Archive for June, 2009

The Whuffie Factor in Social Media

June 22nd, 2009

Why do you get happy with the increased number of Twitter followers? Why one feel elated with number of retweets taking place or for that matter when one sees the community created by him/her on Facebook flooding with new members.

Is whuffie factor the real capital/incentive of social media? I think a few lines here explaining whufiie is worth writing. A person’s Whuffie is a general measurement of his or her overall reputation, and Whuffie is lost and gained according to a person’s favorable or unfavorable actions. It simply means it’s your credibility in the market.

Perhaps the social media marketing is all about whuffie factor. The stronger the whuffie the higher are the chances of brand going viral.

How to Increase your whuffie?

Listen Don’t Shout!

Generally, whatever media we are in, if we are asked to promote a brand we have the tendency of pushing it among our audience. No matter, they are listening or not we tend to be louder and louder. Perhaps, if we are doing this on social media channels, we are doing nothing bust wasting time. Instead of shouting to millions let the millions come to you with feedbacks and issues. Let the people talk to you.

Participate in the community

A press release, a twitter message, a Facebook update sent and mission brand retention, brand loyalty, community building accomplished! Sorry you are mistaken. Look at the individuals in the community and reach out to them. If you can enter in conversation with your community members, nothing better than that. And be realistic do not participate just because you have been recommended that to build a strong community, you need to participate. You can not engage yourself at deeper level if you have that mindset.

Create good feelings

Do not be stale in your approach by just following the bandwagon of your trade. It’s good to be innovative and pioneer sometimes. Engage your community in process or product development.

For instance in case of a design, what looks good to you may not be appeal to your community take feedback and develop your design accordingly. Same goes with any other community. Involving your community in the process can result in solidifying the bond and sense of belongingness.

Social media conversation can not be controlled

Do you think you can have good command over a large number of people with different tastes, liking and preferences. There can be some common point and perhaps that is the reason why they are part of your community but it can not be true for all that matters to you.
The community is your evangelist. You can educate them on what you’re doing but they know how to reach out to their friends and other people who might see them as influencers.

Note: The original concept of “Whuffie factor” is by Tara Hunt

How To Make Money With Google Adsense

June 19th, 2009

Making money with Google Adsense is not a secret or a prerogative of online marketing experts. Anyone, and I mean anyone can make money with Google adsense provided you are not wanting to be rich overnight or looking for shortcuts (I mean paid software and books that claims to make you rich in 30 days or so)

Focus On Traffic: Unless you have traffic on the website, you adsense account will not make you feel happy. I strongly recommend, before you start focusing on optimizing goggle ads on your site, optimize your website.

Focus on Content: What type of content you have? Is it worth enough to attract good advertiser?  The quality of the ad displayed on your site plus the earning per click you receive will also depend on the quality of content, keywords and relevancy of ads.

Ad optimization: This can be done by integrating some of the standard practices recommended by most of the people succeeding in taking their income from scratch to significant level. Here are some practices that definitely can be helpful in increasing your adsense revenue.

  • Blend Background of ads with the background color
  • Borderless ads work well
  • Choose color that complement your site
  • Large rectangular ads work well
  • Placement of ads is important top links have less CTR, right side rectangular boxes have high CTR
  • Use text unit, link unit and custom search to have multiple channel  but do not over do as it reduces Earning Per Click
  • Link units work well at the top and bottom of the page
  • Keep your home page ad free as it diverts your traffic plus CTR is very less making overall ECPM down.  I know, many would differ as it is the home page that has maximum traffic but trust me people reach your site because they have found something that they are looking for. Give them value they will explore more pages.
  • Keep experimenting with your ad placement and sizes. This helps increasing CTR
  • Contrary to popular belief, my personal experience says Text ads perform better than image ads.
  • Monitor your adsense account daily, set target for yourself in terms of traffic, CTR and revenue. Download the CSV file and do some calculations by manipulating CTR, Earning Per Click and Traffic. This will help you in planning your future course of action.

If you follow these simple rules, you will definitely start making money with google adsense.

How to Get Freelancing Projects from Online Marketplace

June 18th, 2009

With some of excellent online marketplace like elance, odesk, and recently launched LimeExchange, there are actually a lot to bring home from freelance marketplace. I have often heard people saying “I have registered with so many freelancing sites but actually not getting results”. “I have not earned even a single penny even when I have registered with these sites long back”.

Hey the problem is not with the marketplace but with you. No, I am not doubting your skills but definitely your effort to bag projects. 3 years back, when I registered with an online marketplace, I thought things are now very easy for me. I will bid low and the buyer will hire me. I will put forward my best portfolio and buyer will hire me. Perhaps, I was too narrow in my approach. And for obvious reasons, I could not have my luck for another 7-8 months, despite bidding on 4-5 projects every month.

Incidentally at that time, I got a project offline and due to limited resources thought of outsourcing it and the idea of getting my project done through an online marketplace striked me. Hence, from a service provider, I turned into a buyer. I posted the project and my search for the best provider began. I found one and also get my project done. But in the whole process what I learnt helped me to get insight on How to bag projects from an online marketplace? or what a buyer look in a service provider?

As a buyer I looked for:

Hey is he the paid member or a free member? (free members did not impressed me as I thought they may or may not be serious)

Hey what is in his covering letter? (note that comes along with the bid)

Bidding Matters?? Well it should be in my budget, I am little flexible but then I cannot compromise on quality at the cost of price. (Bidding low will not alone let you win projects)

Is his profile complete? (one who could not complete his profile, is he really serious..)

Any past experience and is it validated with his portfolio?

Has he got any certification ? (WOW! appeared for online test and qualified…..shows quality, if not then huh!)

Any feedback by previous buyer if already has some project under his sleeves (Double WOW! I think I have found my provider let me shortlist him)

Let me see how he responds to my concerns and queries using PMBs and IMs (Oh he responds well in time and to the point….seems good, communication and understanding is important)

I will ask for a sample project (seems ok to him and ready to work but sets his conditions too….that shows he is a true professional. I have found my provider)

Some days later when I put back my service provider shoes and logged into my account…I completed my profile, I got certification on the platform , updated my portfolio, start adding good covering note with my bid…believe me I not only started getting projects but often receive invitation from buyers to bid on their project.

Try this approach and I can assure you will never fall short of projects.