Sandor Panton, August 2003

[SistahD]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Thanks (((everybody))) for coming in to make Sandor welcome in our little homespace. He'll be back to answer questions later on.


((Q)) can you make this a sticky thread to keep it available to members and Sandor for the remainder of the month, please?

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Welcome Sandor,I am actually on one of my usual busy weekenf,so I'm just peeking in amd will probably be leaving shortly.

Congrats on your achievements, I remember your original web site,though I thought at the time You was in New England.only to discover that you were actually at UWI.
Good luck with Top5,I think it is a fine piece of wprk.
Good luck again. I will peek in later as my time allows,but Duty calls.

[Q3210]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

SistahD, the thread is sticky as long as you and yours keep posting. No problem.

[SistahD]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Originally posted by Q3210:
[qb] SistahD, the thread is sticky as long as you and yours keep posting. No problem. [/qb]

Thanks (((Q)))

[Leonie]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Excuse it seems a lot of people know you, but I dont care to tell me who you be?

[SistahD]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

((Leonie)) our Guest was... Sandor Panton, Owner of www.top5jamaica.com and top5trinidad.

Please take a few minutes to review his interview

http://www.jamaicans.com/articles/0803_sandorpanton.htm

[sandor]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

hi bigtime .. thanks for the big up [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

How many sites featured on your site are in foreign (eg. My own site is featured and I am in the UK)? Do you check to see whether the sites featured are up to date (relevant)?

actually, i am not sure how many are 'foreign-based' versus 'jamaica-based'. it's a bit difficult to get this sort of information unless you ask each site owner specifically. and the thing is, you could even try to get some info. by doing a whois check, but there are so many jamaican-based individuals/companies that use foreign addresses and contact details in their whois information, that it would not be very accurate.

i do try to keep all categories updated with only relevant sites being listed ... this 'weeding' process is continuous ... the thing is, so many sites shut down and/or are taken over by domain name resellers that this aspect of the site is quite tedious .. but of course, very necessary.

[sandor]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Hi Lala, I've posted my responses below.

with the dot.com bubble bursting sometime ago, what advice would you give to any budding e-Business entrepreneurs?

- Try to be innovative. There are a lot of people out there trying to make money off the same or similar items/areas. Useful innovation is likely to be a pathway to success. I say 'useful' because there is also innovation that's 'cool' but which ultimately will not be financially viable.
- Treat it just as you would an offline (concrete & cement) business. The Internet can sometimes seem so informal that you lose track of the ultimate consideration for any business ... that your overheads do not add up to more than your revenue. And if overheads are atually greater than revenue, you should hopefully have a plan as to how that will be turned around in the near or long run.

Do you have any plans to diversify beyond your current business mission? If so (an if dem a nuh tap secret ), what are they?

I am actually diversifying with a couple online ventures that are not Jamaica or Caribbean specific. Can't give details of who/what, but relative to the number of people in the world, targeting Jamaicans and West Indians means focusing on a really really small niche. So these ventures are actually targeting the global market and are in no way specifically related to Jamaica or the Caribbean.

That aside, I am planning to do a Top5caribbean 'soon' ... the concept will be a bit different from the current two Top5 sites though .. watch for it [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Who do you most admire in business?

hmmm .. good question ... i like the way Butch Stewart has grown his network of businesses over the years ... and they continue to grow. in terms of an actual personality that i have interacted with though, i think the CEO of the internet marketing company that i work for here in Canada is that person.

a keen and smart businessman he is ... always looking for opportunities ... knows what needs to be done ... surrounds himself with smart people who can do it .. rewards them generously ... ensures that they're having fun while making HIM rich ... gives generously to various charities and individuals in need ... lives by the "what goes around comes around" motto. the list goes on ... put it this way, working for his company is the first job i've ever had where monday morning comes and i don't mind going to work! i've learned quite a bit from him in the short two years that i've been here in canada, and i will be looking to use a lot of that when i do move back to jamaica ... soon i hope [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Lala]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Mr Sandor

Pardon mi bad manners..mi jus buck up again pan dis.

Tank yu so much for taking the time to respond.

[accompong98]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Welcome to the Board!

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the voting that takes place for the rankings on you "Top Five".

By looking at the list in order of finish, I seem to see that the larger sites (like the Gleaner etc.) which has much higher impression rate, get less votes than the smaller and nitch-oriented ones do (ie. the Dancehall sites etc.). Even a site the size of Jamaicans.com can only get 600 or so people to vote when they get over 2,000,000 impressions per month.

Do you think this form of "rating the sites" is a fair indication of just how good the sites are and further an indication of how much they contribute to Jamaica as a whole?

In a world of "Fluff" and "Sound Bites", quality and content often takes a backseat to glitz and glamor.

Jamaicans.com is an exception to that rule in my opinion.

I would like to hear yours?

Respect!

[PILOT]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

The gleaner like to follow back a wee eeeh... Cho, second if nuh third time ina year...Miss Lou and now Sandor Panton . Check out the Story...

Sandor Panton building success on the Internet
published: Wednesday | October 1, 2003

By Ayanna Kirton, Jamaica gleaner -Staff reporter


Sandor Panton

WHAT BEGAN as a project for one of the graduate courses in UWI's Management Information Systems program has grown into Top5Jamaica.com, one of the island's most popular search portals.

Sandor Panton, creator and chief executive officer of Top5jamaica.com, said the lack of web sites that focused on providing links to Jamaican interests on the Internet acted as a catalyst in the creation of Top5Jamaica.com.

"When I created it there weren't many sites on the Web that offered links to Jamaican web sites so I decided to do Top5Jamaica with the intention of showcasing the best of Jamaica online in various categories," said Panton who began running the web site from his home in Kingston, Jamaica before migrating to Canada in 2001. The CEO now specialises in Internet marketing and continues to run Top5jamaica.com from his new home in Ontario, Canada.

With over 2,000 web sites listed in almost fifty different categories, Top5Jamaica.com aims to meet the needs of anyone, anywhere in the world in search of links to Jamaican and Jamaican related web sites. Described as a free guide to the Internet's top Jamaican web sites, Top5Jamaica.com runs the gamut from those seldom visited web sites to the ones with high levels of traffic and features the best of the lot. Its nearly fifty categories include reggae, dancehall, hotels, destinations, technology, culture, personalities and politics.

CATEGORIES

"From potential visitors to the island who are looking for accommodation-related links to students who might be doing research or looking for certain Jamaican web sites, you name it an you are likely to find it listed within one of the categories on Top5Jamaica," said Panton.

Since its emergence in 1998, Top5 Jamaica.com's popularity has escalated with "an average of 8,000 unique individuals visiting the site on a daily basis," he said. "The site is also very popular among local webmasters who acknowledge it as a good source of traffic for the sites that are listed there," observed the CEO. Although Panton attributes the popularity of Top5Jamaica mainly to word of mouth he revealed that he has applied numerous low and zero cost marketing techniques to increase the site's visibility. Some of these include contests and give-aways of items like dancehall and reggae CDs; an annual "Surfer's Choice" of the year award which sees Jamaican web site owners urging visitors to their sites to vote for them as the best web site of the year on Top5Jamaica.com; including Top5 Jamaica.com in various popular search engines such as Google; and exchanging links with other Caribbean related web sites. He plans to expand his marketing campaign to offline promotion this coming holiday season through sponsoring events and distributing Top5Jamaica paraphernalia to the public.

OPERATIONAL EXPENSES

With Panton as the company's only employee, receiving occasional help from his wife, Aiesha, Top5Jamaica has few operational expenses.

"My main expense is web hosting," said Panton who explained that hosting costs for web portals could cost approximately US$360 per year for an average sized site.

"Initially, I operated at a loss for a couple of years because I had very few advertisers," he said. Today, the web site's major source of income comes from advertising and "costs for hosting are easily covered, said Panton.

"What's most rewarding for me right now is that the site is achieving exactly what I intended," he said alluding to the web site's success. "People no longer have to search high and low for local sites, a visit to Top5Jamaica gives them all the links to Jamaican web sites."

In the near future Panton hopes to trade his Internet marketing job for work on Top5jamaica.com full time. "I hope to be working on it and other spin-offs of the Top5 concept on a full time basis," he said. This is already becoming a reality since Panton managed to launch Top5Trinidad.com at the end of 2002 and confessed that plans to launch a Top5Caribbean.com are in the making.

[PILOT]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

Tips for on-line business
published: Wednesday | October 15, 2003

By Sandor Panton Gleaner Contributor

IN THE past year or two, more and more enterprising Jamaicans have set up on-line ventures, with the obvious critical aim being to make a profit. Some have managed to do this and survive, while others have quietly ceased operations and faded from memory. The causes of such failures usually stem from poor business or marketing plans, but hopefully the tips below can serve as a useful guide for anyone planning an on-line venture.

DO MARKET RESEARCH

You may have a perceived 'great idea', but why jump headlong into it without first doing a bit of market research? The size and number of potential and existing competitors, the extent of product/service demand and its marketability are all key factors that will help to tell you whether or not it makes sense to proceed with your idea.

TRY TO DIFFERENTIATE

As a basic example, there are already dozens of web sites selling pickapeppa sauce and reggae CDs, and quite a few giving reviews of the latest parties in Jamaica, so why do you think that your 'pickapeppa' or 'Jamaican parties' on-line venture will blast away the competition. The onus is on you to ensure that whatever you are putting out there does not get lost in the sea of competition. You can also look to identify a potentially profitable niche within an already popular market.

THINK GLOBALLY AS WELL AS LOCALLY

If you have an idea that may work locally, investigate the feasibility of doing it for a global Internet audience. The Internet's reach is unlimited, so why restrict your venture to a Jamaican audience. On a regional level you could be looking at the wider Caribbean, and globally you could be looking at the entire English-speaking population of the world. There are a lot more customers to be had on these broader scales, so don't hold back if it's a good idea.

SPEND WISELY

Whether you're paying a web hosting company to host your on-line venture, or a programmer to create a database for it, do your research and spend wisely. If you get a 'deal' for hosting that is 'too good to be true', and then it turns out that your site is inaccessible several times in any given day, then that is probably why it was 'too good to be true'. The cheapest is not always the best but at the same time, do your homework to ensure that you're not overcharged.

MARKET IT

Yes you can put the grand idea to life, but it will be your big secret unless people know of its existence. Whether you're spending big dollars on elaborate marketing campaigns or using low-cost methods to get the word out there, marketing your on-line venture is key. Build it and they will come, but only if they see, read or hear about it.
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Sandor Panton is an Internet specialist and consultant. If you have any comments, contact him at [email protected]. This series is brought to you by www.go-jamaica.com, the portal web site of The Gleaner.

[SistahD]

Re: Sandor Panton, August 2003

((Mods)) please close and relocate this thread to Discussion Archives, thanks