Our 2008 Round-Up and More…

Posted on 09. Jan, 2009 by Nic in What's New

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s still not too late! We’re still in early January.

Krista and I just got back from Langkawi but I want to do this round-up before we blog about that trip.

We’ll be off to Kuching for a break next week (so if you want to call me, remember, reach me at my mobile number please) plus hope to meet up with the Habitat for Humanity people in Kuching. They approached us to help them in terms of setting up their website for the Kuching affiliate so we’re really keen to help them design their website, pro bono of course. We enjoy using our design and marketing skills to help people who deserve all the help they can get. Plus we may even get to build a wall or paint a wall while we’re there.

Anyway, in case you just caught us, our 2008 was full of interesting moments such as…

Our 10th Birthday

Yup, we celebrated our 10th year in business with a 3-day, 2-night trip for the team to Langkawi. I am especially thankful that with your support, we have passed the decade mark. I got my team to design a special commemorative logo for this 10 year milestone and you can probably see it on all our outgoing envelopes and letterhead (and if you are quick enough, you will see it on our Homepage too).

We’ve Upgraded Our Servers

We’ve recently upgraded our servers by increasing their RAM. What this means is the server is now faster than before and is able to serve your customers better (loads your website faster). And nope, this upgrade is completely free (though it does cost us quite a bit on our side but we are absorbing the costs). We’re doing this because you’re our premium customer.

(By the way, you would note that the Streamyx line (the Malaysian Internet Service Provider) has been terribly sluggish for the past few weeks. It’s due to some under sea cable breaking down and being repaired. That’s why sometimes you experience slow surfing and painful emailing. Nothing to worry about though it can get quite frustrating especially if you are downloading stuff.)

Launched Redbox Online Store

Yes, you read right. After years and years of helping people set up their ecommerce business, we decided we wanted a bit of the action too.

So we launched our own ecommerce store, Redbox Online Store in August last year. Our Redbox Online Store sells downloadable audio books (it’s simple, you pay, download and listen). The audio books are superbly narrated.

We thought about this for a long time because we want our e-store to be related to our main business. We didn’t want to open our online shop just because we could. We wanted it to be something we truly enjoyed. And finally one day, the ideas of books and knowledge popped into my head. After all, we’re big consumers of audio products and ebooks!

Streamlined Our Offerings

We thought about our web design packages and wanted to make them truly affordable for everyone. I know, sometimes if you start out in your business, you may not have a huge budget for a website. So we specially tailored website package called Redbox Enterprise for those with a budget. We don’t stinge on design or our expertise so you do get a pretty good deal with this Redbox Enterprise package. Of course if you want something better, you can always ask for our Redbox Premium package which is really the cat’s whiskers of web design.

Also, for ecommerce, you can now choose from 2 different Ecommerce Packages to suit different needs and of course, budgets. Both the Redbox Lite Ecommerce and the Redbox Premium Ecommerce are professionally audited and comes with features that make running your own ecommerce store so easy.

All in all, better and more streamlined product offerings so you can get the best deals at the best budget.

Got Fantastic Clients

We love the new clients we got last year. Some of them include the Tropical Spice Garden (Teluk Bahang, Penang), Villa Molek (Langkawi), Summersands (Kuala Lumpur) and Clarity8 (Penang). We do pick and choose our web design clients not because we’re crazy but because it’s a long term relationship and we only want to work with the best people. No point killing ourselves with horrible clients.

Consulting for Blogging

Krista also took on a blog consulting gig with Paul Penders Company, an internationally recognized company which produces natural herbal skincare and bodycare products with a difference (this company DOES NOT test its products on animals!). She helps mentor and guide the company staff into setting up a blog, producing blog posts and using those blog posts for further mileage in terms of PR and marketing. This comes at a right time because she’s writing both an ebook and an online course on how to use blogging for corporate PR activities. (Krista also got nominated for an award last year.)

Making Videos for Clients

One of the best things we did in 2008 was to test out another medium – Youtube videos. Not just any videos but producing videos for clients’ marketing. I’m happy to report that we got positive results – increased customers and better visibility online for many of them. The key to using videos is to keep them short around 2 minutes each with clear messages too. Don’t forget to edit mercilessly.

Blogging

For the whole of last year, we wrote 71 posts. Best of the best include:
* 11 more tips to help you promote your business
* Today’s PR is not your mama’s PR anymore
* Why the web is the opposite of printed matter
* Using Twitter effectively for business and PR
* 13 tips for every entrepreneur

Don’t forget to leave some comments after you read. We want to hear from you.

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Facebooking and Twittering

Yes, we’re on Facebook and Krista’s on Twitter. It’s incredible how you can connect with friends and clients and it’s a great tool to help you publicize your business. Coca-Cola, KFC, McDonalds, Apple – every other company is on Facebook. Here’s a tip for 2009: take a look at these free tools online (social media they’re called) and see how they can help your business grow. It’s really about who you are connecting with! (To get you started, you can read this blog post we did on Twitter).

But 2009 – we’re actually very excited about this year because have we got plans in store!

1. Training & Workshops
We’ll be zooming into training to help you understand more about using the Internet for your business. It’s exciting because finally we are doing what we love to do – teach! Our classes and workshops will be limited in size though. Keep reading our blog for updates.

2. WebMazers
WebMazers is another exciting collaboration with a good friend and professional treasure hunter. It’s an online treasure hunt where participants scour websites instead of driving along roads looking for information. How will this help you? As our client, you will get top priority when we are submitting websites for the participants to hunt at. This means more people will get to know you, your website and your products. All you need to do is sponsor prizes for the winners of this hunt. It’s that easy. Interested to know more about this? Contact us and we will let you know more.

3. Learn at Redbox Coach
If you want to learn in the comfort of your own home, our Redbox Coach is the best place to be. We’re in the middle of getting everything ready. Once all our lessons are online, you can pay, log in and learn at your own pace. What can you learn? Well, how about Ecommerce for a start? All you need to know and all the tips we reveal to you will be delivered in short and useful info chunks.

I know that people are wary of this year and scared of the recession. As it is, I know friends who are just working 4 days a week instead of 5. Some companies are relocating to other Asian countries (did you know that 1 engineer’s salary in Malaysia can pay 3 Filipinos easily?) But rather than sit and worry, why not spend that energy being upbeat and positive and work around the challenges?

I know it’s easier said than done but in any crisis, there’s 2 types of people. Those who sit and moan about it and those who get to work and do something positive about it.

Let’s be the second group of people. And let’s really make 2009 fun and profitable.

Like Oprah says, this is the year to live YOUR BEST LIFE.

To YOUR success this year,
Nic

Tags: 2008 redbox studio milestones, business blog posts, redbox studio penang