We recently launched a mini site for an independant music label in Canada. The challenge was to build a full site with CMS and ecommerce capabilities….in less than 3 weeks. Thanks in part to Magento downloable product module, we could achieve this
- Magento downloadable products allow users to listen to samples of the songs and even buy individual songs (like on iTunes)
- We choose Magento because for phase 2 the store will sell t-shirts and physical albums, and everything is already set. These are just different type of products, you don’t have to create a new admin or a new back-end, the logic is already there. And this is a huge plus
- We played a bit with the templates to create a better user experience and it was fairly easy with Magento. For example we added a flash music player component for samples so users can click on the link/button and listen without leaving the page
- It’s pretty user-friendly. The client is now using it full time with very limited input from us a month later. They add mp3, albums, images, content, etc…
You can see the store here at boutique.laconfiserie.net. Sorry it’s all in french but I’m sure you can get the idea. By the way, we did the development only for this project
We’re quite happy these days because we signed a good client and we will handle all strategy, web marketing and development, what I call a “head to toe” client. We could have used another image but you get the idea.
Happy because it’s a well-known brand/product back In Canada, especially Quebec and….
- Because we take over from 2 well established web agencies. We know we have nothing to prove in terms of expertise and experience but it’s always nice having clients “confirming” this, especially if you’re a start-up
- Client trust us and want to work with us for web marketing (SEO, PPC, Banners) and we will launch a big campaign this fall (strategy, media planning and buying) for the Canadian market even though we are halfway around the world. OK, we have more than 10 years experience in the North American market, we’re not newbies. And the fact we pretty much know all online networks reps personally back in Montreal does help indeed. But the great thing is: it’s business as usual for everybody involved. we use emails, skype, powerpoints…..distance doesn’t matter
- Our client really “gets” it. We have business discussions first and foremost, and we use the web as a medium and a tool. We learn from each other.
We hope more and more clients will work with us not only for development but for all their strategic/marketing needs. We understand that selling strategy when you have 11 hour time difference is not that simple, but again, it’s all a matter of perception. And trust. In today’s world, does it really matter if we’re in Mongolia or Timbuctu?
We already have 3 “head to toe” clients so we must be doing something good : )
First of all, let me just say that the writer of this blog is not a developer, I’m a strategy/marketing guy (surrounded by IT people, but that’s been my life in the web for over 10 years so I’m used to it).
As you probably know by now, we are a PHP company, open-source and all that. But we are, first and foremost, a service company. In other words, we sell our expertise to help clients. I feel this is important and we tend to forget it in our industry.
So why this is important? Because when a client asks for an e-commerce solution or a good CMS, what he really means is: something he can understand and work with. He doesn’t care about the back end, the server, the modules….he wants to be able to change the text, create new products, create promotions, add a picture. Straight-forward stuff.
And this is why we use Magento and Silverstripe. Because they are very user-friendly, simple and yet powerful platforms. From a development company perspective, we could add that they have very active communities and they bring new modules frequently. Obviously they are not perfect but they achieve what is essential: they are tools clients can actually use.
We will write some more in the future with actual projects we built and be a bit more technical this time.
(FYI: our own corporate website www.one2crowd.com is built with Silverstripe, but this blog is in Wordpress – sorry SS!!!)
We are looking for a PHP developer to join our team
- At least 2 years relevant working experience in developing websites, modules, applications
- Very good knowledge of English (all communications, written and verbal, are in English)
- Knowledge of one of those Drupal, Joomla, Zendframework, Cake PHP
- Is passionate, has opinions and wants to contribute to the team
- Can handle multiple projects and tasks at the same time
- Thai national
Based in Chiang Mai. 95% of our clients are in Canada, USA and Europe and we have a constant objective of high quality, dedication and professionalism. We like to think we provide high end solution and we need high end team players!
If interested, please send CV and portfolio/examples to “jobs at one2crowd.com”
As many of you already know, 37signals is this small Chicago-based company that has made a huge impact in the world of startups thanks to their strong values and approach. I will not summarize what they do, go have a look for yourself if you don’t know them. They even have a book out, Getting Real. It is worth it. We also love their blog, Signal versus Noise
A lot of things they say make sense, and I wanted to share with you some elements I found in a very interesting article, 7 things startups should copy from 37signals
Yesterday we had a team meeting to talk about what we did in the last few months, where we want to go, what we do wrong as a team, and oddly enough we talked about 4 main points (we only read the article today) that can be found in the article
- Share your expertise: we need to talk and exchange more internally and externally. So now we have short meetings every morning (people are more aware, more involved), we cut internal MSN conversations and replace them with….talking, and we started a blog and got a twitter account. In less than a week we received 4 request for proposals from people we never heard before, in USA, Europe and Thailand. And we haven’t even worked on our SEO
- Be your own customer: we wanted to share this simple but universal statement with our team. It is crucial. Always think like a user, no matter what you write, code or design. It seems so obvious, yet we forget it all the time.
- Take a stand: have opinions, criticize, argue. Nobody’s perfect, and questions brings more questions and more thinking. It’s always good. This element was especially difficult to “implement” in a thai working environment, where the boss is always right, you never talk back, let alone express yourself. And we’re really happy that we’ve somewhat conquered this at one2crowd (we’re on a 8 out of 10, we want to get the 10)
- Build a community: see point 1. On top of that we’ve created an internal wiki to share code and ideas. And we will launch our website in thai soon to try to reach out more to the local communities (and give a greater role to our thai team regarding communications)
The other points the article make are all valid as well but I felt these 4 ones were universal.
Anybody has similar experiences? thoughts?
After 8 months it was time to move into a bigger office. It wasn’t easy, we have specific needs: open space type that can accommodate 8-12 people no problem. Here, office space are either too big or too small. Or too expensive (they give you the space but you have to build everything, including walls…). After a search that was started almost 3 months ago, we decided on a….town house. It’s big enough, we’re on our own (no need to share with other tenants), it’s very central (right off a big commercial street in Chiang Mai) and the price is in our budget
We moved yesterday, they installed the oh-sooo-important internet connection, tomorrow the oh-s000-mutually-important AC. We’re already up and running and it is a welcomed change: new area, new restaurants, coffee shops.
And mentally too, it’s a nice change. We’re at this stage in our existence where we feel we’ve switched from a beta phase (the first 6-8 months of starting up) into a full release. The timing was perfect for a changing our work space. We learned so much in 8 months: how to work in a multi-lingual work environment for example. We now have clients in USA and Europe, and we’re working on a few very interesting leads in Asia
We just need to buy furniture now : )
UPDATE: Here are two pictures to give you a better idea. As you can see it’s a real work in progress, they are installing the AC today. We need to paint, buy plants, nice stuff, etc…The place is actually much bigger than it looks, we have a mezzanine and 2 other floors. Here you only see the ground floor
