Engaging in the new age of media to get your business out and noticed seems like an excellent idea that cannot really be missed. Being left behind in the advancement of business and technology could potentially cause you to lose sight of your customers, but, there are also elements of business which will not respond to this form of open publicity. Knowing whether to engage with the new marketing strategies is more difficult than realising your company needs a data centre to store all of the customer information. There is no absolute answer as to whether businesses should engage in social media, but this article will consider some of the aspects that make a difference.

1.       Does it need to be private?

The first question to ask about your business is whether it needs to be private or not. Considering the social stigmas surrounding Viagra, for example, one would not expect people to engage in social promotions of this element of Pfizer’s business. It is possible, however, that people would be willing to promote Lipitor, which is used to lower blood cholesterol and made by the same company, once they have noticed real benefits from it.

If your customers would be happy to talk about it in public, then social channels will probably work for you. If they wouldn’t, consider following other digital marketing channels such as search engine optimisation to get the best results.

2.       Can you do it yourself?

It is always possible to complete the task of social promotion yourself. Anyone is able to link a facebook and twitter account and express their views. There are two reasons, however, that this may not be the most sensible move for your business:

• Being social is time consuming. When promoting a business you need to make it feel humanised and this means you need to talk to people, all the time, every day. Imagine having to fulfil dinner engagements every lunchtime and dinnertime of everyday. At these engagements you would also have to talk to everyone in the room and not all of them will be nice to you.
• Social groups respond to honesty. You wouldn’t lie to your friends about why you did something, so how can you lie to your customers? One of the biggest elements of running social marketing campaigns is that dishonesty will be easily noticed and attacked. People do not like being lied to and they are more likely to make noise about it when online because it is easier than doing so face to face. One upset customer could potentially cost you a lot of business so you need to be open and up-front about your business and its processes.

It is always possible to manage this new stream of marketing yourself but it will be both challenging and time consuming. Allowing another company to complete it on your behalf will leave you with free time and allow you to gain all of the benefits.

3.       Where to focus?

There are 4 basic areas that are suited best to businesses. There are always more avenues you could follow but focusing on the following will enable you to reach the highest potential group of customers. Check Social Media Sharing Tools

• Facebook – There are over 7.5 million Australians who have accounts on Facebook. This is a huge potential market that you can engage in so it’s a good place to start.
• Twitter – There are less users of Twitter but the fact that it links in to Facebook enables both sites to be managed fairly easily and simultaneously. Twitter is expanding rapidly around the areas of TV shows and live sports.
• Linkedin – This is a business focused form of social media but a presence will enable you to find employees, seek expertise and discuss ideas. This is a good way to be found by those specifically interested in the business side of your business.
• Google+ – This is the newer offering from Google. There is plenty of room to manoeuvre with this program so there is lots of potential for businesses to develop marketing strategies.

As a part of Entrepreneur journey I love to keep reading lot many stuff online, this will help us to gain information what is going on in market. Being an Internet Marketing Consultant, it’s best way to keep updated. As seems that Indian E-Commerce Market is growing at rapid speed and many new players are jumping in, many are start getting funding too. Even Google India offering free Website for SME that shows Online Market is getting hotter.

When I read that one site called BeStylish is come up with exclusive shoe store online and also got funded by Mangrove Capital Partners, then I feel I should check this site. During the time BeSylish started coming with TV commercials to gain more eyeballs as well visitors. (Check Video) After watching that TV Add I felt they are really serious for business and I should purchase shoe from then when ever I am planning.

Finally the day come when I feel I will order sports shoe from BeStylish. I visited site and I love specially their search facility it’s really user friendly. I have two option to go with but I fix up one Nike Shoe which was/is worth of 2995 and It was listed at 1299 after discount. I felt that this is really good discount and as they have few size left they want to clear the stock.

After thinking while I place an order and pop out my Credit Cart from pocket to pay it online. Before feeling information I just checked cart and I got shocked that they are asking me full money. i.e. 2995. As being active on Twitter and Social Media abdicated, I just tweeted them that BeSylish is not working proper and I am not able to purchase the shoe.  It was on 2nd November.

I want to be stylish via @BeStylish_com but It really sucks. Showing cost 1299 & while checkout asking 2995. #IndiaEcommerce. – My Tweet to BeStylish

I was waiting for their response and feel like that I will get response in few hours. But I got reply from then on 2nd day evening. They admit they are having problem with the site and they will solve that.

@jaydipparikh -hey! sorry but this was due to a technical error at our end.. someone at beStylish is rectifying this as we tweet – BeSylish reply me on 2nd day evening

I felt that shocking. If you are getting millions of dollars for establishment of you brand then you should focus more on CORE things not on TV commercials or any other marketing medium.

BeSylish Review

• I like the search feature of the site, it is really user friendly.
• They might be failed on technology part, as I mention earlier they can spend few million on TV Ads but they can’t make error proof store.
• They again failed on Customer care (at least on Twitter) to response me.
• Well ! I forgot to mention but still that Nike shoe is not showing on stock.
• Their technical team might not be strong as they disable that product not able to rectify problem.

Well do you think there are more then require funding for E-Commerce startups and this might be ecommerce bubble ? Share your experience for ecommerce as well.

Online marketing has only just made its presence known in the international realm of retailing but its speed, effectiveness and cost saving value has already perched it astride a pedestal in the diverse array of marketing strategies that exist out there. Listed below are some of the benefits businesses stand to reap from investing in internet marketing.

It is cost effective

An e-store ( eCommerce ) is far more cost effective than maintaining a physical storefront that requires the payment of rent, employees wages, utilities and insurance. Online marketing is inexpensive and pragmatic because the ratio of cost is miniscule when compared to the reach of a website. Apart from that, online marketing tools such as e-newsletters, email communications and digital catalogues cost substantially less than printing and disseminating paper catalogues, brochures and pamphlets.

It is efficient

Unlike traditional advertisements in newspapers, magazines or on television as well as paper catalogue, brochure or pamphlet where prices are fixed until the next printing cycle – digital catalogues, social media and blogs can be updated hourly, daily or even weekly to respond to fluctuating market prices. This is a particular advantage in sectors such as the jewellery industry where prices of raw materials are volatile. Apart from that, companies can choose to change the wording of a particular online advertisement or an online newsletter if they find it is not resonating with customers. The same changes cannot be performed with more conventional forms of offline marketing.

The Internet is an international marketplace

The Internet is a global sphere where buyers from disparate corners of the world have an opportunity to view your product and services, unlike a physical storefront that is only accessible by buyers in that region. A website is a convenient, timely and effective way for customers to ascertain the look and prices of products they may be interested in.

The very seamless nature of the Internet allows customers to easily research and purchase products and services and it has the ability to convert a customer into buying a particular product or service. A few clicks of the mouse is all that is involved in an online transaction.

Expands customer databases

By using online marketing devices, corporations can learn more about the needs and concerns of their target demographic audiences by tracking real-time results and measuring customer statistics in a simple, inexpensive way. Almost all aspects of online marketing – from websites to email communications and e-newsletters – can be monitored and tested to ascertain which messages and offerings are appealing to their customer base.

Companies use a variety of ways to do this, one of which includes the pay per click method and online analytics. In the online realm, companies can even target specific demographics to determine their spending habits and sentiments. Online marketing allows companies to target specific genders, age groups, occupations, income levels and so forth. This information is pivotal and could lead to an expansion in customer databases or the success of a particular marketing campaign.

Just last week I was talking about India Ecommerce and during the time Google has taken giant step. I am sure that was not due to my article. Smile. Google is going to  provide free website for Indian SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprise) Industries. There are nearly 8 million SMEs in India and very few is having their online presence. Google is planning to hit aprox 5,00,000 companies with in first year. This campaign is known as “India get your business online”.

Who is behind India Get Online ?

This campaign is lead by Google but HostGator is playing major roll in this as well. Those who don’t know about HostGator, I would love to inform that, HostGator is one of the Biggest Hosting Provider and having office in USA as well as HostGator started operation in India too. ICICI Bank is also backing this initiative. Many of you must be knowing that ICICI Bank is second largest bank of India. They also have FISME as their Partner for this initiative. FISME is the national federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

What SMEs will get ?

Well ! You should not bother what you will get as you you are getting is free. Hey ! don’t get angry I was just joking. Let’s keep joke apart. The following this you will get for make your life better.

• Free .in domain (valid for one year)
• Free & Easy to build Website.
• Hosting for 1 Year
• Free Email ID (Google Apps. )
• And What else you want ? I guess all covered.

What things need to get this offer ?

Well ! First of all let me be clear that this offer is only for Indian Business. So this will be prime requirement that you should be Indian business unit with following things mention bellow.

All you need any one of following document.

• Permanant Account Number (PAN)
• Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN)
• Corporate Identify Number (CIN)

Will it change India’s online Business ?

You can read above title as my thoughts about Indian get Online.

If you just want to check my answer in YES or NO then I will say, YES, this will make BIG impact on India’s SMEs segment. As it is free and they are claiming that It will make site in just 15 min, people will sure give a try. Partners like ICICI Bank and FISME are having very good network in India. Google it self is one of the Biggest brand for India and it covers nearly 85% share in Search Engine.

Even many SMEs are want to be online and looking for cheap options for website (that’ why Internet Marketing Consultant sometimes suffers too ) but on personal front I must say this will give new way of thinking to SMEs too.

In nut shell all will won. Google, ICICI Group or HostGator will have strong roots in India.

What will Google or Partners Earn / Gain out of It ?

If you are thinking on monitory aspect they might not earn much or even they might not earn single penny for first year.

• They (Google) are suggesting almost all tools to SMEs like
• Google Local (Maps)
• Google Adwords
• Google Analytics
• Google Webmasters
• Hostgator start earning renewal from next year. Even for first year .in domain cost Rs. 99 to individuals so It will be not much cost compare to reach hostgator will gain.
• ICICI Bank will gain surely more database and direct reach to SMEs.
• Google will get more database for Google Places and this time it will be more perfect compare to other sources.
• Google will have more opportunity to gain more Adwords customers in future.

I guess you should at least give a try to this. What’s your comment about this ?

Ecommerce in India is buzzing word now and many companies / start-ups are getting funded heavily but Venture Capitalist. E-Commerce sites like FlipKart, bestylish, Myntra, Yebhi are started TV Campaigns also. I guess they will create more reach to Indian Consumer, after all Indian Ecommerce is having 500 Bl. USD potential.

Now India is having good number of Internet connection problem, It’s working fine with Metro and Tyre 1 cities. Even 3G connections is also started & 3G started changing life of Bloggers & Individuals. Even banks are promoting now for online shopping. It’s so far so good situation for Indian Ecommerce. There are few problems with shipping & payment gateway but overall, it seems that Indian ecommerce is growing with good pace same like Social Media.

When any newbie is/are planning to jump in to Indian Ecommerce they will think which sector they should focus or what the highly potential area for it. I just come to know about very good statistics about Indian Ecommerce by Ebay India. Ebay called it as ebay census 2011. The following data is based only on Ebay India, so It’s upto you to take decision on following data/information.

Top 10 Segments / Product verticals growing in Indian Ecommerce

• Cell Phones
• Wrist Watch
• Solitaire Pendants
• India Commonwealth Stamps (Might be Commonwealth games)
• Currency Notes (Might be Lucky/special number currency notes sold over Ebay)
• DVDs
• Pen Drives (Major 8 GB)
• Homeopathic Remedies ( Surprised ? Even me too)
• Headphone
• PC Video Games (This means Indians are not doing piracy)

Top 10 Ecommerce Hub of India

• Delhi
• Mumbai
• Jaipur
• Chennai
• Bangalore
• Hyderabad
• Ahmedabad
• Kolkata
• Chandigarh
• Pune

Top 10 Brands sold over ebay India

• Sony
• Nokia
• Samsung
• Apple
• Reebok
• Seagate
• Casio
• Micromax
• LG
• Canon

Did you notice apart from Reebok all other brands are dealing with Electronics products specially Cell Phones.

Top 10 Segments / Product verticals exporting from India using Ecommerce.

• Solitaire Pendants
• Wrist Watches
• DVD, HD DVD & Blu-Ray (Bollywood Masala ? )
• India Commonwealth Stamps
• Natural & Homeopathic Remedies
• PC Games
• Sarees (We love our culture)
• Lampwork
• Crystal & Mineral Specimens
• Belly Dancing Apparel (Ohh my god)

Few days back I wrote a blog post for WordCamp happening in India at Jabalpur. It was really exiting to be Speaker at India’s 2nd WordCamp.

My topic was “Content Soup for your Blog” in which I was going to talk all about Content as WordCamp Speaker. I also have great company of very learned speakers too.

To be honest to reach Jabalpur was a bit long and tiring journey. There was a flight from Mumbai to Jabalpur, so either I need to go to Mumbai for catching flight else I can go by train from Ahmedabad. Then I called R. Bhavesh, founder of Templactic and speaker of WordCamp Jabalpur. Bhavesh was travelling by train which is having 15 hours journey so I just joined Bhavesh during train journey. It was really nice company of him and we discuss a lot on WordPress, Entrepreneurship, UX & UI, E-Commerce in India and lot many other stuff.

Finally we arrived Jabalpur on 14^th Midnight, We had started our journey on 14^th Morning. After reaching hotel, we feel that Gaurav had done great job and booked nice rooms for us.

And the Judgement day comes. We wake up morning, got ready and drive to venue. It was nice hall with 1 GBPS WiFi connection. We started our day with Mohit’s Presentation and one by one speakers started coming, during presentations of other speakers I also got Hot company of Coffee (Don’t think else )

Post lunch countdown starts, After R Bhavesh & Aniket’s presentation it was my turn to speak at WordCamp Jabalpur.

R. Bhavesh talked about how you can use WordPress core features / Technologies to gain optimum output. I must say that was really impressive for people like me who don’t want to jump much into coding. He showed real power of WordPress and how effective developers can use it.

Finally it’s time for me to go and stage and rock the WordCamp Jabalpur, infect I did the same. It was interactive session with audience, they love Content as well as Image during presentation, BTW I consider Image as part of content. During my presentation I need to stop three times due to some or other reason but still there no disappointments from audience. My spontaneous reaction over situation worked well.

The moment I finished my speech, I checked tweet and surprised to see reaction over twitter. People really liked it and started tweeting about it. Mahol & SEOCrest’s tweet was so fast. I also got compliments from my fellow speakers. I was the last speaker of the day.

Once we finish this we moved to “Dhuadhaar”, a water fall. It was wonderful and incredible. We spent 30-40 min there and then proceed for dinner.

Next morning starts with Amit Kumar Singh. He talked really inside story of WordPress. That technical might be for students but Internet Marketing Consultant like me should understand how effective work they can do with WordPress.

During the WordCamp Jabalpur, I was highly impress by Gautam, 16 year old kid. He just kid due to his age but he is expert mind who win Google Coder competition. He was really impressive kid. The knowledge he was carrying was awesome.

The most interactive session on 2^nd day was by Ashish Sharma. Ashish really understand pain points of students and guide them how you can solve it using WordPress. I guess everyone likes his presentation. Once Ashish is done, Joshu keep rocking it followed by Soumya Pratihari.

Indeed it was really great experience to be part of India’s 2^nd WordCamp as Speaker. I learn lot many new things, made new friends, got new followers and now feeling that let’s grow together.

This guest post is by Dave. If you want to post as Guest Author, Kindly contact us.

It is important to know that by improving Adsense CTR, you can get more money than you are currently making with Google Adsense. CTR stands for Click Through Rate and reflects a specific ratio that consists of the number of clicks out of the total number of visitors. For example, a CTR of 3% basically means that you get 3 clicks out of 100 visitors who are viewing your website. But, what can you do if your CTR is low? Are there any ways to increase your Adsense CTR?

Methods to Improve Adsense CTR

In order to answer to the aforementioned questions, you must know that you can improve Google Adsense CTR quite easily. In order to help you with this issue, the following lines explain you how to complete this task. Therefore, what you have to do is to:

• Post different Adsense ads on the text-rich pages; moreover, you must choose different keywords so that Adsense has numerous options to work with
• Try to get rid of any public service ads (PSA); usually, these services do not pay a thing for your efforts; in most cases, the PSA appears because Adsense does not find any adds to fit your web page
• Another thing that you can do is to avoid titles, such as “advertisements” and “sponsored links” above your Adsense ads; this thing represents a very important issue, as “Ads by Google” is the only title Google accepts for its ads
• It is also important to use the section targeting; this thing actually means that you are able to target a specific ad unit, which is relevant to your web page; you can also remove or block out any irrelevant sections, such as navigation links

The Most Suitable Adsense Placement for the Best CTR

It is also important to know that the location of the Google ads on a web page represents a crucial aspect for a high CTR. Thus, there are a few rules that you must respect in order to get a better CTR than you already have.

• Place the Google ads on top of the page so that the visitors do not have to scroll down to view the ads; it is important to bear in mind that more visibility brings along  more  clicks.
• Try to change the location of ads occasionally; this thing can be easily done by using different channels that allow you to see the best possible location for a specific ad
• Provide sufficient free space around the ads; this way, the users are able to see the ads easily.
• It is also essential to know that most Adsense users have recorded a high CTR with the help of vertical ads; however, the type of ads mainly depends on your website  structure.
• Additionally, you must know that the best possible location for ads is the right side of your website; as most users usually use the mouse to scroll the page down, they are able to easily click ads they want

Besides all these things, you should also learn how to match the colors and fonts of the ads with your website while avoiding ad-blindness. This thing can easily help you capture the attention of your visitors and get a truly high CTR.

Yes ! You read it right. WordPress lovers are meeting at Jabalpur, MP. Many of you must know that WordCamp is event designed for WordPress lovers meet ups. I also love wordpress as wordpress is versatile, You can install lot many themes even Domain Parking themes, Plugin to make is more better as well as plugins for securing wordpress or Floating Internal Link Juice.

Update : I am also going to speak during the event on “Content Soup of your Blog“

If you want to know more about WordPress then I will recommend being a part of this event. It’s two days event on 15^th & 16^th October, 2011. Following topics are going to discuss during event.

• Build any kind of site using WordPress. By R. Bhavesh, Founder of Templatic (One of my Fav theme developer)
• WordPress blogging after Google Panda – By Soumya Pratihari
• HTML to WordPress Conversion By Ameet
• How to Super Charge Your Career with Blogging By Mohit Pawar
• Design and Thesis theme framework for WordPress By King Sidharth
• Hacking a WordPress Theme By Ashish (Pocha) Sharma
• Content Soup of your Blog by Jaydip Parikh
  

There are many other topics are going to discussed during event, This is some random topic list.

Kindly visit Official Site for WordCamp Jabalpur. I would love to support this event being a WordPress Lover. I am planning to attend this event do you ? Comment here.

Surprised? Yes you read it right; an Internet Marketing Consultant and Founder of Tej SolPro, an SEO Company, is talking about Light, Camera & Action which means he is talking about a Film. Well this is one more Personal post from my side like I did it when I join Ahmedabad Entrepreneur gang or my blog post published on dailyblogtips.com or I met Mr. Narendra Modi.

Actually I had worked with Mr. Tom Alter as actor in one short film called “Yours Maria”. This film is by Maverick Films. Maverick Films is lead by Chirag Vadgama, a person who is having full of energy. Chirag was director of this movie too.

I am working with Mr. Tom Alter in one Short Film Called "Yours Maria" Scroll down to watch Trailer of the movie.

Now you might start wondering how all of a sudden I join for this movie ? Well in college days I used to participate in Drama, Public Speaking and few more activity along with study so for me Drama is not new thing. It was started when I visited “Shamiana”. One of my Facebook friend who is a short film maker has insist me to join him at Shamiana, as his short film was going to screen on that day. During this Chirag announce that he is looking for two actors who will be working with Mr. Tom Alter in his next short film. After Shamiana, I met Chirag and we discuss few thing and exchange numbers.

There were no updates from Chirag for few days and I also got busy in my regular schedule, all of a sudden I got a call from Chirag and he invited me for audition. It was first time I was giving audition for some film. One the process of audition finished, Chirag & Shuchi (Co-Producer) told me that will call me back If I am selected. I was bit sceptical about my selection as It was nearly 10 years I not done any drama, By the way we all have to do DRAMA every day but I was talking about stage play.

Finally the day come and I got call from Chirag that I am selected and I need to join them for rehearsal. I was extreme happy on that day as I gonna work with Mr. Tom Alter, one of the legend actor and very well know Bollywood personality. I met my co-actors Harsh & Chetan as well as Kapil, Tejas and few other team members. It was fun time while doing rehearsals, We all used to enjoy during rehearsals.

And now countdown start for the Judgment day, I mean day for final shooting with Mr. Tom Alter. Shooting was on Monday and Tuesday and we had a final meeting on Saturday at Chirag’s home. First time we met all team people, It was nearly 15+ people there were in meeting. Chirag gave me Call Sheet and shooting schedule. I was amazed to see how much planning these guys had done and I realised that What Internet Marketer should learn from Film Making industries. Sunday we had visited shooting location; It was small village aprox 30-35 KM far from Ahmedabad.

Finally on Monday I reach to set aprox by 10 and get myself dressed in proper costume, mean I started being Postman which was my role in the movie. Me and Tom done some rehearsal too, I felt that TOM is not only great actor but also humble and down to earth personality. Finally we spend two days to get the film shoot. I still recall that I need to give 3-4 takes for one dialogue in which I meet to say “Sheth Amolchand” and I keep on saying “Sheth Amolakh”, It was funny moment of the shoot.

I guess no you are getting bore and don’t to read more. So get ready for see the things as someone rightly said that “A Picture Is worth a Thousand Words” and this is Video so It must be 1000+ words. Lolzz

Well for watching Teaser of the movie Kindly visit Maverick Films.

This Guest Article is written by Paul Wallis, an award winning professional freelance writer, specializing in creative writing, SEO and journalism, working in the US, Canada, Australia and Belgium. If you wish to write a Guest Article here, check Guest Article Tips.

WordPress is the world’s leading brand of blogging platforms. It’s popular, functional and fashionable, and it’s embedded in the Search Engine Optimization framework concept, a common currency in the world’s best blogs. It’s also a very good learning platform for those who want to develop their own blogs, particularly for commercial blogs and technical blogs.

WordPress as an icon

The other big advantage of WordPress is that it’s a readily accepted format for those wanting to source materials from blogs. It’s a good looking type of blog, and the famous WordPress themes are an additional incentive for those looking for ready made, “all options” blog content.

This level of functionality is particularly important for the big, multi-category blogs which consume large amounts of materials. It’s easy, dependable, and above all will run practically anything and any sort of plug-in you want to use.

WordPress in the marketplace

WordPress has other advantages which aren’t quite so obvious. The format of the WordPress blogs is also now a standard, and extremely familiar to blog audiences. They know how to navigate on WordPress blogs and that’s a solid marketing concept.

Like a newspaper, a blog must be easily navigable, particularly some of the giant, visual-intensive blogs where the deluge of visual information has to be made manageable for the audience. WordPress is so simply laid out that it’s almost impossible to get lost on blogs, even those about WordPress themes, which are in almost plague proportions across the internet.

Why the big emphasis on themes?

The themes are also functional. The very high level of adaptability of the WordPress themes is the key to their success. A WordPress theme can be anything, and many bloggers love their themes. This is a critical factor in the aesthetics of any blog, and all bloggers will be well aware of the limitations of a blog with a “ho hum” theme.

Themes are critical in presentation. The typical corporate blog, for example, has to look professional, and absolutely must be functional. The quick and most certain way to lose an audience is to have a blog which doesn’t even operate properly.

WordPress has performed a basic function of marketing by generating the huge number of themes it now has. “Positioning” is one of the major principles of marketing, and the tailor made theme has been a big positive in getting WordPress accepted as the de facto global standard for blog platforms.

The WordPress Look and Feel

Perhaps most effective of all is something which isn’t even visible- WordPress now carries a lot of the world’s information. It’s the platform everyone trains on, everyone knows how to use, and it has that level of credibility for professional contributors on all levels.

The “WordPress Effect” is probably the most effective method of presentation, having instant impact combined with these levels of high familiarity and ease of use. If you’re looking at starting a blog, look at WordPress first.

About the author- Paul Wallis is an award winning professional freelance writer, specializing in creative writing, SEO and journalism, working in the US, Canada, Australia and Belgium.