Facebook Friends' List Missing? How to get them?

You all must be aware of the way the Friends' list help in reasing the newsfeeds or status messages easily by categorizing them in different lists. These lists will reallyhelp you when you have a long list of friends and it is difficult to read all the messages, lest you categorize them and you will seldom miss the status messages. To know how to create the friends' list then you can read here.
Even I created a list of my friends like Work Friends, School Friends, Party Friends, Relatives... and was feeling it very easy to know what all are doing. But, from past one week, the list went missing. I can only see the Friends link on the left side of the Facebook page and when I click it it gives me nothing.

When I searched over the internet, I found I was not alone and there are quite a few other folks who are also facing the same problem. I even contacted Facebook and posted it on Twitter as well. But, no response from these guys. As it is my habit not to keep quiet... I investigated more to find the solution. And here is the very simple solution to get you list back, rather to see it.

1. On your 'News Feed' page you have the links - 'Top News' and 'Most Recent'. Click the downward arrow adjacent to 'Most Recent' link.
2. You can see your friends' list here. Select the list you want to view.
3. In case you have many lists then click 'Choose another'

Hope this helps. It helped me.

In case you are facing a different problem with Facebook, please do let me know and let us resolve it. And if it helped you, then let me know. It will make me happy :). Also, it would be wonderful if you tweet this using the Tweetme.

9 Tips to Know When You Should be Using Facebook / LinkedIn Direct Ads

After efficiently using Adwords, I just thought how could Facebook and LinkedIn direct ads be different or how could these be more effective. Like Adwords, I did not get any free ad money to experiment my campaigns. I usually get free credit for Adwords but, I have to prepare myself to spend on Facebook and LinkedIn.

1. As matter of fact, Facebook and LinkedIn use almost the same algorithm of relevance and CTR to show the ads. The daily budget mechanism or setting of time to show your ads or the frequency is same. One major advantage of these networking sites is that you can target the exact age group, industry type, job function, title…based on the demographic profile you want to target. Google uses the ‘search’ mechanism while Facebook and LinkedIn use the ‘profile’ of the user to show the ads.
2. Unlike Google or Adwords, Facebook and LinkedIn target the profiles that are on Facebook and LinkedIn respectively. If your target audience are not on Facebook or LinkedIn then it is of no use of using these channels for your campaigns.
3. In Facebook you have to upload only a banner of standard size 110 x 80 pixels. Where as LinkedIn has 50 x 50 pixel image with the title and text. These banner sizes are pretty small and they are pretty strict with the image approval process for the banners. I really do not find major advantage of having such small images associated with the ad as the advertiser can hardly convey anything through these images.
4. Unlike Adwords, here you have an option to pay either as per CPC or CPM. And they really have a reason to have the CPM model as well. These sites are particularly for sharing knowledge or connect with your friends. Hardly, folks come here to see the banners and click them or in search of something as people do in Google. So, to start with you better go with CPC model as you pay only for clicks and do shell out money for unnecessary impressions.
5. If you are really looking at building a brand in particular country or segment or age group then you can do it on Facebook and LinkedIn and use the CPC model as it will really cost you very less. If you are not getting the required impressions then you can switch to CPM. Facebook has crossed Google in terms of traffic and you can really build lot of impressions in a short time.
6. Though Facebook and LinkedIn target as per the profiles, these sites also provide very limited amount of keywords to use to target. In Facebook this is called as tag filtering. But, one cannot estimate the amount of traffic these keywords can generate and the cost it will incur. Adwords clearly provides you with the estimates and it really helps in setting the daily budget. Still you can try using the filtering tags in Facebook for your audience hobbies, interests and tastes.
7. I found out that these sites really give you a poor CTR. Thus, you can use it for directing traffic to your blog or fan page or other social networking account. It is always better to use CPC model as it will not burn your budget unnecessarily. If you ads are not generating the required CTR, then expand the demographic scope slowly and find the optimum level that is really converting for you. Start with very specific target audience and slowly increase the scope depending on the required CTR and conversions.
8. The reporting system of clicks and costs is not as great as Adwords. The direct ads system is still new and in nascent stage and we may see improvements in the reporting and tracking mechanisms.
    
9. We can use content targeting for Adwords where we can show our ads on other sites which are in Google’s content network. While in Facebook and LinkedIn it is limited to the sites.

Bottom-line is there is nothing like Adwords. Facebook and LinkedIn do provide specific audience to your landing page, but it is difficult to get those clicks and to convert them. Unlike Adwords, visitors are looking / searching for the required info and it is easy to convert them. Adwords identifies the users’ instant needs and has the mechanism to show the relevant ads to them.

I would like to suggest that you need to decide where your target audience is and act accordingly. You may have your target audience on Facebook and it may help you in tapping the missing traffic from these channels. For example if you have a dating or matrimonial website, then social networking sites may work well for you as you can target as per the gender, age, marital status and interest. To add more if you have gaming sites similar to Farmville or the Mafia then Facebook can be the better choice as compared to Adwords not only in targeting the right interest group but you may get economical CPC as well.

Do let me know your experiences as well and would like to read your comments.

Important Tips to Select a Shopping Cart for your Online Store

When we Google for shopping carts, we find a lot of open-source, paid ones, hosted solutions and premium ones. It always a tough question to answer which one is better and which shopping cart suits my online store.


Here are few tips which can help you to judge the right shopping cart be it hosted solution or an integrated product -

1. The shopping cart should gel well with the design and structure of your website. Customers should not feel that they are on to different page. These will avoid your customers getting surprises and they becoming too careful.
2. If you are using a hosted solution or a 3rd party shopping cart then, make sure they share the customer contact details with you as well. This will avoid your customers to enter their contact details twice.
3. Make sure the product pages generated by the shopping cart are search engine friendly means, the pages are easily indexed by search engines. More over, you are able to enter the product description with your main keywords and search engine robots are able to read it. If not, you may have to spend more on PPC or paid advertisements to promote. Search engines are the major source of targeted traffic to any website or online store.
4. Also, ensure the url of product pages generated by the shopping cart are search engine friendly with no special characters in them.
5. You can also see if it generates / updates the RSS file when new products are added. This will avoid your task to update the RSS as well, when ever you add new products.
6. Check the buying process or the checkout process. The number of steps involved or pages involved should be as less as possible. Try to avoid duplication of process. The steps should be clearly indicated as a flowchart to the customer to show it as an progress indicator.
7. Also check the shipping cost is provided very early in the process. This will reduce shopping cart abandons.
8. You need to have flexibility in providing ‘discounts’ and ‘free shipping’ options to certain products or categories. If you can specify the time period for these discounts then it is an added advantage. And, if there is also an option with such discounts to certain geographical area then, you have much more advantageous. You can select ‘free shipping’ as per the country or city.
9. Customers always want to compare products. Shopping cart should be able to provide info of similar products.
10. Check if the shopping cart has an option to help you in cross-sell and up-sell products. This can really help you in increasing the volumes.
11. If you have a subscription based products or your customers have to pay at regular intervals then, make sure the shopping cart has these options to set the interval and it should trigger an email as an reminder to the customer.
12. Support info and contact details should be clearly mentioned on all the pages.
13. Integrated email marketing program will be an added advantage. You do not have to rely on other email campaign programs and keep moving and updating the customer’s contact details. Plus, if the system triggers email to subscribers about new product addition, in-stock or discount alerts… then it is an added advantage.
14. The system should be able to provide the required reports regarding the sales, traffic..etc.
15. Last but not least, ability to scale up the system to be compatible with mobile phones and link them up with apps so that purchases can be done on phones as well. It should also have ability to send messages to the phones if possible.

If the shopping cart provides these few important features then it will surely reduce the shopping cart abandons. Happy Selling!!

Also read: Top 10 Automated Email Programs to Increase Online Sales

9 Key Ways for Effective Affiliate Marketing

The simplest and the economical way to increase your business is by building a good network of affiliates. It is not of having numerous affiliates, but a few good ones can be a source of regular sales to your online store. And what more, you pay your affiliates only if sale happens. So, there isn’t a reason why you should not look at building an effective affiliate network.

1. Commission Structure: This is the most important factor to decide. You need to spend a considerable amount of time and study the prevailing rates in the market, the method, withdrawal methods and process. You need to decide on such commission structure so the affiliates are attracted to the program.
2. Enticing Invitation: The invitation that is being sent to affiliates should always be tempting to sign-up and take-up your program. If you feel the affiliate is a / or can be a ‘Super’ affiliate then call them and talk to them.
3. Competitive Study: You can look at competitors’ affiliate program and affiliates and try to attract them to your program. Check how you can make your offer more attractive and enticing to get them to your website and keep them with you permanently. You can get these details by participating in various forums and discussion boards. You can also use the competitors’ affiliate link search in Google and can reach their website. Usually, the affiliate links follow a basic structure and you can easily search for the affiliates using them.
4. Motivate and Reward Affiliates: You not only have to provide them with design material like, newsletters, content, email templates, banners…etc but, you also need to motivate them and reward them for achievements. If they make more sales, there is a point to make them happy as well, so that they work harder and stick to your program. You may consider of providing a bonus to affiliates who reach certain set sales goals in a period of time.
5. Educate Affiliates: From time to time you need to share knowledge and educate them with known strategies and techniques. They also need to have the right product knowledge and do not forget them to educate them.
6. Personal Rewards: A personal touch to your business relationship can help your good affiliates stick to you. After all, you are helping out each other in business. A hand-written thank you note, flowers or a wine bottle. These personal touches will not go unnoticed, but be assured; your affiliates will always remember it and will remember that you have gone that extra mile which your competitors have not gone.
7. Call Every Affiliate: Do not just call the best and good affiliates. Try calling each of them and thank them. Also, try to learn their problems and see if you can resolve the same. See how you can make their life easier.
8. Advance Info: Let you affiliates know in advance about any new product or version release in advance. They will feel they are not being kept updated and informed. If they get such information from you through an email or a call, rather than the press release or your website, they not only feel involved but, they will try to be prepared for the release.
9. Make Affiliate a ‘Super’ Affiliate: Do not ignore small affiliates. Smaller affiliate work really hard and a small push from your side will help them to become ‘Super’ affiliate. If they feel that they are being ignored then, they will move to your competitors. So, always pay attention to such affiliates and help them to become big ones. A few good and ‘Super’ affiliates will help to generate sales all by it self in future.

So, note that it only pays to have affiliates which generate sales. And, you need to keep them happy and motivated to generate more sales and not allowing them to go away.

9 Key Steps for eCommerce Optimization to Increase Conversions and Sales

Most of the online business invest much in marketing campaigns. These marketing campaigns will really pay-off well if these camapaigns generate leads which they will, and these leads convert to sales. So, how to convert these leads to sales and how to optimize the whole eCommerce process - here are few key steps.

1. Study and improving the user-interface to make the buying process more easy and simple
2. Study and analyze to reduce shopping cart abandons (I will try to post about this in more detail)
3. Using analytics to help in increasing conversions
4. Identifying the conversion leaks and reduce it
5. Making the eStore search engine friendly
6. Use of virtual agents to help eCommerce customers happy, increase cross-sell and repeat sales
7. Use of social media to expand in that market as well
8. Suggestions of special offers and promotions to boost sales 
9. Last but not the least, let the visitors know that their credit card transactions on the website are secured

New Windows Live using Google Adwords

This has really surprised me. MSN using Google Adwords to promote New Windows Live. That's business.... The above ad appeared on my blog.

How to handle fake profiles on Facebook

Facebook has reached a level where the user base is roughly estimated to cover around 37% of the total world population and along with this huge user base, the fake user base has risen to 27% of the total Facebook users (Nyberg, 2010). In other words, it means that if you get 10 friendship requests a day, then out of that 10 only 7 or 8 are real and the rest are fake (Nyberg, 2010).

There are various reasons that people tend to create fake profiles for themselves or they create fake profiles of others. The most common reason is for fun. It is just to have pranks on friends with the profiles. There are also other stupid reasons of why such fake profiles are created. It can be because of shallow relationships, lovers want to test their partner or a person wants to take revenge on someone.

There are people who create second identities online because they are not happy with themselves in real life. So when they are online, they can be a person whom they have always want to be.

The other reason why people create fake Facebook accounts is for business purposes. Most of the fake accounts are used by some companies themselves to promote their products; this is because people find it more convenient to believe in a product or a service when an individual refers or endorses it (Nyberg, 2010).

Another major reason which can affect the business is creating a fake account of your company. It may be created by someone who is not satisfied with your services or it can be your competitor. And such fake account/s can not only affect your business and reputation but can also frustrate you and loss of trust among your other customers and partners.

So, how to cope up with such fake business accounts.

1. Report it to Facebook: The very first thing you need to do is report it to Facebook as soon as you are aware of it. You need to go to the impostor’s profile and click “Report/Block this person” at the bottom of the left column. Check the “Report this Person” box, choose “Fake Profile” as the reason, and add “Impersonating me or someone else” as the report type. Be sure to add a valid web address (URL) leading to the real profile so that Facebook can review the information. Alternately or simultaneously you can also submit the form here on Facebook to report about the impostor profile.

2. Create your business profile: The next important thing to create a Facebook profile and other accounts in other social networking sites as well so that you get your brand name and disallow others from using it. Next, provide the profile link on your corporate website, newsletters and email communications. This way you will be able to inform your customers that this is the official and the real account.
3. Post messages sensibly: Now as you have an account on Facebook, you need to keep in mind that you have an imposter who is also reading your comments so, be sensible and post the message wisely. Secondly, post such messages so as to when visitors find the 2 accounts on Facebook, they can easily judge your account as the real one. The updates you provide should be able to gain trust of the visitors and the members.
4. Your profile description: You can also, say in the profile description that this is the real and official profile. When some one is searching for your profile and will surely see all the profiles in Facebook related to your business and brand name. The visitor will check the description and if you provide the main website link and say that this is the official page, and you comments too prove it, then it will surely help you to a certain extent.
5. Keep track of imposter: You need to spend some time every week to keep track of the imposter comments and messages. If you find any negative comments then make sure you post the response on that page and on your profile page as well.
6. Legal action: If you feel you have all the details and proofs then you can consult your advocate and the cyber laws prevailing in your city or country and take appropriate legal action.

How Can Google Instant Influence SEO and PPC

Something is always sure to come from Google. Google has come up with Google Instant last week.


What ever Google does it really affect the online marketers much. Every time one has to tweak the website to cope with the changes made at Google end.

According to Matt Cutts, the key insight behind Google Instant is to help the visitor to formulate search queries more quickly. Google typically returns search results in milliseconds, but it takes several seconds for us to type a query. In other words, the limiting factor on a typical search is the one who searches. With predictive search and instant results, you can often get the answer you want much faster.




So, how will this Google Instant influences on how we do SEO and PPC?

1. Keywords Stats: Over a period of time, people will get used to use it and will try to toggle around with the different key phrases suggested by Google Instant. Hence, one needs to concentrate on such keywords which are being suggested by Google Instant. Now, another question here is how will we know the number of times a key phrase has been searched in Google now? Because, by just using the ‘arrow key’ one can view the results (without actually hitting the ‘enter’ key). The challenge here is how Google will be able to give the marketers these numbers now (Also read point #5 below to actually know how to track the referral keywords which are not typed completely). In the below image you can see the search is made for just ‘is seo’ and by just using the ‘arrow key’ or the mouse cursor different results were displayed. This definitely reduces the time required to search a query.

2. Which Keywords to Concentrate: Now, look at the same example displayed above. I wanted to search for ‘is seo important’ and the suggestions give to me by Google were ‘is seo dead’, ‘is seo worth it’ and ‘is seo important’. Now, for which all phrases I should optimize my site for, when these phrases suggested by Google are antonyms. On the other hand, the user is deviated from the topic he is keen to find info for.

3. Distraction: I was trying to find ways to control termites using Google Instant. And, when I started typing it, Google suggested me the result for the film ‘The Terminator’ and I clicked and started reading it. So, Google Instant is not providing me the results of what I am searching for. So SEO folks, you also need to read the users’ mind and what all keywords are being suggested by Google Instant.

4. Long-tail Searches: The major problem I see is with long-tail searches. Websites which used to get benefited with the long-tail keywords will have to bare the brunt. As the searches for these keywords will reduce. More so, advertisers who used to concentrate on log-tail for Adwords will also see the referrals coming down drastically.

5. Tracking Google Instant in Google Analytics: With Google Instant, there are effectively two user queries. First, there is the full search query which Google proposes based on a user’s keystrokes and the second, is the partial search query actually typed by the user. Some have proposed tracking the partial query typed by a user by trapping a ‘oq= parameter’ or ‘which appears in the Google result link a user clicks on. Unfortunately, this tip will not work, at least not as things are currently. The ‘oq= parameter’ does not appear in the referrer string passed on to the target website using Firefox. Since it isn’t passed on the referrer, it cannot be tracked by web analytics tools.

6. CTR for PPC: Using the ‘arrow keys’ one can preview the organic search results. But, the Adwords ads are also getting refreshed and giving different results. So, this may increase the number of impressions for the results and thus, effect the CTR and so the CPC.

I see this change in reducing the required time users are taking to find the searched results than they currently are. I do not necessarily see it helping users find better results. The instant results will definitely have an impact on how people get to their final search results.

But, in the long run, this can only mean people searching for more relevant information, that is selecting the right key phrase suggested by Google Instant and the websites are properly optimized for these keywords, could actually deliver a more “informed” group of visitors to the website. But, time can only prove this.

Do let me know your thoughts and experince on the influence on Google Instant.

Online Marketing Scenario in Banking Business

Majority of the bank marketing executives surveyed (include 49 retail banks and 93 credit unions) are not aware of how much their bank spends on online marketing. As per the Financial Brand’s author Jeffry Pilcher,

“Most financial institutions invest almost nothing in online marketing (or have no clue). This suggests one of two things. Either banks and credit unions don’t take online marketing seriously enough yet to invest in it, and/or they believe that online marketing doesn’t require a significant investment.”

Not only these. There are many more data points to look at.

• They allocate around 5% of their marketing budgets to online activities
• 22% do not track or measure their online activities, while only 8% do so all the time
• 32% were not sure if their organization invests any money in online marketing
• While most financial institutions embrace email marketing, a surprising 31% don’t.
• 45% of banks and credit unions do not have online marketing staff at all

The other data points from the survey are 57% of banks invest in search engine optimization (SEO), while only 36% of credit unions do the same - a difference of 21%. By an even greater margin, banks are much more likely to utilize search engine marketing (SEM): 57% vs. 23%. Banks are 20% more likely to have microsites, and are 36% more likely to run banner ads than their credit union peers. Credit unions are less likely to have a mobile phone app. They are, however, more likely to have a blog, an online newsletter and ads in their eStatements. So, online marketing guys you sure have more business here. Catch them soon and if you get it, do not forget to call me for a drink.

What can be the reason as to why these banks are not using online marketing activities as other businesses do?

They seem to think that their customers and prospect already know them and their website and they hardly need to use Google to reach their website. They should understand that if they are not on top in Google or any other search engines for their business related keywords, then their competitors will sure be there on the first page and will be losing business to them. Lead generation for banks is the main source of generating business. Be it generating deposits, insurance, loans or credit cards. People still search on internet for better rates and services. If your website is not on top then your competitors website will sure be.

Being on Twitter or social media really helps to reach the public in much better way. It is a perfect channel to provide better customer service. But, it may hit you back if not done in a proper way.

PPC, banner ads, lead generation, blogging… there are many more channels to promote the banking business. They surely need to understand the results this media can get.

I will be interested to know what the readers will feel and please do comment your thoughts. Online Marketing channels is sure to be the low-hanging fruit opportunities for banks to further engage with their customers and the prospects but it is not being done.

Ref: The Financial Brand’s 2010 Online Marketing Study

White Label Websites and SEO

First of all let us know what this white label stuff is. A white-labeled website is eCommerce website which sells the products online just like the main site but, under a different domain name, brand or company name. It is altogether you have the same website, but with different skins. Usually, it is like selling the same products from different store fronts to different audience. This type of website should not be mistaken as an affiliate website but, they surely share some characteristics. They are particularly popular in the retail, travel and gambling sectors.

I would just like to list specific ways that can be used for white-label websites and how effectively they can help in your SEO campaign.

1. Keyword-rich domain name: You may have your main website on your brand name or company name. To get the advantage of the keyword-rich domain name/s you have then white label website will be very helpful. Usually, this can be used to target the exact phrase that matches the domain name. Next strategy will be to dominate the first ranking page of the search engines using different domain names.
2. Local Presence: If your eCommerce business requires a local touch and presence to a particular geographical area, then another brand or website which is a white label can be created having the local touch focused on localized audience. This will also help in ranking in geo-specific search engines and local search engines.
3. Targeted Keyword Approach: Imagine you have to target 100+ keywords and this will require a lot of effort and time to rank on the first pages for all the keywords. On the other hand, imagine you have 100+ websites each catering to the target keywords. In other words you have 100+ home pages for specific keywords. In fact, to maintain these websites will be easy, as all the products and scripts will hit the same database. Thus, it not like owning 100+ website, but only one website.
4. Link Building: White label sites will surely help in building links. As you will have more number of sites, with similar content you can surely exchange links among the different websites. Or most of the sites linking to the main site – or you can also try making a linking pyramid to help you in better ranking in search engines.

If you are building your own white-label domains make sure there is a damn good reason for you to host your content over hundreds of domains rather than just one. You need to take care your websites need not be considered for spamming. It is always better to have finite number of white label sites so that you can not only try getting better ranking in search engine, but can also share different percentage with your affiliates from these different sites. You can also try different marketing campaigns for different sites thus, will help you in lot of other ways as well. SERPS and search engine algorithms are unstable and unpredictable. It makes sense to maintain a multi-domain or even multi-brand strategy. This way you diversify your rankings and traffic sources thereby reducing risk. Thus, you have your eggs in different baskets.

White-labeling is surely going to rise in popularity and in some cases may even become an alternative to traditional affiliate marketing. Good examples of such white label sites – 888.com. They have quite a few white label sites like online-casino.com.

Read in detail on SEOmoz

Website Usability Checklist

Search engine optimization and other online marketing techniques get targeted traffic to your website. As per research, a visitor spends an average of less than 8 seconds on the web page. So, you have just less than 8 seconds for the visitor to do what you want them to do. Or else they will go away. So, you need to also pay proper and more attention how the website is treated by different visitors and the major portion of your visitors find the website navigation easy and comfortable. They should be able to use the site easily and should understand the content.

This is a simple usability checklist for the website.

1.      Have the navigation links easily visible. Visitors should know where they are and should easily find out where they have to go next. Also, they should know what all additional pages are there apart for the page they are on.

2.      The navigation links should be consistent and at the same place on all the pages. Visitors may get annoyed of the links appear and disappear unpredictably. The best practice is to use include files for the navigation system. This will ensure the changes made to this are effected on all the pages.

3.      Use appropriate anchor text. As the anchor text is important for search engine optimization, do not stuff them with main keywords without considering to which page it will lead to after clicking. Make the anchor text more meaningful at the same time so that the visitor will know where they will be moved to on clicking. Don’t keep them guessing as to where the link is going to take them.

4.      It is a normal practice to highlight the anchor text so that it conveys the message that the visitor has to click it. Usually, the anchor text is underlined or used in a different font or bold font. It is always a best practice to use CSS to emphasize the text links.

5.      You can use JavaScript or other scripting language to create menus for the navigational links. Just take care that the visitor can easily navigate through the link structure in the menu.

6.      Home page link is a must in the list of navigation items you have. Also, the logo should always be linked to the home page.

7.      Include site search box on every page of the website. If the visitor can’t find what they need, they should be easily guided to the search box. Moreover, if you refer the search keywords, you will know what information is searched more number of times and what should be made easily available to the visitor. Thus, prominently displaying the search box will help in improving a website.

8.      Always use breadcrumbs to let the visitor know on which page he is on and how they have navigated to the page.

9.      Always have your main content and call-to-action lines on the top or above the fold. Do not expect the visitor to scroll down, read and then click.

10.  Use proper background color and font color so that it gels with your brand and branding. Moreover, the content should be easily readable by the visitors.

11.  Always use ALT and TITLE attributes to all images. Some browsers may block images so in this case the visitor can read the ALT text.

12.  Have a custom error page that will help a visitor when clicked on a broken link or type the address incorrectly. The custom error page should be in synch with the website design and structure.

13.  Have a feedback form to always dope you with you information that will help you to increase the performance of the website. Try to improve the usability depending on the feedback you receive. The users of the site can tell you exactly how they are feeling about it.

Your website is designed just not for you but, for the ones who use it – your visitors who are your customers. A site that confronts to users’ expectations, makes them more comfortable and more compelling to visit again. Good usability is always critical to website’s business.

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition

Google to Woo Indians with Localized Products

After Xerox, only Google has the rare privilege to enter in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It says, to google is to use Google search engine to seek information on the World Wide Web. No wonder Google is a great brand all over, but when it comes to India the online market is quite different from the rest of the world here. The strategies and products to the Indian market should be localized having the Indian masala formulae which other products have followed say for example Maggi noodles or Lays. They understand the Indian masses tastes and changed the strategy to conquer the Indian market.

Why India?

1. Internet is penetrating at a fast pace. With 7% penetration and 50% year-on-year growth and the vast population makes India as the favorite destination
2. China market which is similar to India’s has some issues with Google. Pakistan is also following the same path. Thus, the best thing for Google is to shift the focus to India
3. Baidu in China controls the major portion of search traffic. Google will not have such competition in India
4. Major portion of Indian internet users can speak and understand English

Google knows that major part of Indian population is not conversant in English. It will be difficult to increase the user base. Thus, they have hit upon to go beyond English to offer products in local languages and started educating the people about the internet and its advantages. Thus, creating the awareness for Google and its products. They did miss the mobile internet space as well. The introduction of landmarks to Google maps apart from the street names makes it a very useful product for Indians. Google kicked off its mobile services by offering an SMS search some three years ago.

Frost & Sullivan’s Saif says the clue to Google’s success in India lies in its focused approach. Instead of spreading itself too thin like most of its competitors, Google has chosen instead to focus on a few segments. And it is taking a long-term view in each of the categories - a nicely woven strategy to target the Indian market. But, this surely rings the warning bells as Yahoo and Bing can realize their mistakes and would try to take advantage of the awareness created by Google. But, Google is Google at last.


Reference: Outlook Business, June 2010 issue

What Would Google Do?

Social Networking – 10 Good Quotations

1. The word "follower" is a misnomer on twitter. They are people who gift you their attention. Be thankful. – Gautam Ghosh, Consultant, 2020 Social


2. What matters more is whom you follow than who follows you. – Gautam Ghosh, Consultant, 2020 Social

3. Organizations jumping into social media should get ready internally first. – Gautam Ghosh, Consultant, 2020 Social

4. Social Media is a tool and a tactic. Not a strategy. - Laura Ries, from Ries & Ries, a consulting firm

5. The value of a social network is defined not only by who's on it, but by who's excluded. - Paul Saffo, Silicon Valley Forecaster

6. It isn't just what you know, and it isn't just who you know. It's actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living. - Bob Burg, Author and Speaker

7. Promoting your business must not be the overriding message you communicate to your online social networks. - Helen Leggat, British Freelance Writer

8. Social media should improve your life, not become your life! - Patrick Driessen, Consultant and Executive Coach

9. This isn’t a direct marketing tool, this is human communication. - Rob Key, CEO of Converseon, a social marketing firm

10. Human beings are far more likely to communicate ideas and information with others when they are emotionally engaged. Find the key issues that concern your audience and then inculcate them within your marketing plan to get an emotional response. - Maki from DoshDosh.com

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success

10 Simple but Important Tips for Email Campaigns

Marketing using emails is a very tricky matter. You have to face many hurdles. First you need to hit the inbox of the prospect and not the junk folder. Then, you just have 60 characters to display to the prospect – the subject line. Subject line is the one which can make the prospect open the email or just trash it away. Next is the call-to-action line. These are just few and there are many more. Below are the few best tips which can help in making your email campaign successful. Most of them are the same ones which you may already know. But, read #9 and #10 and let me know your thoughts.


1. Address recipients with their name in the email. Make it a bit personalized but, make sure you do not overdo it.

2. Avoid spam friendly words in subject and text of the emails like $, Dollars, Discount, Free… If at all you want to use in the body text of the email use it once. Better use these words in images.

3. Avoid sending promo emails during vacation and holiday seasons. This will lead to a very low open rate.

4. Avoid sending promo emails during starting of the week or during the weekend. Wednesday is the best and auspicious day to have email campaigns.

5. Create clear call-to-action line in text and not in image. Most email clients block images by default.

6. While designing the email, make sure you have the both vertical and horizontal preview panes in mind. Have your main text viewable to the reader through both the preview panes. Move the boring stuff down.

7. Have the email of two are three short paragraphs. Have bullet points. Short and simple. Do note that readers will not spend more time on the email.

8. Test you emails for all the email clients.

9. Most emails are read on mobile devices now. So, make sure your email is easily read on mobile devices as well.

10. Put URLs in subject line with the attractive subject line. Let the URL be short as well. Mobile users can just click the URL and visit the landing page. Example: Register for a Demo now. http://short.in/demo.

The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing

South Indian Film Stars on Twitter

 South Indian film starts are not behind even when it comes to Twitter. Most of the Telugu film stars or people related to Telugu film industries are creating their presence on Twitter. Few of them are below. Hope they are real accounts...

Allu Sirish
Hansika
Junior NTR
Nagrjuna Akineni
Nithin Reddy Nalla
Priya Anand
Ram
Rana Daggubati
Richa Gangopadhyay
Siddharth

Refer this for other Indian (Hindi) film celebraties and more... - Famous Personalities / Celebraties on Twitter

1961 Usha Parinayam - Telugu Film Songs

13 Easy Tips to Make Landing Pages More Effective

Landing page is the crucial first step for any conversion to happen. Be it a download, a registration or a sale, the prospect will spend an average of 8 seconds on landing page. So, you have approximately 8 seconds to make the visitor, what you want him/her to do. In these 8 seconds, the visitor may close the page or will do what you wanted.


Thus, the landing page should be so effective such that those 8 seconds should be more than enough for the visitor to deliver your message and action. So, how do you increase the effectiveness of the landing pages, say for a banner or any PPC campaign?

1. If the visitor is coming to the landing page, through PPC campaign then the keywords which prompted the visitor to click should also be promptly displayed on the landing page or should be used in the body content. So, in the title and header tag try to use the keywords. Have separate landing pages for separate keywords groups in your PPC campaigns specific to the set of keywords they are targeted at.
2. Do not use long paragraphs and sentences. Remember, you have less than 8 seconds. Have short sentences preferably, bullet points. Usually, it is easy to read and understand the bullet points. So, try to deliver the message you want to convey in short and crispy manner.
3. Have your main and important lines on the above fold of the page. Do not expect the visitors to scroll down to read the lines. Just remember, they spend very less time on the page and scrolling down or side-wards will take a couple of seconds away.
4. Have the product image or the screenshot or a nice attractive image to compliment the text you have on the landing page. Images do speak louder than words and can also attract the attention of the visitor.
5. Forms? I hate when I see forms. Moreover, if the forms are too long I hate them more. And, if the form does not trust me as a human and makes me type what I see in the image, I get pissed off again. So, try to make these forms as simple as possible. Ask only the info which you require. Do not try to ask more info. What you may need at the first place is the prospect’s email address, so grab it first. You can use dropdown or radio buttons for other form fields which are much easier to select as the visitor need not type the whole stuff.
6. The call-to-action link or the button should be promptly displayed on the landing page. The visitor should really know what he/she is supposed to do and that also is your objective. So, make these buttons a bit attractive and use a nice call-to-action line like “Get FREE Whitepaper”, “Add to Cart – Use Coupon Code XXXX before Check-out”, “Download it NOW”. Words like Register or Submit will not be that much useful on the landing pages. You need to attract the attention on the prospect for the click.
7. And where can I have this call-to-action button/s? It should be visible in the above fold of the page. Do not expect the visitor to scroll the page up and down or side-wards and click on the button.
8. Test the landing pages for all the popular browsers. Differences in browser rendering can cause pages to display improperly, leaving an unprofessional experience and making the prospect to bounce out. Browsershots.org offers a free service that provides a snapshot of your webpage in most of the popular web browsers.
9. Do not forget to test the landing pages for different resolutions as well. A change in resolution may push the call-to-action button below the fold. Do test the complete process on all resolutions. The best you can do is to know the resolution (size) most of your visitors are using. You can get this info from Google Analytics or any other website stats tool and optimize the page for that and try to adjust the images, buttons etc for other resolution as well.
10. Try to reduce and optimize the download time of the landing pages. If the landing page does not show up in 3-4 seconds, then the prospect may exit from your website or will move away to a different window or page. Avoid using heavy images and flash elements on the landing pages. This post proivdes links to few good tools to optimize download time for the web pages.
11. Try to gain trust from the first time visitors to your website / landing page. If your site is authenticated by VeriSign or you accept payments through PayPal then display the logo somewhere at the bottom or near the “Buy” button.
12. If you have a strong customer testimonial or a perfect feedback, show it on the landing page. You can also display any recognition or award received on the page.
13. The last step is doing numerous tests on the different types of landing pages. You have A/B testing; you have Google Analytics… which can provide the bounce rate and conversions the landing page is providing. Google Website Optimizer allows you to test multiple variables at a time and determines the best combination of them. CrazyEgg will show you where exactly the visitors are clicking. The advantage of this tool is, it will also show the visitors’ clicks even when the element is not hyperlinked. So, depending on that you can have that text / image linked appropriately.

The bottom line which you have to definitely remember when designing the landing pages is - you need to be in the visitor’s shoes and do what he / she will do in first 8 seconds. You landing page only has 8 seconds to lose or make a customer.

Related posts:
5 Easy Tips to Improve the CTR for Google Adwords
6 Basic Tips for a Perfect PPC Campaign

Landing Page Optimization For Dummies

9 Tips to Guide Your Conversations on Facebook

If you are an online marketer, then you will surely not miss in promoting your brand on Facebook. Facebook has become one of the top referrer to websites like Google. BUT, you need to have a proper strategy for Facebook. Facebook requires a different approach from other forms of marketing messaging and engagement. Here are few recommendations to guide your interactions and conversations on Facebook.

1. You need to act as if you are a real person from your organization and you are also taking to a real person. People like speaking to a real person as they feel confident that they will be attended to.
2. Read carefully through all the comments before joining the conversation. And chip in when you feel it is the perfect situation or required situation.
3. Have patience when you want to comment. Do not go on commenting on each and every discussion. Give others a chance to talk about your products and services. It is always good if other customers respond to questions about your products and services.
4. Do not talk about yourself always. I really do not like a firm which always comments on their business.
5. Focus on conversations with your fans which are of interest to them. Give fans a topic which can ignite a healthy conversation. Discuss about the topics and do not try to sell the product here.
6. Have contents, quizzes, coupons… so keep the audience engage. This can also initiate a viral and can attract more fans. But, ensure you are not doing too much of selling here.
7. Do not forget to promote your Facebook fan page on other promotional materials and collaterals. Example: your website, email signatures, business cards, other ads, events…
8. Make sure the content on your website can be easily shared on Facebook using the ‘like’ icon. This helps in expanding the reach and prospect base through your friends and their friends as well.
9. Try to measure the impact of being on Facebook – no. of fans, no. of comments, no. of engagements, no. of new prospects, traffic referred to your website…

You need to know that Social Media has turned into a powerful marketing medium – it needs a perfect planning and strategy to make the campaign successful.

Facebook For Dummies

Some Great Books on Google Adwords and Analytics - All 5 / 5 Start Ratings from me.

Ultimate Guide to Google Ad Words, 2nd Edition: How To Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes

Ultimate Guide to Pay Per Click Advertising: Advanced Strategies to Help You Beat 97% of the Competition 

Advanced Google AdWords

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity

SPEED: Google Says It Matters

Google has sent strong signals and indications that the download speed of webpages does matter for SERPs. So, a faster download of the webpage, not only helps the visitor to stick to the page for longer time with better user experience and to improve conversions. Now, it will be one of the important factors in the ranking in the search results page in Google.

While site speed is a “new” signal, it may not carry as much weight as the relevance of a page, title tag of the page or the content on the page. Google Webmaster Central says that, currently, less than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point (April 2010).

With Page Speed, Google will be able to comfy with the website performance in no time and will be able to provide us the suggestions to make it better. Page Speed is open-source Firefox / Firebug add-on. Page Speed performs several tests on a site's web server configuration and front-end code. These tests are based on a set of best practices known to enhance web page performance. Webmasters who run Page Speed on their pages get a set of scores for each page and helpful suggestions to improve its performance.

Page Speed evaluates performance from the user’s point of view, typically measured as the page load time. This is the lapsed time between the moment a user requests a new page and the moment the page is fully rendered by the browser. The best practices cover many of the steps involved in page load time, including resolving DNS names, setting up TCP connections, transmitting HTTP requests, downloading resources, fetching resources from cache, parsing and executing scripts, and rendering objects on the page. Essentially Page Speed evaluates how well your pages either eliminate these steps altogether, parallelize them, and shorten the time they take to complete. The best practices are grouped into five categories that cover different aspects of page load optimization:

• Optimizing caching - keeping your application's data and logic off the network altogether
• Minimizing round-trip times - reducing the number of serial request-response cycles
• Minimizing request overhead - reducing upload size
• Minimizing payload size - reducing the size of responses, downloads, and cached pages
• Optimizing browser rendering - improving the browser's layout of a page

Webmasters can as well use these free tools to evaluate the download speed test for the web pages / website.

• YSlow, a free tool from Yahoo! that suggests ways to improve website speed.
• WebPagetest shows a waterfall view of your pages' load performance plus an optimization checklist.
• In Webmaster Tools, Labs > Site Performance shows the speed of your website as experienced by users around the world.

3 Most Important Social Media Strategies

To be successful in social media is it important

• To increase your network in social space - have more and more followers in Twitter?
• To have presence in all the forms – blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook…?
• To keep talking about your own business?

If you feel so, then you are wrong. Social media is about others talking about your business. It is about sharing knowledge. It is not a place to do sales. Your network should talk about it and spread the word.

The most important steps for a social media campaign to be successful are

1. Identifying the evangelists who will talk about your business and get them into your social network.
2. Make the evangelists to talk about you and your business.
3. Allow the evangelists to spread the word among their network

Who can be these evangelists? They can be your customers, prospects, analysts and/or your partners. Try to convert them into evangelists. Discuss a topic among them so that it can ignite a healthy discussion. Share knowledge so that these evangelists can get more dope to discuss. Let them review your product or service. Let them discuss about your customer support. If at all there are few negative conversations or feedback in the social media space, inspire these evangelists to have more positive conversations apart from you immediately responding to the same.

Also read below articles to know more about social media and networking:

The Four Important Steps to Start Social Networking for Business
6 Tips To Be Successful In Social Media Marketing
5 Important Approaches for Social Networking for Companies

6 Basic Tips for a Perfect PPC Campaign

I did come across a couple of online marketers who define their PPC campaign success to no. of clicks on the ad, click-through-rate (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC). I definitely agree these are required to measure the performance of the PPC campaign but, do not judge the success of a PPC campaign by taking only these two factors. Many advertisers generate a large amount of clicks for their ads, but at the end you also need to note how many of these clicks have been converted to leads or sales.


So, ensure you have the following when you run the PPC campaigns -

1. Look at cost-per-acquisition (CPA). This will let you know average cost of each lead or download or sales that has happen. Accordingly you can compare or plan to invest in other online / offline campaigns.
2. Doing an analysis on the CPA number you get, try to predict the CPA at various spend levels. This helps you to reach optimal CPA.
3. Make the campaigns as keyword rich as possible using long-tail keywords pertaining to your business or products segregated as different groups. You can use the keyword tools provided by Adwords or WordTracker or KeywordSpy.
4. Each group or the set of keywords has the respective and related landing page. This will help to get a better quality score and will reduce the CPC. Not only CPC, but will also help in better conversions.
5. Use the geo-targeting, day-parting methods to reduce the unwanted clicks.
6. Try to use a back-end database or system which can track the CPC of each click and measures the ROI of each keyword.

There are many more tips and strategies that need to understand. PPC campaigns are easy to setup, but much more difficult to manage and optimize. Doing this takes time and effort. But, if you have the dedication to make the campaign a success then cheers.

Related posts:
5 Easy Tips to Improve the CTR for Google Adwords
13 Easy Tips to Make Landing Pages More Effective

Kindle Wireless Reading Device

This is an introductory video that provides a demonstration of the new Amazon Kindle eBook reader. A good one.

It is priced at US$ 259.00 as of now.

You can get more details an Amazon Kindle here. Do not miss the long review by the users.

Good news. Kindle can now be shipped to customers outside the U.S. Check out for the costs and shipping details in the above link.