Good Move

Keeping tools online is a smart move and I think in today's environment it makes sense to have access to the tools through the net.

I remember during one of my projects where we were four people completing a task we would each update a list of things done in a common folder of one of the computers.

Serveral problems -
What if that computer where the file was left wasn't on or crashed.
What if I wanted to access the file from outside the office network.

Its almost like giving a online data storage for an organization which can be accessed anywhere.

I think if SMEs can get over the privacy issue fears then this makes sense for them.

Another opportunity lost :(

hi guys...just in case any of you didn't trust me when I said I thought of quite a few business before their time...

check out the link....
For the lazy
"As a part of the agreement Google and eBay will develop a “click to call” advertising system utilizing both Google Talk and Skype. The “click to call” system will allow buyers and sellers to have a conversation over the phone, charging advertisers for each call connected. Testing will begin in early 2007."

watch this space...u might just make money someday!!!

Offline merchants on the net

Another idea, which I believed in sometime back, was get offline merchants online....

Makes perfect sense in a place like India....where there are a number of merchants offline and just getting to be internet savvy…have heard about it and want to be part of it but don’t have the bandwidth or knowledge to create a website…

Plus the consumers in India still believe in physically checking the product themselves…

Charge merchants a fee every time a person asks for their address or contact details....
or go 1 step further let the user dial the merchant through the internet so the merchant is convinced that it is a genuine customer....

How this helps the customer??
Customers can now online compare rates/other details across a city/state and get in touch with a particular merchant...so u know u get the best rates possible here....

I hear its pretty popular in the US but will somethink of it in India??

We can only wait and watch...

Wen Analytics - tremendous potential

I believe web analytics will be not a additional aspect but a necessary element of any e commerce website .

The beauty with which it tells you about the movement of a customer on your site is much too important data to let go off....

Too bad people still haven't realised the potential....

I have worked personally with Google Analytics and have already made changes to web pages which I couldn't have figured out otherwise....

Let me give u an example I came across....

On our money transfer site we used to run a lot of promos and realised that one of our most viewed pages was the exchange rate page....we started putting a promo link on this page and there was an immediate jump in the number of customers clicking on the promo....

There are more complicated examples where we realised the mentality of the online customer...

Each site might hold a different set of customers will different mind sets and if technology provides us with an opportunity to get into the minds of these customers there is no excuse for not using it....

People have still not started investing in this as they haven't realised the potential of these tools...

Till they do...this stays between you and me ;)

Google Maps

Finally Google is doing something to woo the offline merchants towards Google Maps.

Had thought about this concept of tapping offline small merchants and give them an opportunity to come online...(Another one of the ideas which Google stole from me!!!! Serious...had thought abt this about 5 years back...stole is read as some one else thought of it before I launched it...grrrr)

But have to hand it to google for having thought of using maps for it....I think this is a brilliant idea and will work very very very very well in a place like India....

"The day Google Maps becomes popular in India, this is will be major money spinner for Google India"
- Akshay

Later on u'll know who thought of this 1st ;)

I like the coupon concept too...quite innovative...

Social Networking

So Google has taken over the search in MySpace.... and is going to provide ads there....good move...
think they will eventually find a way to post ads onto the social networking pages themselves...

I believe its a brilliant Targeted marketing opportunity
Imagine a social networking site user on orkut (for instance) who has added communities about marketing, advertising industry, blah blah....He could be part of the corporate communication team or even a Marketing professional. Imagine what an Agency would give to display their ads to this customer...

Downsides - there might be some mis directed branding here; eg: a customer with a 'I hate Marketing' might also see the add...but I still think it gives us a very targeted segment of the market..

And to think I read an article a few days back about a social networking site saying that they incidently don't have a revenue stream....!!!
Gimme a break...