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Bhopu / Tags /
Youtube
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Posted On
Sep 24, 2007
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Immediate results, instant gratification, instant riches. Today thousands of online marketing products promise the same things and try and make money. And every minute, someone out there purchases a new product right before the price goes up. The new product, which inevitably is going to change the way we do Internet marketing. If you don’t purchase instantly you are going to get left in the dust while early adopters make all of the money.
Internet marketing is like a treasure hunt because the treasure may or may not actually be at the end, depending on whether you believe in it all.
The process needs to be revealed. The process needs to be flexible enough for personal modifications. And the process needs to guide a person through to profits.
The Marketing power of Internet sites
With the rise of individual voices and the eroding effectiveness of mass marketing techniques, it’s no wonder that so many marketing and communications disciplines are enamored with cracking the code on influence, specifically influence among people.
For example to market a book, an old-school form of media, we turn to a couple of the newest: video file sharing and online social networking, create a video spot for YouTube and our own Web site on MySpace.com. YouTube and MySpace, gives us an access to 30 million people, so you can well imagine how many potential customers we can line up with Internet. The reason why this technique is translating into sales is that videos are a lot visible to a large number of people.
The Internet Marketing Plaforms
The most famous social networking sites like Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook are the new online Platform that don’t require upfront money, but many of them are way too opaque about how revenue is split and about how much money can really be made.
In an earlier generation, Microsoft created a platform that enabled lots of smaller vendors to ride in their slipstream. These varied from very small to large partners. Whatever ill-feeling people may have about Microsoft, it created real income for thousands of people.
Today, lots of small-scale publishers/bloggers make money from Google Adsense. Athough many publishers think the revenue split is unfair, Adsense has enabled a lot of bootstrapping in the Web 2.0 world. On the other side of the transaction, Google has enabled many significant start-ups to get to market using search engine marketing. Done right and for the right type of venture, it is as close as you can get to a “revenue tap”. So Google is definitely a platform.
You cannot write about platforms today without mentioning Facebook. The best way to put it is that the jury is still out. The jury in this case being the hundreds of entrepreneurs who plan to make a lot of money from their web apps on Facebook. At the moment there is a fair amount of money sloshing around the Facebook ecosystem, with lots of people paying for eyeballs - but without clarity on who is finally making money from those eyeballs and how.
Some basic rules to be followed for effective Internet Marketing
One of the biggest factors for your website to become successful is not only to generate targeted and massive website traffic. You also need a high website conversion ratio, which many website owners tend to ignore.
One of the most effective Internet marketing tools are blogs.
Bloggers are quickly becoming centers of influence on and offline. More and more people are turning to their favorite trusted blogs for information, recommendations, and to exchange ideas. The most popular blogs are updated daily and provide faithful readers with fresh new information. This constant flow of fresh content attracts new readers and keeps them coming back.
Blogs are “A Must” for webpreneurs. Blogging is a free and effective Internet marketing opportunity that can take your business to the next level.
The Power of Blogging
The Internet is known as the information super highway because Internet users are seeking information. Blogging allows you to be a provider of information. Demonstrate your expertise in your field or niche. Blogging enables you share your knowledge and experience with others.
- Blogging gives you a platform to introduce your products, services, and/or business to people interested in what you have to say and what you are doing.
- Blogging daily increases your search engine rankings, making it easier for people to find you.
- Blogging increases website traffic and backlinks to your website.
- Blogging creates opportunities to establish credibility, gain referrals, communicate, network, establish dialog, and get valuable feedback. A blog is like your own online community and you are the center of influence. Being an influential blogger opens doors of opportunity for joint ventures and additional streams of income. As your blog grows so will the opportunities.
Future of Internet Marketing
The pool of prospective clients continues to grow; this is a trend that will give dedicated marketers the opportunity to build their business. Of course this situation already exists for those who have the knowledge to take advantage of it.
There shines a bright future for Internet marketers who are willing to treat it like the business that it is. If you are willing to put forth the time and you advertise wisely, there is no reason that you can't be a success in the years to come. Don't expect it to happen overnight and be willing to take the necessary steps to make it a reality.
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Posted On
Sep 14, 2007
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Facebook is booming in popularity; MySpace is ruling the headlines again; Bebo is growing incredibly; Orkut relaunched; LinkedIn is becoming 'People Search'; Friendster is now restocking itself to enter the market again.
Put simply, social networking is popular and hot and there are plenty of efforts being put in to overpower the competition. But my question is, ‘Is it getting in any profit?’
Social Networking hive
Even if you think you too old for signing up Facebook or Linkedin, its impossible to ignore the impact these networking sites have on the web.
We all have seen how social networking sites are getting hotter day by day. It has become a very useful way to find like-minded people online, either to pursue some interest or goal, or just to help to establish a sense of community among people who may never meet in the real world.
Its not just a teen thing anymore. Infact it has become collaborative style of communication that every age group and every business has understood and is further finding creative ways to incorporate into their communication plans. A number of businesses considered adding podcasts,
seminars and video presentations to their marketing plans and get their business development staff hooked into LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook.
Consumer-based businesses jumped on this trend to create their MySpace page, Facebook appls, Twitter account or YouTube promotional video.
A hive of social networking sites have already created a lot of noise, but what most of us have yet to realize is just how productive the hive really is and how powerful it can be when it is directed in the right direction.
In fact, I think it's hard to exaggerate the coming impact of these social networks on business: They start trends but fail to build immense waves of interest in specific products. They serve giant, targeted audiences to advertisers, but can anybody see any difference in returns.
This platform that forms an authentic, peer-to-peer channel of communication that is far more credible than any corporate flackery. And all this only after four years of development, Surprising!
By the time we realize the actual productivity of social networking sites, Im sure half a million more people will jump into Facebook and Myspace with their own particular purpose in mind.
Problems faced by companies while advertising on social networking sites
Despite generating a good amount hype in media there a number of social networking sites like Youtube and Myspace who are still trying to look out for a way to use this publicity to generate advertising revenues, or may be we can call it significant advertising revenues.
While some social networking sites are trying hard to work on the unfiltered user-generated content that keeps off most the companies from advertising with them, there are few other sites that would never be able to attract any companies.
Last week I came across this article where Youtube tried launching some advertisement, prompting numerous complaints from its users, some who threatened to stop using the site.
Youtube is just one the few examples by me that shows that reflects the issues that surrounds the social networking sites. Its members abuse the freedom to upload any video freely and mention stolen content that nobody had a copyright for, not even Google.
A lot of news sites included an article over why so many brands refuse to place adverts with Youtube just because they carry loads of illicit content and videos.
A lot of reports online also spoke about how Youtube can earn advertising revenue by including some premium content from distribution deals with companies like Viacom Inc., NBC and Walt Disney Co, but the same was declined by them, I think that was simply because they were asked to pay for it. Anyways, who knows?
One of the best social networking sites, MySpace is still struggling to offer advertisers an environment that doesn’t threaten the safety of a company's brand. On the other hand if they don’t restrict or filter user-generated content they might never be able to support brand advertising.
Another reason that I came across for this ruckus being created with advertising on social networking sites are the middlemen. I think its very important for companies to know where exactly their adverts are placed. There are a lot of big companies that are completely ignorant when their ads showed up through adware products, saying that they had no idea they were supporting the practice.
I would like to give you an example here:
Few days back a number of British companies were shocked with their ads on the Facebook social-networking site appeared on the profile pages of the British National Party, a far-right wing political party that's generally seen as racist and fascist. The companies pulled their ads from the site, and now the British government says it won't advertise on user-generated content sites for fear that its ads would run alongside contentious or undesirable content.
Nobody willl deny with me here, this is certainly a very serious concern for many companies that doesn’t want to see them being associated with certain groups or types of content.
Today, almost all the social networking sites are caught up in a vicious circle of quality advertisers being scared off by the site content. They are left with no choice but to face the challenge of figuring out how to monetize their heavy traffic.
What should social networking sites do to overcome this problem?
From last few years, its been more than just a challenge for social networks to get in more adverts. It includes a lot of thinking and effort to develop a big project that is a big sale. It is happening, but much of it is still experimental.
What I think that all that a social network can promise advertisers are the ready connections they carry among similar groups of users, giving advertisers an opportunity to take advantage of word of mouth and enable the rapid spread of viral campaigns.
Further marketers and social networks should try and focus a lot more on the techniques such as creating groups and profiles to sustain their growth in that area.
Contextual ads (like those from Google Adsense) carry a uselessly low click-through rate and have a correspondingly low CPM value. This is obvious even though MySpace is a kind of social recommendation search engine for the rest of the web: why should one listen to a advertiser who doesn't know you when your friend is recommending stuff already?
Social networking sites have found their audience, and in case of Facebook and Youtube they have made a sum of money inform of buyouts. But the question is how will they pull revenue and turn their profits into business, a test on their permanence.
In a general sense I think Facebook has introduced advertising successfully, but who would want to place adverts on kid’s MySpace or on personal pages?
Advertisers look for something more viable, more controlled text for their ads, and we all know what a hit and miss these social networks can be in terms of inappropriate content.
Looking at monetization of social networks, I would like to give them some suggestions as follows:
Branded advertising
This can be a very effective way to put through your message and confirms to the wallpaper style branding that MySpace users already have. The best way one can make branding work in this context is by giving users a choice of who their sponsors should be (will they get paid if they prove sufficient traffic?).
Emotional attachment with the brand and the personal website should be established over time to gain the maximum value for both parties.
More immersive advertising experiences are needed to cement brand awareness in reality.
More consumer involvement in the advertising process in the form of sponsored widgets
As brands aim more effectively to influence the power of social networking sites to maximize their exposure. Widgets or stickers involve a great interactive element that each visitor who visits the site can participate in or put on their own blog. The true potential of these viral widgets will soon be seen in the coming years. The most common inserted item will be videos, just as it's already common to have music players with favourite songs.
These widgets are rarely sponsored right now but the viral potential alert marketers to their value.
Advertisers who hold interest in this space and want to create their own should keep in mind the following values to the consumers: Direct value (such as Adsense which pays you), Indirect value (that drives traffic to your site or increases participation with your page and conversation etc.) and Emotional/Social (conversation point, gets you recognition and ideally praise etc.).
I would like to explain you this with an example of MySpace as their users already embed widgets in their page and add "friends" that are largely unknown bands or brands. Why not encourage them to embed larger adverts or "sticker-sized" ad-snacks. If the advert is cool or funny enough, there's no reason MySpace users wouldn't be tempted to show the world their interests. Rather than consumer-generated advertising, this will be consumer-chosen advertising.
Time for online marketers to mark a change
I can see a whole new industry rising in the coming few years only dedicated to social media optimization, that will focus advertisers approach on social networking environments.
Then, in turn, the social networks may have to develop new revenue models to reflect the changes.
As read by me in a lot of articles, I think when advertisers set up a presence for their brands on the networks, they have not been very sure of the process adopted by social networks to monetize it.
I believe that consumer-generated content, of the kind seen on YouTube will become more widespread and its impact on consumer purchasing behaviors will come to dominate the role played by advertising.
The most tempting response among advertisers and among their agencies is to believe that the most significant changes are in media choices and viewing behavior, which requires the smallest response — change the venue in which ads appear, and change their format as dictated by the new media. Doing the same will certainly make a lot of difference to determine a change in advertising venue and will be more or less sufficient to restore the power of advertising.
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Posted On
Aug 21, 2007
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 I still remember by friends running around to consultants while applying for an International University. I wish we all knew that we will soon have all this information just a click away. Now, here’s one that will make your career while you sit make friends, chat and watch videos. Surprised?
I’m talking about the new online community, Bharatstudent.com. Before I go any further and write about it let me put a pre-review for you in one line. For me, it’s like Orkut + Googlevideo/Youtube + Naukri/Monster/Timesjobs. Yes, it’s true, you got all that on one site and all in your reach once you’re a member through a free registration.
Now, here’s a little about the portal. The site looks quite decent with a neat and easy navigation. It has different  sections like Friends, Gangs (groups/communities), Bharat Café, Campus TV, Girls only and Earn part Time (you can work part time for the portal and earn money). It targets the youth, like every other community or even jobsites. But here comes my favorite section ‘careers’ and ‘study abroad’ that gives you an impression that this is not just any other monotonous portals to pass time but a serious attempt to entertain and also help the youth of our country with their careers.
Another very interesting thing is the ‘Girls Only’ section that is exclusively for girls. It carries ‘Profile of the week’, ‘Recipe of the day’, ‘Powerful Women’, ‘Tip of the day’, ‘Product reviews’ and Featured articles and discussions. Well I think they should have included a guy’s section too. Oh well, this portal’s still cool. I’ve got invitations from tons of online communities and I don’t even bother to register ‘cause they’re all the same. I did register for this immediately ‘cause the home page of the site says it all. It talks about all the stuff the site has to offer and I don’t regret joining this because it’s worth it. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s useful too. Try, it’s definitely worth trying. I would like to know your thoughts about what you think about the portal.
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Posted On
Aug 18, 2007
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 Just like me, not many of us would have heard of this new video search engine Truveo. AOL/Time Warner has launched a video search engine called Truveo to crack Google for advertising dollars and search dominance. This is one area where I expected Google to pioneer and excel, but they've fading under their own weight. Any attempt to search for video at Google will only return results for Google Video and YouTube, not video on the Internet at large.
Talking about this new search engine, I’ve been eagerly following the blogs on Mashable. Check the recent blogs and you will trace this very cool news on Truveo. It’s basically a simple video search engine — as are Yahoo!"s Video Search and Google Video (Truveo’s only two major competitiors). I have to say, after a bit of here and there, I like it.
First of all, the thing that drags me to it is the clean, intuitive interface (I personally think Google’s a bit too clean and Yahoo! too cluttered). They have categories, including top picks, news, sport, entertainment, and recently viewed. And one more thing I like about Truveo is their advanced search feature — from what I can see, neither Google nor Yahoo carry such stout options.
‘Show details’ - this is my favorite feature. Sure, you get some details in the result itself, but with a simple click on "show details," you’ll be quite amazed as to what you get to know about the video. For the most detailed video I could find (details vary on the video clip):
Runtime, Author, Genre, Category, Copyright, Country, Language, Host Site, Produced, Found on.
Pretty impressive, one would say.
Do you guys know Yahoo accepts video submissions through media RSS, Google direct uploads and separate submissions for the major producers, but what about Truveo? Worry not. If you go to the bottom of their ‘About’ page, you’ll notice they accept videos as well — through media RSS — a big relief.
Overall, I unexpectedly find Truveo much better in some ways to its competitors. Of course, it lacks some of the main features such as the file size of a result and can be quite irrelevant at times (Yahoo!) but apart from those, I quite like it. Heads up to the Truveo team for their awesome product, but only if they include Blogs as well, I’m sure if they do they can evolve as a true Web 2.0 search company.
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Posted On
Aug 10, 2007
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 As newspapers, blogs and media are all anxiously propelling out news on the new applications for iPhone, I couldn’t resist writing about it as well.
With the new Internet technology taking over in a big way, iPhone apps have been the most interesting innovations. CRM provider Etelos - which has already gripped some popular platforms like Google Apps, Netvibes, Pageflakes and Windows Live - announced on its blog about an Etelos CRM suite of modularized CRM tools, for use on the iPhone.
Another new application in the iPhone splash is the Clippz.com. This service allows you to download "optimized video clips" from the Internet to a mobile device (a process it calls 'sideloading'). Clippz.com has announced that they are offering more than 500 MySpace, Metacafe and YouTube collections encoded in Apple iPhone's H.264 file format. What else can one ask for!
Well, its will be too early for me to comment in terms of development. Infact I came across an article on the new development platform for web-based iPhone apps, the first of its kind. And to add to action Adobe AIR and Google Web ToolKit (GWT) are likely to participate in iPhones apps too.
The excitement around iPhone web applications is soaring day by day, and why not? We all are waiting to see some more action by iPhone developers.
So let me know what iPhone apps have you seen that have tickled your interest and you can't wait to use?
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