Recently I am seeing a lot of content on the web- by nouveau SEO guys, Public Relations professionals and even web developers on how PageRank might be a useless metric to look at.

Many people say that like Tehnorati Authority- PageRank is dead. Well frankly,  Technorati Authority diminished in importance to me some time back. Specially in the Asian context- even for English language blogs- it is not a very useful criterion to look at. Maybe that will change with their re-found focus, but as of now- it is clumsy, not widely adopted and just not suited for the Asian context.

However, PageRank is different.

It might have lost some importance – or rather, ‘corrected’ in perception over the past year. Even Google lately removed it from its list of webmaster tools- stating that people obsess over it too much (perhaps without understanding it much). Clear signals have been sent that PageRank does not singularly impact your SERPs (Search Rankings).

Understand that there are allegedly about 200+ parameters that Google takes into account while evaluating your search rankings. PageRank is one of them.

Then why do I think it is not entirely useless? First of all- it is important to understand in all its simplicity that PageRank defines the incoming links to a page. Every incoming link is a citation and the more the citations, better is the possibility that your content is relevant.

But more than, PageRank also assigns weightage to links.  All incoming links are not treated equal. The value of that link also depends on the Page Rank of that web page sending the  link itself.

Google says:

“PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. We have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and our technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page’s importance”

Explained more mathematically here and more in detail here:

To calculate the PageRank for a page, all of its inbound links are taken into account. These are links from within the site and links from outside the site.

PR(A) = (1-d) + d(PR(t1)/C(t1) + … + PR(tn)/C(tn))

That’s the equation that calculates a page’s PageRank. It’s the original one that was published when PageRank was being developed, and it is probable that Google uses a variation of it but they aren’t telling us what it is. It doesn’t matter though, as this equation is good enough.

In the equation ‘t1 – tn’ are pages linking to page A, ‘C’ is the number of outbound links that a page has and ‘d’ is a damping factor, usually set to 0.85.

We can think of it in a simpler way:-

a page’s PageRank = 0.15 + 0.85 * (a “share” of the PageRank of every page that links to it)

“share” = the linking page’s PageRank divided by the number of outbound links on the page.

A page “votes” an amount of PageRank onto each page that it links to. The amount of PageRank that it has to vote with is a little less than its own PageRank value (its own value * 0.85). This value is shared equally between all the pages that it links to.

So if you were a scammer- willing to put that effort into creating web pages pages having a high rank themselves, it might be too much work. And there is always the risk that sooner than later, it will be discovered. Even if it does not result in getting banned, it will have zero benefit at the minimum- for all that effort.

It is important to notice that there are other attributes that Google uses to identify relevance- interesting ones being  age of domains, IPs of incoming links (are they the same as your web site) , On page elements, etc. As I mentioned earlier- 200+ criterion.

PageRank does not seem to take into account anything else other than the number  and ‘weight-age’ of the incoming links. It clearly says that things like your content (and frequency of update etc) are not a part of Pagerank calculation. Of course these things matter for overall SERPs- but for PageRank calculation- they do not.

Similarly, there is evidence to say that a wikipedia or a dmoz, yahoo directory link or a .edu or .org domain inLink does not impact pageRank; contrary to popular opinion.  It does to your overall SERPs maybe- but not to PageRank.

So the thing worth keeping in mind: PageRank is not just a total count of incoming links (Yahoo incidentally is favored for a closer match to that count- amongst professionals)- but includes weightage of links too.

What’s more- PageRank is not a flat number of random ranking. The original score is corrected on a logarithmic scale to fit a scoring range of 0-10. This also brings to the forth- another interesting observation.

When comparing different pages on the web on the basis of PageRank, it is important to note that the ‘point’ difference is not simply the difference of the higher and the lower number. If you have a PageRank of 5- does not mean you are just, 1 point or 1%  or 10% better than someone with a PageRank 4- every percentage point implies a significant difference by itself. So a Site with PageRank of 5 will have significantly higher value than another one of say PageRank 3. And the one with PageRank7 will be significantly significantly higher than PageRank 4.

To me this metric imparts value to relevant content. Not just widely reached or widely linked back to- but I’m saying that every link does not have equal weightage. That itself is an important thing.

I agree that the criterion to impart weightage/value is not great- but at least it gives context relevance to the links. And even to those pages that are linking back to you.

What does that mean to you? Further explanation-

• If you get a linkback from a page that had PageRank 6 Vs a page that had PageRank 4- you get more weightage from the former link. Keeping in mind the next point-
• If you get linkback from a page with high pagerank but high number of outgoing links, the impact of each outgoing link diminishes in value.
  • So as an example- If you get links from a site with 100 Outgoing links and PageRank 6- Versus a site that had, say 10 outgoing links and PageRank 4, you will get more weightage from the latter

And worth repeating: PR alone is not the factor that will get you front page exposure; however, it does provide a measure of the value of your website. Some people (Google-Matt Cutts- Head of Webspam team himself) say that even if PR is not the only thing you have to worry about, it still determines how often and how deep google crawl your website for updates, which is important if you update your content often.

On the web today- one thing is clear- you cannot have obsessive focus on one metric or tool. In the state it is today, you need to consider multiple factors. And so you need to clearly understand those multiple factors.

Page Rank is one of them- and probably one of the most misunderstood.

Think about it

Shalabh

thumbnail: http://www.mobilestorm.com/seo-sem-online-marketing/does-googles-pagerank-really-count-anymore/

Larry and Sergey

These guys are the stuff dreams are made of. They ruled the world before thirty and double handedly (single handedly won’t be an appropriate phrase right?) altered the online advertising space.

For this company, at one time, normal was ordinary.Excellent was not good enough. And Extraordinary was default.

Buying a private Jet matching Air Force one wasn’t good enough. These guys had permission from NASA to use its landing strip. Now that is something.

Yes it is Larry Page and Sergey Brin- the founders of that Dream factory called Google.

As I always used to say- It is tough to form a company that hires its own celebrity chef. ( Google hired the chef of the rock band ‘Grateful Dead” once). But it is tougher to form a company that makes news when their menu changes. Or sweeps the press when the chef leaves.

Author- Richard L. Brandt

No these are not the facts Richard Brandt’s boook : “Inside Larry & Sergey’s Brain” delves on. These are things dotcom mavens like me have professionally grown up experiencing.

Richard Brandt’s book is a different take on Google- and actually it is about it’s two young and talented founders from Stanford University- and what goes in their minds while deciding the future of not only their company, but decisions impacting the Internet itself.

The book hinges on the moral stance of the duo- and the “Don’t be evil” motto of Google.

Richard does succeed in painting a picture of the duo in your minds. They actually come across as aggressive, resolute (unyielding) and brilliant (obviously)- quite contrary to the warm smiling faces that one is used to seeing in pictures.

It is an easy read- one of the few books I finished in about 2 days- and a good read for anyone who is starting up- specially in the Internet industry.  These guys are icons and we needed to know what is happening in those sharp brains resting on the smiley faces.

Larry is the main strategist – with business acumen and practical drive, while Sergey is the primary technologist and idealist, with brilliant ideas and strong moral positions. But they work closely together- almost like complenentay halves of a single brain.

Many things struck me from the book-

• Like AdSense was not developed by Google. Why even the name “AdSense” was not by Google. And all the while I thought it was a nice name to match “AdWords’
• Like what the founders said on their hiring policies- they like someone with a “slight disdain for the impossible”. It struck me because I have been searching for a single line short but powerful explanation to the question people often ask me- What is Chasing The Storm about? Well, it is about “A slight disdain for the impossible”.
• Even Adwords might not have been an original idea. As a matter of fact, Google settled out of court with Overture with regards to a patents battle in 2004 in exchange of 2.7 million shares. But Google did fine tune and develop the product in a fantastic way.
• When Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo, Larry, Sergei and Eric Schmidt opposed the scenario- saying almost the same things- as I mentioned in this post of mine in May 2007 . (Being a bit pompous I know- but feel happy that the thinking is similar. So what- if one is writing a post in the middle of the night and the others are probably sipping martini on a private island?)
• OK, on that- another common thread- while most web watchers are betting on Augmented reality and brain scanning as the next thing on the Internet- I have often said one of the next big things (media wise) is probably Video- both on the web and digital rendering over the TV. Interactive TV with targeting and measurability rivaling the internet- and so on. Google has tied up with Echo Star- a company that makes cable set top boxes and is working towards  delivering a better system to achieve its goals
• Perhaps the best quote from the book: Entrepreneurship is a crime of passion. It requires motive, means and opportunity.
• The ratio of revenues per employee at $1 million each- is the highest in the technology world- Microsoft weighs at $700,000 Revenue per employee
  
• “Don’t be evil” is a phenomenally simple and yet powerful philosophy. Simple yet difficult to achieve. Simple yet difficult to live up with. And to me, it should be the mantra of every single person on earth.

There are too many things to mention from the book. At least more than a mere blog post can merit- for what it is worth.

Facts that I think went missing from the book:

• No mention of Sir Vincent Cerf- and what impact did he have in the shaping of the company or future goals. Richard talks about a whole host of people but leaves behind Cerf- popularly credited as the Father of the Internet, who is now the Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. Google has a coup with the most respect respected brains- Sir Cerf, Eric Schmidt and Hal Varian- Chief Economist- whose writings we have read while in college. (Yes I graduated in Economics and sucked at it – coming from a science background- the only thing I liked was statistics I think)

• The second thing that I found conspicuous by its absence is the skipping  of click fraud as a topic. I mean if we have chapter or two dedicated to Google consenting to China censoring - we have totally missed a big huge debate in the digital media industry. An issue that every client spending their millions and every small business spending their hard strapped funds is worried of.

Of course Google is doing all it can (we hear it all the time- and see the credits in our ad words accounts), but if there ever was an issue- on transparency and Don’t be evil- it is probably click fraud. This book could have been a good excuse to tell the story on what is being done and how.

In case you happen to buy and read the book, let me know some discussion points. Thanks to Christy from Penguin Group for arranging to send this over.

Who will fuel the next wave of the growth of the Digital Media? Or more specifically- the Internet?

In an earlier post, I wondered if the new phase would still be fuelled by the Internet biggies. I also wondered if many small players are hugely susceptible to the might of the big guys. After all, the Internet biggies have been known to ‘eat up’ or acquire smaller promising companies.

Specially if you are a small player getting into their turf- they either acquire you, or (attempt to) kill you.

In this post, I turn the things a bit around. And argue in favor of these smaller companies.

To start with- there are signs that many big internet firms are precariously going the route of being “just another internet company”.

Or maybe these guys restart their growth story- with tremendous resources at their disposal. Only god knows!

Whatever it is, these are formidable forces. They fueled the growth of the Internet in the late 90s and 2000s- and grew exponentially in the range of product they owned- most of the times by the virtue of inorganic expansions.

You know them- the Googles, the Yahoos, the Amazons, the MSNs and the ebays.

The big question to be asked then is – are they able to play the same role in today’s ‘World Wide Web’ ecosystem as they have played over the last decade or so? With new players, new paradigms, escalating costs and cascading economies, what mantle are they going to wear?

Conglomerates by acquisition? Growth fuel-ers? Facilitators? Fence sitters? Or worse…hang on- there isn’t probably a “worse” than being ‘Fence Sitter’ for these guys.

If that scenario becomes a reality- these might be the possible causes:

Breakneck momentum and Survival of the fastest. Because anyone is giving a fight to everyone:
Vibes on the ground (and some in the stock market sentiments- where Apple has a market cap more than Google quite consistently now)- and yet some more in the virtual space- (with FaceBook and Twitter counting on conversation searches, and others like ‘bookmark search’ nibbling into their audience share etc) are indicators that in order to grow, Google and others might have to undergo another wave of serious innovation sooner than later.

It is not new to note that the big web brands have had various failures and limitations inspite of having deeper than deep coffers. Really.

Not only from the nimble small/independent companies that are causing disruption but competition is getting fiercer even within the biggies themselves.

It is a “Goliath against a David and another Goliath” match- where everyone is fighting everybody. Just like everywhere else. But this is the Internet. Battles here are fiercer- and shorter. These are the webDavids and the webGoliaths.

As an example of “Goliath against Goliath”, Apple is reportedly coming up with its own social network ( I can see the fanbois rejoicing)- with the threat of eating into audience attention span from Google properties & Microsoft and Yahoo eventually eating up search ad share.

And for the webDavids- I am surprised that so many nimble local map players have come up with such a variety of cool services, many ironically utilizing Google’s API. Apple’s iTunes is being challenged on its own turf- by small players launching competing apps for the iPhone!

Weak Products and weak marketing

The webDavids are slowly but surely gaining their footholds against the webGoliaths. They have not only been more nimble, with lesser cash burn rates, but in many cases even have also been able to develop great products- exploiting conspicuous gaps. (Twitter apparently had half of their earlier funds still in the bank when they received a fresh round of funding).

Also, for the webGoliaths, there have been surprising failures in the product development or product marketing front.

There are services not picking enough steam for the big players. Like VoIP forays by Google. It caused a bit of hype in the beginning and then died off. What was the unique disruption this service was causing? And why has is failed to retain the level of consumer interest?

And these are just web based business models – there are many forays by Google in print and radio that have proved quite disastrous (or ahead of their times). A case of trying too fast too soon.

Small does not mean- you can eat it

Traditionally, the big guys attempt to subvert smaller rivals by launching their own offerings against the smaller players. After all, big muscle means bigger market share right? Wrong.

PayPal-eBay: Ebay brought their own payment service to the market to kill payPal. It could not. PayPal became so popular, that eBay had to follow the philosophy of “If you can’t beat ‘em- BUY ‘em!”

Youtube-Google: Google had great reach and a repeat visitor base. YouTube was a baby. No match for the reach. Google Videos was launched- as  a me-too service at best at that point. Burnt some cash. And then ‘had to’ buy YouTube. Not bad. The small fish of yesterday- YouTube us the second most popular search engine on the Internet today.

There are many more examples- and I’m not even talking about the new Davids and Goliaths (Facebook trying to acquire Twitter- finally buying small FriendFeed, etc)

The never ending story continues. Grow big fast, subvert, kill.The mantras of survival in the internet ecosystem.

While everyone’s back to furious product development (igoogle social network, Google waves, Bing, conversation search, social shopping, etc) it is truly the survival of the fastest here.

Think about it.

Shalabh

(@shalabhpandey on twitter)

Sometimes my mind plays the Gemini tricks. Indecision. Yet sometimes I grant it the liberty to fly. Like when I am in one of those futuregazing whims.

Been observing the case of some niche services around Social Media offerings that have entered the market and got themselves flush with VC money. One cannot but wonder if they are riding the wave OR really have a solid ground OR are here for the taking (buyouts). Or worse, for the kill (low entry barriers by more established players).

Come to think of it. The web is becoming dangerously monopolistic. Or maybe cartel like. Or maybe we need to device a new term.

Where the big 5 or so players (across media/platform/services) take over anything with a probable potential. Like the lesser publicized acquisitions made by Amazon. Or in cases where they can’t, they decide to kill the infant in the cradle. By launching against their offerings with their own version- only with bigger and better resources.

Ironically, many a times, it might not be so evil as it sounds. Specially in cases where research has already been done, markets have already been explored and a solid product has already been delivered.

In such a scenario, if there is a new product in the market that sells due to package innovation, and makes money (and noise), there are obvious reasons (and lesser barriers) for the bigger brand to get a foot in that market’s door.

I talked about the lesser known case of Amazon acquisitions. Now take the more well known case of Google. Probably the most powerful force on the web- with its fingers in every pie and head in the rolling cheese.If it wanted, what are the new offerings it could eat up today- if it wanted to?

And Google is just an example. Though a strong contender to bulldoze through many niche and upcoming services, there are some services dangerously in Google terrain and so especially susceptible. I am listing three of those here.

Buzz monitoring/Social Conversations


• The PR folks have ruled and brought about the Web 2.o communications revolution, according to me. And they probably brought with them this entire idea that people are talking about brands in online various online forums. “If you could track down how many events for discussion around your brand are taking place- it would give you unprecedented tracking abilities”.
• Sure enough- many companies including traditional research agencies to web security agencies to nimble programming-business brains- sensed the opportunity and launched products that are being sold and used by many today.
• Companies- the likes of Google- have been delivering some of these services since ages.  Google has services like Alerts, news, Blog search, maps and local search, trends, insights and now the likes of Video insights. These products are free to use.
• So if there are free products, why would someone pay? The common contention for going to paid services is that they have less noise and could dig deep into forums etc- sections not indexed well by Google (or others) Other reasons listed here . Alongside others contend that the tools don’t matter, efforts do.
  

The question then is- how much does it take Google to scale up/package? It already has the reach and the infrastructure. Not to mention the products.

Sentiment tracking/Social conversation Search


• This is another differentiation by the niche service providers. While the likes of Google could provide instances, how would you know their relevance and context? Enter Sentiment tracking- where these companies identify positive or negative references in context of your brand
• How do they do that? Many ways- including ‘semantic’ methods to a mix of human-machine analysis.
• Again, the likes of Google have been doing this research for ages now. If they want to enter this space, will they hesitate?

Examples of both buzz/sentiment (and others like influencer tracking etc) are Radian6, Buzzmetrics/Nielsen Blogpulse, Techrigy, Samepoint, jamieQ, CC, Brandtology- just a few that are top of my mind


Enterprise Group Collaboration systems

• There has been a lot of talk around Social Media-tizing the organisation. Inspite of the fact that many group collaboration systems have been around since ages, like (Zoho or webex), the social media element was missing. Of course they are charged for, or at best freemium.
  
• So smart entrepreneurs grabbed a chance at it- and developed products that employees could use for better project management efficiencies (like Yammer, or SocialWok- a good Asian alternative) and where employees could co-ordinate via tweets 0r other popular social media tools

Google has been delivering some good products around the enterprise space. Their offerings on emails on custom domains etc have been quite successful. Similarly Yahoo with small biz solutions. Lately with the demonstrations of Google wave, it becomes clear that the likelihood of Google entering this space is not a remote concept to say the least.


Real time search

• This is where the big fight is. Though many smaller players are in the fray, the frenzy of the big guys is what makes this a different category
• Another reason that niche conversation tracking tout- real time search for “in time crisis management”- is where the big guys have already taken big steps

Facebook and Twitter are in the fray, with Google already working on some solutions in this area (Google Caffeine)

• This is the area where the fight is concentrated right now
• Latest developments like Facebook buying FriendFeed might have future impact in this domain
• On Facebook’s search capabilities, Mashable reports: While the new Facebook Search only launched this week, the new real-time search platform can search far more than status updates. With access to 250+ million users, the world’s largest social network can tap into photos, links, events, apps, and more for its new search engine.

Long post. I will try to highlight in the next post why historical evidence proves it might not be such a bad thing for the niche players.

Shalabh Pandey

(twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

Thumbnail courtsey : http://www.flickr.com/photos/stinkiepinkie_infinity/2658569216/sizes/m/

As mentioned in a previous post, I attended the Search Engine Marketing Expo in Singapore.

It was a good insight- interesting questions raised and some interesting sessions conducted. But I could see that many service providers were still not at complete terms with the unique nuances of the Asian region and even search engine marketing issues. Or maybe they did not come across like that.

I have always maintained that what this market needs is evangelists and champions- with experience in not only the discipline but also knowledge within the region. The international companies have more experience- and once they get good people within the region, they stand a better chance at succeding in the market- and free markets imply they should- if they deliver a better package

Will summarize the learnings and some photos and slides from the conference:

The first day had interesting sessions on:

• SEM for the CEO: By Gillian Muessig of SEOMOz
  • Topline overview. Good but stats were outdated- recent stats could have added a great deal to the presentation
• Measuring offline success of Search Marketing: Mona Elesseily of Page Zero Media
  • Addressed the common issues that marketers face. I get this question all the time from CEOs, product managers and brand managers- how could we attribute offline sales to online and vice versa. Having actually implemented some of this stuff, I know that there are some things that work better than others- and great to see that International counterparts in more advanced markets also had similar concepts
• Reporting and performance Metrics for the boss: Dennis Yu of BlitzLocal
  • Good and insightful for a session addressing decision makers and Search metrics and reporting professionals. More like web anlaytics 101 but presented well. Key takeout- put data in context and always balance data with the right counterpart.

Gillian from SEO Moz

• An interesting session was the end of the day Site clinic- where the panel took site addresses from people and briefly discussed what could they improve in their sites to make them more SEO (and user) friendly

Day 2 Search Engine Bootcamp

I had decided to attend Search Engine Optimization/SEO sessions but ended up splitting my time with Paid Search sessions.

Michael Motherwell from MMIT at Search Marketing Singapore Expo on Web 2.0 and Search Engine Optimization. I felt a lot more could be covered in this session on topics like- How to utilize Social Media and Web 2.0 for search Engine Optimization OR more specific issues like ‘how to make your digital assets like video, articles, press releases, audio content etc work for you’- could have been more interesting.

Good slide from Gillian of SEoMoz on Search Engine Friendly Web design

Cindy Krum from Rank-mobile, Gillian from SEoMoz and Wayne Eo from OOM

Goal of keyword research- One good slide

In case you are looking for Search Engine Marketing agency from Singapore or South east Asia, let me know

Attending SMX Singpaore on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2009.

Update here on the proceeding and pictures

Seems like expos and events are getting more and more niche. Though there are bigger ones like Ad Tech that could have been called ‘niche’ a few years back; they now cover a broad spectrum of digital marketing streams.

I attend many events- across all domains but specially in the field of marketing/advertising/digital marketing/technology and internet within Asia- and though many invite me due to my previous stints- only to back off hearing that I no longer work with an agency (like the iMediaConnection summit in Phuket) ; many others also call me out of either having known me, trusting my take on some of the proceedings and many others due to Chasing The Storm.

One such event that I am attending soon is the SMX Singapore.

Search Engine Marketing has been close to me- having executed millions of dollars worth of campaigns for various blue chip clients in both Pay Per Click and Search Optimization campaigns.

I think it is a great leveler where  a relatively small player could take a big giant head on with almost equal chances of acquiring a customer.

Hope to learn from the event and contribute.

New Year = New laptop. Simple. Some things are devoid of logic- or then again- the logic is so simple that it does not merit debate.

The debate with yourself (or your spouse or your parent…depending on your age/marital status and mental stability) goes something like this:

I want a new laptop!
Why?
Coz it’s the new year. That’s why..
Silence on the other side (maybe a ‘door bang’ a little later)
End of discussion. Not exactly a “happily ever after” scenario..but will live with it. A New notebook can afford small compromises.

Apart from a cordial family atmosphere, technology is also changing mindsets and preferences- nowadays you do not sigh over “that pretty looking thing”- with perfect specifications- 36-24-36 (you preferred 40-26-38? Well, to each his own). Nowadays you’d rather drool over “that thin beauty with 4 gigs of RAM and 12 inch display- Oh! And yes- she has a quad core processor”

In marketing speak- if pre 90s was about FMCGs- the Fast Moving Consumer Goods, the new millennium is about FMTGs. The Fast Moving Technology Goods

Technology has become so accessible and commoditized that brand perceptions make a difference more than the actual products themselves.

It has to do with not only “technology accessibility” but even “information accessibility”.

The new media offers various sources of information- comparison sites, discussion forums and blogs- offering third party advice that could really make a difference in the purchase decision.

Truely, Recommendation (and source influence) matters more in today’s media fragmented, communications deluged environment than ever before

I find myself giving (and seeking) advice regarding the right tech stuff (from laptops to podcast microphones). This time, I decided to do some extra procrastination, dig a little deeper and give a ‘different’ perspective- on choosing a gadget on the likeability by the public.

There will be three parts to this post about likeable laptops for Small Medium Businesses:

• The first post sets a base- on the brands and models in my consideration set. I give out some links to you to see the models yourself, in case you want to take a look. I evaluated two ends of the spectrum that could be used by a small business owner or a business executive to make a decision- both with different priorities

• The second post will evaluate the perception around these brands- what do people think of when it comes to these computer brands- and hence what do they think of you when you are seen with these brands. The analysis will go beyond the technical and cost-benefit aspects- which are aplenty on the internet.
• And then maybe, if need be, seal it with a third post summarizing the above

Basically, the study is about brands and the perceptions that surround them. One arguement can be the fact that even within brands, there are various sub-brands or models. I first thought of evaluating models within both the high and the low end of the spectrum. I later realized that so much granualrity was not possible by the study, but what the heck, let us just have them in the consideration set.

So here we go- at one end of the spectrum, there is a new breed that we are beginning to see at all expos and tech malls- the Netbook.

It answers the question: Do you need a notebook for primary but essential “computer stuff” like surfing and “no-frills” activities like creating documents? Has mobility, style and gets the work done. Think about your purpose- do you need a bicycle to ride around on the beach or do you need a BMX style power bike to make those demanding jumps? (This post is again getting to be a SEO nightmare). If you buy a BMX for strutting your stuff on your evening rides with the missus- you are pretty much wasting your money.

If you have too much extra dough, do me a favor-adopt me.

In the Netbook category, some models that I have seen and will dig deeper in the coming days are LG X110, MSI Wind U100, Samsung NC 10, Lenovo ideaPad S10, Acer AspireOne and Asus Eee PC series. HP has a Mini 1000 and for Asia/Singapore they have a special one called the HP mini Vivienne Tam edition. They are quite cool, portable and are in the sub $1000 range- some even like $600 or so. (You will have to excuse me- I did try to give you as many links- but some company websites are simply difficult to find- MSI seems to have a blog but their site seems to, well, not exist. Samsung corporate website does not seem to have laptops- or maybe they have somewhere but could not find out- less patience- a Geminii trait)

At the other end of the spectrum are the Notebooks for SMBs. In case you are a small business owner or a business executive with more discerning needs, you would prefer style along with mobility, connectivity, security and longevity (battery life).

In this category, there are models like Dell Latitude Eseries/D series, HP Compaq small business series- HP Compaq mobile workstations and elitebook, Sony Viao Z series and G series, Lenovo Thinkpad X series and W series, Acer or even NEC. Did I forget Mac book Air?

I needed to evaluate various parameters: On one hand- I had my ideal specs: At least 3 gig RAM, thin, portable (2-2.5 kg, 12 -14 inch display), “cool” looking, preferably at least a dual core, 200+ gigs disk, 5+ hours back up, all ports, connectivity and burns a smaller hole in the pant pockets. If I can afford to wear pants after buying this, that is. But then working from home has its advantages. (Do call first in case you decide to visit me in the new year ok?)

On the other hand, the netbooks are smart, cheap and get most work done, I would presume.

On this subject, there is too much to cover. I don’t intend to do an expansive cross section analysis. Just some brands that I fancy currently.

But apart from the technical specs and the practicality of it, I’d like to see what do other people ‘think’ of the brand. Apart from fun, in today’s business environment- these things have their own value- the car you drive, the suit you wear and even the laptop you carry.

So the real test will come after three parameters: My perception audit (next post- part 2) around the main brand, the deep diving into listening in forums and blogs and thirdly the in-store (point of purchase) reality checks.

Either ways – in the next post, I decided to follow the wisdom of the crowds. What do people think of- when they see you with a particular brand of laptop? Next post soon.

thumbnail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bekathwia/2414194397/sizes/s/

If you are a small business, many a times you might have faced this issue of tracking the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns. Now, the biggies can afford to use DoubleClick, Eyeblaster or any of those expensive ad serving companies, but really, most SMEs cannot. And frankly, for many marketing campaigns, they need not. Not after you have used this tool.

If you do initiate some online campaigns to promote your stuff, but are concerned about tracking the effectiveness of those campaigns- specially, say, email marketing campaigns, conversions from any link building exchange initiatives you might have done, or even adding extra tracking layer for SEM campaigns- worry no more. You can use this basic, simple, yet effective campaign tracking tool. And I’ll tell you what- if you want, and are creative about it, you can even track your offline (physical) marketing campaigns.

Interested? Read on. One caveat though. This works if you use Google Analytics (GA) as your web analytics tool. Not too much of a problem I presume- as GA is free and going by the success of it, it is likely that you’d be using this any which ways. In case you do not, I recommend that you do. (No- not getting paid to say this).

To access the tool, click on the link: ChasingTheStorm campaign tracking tool

It is a Google Docs spreadsheet- so you can log in using your Google ID, export the sheet in excel or spreadsheet, follow some simple instructions- and there you go.

What are the ways you can use this (there could be many ingenious uses that you can use this for- just a few that I use them for):

• You could insert it as links in your email newsletter- and track not only one link- but use to track what call to action drives most traffic to your website
  If you track conversions, you could attribute this to conversions as well
• You could use this to update your status messages on your social network- and track people coming to the site from your social network
• You could even use it in your offline campaign- use URL shortening using a web service- and put the URL in your offline DM or newspaper classifieds ad. Track how many people visit your website after seeing this ad. Cool eh?
• Any other uses that you could think of? Use the tool and let me know some other uses or suggest me changes, if any

Understanding the working:

GA can track campaigns by identifying variables associated with that campaign. These variables are assigned by you- to generate a unique “identifier” hyperlink and help to understand the source of clicks to your website.

For example, if you include links to your website in an email newsletter, you can attach variables at the end of each link. When a user clicks on a link, your reports will show you on which link he clicked, as well as which newsletter contained that link.

Properly tagging your links will ensure that your reports include useful information about your marketing efforts.

When you click on the link above, you will get a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet is all you need to generate bulk tags for tracking your marketing campaigns. In the spreadsheet tool, I have explained with examples from ChasingTheStorm campaigns. You can delete the data except that in the last cell (redirect URL) and generate your own tag.

I have just formalized the tool, though details can be found at Google Learning Center. Some parts are explained very well there, hence I have picked some parts, and simplified others to make it more understandable.

Essentially the tag is generated basis some variables that you- the marketer inputs. There are 5 campaign variables that you need to understand(and one URL cell):

• Name (What is termed as “campaign” in the sheet)
• Source
• Medium
• Content
• Term

• Name/campaign : With this variable you can track the different advertising campaigns or product promotions that your business creates. I have mentioned this as Campaign in the sheet- is more explicit. AdWords also allows auto tagging, where this field refers the name given to the originating AdWords Campaign.

• Source : Visitors to your website must come from somewhere. That is, each referral to a website has an origin, or Source . Examples of sources are the Google search engine, an email newsletter, or a referring web site. There may be several Sources for each campaign. For example, the “5 star Hotel in Singapore” is advertised in both an email newsletter and a banner ad. In this case, both “newsletter” and “banner ad” would be possible Sources. For AdWords auto-tagged accounts, the Source variable could be “Google”. I have, in my example, used some publications which I write for and hence you will see names like “thinking aloud” and “Community 2.0″ for source.

• Medium : Medium gives depth to the source, and helps to ‘qualify’ it. Together, the Source and Medium provide specific information about the origin of a referral. For example, if the Source is “Google,” the medium might be “CPC,” indicating a sponsored link. In the case of a “newsletter” Source, examples of Medium can be  “email” For AdWords auto-tagged accounts, the medium variable is “CPC.” In my example, I usedan identifier according to the content eg “twitterlink” – when I view the report, it could give me a snapshot indication (eg ThnkingAloud Twitterlink= 1000 visits)

• Content : The Content variable indicates which version of an ad on which a visitor clicked. Labeling your content versions allows you to determine which one is most effective at attracting profitable leads. For example, if you had two versions of a banner ad, you could use the Content variable to identify which one is bringing more visits to your site. For AdWords auto-tagged accounts, the Content variable is the first line of the originating advertisement’s ad text.

Some people could argue that I could have used ‘content’ and ‘medium’ interchangeably. Well, it helped me understand reports better- though you are free to follow convention. And frankly, the lines blur somewhere, so you could use according to the reporting structure you prefer. For me, practical supersedes theory.

• Term : I placed three links in my article and defined them by their names/terms. While using this for an adwords camaign, you could use this as the keyword that a user could type in.  For example, a link in a cost-per-click (CPC) ad would be tagged with the Term that triggered the ad.

How to view reports in GA:

There are several reports that allow you to view traffic from tagged initiatives (links which you have tagged with campaign variables).

1) On the left hand side, go to “Traffic Sources” report > Traffic Sources section.  It shows all the traffic that comes to your site including traffic from tagged links.

By default, it sorts the traffic by Source and Medium together, but you can use the ‘Show’ pulldown menu to organize the traffic by Source or Medium. Your tagged sources and mediums will be included in this list.

2) Traffic sources > Ad version :To see your traffic sorted according to Content

3) Traffic sources > campaigns report. To see your tagged campaigns. This report will typically list your AdWords campaigns, your tagged campaigns, and “(not set)” traffic that is not associated with any campaign.

So there it is. Do let me know if you used this tool or you found this tool effective, or any tips if you’d like to suggest to improve this tool.

Cheers!

thumbnail courtsey: http://www.addletters.com/index.php
Disclaimer: I, or ChasingTheStorm.com do not claim any liability for this tool. Please use at your own discretion.

Mobile marketing is one of those things always on top of mind of the neo-age marketer. Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) recently started their Asia chapter with the hiring of lone ranger Rohit Dadwal as Managing Director. I caught up with him the other day near the bungee at Clarke Quay in Singapore (symbolic to the economic and market conditions), by the river- and we discussed on the digital media industry, amongst other things.

Before leaving, I promised to cover MMA on Chasing The Storm blogzine. Two reasons for this- as a keen Digital Media industry trendwatcher since a decade, I’ve been following the Growth of mobile marketing curiously. The second reason being that- I think in 2009, many start-ups will enter this space as service providers or use this space for marketing and business purposes.

CTS (chasingthestorm.com) asked some questions (crude as ever) to Rohit, and he came back with well crafted answers with the help of his media department (professional as ever). Here is the discussion-

Rohit Dadwal of MMA Asia

Shalabh Pandey:What are the exciting things to look forward to in 2009 as far as mobile marketing is concerned?
Rohit Dadwal:SMS will enjoy steady growth in 2009. The simplicity, ubiquity of handset support and continued growth in user adoption globally means that SMS will continue to be a key part of mobile marketing campaigns.

The global economic downturn may cause brands to rethink their advertising strategies and place spend in mediums where they have had proven and quantifiable successes.  With this is mind, we can expect to continue to see adoption by brands who have already engaged with the mobile channel. In 2009, the brands who have established initial interaction with consumers need to maintain this dialogue and continue to interact with their consumer base.

Other key trends that we expect to see develop in 2009 are:

·    The growing use of mobile social networking applications as consumers stay in touch with friends while on the go
·    The development of unique ad formats that play to mobile’s strengths (“made for mobile”), rather than borrowing or repurposing concepts from the PC
·    Mobile search marketing will continue to increase in importance
·    More consistency in metrics and measurement
·    Location-based services (LBS) will form an increasingly important part in mobile marketing campaigns
·    Augmented reality based on visual codes

Shalabh Pandey: In true ‘list style’ blogging, can you list 3 important applications on mobile marketing that are promising?
Rohit Dadwal:Results from our MMA Annual Global Attitude and Usage Study highlight the top three applications of mobile marketing in Asia Pacific as being:

·    Mobile couponing
·    Status alerts regarding current accounts or products owned
·    Alerts for special sales and discounts

Shalabh Pandey: How does MMA make money? And what does it aim to achieve?
Rohit Dadwal:The MMA drives the majority of its revenue from membership dues but also looks to events and sponsorships to round out the revenue opportunities.  The MMA is the association for mobile marketing and media and focuses on educating and evangelizing the use of the mobile channel as well as establishing guidelines and best practices for sustainable market development.

Shalabh Pandey:Why this shift to mobile and why now? (People have been predicting a breakout year for mobile marketing for several years now) What are the recent changes that you think will make it different anytime soon?
Rohit Dadwal:Mobile offers brands a way to create a dialogue of interaction with their consumer that is personal, relevant and targeted, and the results of mobile campaigns are more tangible and measurable than those from other mediums. The take-up of fast 3G services and vastly improved device interfaces have improved the user experience for millions of mobile subscribers, and as the technology reaches a point of maturity, it is only natural that the next phase of mobile is all about content, rich media, and the convenience of converged services.

The convergence of content such as music, applications, games and growth of the mobile internet is attracting brands to mobile as a viable marketing platform. In the next five years, it will be unusual for a brand not to have a mobile presence, integrated into their existing digital and traditional media initiatives; mobile will become a dominant force in both the technology and media landscape.

Also when I look around I do not see anything that can replace a mobile phone as a preferred device capable of so many functions – camera, music player, internet device apart from just being a phone in years /decades to come.

MMA- Dispelling some skepticism surrounding Mobile Marketing

Shalabh Pandey: We have seen many different ‘personalized’ marketing techniques over the years– from email to behavioral targeting to CRM. All promise advertisers that elusive one-to-one relationship with their customers. Why should mobile fare any better?
Rohit Dadwal:Mobile enables brands to directly target their customers anytime and anywhere, via their customers’ most personal device, their mobile phone. We’ve seen that mobile marketing has genuinely enabled brands to develop a conversation and build engagement with their customers, and the mobile channel continues to be one of the most powerful tools available for brands. Results from the recent MMA’s Mobile Attitude and Usage Study highlighted that nearly half of respondents (48%) in the Asia Pacific region are moderately/highly interested in mobile marketing and more than half are somewhat or highly likely to opt-in to mobile marketing efforts. The findings confirm that interest in mobile marketing remains high and the number of consumers who have experienced mobile marketing continues to grow.

It also goes beyond the same set of audience which is reached by other digital media but with in a limited reach. The numbers we are looking at on Mobile are far bigger than any other medium and therefore the possibility to have a relationship with the mass audience whom you can also identify is a marketers dream coming true.

Shalabh Pandey:It is usually thought that mobile marketing is for big businesses. In what ways can small businesses utilise mobile medium for marketing?
Rohit Dadwal:Over the last year, we have seen businesses of all sizes deploying mobile marketing campaigns.  Through mobile marketing, businesses of all sizes are able to provide relevant, timely information to their target consumers, whenever and wherever they are.

The benefit of mobile over another medium for a small business is its precise targeting ability. Mobile enables a conversation between a company and its customers, be this a multinational brand or small business.  This conversation is one where the customer is in control and can elect how and when they want to receive key and relevant information. With a relevant and worthwhile call to action as part of any mobile campaign, small businesses can reach their customers at the right time with the right message.

Mobile can also be an extremely cost effective communication channel as well as an efficient way of delivering a marketing message. However, for mobile to be truly successful, marketers must ensure relevance, perceived consumer benefit, engagement, interaction and most importantly, respect for the consumer.

Shalabh Pandey:What are some unique challenges that Asia faces in embracing mobile marketing? What are some unique positives (apart from volume of mobile phones in use)?
Rohit Dadwal:Asia Pacific remains one of the strongest regions for mobile marketing, with mobile penetration higher than any other region globally. With the exponential growth of both mobile users and advertisers in Asia, mobile presents the best opportunity to go mass market— beyond the reach of TV, print and other traditional media. Currently Asia is seeing a large increase in mobile messaging, thanks to the 2008 Olympic Games which demonstrated mobile’s ability to connect with consumers and a crackdown on SMS spam from China Mobile. Brands are now finding new ways to use messaging as a genuine marketing medium.

Asia also has its uniqueness in terms of different communities of mobile e.g. Japan on imode , Korea on Brew and China & India on GSM networks. I call this out coz if you see mobile marketing is happening across the boundaries and networks and that tells us that the audience and the markets are ready to adopt within the challenges of the disparity

Shalabh Pandey:How can one become a member of MMA? Is there any way that small businesses can make use of the association?
Rohit Dadwal:Any company, from large multi-national to small local business, focused on the potential of marketing via mobile devices can join the MMA, including agencies, advertisers, carriers, handset manufacturers, retailers and software providers, amongst others. The MMA offers membership in a variety of categories based on member size as well as geography. Companies can join on an individual, academic, local, regional or global level, and fees are tiered accordingly.

To apply for membership, companies simply need to fill out an application form, available at http://www.mmaglobal.com/memberships/member-application. Once membership has been approved, members can benefit from advantages such as participation in MMA committees and networking opportunities, access to MMA resources and research and member discounts and offers on MMA events and third party events and research. The MMA brings together industry-wide, global and regional work groups that focus on industry initiatives and share perspectives on mobile marketing across the globe.

In the end, here is an elevator pitch on the Mobile Marketing Association:

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to enable the growth of mobile marketing. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. There are more than 700 MMA member companies, which represent over forty countries around the globe, and include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States and there are regional chapters in North America (NA), Europe (EUR), Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC).

We wanted to ask many more questions- but these questions do succinctly cover the intentions and scope of the MMA in Asia and how can small businesses leverage mobile marketing. I will be in touch with them, and in case something interesting comes up-  will post. Please subscribe to the Feed to be updated.

The MMA site (currently in Beta) has various resources to help understand and leverage on the fast growing mobile marketing industry. You can either click on the MMA logo above or use this link to access some APAC specific information: http://www.mmaglobal.com/region/apac

Meanwhile, you can also post your comments or discuss here.

You can also choose to follow me on twitter.

Interview conducted and drafted with the help of Pulsopinion

So you started a blog- followed the journey from sub-domains to self hosted- pimped it with templates and plugged in with apps. Now it looks just dandy. “Look- a ‘ShareThis’ plug in!” First post- lots of research and love’s labor (why does love need labor BTW?). A Big long post is up (You durty… you). Sent links to friends and jumped into web stats by the hour- “WTF- I got 10 visitors! Yahoo hang on – here I come!”

Excitement continues- you get 2 comments, but nothing much- traffic went up and came down during the week. Morale follows the trending pattern. After 5 posts… you hit the writers block.

Dead fucking end. Jumping jackrabbits and holy grazing cows! Now what?

You turn to GOD. Google. Type “social media” or some link bait phrases related to your business (too many of those guys writing stuff- should get something…huff huff- Holy Shit!- too much crap. 48,787,547 links. What now? Separate the grain from chaff. Or nutrition from shit. (Bad analogy but shit matches with crap- not grain)

RSS! Damn! Why did I not think of it earlier? Log in to the reader..huff huff…phissssss…excitement whistles out like wind from a leaked ‘happy birthday’ balloon. F87king hell. Got 1000 updates- need a full day to go through these. Oi! Boss shouting (or spouse nagging- take your pick)- gotta go. Life is a bitch!

Days scroll by. Like the screen on Plurk. Only can’t go back. Youtube embeds and slideshare plugs happen, A light of inspiration appeared- and went away just as fast. Giggled at you while leaving. Like the girl in front of you in a long queue who just bought the last ice cream from the vendor as you looked on. Mental masturbation continues.

Wait what’s that appearing on your head? Horns? What? You are thinking of WordPress direct? Self f87king updatable blog? Well- what happened to originality? And customer satisfaction? And reader engagement? What? All that is jazz? You need traffic first? Ahem!

Well then…The last ‘proper’ resort. Multi author blogging. That’s the tops. Don’t need to write stuff. Invite people to write for you. There are tens within my circle who will fistfight to write for me. Right? Not so fast dood. Pick the right guys. And hope they pick you.

Choosing the right people is quintessential: “Not Shalabh Pandey. Takes too much time. Thinks too much and writes by instinct. Sometimes writes bad words. Don’t want a warrant against me. Will leave him out of this. Let’s get Seth Godin. He’s on my twitter- or facebook- or one of these things that I waste my life on…”

Well now that you got Godin to write for you, follow the protocols of multi author blogging. Next post.

What I described above is not just a frivolous description of a mind f87ked blogger. It is a reality with most. If you read carefully (and religiously bookmark and Digg and Stumble this site) you will find that there might be some tips to follow in between the sarcasm. And some of the above mentioned tools do help in getting out from the rut and getting that blog to do stuff.

As you might have comprehended by now- publishing a blog isn’t easy. Takes time- saps energy. Needs creativity- and yearns traffic. Demands commitment and rewards excellence. Mostly like all Art.

Last advice- if you are a business owner-don’t frigging blog because it is the in thing. No Sir. It was the in thing in 2002. Now it is a necessity-Almost. Helps you connect, engage and collaborate. So use it wise or loose it nice (how do I come up with these things*rolling eyes at myself*)- take expert advice if you can and spend some moolah to keep it relevant.

Do you have some tips to share? Leave a comment and we all win.

Thumbnail credit: http://www.weblogcartoons.com/

Sometime ago, I attended the PHP users group meeting in Singapore. While waiting for the meeting to start, I met this tall, young guy who introduced himself as Neo. He had founded an association that did sound Matrix-ish to me at that point of time. Intrigued by the concept, I promised to get back to him and know more about his association- TAWA- Technopreneurs’ Association of Wireless Applications.

Earlier this week, I got back in touch with him and asked him some questions that myself and other Storm chasers would have wanted to know. After all, this is what CST stands for- promoting and helping start ups and entrepreneurs to achieve their missions. What followed was an interesting volley of questions and answers- mentioned here. With this, we added another category on the site: BrainStorm- where we storm the brains (Bad one I know) of some interesting storm chasers with our questions.

ChasingTheStorm has no association with TAWA, and this is not a paid plug or anything. Pure intentions, zero bullshit.

While they are not half as cryptic as in Matrix the movie, the questions (from Shalabh) and their answers (from Neo) here:

1.  Shalabh:  Give us a twit pitch on TAWA (140-180 characters)
Neo Wee Wu: TAWA aims to create a cohesive and entrepreneurial resource-sharing platform within the wireless sector through business networking events and workshops.
2.  Shalabh:  And another one about yourself

Neo Wee Wu:I am a typical Singaporean who had undergone a typical education in Singapore for the past 16 years. I came from a middle-income family. Without financial backing, I had to take up 4 part-time jobs for allowances during my university days. From my past working experience, I have come to believe that life is never a smooth journey.  Hard work and a clear objective are essential ingredients for success, and during the planning for our event, I ensured that my team are clear about the objectives and are willing to work hard for our common goal.
(The twittometer goes Beep!)
3.  Shalabh: How exactly do you help entrepreneurs through TAWA?
Neo Wee Wu:TAWA serves a marketplace where entrepreneurs can exchange ideas and business contacts. Our business networking activities provide numerous opportunities to foster new business relationships at virtually no cost to the entrepreneurs. In the future, we wish to develop funds or loan schemes to finance wireless start ups.
4.  Shalabh:  Does TAWA only help start ups in the wireless sector? What exactly is the “wireless sector”?
Neo Wee Wu:There is no clear definition of “wireless sector”. However, it is broadly referring to the field of wireless communication which includes players from the mobile handsets makers, GPS makers, telcos, ISPs and even software makers.
During the planning of the first TAWA event, we came to realise that it is very hard to draw a clear distinction between a technology company which develops internet applications and those which develop mobile applications since the type of expertise required are pretty similar. The wireless sector encompasses many players who may be involved directly or indirectly. As such, the values that we bring to the industry may very well extend beyond what we might narrowly define as the “wireless sector”.
5.  Shalabh:  Why did you choose Wireless sector specifically? Is there less awareness or more opportunity in this area?
Neo Wee Wu:Wireless sector is still young and possess a lot of opportunities. Despite having strong infrastructure, Singapore is still lagging behind some other developed countries in terms of the availability of software or wireless solutions.
6.  Shalabh:  How many members does TAWA have?
Neo Wee Wu:We have 5 active members and we are still growing.
7.  Shalabh:  Does TAWA operate in Singapore only?
Neo Wee Wu:TAWA started in July 2008. Currently, it is operating within Singapore but we intend to expand our regional presence in the next 1 or 2 years’ time.
8.  Shalabh:  You yourself are very young, with little work experience. Do you think the start-ups take you seriously? Why should they take you seriously?
Neo Wee Wu:I agreed with you that my team is young. However, age is not the best benchmark to measure the efficiency and the capability of the team. In fact, I selected my team members based on their characters, passion and commitment.
Furthermore, I have observed there is an increasing trend of younger Singaporeans taking the path of an entrepreneur. With a young management team, our organization helps to bind these young entrepreneurs together. We are not only there to provide business networks and resources but also, to give support and encourage our peers to move on.
9.  Shalabh:  Can you share with us some examples where entrepreneurs have benefited through TAWA?
Neo Wee Wu:We had our first TAWA networking forum in Sept 2008. Mr Ken Chua, CEO of iCELL Network, has made the opportunity to showcase the new security features of Wireless@SG – Wireless@SG VPN service and Seamless and Secured Access.  This is an example of how our existence can help these companies to reach out to the correct audience, that is, audience that are interested in technological innovations and are much more ready to try new products. In this way, we help the entrepreneurs achieve better market penetration.
We are currently planning for an event of a larger scale where more entrepreneurs can showcase their products.
10.  Shalabh:  You must have some interesting insights into some cool new start ups that you might have met. Can you share with us some of them?
Neo Wee Wu:I am not sure you have heard of this company – Human Network Labs. It develops mobile social networking applications for mobile devices that allow users to know who’s around you as well as the relationship between users.

11.  Shalabh:  What are the major concerns that start ups in this sector have? How similar are their concerns as compared to any other start ups? What are some unique issues facing entrepreneurs in this sector?
Neo Wee Wu:It is a complex technology sector. Wireless or mobile applications need to take into account of compatibility issues across different platforms. It is a common problem faced by all hardware engineers and software developers in the whole technology industry.
Monetizing such wireless applications is a problem. However, the more serious issue is to address the security of this wireless network. Entrepreneurs must have these at the back of their minds when developing their products or services.
12. Shalabh:   Do you think the entrepreneurship culture in Asia is as advanced as some western countries?
Neo Wee Wu:Technology ventures are always within the radar screen of entrepreneurs and venture capitals in all parts of the world. It is hard to conclude whether entrepreneurship culture in Western countries are more advanced than in Asia.
13.  Shalabh:  What do you think about the funding environment here in Asia? Are investors usually more tight fisted when it comes to incubating or investing in a start up?
Neo Wee Wu:As mentioned earlier, investment strategies will be different here in Asia. The key difference is the investors’ risk profile. In developing Asian countries, almost any industries are fast growing. Technology venture is just one of the many that Asian investors can park their money with whereas the more mature Western economies have to rely on technology and innovation to drive development of their nations. Hence, they are much less risk adverse, and are willing to take bold moves to find the one gem in million ventures. This is very evident in US where we witness the bubble in the private equities market.
I am not saying that Asian investors are not ready to fund early stage startup.  I would like to reinforce the point that you need to develop a solid business model to prove to investors that your business will succeed.

p.s. anyway, if you have developed good business model in the first place, you should be able to generate revenue to keep yourself afloat. Besides funds, business incubators are there to provide advisory and networks for expansion.
14.  Shalabh:  Where do you see TAWA, 2 years from now? (The proverbial 5 years is too much in today’s dynamic environment)
Neo Wee Wu:I wish to hold a mega business exhibition which showcases the products of the wireless/mobile start ups from the region.
15.  Shalabh:  Again, if you had to microblog a message from TAWA to the start ups or entrepreneurs, what would that message be?
Neo Wee Wu:US financial tsunami has wiped out the global market confidence but not the ambitions of the entrepreneurs. It is “the survival of the fitness”. Pull through and you will be there!

In case this discussion has intrigued you enought to know more about TAWA please contact them through their website. Neo is contactable at weewu.neo(at)tawa.sg. CST encourages its readers to take full advantage of this association and forward this to someone who they think could benefit from the association.

Or as always, leave your comments here – we will pass them off to TAWA, and others get enriched as well

Adios!

The search monopoly of Google is threatened by new search engines. And they are not MSN or Yahoo or Baidu or whatever. As a matter of fact, they might not even be search engines. The best terminology to describe these new search platforms could be “search aggregators”. Of course they will not provide any search results on their own, but the ones that do provide search results now, might go in the background, like the olden days when you had the Inktomis and Googles of the world providing back end.

As more and more people are relying on folksonomy, blog authority searches, videos and photos and what not, they are also looking for solutions that could give them the search results from all these services in one go.

One good example is this- a service called keyboardr.com. Recommended to make a search on the site. Coolness. Watch the demo video here:

keyboardr.com from Julius Eckert on Vimeo.
Please give 5 seconds for video to load.

I know you would wonder what happened to semantic search? Well the thing with digital marketing agencies is that we hype up many things at the germination stage. So much so that by the time they are launched in the market, they already seem yesterday’s technology. Semantic search (and semantic web) in the true sense of the word, still has sometime before it hits your computer.

Till then, this is a more reasonable, scalable adn immediate option available to the surfers and the marketers alike.

What do you think?

I had blogged about the search market in APAC almost 8 months back, and had an analysis on the disparity between dollar numbers and search volume.

Comscore released another research recently (excerpt here) on the top search properties in Asia Pacific.

The Asia Pacific search market is extremely diverse- what with many non English speaking countries and local language search engines ruling the roost in different countries. Not only this, even usage behavior varies from country to country. On user behavior- take a look at this fab eye tracking study (Not sure of the exact source, but compiled from various Korean websites)

Eyetracking search user behavior in Asia Pacific

So- while Google searchers tend to concentrate on the top left hand of the pages (thus making top rankings very important), MSN and Yahoo search users are more broad and more in depth seekers (or maybe people are conditioned so much about Google ranking processes that they feel only the top results are relevant -remember this is eye tracking not actual clicks)

Naver is quite interesting considering practically the entire page is read, but specifically the top entire section (top 2-3 results) is popular- and then you see a gradual decline.

Hence in this market, Google still coming on tops in this survey is a big win for Google- but in the non English speaking countries, Google is still not the top engine (not in the tables below- throwing some general knowledge there)- and that is where it has to improve its standing.

Excerpt- Top 10 search engines in Asia:

Top search properties in Asia

Google almost a third of the share and Yahoo almost a fifth.

Alibaba classifying as a search site is strange , and even if I understand the logic right,  pray, where is ebay?

Top countries by search volume in Asia:

Top countries by search volume in Asia

China rules in the volume by countries and not surprisingly. In a country where scale achieves different proportions altogether, the volume of searches is no exception. Interestingly, top 3 properties are Chinese- Sohu, Tencent and Baidu. Not counting the Chinese language versions of the international sites and even Alibaba- originating from Hong Kong, China (right?).

What is your reading on this and do you think users search differently in differrent countries or even by different portals?

Are you a digital marketer whose boss (or worse- chief bloke of your agency) wonders if you could manage the agency’s servers? Or worse, thinks that his mobile phone display being darker in sunlight has something to do with Symbian?

Well I’ve been there… done that. Actually more than a few times now… *scary feeling*

Unfortunately, like these blokes, most advertising agencies are at a loss figuring out ‘this digital thing’. I remember- about 2 years back, the Head Regional (Asia) Planner of a world renowned agency commented (about this whole ‘online/digital thing’) “It’s all a scam. A big scam!” Bruce Nussbaum, assistant manging editor of businessweek has a similar feeling about the cluelessness of the big agencies.

Of course it is not new- and Bob Garfield- in this video says that unless we agency types reinvent our business model, we’re f87kd!

Turn to today – planners and media guys all sing praises (Hallelujah! and all that) and all client pitches and presentations include this ‘cool marketing thing’ they prefer to call “social marketing” (whew! how is marketing done otherwise? Unsocially? You son of a ‘folkin’ gun..better buy my stuff? Like that eh?)

They probably mean ‘marketing to communities’. Or something like that..nobody knows for sure, but you get the idea. ‘Social marketing’. Sounds cool to them- just like a 70 year old feels wearing a torn low cut jeans..and thinks flashing his crack is sexy. Sure! (Look- I think  she just winked at me!) Maybe that’s where the phrase ‘old fart’ came from.

OK..OK.. I’m ‘almost’ verging on being disgusting (always happens when I think about these guys)- I’ll change the topic and be more somber. (Uncle if you are reading this post- please go and watch some YouTube videos- and while you are watching Ms Paris…leave a comment- she might wink back at you)

That hopefully takes care of the old fart…and since it is just me and you now- read on!

So what ails the big agencies? Though I’m a fan of the concept of Integrated Marketing, first steps first: Getting ‘digital’ to be well integrated in an ‘agency’

Some pointers:

Expectations from the medium: While every agency worth its salt is figuring out this digital thing (and that is very noble- even if it is a decade too late!) it is important to manage expectations. The traditional time tested fundamentals of marketing still apply and it is not something that is going to turn everything around on its head in an instant. Any other line of thought will make you over commit, over dramatize and raise expectations to unrealistic levels. Stay!

Expectations from the people: It is not enough to get people at high salaries from digital specialist agencies- they are good at their line of thought, but they are probably young and have not had ‘full steam’ marketing understanding. Big picture helps always- do not just hire them to train your existing staff (these guys will beome redundant in a few years- we HAVE to make them digital! Hello?? They are not your HD ready TV- these are people- they’ll still remain analogue- can’t “make them digital”).

What is important is- Hire guys from digital background and train THEM. Let them know the bigger picture. (And there IS a bigger picture-aside to my digital media colleagues- Steve Balmer might not like it, but all media on a screen is still a few years from now, if not many years) Marketing and advertising as it exists today has been around for decades- some things have been perfected to a great degree and there are some great processes to arriving at the right “communication plan”. Good for fundamentals.

Another observation is important here (which I shared with a country CEO sometime back, mediating a  digital/non-digital friction) – since this medium ‘arrived’- say almost a decade back, the people in the digital space have been too busy selling and evangelizing. Advertising was bought on a project basis at best, and most of the time,, getting pittance business was a lot of hard work, and executing it flawlessly required huge operational and marketing skillsets. The, since the past 2-3 years, and as if almost suddenly, mainstream agencies bungee jumped- pushed overboard by the brands- and hoped digital media personnel could be the bungee ropes (Now you know I like telling stories to kids!). Expectations from these guys was humongous- and one of the skill sets expected was – “Strategy” Or “communications planning”. Unfortunately these guys were not trained to be that- these guys were ‘hands-on executers’- they did not need to do too much strategy- mostly because they usually did not have the full marketing/brand/market/insights picture. Duane Schultz of Xerox has said -”The Old Model was “Build and measure” and new age marketing is Measure and improve”(Also quoted in a very good book- “Do it wrong Quickly- How the web changes the old Marketing rules”). Mostly the digital guys were stuck in measurement and optimization- and were not expected to deliver a full picture strategy.

But now, in these times of turmoil, they need to know the full picture.

Common P&L: How many times did you hear the story- that there is a online/digital target and an rest of media revenue/billing target? Does NOT work that way! Does it take rocket science to understand this? And Uncle-Do you need to hire NASA scientists to fix a silicon microchip in your head to hypnotically remind you it CANNOT work that way! (I know they are space scientists not brain surgeons- but you get the idea don’t you?) So please let everyone work together and let there be peace.

Silos or Milos? It works differently for different people, but many a times it helps if all the teams drink MILO together rather than sit in silos.  You say you have an ‘integrated’ offering right?

Walk the talk: Do not expect ‘digital training presentations’- do not think this is something that could be explained in a few sessions- it is like saying someone can teach you how to trade in the stock exchange in a few sessions- unless YOU do it yourself, read up and develp your own insights, acumen and discipline, presentations and theory won’t work.

Water flows from top to bottom: Senior management has to get this first and then unleash. Otherwise it bites real hard. (Uncle- quick- hide that crack!)

Of course, integrating in this way is just a single step, and by its own self it won’t matter so much. We need to reinvent our remuneration models and turn things on their heads. There are other things like client readiness and ownership of strategy and co-ordination from clients, but we need to fix our home first- so we are ready for an Enterprise Level Digital Strategy for our clients.

Too many other thoughts, but this is one of my super long posts, and fingers are getting tired (not fingering people but typing).

The long and short: Digital marketing is a mindset- some get it and some don’t. It is like being a rock star- nothing too technical about it, and most of the times, it is the attitude that makes you!

More in Part 2. So what do you think?

I had this blog of mine for the longest time and recently started to optimize it in a bid to re-initiate and brush up my SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) skills. This was a topic of interest some 6-8 years ago and I wanted to test and see if things have changed drastically since then.

I was pleasantly thrilled to see Google love for my blog- as a matter of fact Google ranked my blog at number 2 position globally for “digital media trends asia” AND 4th position globally as an authority on “digital trends in Asia”. The one above me is a harvard university document. Not bad- eh?

Digital Media Trends Asia

I have two blogs that I author- one on the blogger platform and one on wordpress. I needed to see which one gets more Google Love- slightly difficult and maybe not a ‘control’ assessment- as one is on general interest topics and this one on digital marketing/ integrated marketing communications.

Of course, effort that was put into making this popular, but by and large this cries out loud- about the power of relevancy and recency of content, and the weightage that intelligent search engines attribute to these parameters.

My blog on Digital Media trends in Asia is also ranked in the first page results on Yahoo and number 2 on AOL! That’s pretty awsome considering it is such a widely watched and researched and written about topic. What about MSN? Well, Windows Live Search does not seem to love wordpress it seems- try it if you want- quite strange- it does index the site but does not seem to favour it- as a matter of fact- it seems to give more authority to custom domains or maybe even not favor user generated content sites like wordpress! Remains to be researched properly, but for me, no harm done as rest of the top search engines do give me their love- and I ain’t greedy in love- threesome will do. Thank you.

My main site shalabhpandey is not ranked so high on these keyphrases yet- I think it will always be a challenge- Why? more on that some other time- so many things, so little time- what’s a guy to do! Ahem!!