Shashank Rana

Steps in Website Promotion and Business Generation

The website evolution has a few steps enumerated below:

1. Announcing the launch of the website

2. General promotion of the website on the internet

3. Specific promotion of the website at relevant locations for lead generation

4. Specifically targeting the consumer for business generation

5. Business

6. Regular maintenance

Announcing the launch:

This needs to be done to ensure that the website is indexed quickly and is available in search results. It also gives the ‘big business’ feel to the customers who are researching for due diligence. The easiest way of such announcement is via Press Releases. A good strategy for press releases is ‘three’, where a release is issued before the launch, one on the launch day, and the last a week after, to celebrate the ‘fabulous’ launch. It completes the full circle. There are multitudes of free and paid PR sites, which can release the News Article. It is suggested to use a mix of free and paid agencies for the release.

Expected Budget: $350

Frequency: one time

General Promotion of the website on the internet:

This includes Pay per Click campaigns on search engines. It is particularly good for an e-commerce website, to know what the target market is looking for and to analyze the direction of business. The traffic from particular keywords can give an idea of the future of business and the demand. It also helps in designing the strategies for ‘Featured Product’ on the website.

Expected Budget: range from $600 to $3000 per month

Frequency: continuous

It also includes Search Engine Optimization. I consider it to be a general promotion category item as the SEO cannot be specifically targeting your customers. It is a means for generating traffic and optimizing the website for user interaction. The target of any SEO activity should be to ensure that the user can find the website at relevant locations, and not to improve the search engine rankings. For example, one of the newest ways for a user to find the website is via the image search options. It is important the ‘all’ the images in the website have an identifiable name, and they include the right tags (alt, title etc).

Expected Budget: $1200

Frequency: one time, annual suggested

Specific Promotion of the website

It is important that the website is promoted at specific locations like trade directories or online trade magazines. It gives the relevant exposure to the business and is a good way to generate leads. There are various trade websites for the purpose and it helps to get a paid account at the best performing ones. If required, advertising inventories can also be purchased at these websites to stand out among the crowd.

Expected Budget: $800

Frequency: annual

Specifically targeting the consumer

There are various ways of targeting the end customer. The most frequently used is via newsletter and email. There are various email lists available for mass mailings, and if the website has a newsletter, the list can be used. Trade magazines also have a periodic newsletter which should be used for promoting the business. The website should be designed to create a mailing list, which can be used to send promotional material.

Expected budget: $300

Frequency: Monthly

Business

It includes maintaining the website’s ecommerce system, to ensure that the system will respond in time and also tracks the buyer behavior on the website. It helps in learning about the business opportunity in the future and also allows for removing the non-performing items from occupying precious screen space.

Regular Maintenance

This includes blog posts, twitter and Facebook pages, and other social media applications, to crowd-source visitors. It is beta testing changes and also gives an opportunity to business owner to get an opinion on new product releases. It is an ongoing process to keep the visitor engaged and to ensure repeat visits from users, who are looking for new content on the website. It helps in making a fan-following, which results in word of mouth publicity and business generation in long run.

The first rule for any business remains the same. There has to be an inherent value in the proposition and the visitor to the store/website should learn about it in the first 30 seconds. There has to be an activity for visitor engagement (like designing your room in this case), which makes the user come back and ask for more.

 

Tags: beta testing, business development, business promotion, CPC, internet marketing, lead generation, online advertising, online promotion, PPC, press release, search engine marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, social marketing, social networking, web applications, website designing, website development, website marketing, website promotion

Microsoft India Forgot to Mention Windows 7 on Website!

i was watching the pretty Windows 7 launch videos and pictures from various Microsoft sites around the world. I wanted to find out what was happening in India and to my surprise, Microsoft India didn’t even mention Windows 7 on their Windows Home Page!

The Windows Site has ‘Highlights’ – Small Business: Upgrade to Windows Vista with Confidence

Funny a company like Microsoft forgot to mention Windows 7. Having said that, I guess even MS would not know what web properties they have around the world! Elephants can’t Dance Saala!

PS: As you can see from the screenshot, I happily use Windows 7, Live Writer, and I love Microsoft!

Tags: microsoft, microsoft india, website, windows, windows 7

Privacy Tips for People playing Games on Facebook – Part 2

This post continues what I left incomplete in the last one here. If you have already allowed Farmville to post your updates in your stream, without asking you for permission, here is what you need to do next.

Put your mouse on the “Settings” button in the top blue bar, towards the right side.

You do not need to click this button/link, there will be a drop down menu like below. Click the “Application Settings” link.

You will see the most recent applications, and a drop down menu to select more views.

Select “Allowed to Post” from the list. 

You will see a list of applications that are allowed to post updates to your stream, without asking for your permission. Prepare to be surprised, I keep checking this portion and still didn’t know that I had one other application that could post without prompting! Go ahead and click “Edit Settings” for the applications that should not post updates without Prompting.

  You need to change the “Additional Permissions” for the application.

Revoke the “Additional Permissions” and you are good to go.

You can revoke the additional permissions from all the applications that you do not use, or you do not want to allow to post to your streams. I know of people who allowed over 300 applications to post without prompting. This meant that anything that they did on Facebook, or even their desktop in some cases, was available for the entire world to see, without their knowledge.

Protect yourself. Start now!

Tags: facebook, facebook applications, farmville, games on facebook, privacy, privacy settings, social media, social networking

Privacy Tips For People playing Games on Facebook – Part 1

I am writing this post as the first in the Privacy Protection series, as promised in the last one. This post is specifically for those who are playing games on Facebook and that also with specific reference to Farmville. Farmville is an awesome game and I am really in love with my farm! I have been spending hours on it and it is addictive. I am troubled when my entire Facebook stream is filled with updates from my Farmville Friends.

When you are playing the game, there is a time when the game asks you for special permissions. We do not read the fine print and accept whatever is asked for. This is where the problem starts. With Farmville, the problem begins when one takes a Picture.

Here is a sample of what happens.

When we take a picture, the Farmville asks for special permissions. If you allow Farmville to allow publishing automatically, you will not be asked for permission in future before posting anything in your update stream. For people who spend quite a lot of time on Farmville (or even other games), this could mean filling their streams with updates of ribbons, like below. You may not want everyone to know every time you spend time helping 5 friends, or you are a level up!

What are your options in such a case?

I will tell them to you in the next post, to avoid making this one unnecessarily lengthy.

Tags: facebook, facebook applications, farmville, games on facebook, privacy, privacy settings, social media, social networking

The ‘Social’ in Social Media

There is so much to do all the time, I think that a day should have more than 24 hours!

Internet has made information so accessible that if someone is looking for it, it is readily available at all times. Google has become a verb and life’s so easy with information a couple of clicks away, I wonder why did they have books in the first place! I realized in the past few weeks that it was much easier to find out what’s happening around you, by using twitter! For those who joined us late, Twitter is a website that lets users share 140 character messages with the entire world.

Unlike SMS, twitter is a broadcast service. SMS is meant for an intended list of recipients, while twitter messages are for everyone to see, making it public, and therefore social! It is funny the way the meaning and definition of ‘Social’ has changed. Anything, which is not private, can be considered Social. The more open you are, the more Social you are.

If you can share the dirtiest of your secrets in public, chances are that you will have a good fan following!

Websites like Facebook, MySpace etc have brought everything in the users’ life in public domain, all in the name of Social. It is easy for people to know things about others that otherwise would never be in the public domain.

What makes life worse is the number of companies that use the API of these Web Applications. In user language, these companies are providers of the numerous quizzes, cute quotes, comparison reports, photo tools, games and all that jazz on Facebook and MySpace.

People continuously add these applications, opening up their profiles to the providers, and also allowing the provider to access the information of all their friends.

This means that if I want to protect my profile from potential spammers, ID thieves or just want to keep my private life private, I will have to ask my friends to not use these applications. With the increasing number of people getting on to the Social Networks, it gets all the more difficult to keep a tab on how and where can your information be distributed. Currently, I do not know how many people read the TOS and Privacy Policy and all the other fine print of these applications. I think most people don’t even realize that these parts require any attention.

The next posts will have the details of protecting profiles in Facebook for a start.

Please protect yourself and help others.

Tags: applications, facebook, facebook applications, internet, myspace, privacy, social media, social networking, twitter, web applications

Why do I use Windows 7 on my Laptop and not Linux/other OS

I recently bought a new laptop, HP dv7-2180us, Core2Quad, with 6GB RAM and an ATI Radeon with a GB dedicated. It had Windows Vista preinstalled on it and before I bought it, I ensured that I had a Windows 7 upgrade available (postponed my purchase for 3 days). I have used other operating systems, including OSX, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and CentOS. The moment I came home and unpacked my new beast, I took out the DVD with the Windows 7 RC and upgraded my laptop.

I knew that I will have to do a fresh install when Windows 7 will finally be available, as upgrade from Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 Release is not allowed (yet). I knew that my license allowed me an upgrade to Windows 7 Home, which meant that I will have to do away with my installation that I was about to perform on the system as RC was available only in Windows 7 Ultimate. I knew that the Windows 7 RC will stop working after sometime, the bi-hourly shutdown to begin on March 1, 2010.

Even after all this, I chose to install Windows 7 RC on my laptop.

Windows means a ‘life without walls’. After using all the operating systems that I could put my hands on, I can say that I love Windows. I have used Windows Mobile on my HTC Touch Diamond, and when I changed it to Nokia E71, I missed the convenience of doing things the way they were meant to be done. Cut, Copy and Paste were so much easier on Windows Mobile, am glad IPhone users are also able to experience it now!!

Windows 7 seems to have been designed for the latest machines. Adding my Canon Printer or the E71 or HTC Phone was not even a task. I connected them and the Device Manager automatically installed the required Drivers, else told me what was required. Before installing the Windows 7 RC, I forgot to make a driver-disk, which would have all the drivers of this new laptop. I was amazed to see that everything installed perfectly and there were no conflicts whatsoever!

Windows 7 makes the online life easier. With Windows Live Essentials and the Internet Explorer 8, there is not much that I would require for working on the Internet. I have an instant messenger, blog writing application, email client, movie editor, networking utility, safety and security software, Fax and Scanner software and everything that I will require in a Home PC!

I didn’t have to do anything except give a couple of details and press next. It was smooth and it works perfect. I am not in a habit of shutting down the laptop anymore because the wake-up time from Sleep is about 2 seconds, and it doesn’t consume any battery on Sleep. I can move between my work and home wireless without worrying about establishing connections and the networking with a wired connection is also painless. The Action Center keeps on telling me about the problems ‘and’ the solutions, which taught me to create a Backup of my important files.

I don’t know if I have any reasons to move to any other Operating System. I have Windows 7 and I am very happy!

Tags: device manager, laptop operating system, linux, netbook operating system, netbooks, operating system, windows, windows 7, windows 7 for laptop

With or Without..

Baaton baaton mian bicharney ka ishara karkey
Khud bhi roya woh buhat ham se kinara karkey

Sochta rehta hoon tanhai main anjam-e-khuloos
Phir usi jurm-e-mohabbat ko dobara karkey

Jagmaga di hain terey sheher ki galiyan main ne
Apney askhon ko palkon pe sitara karkey

Dekh letey hain chalo hosla apne dil ka
Aur kuch roz tere saath guzara karkey

Aik hi sheher main rehna hai magar milna nahi
Dekhtey hain yeh aziyat bhi gawara karkey

 

Found this on the Internet. I’ve translated this according to my little sense of language and tried to retain as much meaning as possible. 

His words meant that he wanted to part ways,
He cried a lot too after he separated.

I wonder what was the reward of my sincerity,
But I think love is a sin and I did it again.

I have lit the entire city, each alley and street,
by placing my tears as stars on my eyes.

I wait to see the will of my heart,
I won’t stop thinking of you for some more time.

To live in the same city and not meet,
will be torture but I am willing to test.

Tags: together, without

Domain Names and Business Ideas

When I came across the simple domain registration process from Znetindia and the right prices, I got into The domain business. I started to spend my time looking for the right domain name at domaintools.com and to my surprise, I did find some amazing domain names! Over the course of last couple of years, I registered over 50 domain names. These domains were regular dotcom domains and weird ones like this, shashank.asia! I even have a .ws domain, besides .info and .whatever-you-can-get!

I realize that this is not the Californian Gold Rush. There is no hurry and the domains will always be available for your business, anyhow. I know of companies with strangest of names and their domain names have no connection with what they do or what they are called. They are still doing well!

A domain name is only a domain name. It is not equivalent to ‘your name’ or the quality of work that you do. One of the biggest companies that I came across didn’t have their own dotcom name and I know that it did get a few eyebrows raised. Having said that, the domain name does not have any apparent effect on their business and they appear to be doing pretty good!

My learning from the entire process is that please do not try to register a domain unless you know why you want it and you have a real purpose in mind. A domain name is not equivalent to a business idea and a business idea cannot be held back due to non-availability of a domain name. If you think you need a domain name, get it, but not because you think you may need it in the future.

Remember, it is easier to get a domain registered, it is far more difficult to let it go; and when your renewals run in hundreds of dollars, it is too late!

Tags: business idea, business name, domain and business, domain name, domain registration, domain tranfer, dotcom, international tld, tld

Listening to good music..

I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of music that is being produced in bollywood lately! I have been listening to Kaminey,the movie by Vishal Bhardwaj, and I really think that the music is great. Add to it the lyrics from Gulzar, and you have a perfect OST to keep you calm(!) in the traffic. The song Dhan Te Tan is inspired from Misirlou, the song from 1927, also made popular in a version in Pulp Fiction.

What I liked the most was the following song. The lyrics have that special Gulzar stamp, no one else can ask for the moon in a cage or hang a lantern in the sky.

Kaminey – Bollywood Hindi Lyrics

Movie: Kaminey (2009)
Music Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics: Gulzar
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Song Title: Kaminey

Kaminey Lyrics

[Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile]- 2 times
Raat din gile…
Meri aarzoo kamini,
Mere khwab bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey,
Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile…

[Kabhi zindagi se maanga, pinjre mein chaand la do,
Kabhi laanten deke, kaha aasmaa pe taango] – 2 times
Jeene ke sab kareene the hamesha se kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,
Meri daastaan kamini, mere raasten kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

Jiska bhi chehra cheela, andar se aur nikla,
Masoom sa kabootar naacha to more nikla,
Kabhi hum kaminey nikle, kabhi doosre kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,
Meri dosti kamini, mere yaar bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

Iwill try and translate this in English in my next post. For now, Kaminey is Hindi for rascal.

Update: 26 August

I am not very smart on this, but this is whatever I could do to translate the song.

Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile

There is nothing life can do with me,
It cannot get over it’s own complains.

Raat din gile…
The everlasting complains…

Meri aarzoo kamini,
Mere khwab bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey,

My desires are rascal,
My dreams are rascal,
I had a friend in the heart, but this one’s also a rascal,

Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile…

There is nothing life can do with me,
It cannot get over it’s own complains.

Kabhi zindagi se maanga, pinjre mein chaand la do,
Kabhi laanten deke, kaha aasmaa pe taango

Once asked life, to get me the moon in a cage,
Once gave it a lantern, and asked to put it up in the sky!

Jeene ke sab kareene the hamesha se kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,

All the smart ways of living, were rascal from beginning,

Meri daastaan kamini, mere raasten kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

My saga is rascal, my paths are rascal,
I had a friend in the heart, but this one’s also a rascal.

Jiska bhi chehra cheela, andar se aur nikla,
Masoom sa kabootar naacha to more nikla,

Whoever I tried to test, was someone else inside,
A sweet little dove, turned out to be a peacock when it spread its wings.

Kabhi hum kaminey nikle, kabhi doosre kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,

I was a rascal sometimes, sometimes others were rascals

Meri dosti kamini, mere yaar bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

My acquaintances are rascals, my friends are rascals,
I had a friend in the heart, but this one’s also a rascal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While I understand that this is not the best way to translate a song like this, I will try and write something more about the meaning of the song. For now, please bear with the above translation of the song Kameeney.

Tags: kaminey, movie, music

The Great Driving Challenge! Vote for Us

I was told about this new contest by Mitsubishi Motors, which really got me excited. It is a contest inviting couples from India to drive for 3000kms in Mitsubishi’s new car, the Cedia Sport. The participants will have to create a travelogue of their journey and also probably use the car for the purpose (probably!).

The applicants for this contest by Mitsubishi Motors, called the Great Driving Challenge, will have to prove their mettle in a four step contest.

The first phase of the contest is the registration and public voting, where participants register and vote for their favourite applicant, on the website.

The top 100 contestants from here will be judged by an independent jury, on the basis of their profile and their travelogues, posted on the same website.

They will shortlist 9 couples, who will have to go through various aptitude, driving and other tests, to confirm their ability to participate in this kind of a journey.

Finally, three couples will go around the country driving a Cedia for 3000kms. They will have to click 5 pictures a day, create 5 blog entries, and also shoot a video, to be in the contest.

The couple with the best travelogue will win a cash price of Rs 1 Million.

I have decided to participate and have created My Profile HERE. I need your support for the purpose and would request you to please vote for me, to get to the contest! You can vote by clicking here.

I will keep you posted of the events and my progress at the voting.

Tags: contest, driving challenge contest, great driving challenge, great driving contest, greatdrivingchallenge, mitsubishi, mitsubishi cedia, mitsubishi contest, the great driving challenge