Thank you!!!

Top: Thank You (Image Courtesy: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/thank-you.jpg)

In this last entry, I would like to thank first of all, Juliana for inviting me to guest blog here. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my partner, Hanyang for this opportunity to work together with him on ChupR! Of course, I would also need to thank the school, my friends for being so supportive! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

All in all, in starting something, no matter what, it may be extremely difficult, but do press on! Persevere! There is light at the end of the tunnel! Even though sometimes it might just be another on-coming train!!! But by not giving up, you will definitely get to see the light of the day!

3 ways to getting the user’s ATTENTION for sure! (well maybe almost!)

Seriously… It’s not easy to be the purple cow…especially for ChupR. After the Yahoo! Auctions’ exit, auction sites are mushrooming everywhere. So how exactly do you stand out from the crowd? Here are some of the ways that I found to be pretty useful. You can share and comment more if you want! =)

SEX (sells!)
It always works… really… just that I don’t have the assets… haha… But it never fails to capture!
Top: Something Funny... ( Courtesy of http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/loud_sex.png)

ATTRACTIVE freebies
And I do mean ATTRACTIVE! If you are giving out some regular keychains or pens like anyone else, you can stand in the queue just like everyone else.

MONEY
What else? If you are prepared to throw in some money (and I am not taking about ten or twenty cents…) You are bound to get some attention!
Top: Money attracts almost everyone! (Image courtesy: http://orionwell.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/raining-money.jpg)

Of Course! There are more than 3 ways. These are but some of the ways which would definitely grab attention!

The (Almost) Zero Dollar Marketing Challenge!!!

To be really frank and honest with you, ChupR started because of interest, not business, it still is an interest. We kept it as a hobby still because it’s what that motivates us. We do not intend to monetize ChupR yet. But we want it to be successful. This poses a dilemma:
How do we sustain this interest without introducing a revenue model?

Left: No Money? That's the challenge! (Image Courtesy: http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/no%20money.gif)

This in turn gave rise to trying to market ChupR with an extremely low budget. Which means we have almost zero dollar for marketing ChupR. This means how to do EVERYTHING for NOTHING. It’s pretty fun actually. Let me take this chance to share with you some of the
ways that we used in order of difficulty. Start with the easier ones that you are comfortable with then slowly move on to the more difficult ones as you progress. I would use ChupR as the example to illustrate my point.

Friends, Relatives, Family!
They are the best way to start! We were lucky enough to have quite a number of our friends promoting about ChupR to their friends which helped ChupR rise from nothingness to something. (remember, you got to go around asking people to help. If you don’t, no one
Would.)

Viral Marketing!
Well, you can say that we are again, pretty lucky to get hold of a few Ipods for FREE…. Which means zero marketing costs which we have to pay upfront. We used these Ipods and threw them in as an auction promotion in ChupR which encouraged the growth of the user base
And in turned help popularize the site when users talk about these promotions going on in ChupR. (this is a really good way for ChupR to gain high traffic and signups especially during the promotion period.)

Press and Media!
This is 3rd time lucky! We manage to get some press coverage on The Straits Times, Singapore’s most widely read newspaper. You can say that this is the BIG BREAK which helped us grew from hundreds of users to thousands of users. I guess we really have to thank Miss Tan Weizhen for featuring us in her article. If not, I am pretty certain that ChupR would not be where it is now.

Right: What to do with no money??? (Image Courtesy: http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/you-have-no-money.jpg)


Conclusion
You see, anything that we did here (in chronological order) started simply. And if we do enough of it, it does help us get to the next level. You would be dead right to say that luck plays an important role in this as well. But other than that, perseverance and determination also plays a great role in the success of starting (anything you want). Trust me, stick to it long enough, and your luck will come.


Up next: 3 ways to getting the user’s ATTENTION for sure! (well maybe almost!)

The art of getting more users on almost any site

I have to admit that I am still learning this one. But at least I hope to share some of the ways that we used went we started the site. That grew from the very initial group of less than ten users, to its first hundred, then thousand and counting…

Left: Getting users' attention (Image Courtesy http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/27/computer_users.jpg)

1. Be Thick Skin, Be proud, Be Excited (of your site)!
For me, this is the MOST important aspect. If you are convinced about your site, don’t be shy to talk to others about this site. Especially in front of friends and family. As Asians, most of us tend to be shy and humble and would not talk about our little baby. Don’t be!

Be proud of it, especially if anyone asked you questions like: “What are you doing now”. Be specific, tell them for example, “I started this exciting online auction site www.chupr.com do support and check it out!” and not say things like, “Oh I started something small online…”

If you are not convinced about your own site, you cannot convince others, and you may not even be able to convince yourself. Which questions the very existence of the site. So remember, Be Thick Skin, Be Proud, Be Excited! If you don’t, no one else would! =)





2. Live, Breathe, Preach
One word that can replace the above heading would be passion. But passion is too general. I prefer to give more specifics. To share it better, I think it would be best to relate to starting www.chupr.com .

Right: Something funny about acquisition if you have the cash (Image courtesy http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/img/2007/10/google-comic1.jpg)







When we started ChupR, Hanyang and I were thinking about ChupR,
Putting it on our MSN nicknames, facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38739594397) and any other place we can “advertise”. In addition, whenever I see anyone, even a stranger. Sometimes, I would tell them about ChupR. There are repercussions of this passion though, you may be seen as a hard sell. So do not try too hard, just a mention will do, if the party is willing to listen, then you can share more of your passion! =)

3. Any publicity is good publicity – At least for a start.
No matter what kind of publicity you get, it will be good for your site for a start! Good publicity is of course what everyone is after. But
Bad publicity? Take it positively. It can help you improve and in fact, some bad publicity actually generates more interest.

JUMP at every opportunity to market or share your site. This is one of the motivation behind me sharing with you how www.chupr.com
Started and grew. So in this way, sharing with you guys ChupR on this blog is one good way to market the site as well. =)

Look out for the next post: The (Almost) Zero Dollar Marketing Challenge! (what to start something with nothing? Then you should really look out for this post, read and practice it!)

Centre: It is not really cheap to get and retain users... (Image Courtesy http://www.callcentercomics.com/call-center-comic-67.JPG)

The Chicken and Egg Challenge of starting an online auction site

As a brand new auction site, ChupR faced a very immediate situation: Should we get (Sellers) auction items first? Or Bidders (Buyers)? Buyers will not want to visit the site if they see nothing much or nothing interesting on the website. Similarly, sellers would not even bother to list their items on the site if they items don’t get sold on ChupR.

Right: Chicken VS Egg (Image courtesy of https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOi3btvhDaIVpyPRGgfBz88sMp6ZiJyfRAIOLZvYadoPHWw5MtD2_d530iKQVF44JvA8124fabQMIkHqp3AKTL6qjXJxOypRxhY0N7UnvboiFtj-TWbJhEchqzAlAik_o429P7HKhf5Y/s320/Chicken_or_Egg.jpg)

This question was at the back of our minds. Until we realized that maybe we can try to look at things differently: how about targeting users that are both buyers and sellers? Then most people would have a follow up question with this solution: how do you identify this group of people? Actually, it’s pretty difficult. But in a nutshell, what we did was that in the initial stages of starting ChupR every user that registered on the site was encouraged to both buy and sell items. Not just do one of them. To encourage this, we also have the “Live Wanted Ads” where users can post what they are looking for on the site so as to attract users to become sellers while they are shopping on ChupR.

Watch out for my next post: The art of getting more users on almost any site…( Ithink its pretty useful!)


Left: Something Funny (image courtesy of http://www.seaserpentproductions.com/images/GodChickenEggOmelet_Design.jpg)

Self Introduction!!!

Hi all, I am Huang Renzhi, a fresh graduate from the School of Computing (SoC), National University of Singapore. I would like to thank the school for the opportunity to blog in the school’s domain as a guest blogger for this week (starting 12th Jan 2009).


Left: Hanyang and Renzhi
(taken just outside SoC)


As a first entry, I would like to start with a self introduction and in the subsequent entries, I would go on to share how this online auction site that Hanyang, another fellow SoC graduate, and I started: www.chupr.com !

My Interest for Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology!!!
Since I was a young boy, I have always aspired to be an entrepreneur! I started selling everything from cool erasers to the wildly popular collectors cards, making profits and then re-invest all that I have earned into the “business”. I can say that during that time, I did not know any business nor marketing concepts like Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT (Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats) analysis. It was only when I got older that I had more exposure to these concepts that made my passion for business stronger. My interest in technology blossomed with my family’s first 486 computer. Initially, it was just the games. Then, I begin to learnt more about hardware and software (especially programming) which explains why I ended up in the School of Computing.

In conclusion, I grew up becoming a reasonably technology savvy business / entrepreneur wannabe. Trying to start something that ultimately can change the world for the better! Well, at least I try to! =)