These are 6 inevitable critical mistakes every company should be wary of making

 

Building an online presence is an essential step for virtually any company to reach its fullest potential.

Keep reading to find out what are those mistakes are and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: not owning your space online

If you neglect to claim your business’s space online, you’ll be missing out on several benefits and potentially opening yourself up for trouble.

As soon as you can, set up your business’s website and social media accounts. Also be sure to claim your business’s Google listing, which, according to Brian Edmundson at The Balance, will improve your website’s visibility in searches.

Not claiming your space early on will make your business harder to find. It can also cause other problems; for example, dragging your feet on registering a domain name may allow cybersquatters to claim the name before you can. 

Another example of not claiming your space online could be the lack of skills when it comes to website building.

Also Read: 5 ways to monetise social media technology for startup success

But, with the latest platform such as Weebly and popular platforms like Wix, everyone can build a professional-looking website easily. 

Mistake 2: overlooking your website’s user experience

Have you ever given up on making a purchase from a website because it was hard to find what you were looking for, frustrating to check out, or simply because the website didn’t look trustworthy?

If so, that business lost money because they gave you bad user experience.

According to the Interaction Design Foundation, there are several key considerations to keep in mind regarding your website’s user experience. Here they are framed as questions that you can ask yourself while assessing your website:

Is your website usable? Users shouldn’t have difficulty using your site, either as a first-time visitor or a regular guest.

Is your website useful? Your website should fulfil a customer’s need. It should allow them to access your product or service easily.

Is your website influential? It should prod users toward making a purchase. This requires being both trustworthy and persuasive.

Is your website functional? This means your website doesn’t include frustrations like dead links or bugs.

Is your website’s visual design attractive? This is perhaps the most subjective of the categories, but features like overwhelming, auto-playing videos may make the site very difficult for a user to look at.

Keep these factors in mind while building and updating your website.

Also be sure to test your website on multiple platforms because according to statistic, 59 per cent of smartphone users favour businesses with mobile sites that enable them to make purchases easily and quickly.

So, the website that looks great on desktop computers may still need improvements to work well on mobile platforms, and vice versa. You can make use of Google Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure your website content fits perfectly on mobile devices. 

Mistake 3: not tailoring ads to devices

Like websites, ads must be tweaked so that they work on multiple platforms. According to Statista.com, 52.2 per cent of all web traffic in 2018 was from mobile devices, and that percentage has been climbing for years.

Also Read: Social media isnt childs play, its a vital marketing tool

That means if your ads are only tailored for desktop computers, the majority of viewers will receive a subpar experience.

Take the time to make sure your ads function well for both types of users, even if it means making two separate styles of an ad for each campaign.

Mistake 4: neglecting SEO

Your business may have a great product, an awesome-looking website, and a lively social media presence, but if you neglect search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll be missing out on countless potential customers. 

While choosing the right web host for your website can be the first step towards establishing a good SEO foundation, it involves many components.

In a nutshell, SEO boils down to improving your website’s visibility in search results. Emma Knightley, writing for the Digital Marketing Institute, highlights these as critical areas of SEO:

• Keywords are how customers will find your website. Using keywords well can make it much more likely your business will show up in search results.
• Content is necessary for both getting eyeballs on your website and keeping customers engaged. The more engaging and shareable your content is, the better.
• Backlinking is a method to improve your SEO by linking to external sites.
• Local SEO makes people in your business’s area more likely to find it when they search for businesses like yours nearby.
• Search engine marketing involves the use of paid ads to boost your website’s visibility.
• Increase the page load speed to reduce your bounce rate and encourage your visitors to stay longer on your site.

While many companies employ people who focus almost entirely on SEO, you don’t need to be an expert to make use of SEO’s basic principles.

Keeping SEO in mind as you build your online presence will go a long way toward attracting customers. 

Mistake 5: not synchronising messages across platforms

If your company says one thing on Twitter, another thing on Facebook, and the third thing on its website, potential customers will be confused at best.

At worst, they will abandon your company for one with consistent messaging.

It’s relatively simple to keep your messaging consistent if you’re the only person running all of the platforms. Just, double check your content before posting anything.

Also Read: Despite challenges, there is an untapped opportunity in Southeast Asias social media markets

However, if different employees are in charge of different platforms, make sure they’re on the same page about what information to release.

Mistake 6: having angry interactions

As your company becomes more active online, you may come across unhappy customers in the form of negative reviews or comments.

It’s a mistake to engage them, according to Social Media Today angrily, as that can damage your business’s reputation even more. Instead, try to remain calm and do what you can to appease the customer.

There is a chance you’ll win them back over, and either way, your business will come out looking better than it would from a shouting match.

Conclusions

It doesn’t matter if you want to start a dropshipping business or planning to immerse yourself in the affiliate marketing business. Having an online presence is the first step you should act on. 

Avoid these mistakes, and you’ll be well on your way to building a strong online presence!

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit:  Will Francis

 

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Logistics and supply chain are dominating the theme this year, but there is also an increasing appetite for foodtech and related industry

As August draws to an end, e27 noted down some of the most notable seed funding rounds announced during the month.

Raising a seed funding round is monumental for a startup, as it signified the trust that investor(s) had in their idea and concept. Apart from that, seed funding rounds can also help us predict the upcoming investment trend in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem.

This month, logistics and supply chain continued to become a popular theme this year with investments into startups such as AllSome and Logisly. The F&B industry also remains popular with investments into Ai Palette, Abillionveg, and Hungry Hub.

The popularity of logistics and supply chain industries among investors is strongly related to the rapid growth of e-commerce growth in the Southeast Asian region. At the other hand, F&B has always been known as a promising industry to invest into, as the old saying goes: People will always need something to eat.

Also Read: Singapore-based IoT startup HOMI SmartHome nets US$1.3M seed funding

Ai Palette
Funding: US$1 million in Seed Funding
Investor(s): Decacorn Capital, SGInnovate, AgFunder, Entrepreneurs First, individual investors

Using AI and Predictinalytics around Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Image Recognition for food and beverage manufacturers, Ai Pallete aimed to help manufacturers craft and launch new products by spotting and analysing emerging consumer trends. It plans to use the funding to focus on growing customers across multiple markets by fast-tracking product development to enhance its platform capabilities to be able to scale.

Abillionveg
Funding: US$2 million in Seed Funding
Investor(s): 500 Startups, 1/0 Capital, Blue Horizon Group, Calibre Ventures, family offices across Asia and the US, John Wood

Abillionveg is a community-driven review platform for plant-based menu items, packaged foods, and cruelty-free consumer products. It plans to use the funding to accelerate efforts in recruitment, technology, and community growing.

StaffAny
Funding: US$722,000 is Seed Funding
Investor(s): FreakOut Holdings, Inc, angel investors

StaffAny is app-based solutions that connect HR and operations in order to manage hourly workers, which typically is found in the F&B and retail sectors. It plans to support its growth and expansion plans with the investment.

Logisly
Funding: Undisclosed Seed Funding
Investor(s): SeedPlus, Convergence Ventures, Genesia Ventures

Logisly builds a platform that provides shippers with verified trucks services, complete with real-time tracking and digital PODs. It also provides trucking companies with a facility to utilise idle or vacant trucks and receive quick payment. The startup plans to use the funding to accelerate Logisly’s growth in the high potential logistics market in Indonesia.

Also Read: Here are the most notable seed stage funding rounds announced in July

StakeWith.Us
Funding: US$595,000 in Seed Funding
Investor(s): SGInnovate, LuneX Ventures

StakeWith.Us offers digital asset owners a secure, performant and reliable service to secure new decentralised Proof of Stake networks. The startup wants to use the funding to scale its team across Asia and expand its offering.

REALly
Funding: US$361,000 in Seed Funding
Investor(s): Huntington Partners

REALly offers a hybrid of project management, real estate e-tendering, and an open procurement marketplace. The seed funding will be used to further enhance its platform as well as develop overseas markets, specifically Malaysia and Indonesia.

Zowedo
Funding: US$200,000 in Seed Funding
Investor(s): Paragon Capital Management Singapore (PCMS)

The Zowedo platform allows busy professionals and anyone looking for lifestyle or home services to locate and discover services that they might need. The investment will help Zowedo speed up product development and scale both customer and vendor acquisition.

Hungry Hub
Funding: US$450,000 in Seed Funding
Investor(s): Expara, 500 Startups

This is the first funding that Hungry Hub has received after a period of bootstrapping, claiming to be profitable for the last eight months. The company said that the funding will be used to speed up on the restaurant acquisition process to 1,000 restaurants in an 18 months goal.

AllSome
Funding: US$1.94 million in Seed Funding
Investor(s): East Ventures

AllSome Fulfillment was established last year by Ng Yi Ying and Liu Yi Shu, who first met in 2012 when Ng was pursuing her Master degree at Tsinghua University, China. With this fresh fund, AllSome Fulfillment eyes Indonesia for its first expansion in Southeast Asia.

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Image Credit: Austin Distel on Unsplash

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In addition to fintech, travel and hospitality also remain a popular choice among tech investors in Southeast Asia in August

Just like the early-stage funding round compilation that we also published today, there are plenty of interesting takeaways that we can make from the list of August’s growth-stage funding rounds.

Travel and hospitality remain a popular choice among investors, with funding rounds into KiotViet (which included the participation of traveltech giant Traveloka) and RedDoorz (which has been competing heavily with OYO).

Fintech also remains a favourite with investment into P2P lending startup UangTeman and SME banking platform Aspire.

The following is the list of notable funding rounds that we have covered in August:

Uang Teman
Funding: First tranche of US$10M Series B funding round
Investor(s): Draper Associates, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Global Brain

Indonesian P2P lending startup Uang Teman plans to make the final close of the Series B round at US$10 million, with the second and last tranche targetted for the end of October 2019. The startup wants to double down on growth within Indonesia.

99.co
Funding: US$15.2M Series B funding round
Investor(s): MindWorks Venture, Allianz X, East Ventures, Sequoia (India), and Eduardo Saverin

Property tech startup 99.co plans to use the funding to support its plan to build and extend its reach in Singapore and Indonesia. It also wants to launch in new markets and financial products relating to property.

Also Read: 5 leading Indonesian growth stage startups (that aren’t Go-Jek or Tokopedia)

RedDoorz
Funding: US$70M first close of Series C funding round
Investor(s): Asia Partners, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, Qiming Venture Partners and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

RedDoorz wants to use the new funding to launch in new markets, scale technology, run customer experience projects, as well as to invest in people and marketing. It is also planning to use a “significant portion” of the investment to build a second engineering hub in Vietnam, to complement its existing on in India.

Carro
Funding: Additional US$30M to Series B funding round
Investor(s): SoftBank Ventures Asia, EDBI, Dietrich Foundation, NCORE Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, Insignia Ventures, B Capital Group, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures, and Alpha JWC Ventures

Carro wants to use the funding to further its expansion across Southeast Asia, starting with the acquisition of Jualo, an Indonesia-based online C2C marketplace platform.

Aspire
Funding: US$32.5M in Series A funding round
Investor(s): Mass-Mutual Ventures (MMV) Southeast Asia, Arc Labs, Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures, and Picus Capital

Founded in January 2018 by Andrea Baronchelli, former EVP and CMO at Lazada, Aspire aims to “reinvent SME banking in Southeast Asia”. The startup will use the capital to boost its financial product offering and strengthen local presence.

KiotViet
Funding: US$6 million in Series A
Investor(s): Jungle Ventures, Traveloka

KiotViet stated that it plans to use the funding to focus on business network expansion to all of Vietnam’s provinces and cities. It also plans to add on its leadership team.

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Image Credit: NESA by Makers on Unsplash

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Bitcoin has revolutionised the current economy and impacted the economy in tangible ways

Virtual currency Bitcoin that uses digital encryption for its operations was first introduced in the year 2008 by a pseudonymous group or individual named Satoshi Nakamoto.

In some way, Bitcoin is an alternative method to the global financial system. It has steadily worked its way towards dominating all aspects of the online community.

In Bitcoin, every transaction is recorded in blocks digitally that acts like a public ledger called “block-chain.”

Here, all the blocks are interconnected to each other through the use of hashtags and chronological order is formed, thus keeping security at a higher level.

Also Read: The differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin

From buying clothes online to purchasing a phone on credit, there is no financial transaction where crypto-currency cannot work better.

They have decentralised powers, and this is the reason why no institution or country can control it; also, it uses cryptography to create safer economies with top-notch privacy.

The most significant advantage of having these virtual “coins” or digital money is that it only exists in digital form as compared to conventional money transactions.

That is why many people have started using these bitcoins to buy goods and services. The money can only get tracked when it gets converted in cash form.

Now, banking sectors, corporates, governments, and investors have taken real-time interest in bitcoin, crypto-currencies, and block-chain.

Though experts and business to business managers are of the view that Bitcoin can have a real impact on the economy. However, it is still susceptible to know how bitcoin will shape the market and savings in the coming years.

Following are the ways how bitcoin aims to transform the world:

Eliminates the role of intermediaries

The first feature of Bitcoin doesn’t require any intermediary to step in for the transactions that occur.

The users themselves can verify the currency in a decentralised manner.

This has left banks to be wary as bitcoins eliminates their services.

The emergence of new markets and the removal of barriers

Bitcoin has opened doors for a new kind of market that unlike the current money market is controlled by no authority or person.

Cyberspace has risen as the authority to handle such disruptive markets.

Rather than having to convince the venture capitalists and financial institutions or banks for their prospective project, they can bypass the regulation and red-tapes through an ICO or initial coin offering.

Also Read: 6 private crypto alternatives to bitcoin

Through an ICO, a start-up can sell the portion of Bitcoin to backers to fund their project.

Access to a credit system

Bitcoin enables ungoverned access to a secure credit system as it is an unregulated currency that is based solely on data.

Also, Bitcoin does not require enormous fees for transactions done through it, which makes it much alluring to the users.

Complicated regulation

One of the potential challenges is that it facilitates the massive anonymous online marketplace where users get an option to buy illegal items like drugs without facing any legal action. And it has enabled many scams.

Governments are also concerned regarding crypto-currency that it helps people in tax aversion and tax evasion. Consequently, some countries have banned Bitcoin.

Separates transactions from a dollar

Cryptocurrency does not need to have any linkage with the USD. It is providing financial sectors with another way to participate in the global economy.

Enables more overseas transactions

More than 1.7 billion people in the world do not have a bank account, and some business does not work on the credit card payment system in few countries.

In such cases, bitcoin offers a way out to those people to engage with the global economy. It has a good impact on people living in countries around the world with weak economies.

A decreased assurance of authorised money

Since its inception, money has been used by the people in its paper or metallic form mainly. It is quite challenging to carry out all the transactions by everyone in digital form, as not all the people use digital means.

This way, the economy will witness a drastic change. Still, it remains susceptible to how bitcoin manages to keep its hold and replaces the current monetary system.

A lot of people are managing their bitcoin wallets, and have a full assurance that their virtual money enjoys a better level of security than real cash.

Environmentalism and the economy

Bitcoin gets minted on a sophisticated application software as well as hardware infrastructure system.

Producing bitcoin has impacted the environment in not modern ways, rather the servers used in the mining consume a lot of energy.

In response, environmental legislation has to get introduced to address energy consumption in regards to Bitcoin mining.

There are a lot of Bitcoin Plugins available on the web. With the help of those options, you can easily integrate Bitcoin into your ecosystem.

Conclusion

It is susceptible to whether there are potential harms or benefits, but Bitcoin has impeccably revolutionized the current economy, and it cannot be denied that it has impacted the economy in tangible ways. 

Also Read: Bitcoin dominance is reason to worry amidst crypto price plunge

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit: Aleksi Räisä

The post A layman’s guide on how bitcoin is aiming to transform the global economy? appeared first on e27.

This micro-lending platform is putting up a strong competition for loan sharks and traditional banks

The winner for the e27 Startup of the Month August edition is UangTeman –the startup whose name translates to Friend’s Money in Indonesian.

While Indonesia is the 10th largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power according to the WorldBank, the fact is that the nation houses 25.9 million people living below the poverty line.

That being said, banks usually do not cater to this class of the population despite it forming a major chunk of the population.

This brings UangTeman into the picture as it aims to solve the issue by lending money to borrowers with no credit card or credit history. Thus, it competes with loan sharks and traditional banks that offer micro-lending.

According to CEO Aidil Zulkifli, borrowers can simply pay back the loan at the end of their chosen tenor period. The company charges one per cent interest rate per day for first-time customers, which is said to “decrease over time if the customer shows good credit behaviour”.

“UangTeman wants to promote transparency to the consumer. We are very clear about how much you borrow and how much is due —not a single rupiah less or more,” says Zulkifli.

Funding

The startup has raised US$22.7 million in funding over the last five rounds. Backed by venture capital firms such as Alpha JWC Ventures, K2 Venture Capital, Draper Associates, and Global Brain, the company also has the co-founder of British loan company Wonga as an investor.

The company’s most recent funding round was on August 24, where it closed the first tranche of a US$10 million Series B funding round.

Also Read: UangTeman raises first tranche of US$10M Series B led by Tim Drapers fund; to acquire a P2P startup

Growth

While the company has already been growing rapidly within Indonesia, it aims to grow further within the country by diversifying into micro-business lending. It plans to do that through an acquisition of an existing P2P lending platform in September 2019.

Other than that, the company also intends to set foot in the Philippines and is currently in talks of obtaining a license with the officials.

The company plans to commence its Series C financing round in 2020.

The runner-up

In addition to UangTeman, the e27 Community on Telegram and Twitter had also voted for Med247 as a runner-up for the Startup of the Month title.

Based in Vietnam, Med247 is a healthtech startup that combines the offline and online elements in their operations. Using the Med247 platform, patients are able to have follow-up consultation online, helping to make treatment more efficient for them.

The startup has recently made headline when it announced an undisclosed amount of investment from KK Fund, a venture capital (VC) firm that mainly invests in seed-stage internet and mobile startups in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

It is one of the very few pre-launched startups that KK Fund had invested in.

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Image Credit: Roman Synkevych

 

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