goodboog Global Virtual Catalog

5. 09.

goodboog is pleased to announce that we have been featured in Business in Vancouver’s annual BC TECH Magazine. View the online article here or download the PDF here. Excerpt is as follows:

Communication by technical translation

Information & Communication - Feature

Shattering language barriers via global virtual catalogue is part of goodboog’s objective en route to becoming the Internet’s No. 1 business platform

Goodboog CEO Milan Hucko talks business with potential clients at the Massive Technology Show in Vancouver in April 2008

By Joel Mckay

Lost in translation is a phrase no businessperson wants to hear – it can often lead to cold sweats, headaches and, worst of all, big losses.

But one Vancouver-based technology company says it doesn’t have to be that way anymore, and that losing potential business clients due to language barriers is about to become a thing of the past.

Goodboog Inc. fancies itself a global virtual catalogue for firms and professionals, importers and exporters, looking to trade wares beyond the communicative confines of their region.

First established in 2004, goodboog is 100% online offering clients the ability to publish information and product catalogues in 25 languages, effectively shattering language barriers that previously hampered doing business abroad.

The way it works is companies and business professionals upload their business information and product lists (including pictures, prices and quantities available) to goodboog’s virtual catalogue, where they can connect with potential clients.

“The concept is that by having this platform people are able to connect to each other instantly. They’re instantly able to see products, instantly able to source products,” said Michael-James Pennie, goodboog’s CMO and director of business development.

The virtual catalogue is a series of categories that begins with dividing products from services, and further sub-dividing them into specific categories that showcase products via catalogue cards. Each product a company sells is one catalogue card, and goodboog makes money by charging its users for the cards.

“The end product we’re selling is the virtual catalogue publisher. We’re saying you can have a web presence in 25 languages,” he said.

Ten cards will cost you $99, while 1,000 will be around $499 and prices include additional services such as hosting, virtual business cards, banner ads and company profiles.

In addition to having your company information published and indexed in 25 languages, professionals can also communicate with one another using 4,000 common, pre-defined question and answer phrases.

“So people initially are able to start the conversation no matter what language they’re in, before investing in like say, an intermediary or a translator,” said Pennie.

Right now, companies still need to manually translate the information they upload, but goodboog hopes to have a third-party translator that clients will be able to access online within a couple of months.

The second feature that goodboog provides its clients with is a network of channel portal marketing partners in 90 countries.

The company also uses social applications such as Facebook and Twitter to promote its virtual catalogue through clients and reach a much wider audience.

Pennie went on to say that goodboog is already developing partnerships with ISPs around the world, and he said even B.C.’s Ministry of Economic Development is interested in their application.

Right now, the company is focused on setting up those partnerships and fine tuning its technology so that it can be a one-stop-shop for any business around the world. Although he admits goodboog still has a long way to go, Pennie is optimistic about the future.

“I’m going to be very audacious when I say this, but we really want to be the number 1 global business platform on the Internet.” •

From BCTech 2008

10. 06.

goodboog is pleased to announce that we have been featured on the front page and headline article of ‘Make it Business’ magazine’s ‘Web Wonder’s edition. You can read more about goodboog’s success here or you can download a copy of the issue here.

“Scaffolding kingpin Warren Dunn, 45, of Scaffold Depot wants to conquer the world. But he knows the world doesn’t operate exclusively in English.

A big part of Dunn’s strategy is to reach non-English-speaking markets through a new technology developed by Vancouver web firm goodboog.

“A company anywhere can take my information and understand my product and check to see if I have what they want,” says Dunn, whose Surrey-based company grossed $14 million in revenue last year. (www.scaffolddepot.ca.goodboog.com).

Goodboog’s “global virtual catalog” allows someone in, say, Japan to read about Dunn’s company in Japanese, in Norwegian in Norway, in Finnish in Finland. How does this work?

Essentially, goodboog organizes its clients by having them classify their products and services using its database of 76,000 categories. Since all 76,000 categories have been translated into 25 languages, users across the world can read about a company’s products and services in their native language.

“Ninety four point nine percent of the world’s population using the Internet is located outside of North America,” says Michael-James Pennie, a native of Vancouver and goodboog’s chief marketing officer. “With emerging economies worldwide, businesses have to think globally. For you to have a website that’s only in English is very limiting.”

Dunn, who signed up with goodboog three months ago and has 250 “Catalog Cards” displaying his scaffolding products, has received inquiries from China, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, and the United States, resulting in deals from China and in the United States.

He anticipates he’ll be hearing from non-English speakers using goodboog’s “Communication Translator,” which includes 4,000 pre-defined business correspondence phrases. “They can send me back a few reference phrases that can start the conversation. It’s about opening doors that would be closed otherwise,” Dunn says.

Dunn’s products can be found through the goodboog’s search engine as well as through search engines around the world. “We’ve partnered with Google, so we push the Catalog Cards in the Virtual Catalog through a web feed to a system called Google Base in order to allow direct product search engine indexing,” Pennie says.

Since Dunn’s scaffolding products are funnelled through Google Base (which is Google’s product search engine), when a customer searches for “ladder,” Dunn’s goodboog site will figure higher in the page rankings.

“It will increase their page ranking,” says Pennie. “It’s a process that a company on its own would have to pay thousands of dollars to integrate and we do that automatically, which makes their products that much more visible.”

Goodboog is currently working to build similar partnerships with search engines worldwide, and as the company team embarks to Beijing with the BC Trade Mission this month, it will meet with Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google.

Goodboog currently has 2500 companies signed up with their own Virtual Catalog. “We have people from all around the world – China, India, Turkey, Hungary,” says Milan Hucko, 43, co-founder and CEO of goodboog. In his Kitsilano office, Hucko displays the online analytics map of the world, which shows a list of countries and the number of people currently surfing the catalog. The site receives between 22,000 and 30,000 hits a day.

Goodboog has been savvy to attract a customer base. Any company can list its business card for free. In total, about 3 million free firm-business cards are listed worldwide, with 97,000 in Canada. And newly rolled out this month is their virtual rolodex, in which business professionals can profile themselves and network with other professionals worldwide for free.

A “newbie” on the internet, Cynthia Newman, 50, owner of The Little Skin Care Company, is enamored of goodboog’s easy-to-use platform. “This is a good way for people just starting up in business. It’s easy, simple, and you can control and update your own site any time and it’s very inexpensive.”

She is hoping that The Little Skin Care Company will move beyond “cottage industry” size with its exposure 1. in goodboog’s global virtual catalog.

“I’m looking at mega size,” says Newman, who works out of her West Vancouver home. Newman cooks up a natural, multi-purpose skin creams from a recipe that her Swedish grandmother in Chicago developed for her husband in the 1920s to help soften his hands, which were calloused and coarse from fixing cars and farm equipment.

Newman’s creams, some industrial strength and some cosmetic, contain baking soda and Hawaiian sea salt and a number of secret ingredients that are all natural. To her delight, the creams have also been useful for contact dermatitis, acne, and psoriasis.

A recent subscriber to goodboog, Newman was pleased to see the number of hits her products received – 112 within the first day of set-up. “I had a person call the next night asking me to send a sample to New Zealand … I was really impressed. Wow, this is working already!”

Newman calls goodboog a “one-stop shopping” for her online needs: a website, a domain name and she’s looking forward to the possibility of adding interactive web 2.0-like features to her site, such as video of her cooking up the creams (www.psor-relief.ca.goodboog.com).

For its basic rate of $99 a year Goodboog offers:

• Virtual Catalog in 25 languages with Communication Translator.
• Web-based hosted content management system with domain name.
• Global search engine marketing in 25 languages.
• An open developer platform (which means it can integrate with other sites and facilitate diverse marketing and business tools).
• A free firm business card listing.
• A free business professional profile.“

27. 05.

goodboog’s Chief staff Milan Hucko, Michael-James Pennie, and Gwyn Pritchett enjoyed themselves at the

Beijing International Business & Technology Summit closing dinner. Notable attendees included the Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell, the President & CEO of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association Pascal Spothelfer, and a wide variety of other government & private company delegates from both Canada and China. View photos from the event below:

26. 05.

May 22, 2008 coinciding with the International Business & Technology Summit in Beijing China the BC Canada Pavilion Grand Opening took place in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. goodboog was pleased to be part of the delegation of which attended the opening.

Global News covers the story below:

Images below are of the BC Canada Pavilion and depict BC Premier Gordon Campbell signing his name on the glass plaque in addition to goodboog’s Chief Executive Officer Milan Hucko, Chief Technology Officer Gwyn Pritchett, and Chief Marketing Officer Michael-James Pennie:

Images Below depict goodboog’s Chief Executive Officer Milan Hucko, Chief Technology Officer Gwyn Pritchett, and Chief Marketing Officer Michael-James Pennie with the Chinese Olympic Committee Vice President Tu Mingde, British Columbia’s Minister of Economic Development, and Minister Responsible for the Asia-Pacific Initiative and the 2010 Winter Olympics Colin Hansen, President of the Justice Institute of BC Jack McGee, and the President of the Canada-Asia-Pacific Rim Alliances Paul Stinson:

The BC Canada Pavilion will serve as an introduction to business, tourism and industry highlights in British Columbia, Canada. Exhibits are characterized as a journey to a land of pristine beauty, multicultural communities, rich natural resources and innovation in business. Additionally, it provides a flexible business and meeting center, open between May and September 2008, where government and private industry representatives from China and Canada can liaise to explore business opportunities and cultural exchange. goodboog is pleased to have attended the grand opening and utilize the business space provided.

25. 05.

goodboog was pleased to attend the International Business & Technology Summit in Beijing which happened to fall on the week of the grand opening of the BC Canadian Pavilion in Tiananmen Square.

The first day kicked off May 20th, 2008 with goodboog Chief Marketing Officer Michael-James Pennie presenting to a packed BC Canada Pavilion of over 120 delegates consisting of both government, private, and public sector companies from both China and Canada in the audience.

All in all, a lot of buzz was created around the event and goodboog generated a very positive reception in creating many opportunities that are now being discussed further.

goodboog lends a personal thank you to the British Columbia Technology Industry Association and the British Columbia Ministry of Economic Development for making this event happen.

16. 05.

With CEO Milan Hucko, CTO Gwyn Pritchett, and CMO Michael-James Pennie in Beijing, goodboog joins the people of China in the mourning of those who lost their lives in the earthquake May 12, 2008.

goodboog would also like to honor those who have given their dedication to rescuing the remaining people still trapped.

What can you do to help make a difference?

Donate to the Red Cross Society of China>>>

15. 05.

On May 8th, 2008 goodboog attended the reception for the delegates heading off to the British Columbia trade mission to China.

The event served as a warm introductory event for all attendees on the China mission and for everyone to network and familiarize with each other.

Notable speakers included:

• Pascal Spothelfer, CEO of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association
• Henry K.S. Lee, Chairman of the Vancouver Board of Trade
• Don Avision, President of the University Presidents’ Council of British Columbia
• Douglas MacLeod, Executive Director of the Okanagan Science & Technology Council
• Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia

5. 05.

Post goodboog’s presence at the Beijing Technology Summit May 19-24, 2008, goodboog will be spending a week in Shanghai meeting with local headquartered portal sites, web based application developers, and marketing firms who wish to get involved with goodboog on a local Chinese level. This is in addition to meeting with potentials for a local exclusive territorial Chinese marketing partnership, as talks are currently in discussion with some large ISP players.

Furthermore, goodboog will be attending the Baidu World Conference for all Baidu search marketing partners to attend. This will facilitate further connections to be made and create that much more exposure for Chinese firms and global firms wishing to break in to China in working directly with Baidu - China’s most used search engine, just in front of Google.

If you are located or have operations in Shanghai and would like to set up a meeting, please contact us via info@goodboog.com.

26. 04.

Michael-James Pennie Chief Marketing Officer of goodboog featured on the Fund Findr TV highlight reel of the Massive Technology Show. Click the image below to be directed to the original article and video of goodboog on Fund Findr TV.