That Was 2008, Now Let’s Do This 2009 Thing

We have just finished our first year of Mingtiandi and our first year (almost) of RightSite.Asia.  Although, I may be biased, I would have to say, “Not bad.”  Here’s what I think our major accomplishments during the past 12 months:

• Built the beta version of the RightSite.Asia’s first stage
• Assembled a database of 1500 industrial zones and more than 4000 service companies for use in the site
• Established our offshore company and onshore WFOE company
• Didn’t go broke on a lot of unnecessary staff or hardware
• Mike lost 8 kg and lowered his resting pulse by 25 beats per minute (still trying to achieve that work/leisure balance)

Now we have to develop some new goals for 2009.  Having already built our site, our aim for the new year will be to make RightSite famous and start creating revenue.  In an even shorter frame of reference, our company will focus on marketing to make our site famous and build up traffic during the first half of the year.  By building this traffic we can assure ourselves of easier revenue generation in the second half of the year.  Here are a few of our goals for the next six months (in no particular order):

• Build a directory of 1000 available properties
• Increase our directory of service companies to more than 6000 companies
• Attract at least 250 unique visitors to the site every day by June 30th
• Enhance RightSite’s directory of industrial zones by guaranteeing that all entries contain full contact information, transportation information, and detailed descriptions in Chinese and English.
• Ensure that RightSite appears on the first page of the Baidu and Google search results for “China industrial real estate, China industrial property, China industrial zone,” and other relevant key words
• Keep staff turnover at 0%
• Not spend all of our cash on equipment and other silly things
• Create Phase II of RightSite, including premium listings, client sites and purchasable keyword priorities
• Lose another 1.5″ from Mike’s waistline (I’m still trying to get rid of the effects of all that wine I drank in my previous job)

Although making money is goal #1, there are still a number of steps for us to take before we can start taking in any of that cash.  So, it’s easy to say, “let’s get down to business” and try to start selling listings today, and we could probably sell some. However, this approach would not be likely to create a satisfied customer base if the site doesn’t have the traffic levels to guarantee that people who list on the site will receive the inquiries that they need to drive their business.

So RightSite will be focussing on marketing for the first half of 2009, and on sales for the second half of 2009. I promise to keep you posted as we work toward meeting our goals.