Saturday Social: What is Twitter and How to Work it?

 
I have always thought of Twitter as a cocktail networking event, only online. It’s a place filled with lots of varied people and diverse conversations. Just about anything under the sun is discussed on Twitter, from traveling to teleporting.

Imagine a room full of on-going conversations, the place filled with chatter so indistinct, it’s noise and noisy when you first walk in. It’s also overwhelming and disconcerting like a a real room full of people you don’t know.

But if you squared your shoulders, took a deep breath, smiled and stepped up to the bar, things would start to change. Take a sip of that cocktail and look around, listen to talk around you.



As you listen the indistinct babble will start to pop words. Some may be interesting to you and you’ll gravitate towards the conversation that most catches your ear. After hanging around on the fringes slowly you’ve venture an opinion and before you know it you are a part of the conversation.

Soon another word in another part of the room catches your attention and you move on to the new conversation. And so on the evening goes, talking and meeting new people.

Working a networking event takes time and patience. It also requires listening skills as no one wants to only listen. These rules apply to Twitter too.



When trying to figure out how you can use twitter personally or for your business, the best way to start is to sign-up and then sit back and listen. Let the conversations come to you, get a feel of the pulse of the space, and then say what you’d like to say.

Follow people because you genuinely want to follow them, not because they are celebrities. Interact with those you follow. Be genuine in your conversations. Be yourself.

P.S. – I'm going to be talking more about Twitter as the weeks go by. I'm taking this on my chin, so please let me know what you think of this post. Did it help you? And leave me questions you have in comments and I’ll try to answer them. :)

 
P.S. – Day Nineteen of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

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Saturday Social: Does Your Small Business Need Twitter?

 

Twitter is one of the networks that should be in your top 5 when you think social media, however it's placement on that list is based on your type of business.

If you run a small business, managing your own social media makes sense financially and for branding. But when you are doing everything yourself, you have to choose carefully what you spend your time on.

So, how do you know if Twitter is for you? Before you decide to launch your company on twitter you should sit back and figure a few things out.

 

Objective

Evaluate what is your objective is to use Twitter for your company/product and what you would like to achieve from it. Being clear at the start makes it easier to decide what you will do on Twitter and how much of it. You’ll be able figure out whether you need a company profile or a personal profile. It will also help to measure ROI.

 

Audience

Twitter is quite a popular network in India but not everyone is on it. For example you may not find a lot of retired folk on it but you will find a lot of celebrities and young people. So gauge your audience carefully and see if they hang out on Twitter. Twitter is the network for you if it's users are your audience.

 

Relevance

A good place to start is with some searching and reading. Look up keywords that are important to your business and assess how much people talk about it. For Example, if you are into a herbal products business, search for words like hair, shampoo, herbal, etc. and see how many people are talking about the topic. If you find enough chatter, Twitter is worth getting into as you can make relevant conversations.

 

Activity

Look for others doing similar business to you on Twitter and study the activities they do on their news stream. Make note of the things that have worked for them and the mistakes they have made. These learning will help you chose your activities well and make them a success.

 

Time

Remember that your time is limited. Also remember that becoming successful on Twitter takes time. With all the information you have gathered you can now figure out how much time managing your twitter profile will take. Can dedicate that much time consistently?

 

With all this in mind, now look at Twitter and see where it fits in your Top 5. For that matter you could use this same yardstick to measure any other network too.

After all this assessment if you know for sure that Twitter is the next network to add to your social profile, go to Twitter.com and click Register. All the Best!! :)

P.S. - If you are wondering what to do next, I’ll be covering that and more as the weeks roll by. Leave me any questions you have in comments and I’ll try and answer it. :)

 
P.S. – Day Twelve of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

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The Saturday Tirade: Why should You DIY on Social Media

I had intended to write on another topic this week but over the week I have spoken to a few entrepreneurs who called for social media gyan and they left me steaming at the ears, so here goes...

Everybody seems to be wanting success, they want to be 'the' brand online, they want tons of followers, an abundance of likes, loads of comments, uncountable leads, and of course an epidemic of guaranteed conversions. BUT, but they do NOT want to do the work.

Not wanting to do the hard work of networking, building a community and a presence online is all fine for a company or business with a lot of money. These rich guys can hire an agency to do the work. But it's not about the money, because it's more about hiring the right agency who will do the right job, and that does take money. After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

But what happens when you are a start-up, a one man show or a small team with very little funds, how then do you find the funds for these agencies? How do you succeed online? How do you become 'the' brand?

I keep saying this to every business owner and entrepreneur I speak to
- only you know your business best, only you know the pulse of your product or service, only you know your customers heart, only you can be the best voice of your brand - and I haven't changed this stance in the 5 years I have been a social media consultant. This is my top reason for why you should manage your own social media. Especially when you are starting out.

Yes, I agree it's a fair bit of work but then so was your idea when you first started out in your business. Making the idea a reality took hard work, you wouldn't just have outsourced it and got someone else to do it, would you? Well, it's the same here, you're going to have to do the work to reap rewards.

And you don't have to do everything, be everywhere and all that. You can choose how much you want to do and where you want to do it. Choosing your networks well and managing your time on it efficiently will lead to great results over time - connections, relationships, and community. And these are real, and you know that for sure because you created them.

Where are the leads and money you say? These connections and relationships that you build slowly over time will create a community for you. And communities are great because over time they become your voice, they make the leads and sales happen.

Startup owners that I have spoken to are always looking to see how they can increase sales, but I don't find a lot of them doing things to build goodwill, connect and interact with people (notice I didn't say customers), or be themselves online. They are parts of groups but more of them have to do with entrepreneurship than their service or product.

Online marketing isn't very different from traditional marketing. It's just word-of-mouth and relationship marketing taken into the virtual world. The same old school rules apply. Don't do unto others what you don't want done to you. Build for the future, not for tomorrow and you'll be in a beautiful place.

Don't outsource. It isn't impossible to manage your own social media, just start small and be yourself. Also be consistent. And then just give it a little time. The magic will happen. And when it does I promise it will be worth it, and best of all you'll be enjoying yourself while doing it. Social is fun you know! ;)

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Blatant Plagarism on Facebook and What To Do About It

I had intended to write a review yesterday but I was really upset. My day started with seeing a message from a friend about Chenthil's photos being plagiarised.

There's this guy Ajit Degaonkar who has stolen photos from Chenthil's Photography page and posted it on his page claiming they are his. He hasn't limited himself to Chenthil's photos but copied from other photographers like Audi Photography too. So, I did the obvious thing - reported his page, profile and even the photos. Then since Facebook is so slow on response, I enlisted help. I made a post on my profile about what had happened and asked my friends to report him too. I was hoping that the large number of reports would cause Facebook to take action.  However  Facebook did nothing. Here's their response (my friends got similar responses) -



Since Facebook is Facebook and nothing is simple with them I did some reading on what I can do about this blatant plagiarism. I didn't find anything online about what I can do. No one seems to have written on this topic so I went to look at what Facebook would allow me to do.

Facebook allows the creator of the content to report the plagiarised content to them as their intellectual property. This means that if you see someone's work being misused you can't do anything much about it, only the creator can. This sucks but it is so. Since this was Chenthil's work and I have access to his account here is how I reported it.

1. Click on the little X at the right top corner of the post. Then click on the Report/Mark as Spam option.



2. You will now see the below message. Now click on the Report link.



3. This will cause the below pop-up. Click on the link at the bottom that reads "Is this your intellectual property?".



4. You will be taken to this page.

5. You can read about Intellectual Property here. You can also read more about Copyright and access the reporting form here.

6. If the photo is of you or of a minor below 13 you can report the privacy violation here. Read more about Image Privacy Rights.

I have reported the photos on the copyright form for now. Lets see what Facebook does about it. Will keep you posted.

***[Update: It took almost 24 hours but the page and his profile have been pulled down by Facebook. My report saw no action from Facebook as you will see above, so I'm assuming they didn't take action on all my friends reports either. However it seems that a copyright infringement report and privacy violation report along with over a score of complaints from different people did the trick. Thanks to everyone who helped Che and me make this happen :) ]

Finally here are screenshots of the copy cat.



On the left is the photo Chenthil took of my fractured finger in March this year. On the right is the copied photo with a photoshop job done on the date and place details.

Below is Chenthil's album on the fire-cracker workers in Sivakasi.



This is the copied album.



Is there anything else I can do about this? Any other actions I can take against this guy? Please let me know in comments.

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How to Set-up a Sponsored Story on Facebook

After making the post on Sponsored Stories yesterday I realized Facebook has two different types of ad screens they show users. I seem to be on the old one. So here are instructions for the second (new) screen set. (For the first set click here)

How to Set-up a Sponsored Story?

1. Got to https://www.facebook.com/ads/create/
   



2. Choose your page, app or event.
   
   
   


3. Select 'See Advanced Options'.


4. Click on Remove to delete the 'Your Ad' option.





5. In the Stories about your Page post section - Select Stories about your page posts and choose the post.


6. Make sure all three sharing options are ticked.
   
   
   



7. Choose you audience based on country, city, age, gender, interests and connections (select the ‘not connected’ option).


8. Make sure your page shows in the Friends of Connections field.
   
   
   



9. Ad your account details, campaign name, campaign budget per day or lifetime and optimise for CPC or CPM.


10. Review your ad.


11. Place the order.

You can monitor and manage you ad from the Ads Manager option in the left column of your Facebook Home page.

Note: Due to Facebook’s Privacy Settings only the friends of the people who are already sharing their activity ‘on your page’ with their friends on Facebook can see Sponsored Stories about you.

More about Sponsored Stories – https://www.facebook.com/help?page=154500071282557
More about Promoted Posts – https://www.facebook.com/help/promote

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How To Use Facebook Post Promotion If You have Less Than 400 Likes

Currently one of the best ways to virally promote your business is promote posts. Promoting posts makes the post show up more times in your friends and friends of friends news streams.

Increased Viral Effect: The promotion causes more interaction and increases virality of the post. The initial boost helps kick-start the viral ball - the more people who interact through Likes and Comments the more people see the post.
Genuine Likes: The new Likes on your page are from your target audience (as they are the friends of those who already Like your page) hence they are more likely to interact in future on your page and do business with you.

However Facebook doesn’t allow pages that have less than 400 Likes to promote posts, also promotion has to start within about 3 days after posting. So then how can you use ads to get more Likes and post promotion? One option is Sponsored Stories that Facebook offers along side regular ads.

What are Sponsored Stories?
Here’s how Facebook describes it –

“A sponsored story is different from an ad because it’s a story you can already see about activity from people you’re connected to, Pages you like or apps you use. A business pays to sponsor these regular stories to increase the chances that you’ll notice it.“

“Sponsored stories are messages coming from friends about them engaging with your Page, app or event that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight so there’s a better chance people see them.

People are influenced by what their friends like and connect to. When someone interacts with your Page, app, or event it creates a story that their friends may see in the news feed. You can pay to sponsor these stories so more people will see it when their friends have engaged with you on Facebook.

For example, if someone likes your Page they’re saying they’re interested in being connected to you and it can be interpreted as an endorsement of your brand or service. People may see when their friends like your Page, but because there’s a lot of activity in news feed, they may miss it. When you create sponsored stories, you’re increasing the number of people who will learn about you through the actions of their friends.”

That means it works quite like post promotion or at least can be used until you cross that magic number of 400.

What Do Sponsored Stories Do?
Now unlike promoted posts that makes the post show higher in news streams of friends and friends of friends. Sponsored Stories shows activities in the news feed. You can choose what activities should be shown to friends of friends.
E.g. If Ravi ‘Likes’ your page, his friends will see this activity higher up in their news feeds or in the right side column.

I personally prefer sponsored stories to regular ads because

1. The stories are genuine social proof of people interacting with your page


2. You are targeting the right market by reaching out to friends of friends

Sponsored Stories get created when someone

• Likes your Page


• Likes or comments on your Page’s post


• RSVPs to your Page’s event


• Votes on your Page’s question


• Checks in to your place


• Uses an app or plays your game


• Likes or shares your website

How to Set-up a Sponsored Story?
Facebook seems to be showing different people different types of ad creation screens. If you are not seeing the same screen as below, Click Here to see instructions for the second set of screens.

1. Got to https://www.facebook.com/ads/create/



2. Choose your page, app or event.


3. Click on the option to promote a specific post.


4. Choose the post to be promoted.


5. Select the option for people to see stories about their friends.



6. Choose you audience based on country, city, age, gender, interests and connections (select the ‘not connected’ option).


7. Make sure your page shows in the Friends of Connections field.



8. In the Objective section select people who are most likely to click on my ad or sponsored story.


9. Ad your account details, campaign name, campaign budget per day or lifetime.


10. Review your ad.


11. Place the order.

You can monitor and manage you ad from the Ads Manager option in the left column of your Facebook Home page.

Note: Due to Facebook’s Privacy Settings only the friends of the people who are already sharing their activity ‘on your page’ with their friends on Facebook can see Sponsored Stories about you.

More about Sponsored Stories - https://www.facebook.com/help?page=154500071282557
More about Promoted Posts - https://www.facebook.com/help/promote

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Becoming a FlipKart Affiliate in India

To complete my affiliate tie-ups for now I wanted to add FlipKart to my list. I live in India so Amazon is great for all who read my blog abroad but in India Amazon doesn’t work so well as it costs a lot to ship stuff. But FlipKart is the big book seller here so I thought it worth my while. This way I can give readers two options to buy the book.

The FlipKart Affilate Program is very easy to join. Just click on the ‘Join Now For Free’ button and follow the instructions to fill in your details. Once you signed up you’ll see the home screen.



I haven’t used the FlipKart links much yet but the layout seems super easy to figure out and report useful. I did go to ‘My Account’ though and add in all my information.



The process of creating links seems very simple compared to others I’ve seen until now who generate the link. But that said its early days. I’m just starting out with it, so I’ll keep you posted on how it comes along.

Update as of 26th December 2012 - Until now I had only used my affiliate id for books I've reviewed. I didn't gets clicks in the initial months it seems but in November and December I got 76 clicks however none of them converted. Maybe people in India aren't buying so many books after reading reviews :) I have to get more aggressive with my affiliate marketing I guess.

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Using VigLink to Increase Affiliate Returns

In my last post I was talking about trying out affiliate programs, (who can’t do with the extra money :D) and how I set-up the Amazon Associate Program for myself. But then I got thinking and reading – there are a lot of affiliate programs out there and its difficult to choose which ones I want to be a part of, especially since I’m just starting out.

Looking around I came across two programs – VigLink and SkimLinks. Out of the two however VigLinks seems to be doing better in reviews. So VigLink it is for me.

What is VigLink?
An affiliate program is a set-up that pays you a percentage for every sale you bring to the site. E.g. If someone reads a review by me of a book, clicks on the link I have provided to Amazon and buys the book or some other product, I get a percentage of the sale.
A lot of merchants offer payouts to affiliates but it would be impossible I think to join so many and keep track of it all. This is what I like about VigLink. VigLink ties up with an entire host of merchants so I just need to use VigLink and don’t have to bother with the individual merchants.

VigLink Payouts?
VigLink takes a 25% commission for any sales you make through them. Now that’s a lot but the way I see it, without them I wouldn’t have made anything, so something is better than nothing, eh… :D
However if you have already put in an affiliate link in you article VigLink leaves it alone. From the earlier example of my book review – if someone clicks on the link I have provided to Amazon; I get paid from Amazon and VigLink stays out of it (I don’t lose the 25%). But if someone clicks on any other link and buys something, VigLink tracks it and pays me.
To me right now it definitely looks like it will increase the possibilities of earning. Also VigLink currently does not have a minimum requirement as a payout.

VigLink for Wordpress?
Setting up VigLink is quite simple. Go to VigLink and sign-up. You’ll be sent an email for verification. Verify it and you’re done.
Then in Wordpress go to the PlugIns section from the column on the left of your Dashboard. Choose the ‘Add New’ option.
Search for the VigLink plugin and click the Install Now button. Once its installed Activate the Plugin. There isn’t much you need to do after this. VigLink will start working for all non-affiliated links on your blog.
This is good because it would take time to add specific affiliate links to old blogs posts. So, while old posts get updated slowly I still make affiliate money on my links.



I’ve just started out on VigLink so I’ll keep you posted on how it works out. But before you go, if you are considering VigLink and sign-up to VigLink from here they pay me 30% of their commission for the first year. So please do :D

Other Reviews:
My VigLink Review – Giving Affiliates a Second Chance
VigLink Review - from an Actual User

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How to Join the Amazon Associate / Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing seems to be quite big and for a while now I have been playing with the idea of taking it up but how? I have a blog but its still small when it comes to traffic and I am yet to decide on one blogging category. I write posts about so many things – book reviews, recipes, product reviews, craft, rants, social media. And then there is my blogging consistency. With this much variation I wasn’t sure if an affiliate program would work for me. (If you'd like to know more about affiliate programs, there are a few links at the end.)

But lately I’ve been posting a lot of book reviews on this blog so I thought why not start with a book affiliate program, that’s where the Amazon Affiliate Program comes in.

Now I know that its unlikely that I’ll have a payout from them anytime soon but hey a start has to be made somewhere. Here’s the process I followed to sign-up as an affiliate/associate.

1. Go to the Amazon Associates sign-up page. Here Affiliate and Associate seems to be the same thing.
If you already have an Amazon ID choose the ‘Sign-in’ option. Click the ‘Join Now For Free’ button if you have to create a new ID.
I have an Amazon ID so I just went ahead and clicked sign-in and logged in.

2. The process of signing up is simple but tedious. There are a lot of questions to be answered. Starting with your account information – on this page you can add/remove/change the address and contact person details.

3. On the next page you have to profile you website. There are quite a few questions asked about your bog or website. How is it monetized, what other affiliate programs are you a part of, what your blog is about… Just fill it all up :)

4. You’re done with the form filling and now have an associate ID. Next you need to choose a payment method.

5. Amazon offers three modes of payment – gift card, direct deposit and check. The best option if you live in the US would be direct deposit because they do amounts as small as $10 and the service is free. Amazon changes a $15 fee for checks and the minimum amount of a check is $100. However if your billing address is outside the US they will not change a fee.
I chose the option of gift card as I don’t expect huge payments anytime soon and would rather use the affiliate money I make to buy stuff off Amazon. Ofcourse when the money starts pouring in I’ll switch to check :D

6. There now you’re all set-up and ready to start.

7. The associates’ area offers a lot of different ways to promote Amazon products. You can choose from various widgets, use links and banners, build your own store and more. I’m going to be starting with the simple product link in the post.

Setting up the Amazon Affiliate Program is quite simple but it may not be as simple to get the money from it. Amazon for one offers a very low percentage on sales but you do grow up the percentage ladder as you go along. Also I don’t intend to use only Amazon’s Affiliate Program so we’ll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted :)

Here’s some more articles I’m reading on Amazon Affiliate Marketing – (Most of these are old posts but the content is still valid and useful.)
How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate Programs For Blogs
10 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on your Blog
How to Dramatically Increase Amazon Affiliate Sales with Bestseller Lists

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Facebook Timeline for Pages goes Live Today

The new Facebook Timeline for Pages goes live and becomes mandatory today. The New Timeline not only makes your business page on Facebook look different but also changes some of the ways you were using your page for marketing.

There is so much that has been shared across blogs about Facebook Timeline for Pages that writing on the topic seems to cover nothing new. Here are a few blog posts you should check out for you Facebook Page.

Learn About Facebook Pages

Facebook Cheat Sheet: Sizes and Dimensions

Facebook Timeline for Business Pages – 21 Key Points To Know by Mari Smith

Facebook Timeline for Pages – Frequently Asked Questions by Tim Ware on the HyperArts Blog

7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses by Andrea Vahl on Social Media Examiner

The Impact of Facebook Timeline for Brands [Study] by Simply Measured

Eleven Ways Facebook Page Timelines Change Your Content Strategy by John Haydon on Social Media Today

Did Facebook’s Timeline take you by surprise? Was you page updated and ready for Timeline? Are you using all the new features? And most importantly do you like the timeline for Pages?

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Using Pinterest for Your Business

Everyone seems to be talking about Pinterest, it’s the new hot thing and it is pretty cool! I’ve been holding off on it for a while to see how it would go but the talk is non-stop so, I thought I’d take a look.

What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a virtual pin up board. You can pin an article or page that you found interesting here. Pinterest lets you have multiple boards based on the topic of your pins. So you can create boards about redecorating your home, your favourite recipe’s, etc.

Exploring on Pinterest
You can see what people are pinning most based on category. Pinterest offers 16 categories along with videos, popular and gifts! I’m not sure yet how the gifts category pins are selected but my guess is any pin with a price in it, goes into the gifts category.

With the amount of colour images throw up on Pinterest, it would be fun to explore popular articles based on interests here.

Pinning on Pinterest
A lot of different ways are offered to pin on your boards. You can use the pin-it button, you can pin on the iPhone and you can even add a button to your blog or website.

Initial Thoughts
I like Pinterest, it definitely looks interesting and I look forward to using it more to find recommendations and share great stuff I come across. Thinking of creating boards about Travel, Books I’ve Reviewed, Craft and Social Media. Any others I should have?

But how can you use Pinterest for Marketing your Business
Unless you are selling physical items in variety, posting just what you have to sell would be detrimental to your business. At the least you’ll get no returns from using Pinterest. Frankly, even if you are selling physical items its best to vary what you share so you don’t come across salesy. So then what can you share -

Pinterest is a great place for curators and we need that. People can read only so much in a day, that’s where curators come in. They find the quality stuff and all you have to do is follow them. So how can you use this for your business you ask?

Become a curator in your field. Don’t just share your articles and websites on the board, share what others are doing, what you recommend, what you think people should see.

Pinterest works best when you have images or video. Text would look quite boring, so keep that in mind when pinning posts. That said if you have a website or blog, make sure it has images too, else it's not going to look great on Pinterest when its pinned by someone.

For example if you are a book marketer, a book coach, a book publicist or in the publishing industry, you can share blog posts you recommend authors and publishing folk should read on your board. That way you don’t come across as salesy and yet set yourself up well as an expert on your subject.

Or if you get affiliate sales on books, don’t just share links to your reviews. Pin others reviews of books you found interesting too. It’s about setting yourself up as someone who makes great book recommendations and is not a sales engine. People will follow your recommendations and the more they value it the more sales you’ll get over time.

If you are a vampire fiction author you should consider creating a board about vampires. I’d love to find a place where I can read all about them and stay updated rather than do a search on Google.

(The examples are all about books, sorry. But I just love them.)

So the idea is to give people a good reason to follow you and your board without selling. Set yourself up as an expert or the must follow person on a topic and the deals will come. Give and you shall receive.

Are you using Pinterest? What do you think of the idea of virtual pin boards? How would you use it for your business?

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Review: Feedly – Make Reading Blogs Fun

I stumbled on to Feedly after seeing FlipBoard on the iPad. I was looking for something that would make reading my Google Reader feeds fun and Feedly does a good job of it – on the iPad.

Oh yes, Feedly works well on the iPad but that left me with a problem – the iPad belongs to Che so its not available to me all the time. That got me wondering if it would just as well on the Mac. So off I went to the Feedly site.

Other than the iOS and Android, Feedly also has add-ons for Chrome, Safari and Firefox. I got Feedly for Chrome and took it for a test drive.

What I liked about it –
1. It has a nice newpaper like layout that makes for more colourful reading.
2. You can change the way the articles are laid out with the layout button at the top. So photos could be a mosaic and text blogs tiled.
3. Ties up with twitter and facebook to show newsfeed though am not sure yet just how useful this would be.
4. Based on you feeds, Feedly recommends more feeds you might like.
5. Also based on your feeds its makes recommendations from Amazon, YouTube, Flickr.
6. It offers 13 colours as themes but I like Classic Grey most.
7. Offers tagging – In preferences you can add a comma delimited list of tags you would like to be able to assign to articles for collection. Haven’t used this feature yet and since my feeds are categorised already not sure if I will need it. But I think I will try tags like read later, research, and share.
8. Allows you to tracks stock –wow! I don’t need it but wow!

What I don’t like –
1. On the iPad you flip pages to read further, here on Chrome you have to scroll down and it’s a lot of scrolling.
2. In preferences Feedly offers 5 different types of view settings - magazine, condensed, mosaic, cards and full articles. But when I tried switching between them I saw no change in how my feeds were displayed.
3. On the iPad I had an essentials list of feeds based on category. Here I find it missing and just can’t find a way to get it to show.

Feedly also sync’s with all gadgets so I can read on Che’s iPad, or my Android phone and then come back to the Mac and my feeds and saved articles are synced.

On the whole this is neat… Feedly definitely makes reading blogs more fun than Google Reader. I swear by GR since without it, having my feeds on the cloud would be painful but reading in GR isn’t much fun. Feedly syncs well with GR and lays out all the posts well. Feedly as an RSS reader is a must try!

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Three Ways to Get With The Blogging Program

I’ve been on a break from the blog in the last few weeks. What started with missing one blog post rolled on into missing many posts. Everyday I thought of writing and then told myself ‘Not right now, later’ and later never happened.

I felt guilty but it’s usually easy to convince yourself and let things slip. But blogging regularly is important. Every time you miss a post you lose readers and traffic – you lose a bit of your voice. I should have known better and I plead guilty.

So what am I going to do about it and how am I going to make sure I get with the program - here’s what I plan to do.

The Buddy System
This works and this post vouches for it. Find a friend to make yourself accountable to, tell him/her what you plan to do and give them the right to question you. Evading yourself is easy but it’s difficult to escape another’s queries. Being accountant helps you stick with the program.

Plan a Schedule
Plan the week out and decide what you will be posting each day. That will help you plan ahead. I think, thinking of what to write is one of the most difficult parts of blogging and a plan helps in this. When you know what you are going to write about, half the job is done. After that all you have to do is sit down and write.

Schedule Ahead
Publishing a post everyday does not mean writing it everyday. Yes, you want to write some posts on that day so you can share what is happening in your life. But if you are writing on a topic or doing a review, you can do this earlier and schedule it for publication. Then if you want to on the day you can add a paragraph of the latest news.

These are three things I intend to do to stay on track and blog regularly. What do you do to make sure your blog posts go out on time? Do you have any recommendations that will help me stick with the program?

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Why Authors Should Ask Readers for Reviews

A day after I wrote a post about asking people for what you want on Social Media, I finished reading Ginny Baird's 'The Sometime Bride'. Ginny's was the first ebook in 22 ebooks I've read until now to ask me to engage with her explicitly.

Here's what Ginny wrote -

A Note From the Author

Thanks for reading The Sometime Bride! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please help other people find this book.

1. This book is lendable, so send it to a friend who you think might like it so that she (or he) can discover me, too.

2. Help other people find this book: write a review.

3. Sign up for my newsletter, so that that you can learn about the next book as soon as it's available. Write to GinnyBairdRomance@gmail.com, with "newsletter" in the subject heading.

4. Come like my Facebook page.





Watch for my upcoming release, Real Romance, due out in May 2012!

Here's why I think more authors should do this.

Unlike most authors Ginny told me to share her book. Most authors tell you that the book you are reading is not lendable/shareable. This makes no sense as if I bought a paper book I would share it with friends, so why can't I do that with an ebook as freely. As an author would you consider the number of people who have read your book or would you just focus on how many people have paid for your book? Isn't the reason we write, to be read?

After reading Ginny's message i stopped to think about the story and characters of her book. I gave the idea of a review a definite consideration. I don't review all the books I read so asking definitely put 'The Sometime Bride' on my review list. My way of paying back an author for taking the time to write a book that I enjoyed is to review the book. Reviews help authors reach out to more readers and they work as great testimonials too. If you love books help authors reach out by reviewing their book.

I considered joining her newsletter and Facebook page. But what Ginny could have done better was check for typos and add a link to her Facebook page. I would have to search for her page on Facebook and thats a deterrent; giving me a link or way to find her page would have made me take action immediately.

I wish more authors would do this, it makes authors more approachable and human compared to that vague image I have of a person bend over a typewriter as I read a book. It gets me to like the author more, want to know more about the author and her books. Most importantly it builds a community of readers for an author for future books!

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Is Amazon trying to monopolise the book readers market?

Amazon seems to be getting very restrictive recently both towards authors and readers. It seems Amazon is trying to increase sales and monopolise the market by forcing authors and sites such as GoodReads to link only to them.

Amazon is forcing authors to restrict their books to only Amazon and I’ll talk about how they’re doing that in a few days.

With readers Amazon seems to be playing a different game. Its targeting sites like GoodReads that use the Amazon API for book data. The new terms of the Amazon API licensing agreement are very restrictive. Amazon requires that books on GoodReads link for sales only to Amazon.com. No other book sites are allowed. The other requirement is that the API data not be used on mobile sites and apps.

This may not impact GoodReads but it impacts us readers. Amazon in simple words is saying we can buy only for them and no one else. That is an infringement on our freedom to choose. GoodReads has chosen to not give in to Amazon and instead move away to other data sources. This means we can continue to compare prices across bookstores. This also means that we can continue to use GoodReads both as a website and an app on the mobile.

Good work GoodReads!

GoodReads has sent out emails to users telling them about moving away from Amazon and asking for help with book details. Here the email I received.

“Dear Freya,

We want to let you know about a change on our site that is impacting some of the books on your shelves. It's important that you read this and take action by Monday, January 30.

For years, we've used Amazon's data for information such as the book title, author, and publication date. Unfortunately, the terms required by Amazon have now become so restrictive that we decided it makes better sense to work with other data sources. However, the deadline to make the transition is Amazon's, and they have told us that we must stop using their data by January 30. We have to meet this deadline.

We've been adding data from other sources and now know which books still need help. You are receiving this email because we need new sources for 2 of the book on your shelves.

First, please be assured that none of your reviews or ratings are in danger. Not a single review, comment, shelving, or rating will be lost in this transition. We have a system in place to preserve your reviews and comments for any books at risk until we can find new sources. That's the most important thing—your data is 100 percent safe.

What can you do? The good news is you can rescue your books. Saving a book is easy. Just click the "Rescue Me!" button next to each book edition that needs help, and fill in the information on the following page. A few keystrokes can help preserve these books for millions of future readers.

It takes only a few clicks, and you will be doing your part to make sure these books remain available for other readers like you. We appreciate the passion you bring to Goodreads, and we apologize for the short notice. If we could have prevented this inconvenience in any way, we would have done it. Ultimately, this change will be better for the members of Goodreads and long-term success of the site.

If you don't want to rescue your books, you can also export your books to a spreadsheet so you have a record of them.

All the best,
Otis & Elizabeth
Goodreads Founders”

I rescued two books and am happy and proud to be a part of GoodReads. Amazon monopolizing the book market seems so like what publishers have done for ages; it should be stopped.

What do you think? Should Amazon be allowed to monopolise the book market? Have you help out with books on GoodReads? Do you support GoodReads?

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Why Do Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Need a Social Media Strategy?

The last few years have seen a rise in the use of online networks in India. More and more people are going online now and Facebook has become a common word. A year ago my Mom got herself a Facebook account and today my Granny asks us to login (to the “Diary” ask she calls it or Facebook as we know it) so she can check on her Grandchildren’s updates and photos. My Granny is 85 years old and that says a lot about the use of social media in India.

The age of children using the internet is dropping and more adults are getting comfortable with the internet every day. Facebook and Twitter are now used to share more than photos and life updates – they are a place to share successes, failures and most importantly voice opinions. This is why if you do not get on this bandwagon now, you may lose the race.

Here are a few reasons why you need to take notice of Social Media and Plan a Strategy –

The Way People Buy Has Changed
The way people buy products and what influences them has changed. Today people don’t get swayed as much by ads; that’s where the process starts. An average Joe would see an ad and like what he sees. He then goes online and does a bit of research. He reads about the product and checks reviews. He posts his desire for a product and asks his friends for their opinion on a social site like Facebook or Twitter.

Today this is a crucial point of sale. What his friends say can make or break the sale. Their opinion is an important part of his decision making. So it’s not enough to just sell to him, it’s important to make sure that his friends feel good about your product and promote it.

People Will Talk Even If You’re Not There
My husband recently bought an iPad. He thinks it’s the best tablet device available today but since it comes from Apple - a proprietary company it has its drawbacks. Last week he updated the software and in the process a lot of things stopped working. He has been very vocal about just how upset he is with the iPad and Apple on Facebook.

Consumers today may not always talk about how great a product is but they definitely will tell the world if it doesn’t work. It’s an old sales adage – a happy customer may tell one person or two but an unsatisfied customer will tell TEN.

Customers are talking about your product online – they may say good things or bad, but they are definitely talking about it even if you are not listening.

It’s Not Just The Sale!
It’s no longer about a sale. In this day and age of active participation on Social Networks, you need to win over a customer before, at and after the sale if you want a successful business. Your sales approach, how you conduct the sale and your follow-up will be talked about.

If you have won over a customer on all three counts you can be assured that he/she will evangelise your product and bring in more customers.

Online Communities
Facebook and Twitter are just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of niche communities and groups have sprung up around topics lately. You can start a group on just about anything on Facebook or networks like Ning – from your favourite washing machine brand to your views on Gandhi.

These communities share views and opinions among themselves but a lot of it is also public. They post reviews on sites, comment on blog posts and voice their opinions in conversations online. Their views can make or break your sale.

Today to reach out to your customer you need to move from the traditional ‘push’ marketing method to a ‘pull’ strategy. You need to listen to them, understand their needs, plan your social media strategy and make your information available to them when they want it.

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Ask and You Shall Receive

In recent conversations I’ve come across this question often, “people come to my website, check it out but do not return”. This is a problem a lot of small entrepreneurs and businesses have when they start out. You create a website/product based on what you think people need (if you had researched this before creation, great!) and then you go out and tell them about it. People come and check it out, maybe use it and then leave. But a high percentage does not return to your site repeatedly.

If you want people to come to your website you’re going to have to give them what they want. Understand that you may have researched what they want earlier but this has changed with time or what you offer isn’t enough. The best way to find out is to ask them what they want.

You may have a feedback button on your site but people don’t always use this or tell you what they want upfront. It’s kind of like when you go to a restaurant. The restaurant may have a table or stand with forms asking for your feedback. But how likely are you to fill one? If you had an exceptional meal then you just might but not otherwise. On the other hand if I gave you a form and a pen at your table I am more likely to get feedback and suggestions from you.

So ask your audience, question them in your newsletter. The size of your mailing list does not matter, even if its just 50, ASK. We humans like to suggest and have our suggestions implemented. So ask your audience what they would like to see on your site or in your product.

Don’t limit yourself to your newsletter, go out and ask questions on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other networks like Quora too. All feedback is valuable.

And most importantly act on the feedback and suggestions you’ve received. That’s what you went through all this trouble for :)

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BlogRoll 2012: Blogs I’ve Followed Until Now

Over the last two years I’ve collected (that’s a good word :D) 490 blog subscriptions but haven’t managed to read even 1/10 of them. So, this year one of my resolutions is to clean up my RSS reader on Google.

And how am I doing this? Well, I’m starting from zilch, scratch. Since I don’t want to lose all I have yet, I decided to ignore all that was before and create a few new folders based on my interests. Now I’m going to add blogs slowly through the year making sure to stick to the habit of reading all that I subscribe to :D and removing feeds that I don’t read over time.

Here are blogs that I’ve founded until now categorized by interest. If you have a blog recommendation in these areas, do let me know. I’m looking out for some interesting blogs. :)

Travel
BreathDreamGo by Mariellen


Craft (Fully DIY)
All Things Paper by Ann Martin


Crafting Queen by Karuna


Book Blogs (Reviews and more)
Chrisbookarama by Chris


Reading Romances by Nat


Of Books and Reading


Behind the Book (All about writing, publishing and marketing books)
A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing by J.A. Konrath


No Publisher Needed by Jim. F. Kukral


The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn


The Book Designer by Joel Friedlander


Have any recommendations? Please leave them in comments :)

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