Rob Abdul's Digital Blog

February 28, 2014

eBay increases stake in Snapdeal, invests $134 million

In other markets eBay’s investments have lead to buyouts further down the line. This is the second investment in Snapdeal that eBay have made. The first was made in 2013 of $50m. There may not be a third investment by eBay as it may be a outright buyout.

There are two major differences in the Indian market compared to developed nations:

1) In India and to other developing countries, cash on delivery is a preferred payment method rather than credit. In India 80% of Indian e-commerce tends to be Cash on Delivery.

2) Direct imports constitute a large component of online sales. Demand for international consumer products is growing much faster than in-country supply from authorised distributors and e-commerce offerings.

India is set to grow the fastest within the Asia-Pacific. India’s retail market is estimated at $470 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to $675 Bn by 2016 and $850 Bn by 2020.

The penetration of e-commerce is low compared to markets like the United States and the United Kingdom but is growing at a much faster rate with a larger number of new entrants. The industry consensus is that growth is accelerating and thus confidence in the market place it at a all time high. This is reflected and eBay’s second investment in Snapdeal.

February 22, 2014

Print Based Media vs. Digital Media

Print based media tends to be more costly than advertising through digital media offerings. Digital media may appear financially more viable at first but budgets can quickly get used up.

Argument for Print Based Media
Many printing houses offer very competitive prices for leaflets, and brochures. In my opinion print based media is an excellent way to get your message out locally. I say locally because with print based media you are responsible for its distribution,

An important fact that needs to be made is that many printing houses also offer 100% recycled paper so the argument that print based media is not green is highly questionable.

Argument for Digital Media
The ability to segment the market and to zero-in on your market is in my option the biggest advantage digital media has to offer. Once your marketing message is in digital form it is flexible enough to be displayed on various digital mediums, like TV, internet, mobile etc. The cost of reproducing your digital message costs noting, so the dissemination of information is a big plus.

Marketing Trends

Facebook
There are 500 million users on facebook, a social networking site which businesses are using to connect to their audience.

Twitter
Many businesses recognize that they must engage in dialogue with their market and communicate in real-time with business news and offers.

What are digital based media delivery mechanisms that directly rival print based media?

Social Media, Twitter & Facebook etc
Pay-Per-Click and Cost-Per-Click Advertising
Web Banner Advertising
TV & Radio Advertising

Conclusion
We are currently going through a recession and sp businesses and the Government are making cuts. Printed media is being affected by this too. Digital media is chosen over print based media because the perception is that it is financially more viable. In my experience I would say that you cannot and should not ever rule out print based media.

February 22, 2014

Why you should not block adverts while browsing the Internet?

Initially there is a huge investment of time, costs for hosting if that applies promotion and the build-up to a steady audience of traffic to your blog or site. Advertisers are not interested in a site that does not traffic. Building-up traffic and trust and being seen as an expert in your field is a huge investment. Advertisers appreciate this and are willing to pay to tap into to this traffic.

It takes an enormous amount of time to research, academically underpin proof read, publish and finally promote a content rich blog post / article.

I do not appreciate the view by some who say that if you rely on ad income them you must go if ads are blocked.

Since the dawn of time, we have relied on advertising.

If you think the big giants like, Google, Facebook, Twitter or even Youtube are free, then think again, they all rely on advertising revenue to get by.

February 22, 2014

Flash is not SEO Friendly – Think Again!

I do not work for Moonfruit nor am I affiliated in any way financial or non-financial with Moonfruit. I have a Client that uses Moonfruit for whom I am managing SEO. I have investigated into this matter fully and the following is my professional opinion and fact which I can prove with evidential findings:

It is true that content within a flash file cannot be indexed by Googlebot or Yahoo Slurp. However Moonfruit has overcome this issue in its entirety.

Although viewing a Moonfruit site via a desktop web browser displays a flash website; when a search engine looks at the site a HTML version is presented. Therefore there is no need to remove the flash.

If a user visiting a Moonfruit site does not have flash installed they are presented with the HTML version of the site and as such are mobile / iPhone friendly.

So, well done Moonfruit developers!

February 22, 2014

Internet security

1. Configuration Manager Admin password

Change router Configuration Manager’s password form its (default of admin):

Consult your routers manual which will illustrate how you can login to your router and update your administrator password.

2. Use sensible network security

Set network passwords and change them regularly. See your computer’s instructions.

Use good quality antivirus software to protect your computers. Update it regularly with latest virus upgrades

If you enable file sharing on your computer, you should not share your system files and should protect shared folders with a password. See help for your operating system.

If carrying sensitive information (e.g. corporate environment), you should use VPN type (Virtual Private Network) technology to protect your data. Follow guidelines from your company’s network administrator.

3. NAT Firewall
Most routers use NAT (Network Address Translation) to assign an address to your ADSL Modem. Only the NAT address is visible from the outside world and your computers are therefore protected against direct intrusion.

Make sure NAT is enabled consult your router documentation.

February 22, 2014

ADSL Microfilters

Ensure that your ADSL line has been activated before you proceed. Your Service Provider will have given you a ‘turn on’ date.

Every telephone socket that has telephony equipment attached to it must have a Microfilter fitted first as shown below.

If you need more than the two microfilters provided in this package, then you should be certain that they are of good quality. Incorrect filters may cause problems with either your telephony products or impede the ADSL speeds.

ADSL enables fast Internet to be delivered to you on your standard telephone line. It allows you to surf the Internet, use e-mail or many other internet applications whilst still carrying on using your telephone, answer machine, fax or any of other piece of telephony equipment that you have attached to your line.

To ensure the quality of both the telephony and the ADSL every piece of telephony equipment must be filtered including telephones, fax machines and even simple tone callers. This does not mean that every piece of equipment must have a filter, only that every telephone socket that has telephony equipment attached to it must have a Microfilter fitted first. The diagrams below show you how to connect your telephony equipment and your BT Voyager USB. A standard telephone doubler can be used in the Microfilter Phone socket to enable you to plug in another telephony device or extension cable (an ADSL modem cannot be used at the end of this extension cable).

If you need to use more than two microfilters on one line as in the diagram above then please make sure that any additional microfilters bought are designed to operate in this configuration. Incorrect filters may cause problems with either your telephony products or reduce the ADSL speeds.

February 22, 2014

Introduction to Wireless Networking

Networking
A network is two or more computers connected together sharing Internet connection, files and peripheral devices such as printers. Your wireless router allows your computers to connect to the Internet without wires. This lets you move a laptop computer around while staying connected to the Internet or lets you locate a desktop computer in a room that cannot easily be reached with cables.

Your wireless router forms an Infrastructure wireless network.

Infrastructure Network
In the infrastructure network a Base Unit is used as the central point of all communications and acts as a gateway to the Internet. The Internet connection is automatically shared between all computers associated with the Base Unit. As a result, laptop or desktop computers on your wireless network can connect to the Internet as if they were directly plugged into the ADSL socket.

Ad-Hoc Network
You router creates an Infrastructure Network which is the most efficient way to share an Internet connection. For information, this section describes the other type of wireless network, the ad-hoc network, also known as peer-to-peer network.

In the ad-hoc network, computers communicate between one another without the need for a Base Unit. Windows’ Internet Connection Sharing can be used to share an Internet connection available on one computer between all computers on the network. At least one computer must already be connected to the Internet and be switched-on for other computers to access the Internet.

In the example below, computer B is connected to the Internet and equipped with a wireless Adapter. Computer A, equipped with a wireless Adapter also that can share the Internet connection using Windows Internet Connection Sharing running on computer B.

Wireless Network Settings

A Wireless Network is defined by the following settings:
Wireless Network Name (SSID): Identifies your wireless network.
Channel: Wireless Networks operate in the 2.4GHz frequency band where 14 channels are available. Devices must operate on the same channel to be able to communicate. In an infrastructure network, the Base Unit controls the channel allocation.
Security: You can use Hidden Name (Hidden SSID), WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) mechanisms to ensure the integrity of the network

February 22, 2014

Guide to hits and visits what is the difference?

Who is this Guide for?
If you are trying to market your website on other site on the World Wide Web or you are analysing your websites analytics to evaluate its return on investment; then this guide is especially written for you.

What is the big issue?
Over the years I have heard it said something to the effect of “my site receives millions hits a month”, “this site receives millions of hits”. The point I am trying to make here is that “hits” are totally ambiguous and have no value in assessing return on investment. Unique visits are what you should be looking at to determine whether you should advertise your website on a particular publisher’s site.

What is the difference between a “hit” and a “visit”?
A unique visit is a numerical count of the unique number of visitors to a website.
A hit is a numerical count of the file(s) requested from a webserver for any given webpage.

In English an example please?
If you visited a web page that had nothing but text in it, and
one person visited it;
that would equate to 1 visit and 1 hit.

This is because one person visited the page and you requested 1 file from the webserver the webpage itself.

If you visited the same webpage but this time it had 10 images in it, and
one person visited it
that would equate to 1 visit and 11 hits.

This is because one person visited the page and you requested 11 files from the server, 1 webpage and 11 images.

Why is this important?
Lets say I am a web publisher and you approach me to place an advert on my site. I may brag to you that I receive 10 million hit a month on my website. The figure 10 million sounds impressive, but as you have just been made aware the hits do not mean a thing.

There is nothing stopping me from having a huge number of images on my pages to show high number of hits.

I hope you can you this litter bit of knowledge to make the right choice in choosing the right website to advertise with.

Conclusion
Ask prospective website publishers how many visits they get a month. Better still how many unique visits do they get in a month!

February 22, 2014

Understanding URLs, Web, Domain names, and TLD

Although the terms Internet site, URL and world wide web are used synonymously as everyday language there are distinct difference between them.

In this article I hope to clear any misconceptions and teach you a few things:

They say an image is worth a thousand words, so here goes:

To find out more about the following terminologies click on the links below:

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
WWW World Wide Web
What is a Domain Name?

February 22, 2014

How to Password Protect a Microsoft Office 97/2002/2003/2007 Document

It is very simple to password protect a document in Microsoft Office. Providing you use a good password; at least 8 characthers, a mixture of upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols) your document will be relativley secure.

Please see an earlier blog post How Strong is you password? for more information.

Password Protecting a Microsoft Office 97/2002/2003 Document

Tools > Options > Security