We are planning to launch an online store called Spam Sushi that will sell cool, interesting products. The name of the site is based on a popular snack in Hawaii that looks like a sushi roll made with spam instead of fish. It is also known as Spam Musubi. We found many cool products at NYIGF (see the blog post) so we are excited to launch the site soon. Stay tuned for updates.
For those of you who want to make spam sushi at home, try this recipe.
When it comes to building a website, people will ask themselves: “should I do it myself or hire someone?” There are basic three factors that you need to consider when making this decision and we’d be glad to help.
Money
Do you have enough funds to hire a designer/programmer to build your website? If the answer is a no, then your only option is DIY. Even if you don’t have money, you can always barter with others.
Time
How much time do you have? Building a website will take several weeks to months depending on the complexity of the site. It takes time to gather information, pictures, and design the layouts. Keep in mind to get the site up, the proper tools are used to implement the design with coding.
Expertise
Do you have the skills to design and program the site? If you have the skills and the time to build your website, it’s a great way to save money. Just keep in mind that having the expertise to build the site and the time to do it is a different matter altogether. There are many designers who have been working on other people’s design and have great work but actually find little time in their busy schedule to even work on their own website.
What We Can Do For You
We understand that starting or running a business is a 24/7 responsibility so we want to help you make your life a little easier when it comes to building a site. Our main goal is to work with you to build a professional website no matter what your budget is. We offer three tier system: silver, gold, and platinum. Silver level website starts at $500. Contact us to see how we can help you.
We attended the New York International Gift Show last week and it was a lot of fun meeting other fellow entrepreneurs and business owners. One of the highlight was attending a Product Design and Manufacturing Seminar presented by (www.ranlernerdesign.com). He has consulted for many remarkable consumer brands like Joeseph + Joeseph and Umbra just to name a few. It was great meeting him and learning about his design process, also he was really cool and very helpful.
Other news we want to share is that that we are excited to partner up with a NY designer and will be opening a online store to sell interesting design products. And last but not least, we are also developing a few products which are coming along nicely. They are top secret for now but we will show you sneak peeks soon. So far the process has involved many design changes, clay sculpting, 3D models, molds and casting prototypes. They too will eventually be available for purchase in the shop section of our website so please stay tuned.
There are still many individuals and business owners who don’t have a website. Why they should have a site is for another post but for now, we want to talk about the steps to set up a website. Here are the steps:
Domain Name
First you need a domain name. A domain name is like a address for your house but instead it’s for your website so people can find it in the virtual world. If you have a good name for your domain, it’s a very good idea to get that registered ASAP. Just google “domain registration” and you’ll find many companies who can register your domain for you. The price of domain name registration ranges from $10 to 15 per year. Since buying a getting domain name has nothing to do performance or design of your site, find the cheapest way to register.
Site Building
Now that you have an address for your house, you want to build it. Just like building a real house, the cost can range from $500 to $5000 or more depending on the design and features, such as shopping cart, image/video gallery, and etc. There are 2 parts to this: design and implementation. Design contains the layout, information, and color scheme of the site. It’s like a blue print for your house and implementation brings your design to life using various technical tools.
Site Hosting
Site hosting is like the rent you pay for you place, you’ll have to pay for the hosting service as long as your site is online. To have your site online, you need to have a computer dedicated to be on 24/7 and connected to the internet. Since sites run on a computer, the performance of the site and availability of the computer your site runs on matters. If your site is hosted on slow machine (slow CPU and low memory), your site will load slowly and its very possible it may also go down from time to time. We offer hosting from $10 to $50 per month depending on various services needs such as gallery upload, site update and etc. Please message us for full spec sheets of this information.
Caveat
So what’s so confusing about this? The confusion starts when you try to register your domain name. All you need to do is register your domain until your site is built and is ready to be hosted. However, all domain registration companies try to lure you with other services and offer most people what they don’t need. The most common trap is they’ll make you sign up for hosting. However, when you think about, why would you want to pay when you don’t even have a site. It’s like paying for the rent before even moving in yet.
Back in the day, pre-internet days people used to look up people and business establishments via phone books and Yellow pages. Then a friendly phone call and a in person meeting would follow. Nowadays, in the digital age we rely heavily on the internet. Here is a typical scenario of the same person looking for a new restaurant, product, or service in present time:
1. Search in Google Field
Google will return a list of businesses as a search result. The search results will pull up businesses with similar names and general information including phone number, address and a link to their website (if they have a website). Also, if looking for local business establishments, google will also show the results on google map.
2. Check out websites
If the business has a website, they will click on the link to view the website. Studies shows that people give a maximum of 30 seconds to make a decision whether to stay or leave the site. You want to engage people and have them spend more time on the site.
So why do businesses need a website?
Presence
The number one reason for a person or business to have a website is to have presence on the web. When a potential customer googles you, your business will be listed with competitors. If you don’t have a website, you will be filtered out and have a lesser chance to gain new customers.
First Impression
When a potential customer visits your website, you will have one chance to make an impression. The magical thing about how internet and a website is that people won’t know whether you are a mom and pop store or a huge corporation. A professionally designed site will show that you are legitimate and serious about your business.
Serve Your Customers
Now that you have their attention, tell them about your business and yourself. Your site needs to have a good navigation system so that people can easily find out more information. Not only list your products or services, share your vision and what makes you unique. Be personable and be yourself.
In all your endeavors 
And Happy Holidays from all of us at Efactorial Inc
And Happy Holidays from all of us at Efactorial Inc
Apple fans paying tribute in front of the store
Steve Jobs has passed away but left us wonderful human experiences that are shared via Apple products. His brilliance, passion, and energy will live forever in our burning desire to do better and make better lives in our own ways. We give our deepest condolences to a man who did so much and showed that it is possible with passion. In honor of his belief, we at Efactorial Inc will work harder, do more, and make better products and services to our clients and to the world. We just started few months ago but we have grown and have been working on several innovative and revolutionary products, projects, and services. We are working hard to showcase the projects we are working on to share with the world soon.
Here is his belief/passion that inspired us to do more:
What a awesome show! Here is a video from the episode that is absolutely SWELL!
