Recently it feels that every new startup is creating a subscription model and focusing on that as there main source of revenue. Not surprisingly, we are doing that in our business. I did a fair amount of research and here are some things to test and use if you are doing a subscription model business.

link

1. Add a secure lock near your confirmation button
2. Change the text of your confirmation button to some more positive action
3. Have your confirmation button above the fold
4. Include images of the Visa / Mastercard logos
5. Test out pricing specials for first month. This has shown to work better than 14 day free trials, etc…
6. Automatically put the user on a recurring plan vs. opting into it
7. Include user testimonials and # of subscribers on your subscribe page
8. Give them a surprise bonus to subscribe at the point of confirm
9. Use a javascript timer countdown to encourage impulsive subscriptions
10. Test varying lengths of time if you want to do a free-trial program: 7, 14, 30
11. A/B test 50% off vs $50 off (or some equivalent amount)
12. Allow them to subscribe for 1,2,3 years and default to 2 years. While building Facebook advertising users would more than average use the amounts and timeline that we defaulted too
13. Add security badges to your confirmation page. BBB, hacker safe, etc…
14. Provide a phone # on that page in case they are having doubts
15. Use intellichat.com. Will talk more about this in a future article. Definitely one of the best startups on the market today.

One of the most important things is to get the users to pay you something. Credit card, paypal or the new mobile payment services (mobillcash or zong). Once you have it you can make it one click ability to pay for other things and upsell them. If I missed anything please let me know.

I was browsing a presentation on Slideshare today when I noticed a link to “Post to Twitter.” You are all familiar with the normal sharing links of Facebook, Digg, Delicious, etc…I was curious if this was working and went to search.twitter.com, and checked the text they insert with the post, “Check out this SlideShare.” Surprisingly tons of people are sharing content this method.

Use this to integrate:

<a target="_new" href="http://twitter.com/home?status=[change this to the text and link you want]" target="_blank"><img alt="okdork.com rules" src="http://www.slideshare.net/images/twitter_sv.gif"/> Post to Twitter</a>

I would suggest adding Post to Twitter to your site if you have content that people want to share.

Like many of you, all the stories I read about outsourcing were all about companies saving money and using firms in India. Seemed like something mentioned but not really used by startups in Silicon Valley. Then about a year ago my friend mentioned how he had this guy in the Philippines doing some coding for him. It made outsourcing more real and then I worked with the coder on some stuff and was extremely excited about the pricing, the fact the project was done when I woke up and how darn polite international people are.

I was hooked and was feigning for more! I started looking around at other remedial tasks and things I wanted built so I got a data-entry outsourcer to help. Heck, even recently I was planning on having an outsourcer to do my online traffic ticket class.

Anywho, I wanted to help you start outsourcing and want to layout what you should do if you are interested:

1- Determine. Figure out what you need. Data-entry, emailing bloggers, programming, what?
2- Resources. Go to odesk, elance, craigslist (of india and other international places), getfriday
3- Details. Write up a semi-specific thing of what you want completed. List the exact amount of hours and rate you are budgeting. $4-5 for data entry and $20 for programming are fair.
4- Walk through. Have the person do the task once and then show you the results so you know they understand. If they are coding, show them a similar project / site so they have a clear idea of expectations. This is CRITICAL as many time there are communication issues, so you need to make sure they understand what you want.
5- Communicate. Get Instant messenger (MSN, AIM, Yahoo) screen names right away so you can chat real-time.
6- Time. Set deadlines so it’s clear when the work should be done.

Outsourcing is god’s gift to the lazy. It is a win-win (I dislike when people use this) situation where Indians/etc… are getting higher paying work than they normally would in there country and you are able to spend your time on more valuable things.

Bonus: What things could and would you want outsourced now? I will pay for 2 hours of outsourcing for the best comment.

I was invited to moderate a panel about new technology on November 15th at the great Berkeley >Play Conference. A very cutting edge tech conference at my alma mater (yes, I’m officially old now) that will have: founder of Twitter, EVP of Zynga, CEO of Jaxtr and more…

So they are giving me 2 free tickets and I said No to my mom and thought maybe 2 of my readers/friends may be interested. If you want a ticket and can really come, then leave a comment about your favorite flavor of ice cream before Friday 5pm PST. (Yes, that is a random ?)

Pharmahelper is a drug search engine that helps you find the lowest prices for prescription drugs. Huge market, check. Competition, not too much online. Great margins, yuop. I got a chance to talk to the founders and here’s their story.

We were interested in starting up our own online business but didn’t want to get involved in managing inventory or shipping products and we were all passionate about Search. We also liked the idea of shopping comparison engines, but wanted to focus on becoming specialists in one market. We built Pharmahelper.com because we wanted to provide a safe and trusted source for people to compare and buy their prescription medication online.

How big is the pharma sales market?

In 2007 total US sales for prescription medication reached $287 billion dollars.

How do you get the word out about your site?

We have just recently moved off Beta and are now in launch mode so a big forum will be speaking with guys like you. We are always interested in talking with our peers and learning as much information as possible to improve our search and give people what they want. We will also be using PPC advertising and are exploring radio and print advertising in certain demographic regions.

Who should be using your site?

With 47 million Americans currently without any form of medical insurance and the current state of the global economy, anyone who is taking prescription medication, and is looking for a safe and trusted source on online pharmacies, will benefit. Just recently, The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 27% of Americans have decided not to fill a prescription due to the cost. Pharmahelper provides a safe place for these people to find significant cost savings on their medications.

Did you develop the Pharmahelper platform or did you license someone’s technology?

We have a great development team and developed everything in house. We use open source software bundled with some proprietary technology that we had to develop as it was non-existent.

Do you believe taking such a niche approach to comparison shopping will be a formula for success?

We are a very focused company as we only concentrate on prescription medication. Taking this niche approach allows us to provide the most accurate search available for drug prices, while saving people time and money.

What were the main challenges in developing the site?

These were mostly encountered when we began to normalize the drugs. Normalizing drugs effectively was something we felt the big comparison shopping engines were not doing successfully as it was not their core business. Drugs come in different dosages and strengths. When you add generics to the mix it becomes quite a challenge to equally compare side by side. We spent close to a year at getting things right and we realize it will always be a work in progress. However at this point, I think we got it right.

What does the clipboard mean?

The clipboard is a tool we introduced to help people save and share searches with friends and family. We found that people like to research price options for medicine for use at a later date. We thought the implementation of the clipboard would be useful in achieving this, as it can also allow a customer to conduct side-by-side comparisons as well as to email the results.

I was just adding another bookmark to Yelp.com and realized they added some Google ads to their site. See pic below. I really hate when people make wild predictions about someone should buy someone so I’ll apologize ahead of time. I was talking to someone yesterday who was saying Google was dumb to buy YouTube. I thought so at the time, well mostly I was jealous of the $$$:) Anyways, Youtube is a content system that people are browsing and Google can throw ads on. There is more than this but I’m simplifying. This is the EXACT same thing with Yelp.

On Yelp there is ton of great content and information about restaurants (and potentially any business) generated by a passionate userbase. I was VERY wrong when I talked crapped on Yelp a year ago. My bad. Right now Yelp has grown mostly through Google Search results and map results with some word of mouth thrown in. I am guessing shortly they are going to start focusing on monetization after they’ve done a lot of growth. The amount of business they drive to restaurants is insane but they don’t get a cut of it at all. For now…anywho, they have a lot of opportunity and seems like a slam dunk for Google.

Anywho, I am totally off base or does this make sense. Thoughts?

One of the first people to buy a ticket to my original Community Next event was Karen and Mike. They enjoyed the event (I think) and then went off to create an impressive conference called Opportunity Green in Los Angeles. It’s all about green business sustainability and profitability. I was able to speak there last year and it was fun.

They were VERY nice and gave us a 40% off coupon (’okdork’) for anyone interested in attending on Nov 8th and 9th. Go Register >

I asked this question to Adam Shepard who wrote Scratch Beginnings which is a great story of him starting from nothing (literally) in a town and what happens 6 months later…

Why should anyone read this book and what will they get out of it?

There are a couple of reasons to read this book…

First off, it’s entertaining as hell. I met a cast of guys that are way more fascinating than myself (and got my butt kicked by one of them), and to be able to tell their story is what this was all about for me. My story is cool, sure, but the guys I met have some pretty interesting tales to tell.

More importantly, though, I learned so much about what it takes to really make it. Not just with $25. Not just out of a homeless shelter. But in life, and, more specifically, in business. I was humbled to the N^th degree by the experiences I had, and I’m happy to carry those experiences with me now that I have more than $25. Not much has changed in my life. I still drive a beat up hooptie. I still go on cheap dates. My friendships are stronger today than they have ever been. And now, I don’t, by any means, take work ethic for granted. Or the strangers I meet every day. (If you only happen to pick up Scratch Beginnings at the bookstore for a few minutes, read “Job Hunting 101 with Professor Phil Coleman,” where Phil, a random homeless dude, teaches me – “Adam Shepard, the King of the American Dream” – how to get a job. My ego went for a ride, but I didn’t care. I’ll never forget meeting that guy.)

What was the most unexpected thing about starting from nothing?

The whole experience was way more difficult than I expected. I figured I would get off the train on Tuesday night, sleep under a bridge, get a job on Wednesday, and move into a weekly rental by Thursday or Friday.

And then I got off the train in the frickin’ ghetto and immediately saw that things weren’t going to go as I had planned. I quickly made my way to the shelter where I gathered my bearings and strategized what I needed to do to start working my way up.

What can entrepreneurs learn from your experiences?

The same rules still apply for me now as they did when I was walking down Rivers Ave. in North Charleston with a twenty and a five-spot in my back pocket. It’s always a hustle. And that’s what Scratch Beginnings is about, and that’s why I think so many people are able to relate to this story regardless of whether they have $25 or $25,000. When you’re ahead of the game in the world of entrepreneurship, you can either make the decisions to take your business to the next level OR you can squander your money to country club memberships and expensive trips just because, “Hey, I get to write it off anyway!” I’ve had friends whose businesses have flourished or failed because of what they do with their money. And that’s the same way it was for me in Scratch Beginnings.

The most interesting comment will get a free copy of the book.

Recently my business partner’s wife Crystal quit her day job teaching to explore one of her passions, fashion. Many people are unhappy with there day jobs and just sit in there cubicles and do nothing. I was impressed that she took the plunge to try something new and here’s her story starting ssasychic.com a fashion blog.

What’s the biggest challenge you are facing in starting the Ssasy Chic blog?

Because I don’t have a tech background, it’s been challenging to learn how the blogging world works. SEO is still a bit of an enigma for me. I’ve become obsessed with checking my site viewers on Google Analytics and get frustrated when I see a decline. The worst part is not knowing what to do to increase my traffic. I feel like I’ve tried everything, but my numbers have remained stagnant. Basically, being patient has been hard!

The blog was originally intended to be a lifestyle blog for busy women. I was going to write about cooking, gardening, exercising, etc. as well as fashion and beauty. Because I didn’t understand SEO or blogs, I didn’t realize that my focus was too broad. When I did finally realize why I was getting no exposure, I consulted my trusty GA to see which posts were most popular. With the exception of a post about hosting a New Mexican themed dinner party, my most popular posts were about beauty and fashion. So, I decided to do that. It’s been fun immersing myself in the fashion world. Very different from teaching!

What do you want to accomplish with your blog?

I started the blog because I was just learning CSS and HTML and wanted a project. I also was still trying to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my life and thought it would be fun to write about things I was interested in and good at. So, basically, the blog was always intended to be a starting point for me in determining my next steps career-wise. And, it’s done that. In learning and writing about fashion, I’ve had many project and business ideas that have been passed to me and some that I’ve come up with. So, to answer your question, the selfish goal I have for the blog is that it helps me determine the next steps for my work.

The less selfish goal I have is for my intended audience. Many of the fashion sites I visited before starting this blog were fun, but not super informative and not realistic. I want my readers to be able to come to my site and easily find what the latest trends are, how to wear them and where to find affordable options. Though many women love watching fashion shows and enjoy designer clothes, few of us can actually afford any of that. So, I hope to bridge that disconnect.

I’m also interested in building more of a community among participants in the online fashion community. There seems to be very little communication or camaraderie. I’ve found it quite difficult to ‘make friends’ with other fashion bloggers. There’s a sense of unnecessary competition when really, we could be supporting each other.

How did you make the decision to leave teaching to go out and do your own things?

Oh! Tough question! And, how to answer this well? I loved teaching and have no regrets for making that my career for 6 years. I am the type of person who gives absolutely every part of herself to her latest project. And, that’s what I did with my students. I worked in a pretty challenging school and it became harder and harder to take care of myself and live my own life. I needed to focus on my needs, my relationships and what I ultimately want out of life. Really, I needed to allow myself to be more selfish for a little bit.

It was also time for a new challenge. Teaching was always very challenging. But, it was a challenge that had become routine for me. When a student was struggling with reading, I knew the steps to take to approach that issue. When a student was having home issues or behavioral issues, I knew what to do next. Those things were no less challenging, they just didn’t require me to be as creative or thoughtful as I had originally had to be. I needed something new.

The goals I have for myself include more flexibility and freedom on a day to day basis as well as long-term. Teaching wasn’t going to allow me that.

Who should be reading and what’s your plan to get a hold of them.

Anyone! I have a guy friend who says he reads it at work. He strategically places windows on his desktop so his co-workers won’t think he’s secretly interested in buying a new pair of Skinny Jeans.

My target audience is women aged 20-50 who want to learn more about fashion and beauty. My site is much more practical than just showing the latest runway trends. I show you how to achieve those looks for yourself at a reasonable price.

My plan to get a hold of them? Well, that’s the challenge! I’ve done lots of networking, link sharing, commenting, forum discussing and have tried to crack the SEO code. Any other ideas?

How can the okdork readers help you?

I would love any feedback! Feedback on layout, content, SEO, increasing traffic, etc.
And, spread the word! Tell your girlfriends, your sisters, your moms, your grandmas…your male coworkers!

Criticize, comment, suggest, inform–anything helps! Check out SSASY Chic >

I thought it would be interesting to interview some other people doing start-ups. I am sure many of you have seen all the shirt companies out there, Threadless (they rule), Busted Tees, etc…So to find a new one launching I was a bit skeptical. Let’s here what the founder of AntiClothes, Bryan Hewitt has to say…

How did AntiClothes get started?
AntiClothes was launched in August, making it 2 months young. We started the concept about a year before that, and it finally all came together then.

What made you become interested in doing your own business?
I’ve got an expensive habit with loving cars. Oh, and people uglying themselves up with crappy t shirts. I wanted to make things that felt like a warm hug every time you put it on. It’s like a replacement for a significant other. Those are so overrated!

What’s missing in the t-shirt business online now and why do we need another one?
Simple, consistency. So many companies are pushing our fresh designs every Monday, but most are forced ideas. We may move into releasing every week, but right now we wait, pick the best idea, then design. After we design, we filter even more to what we dig the most, and think our customers will like the best. You can’t show up with just one or two good designs, and the rest fillers. You need solid ideas, executed to the T (oh god, puns), every time.

How do you plan on people marketing AntiClothes shirts?
We’re promoting through standard channels, banner ads, traffic plugs, but we have alternative marketing methods in mind. We are launching a ‘viral’ campaign, based around video. I put viral in quotes because it’s never really something you can predict, or create, but you can damn sure use the tools available to try. I’ve spent a lot of time researching what has gone viral on video sites, as well as what seems to be popular amongst our target market of 18-30.

Our first video is coming out on Youtube in about a week or so. I had a cartoon version of myself created, and I teach YouTube obscenities in sign language. Inspired by this lovely gem: YouSuck T Shirt . I want to give each shirt it’s own video. Some will be completely random, and some will be based around the shirt.

There are many t-shirt companies, how are you going to stand out?
We’re the badass of the group. You’ve got Threadless who focuses more on a designer/art type t’s, and BustedTee’s who focuses on the joke and not the design as much. Both are great companies, but we’re what would happen if you smashed the two together and threw sprinkles on top. Our shirts aren’t novelties, they help our customer stand out. Strangers come up to me and compliment certain designs I wear, and that reaction our customers get as well, will help put us on top.

Biggest challenge and greatest so far?
Designers who flat out suck. We’ve went through a good piece of change with artwork that never came out right, or we just didn’t receive. We need a vast array of styles for our line up, and though you can find one solid designer out of filtering through 10, we needed more than that. What I advise to people is to search outside your niche. This is risky, but will pay off incredibly if you can find someone with raw talent in a similar field, and get them to filter it to yours. We’ve had people who are street designers, comic artists, but they raw talent is there - and once they channeled AntiClothes’ vibe they’ve made us great pieces.

A second challenge has been the fact our competitors have hundreds of designs, when we were starting out with 16, and now we’re up to 20. I’m aiming to get us to around 24-25 within a month and a half, then keep expanding from there. Selection is important, most people appreciate a good amount of our shirts. The more we have, the better a chance of some one finding their clothing match made in heaven.

Anything else?
Yes, I’m on a mission. Companies like SnorgTees, which I feel have some of the lamest shirts, are managing to do well. I feel I need to save their customers from buying such horrid t shirt fashion faux pas. AntiClothes is here people, we can save you!

Also, feel free to check out AntiClothes, drop some feedback in this blog post. If you like anything enjoy 10% off with code “okdork”. Don’t forget to check back here and there too! We only have 20 of our designs up right now…plenty more coming!

Ads by Pheedo