Entrepreneurship : Many Times All is Not well At the Very First Go

Today I just came across this video and hence thought of sharing some past nuances about WebPro Technologies

Every entrepreneur starts a business venture with a dream of being successful  but many times all is not well  at the very first go. When you decide to take up a job you learn on the job and try to be better with every passing day gaining experience and knowledge and also you are assured of a pay packet at the end of the month.

But, when you venture out to invest in business you do get experience with every decision you take but you may not always end up with monetary gain at the very first go. So that is the difference one needs to take risks and also be prepared for unforeseen situations  or vagaries of the market despite  taking  wise and careful decisions. Always have   a backup plan ready for such situations.

I am not writing all this hypothetically, I have gone through these situations and experienced it .   I have been on both the sides . I started my career in 1987 working as a faculty at DataPro (Mumbai –Bandra) , Placement Head at  NIIT  (New Delhi ) and then  finally as Centre Manager at TuLec (A division Of Tata Infotech – Ahmedabad) . After that planned to take up a franchise of DataPro for Ahmedabad but after a good start due to the changing market conditions as we are all familiar with the dot com bubble burst period of early 2000 it became very difficult to survive and meet the salary expenses of the SCJPs and MCSEs and the huge infrastructure cost of running a training institute .

But we had to continue even at a loss as we had enrolled students for 3 year Diploma  courses and had to keep up to our commitments . The  final blow came when DataPro – the Parent Company announced its closure and we had to now create an identity of our own. We had to remove the DataPro Sign Board  and decided to start under the name of WebPro Technologies. Designing our own courses and setting marketing plans.

We started with Web Designing and Web Development courses and also got projects for web development.After the initial hiccups and teething problems we managed to get out of the loss and actually reached a decent profit margin with the web development and web designing courses we started for B.E’s  (Engineers) only and we tiled the course as 'The eEngineer' . The first few batches were the saving grace and we came out of the difficult times.

The website owners whose website we had developed wanted to know how they can rank on Altavista, Lycos, Yahoo, Hotbot,etc. the search engines which were widely used. I  started working on that and since then I have never looked back . I personally got so interested in optimizing sites that SEO services became the focus of our company.

Once you are out of the difficult times then it is in your hands to restructure, reorganize and rework the entire set up to narrow down or expand and go ahead more confidently.

Hence, every business venture will have its ups and downs but only during these times the entrepreneur has to prove his/her mettle and  integrity as these are the true testing times  and many times you are left alone to face these situations or the most faithful few of your team may help you.

Connect To Yourself First then To The Rest Of The World

Twitter the micro blogging conversation tool has entered our lives and has been successful in creating a virtual life for most of the people on twittervile. That virtual life is so full of conversations and updates which need to be followed real time. 

Twitter started as a conversation platform which seemed to be an excellent replacement for SMS or texting but with millions of people joining it and the integration of tweets being featured on search, it has become  a real time information tool which updates you even before the news channels can have the breaking news headlines.

Moreover the use of social media as an online marketing tool has a certain compelling factor which may give the feeling  of missing out on something important if you are not connected 24 X 7. This brings havoc in the real life schedules .This infact can be considered as an occupational hazard  for the people working  in the online  industry .

After the regular use of Twitter, usually people get habituated to check on the tweets the moment they are out of bed but this is a dangerous habit which no doubt keeps you updated but surely creates a state of turmoil for your family and health.

First connect to yourself then to the rest of the world. Your Gym, Yoga, Walk or exercise routine and spending time with your family on the breakfast table are the most important things in the morning which cannot be replaced by any other professional assignment. Once you start the day with this positivity you have already taken the first step to  face the day ahead with zeal and energy as more than the caffeine it is the oxygen which is needed early in the morning.

We do work with different time zones and mornings do not always co-relate to the break of dawn to many but if we choose to work  this way then we need to decide our own body clock and see that we follow the schedules which go according to our timing schedules.

But unless you connect to yourself and give importance to yourself then you can never give it to anyone else. Everything boils down to discipline and efficient management, just because we have access to the broadband 24 X 7  that does not mean we add life to our GRAVATAR and become lifeless in real time.

The following video explains the efficient use of managing and monitoring social media:

The Art Of Commenting On Blogs

Blogs are usually created for sharing , expressing and voicing certain thoughts, opinions and information to reach out to more and more people , comments on the blog prove that this exercise has been fruitful and has a multiplier effect on the outreach.

Blog comments are the most valuable UGC (User Generated Content) which benefits the blog as well as the commenter. It works both ways , the blogger gets the opinions and view points of the readers which initiate a discussion, if the discussion has been meaningful and highlights the importance of the topic then it makes the blog post a valuable resource on the topic .

Such kind of regular value added comments from regular visitors which create interest in other visitors also help build a community. The success of any blog is based on the regular readers it has and how many additional visitors become regular readers on a regular basis.

No doubt the blog posts have to be interesting enough to generate that interest but to maintain that interest level the blogger too has to reply to every comment to make the person who wrote the comment feel that he was heard and what he shares regarding the topic is a value added content for the blog.

The back link you get from the comment thread may or may not pass on the link juice. I shall not mention the core SEO benefits derived from commenting as I think it is not ethical but when you share links in your comments do it from the perspective of adding content value to it or purely for the purpose of sharing the content on the link shared which according to you is correlated and will help the readers in some way or the other.

There are certain things to keep in mind while commenting on other blogs:       

            

• Never just post a comment for the sake of getting a link back. It is unethical and also resorts to comment spamming. 

•  Share valuable info. related about the topic or share your opinion about it. 

•  Reply to other people’s comments if you think have something to add to. 

•  Do not make your comments too long so that they end up superseding the blog post itself. 

•  If you think that your comment is worth being shared to other beyond the community of that blog tweet the link on Twitter or share it on social media. This again subtly benefits the blog too. 

•  Comment only on topic for which you are passionate about or have knowledge about. 

•  Incase you are posting a comment on a blog post about which you do not have Much knowledge, you can even ask a question in the comments section. 

•  Be honest and authentic about who you are and if possible allow your logo or picture also to be displayed 

By having such a commenting policy and approach your web presence can reap the benefits of promoting your brand, having a voice in the selected community, have indirect SEO and marketing benefits, reach out to new communities beyond your blog and search engine presence and also manage to get additional direct and referral traffic.

URL Shorteners And Anchor Text

We all know the importance of using URL Shorteners especially when we have to tweet a link on Twitter here there is a limitation of 140 characters. As we all know that social media signals are being integrated with search it is very important to find out if the shortened URL is passing on the SEO benefit behind it.

Yes we know that Twitter and other social media sites have a ‘No Follow’ attribute to links but that does not negate the importance of sharing links . Despite the No Follow attribute all the links shared on Twitter are being saved and recorded and there is also a twitter search by which these links can be found by people . Hence it is very important that the shorteners pass on the link juice to the destination URL.

So the question is which URL Shortener should be used?




In order to get all your links shared on Twitter be found in one place I suggest registering with www.trunk.ly which automagically collects links you share on Facebook, Twitter and Delicious, ... and makes them searchable.

According to me this is the most important spade work to be done by every SEO for each of their client Twitter accounts. As this will be the database or index of links shared on Social media which maybe and can be used by search engines in the coming future when their search algorithms are updated with the complete integration of search and social.

You can find our Trunk.ly presence on http://trunk.ly/Webprotech/

SEMPO :Search Marketing Report 2011- SEO, PPC & Social Media – Company Trends & Agency Trends

SEMPO and Econsultancy released the 2011 “State of Search Marketing Report” It is an exhaustive report on the Search Marketing Industry trends and features.

We would like to share some metrics and information on SEO, PPC and Social Media Specification – Company Trends And Agency Trends.

Company Trends : Type of marketing carried out by companies

The figure below shows the proportion of client-side respondents carrying out search engine optimization (organic or natural search), paid search marketing and social media.

Respondents: 324 

(86%) said they engage in search engine optimization

 (79%) said paid search marketing which has slightly decreased since 2010,

while the number of those carrying out social media has increased by 2%

The number of organizations engaging in SEO has gradually decreased in the last three years, from 91% in 2009 to 86% in 2011. This decline can be partly explained by the fact that some companies believe that carrying out SEO activity is not necessary as long as they have good content on their web site.

Note: Social media marketing‟ was a new option from 2010. 

Agency Trends For Clients: Services offered by agencies

Respondents: 595 

The proportion of agencies managing paid search marketing and social media marketing on behalf of their clients has increased since 2010, by 1% and 6%, respectively as in the figure below:

An increasing number of agencies are trying to own the social media space, hence the significant growth in the proportion of providers offering these services.

For SEO, the percentage has gradually decreased in the last four years, from 91% in 2008 to 83% in 2011.

This matches the decline in companies carrying out SEO shown earlier above.

Additionally, SEO activity is increasingly concentrated in the hands of SEO specialists rather than generic digital agencies.

Bing Searches Hit The 30% Mark In The US Market

It’s the first time Microsoft has captured this large a market share of the search world. The kind of qualitative changes Bing has been coming up with on the Bing Webmaster Tools and local business portal it clearly indicates that Microsoft is serious about search.

According to analysis firm Experian Hitwise.

As SEOs if we have been focusing on search engine optimization rather than Google Optimization the efforts put in all this time are going to start bearing results. As I can already see in the analytics for the sites managed by us the organic traffic from Bing is picking up.

 If you have been adding your sites to Bing Webmaster Tools also and have been focusing on ranking on Bing too you are in a Win-Win situation. Well I am all smiles and welcome the competition as this will make the search scene more qualitative and innovative and will give us the nutritive food for thought and the true challenge for genuine SEOs .

The international Panda update of Google, the increase in the market share for Bing, Bing’s local business Portal Launch and improved Bing Webmaster Tools are making the search industry come of age and gain its true place on the online marketing scenario.

The Next Big Evolution Of The Web : The Data Explosion And Open Data

In one of our previous articles http://blog.webpro.in/2011/03/game-dynamics-and-influence-layer-of.html we spoke about the influence layer of the social scenario on the web. The next big concern is the volume of personal and general data which is being shared across the social media sites and other platforms on the web.

In the following videos Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa)  speaks about  the availability of data about each person on the web. Its pros and cons and how it can be used to make the web a better place and how it can be used efficiently and more effectively.

Today your personal records, health records, financial health , the personal choices you make on the web, which sites you visit, with whom you interact , etc. is all being recorded on the web. The questions who owns this data, who can use this data and how it can be used are all valid questions cropping up because of easy access to someone’s personal data and preferences.

He also adds that You may think that the U.S. leads in information collection. But the most ambitious project in the world is happening in India. Its government is gathering demographic data, fingerprints, and iris scans from of all its 1.2 billion residents. This will lead to the creation of the largest, most complex identity database in the world.  

What To Do When Your Content is Being Copied ?

Google can do a fairly good job of knowing the origin of the content but incase your content has been uploaded by someone else by manipulating the time stamp then :

1. Send a warning email telling them to remove the content .

2. Send A DMCA Notice.

3. Do A Spam Report.

4. Write a blogpost and share it on Social Media.

What Is DMCA?
The DMCA is a United States copyright law which implements two 1996 WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) treaties. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as DRM) and criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, even when there is no infringement of copyright itself. It also heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

What Is DRM ?
Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. To some extent, DRM overlaps with copy protection, but DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas copy protection typically refers to software.

What Is IP Delivery And How You Can Use It?

IP based delivery is serving content to users based on their IP address. Serving different content to users from different countries or locations is not cloaking and is very much a white hat technique. Cloaking is showing different content to users and different content to  the search engine bots which is not as per the Google guidelines.

The reason for varied content targeted based on IP address could be to display region specific Ads, varying costs for shipping as per the location, change the language as per the location or even different  discount rates as per location.

The following 2 videos explain how Google handles this aspect of IP delivery.

India Wins The ICC World Cup 2011

Wankhede Stadium Mumbai India witnessed the magnificient shot played to hit a six and make India win the World Cup.

Great team spirit, hard work and determination and a humble captain made it all possible. Of course the support of the whole country which is mad after cricket and movies cannot be ruled out.

This was also special for coach Gary Kristen as it was his last day as Indian coach.


Thank You Team India For Making Us Feel Proud And Happy:  

The Wise Words By The Captain : 




The Team Sentiment :