatecoin ordered to close by courts

Google also bases some of the credibility of your website on the number of external links, particularly if they are coming from high-ranking sites, so getting product features on websites or writing content for other blogs can drive traffic and improve rankings.

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However, it is imperative to address the importance of link relevancy.

Gaining high-quality backlinks from sites closely related to your content needs to be a top focus.

The days of “All links are good links” are well behind us, so just scattering links across the internet and seeing what sticks is simply not a smart strategy.

First and foremost, it is important that your startup is able to clearly define the brand and its target audience. What are the key areas of focus, what industry(s) are you speaking directly to, and what types of customers are interested in what your business has to offer?

From there, you can start to seek out other websites that speak to your audience and whose content is also in alignment with your brand.

Be sure that you are in-the-know with your brand mentions and links within these sites to ensure that they are natural and effective, not overly promotional.

3. Be smart with social media

Many startups make social media a key component of their marketing strategy, and wisely so.

However, there’s more to it than just consistent posting.

Be sure that you are also following accounts that hit your target audience, such as the right influencers, related products, and blogs/accounts that are followed by your targeted audience.

This will help to establish brand associations that will lead to curiosity from other consumers to check out your brand’s account.

Of course, brand awareness can also be grown organically by generating content based on your customers. User Generated Content (UGC) is highly influential and engaging because it is unfiltered and authentic.

When the baby fashion brand Freshly Picked was just a new startup, it kept its focus on building trust with their customers (primarily new moms) by sharing customer stories from the very beginning. Nearly half of their Instagram posts are pictures shared by customers through branded hashtags.

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This is a great way to establish meaningful connections with your current audience and connect the brand with new audiences through meaningful and shareable content.

4. Prioritise personal branding

Putting your brand’s name or CEO’s name out there as a thought leader or expert in the field can build brand recognition, which will lead to more interest in your startup/website.

Also Read: Introducing our 12 most-read contributors so far in 2019

This is done through smart personal branding, which can be established through methods like featured interviews on industry podcasts, writing e-books and selling online courses, participating in webinars or conferences as a speaker, and so on.

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As a startup leader, it is important that you are getting validation from industry experts.

Having credible people or organisations recognise your expertise in the field can do wonders for your brand’s reputation.

It can also impact your startup’s E-A-T score, a subject to one of Google’s recent algorithm changes to help determine a site’s content quality and relevancy.

By getting other high-authority figures to vouch for your brand, it can influence this score and boost your site’s ranking on the SERPs.

Conclusion

A strong, steady stream of website traffic is something that must be built over time.

There is no magical formula that can guarantee instant results, but these strategies that have an influence on ranking factors with Google and establishing brand recognition can certainly help to lay the foundation.

Be sure that you take this goal to heart from the very beginning and stay focused on attracting customers through meaningful content, strategic placement, and trustworthy influence in the industry.

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Apart from Uber, we also have updates from Ofo, Mswipe, and a cyber security bill in Thailand

Uber plans to kick off IPO in April – Reuters

Ride-hailing giant Uber is set to kick off its initial public offering in April, according to an exclusive report by Reuters.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said that Uber will issue its required public disclosure (S-1) and launch investor roadshow next month.

The company is set to hit public markets immediately after its competitor Lyft began theirs at the end of March. The two companies had filed confidential paperwork for the IPO “at the same time” in December.

Uber has declined to comment on the matter.

Singapore extends deadline for Ofo to remove bicycles – Tech In Asia

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has extended the deadline for bike-sharing service Ofo to remove its bicycles from the country, from its original deadline of Wednesday this week, Tech In Asia reported.

During this extension period, Ofo’s license will continue to be suspended.

An LTA spokesperson said that the agency’s decision was influenced in part by the company’s success in implementing the country’s new QR-based parking regime, which requires bike-share users to scan a QR code to confirm they have parked their dockless cycle in a designated area.

The company has also informed LTA that it is in “advanced stages of negotiations” to partner its Singapore unit with a third party.

In February, Ofo had its operator’s license suspended for failing to comply with updated regulatory requirements for bike-sharing services, particularly due to its lack of progress in QR-code parking integration and failure to ban users who repeatedly park outside designated zones.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, March 14: SoftBank, Toyota in talks to invest US$1B in Uber’s self-driving unit

India’s Mswipe raises US$31.7M – Economic Times

India-based mobile point-of-sales (POS) company Mswipe raised around INR2.2 billion (US$31.7 million) in a new funding round from its existing investors, Economic Times reported.

The investors list included US-based hedge fund Falcon Edge, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin-promoted B Capital Asia, technology investment firm Epiq Capital, and DSG Consumer Partners.

The funding round followed the company’s Series D funding round in 2017 when UC-RNT Fund and existing investors invested around INR2 billion (US$28.8 million) into the company.

Thai cyber security bill raises criticism – The Bangkok Post

Thailand’s new cyber security bill, which was introduced just weeks ahead of the country’s first democratic elections since 2014 military coup, has raised criticism for the possibility that it might be used to curb political dissent, Bangkok Post reported.

“Authorities have already penalised scores of journalists, politicians, activists, academics and students under vaguely worded legislation. This new law would entrench the stifling political climate cultivated by the military government,” said Katherine Gerson, a Thailand researcher at Amnesty International.

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Image Credit: Jimi Filipovski on Unsplash

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It is the proverbial million-dollar question: “what does the customer want?”

Every brand has gone to great lengths to understand their customers’ behaviours. A business may have a great product or service, but the challenge lies in understanding how it meets their needs better than any other options available to them.

Today, the experience a brand gives its customers during the purchasing journey is often what matters most. Instead of brands telling customers what they ought to be buying, today the customer tells the brand what their preferences are.

Customers today are in an always-on world; the way we live, consume and play has undergone a tidal wave of change.

As a Forrester study shows, mobile subscriptions are set to cross 5.5 billion by 2022. The proliferation of smartphones, combined with the fact that almost 70 per cent of all digital media is consumed on a mobile device, means the customer of today is used to having information at their fingertips.

For example, entertainment is no longer limited to the television in the living room. An eMarketer forecast says that as the year comes to a close, “nearly 55 per cent of internet users will be active on chat apps. Watching and sharing videos is a major feature on chat apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat…”

The impact of social media

For those born after the early 80s, known as digital-natives including the millennials and Gen Z, living in an always-on world is the new normal.

Digital immigrants are also quickly changing their lifestyles and preferences given the ease of access to internet and smart devices.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, March 15: Uber plans to kick off IPO in April

Digital native brands like Amazon, Walmart, Uber and Airbnb have led the way in changing customer behaviour. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and a multitude of sharing and social apps have transformed customer perspectives and behaviours.

They have taught the customer that brands can reach them anywhere anytime. Customers now expect the same kind of efficiency and seamlessness that digital brands have offered them.

Accenture research, titled Customer 2020: Are You Future-Ready or Reliving the Past, points out that consumers “seek quicker resolution and fewer hassles — and if companies don’t move faster, they’ll move on.”

The omnichannel experience

Conventionally, a customer used to go through a journey of discovery, consideration, evaluation, buying, using and (hopefully) loyalty in the past.

This path is now replaced by a model where the journey is more dynamic and free-flowing.

There are multiple touch points for the customer to engage with. They could be using traditional channels for discovery and then shifting to digital for purchase.

This is where it becomes imperative for brands to provide an omnichannel customer experience.

Customers can abandon one channel and continue their journey on another and now expect a seamless connection and ease of use across those channels.

Often, a key pain point for customers is a poor user interface, and lack of speed in delivering information. A customer expects a company to not just deliver information but deliver it in real-time, anytime.

The other common pain points for customers include not having enough information, and a lack of personalisation. It shows that the brand does not care enough and has not listened to the customer and anticipated their needs.

Customers expect brands to identify how they interact and engage in a digital environment and provide the right channel and technology to connect.

The role of technology

Customers and brands are now acclimatising themselves with artificial intelligence to enhance their purchasing journeys.

Chatbots and voice assistants come into the picture, among an array of technological conveniences. An Aspect Software Research report said that 44 per cent of consumers prefer interacting with chatbots over human agents.

Chatbots deliver speedy solutions to the customer while helping agents boost their productivity.

Also Read: How to rev up & ramp up the traffic at your startup’s site

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is particularly useful for customers who believe in self-service. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) can also help in intuiting and solving a customer’s problems at a crucial point in the buying funnel.

The use of Virtual Reality (VR), Application Programming Interface (APIs) and Internet of Things (IoT) will also go a long way in improving the customer experience.

Customer trust – a benchmark

Despite the major technological shifts, customers still need to know that the brand’s values they choose to purchase from align with their own.

They instinctively understand what the brand stands for and whether they deliver on promises made, as they move through the various stages of customer experience.

Customer-brand relationship cannot be highlighted enough.

The recently released Zendesk Benchmark Guide for Enterprise 2018 offers insights on both digital native and digital transformations (ie traditional enterprises).

The age of a company is irrelevant to the approach it takes towards providing an enhanced customer experience.

The brands that emerge on top are those who use technology to give agents the information to move fast and maintain consistency and context over channels at the same time. In turn, this is what helps build customer trust.

No matter what stage of the journey a customer is at, it is important to look at their experience through their eyes, and not through the brand’s.

In a future silo-free digital ecosystem, the reins are always in the customer’s hands.

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Image Credits: puhhha

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If Singapore is truly going to embrace a culture of failure, then bike-sharing should be remembered fondly

Due to a host of factors, I live in a neighbourhood that is about as far away from the Singapore city center as is functionally reasonable. A quick check of Google Maps suggests I live closer to JB Sentral than SG Central.

I bring this up because, as you start to get out of the main part of Singapore, the remains of the city-state’s failed bike-sharing experiment are still visible.

A walk in the park will still reveal the rusted-out skeletons of MoBike, ofo and the rare oBike. Even if a Good Samaritan wanted to clean them up, the bikes are so decomposed that it would require proper safety gear to avoid getting infected.

In some ways, these skeletons are a perfect metaphor for the bike-sharing industry as a whole: While most of the city can sweep away the problem and move on, there will still be a few stray reminders of the failed experiment.

Bike-sharing is now a “white whale” economy. It is ann idea that theoretically could transform a city (and make the Founder fabulously rich). It SHOULD work right? And yet, time and time again, it has failed.

In the US, bike-sharing has failed multiple times, but American car culture is so strong that it does not inherently doom the global industry.

For the past few years, it seemed like the Chinese ecosystem had figured it out. Even better, they had managed to outsource the service abroad. Sure, the companies were losing a lot of money, but ride-hailing companies also lose a lot money and they seem stable(ish).

Then it crashed, hard and fast.

Justin Hall, a Partner at Golden Gate Ventures, told Singapore Business Review, “I would say the poor unit economics, combined with high burn and tricky cash-flow issues, plus an uncertain, often oppressive, regulatory environment made the model untenable in Singapore.”

Also Read: Bike-sharing startup Ofo terminates staffs over the phone without compensation

Now, the issue is whether Singapore will over-learn its lesson for the future. Will it embrace the death of bike-sharing as an example of the failure that we so often promote in the media? Or, is failing still unacceptable?

Bike-sharing was essentially a city-wide experiment, and, like all experiments, it was imperfect. Most obviously, it took public litter to another level. For tree-huggers like myself, the sheer volume of bikes being produced (and discarded) was disheartening.

But, overall, the results of the experiment was still a net-positive. To exemplify, let’s take a very broad tour of the history:

The launch of bike-sharing in the city was like a flash flood; one moment everyone was just zooming around on their US$500 electric scooters, the next, they were dodging people who were clearly riding a bicycle for the first time in years. The first few months were a bit overwhelming, but they were not necessarily bad.

At its peak, bike-sharing was everywhere, and, in my opinion, had a net-positive effect in Singapore. Yes, the system received legitimate criticism about wastefulness, civic responsibility and general selfishness, but it also allowed groups of friends (oftentimes teenagers) to bike around the city, it helped people exercise more and the bicycles presented an alternative to using cars.

Most interestingly, bike-sharing companies became a legitimate last-mile logistics service providers. Delivery people could save themselves the upfront cost of purchasing a scooter or a bicycle and use bike-sharing to speed up their service.

The end of bike-sharing was an unmitigated disaster. Who knows if the Founders of oBike will ever be allowed back into Singapore and ofo was forced to fire their entire island-wide operations (they  handled it terribly). MoBike exited the city with its reputation in tact, but they still left.

The end of bike-sharing in Singapore was a bit like a relationship; even if the breakup was ugly, it does not mean the entire love story was ugly.

When founders, investors and media talk about embracing failure, this is what it looks like. It looks like broken bicycles, fired employees and, in the worst example, shady business practices.

If we are serious about being more tolerant of failure, then we need to give bike-sharing a pass. It needs to be remembered fondly as a quirky moment in local history that sort-of, kind-of, but probably-actually-did-not succeed.

Plus, what if it had worked? What if the original flood had died-down to reveal a sustainable river? What if the Singaporean culture began to rely on these bikes in the same way it does ride-hailing? Then, assuming that happened, what if it helped fix the city’s diabetes problem? Or lower its emissions output? That would probably be worth the risk, right?

Also Read: Introducing our 12 most-read contributors so far in 2019

Moving forward, we are in a nice little learning moment for future experiments.

Maybe this impossible burger thing will explode (although it is really expensive). Maybe bike-sharing was just the first step towards scooter-sharing (let’s pray not). Most likely, nobody actually knows what will hit because it is practically impossible to predict.

Whatever it is, when the next popular trend is forced upon us civilians, let’s just let it go for awhile.

I would guess we would discover that the end result is not that bad.

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Maideasy claims to have cleaned over 70K houses in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley and manage thousands of houses monthly

On a fine day in 2015, techie Azrul Rahim found out that miscreants attempted a break-in at his house in Cyberjaya. Investigations led the police to an illegal and part-time foreign house maid that he had employed a few months ago.

This was shocking to him.

“These are the guys whose phone numbers you can see on the roadside across Malaysia,” Azrul tells me. “I am not saying all of them are bad, but there is no way to verify their credentials and background. After this incident, I have never picked up a single phone number from the roadside for a house maid ever.”

As Azrul explained, booking a trustworthy house maid is quite a cumbersome task in Malaysia. You need to make multiple calls to the service provider to check the availability of house maids and compare their prices. “On top of that, you still have no idea who is coming to our house and whether he had  dubious past etc. This is really annoying,” he adds.

This bitter experience took the best out of him, and he together with his wife Meriza Anna and friend Brian Wee launched an online platform to book trained and trustworthy housemaids in Malaysia.

The trio started Maideasy in late 2015 after a period of brainstorming and experimentation. It started off as a marketplace. Days passed and they realised that a marketplace model would not allow them to fine-tune the services the way they wanted.

Also Read: This startup could spoil the holiday you obtained by submitting fake medical certificate

That’s when they decided to start recruiting their own cleaners.

“Maideasy now follows a managed marketplace model for house maids and cleaners. All the cleaners listed on our platform are recruited after a rigorous interviewing, filtering and training process. They are fully trained on various equipment and technique to give your house the best treatment possible,” he claims.

How it works

Download the Maideasy app, enter your address and select the exact date and hour that you need the service, and the cleaning service professional will come to to your house on the day. The services are available seven days a week, and you can choose the cleaning time between 9AM to 8PM.

Using the app, you can track the progress of the booking, and whether the crew is on their way or has already arrived, etc. You can also chat with them in real time and match their photos as well.

Maideasy offers three types of services — basic home cleaning, move-in/out cleaning (when you move into/ out of a house), and spring cleaning (annual cleaning). You are free to choose between one-time cleaning or weekly cleaning services. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the service, you can give a call to Maideasy’s customer service. It also offers a few other home services such as cloth ironing, kitchen and events help, as well as packing/unpacking services.

Maideasy covers almost all areas in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Azrul claims that its professionals have already cleaned over 70,000 houses of various sizes in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley, and it manages thousands of houses every single month.

The basic service starts at RM25 per hour. This can stretch up to RM760 per hour depending on various factors such as the session, size of the house/apartment, and the type of cleaning. Azrul says that while there are some last-minute booking charges, the company doesn’t charge additional money for weekend bookings.

Maideasy also recently introduced an Elite Membership plan at RM88 per year. This allows loyal customers to make a booking at a discounted price, with zero surcharges. Rahim says the take-up has been encouraging with hundreds of signups so far.

Similar to Grab

In a way, Maideasy is similar to Grab, claims Azrul. Once a customer makes the booking, the system will work find the right cleaning crew for him/her. However, unlike the ride-hailing platform, a service like Maideasy needs a more personalised touch to make sure we find the right crew for you. Once you found your match, you can schedule a weekly session with them or book them on an ad-hoc basis, depending on their availability, Azrul shares.

In his opinion, Malaysia’s dependency on domestic helps is on the rise. As of now, over 700,000 foreign and domestic workers are employed in the country and are collectively drawing over RM1 billion on a monthly basis.

“While this number doesn’t translate directly into the part-time helper model, we have seen solid demand for the service. As concerns over cost, privacy and security grew, we expect more customer to consider part-timers instead of hiring a full-time foreign maids,” Azrul says.

“On the supply side, we also recognise that doing cleaning work is a job that provides a decent pay. With overflowing foreign workers, this is actually a great part-time option for those willing to roll up their sleeves,” he adds.

The challenges

The beginning was not easy for the co-founders, admits Azrul. Convincing Malaysians to take up the cleaning job was hard. Malaysians, he observes, view cleaning as the job of foreigners. It took a lot of hard work for the founders to change this perception.

Talking about the current major challenges, he says: “Balancing demand and supply is another tricky issue for a platform like ours. It is too easy to have too many customers and too little cleaners or have too many cleaners and not enough job for them. Neither is a good situation to be in as it frustrates everyone.”

Kaodim and ServisHero are other players in this domain in Malaysia. Azrul says while these two firms are often considered competitors to Maideasy, they can also be a great partners, serving and educating the market. He also says Maideasy offers a different experience than other platforms that cover a multitude of services.

When it comes to offline, the company is competing with black market and foreign workers.

A self-funded startup, Maideasy raised a small round of investment from Axiata Digital Innovation Fund in 2017. The venture is currently on the lookout for long-term, strategic partners and investors.

“We believe we have an edge over our rivals when it comes to understanding the market requirements, as well as having the operational excellence to scale. On top of that, as one of our key missions is to provide employment to the community, Maideasy is a great opportunity for investors looking to make a real and meaningful impact on the society,” he shares.

1RM=US$0.24

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