Leoque Collection, Philippine Made Furnitures

Today, Feb 14 2009 (It’s Valentines Day! What a day to launch!), marks the day we finally settled into our new home. Our online home that is.

Cause I'm part of this project, the site name somewhat bears my name or more closely, our fathers' name... l e o q u e

Leoque Collection home is here. And more info about this project here.

What we settled on is a clean, neat and white design so as not to take the attention away from what is supposed to be on showcase… The Leoque collection of furniture, accents & accessories and other stuff that should feel, err, fill your home.

Just a little guide and background on our website: (This will also serve as our documentation/history of our online existence.)

1. A gallery of 3 random photos of our product line is put upfront and up top. Gallery includes, a “random product,” the “best sellers” and lastly, the “accents & accessories. This gallery is sort of three (3) window of what we have.
2. We inserted just a couple of ads. Some of which are good resources of information about interior design, furniture, design, etc. (and by the way, those are paid ads)
3. Our main navigation consists of the self explanatory pages such as “home,” “products,” “about,” and “contact.” We’ve put up the “customize” page for those who have their own design and want to request for pricing.
4. Our site not only acts us our showroom but also as a “share-room.” We will be posting articles, tips, news links, and whatnot about home, styles, condo living, interior design, furniture industry. Check out the BLOG category time to time.
5. Our sidebars (right, and far right) contain essential info & links about Leoque Collection.
6. Because some of the pages could possibly stretch a thousand miles, a handy main navigation link is provided at the footer to easily get back to frontpage, products page, etc.
7. Just some notes below each page saying that… (a) the business and the site is co-owned by PYKOS Incorporated; (b) it is hosted by WebMen - our cute little web hosting gig; (c) this site is powered by the FREE and wonderful publishing app Wordpress and (d) our theme design is from Alibi Productions.

Over the next few days, we will be filling up the site with over hundred different items we have on stock .

You’ve heard this before but we’ll say anyway… Welcome To Our Home!

And by the way, Happy Valentines!

Multiply Sales by Multiply

This can not be stopped (for now). Thousands and thousands are selling their stuff online using the social networking site, MULTIPLY.com.

Last year, I also dipped my foot and created my own account over at Multiply but other projects came in so that was shelved. Now that we got just a little more time to test the multiply selling, our multiply account is now into full gear.

http://blozoom.multiply.com is the url.

What’s nice about Multiply is that the interface is built-in and ready. Only the content that you’ll load is needed. With its online networking feature and basic stuff like, photos, music, videos, blogs and links are all set, these make Multiply (though not its primary purpose) a ready online selling machine.

To be able to consummate the deal, communication is important. And Multiply doesn’t lack a thing in this regard. Users can easily comment on posts, can easily reply on comments and finally, it has private messaging as well. The email settings have all the options if you want to be notified on posts, comments, etc. etc. Also, there are third-party tools that you can use if ever you would want to install an order form.

Let me mention too, the Multiply has an upgrade option. The paid service will let you remove the google ads.

Another great feature of Multiply.com when used as an online selling tool, you can control all aspects of the contents. Specifically, the users/visitors comments and guestbook entries, you can edit & delete such. That’s a powerful tool. Users will not be able to hijack (users who post their own ads via comment section) your posts. Also, you have the choice & control as to whom you’d like to be “friends” or networked with. Easily invite multiply users, vice versa, easily decline invitations if you don’t feel the need to be networked with some.

Multiply also features the “groups.” This is an all-important feature if you will ever start selling online at Multiply.com. To gain more visitors and “friends,” you need to be active in posting items for sale, helpful contents, useful links, etc. But there is a thin line on being active and spamming. So easy on your posting as well, like any other things in life, do it in moderation and calculated ways.

Of course, there is no such thing as perfect site and a perfect tool. Multiply has some knacks.

One, the avalanche of PM spams. That’s pretty annoying.

Two, because Multiply account is so easy to set-up, all others are creating their own sites. Therefore, more posters, and less sellers. Or, to apply this to the topic of online selling, more and more sellers, lesser and lesser buyers or consumers. Based on my wild estimate, there are 2000 kikay-fashionista-accessories seller accounts over at multiply. Yep, that’s wild but you know what I mean? Could be, there are only 2 to 5 PROSPECTIVE buyers for every seller.

Three, basically, you can only do so much with regards to customization. Change the theme and the fonts and some images and you are done. Multiply looks/theme is not that much customizable (but this could be a positive as it prevents clutterous and eyesore sites).

Four, the uncertainty of when this would last. You know what? A bad night sleep and a subsequent bad mood day to one higher management guy of Multiply and he can pull the plug on this Multiply online selling. They can easily wipe out these online selling accounts over at Multiply.com if this goes any wilder than it is now. So, putting your business in one site is a bad idea.

Five, it has no e-commerce support for payments, online transfer, paypal, etc. The usual ways of offline bank deposits, gcash, smartmoney, or even meet-up/COD should all kick in.

But overall, considering it is free and easy, it’s worth the try. Go on, sell at Multiply.com but don’t just friggin spam me and don’t sell what we sell at BLOZOOM-X

BY THE WAY, if you’d like to sell outside Multiply.com, we also created our wn site, a free ads website, BLOZOOM.com. Check the site. It’s a free buy and sell website. FREE TO USE. FOR ALL.

Nowhere Sites

I mentioned the streamlining I made on my bookmarked sites. Some are 3 to 4 years old and the favorrites lists really needed the clean up. Herewith are sample websites long been gone... or at best, no longer updated.

• balitabalita.com
• homepagekoto.com
• ebuyncell.com
• mytindahan.com
  
• thetradingpost.ph
• kuweba.com
  
• newsbump.net
• astigg.com
• myphilippines.com
• hellomanila.com
• gophilippines.com
• buyncell.biz
• yotophoto.com
• thesimplegallery.com
• estore-exchange.com
• pinoybookstoreonline.com
• openpinoy.net
• itechmobile.net
• youtubex.com
• infamousx.com
• philippinesfreeads.com
  

Which reminds me, in doing websites, it can't be just be on pure impulse.

Registering a domain name (and cheap btw) and it's easy to start a project but maintaining such and having the commitment to stick to the project and push through it in thin times is the tougher part.

Have to see the long-term. See how you'll generate income (btw, don't create a site thinking Google Adsense money alone all the time, you won't last), what really is the target audience, how your site will evolve etc. etc. Otherwise, in one year, your site, the domain name, the development made go "bye bye na" on you.

(check some of the domains above, some are for sale)

Related post:

New Website. No Content. Go Away!