Web Analytics actual demo- WordPress, Scribd and YouTube insight

Demo of reports giving information on – how many people are visiting your blog or reading your ppt, where they’re coming from, which posts are most popular, and which search engine terms are sending people to your blog.

I am demonstrating web analytics of the digital platforms. Blog e.g. WordPress analytic reports.

Scribd.com Document publishing in HTML5 and web analytics.

YouTube analytic reports called ‘Insight’.  Above video clip demonstrates the YouTube reports giving information on video such as how many views, from where viewers are coming, which videos are most popular.

The point is, unless you measure how can you improve?  Start making your matrix by measuring.  You can fine tune your social media marketing strategies based on these analytics to get the maximum out of your social media marketing plans.

Facebook and Twitter gets preference by NY Times

Access link from Facebook or Twitter

NY Times will be ending the free online usage.  This is the 3rd largest U.S. newspaper.   For past fifteen years the same was free. The New York Times will start charging people for unlimited access to its website and mobile services this month.   After the 20 free articles, the smart Web surfers will still be able to read an unlimited number for free if they can find them through search engines run by Microsoft’s Bing and Yahoo, or through links posted on content-sharing sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The Times is imposing a daily limit of 5 items for traffic coming from Google, which processes about two-thirds of all Internet queries.

• FAQ 1:  Can I still access NYTimes.com articles through Facebook, Twitter, search engines or my blog?

  • Answer: Yes. NY Times encourage links from Facebook, Twitter, search engines, blogs and social media. When you visit NYTimes.com through a link from one of these channels, that article (or video, slide show, etc.) will count toward your monthly limit of 20 free articles, but you will still be able to view it even if you’ve already read your 20 free articles.When you visit NYTimes.com by clicking links in search results, you’ll have a daily limit of 5 free articles. This limit applies to Google and other search engines.

• FAQ 2: How can I keep track of how many articles I have read each month?

  • When you get close to your monthly limit, pop-up alerts will begin to appear at the bottom of pages you read on NYTimes.com. The alerts will tell you how many free articles remain in the current month. Note that the number of “remaining” articles does not include the article you’re currently viewing; the current article counts as an “already read” article.

Do you think other newspaper will also follow this kind of charging algorithm?  Give your comments and do share this news about news.

[ Reference & additional resource: http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/account/purchases/subscriptions-and-purchases.html

Get live twitter updates about the WordPress from blog community from all over the world http://www.dnserp.com/blog.htm ]

I lost one hour. Seriously, whole of America did.

At 2 a.m. this morning, clocks moved forward an hour with the shift from standard time to Daylight Savings Time (DST).   This is logical change and not adaptive change. This is logical because everyone is changing their timetable.  For instance, getting up one hour early due to ‘Daylight savings Time’ is logical.  No huge adjustment of life priorities is triggered.  Our body clock can change without much difficulty.  But if you decide to get up one hour early to do meditation or go for swimming is difficult, because it is adaptive change.  In both examples same thing ‘get up one hour early’ is involved.

Using new technology such as Blog is adaptive change.  No matter how hard you try some people are not comfortable using facebook or LinkedIn.  You must have seen the clip that shows expert secretary changing from typewriter to a PC, and throwing monitor, because she is used to do the carriage return.  Or changing from manual system to automatic ERP system is a painful transformation.  Changing from legacy way of marketing and using the digital platforms is not an easy because it requires adaptive change.

Daily we make logical changes.  We use our training to solve routine problems, such as dealing with customer’s negative feedback, or altering action plan when sales target is not achieved.  We do customer survey and make a road map to address the issues.   But note that these examples are pertaining to external changes.

On the other hand adaptive changes are transformative, which compels us to change from inside, in the mind.  We want to reign in our temper because it is affecting our relationships with customers and colleagues, but not matter how hard we try we cannot ‘control’ it.  Our frustration spills over, and now we have to fix the damage.

Anupreksha or the cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach, which aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic meditation procedure.  There is empirical evidence that this is effective for the treatment of a variety of problems, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders.   We can treat ourselves by a meditation technique; there are treatments for specific psychological disorders.

Only by fixing our inner feelings of frustration can we make an adaptive change.  We could decide to use cognitive behavioral therapy or Anupreksha, or some other method for the internal change.  To make such changes you need to recognize when you are facing an adaptive change, that requires subconscious level of thought and effort.

The real leadership, the kind that surfaces conflict, challenges long-held beliefs, and demands new ways of doing things-causes pain.  When people feel threatened, they take aim at the person pushing for change. As a result, leaders often get hurt both personally and professionally.

(Reference: Leadership on the Line, renowned leadership authorities Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Wikipedia, and Preksha meditation system).

Look who is hiding face on facebook or LinkedIn?

This is about profile picture on the social media sites.  Here are some do and do not for smart internet marketing on the networking portals.

Would you like to meet a person who says:  “Hey, network with me, trust me, but I will hide my face”?

Well I don’t think so. That is the point for networking sites: picture is required.  Your profile is the most precious real estate out there on a social media site, like, facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, twitter, etc.  Leverage these Web 2.0 platforms to market you business.

If you are casual about your profile on the social media, chances are others will also take you casually. You do not have to be a software engineer (I don’t know why people always give example of a rocket scientist?), to understand that the first thing we see when checking out a new LinkedIn contact, Facebook friend, or Twitter follower connection is a profile photo.

• Your own picture is extremely important in the profile.  We usually recognize a friend or old colleague or classmate more reliably by face rather than by name.  I know that there may be some professionals who would prefer to not be exposed to profile photos from people they may NOT know.  This setting can be done in most social media sites like LinkedIn or facebook. Such setting will allow others to see your picture only if you have accepted them as a friend. Having a good profile picture may be more important than you think!
• On one hand we want our friends and contacts to trust us, on the other hand face are kept a secret; this is not a good idea, in the Global village.
• Uploading a cartoon picture instead of a proper profile picture is not a good idea.  Seriously.
• Not able to find a picture to upload on the social media site is not a valid reason.  You can even use a cell phone camera to take a picture and upload.  It is that easy.  Avoid other things in background, plain background is recommended. Do not put a group photo.
• Do NOT put a logo in place of your profile picture.
• It is recommended that you put your own picture only and not with someone else, even if you love or admire him or her.  Profile picture with other person, on social networking web site is not the place for group photos.  The facebook photos album, Picasa, or Flickr is just the right place for such group pictures and share with your contacts.
• I encourage people to include photo in the profile, because it shows you’re comfortable with yourself.
• Profile picture on social media websites is important from job point of view too. Yes, from HR point of view – as a candidate you would prefer transparency, and not look for associating with such a company which may filter bio by color, gender, race or age.

I strongly advice people who have still not uploaded picture on social networking sites, to do so without further delay.  Think from mere security point of view.  Have you attended a social get-to-gather or a party where guests wearing funny masks? Would you share your ‘happenings’ with such people? Sometime someone can easily get in the crowd and impersonate.

Tip: Picture also makes your profile a lot more pleasant and trust worthy.   It is recommended that you take a head-shot, rather than the picture of you in front of a Pyramid or the Taj.  Sites like facebook allow you to make your Albums to show these kinds of photographs.  Do not put very old pictures.  I would not like to exchange business card with a person who is covering his / her face, in a conference or a professional seminar, would you?

I am writing this topic of profile picture in this blog based on my own practical experience of networking with over 1000 professionals on the LinkedIn, over 700 friends on facebook, etc.  If you have already put a proper picture in your profile, that is good, but you will be surprised when you check your connections.  There are many who are still ignorant.  Do you agree with me? Just share this important guidelines with them by clicking button provided at the bottom of this blog.