Myntra to end Website service from May 15, 2015

Well, if you are viewing this screenshot of Myntra, online fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform, grab it without second thought. You have been one in billion to have a look at this screenshot of Myntra in Desktop computers. Who knows! One day, you could auction it for a Million dollar! With penetration of smartphone the online retailer has decided to shut it website. For them, it is not mobile first, but mobile only. With increasing smartphone userbase day by day, Myntra has took a brave endeavour to close it desktop business altogether by May 15, 2015. 

What made them close Desktop website?

Many would wonder what made Myntra close desktop website! Well, because they have very good data analytic to support this move. They claim that they received 9 million downloads so far. Is it to be good reason to cheer? Myntra states it positive. With increasing smartphone user base, it is expected to have 5 million downloads in next 3 month. To my wonder, how far data analytics have gone that a great online retailer shuts down it's desktop business infavour of mobile app.

Privacy concerns:

With increasing concerns over privacy on smartphone, switching to mobile only approach would be seen skeptical. Myntra has stated that it need to understand consumers deeply and tailor experiences around that. What would it mean to end consumer? To be make it simple, spying on end users! It seems so rude. Can be take it as tracking user actions and behavior patterns to understand them?! To tailor experience based on users, one must have access to user information. Would that mean Myntra app will start tracking users who install mobile app? 

With struggle of cyber security further augmented by the penetration of mobile phone, any apps could turn as a spying agent. With express statement, Myntra further intended to add tracking with it's new mobile app! Who knows except for the technical team. For us, personalizing experience would mean tracking individual users. No offense intended here. As security experts point, with indiscriminate apps, we expose ourself to unneeded surveillance and tracking. But it does mean Myntra will track. But the statement mentioned by the Myntra would mean it indirectly.

Mobile only policy:

Next issue with us is mobile-only policy of Myntra. Well, it sounds like you do not deserve Myntra shopping if you do not own a smartphone. As simple as that, they have neglected the users who don't shop through a smartphone. The policy of mobile-only will leave behind many users at lurch at start. But at later, they may move to another shopping platform. But what if other online retailers follow the footsteps of Myntra. For capturing mobile market would mean getting access to individual's personal space. 

Time could only answer the questions! Let's see how far the mobile-only policy fetch desired results. 

Update: Well, May 15 passed, How good is the mobile app of Myntra? To get an unbiased view. I checked Google Play Store from my Android Smartphone. When I searched for "Myntra" I found the following. Though, I agree that it is not all for that apps. But top review which showed up in Play Store had negative impact on the Myntra apps. Very unfortunate!

Though Myntra have #BigData right, it has to satisfy all users. Fixing the mobile version must be the priority! All the best Myntra! One brave step forward in ecommerce industry.

Make Your Blog Unique and Original - Simple steps

Blog with unique and original content

Well, we would have known about the importance of content which you post in your blog post. +Matt Cutts, head of Google Webspam team, has made it clear that +Google is much worried about content rather than the SEO. Well, Your content is King. It must stand out of the crowd. But challenge posed before us is how to create a unique and original content? Right, creating content is quite easy but talking about unique and original content, the topic gets serious. The SEO of 2000s are no more useful as it was in the past. With each search engine update, especially Google Search engine update, most people complain about skewed search result. The algorithm behind search engine decides what pages to in the top 10 search results. For business, +Google search is far important as majority of the world depend on Google search. So making your content unique and posting original blog post will get your page stand separated from the crowd. Thus, search engine will knock your doors for your content.

Problems in creating unique and original content:

Finding difficult to create Unique content?

As we all know that Google has made it clear that content is king when it comes to search result ranking. But for us the dilemma start with how to create such unique content and how to make it stand out of the crowded website that are made on same topic. Quite challenging??!! If you are serious about content creating, you should not worry much about the competitors. Worry will not improve your content. All you have to do is produce original and unique content. Worrying must start when you start optimizing content for SEO which will be covered in later topics.

See also: how to start a blog

Unique and Original content:

Alright, we good so far. But what is the unique and original content? Well, you might sound skeptical. But creating such content require lot of home work. If your content creator whom you have employed has to do lot of research before making words out of his mind, then content writer must at least have first hand knowledge about what writer is about to write. 

I know what to do

For a content be unique, you will have to follow some guidelines. The content creation guideline is must. Every organisation who employ a content writer must be provided with a guideline about do's and don'ts. Here is the top 5 content creation guideline:

#1. Forget Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V: Please do not disappoint your readers with redundant and same content. If you want an attractive and enticing web blog, you have to forget Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v. In simple words, do not copy and paste content from other web pages. If readers find copy and paste work, they will lose interest in your blog. To have an engaging crowd around your blog and to make it attractive and enticing, do not copy and paste from other blogs, websites. 

#2. Avoid Keyword stuffing: Next content creation guideline is avoid keyword stuffing. I am talking about people who write content for search engine. Keyword stuff content may appeal good to Search engines such as +Google, yahoo, Bing, so on. Think about use of those content, it will help you get page ranking, but how good is your web page content when it comes to reader experience. Is it living up to the purpose of your business? Ranking in search engine should not be the sole criteria. Your content must be understandable to readers. To make a human read it, it must be in human readable form not in a search engine readable form. 
Though keywords are important ingredients to rank high in search engine results, it should not override the content priority. You may feel that you had created a killer content but not ranking in search engine up do to lack of keyword in the text should not force you to insert keywords which do not fit the text. Better leave those pages alone. If you get a better idea at later stage, you may edit those text make it relevant with intended keywords. 

#3. Avoid Technical Jargon: Your content must be as simple as possible. Write as if you are trying to explain your point to 5th grade student. Anyone who visits must be able to understand your stuff. Hence, it is good to avoid technical jargon while writing content.

For example, think of person who searches for solution which matches with your product or service which he does not know exactly. Here, "glasses for night driving", your company names the product which is used for night driving as "NGlass". As you create a blog or affiliate content, you refer the product as NGlass and whole content emphasize on that particular word which describe the product rather than "glasses for night driving". Google search engine might index your page for the word "NGlass" and leave out the keywords "glasses for night driving". So keep technical jargon out of your blogs or content. If you insist on such terms, then it is good to keep a link explaining those jargon.

Technical jargon are good when it is aimed at a particular community or business. But one who searches for a content, they need content as simple as plain English than with complex scientific terms, legal words and mathematical calculations. So avoid technical jargon in your content and provide pleasant user experience.

#4. Have reader interaction: So far, it is your part, now, you will have to engage readers of your content. While write content, it must create feel like you talk virtually to your readers. The art of content writing, is create engaging yet a unique and original content for readers. The way you present the blog will appeal to your target audience. But you have to create your own style of writing. The key is creating an assumption in the minds of any returning visitor that your new blog will have similar style like a previous posts. This will create engagement. 

Even if you blog content is of 4000 words, just an exaggeration,  the reader will not hesitate to read them as reader know where to skip you and where to read.

#5. Mention the source: Do you remember the rule #1? But it is difficult to follow that rule always. You will have to provide reference to your information source or person from whom you collected info on the subject that you are dealing with. You are under obligation to mention your source from whom you got the information on the subject matter of your blog post.

Example: Consider my blog post on EU antitrust charge on Google, It is from the various sources. The memo mentioned was from Google. While a suggested fix to end the crisis was from Danny Sullivan in his twitter post. In order to credit him I used '+Danny Sullivan' in that blog post. Google plus does the job of mentioning.

So it is good practice to mention the original source of information on which you rely for that content. The practice will show you that you not a person who steal information from various sources. It will not only improve your reputation  for being honest to your readers but also your source gets the credit which deserves the most. 

See also: Importance of crediting original blog post

Trackback: Importance of crediting original blog post in your blogs

Now, you might have started a blog and keep running it. If you don't have a blog, know how to start a blog. You would have started writing unique and original content to your reader. Either it may be for business or personal need, whatever it may be, it is deemed to be blog for all purpose by the audience you receive from internet. Importance of blog in business circle is far important than running a website for business. You might have wonder running a website for local business would be great thing if we were in 1990s. But with 2000s, no business will survive online if you don't run a website of own. Running a website alone will not give you the result, you need a blog. That's apart.

Now, when you start writing a blog post, you might have to rely on sources upon which you write the blog post. It is quite nature that most of the blog post you see on the internet will be based on the any information or source which is seems authentic to public. That how, we build trust. To build trust, either we have to celebrity or rely on trusted sources of information. 

What is Trackback and Advantages of Trackback?

So, now on, you are a blogger, who trust on trusted sources to create your own content. What would be important to make your reader know that you rely on a trusted information? The answer is obvious, mention the original source in the each blog post if available. Some bloggers post about the research, travel experience, personal diaries on internet blogs. For them, none will care about the authenticity of the contents presented. But when it comes to blogging based on technology, medical science, economy, society, anthropology, history, Geological work, etc, it is good to mention your source and info-graphics. This will convey that you did some real work on those facts. 

To be a known as serious blogger, you have to be serious about the source of the information you receive and post to your audience. The topic on serious blogging is different issue which does not fall under this post. 

Well, now time for trackbacks, some blogs or information website enable backlinks which act as trackback. So placing the source of information will help you get new visitors from original blog source. The parent blog to which you have placed a link in your blog will in return place a link stating that you blog discuss on the same topic. So, you will have high probability of any one who visit the parent source would visit your blog for further information. 

To my surprise, I find so many blogs which typically post similar content but also copy and paste content. Many of them do not post what is the source on which they rely. It would appear like a personal blog of authors. To be authentic, one has to provide the source if blog needs one. I am not insisting that every blog post must have mention the source. Yet, if you have one, it is well-advised to post the source. Who knows? You might get links from source websites. Thus, new readers!

Note: Trackback comes with lot of explanations. Yet, the information presented here limited and only stressed the importance of trackback. If you find anything left out, kindly mention them in comments.

How to start making money online?

Many of us would have encountered ads which solicit for making money online! Most of us declare it to be scam to cheat money out of us. But reality is different. The truth is most people determined to work online make real money online. Sounds skeptical! You might wonder that, if any, you would have already spent few bucks for these online programs. And now, I may sound like some agent who is trying to rip you off your money! But making money online don't need an huge investment. If you are not planning to run e-commerce website, you don't carry heavy burden. And I am not here to lecture on any online program or scheme for a subscription fee or payment. All said here are real life experience to start blogging from zero.

Note: Beware of online scams about "making money online". Unscrupulous people start campaign every month to embezzle public money. Don't bite the bait. Some fraudsters campaign for free programs but for a fee. So have research done before signing up for any programs.

Through out this post, you will find good way to start making money online. But remember their is no shortcut to success. Your will have to work harder for few months to start generating money.

See also: How to monetize your blog or website!

Their are many ways you could make money online. They are

1. Affiliate marketing
2. PPC ADS (Pay per Click ads)
3. Sponsored ads
4. Product or service reviews
And the list may expand with innovations. 

With penetration of internet, these list may get appended with new methods and strategies.

While it may sound simple to start making money online, remember it's serious business. Real money comes out of it. Most of them consider this methods as alternate source of money. But in reality many of them make life out of their online journey. If you are thinking to take up part-time work, then stop reading further. I would be waste of your time.

If you are determined to make serious money online, you will have invest good amount time setting up your strategies. It would even take weeks to months and depends on your involvement.

Do you have any plan for subscribing to any program about "making money online"? I am sorry. This blog is not for you. No lectures or presentations will help you without your involvement. Now, let's get started:

#1. Affiliate marketing

The very hot topic to make money online. Affiliate marketing model is to pay you commission when you make sale through your referrals. You can do marketing for a predict or service either through blog or social media. When any click on your referral URL to the product page and makes a purchase, you will receive commission on that sale.

Pros: Commission rate is high! In most cases, websites will pay higher price than the other models of income.

Cons: income will not be regular or in periodic interval. One month you may make $100 and next month you may get $1000 depending up on the product which get the sale.
At time, good products don't get as much sale as ordinary product.

#2. Income from Blogs

Well, this is the most conservative way to make money online. Pay per click ads network make the job easier. All you have to do is to sign up an ad network which will pay for the clicks you receive.

Pros: it is easy to setup. All you need is an email address and as billing address. You are good to go.

Cons: you need huge internet traffic to earn clicks on the ads. Unless someone clicks on the ads, you will not be paid. It need lot of patience than other methods.

See also: How to create a blog?

#3. Product reviews

You can opt for product review program. You will have to review any product or service which it can be a software, computer hardware, house hold products, etc. You have to make reviews.

Pros: you will get your hands on all product and services for free. Some make good money out of the second sale if those products.

Cons: you can't spell bad word about the product. If any, you will find yourself to restrain from making such remarks.

#4. Sponsored Ads:

It is the next stage of PPC ads. Once you reach target audience and started making money online, you next goal should be to get sponsors. It will increase your revenue exponentially. As ppc ad network pay you the according to the number of clicks and conversion rates, sponsor will pay you for the content you generate and for sponsor ads occupying the little space on your website. Yet, it is not a walk in the park. To get sponsors is not a easy task. Only people who believe in serious blogging could get sponsors.

Remember making serious money online is not a easy task. All you have to be in patience. Their is no quick way to earn money as soon as you get into a ad network or marketing. Create killer content that reader feel really can't miss out.

How to Start a Blog?

Welcome! You have a question in your mind! How to start a blog? Well, what you are about read is a blog! So now, you have gain first hand knowledge on blogging. You will know more when you read more in this blog!

Many have opinion that blogging is serious stuff. Yes it is serious stuff to do. But to be a human, you must hate serious stuff. Yet those who write blogs are  humans. So if you want to be a blogger, stay as a blogger. Know that, blogging is fun. Don't force yourself to write very high quality contents. It must come up eventually. Though blogging is serious,  you have enjoy your blog. It's not a factory job which could be done even without interest. If you fail you enjoy your blog, then it will turn into a boring text and make audience to move on to next search for a quality blog.

Find your niche:

First as a blogger, you have to find your niche to create content. If you wish to have blog which deal with one subjective matter then you will have to find niche on which you are about to blog.

To find niche content, one must know oneself. What you are good at? On what am I suppose to blog! To make progress, your blog must be continuous, no discrete content will draw continuous visitors. To have following, you will have find your niche and blog on that.

How to find your niche content? Will be next question you might ask me. To be frank, your niche content is your passion. Think on what you are passionate about! What things you discuss with your friends and family more. This could be your niche content. Rest is your creativity.

Blogging platforms:

Now, you have your niche content on which you are passionate enough to start blogging. But how to create a blog? When you have a search for creating a blog, you will find most popular blogging platform. It is none other that WordPress. It is a open source blogging package with multitude of plugin to customize your blog. All we have to do is get a server and the WordPress code run. That's it you have created a blog for yourself.

But such platform raise affordability question! You will end paying server charges. Hosting your own blog provide liberty to manage it at your wish but for a cost.

To have a cheap and effective blogging platform, you can opt for blogging services such as WordPress.com (not WordPress.org), blogger, hub pages, so on. Setting up a blog on blogging platform will be discussed at later stages.

Writing blogs:

Blogs are not made in a day. It is a continuous process. You have to blog periodically. Don't make your blog idle for long time. But that doesn't mean that writing gibberish blogs will make it active. To run a blog, you need readers who visit periodically. They have expectation that you will post some good content to read. If you can provide feeder to those followers, you will have an successful blog. So avoid irrelevant and vague contents.

Original and unique content:

Think of a reason to blog! It might surprise you for the reason to blog. For example, consider blogging about "chess game". Before you start blogging, just run a search on your favorite search engine. In this instance, " how to play chess game " you would see a lot more than what you have intended to blog. You will find from tutorial to famous world class moves of chess tournaments.

So what is the use of your blog! How will reader get impressed with your blog? What will make them to read your blog? As the search shows, almost content market is saturated. Almost you can find anything in internet. So what will be the special attributes to your blog? Simply filling up words should not be your strategy. If it is it will increase the bounce rate (later, I will explain about bounce rate). For now, concentrate on how to keep your reader on the blog.

To make reader stick to your blog, provide a original and unique content. To be very simple, please don't copy and paste any contents from other sites. Most people do copy and paste. We are not common people working in a software company (no offense). Those who are thinking about copy and paste strategy may quit reading this blog! Any further, you will find uninteresting.

For those who are willing to have original and unique content, you will find this post useful. For a post to be original, you must create your own story. Sorry! We are not doing a movie here. The story is the content subject. The subject matter of your blog must be original. It must be your thinking and observations than others. Think yourself as a story teller. Will your children listen keenly to the same story which they read last night? So create original stories for your readers.

Your blog story may be related to current trends, latest news regarding your niche content, any interview about the subjective matter of your blog. But it must be original. Remember, create your own story.

And second important factor in blogging is unique content. Your subjective matter of the blog must be unique. Unique writing in the sense it must distinguish from others. But this fact is somewhat abstract. Not only you, many fellow bloggers will blog about same subject matter. So to make a content unique, you must apply innovation. When some view or opinion are expressed regarding the subjective matter of your niche, you must apply your innovation to add crux to the discussion. Add fire to the fuel, your blog will be hot. Your content will be hot and will be become most sought blog on internet. Unique and original content is the secret of success.

When you are about to start a blog, keep these factors in mind. Blogging is not to pass time. It is valuable and make difference to life. Unique and Original content will take you to the online podium where you will be treated as celebrity.