Track your Location with your Mobile Phone

The next time you get lost in a new city, Google will come to your rescue. Mobile phone users with the Google Positioning Software in their phones can now easily track their locations at inopportune moments.

When this facility was first introduced, it came with its own set of problems. Not more than 15% mobile handsets support the GPS, and the ones that use face a major crisis with regard to battery-life. Thankfully, Google has recently come up with a solution to this problem. Its brand new 'My Location' feature allows users to set their location despite not having a GPS-powered phone.

Available free of cost, it tracks locations on the basis of nearby mobile-phone masts. This simply means you do not have to type in an address to specify your location – just enter the number zero and wait for Google to get back to you.

Industry experts insist that the feature will take some time to display locations with total accuracy. Anyways, users do not seem to be complaining as long as they get exciting features on their phones, and that too free of cost!

Wife to Sue Husband after Google Search Revelations

Now this is something we should expect more frequently in the future. A woman in Miami has decided to sue her husband for hiding his lottery winnings - $600,000 – from her. And, guess who helped her discover the truth? Our good, old Google of course!

The man, Arnim Ramdass, has been into lotteries and gambling for quite some time, and always used up his marital money for the same. However, when he actually won something, he conveniently kept it from his wife, Donna Campbell.

Campbell suspected he was hiding something when he blocked all means of communication, like disconnecting the phone line and keeping the television switched off. The arrival of a congratulatory postcard led her to confront her husband regarding the same. And, when he refused to divulge, she used Google to find out the truth.

Her Google search results clearly revealed that her husband had won a lottery and was hiding the news from her. She has, therefore, decided to sue him and claim for half of the lottery amount as compensation.

The importance of search engines in our daily lives can be easily evidenced through cases like these. Come to think of it, in this case, Google knew more about the husband's doings than his wife!

We can Claim our Blogs at Technorati

A piece of good news for bloggers, especially the ones doing it for business purposes. Technorati, one of the most popular search engines for blogs, gives you the option of claiming your blog on its network. Now you can feature your name, description and even photograph next to your blog on search results on the site.

This move also gives you the opportunity of getting your blog featured on Technorati's homepage. Enhance your visibility on the search engine by enlisting yourself in up to 20 different categories available here.

The process of claiming a blog is simple. Just create an account in Technorati free of cost; log in and click on the 'Blogs' link on the top of the page. Next, enter the URL of your blog into the box titled 'Claim your Blog'. You will then have to follow the HTML coding instructions mentioned on the page. These codes are easily comprehensible, even for the lay user.

You need to copy-paste the mentioned code in your blog and publish it. As soon as this is done, you can come back to this window and click on the 'Claim Your Blog' link. Voila! You have claimed your blog on Technorati. This claim gives you an identity on the search engine, thus helping you popularise your blog and rake in targeted traffic.

Circa 2010: The Internet – Dangerously Low on Resources

If nothing goes well, this is likely to be the headline staring at us one of these days... in the year 2010. That is, if Internet operators do not wake up to reality and deal with this almost 'life-threatening' situation for the global urbane populace.

Latest studies on the Internet and its functionality reveal that the propulsion of videos and web content will, by the turn of this decade, overwhelm this exhaustive resource of its capacity. Experts predict that service providers in this domain will have to shelve out a good $137 billion in order to avert this 'disaster'. And unfortunately, this amount happens to be more than double of what these companies were actually planning to invest!

With an increasing number of sites offering features like music downloads, interactive video, file transfers, et al, the demand for Internet capacity is heading only in one direction - upwards. And, as things stand, peer-to-peer data transfer happens to be the greatest culprit in the whole scenario. The 'exaflood' of video and web content might actually clog broadband pipes, resulting in an acute shortage of capacity.

These studies further indicate that the North American region will be badly affected, with Internet access infrastructure looking to fall way below the demand mark within the next five years. The storm that has taken off in the American region can actually go on to engulf other major Internet players around the globe.

The answer lies in broadband providers' ability to add more capacity to their networks. Consumers, on their end, have to be generous enough to pay high taxes, as telecommunication services look set to take the expensive route.

Just hope we never come across such a headline!

Petrol Pumps to use Google Maps

One of the most renowned Internet companies, Google, will make its foray into petrol pumps now. Don't worry; it'll not be selling petrol! Instead, it'll be guiding drivers who use the services of petrol pumps.

Gasoline pump maker Gilbarco Veeder-Root is all set to start a new service wherein drivers at his petrol pumps will be able to get directions to certain important destinations with the help of Google Maps. These destinations will be the ones chosen by the gas station owner, after taking factors like proximity and popularity under consideration.

These petrol pumps have been provided with colour screens and Internet connections that'll foster better connectivity for travelers. These systems will also allow retailers to display promotional messages to lure prospective buyers. Touch pads installed here will allow drivers to scan various categories like restaurants, hotels, hospitals, attractions, etc.

All this will be made possible with the help of Google's mapping services. This service is expected to take off at more than 3,500 petrol pumps across the US by the end of 2007.

Kickstart your Career with Yahoo!

Yahoo refuses to get bogged down by Google's splurge in the online marketplace. The Internet giant is all set to launch a new social networking site in the first week of November. To be known as Kickstart, the site will be primarily used as a career networking tool, wherein students and recruiters can participate to better their prospects.

It is touted to be a network that'll help college students or fresh graduates build a professional network of 'friends, philosophers and guides'. This will eventually help them in taking important career decisions as well. Kickstart, Google insists, will be a networking site sans the fun element that dominates sites like Facebook. It'll be meant for pure professional camaraderie.

Apart from students, alumni and career consultants can be a part of Yahoo's Kickstart. Users will also be able to post their CV along with other personal details. And, like other social networking sites, they can scan other people's profiles and make 'friends' with them.

A number of universities have shown interest in having their communities on this network. If you are a student, Kickstart will definitely be one of your favourite web pages in the times to come.

Oops! Google Does It Again

Google is never happy being out of news... is it? Webmasters are having a tough time tackling the latest 'evolution' Google has come up with. Websites world over recently 'woke up' with a changed PageRank, simply out of the blue. Even their backlinks have suffered this setback, and hence, all optimisation techniques have gone topsy-turvy!

Of course, we ought to give (dis)credit to the latest PR algorithm doing the rounds. Whatever it is, most of us will find a different PageRank, at least on our Google Toolbars. And to add to our woes, the Google PR directory is reportedly showing a different PR for the same sites. All this is simply adding up to the already prevailing confusion in the online circles.

Forums and blogs are spreading the news like wildfire, but most of us have no clue as to why this has happened. Amidst all this, there is a piece of good news though. Certain sites have actually benefited from this development, and have been awarded with an increased PR. Many of them have just not been affected.

I would like to set a few things straight first – Google PR does not affect traffic inflow of a web page. It is simply one of the many features the search engine is adorned with. We do not need to lose our sleep over this. Simply keep a track of what is going on, monitor the PageRank of your site and alter your optimisation tactics accordingly, if need be.

Google continues to battle it out in China

Search engine giant Google is having a real tough time in China. Initially, it seemed Chinese markets were unattainable for Google. However, in due course, the situation did ease a bit. But now, China is back at the Internet war! Latest reports indicate that most US-based search engines are being hijacked and directed to Baidu, the popular Chinese search site.

As per industry analysts, Chinese users searching anything on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are being automatically redirected to Baidu. Some say this is a subtle way of retaliation for China, who exercises stringent control over the functioning of the Internet in its region.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama is said to be the focal point of these controversies. He has been recently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Washington, and according to reports, this development has further enraged leaders in China.

The Internet companies, on their part, are looking into the matter and hope it will all be resolved soon. Obviously, the redirection of a large chunk of their global traffic will be hurting them. We'll have to wait and watch if things can get any better henceforth.

BuzzTracker to be part of Yahoo Network

Yahoo has done it again! The Internet giant has announced its acquisition of BuzzTracker, the popular blog information company. Industry experts claim that this move will see Yahoo spiral to greater heights, closing in the gap with arch-rival Google a little further.

Established in the year 2002, BuzzTracker tracks more than thousand news topics worldwide and covers about 90,000 blogs. As per online reports, Yahoo is believed to have paid about $5 million for the acquisition. This amalgamation is touted to take the website's news services to the top of popularity charts.

It is quite interesting to see the popular search engine giants like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft battle it out in the online marketplace. With new features being added to their kitty almost every month, web users are indeed having a great time surfing the World Wide Web.

Social News Dropped from Netscape

Netscape users can no more enjoy the benefits of the social news functionality in their browser. Following a year of unsuccessful experimentation, popular Internet service provider AOL, the owner of Netscape, has decided to drop this feature from the browser.

For quite some time now, Netscape has been functioning as a social news site wherein visitors submit links for news stories and then cast votes on their significance. Most of these stories were verified and even edited by editors of Netscape. They also ensured that these write-ups were not spammed.

As per reports on the Web, AOL has decided to do away with this news feature for the time being. But it also insists that social news will continue being a part of its online sphere, maybe external to Netscape. Users have no idea about it as the company has not announced future plans regarding the same. AOL will definitely leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the wonderful rapport between its websites and their users is not broken.

UK Online Population at its Peak

This is a piece of good news for Internet marketing companies in the UK. The Online population of the country reached its highest-ever figure – 31.8 million unique visitors – in the month of July. However, the most surprising part is that July is the summer holiday season in the country, and most families spend time outside their homes and offices, away from their computers.

According to reports available online, Google attracted 28.2 million visitors in the month, counting for 89 percent of the total online population. At second spot was Microsoft, attracting about 26.9 million unique visitors during the same time period. Websites dealing with travel and holiday packages, flight and hotel bookings, etc had a good time during this summer holiday season.

However, industry experts insist that unpleasant weather is the main reason why people are staying back at home and surfing the Internet as part of domestic recreation activities. Whatever the cause, online businesses are truly having a ball in the UK, raking in huge amounts of profit.

Consumers want 'Return Gift' from Mobile Advertisers

As mobile advertising grows, consumers are becomingly increasingly wise not to be lured by the ads. In fact, according to a latest online study, they are now looking for something in return from these advertisers as the price for standing these 'irritating and intrusive' ads.

The study also found that these ads became more receptive when users found free content with them. For example, a number of companies are giving out free downloads with their mobile ads. It was also discovered that users in developed countries were the least receptive to these ads. Whereas, developing countries had a relatively more tolerant mobile user base.

As a consequence, mobile marketing associations around the globe are formulating strategies to suit their targeted segment and to ensure that they keep away from intrusive tactics and spam advertising.

So, the next time your phone rings, better check it out... you never know what lies in store for you!

Buyers awaiting Google Phone

The air is rife with speculation that search engine kingpin Google is planning to launch its phone in near future. As per latest industry news, the company has already made huge amount of investment in this 'dream' project.

To be known as GPhone, the handset will have compatibility to other Google products like Gmail, Google Search and Google Maps. This means, as a user, we will have the all-inclusive world of Google at our disposal through one mobile phone. It is rumoured that the production contracts for GPhone will be given to a variety of manufacturers. However, another faction believes that the contract will be awarded on the basis of an auction.

Google itself is mum about the project, but a few insiders claim that the company is actually in talks with a few reputed mobile networks and handset manufacturers to customise Google applications in mobile phones.

Even though experts insist that the project will still take some time to take off, buyers in the mobile phone market are eagerly waiting to have a dekko at this supposedly high-profile product.

Microsoft and Ask.com come to small businesses' aid

Small online businesses, rejoice! Global search engine industry giants have come to the aid of your betterment. Microsoft and Ask.com have joined hands to come up with a special scheme, wherein Microsoft Office Live users can get advertising access from Ask.com.

Office Live adManager's beta advertising service will now comprise this special service. Now you can access and manage your keyword advertising accounts directly. In fact, you also have the option of buying advertisements from MSN, Live Search and Ask Sponsored Listings.

Online marketing experts are more than happy with this latest development. In fact, top bosses of Microsoft are going gaga with the coming together of two extremely popular search engines – the first collaboration of its kind. This 'contextual targeting' service is being touted as a platform for small businesses to understand and work on search engine marketing modules.

This scheme is all set to give Google's AdSense programme a tough run for its money. The latter has been extremely successful mainly because it has not faced strong enough competition in the market. With the advent of this power-packed collaboration, Google's might is surely to be put to test.

Wikipedia is new Online News King

The free online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia has notched up the top spot in the list of best online news and information destinations. Latest surveys praise Wiki to the skies, as the site claims to have had more than 46.8 million visitors in May 2007. Right behind it is Weather Channel – more than ten million visitors away!

Users love this site because of its feature of real time editing, wherein a news story is presented as an article laden with facts, within few minutes of breaking out. Take the Virginia Tech Shootout incident or the launch of Apple iPhone, Wikipedia was one of the first information sources to present these stories.

And, the best part is, this is a people's forum. Common users collaborate with qualified editors to write articles. Even press reporters are now referring to this site for their stories. Indeed, it is happy time for news mongers!

LAND ROVERing the markets!

Land Rover is considering launching a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle in an attempt to shed its image as one of the worst polluters in the car industry. The news comes as regulatory and consumer pressure grows on carmakers to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Land Rover is already taking steps to lower emissions from its existing line-up and runs one of the car industry's largest carbon-offsetting programmes. But its smallest vehicle, the Freelander compact sports utility vehicle (SUV), emits 194g of CO2 per km compared with a target of an average of 140g per km being proposed by the European Union by 2008.

Geoff Polites, who runs Land Rover and sister marque Jaguar, told the Financial Times: "Part of the process will include downsizing and smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles."

Land Rover and Jaguar's parent company Ford is "reviewing options" for the brands, which is widely expected to lead to a sale.

"And which market do you cater to?"

The evolution of our mature marketplace, along with the technology that allows consumers to be in control, has created a seismic shift from one-size-fits-all mass markets to millions of markets of self interest. All mature markets inevitably evolve into this kind of economy, driven by ever-narrower markets of desire and ever-narrower facets of individual self-identities.
Obviously, as every market matures, choice increases. Then competition drives up quality and convenience to the point at which offerings become 'commoditized'. The only businesses that then thrive are those that move beyond "me-too" or incremental offerings to marketing more-relevant and more differentiated products and services. The only way to accomplish this is to focus on a narrower target.

The 'How To' Concept

All right guys, we have had much to talk about the well known and new technologies with respect to niche marketing but now let's go "Old School". Yes, one of the oldest tricks in the books is the "How To' trick. It might be the easiest exercise but indeed, is the safest bet.
Visualise this, "How to Start your business with $1?" "How to lose 10kg in 10 days?" "How to control your clients without moving a limb?" and so on...
No matter how much, you may critiscise the speaker's intentions or call the action as spam or simply, not trust the claim, it definitely does create the necassary curiosity and makes you visit the content/intended page at least once.
So that is the One chance you can get to woo your target audience and get what you can, by a simple method like this.

Yahoo! then Google and now Microsoft?!

Yahoo! has acquired the remaining stake in online advertising auction site Right Media by paying $680 mn in cash and stock in the company.
The deal gives Yahoo, which bought 20 percent of Right Media in October, access to more than 20,000 buyers and sellers of online advertising. This definitely helps Yahoo! in battling with rival Google who recently acquired DoubleClick.

How could microsoft be left behind? 'Mr.Gates & Co' have emerged as a contender to this 'Battle Royale', along with ad giant WPP Group, to buy Internet ad firm 24/7 Real Media. Microsoft is considering a price in the $1 billion range for 24/7 Media - a giant leap from the $600 million valuation analysts placed on the firm, says a local news channel.

Good going Microsft! I guess it was worth it to diversify after all!

Alternate Fuel Vehicles - another niche!

I've recently discovered of how the U.S Govt functions with respect to their approach on Alternate Fuel Vehicles.

Although air quality and energy security are high on the list of reasons why fleets switch to AFVs, the bottom line is - Economics - when it comes to purchasing vehicles. For AFVs to substantially penetrate the market, fleets must concentrate its efforts on applications where AFVs make sense...and cents.

Incorporating AFVs into niche markets is a good way for fleets to come out economically ahead of the game. High-mileage, centrally fueled fleets—such as taxis and shuttle services—are good examples of appropriate niche markets. That's because these types of fleets consume large quantities of fuel, so, over time, fleet managers enjoy the cost savings associated with less expensive alternative fuels.

Similarly, low-mileage, high-use vehicle fleets—such as airplane tugs and baggage carts that idle or repeatedly start and stop—are good niche markets.

The niche market approach is a strategy based on a sound and sustainable infrastructure plan, rather than one based on regional vehicle acquisitions. Although both are equally important, niche markets represents an important shift in the strategic mindset of alternative fuel marketing—one that is critical to long-term success.

This was one study which is a perfect example of how a unique product penetrates through the makret because it was targetted to the right niche market!

Google To Acquire Double Click

Heard that the Mighty G has done it again.

Google announced on Friday that it is buying online advertising firm DoubleClick for 3.1 billion dollars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6549643.stm

This is a big step fowards having a total web dominace.
The mighty G have thrown there hat into the Affiliate Ring and the message is clear to all Total Web Dominance.

This is the largest Google purchase ever (YouTube was aquired by them only for $1.76 billion).

How do you think it will effect the Affiliate Marketing Industry.

Niche Market Online

Sorry for keeping you guys wait. Its made almost a week I updated my blog.

Any way before you choose a niche think of the things which you have an expertise on??????
To see the popularity of the expertise do the KEI for the key words on overture or, even google. See the kind of competition you would expect. You have to pick up an area which is not (mobile, finance or, some thing of that popularity) some thing which has a mass appeal(may not be huge).

Majority of the clients are going to come online, so SEO is going to be one of the huge area of intelligent investment for your organisation.

The maximum number of people on your site comming through a search result would be a big chunk of motivated future clients.

Every one who comes to you web site should be able to remember it, so that sooner or latter when he requires your expertise he directly comes to you rather going for your alternate.

At BOSS Intenational we use to get most of our clients through google's searches and if he contacted me for any sort of a query, I was sure soon or later this guy is going to buy software and my consultancy services.

River CAD XP was my best bet...................

Evaluation of my blog.

Did an evaluation of this particular blog, well as a surprise its not $0.00 any more but $564 and some cents.
Its kinda cool but does it really make sense hmmmmm I really dont know or, lets put it this way I dont care.
Good enough to show off so I am happy. ;)

Niche Market(More, More, More)

The final and the very important entity for Niche marketing.

3. Always test-market.

Standard scenario----

Yes prior you launch your product ful throtle, assess the direct competitors you'll find in the new market niche and determine how you will position against them. For an instance, it's best to conduct a competitive analysis by reviewing competitors' ads, brochures and Web sites, looking for their key selling points, along with pricing, delivery and other service characteristics. That should be the standard Home work well you definitely want to do......................

Niche Market(More, More)

As I discussed how to pick up the right Niche, it is very important to say the right thing to you audience or to have the right approach to your potential clients.

2. Say the right thing.
When approaching a new market niche, it's imperative to speak their language. In other words, you should understand the market's "hot buttons" and be prepared to communicate with the target group as an understanding member and not as an outsider. For instance (Taking the example from my previous blog)

When your audiance is the community of Hydrolics engineers you should be ready with all the important terms and have an in depth knowledge of the things they require and what you have to offer them. In addition to launching a unique campaign for the new niche, you may need to alter other, more basic elements, such as your company tag line if it translates poorly to another language, for example.

Look at this product from BOSS International which serves a very particular application in the Civil engineering domain.

StormNET


Have a look at the features and the kind of thing he has tried to put forward, you will notice it is very specific and would only be umderstood by a person who does that..........................

Niche Market(More)

Niche marketing can be extremely cost-effective. For instance, imagine you offer a product or service that's just right for a selected vertical or very work specific, such as software solution for Hydrology and Hydrolics. You could advertise on Engineering forums or do seminars in a close civil engineering community, which have considerably lower cost than advertising for broader audiences. So your marketing budget would go a lot further, allowing you to advertise with greater frequency or to use a more comprehensive media mix.

1. Meet their unique needs:

The profits you promise must have special appeal to the market niche. What can you offer that's new and provoking? Identify the unique needs of your potential customers, and look for ways to design your product or service to meet them.
Start by considering all the product or service variations you might offer. When it comes to marketing civil engineering software solutions, for example, not much has changed over the years. But suppose you were a company and you invented a product to design stormwater and wastewater models and may be software for analyzing and designing urban drainage systems, stormwater sewers, and sanitary sewersr. You'd have something uniquely compelling to offer a niche market--small parkeing lot contractors to big civil engineering firms.

More on niche marketing

I have already posted a piece on niche marketing. Today I will refine it further. Niche marketing, it is well known, is focussing upon the products/services which is not taken care of by major players in the market. Many businesses have identified potential niches and capitalized on it. Intelligent businesses today work on niche marketing because as a wise person said, 'what belongs to everybody belongs to nobody.'

Some things really matter in niche marketing. You must do a good research on your business. Keyword research is an intergral component of niche marketing. You will be well-advised not to compete for keywords/phrase which gives inordinate results. Focus is all that matters. It is important to aim for a few hundred/thousand pounds which are sure to come instead of aiming to become a millionaire by catering to all and sundry which is more likely to be unattainable.

Believe it or not, one of the first attempts at niche marketing was by the Cola giant Pepsi in 1940s. It catered to the African-American community. Edward Boyd was one of the first black executive in the US who led a team of 12 black professionals. This 'negro market' department built brand loyalty among the targeted community which really paid dividends. And so began the Cola wars!

Today niche marketing is eveywhere. Almost every business - including Wal Mart- orignated to occupy a vacancy! Consider businesses like Kosher milk (tailored for specific religious groups), organic food and vegetables for those who want to avoid the harmful pesticides, goat milk for those with Gandhian values or allergic to cow milk, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for those who want more style, power and elbow room; low cost no frills airlines to woo high-end train passengers! They are all powerful examples of niche marketing in more ways than one.

On the always crowded WWW, niche marketing is the key to success and survival. Many businesses are also combining niche marketing and affiliate marketing and making more pounds.

Niche market(That is where the money is!)

Niche Marketing, as the name suggests, is concentrated upon a targeted segment of the market. It is mostly that the services and products being provided are not taken care of by major players in the market. Such a business is often more profitable in that it is an ignored or less targeted segment of the market. It is always profitable to find out and develop a market niche. so niche is aiming products at particular groups.

It is often possible that niche marketing involves catering to a small but profitable segment interested in custom-made products or services. It does not make business sense for big companies to invest in them because of economies of scale. Online niche marketing offers a level playing field to all. A lot of keywords and keypharase analysis is required for niche markting on the net. For small business it is indeed a boon. No large business can satisfy all its customers. One can also create niche websites which matches the niche products of affiliates. This is called niche affiliate marketing. An affiliate network has products across several niches and you can build a website related to a particular niche and monetize your traffic.

So it is time to capitalize on niche marketing.