Book Review : e-Riches 2.0

Few months back, there was a guest article by best-selling author Scott Fox[of Internet Riches fame] on Internet Riches for Indian Entrepreneurs[articles here & here]. This time we review Scott's new book e-Riches 2.0

A short review
Let me start off with one of the best reasons to read the book - "Today your customers are online, even if your business has nothing to do with the Net, computers or Technology. To keep up with the competition, you need to promote what you sell by using the latest online marketing techniques to interact with your customers". This is where e-Riches can help you to use the medium of the internet to establish your brand, make money and outsmart your competitors.

In depth review
It does not matter whether you are a web startup since this book covers a broad range of topics which might be helpful to four kinds of people

1. A corporate marketer or agency employee
2. A small business owner or partner
3. E-business curious and
4. Worried about your financial future.

In the current economic situation, most of the people can be put under the category[4] and internet can definitely be an alternative source of generating some income. This is where e-Riches 2.0 comes in very handy since it covers the various aspects of Web 2.0 and beyond. Also, even if you are not able to earn online, the book would definitely help you/your business to create an effective brand.

It touches upon the various aspects of the Web namely -

1. Email marketing
2. Social Media Marketing
3. Importance and usage of mediums like Blogs and Microblogs
4. New online Public Relations[PR] and Promotion tools
5. Online broadcasting [How to use Video Marketing]
6. What makes a winning online marketing strategy

Most interesting chapters
Although the entire book was quite interesting to read, few of chapters entered in my favorites category. They are -

Social network marketing
Whether you are Web startup or not, Social Networks have become very important since, all the conversation about your brand is happening there. Many times, I hear that we are not internet-savvy & hence you become unaware about what is being told about you as a person/your company. This is where this chapter comes in handy since it touches upon all the aspects of SN Marketing namely -

• Why should you/your startup use Social Networking.
• Which Social Networking medium is best for your business.
• Strategies for success in Social Networking.
  
• Quick start guide for guys who are new to this medium.

Era of Blogging and Micro-Blogging
Everyone [or should I say most of us] know what is a Blog, but how many of us use the medium effectively.This is where this can be an excellent starting point if you want to use Blogging to reach the right set of people and to promote your business. It explains the Do(s) and Don't(s) of blogging and touches upon each & every corner of the medium.

Microblogging especially Twitter has now proved an effective medium for marketing and the chapter talks on Twitter for Personal use as well as for business use.This complete chapter was a delight to read !!!

Who should read e-Riches 2.0?
If you are already quite acquainted with the Web and the various aspects of Marketing, this book would help you with some important pointers which can be used in your daily routine. However, if you are new to this entire Web arena, e-Riches could turn out to be an excellent starting point of your journey.

What else could it have?
1. The chapter on Twitter could have been a bit more exhaustive and should have included some interesting tweets on how businesses are using that medium. A small Q&A with few business owners could have made a huge difference giving it a more dialogue oriented approach.

2. Though Facebook had a huge mention in the book, Orkut was left far behind. Some more detailed analysis on how Orkut could be used a marketing machine would have been insightful [Note-Orkut is hugely popular in India though Facebook is catching up ...]

My personal learning
It has been long[4.5 years] since I am blogging. I have been thinking of booking my own domain[which would stand as my own brand] but had been delaying for a quite a long time.

After reading Scott's book, I understood personal branding in a much better way & have now registered ThoughtsPrevail

Final Words on e-Riches 2.0
As stated before, it could be an excellent starting point or an excellent resource for detailed reference on some of the activities that you perform on the Web.

My personal thanks to Scott Fox for including my Facebook profile[as his Fan] in his book.Scott, if blogging wouldn't have been there, we wouldn't have connected with each other !!!

Twitter 101 - Twitter for Business

For those who are looking out to use the medium of Twitter for Business purposes, the wait might just be over.Twitter has released the OFFICIAL guide-Twitter 101.

Below is the officially released guide for business users using Twitter

Case Studies
You can find some interesting case studies here. In case you are looking out for more case studies you can head on to my LinkedIn question[status - closed] here

Related articles
LinkedIn - The Twitter success story
The Twitter success story - Updated

Microsoft expands it's contribution to Open Source

After Google announced the arrival of it's open source Chrome OS, things are looking quite bright for the open source community. Though Chrome OS would be an excellent competitor not only for existing Linux distributions but also for the upcoming Windows 7, there are many reasons why Microsoft may not worry about the Chrome OS

However, it seems Microsoft is also trying to extend more support to the open source community. Recently, Microsoft released 20,000 lines of Linux code [LOC] to the Kernel community.Below are some of the highlights of the Microsoft release[received via an email from Microsoft's PR group]

• Microsoft has released 20,000 lines of Linux code to the Linux kernel community. The code, which includes three Linux device drivers will be available to the Linux Community and customers alike, and will enhance the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008.


• In addition to this significant code contribution, Microsoft is also highlighting the ongoing investment the company is making to optimize PHP on Windows Server and the Microsoft SQL Server database system. For additional context regarding Microsoft’s ongoing work with PHP and the Microsoft SQL Server driver for PHP available to support more native features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008, please see the IDC white paper–Microsoft, PHP & Open Source, a Pragmatic Alliance for more information.


• These milestones and the motivation behind the work is simple - Microsoft is committed to ensuring interoperability between the Microsoft technology and open source technology to provide the choices our customers are asking for.

Though 20,000 LOC is not a very huge number [considering Microsoft's size], it is good to see Microsoft embracing the open source technology You can read more about it here

Is BMTC missing an opportunity ?

There is a saying "Nothing in this world is constant except change", on a similar lines there have been lot of changes in Bangalore; some good, some bad. However, one thing that has drastically changed is the "Public Transportation". Remember the days when we only had blue colored BMTC buses but now with the introduction of Volvo buses, Public Transportation has gained momentum. Not to forget with the shift of the international airport to a so called remote place, the obvious choice of most of the Bangaloreans is the famous Vajra bus.

BMTC has done a great job by introducing Volvo buses for the right places and also setting the up the right frequency for the right routes e.g ITPL or Electronics City is a place which is filled with software companies and the frequency of Volvo buses is exceptionally great there !!!

Before writing this article, I interacted with a few people[who travel to ITPL] and most of them preferred BMTC over their own cars/bikes. Apart from the normal ways of generating revenue, there are many other areas where BMTC can look for more revenue:

Brand Promotion

Most of the times, there is FM being played on the radio in the bus but if BMTC manages to tie up with brands, radio can act as a great medium for marketing.It can be used to showcase offers in shopping malls, promote new brands, movies etc. Remember, there is Big Bazaar near ITPL; so this would be much useful in such cases !!!

Job Announcements

After the economy tumbled, many were laid off where some of them landed up in jobs out of no better choice. With Indian economy showing early signs of recovery, Volvo bus would make an excellent tool to showcase jobs again through radio or advertisements inside the bus. To make things better, these advertisements can be geo-targetted like buses from ITPL, Electronics City etc. would ONLY carry those ads.

OOH Advertising

Along with the convenience, the added advantage in Volvo is the additional standing space. The photograph shows the frontal view & there is definitely a big opportunity for Out Of Home advertising. There is space for 2 TVs [one in the frontal entry and other at the back entry]. With OOH growing at 20% annually , this is a big opportunity form BMTC to target the people travelling in the bus.

Photo Credit - Srinidhi Hande

To summarize, BMTC can replicate the Google Adsense model for the Volvo - RIGHT Ads Targeted for the RIGHT routes and obviously for the RIGHT customers !!!

Many of us would be travelling by BMTC buses, hence if you feel there is any other revenue generating opportunity BMTC is missing; please leave them in the comments section & it would be added to the article.

Non business books for Entrepreneurs

In the past, there have lot of articles mentioning useful books on Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management etc. Today we have a look at some of the non-business books that would be useful for Entrepreneurs [or we can say for any working professional], let's have a look at them.

[Hat tip : Amber Johnson of Online Universities]

Communication

1. The Elements of Style: Write and communicate clearly with the help of this book.


2. The Definitive Book of Body Language: Read this book to learn the essentials of reading and communicating with body language.


3. Crucial Conversations: This book offers skills that can improve your communication and relationships, as well as prevent arguments and misunderstandings.


4. You Can Read Anyone: Read this book to find out how to pick up underlying clues from others.


5. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Learn the essentials of punctuation in this humorous book.


6. Messages: Messages offers a book of communication skills.


7. Line by Line: This book offers an effective guide to editing your own writing.


8. Difficult Conversations: Thrive in difficult conversations with the help of this book.


9. The Lost Art of the Great Speech: Read this book to learn how to write and deliver excellent speeches.


10. The Art of Talking So That People Will Listen: This book will teach you how to get through to anyone you’re speaking with.


11. Presentation Zen: In this book, you’ll learn how to make your presentations simple and perfect.


12. On Speaking Well: Peggy Noonan shares advice and ideas for writing and giving effective speeches.


13. 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly: Use this book to find methods for communicating more effectively.


14. Lincoln At Gettysburg: Take a lesson from Lincoln and learn how to improve your communication skills to demand attention.


15. Grammatically Correct: In this book, you’ll find the definitive guide to correct grammar.


16. It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It: Follow this book’s advice for communication, presentations, speeches, and more.


17. Getting to Yes: Read this book to improve your negotiation skills.


18. Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: Learn the secrets of effective speakers in history from this book.


19. The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking: Dale Carnegie shares his knowledge and advice for effective speaking in this book.


20. Choosing Powerful Words: Develop your eloquence and public speaking with the help of this book.


21. 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing: Use this reference to learn how to become a better writer and communicator.


22. Great Speeches for Better Speaking: In this book and CD, you’ll be able to listen to and learn from important speeches throughout history.


23. Guerilla Negotiating: Learn unconventional strategies for getting what you want from this book.


24. The World’s Great Speeches: Learn communication skills from some of the greatest speeches in the world, found in this book.


25. Emotional Intelligence: Learn about emotional intelligence from this book and find out why it’s so important.

Leadership

26. Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World: Get a unique view of leadership, groups, and change in this book.


27. Developing the Leader Within You: This book offers a useful look at becoming a great leader.


28. If It Is To Be It’s Up To Me: This book will help you develop the attitude of a true leader.


29. Primal Leadership: Read this book to learn how you can use emotional intelligence to be a better leader.


30. The Servant: The Servant offers a look into what’s most important in leadership.

Success

31. Yes Man: This book will show you how just saying yes more can change your life.


32. The Fountainhead: Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead offers themes including individual strength and the tug between good and evil.


33. The Tipping Point: This book explains how ideas, messages, and behaviors can spread like viruses. The Greatest Secret in the World: Og Mandino shares an explanation of his Ten Greatest Scrolls of Success in this book.


34. The Go Getter: Read this book to learn how to be a go-getter.


35. Talent is Overrated: Read this book to find out why talent isn’t the most important factor to success.


36. Our Iceberg is Melting: Read this book to learn how to change and succeed no matter what conditions you’re in.


37. Think and Grow Rich: Apply the techniques revealed in this book to find lasting success.


38. The Magic of Thinking Big: Use the methods in this book to think big and conquer your achievements.


39. The Greatest Miracle in the World: Read Og Mandino’s story to learn secrets of happiness and success.


40. The 80/20 Principle: The 80/20 Principle shares the secret to being successful with less.


41. Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell explains why some people succeed, and some fall short.


42. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: In this classic, you’ll learn how to improve your personal effectiveness.


43. The Lorax: This book by Dr. Seuss shares the dangers of exploiting the Earth.


44. The Power of Positive Thinking: Use this book to put the power of faith in action.


45. The Art of Looking Sideways: Learn to deconstruct your preconceived notions with the help of this book.


46. The Magic of Thinking Big: Use this book’s methods to get the most out of your life and your new venture.


47. The Secret: Although criticized as unrealistic and irresponsible, this book’s message is a useful one — think positively to improve your life and work.


48. Atlas Shrugged: Understand the philosophy of objective reasoning through this book.


49. Influencer: This book will teach you how to change just about anything through influence.

Personal

50. The Art of Possibility: This self improvement book will help you change your outlook on life and open yourself up to possibilities.


51. The Da Vinci Method: Use The Da Vinci Method’s advice to learn how to break out of what hinders your greatness.


52. Living an Extraordinary Life: Read this book to find out how you can live an extraordinary life.


53. The Art of Happiness: Dalai Lama offers his handbook for living happily.


54. The Four Agreements: In this book, you will learn about personal freedom.


55. Nudge: Nudge will help you make better decisions throughout your life.


56. Transitions: Endure and make the most of changes in life by reading this book.


57. Awake in the Wild: Use nature as a path to self discovery with the help of this book.


58. The Alchemist: The Alchemist tells an everyman story of the struggle to pursue your life’s dreams.

Relationships & Personality

59. How to Win Friends and Influence People: Improve your influential skills using the lessons in this classic book.


60. Personality Plus: With this book, you’ll gain a better understanding of yourself, and other people as well.


61. People Skills: Find out how to assert yourself and deal well with others in this book.


62. Goodbye to Shy: Become more outgoing with the help of these "shybusters."


63. Groundswell: This book explains how to be successful among social technologies.


64. The Power of Charm: Read this book, and you’ll learn how to use charm to win people over.


65. Extraordinary Relationships: This book offers a new way of thinking about human interactions.


66. How to Talk to Anyone: Learn these tricks to find success in your relationships.


67. Social Media is a Cocktail Party: This book will help you learn how to make the most of social media.


68. Crucial Confrontations: With the help of this book, you’ll learn how to make it through difficult conversations and confrontations.


69. The Developing Mind: This book explains how relationships work to shape who we are.


70. How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less: Read this book to learn how to instantly win people over.


71. What to Say When You Talk to Yourself: Check out this book, and you’ll see how you can become what you tell yourself.

Psychology

72. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: This book explains the psychological foundations of influencing people.


73. The Psychology of Winning: In The Psychology of Winning, you’ll get a look at the qualities of winners.


74. Predictibly Irrational: Read this book, and you’ll get a better understanding of what is perceived to be irrational behavior.


75. How We Decide: This book will help you understand how you and other people make decisions.


76. The Paradox of Choice: Read this book to find out why fewer choices are better.


77. The Drunkard’s Walk: In this book, you will learn how randomness influences our lives more than you think.


78. On Being Certain: This book will help you learn to effectively question yourself.


79. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Psychology: This book offers an essential look at psychology.


80. Psychology of Achievement: In this book, you’ll learn how to develop the mindset of a top achiever.


81. Covert Persuasion: This book shares psychological tactics and tricks for winning at persuasion.


82. Psychology of Success: Read this book to learn about the psychology behind succeeding.


83. The Psychology of Judgment and Decisions Making: Learn more about the thought behind judgment and decision making from this book.


84. Animal Spirits: Animal Spirits explains how human psychology drives the economy.


85. The Psychology of Persuasion: This book will help you learn how to use psychology in order to persuade others to your way of thinking.

Finance

86. The Millionaire Next Door: This book will teach you the rules to becoming a millionaire while living a simple life.


87. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you’ll learn what the rich teach their children about money.


88. Total Money Makeover: Read this book, and you’ll find out why it’s so important to pay cash and stay out of debt.


89. The Millionaire Mind: Read this book to make your mindset more like a millionaire’s.


90. Freakonomics: Find out how to illuminate financial mysteries and more just by asking the right questions.


91. Small is Beautiful: This economics book keeps people in mind.


92. The Richest Man in Babylon: This classic book has a lot to teach about investment and finances.


93. Think and Grow Rich: By reading this book, you’ll learn how to thrive even in economic downturns.

Strategy & Innovation

94. The Now Habit: Read The Now Habit to create a program that will help you overcome procrastination.


95. Eat That Frog!: In this book, you’ll find 21 effective methods for conquering procrastination.


96. Blink: Malcolm Gladwell’s book will teach you to rely on your adaptive unconscious.


97. I Dare You!: Read I Dare You! to become one of the daring few on the way to somewhere.


98. The Art of War: Read this book, and you’ll learn how to gain advantage of your opponents in any situation.


99. The Prince: Study this book to broaden your political and strategic philosophies.


100. The Medici Effect: Read this book, and you’ll find out how innovate by approaching situations differently.

[Reproduced from Online Universities Blog]. I guess it is time for me to pick up some of these books from the nearby bookstore

[LinkedIn] The Twitter Success Story

The question which was posted on LinkedIn about Twitter - Success story through Twitter has received excellent response from guys from different geographical locations.

A gist of some interesting answers below -

Story - 1
Just to share an experience on Customer Service and Listening. I have been on twitter for 6-8 months now, I just shouted out about @cleartrip not giving out any offers on twitter. cleartrip listened to my shout out and rolled out the offer in twitter. Now that's definitely gotta make a customer feel good.
Twitter is more about engaging with your customers, to know what they want and more importantly act on it.
Then there are companies in the b2b business finding leads through twitter. So its happening, but companies are more or less just absorbing the stuff which can be done on twitter.
-Rahul Nambiar,Interactive Solutions Architect

Story - 2
Kogi bbq, a korean taco truck in Los Angeles has attributed much of its rapid and recent growth to twitter. http://twitter.com/kogibbq as has Coffee Groundz, a cafe in Houston http://twitter.com/CoffeeGroundz.
-Gary Sanchez, Consumer Marketing Leader

You can check the remaining answers/contribute your success story here

JustDial - Where it went WRONG ...

Few weeks back when I started blogging, there was mention about my old online lifeline - JustDial. Most of us who are online more than half the time always rely on mediums like Wikipedia, Google Maps, JustDial etc for information. The advantage is you have ready-made information which comes free of cost & MOST of the times it is proven and might be CORRECT.

Let me start off with a terrible incident with JustDial which made a repeat customer like me to walk away from the service !!!

Before the delivery
The episode started when I called up JustDial for Packers & Movers [M&P] in Hyderabad. As soon as I hung-up the call, there was a series of calls from different small to big M&P. I got a good deal with a P&M named DG P&M, Hyderabad. Though it is a small M&P, they gave a great deal as well as promised an on-time delivery[i.e within two working days the luggage would reach Bangalore]. After I reached Bangalore, there was no trace of the luggage for more than 4 days. I spoke to close to around 4-5 guys from DG P&M & 2-3 drivers who told me that the luggage is very close to my place and it would reach in few hours.This continued for more than 5 days and finally I received the luggage[though it was not in the state in which I gave to them].

After the delivery
Once my fearful moments were over, I immediately called up JustDial and there were number of lessons learnt about JustDial[and in general the mis-information floating on the internet]

Authenticity of information
When I asked the customer care executive about the authenticity of their huge database, she had no clue about the same.In fact, even as an anonymous user, I was able to change the mobile number of the DG P&M which was a complete security breach in JustDial !!! JustDial has an interesting Terms Of Use with a special mention to it's authentication - While every attempt has been made to ascertain the authenticity of the site content ...

Customer is NOT the king
JustDial would be definitely serving lot's of people daily[considering it is a Rs 500 cr enterprise] so it would not bother about every single customer but what if the customer has called back with a grievance.Even on my narration of the complete incident, the executive completely denied to transfer the call to the right person. In fact, she told me to read the Terms of JustDial & further added that they cannot remove any company listed in their database [even if the customer says that they had a horrible experience after using their service].

Why care about Media/Social Media
After I got a bad response from one executive, I called back again after some time. After completing my narration, I informed the executive that I have decided to share this message on TV through CNBC Pahredar , she was least bothered & argued with me for a long time. Not to mention that social media tools like blogs, Facebook were not new to her but she never cared how much it would affect JustDial's online reputation.

Is Internet just for FUN ?
Like me , many people rely heavily on the information available on the internet but this incident made me wonder - Can we trust this information [even if it comes through a reputed service like JustDial]. Or should we say- Information can be used as long as there is no serious motive attached with it [ i.e we can use it to find Theaters, Pizza corners but not if you are looking out for something which may turn your life upside-down....

If you have any such mis-incident to share, please leave them in the comments section and it would be added to the main article.

Photo Credit
Movers and Packers

Important Update -
A similar complaint raised against DG Movers and Packers