Friday, July 30, 2010
Conversion Champion Challenge: Get those entries in!
In early June, we announced the Conversion Champion Challenge, a contest challenging you to use free AdWords conversion products to increase your ROI, then submit a mini-case study telling us about your experience. The grand prize winner will receive an AdWords voucher as well as an all-expenses paid trip to Google Mountain View or Google Zurich, where the Google Conversions team will meet with you to review your account and provide customized recommendations.
For those of you who took us up on the challenge, final entries are due tomorrow, July 31 and can be submitted here. So get those entries in soon!
2010 Reform Symposium
The 2010 Reform Symposium starts today. Many exciting presenters on today's schedule including George Couros, Steve Hargadon, Mary Beth Hertz, Kevin Jarrett, and Sue Waters. There will also be a panel on Effective Leadership featuring moderator Lisa Dabbs along with Patrick Larkin, John Carver, and Janet Avery.
I'm happy to have been asked to present today. I'll be stepping to the plate at 10PM EST to offer what's billed as a keynote, but I hope will turn into more of a conversation:
Click here to see today's schedule, and see you there!
I'm happy to have been asked to present today. I'll be stepping to the plate at 10PM EST to offer what's billed as a keynote, but I hope will turn into more of a conversation:
Keynote: What We Do
Description: A view from the classroom and a conversation about what 21C learning looks like on the ground level. There will be many examples of the practical and everyday use of Twitter, Jing, Wave, Blogs, Wikis, and more as used by students and teachers alike as well as a look at how to transform the physical space of the classroom into a 21C learning environment conducive to collaboration, mobile computing, and tech-integrated differentiated instruction.Date & Times: Fri. July 30th 7pm-8pm LA/ 10pm NYC/ 3am, Sat. 7/31, London/ 4am, Sat. Paris/ 12noon, Sat., Sydney/ 11am, Sat., Tokyo
Click here for more time zones!Click here to join the Keynote: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.3A2AF29E985C9DD57501D645EE19D0
Click here to see today's schedule, and see you there!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
BOOT in Hong Kong on Virgin Atlantic (Aug 2-6)
I am on the road next week in Hong Kong. Flying Virgin Altantic. Am on a very useful ticket with the day flight sector in premium economy and night return in Upper Class. New seat review coming soon. Let me know if there are any readers in Hong Kong interested in meeting up.
Google Display Network series: Your toolbox for creative display ads
In last week’s installment of our Google Display Network series, we showed how DoubleClick Ad Planner can help you effectively plan your display ad campaigns and reach the right audience. Today we’ll talk about creating compelling display ads and the options available on the Google Display Network (GDN). Let’s look at each category of options you have today:
Great impact through Rich Media and Video. Rich media and video formats engage users at a whole new level, drawing them in and encouraging interactivity in a way not possible with other ad formats.
If you use rich media and video formats to engage your customers, here’s what we offer through our DoubleClick Rich Media and Video solutions:
Display Ad Builder is also great for testing different messages and creative elements, or to get insights for more complex display campaigns managed by your in-house team or agency.
Stand out by blending in. Text ads are a versatile ad format that are easy to create and edit. They’re especially effective as an extension of your existing search campaigns. Simply opt your search campaign into the GDN and your ads will show to users as they surf relevant web pages via our contextual targeting technology. Text ads also complement display campaigns by engaging users who ignore display ads (i.e. banner blindness). Further, they give your campaign wider reach since not every publisher may accept display ads, or may only accept a limited number of display ad formats and sizes on their site.
Whether your goal is to drive awareness or generate immediate sales, the robust creative toolbox available on the Google Display Network can help. We’ll see you next week when we talk about how you can reach your audience with the targeting technologies available on the GDN.
Posted by Emel Mutlu, Marketing Manager, Google Display Network
Great impact through Rich Media and Video. Rich media and video formats engage users at a whole new level, drawing them in and encouraging interactivity in a way not possible with other ad formats.
Example of a great rich media ad run by Volvo and the agencies Euro RSCG New York and Media Contacts:
If you use rich media and video formats to engage your customers, here’s what we offer through our DoubleClick Rich Media and Video solutions:
- Choice of a variety of rich Media formats, based on your campaign objective.
- Access to DoubleClick Studio, a free rich media production and workflow tool.
- Analyze data on more than 100 unique interactions in every creative unit with Audience Interaction Metrics.
- Integration with DoubleClick for Advertisers, a robust ad management, serving, and reporting solution that simplifies trafficking, reporting and billing of your Rich Media campaigns.
- If you’re already working with another rich media vendor, we have many approved vendors we work with.
- Create image, video (InVideo, Click-To-Play), Flash and rich media (including expandable) ads using hundreds of fully customizable templates or templates tailored for specific industries.
- Stay true to your brand with your own images, text, videos and logos.
- Automatically convert the ads you design into most standard IAB ad sizes.
Display Ad Builder is also great for testing different messages and creative elements, or to get insights for more complex display campaigns managed by your in-house team or agency.
Stand out by blending in. Text ads are a versatile ad format that are easy to create and edit. They’re especially effective as an extension of your existing search campaigns. Simply opt your search campaign into the GDN and your ads will show to users as they surf relevant web pages via our contextual targeting technology. Text ads also complement display campaigns by engaging users who ignore display ads (i.e. banner blindness). Further, they give your campaign wider reach since not every publisher may accept display ads, or may only accept a limited number of display ad formats and sizes on their site.
Whether your goal is to drive awareness or generate immediate sales, the robust creative toolbox available on the Google Display Network can help. We’ll see you next week when we talk about how you can reach your audience with the targeting technologies available on the GDN.
Posted by Emel Mutlu, Marketing Manager, Google Display Network
Introducing a new ad format for mobile devices: location extensions with map features
Earlier this year we launched click-to-call location extensions for search ads appearing on mobile devices with full Internet browsers. Today we’re excited to announce more ways location extensions can be used to connect with local users on the go, whether they’re using their phones to browse the mobile web or engage with their favorite mobile apps.
Many mobile consumers use maps to locate a business and get directions on their phones. With AdWords location extensions, you can now feature your business location and phone number on an expandable map ad that can appear on mobile websites and apps across the Google Display Network. The ad appears as a banner text ad with a business icon that expands to show your business location on a Google map along with your ad creative, click-to-call phone number and option to get directions. Since ads can be served based on the user’s location, a potential customer will see the phone number and map of the store location that’s nearest to them. By providing mobile consumers more options to connect with your business, you can drive more traffic to your store, visits to your website and calls to your business.
Many mobile consumers use maps to locate a business and get directions on their phones. With AdWords location extensions, you can now feature your business location and phone number on an expandable map ad that can appear on mobile websites and apps across the Google Display Network. The ad appears as a banner text ad with a business icon that expands to show your business location on a Google map along with your ad creative, click-to-call phone number and option to get directions. Since ads can be served based on the user’s location, a potential customer will see the phone number and map of the store location that’s nearest to them. By providing mobile consumers more options to connect with your business, you can drive more traffic to your store, visits to your website and calls to your business.
This new ad format is available on mobile devices with full Internet browsers and allows you to expand your advertising campaigns to reach highly engaged mobile users with relevant local information as they use their favorite apps or websites. Advertising with location extensions on mobile devices is also a great value because you’re only charged when a user clicks to call your business or clicks to visit your website. You’re not charged when users click to expand the map or get directions. The cost of a click to call your business is the same as the cost of a click to visit your website.
To get started using location extensions with the expandable map feature for mobile apps and websites, follow these three easy steps within your AdWords account:
2. Set up location extensions and add your business phone number and address. Be sure to also upload your business logo or icon, or choose from the set of icons available. Your ad will display a default icon if none is chosen.
3. Check that you've chosen to show your ads on iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers.
That’s it! You don’t need any special programming skills to create the map, we’ll automatically generate it for you based on your business location.
We hope that you’ll take advantage of this new ad format and the power of location extensions to create mobile-specific, locally relevant ads to reach mobile users on the go!
Posted by Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team
Rethinking Leadership
Join Will Richardson and I this evening at 8PM EST for the weekly Ed Open Mic!
On the heels of last week's discussion on redefining teaching, tonight's topic is: "Rethinking Leadership". Join in the conversation -- it's sure to be lively this eve! Click here to enter the Elluminate room at 8 EDT.
Ed Open Mic: No talking heads... just you talking.
On the heels of last week's discussion on redefining teaching, tonight's topic is: "Rethinking Leadership". Join in the conversation -- it's sure to be lively this eve! Click here to enter the Elluminate room at 8 EDT.
Ed Open Mic: No talking heads... just you talking.
Security First: Google at the International Conference on Cyber Security
The Google Enterprise team is excited to be participating in the International Conference on Cyber Security (ICCS), on August 2nd-5th, at Fordham University in New York City. ICCS brings together global leaders in emerging cyber threat analysis, operations and enforcement. More than 700 IT, business and law enforcement professionals from over 50 countries will gather to discuss the most significant emerging cyber threats and how the security and law enforcement communities are responding to them.
Eric Davis, Policy Manger and Director of Anti-Malvertising at Google will be giving a talk entitled: “Welcome to Malvertising” on Thursday, August 5th at 1:30 PM. “Malvertising” is the intersection of malware and advertising, where ads install malware or redirect users to sites that install malware. Eric will discuss how malvertising occurs over ad networks. He will discuss incident response, as well as available systems, tools and best practices for preventing malware in ads.
If you'll be at the conference, please join us for our talk and stop by our booth to learn more about Google’s cyber security efforts as well as to learn more about how Google secures the data stored in our data centers. If you’re not going to be at the conference, you can find lots of information about cyber security in our Online Security Blog and information about the security of our data centers here.
Posted by Adam Swidler, Sr. Manager – Google Enterprise
Eric Davis, Policy Manger and Director of Anti-Malvertising at Google will be giving a talk entitled: “Welcome to Malvertising” on Thursday, August 5th at 1:30 PM. “Malvertising” is the intersection of malware and advertising, where ads install malware or redirect users to sites that install malware. Eric will discuss how malvertising occurs over ad networks. He will discuss incident response, as well as available systems, tools and best practices for preventing malware in ads.
If you'll be at the conference, please join us for our talk and stop by our booth to learn more about Google’s cyber security efforts as well as to learn more about how Google secures the data stored in our data centers. If you’re not going to be at the conference, you can find lots of information about cyber security in our Online Security Blog and information about the security of our data centers here.
Posted by Adam Swidler, Sr. Manager – Google Enterprise
How to Deliver Presentation
Delivery
'Delivery' refers to the way in which you actually deliver or perform or give your presentation. Delivery is a vital aspect of all presentations. Delivery is at least as important as content, especially in a multi-cultural context.
Nerves
Most speakers are a little nervous at the beginning of a presentation. So it is normal if you are nervous. The answer is to pay special attention to the beginning of your presentation. First impressions count. This is the time when you establish a rapport with your audience. During this time, try to speak slowly and calmly. You should perhaps learn your introduction by heart. After a few moments, you will relax and gain confidence.
Audience Rapport
You need to build a warm and friendly relationship with your audience. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiastic your audience will be enthusiastic too. And be careful to establish eye contact with each member of your audience. Each person should feel that you are speaking directly to him or her. This means that you must look at each person in turn - in as natural a way as possible. This will also give you the opportunity to detect signs of boredom, disinterest or even disagreement, allowing you to modify your presentation as appropriate.
Your objective is to communicate.
Body Language
What you do not say is at least as important as what you do say. Your body is speaking to your audience even before you open your mouth. Your clothes, your walk, your glasses, your haircut, your expression - it is from these that your audience forms its first impression as you enter the room . Generally speaking, it is better to stand rather than sit when making a presentation. Be aware of and avoid any repetitive and irritating gestures. Be aware,too,that the movement of your body is one of your methods of control. When you move to or from the whiteboard, for example, you can move fast or slowly, raising or reducing the dynamism within the audience.You can stand very still while talking or you can stroll from side to side. What effect do you think these two different approaches would have on an audience?
Voice quality
It is, of course, important that your audience be able to hear you clearly throughout your presentation. Remember that if you turn away from your audience, for example towards the whiteboard, you need to speak a little more loudly. In general, you should try to vary your voice. Your voice will then be more interesting for your audience. You can vary your voice in at least three ways:
1. Speed: you can speak at normal speed, you can speak faster, you can speak more slowly - and you can stop completely! You can pause. This is a very good technique for gaining your audience's attention.
2. Tone: you can change the pitch of your voice. You can speak in a high tone. You can speak in a low tone.
3. Volume: you can speak at normal volume, you can speak loudly and you can speak quietly. Lowering your voice and speaking quietly can again attract your audience's interest.
The important point is not to speak in the same,flat, monotonous voice throughout your presentation - this is the voice that hypnotists use to put their patients' into trance.
Visual aids
Of all the information that enters our brains, the vast majority of it enters through the eyes. 80% of what your audience learn during your presentation is learned visually (what they see) and only 20% is learned aurally (what they hear). The significance of this is obvious:
• Visual aids are an extremely effective means of communication
• Non-native English speakers need not worry so much about spoken English - they can rely more heavily on visual aids
It is well worth spending time in the creation good visual aids. But it is equally important not to overload your audience's brains. Keep the information on each visual aid to a minimum - and give your audience time to look at and absorb this information . Remember, your audience have never seen these visual aids before. They need time to study and to understand them. Without understanding there is no communication.
Audience Reaction
Remain calm and polite if you recieve calm and polite if you receive difficult or even hostile questions during your presentation. If you receive particularly awkward questions, you might suggest that the questioners ask their questions after your presentation.
'Delivery' refers to the way in which you actually deliver or perform or give your presentation. Delivery is a vital aspect of all presentations. Delivery is at least as important as content, especially in a multi-cultural context.
Nerves
Most speakers are a little nervous at the beginning of a presentation. So it is normal if you are nervous. The answer is to pay special attention to the beginning of your presentation. First impressions count. This is the time when you establish a rapport with your audience. During this time, try to speak slowly and calmly. You should perhaps learn your introduction by heart. After a few moments, you will relax and gain confidence.
Audience Rapport
You need to build a warm and friendly relationship with your audience. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiastic your audience will be enthusiastic too. And be careful to establish eye contact with each member of your audience. Each person should feel that you are speaking directly to him or her. This means that you must look at each person in turn - in as natural a way as possible. This will also give you the opportunity to detect signs of boredom, disinterest or even disagreement, allowing you to modify your presentation as appropriate.
Your objective is to communicate.
What you do not say is at least as important as what you do say. Your body is speaking to your audience even before you open your mouth. Your clothes, your walk, your glasses, your haircut, your expression - it is from these that your audience forms its first impression as you enter the room . Generally speaking, it is better to stand rather than sit when making a presentation. Be aware of and avoid any repetitive and irritating gestures. Be aware,too,that the movement of your body is one of your methods of control. When you move to or from the whiteboard, for example, you can move fast or slowly, raising or reducing the dynamism within the audience.You can stand very still while talking or you can stroll from side to side. What effect do you think these two different approaches would have on an audience?
Voice quality
It is, of course, important that your audience be able to hear you clearly throughout your presentation. Remember that if you turn away from your audience, for example towards the whiteboard, you need to speak a little more loudly. In general, you should try to vary your voice. Your voice will then be more interesting for your audience. You can vary your voice in at least three ways:
1. Speed: you can speak at normal speed, you can speak faster, you can speak more slowly - and you can stop completely! You can pause. This is a very good technique for gaining your audience's attention.
2. Tone: you can change the pitch of your voice. You can speak in a high tone. You can speak in a low tone.
3. Volume: you can speak at normal volume, you can speak loudly and you can speak quietly. Lowering your voice and speaking quietly can again attract your audience's interest.
The important point is not to speak in the same,flat, monotonous voice throughout your presentation - this is the voice that hypnotists use to put their patients' into trance.
Visual aids
Of all the information that enters our brains, the vast majority of it enters through the eyes. 80% of what your audience learn during your presentation is learned visually (what they see) and only 20% is learned aurally (what they hear). The significance of this is obvious:
• Visual aids are an extremely effective means of communication
• Non-native English speakers need not worry so much about spoken English - they can rely more heavily on visual aids
It is well worth spending time in the creation good visual aids. But it is equally important not to overload your audience's brains. Keep the information on each visual aid to a minimum - and give your audience time to look at and absorb this information . Remember, your audience have never seen these visual aids before. They need time to study and to understand them. Without understanding there is no communication.
Audience Reaction
Remain calm and polite if you recieve calm and polite if you receive difficult or even hostile questions during your presentation. If you receive particularly awkward questions, you might suggest that the questioners ask their questions after your presentation.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Follow #APAOS for updates from Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit. BOOT on stage at 2.35pm
I will be speaking and tweeting today (Thursday) from the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney (Travel Technology & Distribution day). I am on stage at 235 pm on The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel” and will be back at 440pm on a panel for Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awarenessIf you want tweet coverage of the conference then track the hashtag #APAOS. I also recommend following @winglets747 and @sam_lindner for their coverage
Switch to the new version of AdSense for search
Over the last two years, the AdSense team has offered the powerful Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) product as an improvement over the original AdSense for search. After some recent improvements, we're now ready to retire the older version of AdSense for search. If the Google logo on your search results page reads "Powered by Google" instead of the newer "Google Custom Search" then you haven't yet upgraded to the newer version. The new AdSense for search with CSE is available in your account, and we encourage you to make the switch by updating your code as soon as possible.
AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over your search results without changing how you earn money showing AdSense for search ads. For example, with the new version, you'll have access to advanced features like refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a number of updates and improvements during the past few months, and you can access more advanced features at www.google.com/cse.
Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few more months, and we'll be sure to update you when we retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you don't miss any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now. You'll just need to regenerate your AdSense for search code by signing in to your account and following these instructions:
AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over your search results without changing how you earn money showing AdSense for search ads. For example, with the new version, you'll have access to advanced features like refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a number of updates and improvements during the past few months, and you can access more advanced features at www.google.com/cse.
Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few more months, and we'll be sure to update you when we retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you don't miss any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now. You'll just need to regenerate your AdSense for search code by signing in to your account and following these instructions:
- Visit your "AdSense Setup" tab and select "AdSense for Search."
- Select the sites you'd like your users to be able to search across (Learn More).
- Customize the look and feel of your search engine results.
- Update the code on your website.
Introducing the Google Mobile Ads Blog
As many of you know, we started the Go Mobile! series of posts on the Inside AdWords blog to give you an easy way to keep up with the world of mobile advertising.
The mobile industry has really evolved since the start of the series: mobile is becoming a core part of many marketing campaigns and publishers are developing mobile-specific content across the web and in applications across mobile operating systems. We’re even more excited about the prospects for driving further innovation in mobile now that AdMob has joined the Google Mobile Ads team.
With this in mind, we created a dedicated blog for those of you specifically interested in mobile advertising and mobile monetization. The Google Mobile Ads Blog is a place where advertisers and publishers can find the latest news, product updates, tips, and account management resources from the Google Mobile Ads team.
Of course we'll continue to post major Google Mobile Ads announcements on the Inside AdWords blog, but be sure to visit the official Google Mobile Ads Blog for all of your mobile-specific updates.
Mobile has come a long way in a short period of time and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Posted by Anna Khesed, Product Marketing Manager, Google AdMob
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Are people who don't use their keywords as their name in comments the true spammers?
The Power of Content shows us that the anchor text used to link out can help increase your ranking. The anchor text you use to link out acts like a super bold. People have reported a ranking increase by linking out to authority sites but I don't think it's the authority site linking that gives the ranking boots it's the link anchor text. For example if I link out using the anchor text keyword to a post about keywords then that will help this post rank better.
By using their name, people are denying you that opportunity to increase your ranking. For relevancy, there's no way that google can be that smart. I don't trust relevancy anymore beyond the word level. I'm not sure that Google can know the relevancy between all the synonyms and definitely not between unconventional connections. Let's say your blog is about making money online and someone posts a comment with the anchor text online banking. You get relevancy for the word online!
Unless your name is something like Tom Cruise then your name doesn't provide any value to the blogger as anything that would be searched for. There could be a rare circumstance like: You post a comment under the name Jerry and someone googles "How did my friend Jerry make so much money online?"
Your name is also largely irrelevant except as a means of identification. A rose by any other name doth smell as sweat... If your website is a site like Fear dot com where you could die by visiting the website then it would be much better for you to describe the site with your anchor text then use your name. Your anchor niche can also be used as a form of identification "Hey that guy always chooses banking keywords!" If that doesn't work then you can always just sign your name on the bottom.
Don't comment spam with your worthless name! Use your keywords!
By using their name, people are denying you that opportunity to increase your ranking. For relevancy, there's no way that google can be that smart. I don't trust relevancy anymore beyond the word level. I'm not sure that Google can know the relevancy between all the synonyms and definitely not between unconventional connections. Let's say your blog is about making money online and someone posts a comment with the anchor text online banking. You get relevancy for the word online!
Unless your name is something like Tom Cruise then your name doesn't provide any value to the blogger as anything that would be searched for. There could be a rare circumstance like: You post a comment under the name Jerry and someone googles "How did my friend Jerry make so much money online?"
Your name is also largely irrelevant except as a means of identification. A rose by any other name doth smell as sweat... If your website is a site like Fear dot com where you could die by visiting the website then it would be much better for you to describe the site with your anchor text then use your name. Your anchor niche can also be used as a form of identification "Hey that guy always chooses banking keywords!" If that doesn't work then you can always just sign your name on the bottom.
Don't comment spam with your worthless name! Use your keywords!
7 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship
What makes you an entrepreneur? What keeps you going?
Here are my thoughts on what makes me an entrepreneur...
My 7 characteristics that define me as an entrepreneur:
1. Vision - about a new idea, innovation or market that makes a positive difference
2. Passion - limitless drive to pursue my ideas and dreams
3. Belief - in my ability to convert my ideas into something meaningful
4. Optimism - in the face of adversity that doors will open, and a never say die attitude
5. Learning - from past mistakes & failures which are plenty, and my openness to new ideas
6. Creativity - to try out new approaches & business models until something sticks
7. Relationships - with my team members, networks, partners & advisers to execute on my vision
Ultimately, an entrepreneur loves what he does, and does what he loves (that is my mantra)!
Is an entrepreneur also an innovator who must create new business innovations to succeed? Or is the entrepreneur a smart businessman or woman who instinctively knows how to execute and operate a business successfully? What do you think?
Can an entrepreneur transform into a creative leader?
Share your thoughts & beliefs on what makes you as an entrepreneur! I would love to hear your ideas...
Sanjay Dalal
CEO & founder
OGoing Inc.
chief innovator
InnovationMain.com
p.s. Check out my Apple's Innovation Strategy eBook that will help you develop & launch successful new innovations like Apple... or
Download my leading Business Innovation eBook & Resource Kit used by over 600 innovators worldwide...
Here are a few good articles online on 7 characteristics of an entrepreneur:
The 7 Essential Characteristics Every Entrepreneur Needs
7 Key Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur
The 7 Characteristics Of A Successful Entrepreneur
The 7 Best Characteristics Of An Entrepreneur
What makes you an entrepreneur? What keeps you going?
Here are my thoughts on what makes me an entrepreneur...
My 7 characteristics that define me as an entrepreneur:
1. Vision - about a new idea, innovation or market that makes a positive difference
2. Passion - limitless drive to pursue my ideas and dreams
3. Belief - in my ability to convert my ideas into something meaningful
4. Optimism - in the face of adversity that doors will open, and a never say die attitude
5. Learning - from past mistakes & failures which are plenty, and my openness to new ideas
6. Creativity - to try out new approaches & business models until something sticks
7. Relationships - with my team members, networks, partners & advisers to execute on my vision
Ultimately, an entrepreneur loves what he does, and does what he loves (that is my mantra)!
Is an entrepreneur also an innovator who must create new business innovations to succeed? Or is the entrepreneur a smart businessman or woman who instinctively knows how to execute and operate a business successfully? What do you think?
Can an entrepreneur transform into a creative leader?
Share your thoughts & beliefs on what makes you as an entrepreneur! I would love to hear your ideas...
Sanjay Dalal
CEO & founder
OGoing Inc.
chief innovator
InnovationMain.com
p.s. Check out my Apple's Innovation Strategy eBook that will help you develop & launch successful new innovations like Apple... or
Download my leading Business Innovation eBook & Resource Kit used by over 600 innovators worldwide...
Here are a few good articles online on 7 characteristics of an entrepreneur:
The 7 Essential Characteristics Every Entrepreneur Needs
7 Key Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur
The 7 Characteristics Of A Successful Entrepreneur
The 7 Best Characteristics Of An Entrepreneur
To Textbook or Not to Textbook?
Nice conversation today on #edchat got me thinking about what (if any) textbooks teachers are deciding on for this year.
Are you using what's been your standard for a while? Looking for online alternatives? Are you mixing it up? Nixing textbooks altogether?
Comment away, I'd love to hear what's going on in your mind.
Are you using what's been your standard for a while? Looking for online alternatives? Are you mixing it up? Nixing textbooks altogether?
Comment away, I'd love to hear what's going on in your mind.
Google Apps Marketplace - CRM highlights, 7/27/2010
Editor's note: This is the latest in a series of posts on apps in the Google Apps Marketplace that have caught our eye here at Google. We’ll do this every few weeks or as we see things that we'd like to share. Look for the label "marketplace highlights" and subscribe to the series if you'd like to stay tuned.
Businesses that use Google Apps not only get access to Google's applications, they also get easy access to some of the best business apps on the web through the Google Apps Marketplace. These Marketplace apps are easy to try and buy; once more, they integrate with Google Apps "out of the box," making it simpler for businesses to run more of their systems in the cloud. You can learn more about the Marketplace and watch a short video on how it works here.
For this highlights post, we decided to focus on the top seach term for installable apps in the Marketplace: CRM. The lifeblood of all businesses, customers come in all shapes and sizes, and have different needs when interacting with businesses. We’re excited to have 13 different installable CRM apps in the Marketplace that can integrate with Google Apps in just a few clicks, each with a unique approach to helping you manage customer relationships. And because things are easier to digest when they come in 3’s, we’ve taken the liberty to present them in 3 different groups: CRM, Social CRM, and Project-based CRM.
>> CRM: apps with a focus on internal processes around selling and serving customers.
Zoho CRM is a complete customer relationship management solution for managing leads, contacts, customers, marketing activities and more. Integrations include:
Batchbook is a lightweight but powerful CRM that allows you to easily organize contacts, monitor social networks and track leads and deals. Integrations include:
Insightly lets you track leads, proposals, opportunities, projects and manage files, all through an easy to use interface.
Posted by Kevin Gough, Sr. Product & Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise
Businesses that use Google Apps not only get access to Google's applications, they also get easy access to some of the best business apps on the web through the Google Apps Marketplace. These Marketplace apps are easy to try and buy; once more, they integrate with Google Apps "out of the box," making it simpler for businesses to run more of their systems in the cloud. You can learn more about the Marketplace and watch a short video on how it works here.
For this highlights post, we decided to focus on the top seach term for installable apps in the Marketplace: CRM. The lifeblood of all businesses, customers come in all shapes and sizes, and have different needs when interacting with businesses. We’re excited to have 13 different installable CRM apps in the Marketplace that can integrate with Google Apps in just a few clicks, each with a unique approach to helping you manage customer relationships. And because things are easier to digest when they come in 3’s, we’ve taken the liberty to present them in 3 different groups: CRM, Social CRM, and Project-based CRM.
>> CRM: apps with a focus on internal processes around selling and serving customers.
Zoho CRM is a complete customer relationship management solution for managing leads, contacts, customers, marketing activities and more. Integrations include:
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Gmail
- Google contacts import
- Google Docs attaching and sharing
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts import
- Gmail (contextual gadget)
- view actions in Google Calendar
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts auto-update
- Google calendar sharing
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Gmail (contextual gadget)
- Google contacts synchronization
- Google Docs attaching and sharing
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts import
Batchbook is a lightweight but powerful CRM that allows you to easily organize contacts, monitor social networks and track leads and deals. Integrations include:
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts synchronization
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts import
- Google calendar sharing
- Google Docs attaching and sharing
- Google Buzz feeds in contact records
- Gmail (contextual gadget)
- Gmail (contextual gadget)
- Gmail (contextual gadget)
Insightly lets you track leads, proposals, opportunities, projects and manage files, all through an easy to use interface.
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts import
- Google calendar sharing
- Google Docs attaching and sharing
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts synchronization
- Gmail
- single sign on from Google Apps
- Google contacts import
- Google calendar sharing
- Google Docs attaching and importing
Posted by Kevin Gough, Sr. Product & Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise
Liz Savage (EGM Commercial) of Virgin Blue on the difference between Euro and AU Air markets
For part of today I was at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010. Highlight speaker of the seasons I listened to was Liz Savage the (relatively) new Chief Commercial Officer (now Executive General Manager Commercial) of Virgin Blue. Ninemsn is carrying the traditional news part of her speech around DJ's determination to carve a space in between the hard core low cost of Tiger yet steal premium customer share from Qantas. She announced a desire to double DJ's share of the corporate sector from 10% to 20%.Savage's background (linkedin profile here) was with easyjet and Monarch. She took some time in her speech to share three key differences between the Low Cost/New World Carrier market in Europe and Australia. They are:
- Number of competitors and low cost carriers: Compared to her time in Europe, Savage was intrigued to discover how concentrated market share was in Australia. This lack of competition was particularly acute for Savage when it came to LCCs. Europe is filled with point to point low cost carriers. Savage mentioned that her previous employer - Monarch - was a medium sized carrier (some 30 aircraft and 100 routes) but was also a profitable airline and of size enough to compete. In Australia, no matter how you measure the market, there a very limited number of competitors - on an absolute scale and relative to Europe;
- Number of secondary airports: Savage reminded us that the success of Ryanair was in no small part due to the use of secondary airports. In Australia there are virtually no secondary airports, forcing low cost and new world carriers to sit with the same airport cost base as the full service/premium carrier(s); and
- Need for an international network: European LCCs can survive and prosper on the back of point to point short haul. But given Australia's distance and market, a carrier must says Savage have an international network (either directly or a virtual one via alliances).
Monday, July 26, 2010
Supporting the U.S. Navy’s humanitarian mission with Google Apps
Editor’s Note: We’ve invited U.S. Navy Captain Douglas Wied to share the story of how Google Apps is being used to improve coordination in disaster relief efforts. Captain Wied currently leads the Navy’s effort to develop and foster Non-Classified data sharing among the U.S. and its many international partners focused on improving regional maritime security.
The United States Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness program focuses on improving maritime security around the world. As part of this initiative, the U.S. collaborates with international governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to increase maritime security capabilities in different regions in order to prevent threats like piracy and terrorism, as well as to respond to natural disasters.
Sharing information is critical to maritime security. And most of this information is public – or sensitive but unclassified, as the government calls it. In summer 2008, we began InRelief to improve our collaboration capabilities using Google Apps. InRelief supports the Navy’s humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission. We use email, chat, shared documents, calendars, sites, and other Google applications to support our information sharing needs.
Previously, on U.S. Navy ships, the unclassified network was a U.S. network only, so NGOs or foreign governments could not access it. We set up a Non-Classified Enclave (NCE) as a way to give our partners access. The NCE is a network of virtualized servers located in Miami, Florida that provide secure connectivity. InRelief is basically a cloud-based implementation of NCE.
Our team saw several advantages to building InRelief on Google Apps, including security, scalability, reliability, and other powerful features we didn’t have to build ourselves. As part of the military, gaining familiarity the security controls of Google Apps was of critical importance. Our security team met with Google’s team and went through in detail how Google implements security. We came away with the understanding that Google Apps is very secure. The fact we’re hosted on a FISMA-certified environment allows our team increased flexibility and assurance when collaborating and sharing unclassified but sensitive content and documents.
In the event of a major crisis when we would need a lot of accounts for a short period of time, Google Apps lets us scale easily to as many users as necessary. We can turn them off again when we no longer need them. That’s a tremendous asset. It would be really tough – and not cost-effective – to resource a system ourselves that could scale up and down like this.
As for reliability, with Google Apps data is replicated in multiple data centers, so we can be assured we’ll have access to our data. Having a single point of failure is a constant challenge with other systems. Particularly when dealing with disasters, knowing the system will be available is a big plus.
Some of the built-in features of Google Apps were critical to our needs. For example, real-time collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets and presentations supports crisis response planning efforts using multiple personnel who are geographically dispersed. Also, real-time translation in chat can be extremely helpful when we’re trying to coordinate efforts with a coalition of people who speak multiple languages.
Another issue we are always concerned about is the training requirements new tools impose on our users. With InRelief, we can give an account to a foreign government representative or NGO and it doesn’t take much time for them to get started. Earlier this year, we put Google Apps to test in coordinating a response to the Haiti earthquake. When the Haiti effort kicked off, our team was dispersed. We used the Google collaboration tools – email, chat and shared documents – to get things moving. Even the remote team members could review and contribute to the team’s work. Half the people in the group hadn’t used Apps before our efforts got underway – they just did it, with no learning curve. Our team is currently using the same capabilities to support relief efforts for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
Finally, the concern for developing cost-effective solutions that maximize the benefits of tax dollars spent, our overall costs were hundreds of thousands versus millions of dollars; a significant savings when compared to what we spend to host traditional stovepipe type systems requiring network connectivity, software, hardware, system administrators, information assurance testing, and certification & accreditation.
With InRelief.org, we have a collaborative environment easily accessible with a secure and reliable infrastructure that allows us to respond rapidly to crisis.
– Captain Douglas C. Wied, Assistant Program Manager
Non-Classified Enclave, U.S. Navy
Posted by Dan Israel, Google Enterprise team
Google Apps for Government
Last September, we announced our intent to create a Google Apps environment dedicated to our government customers, and to complete United States government security certification for Google Apps. Today, we’re delivering on both.
Today, we’re pleased to introduce a new edition of Google Apps designed specifically for the needs of U.S. government entities. It’s called – appropriately enough – Google Apps for Government. This new edition is available now to federal, state and local governments in the United States.
Google Apps is also the first suite of cloud computing applications to receive Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification from the U.S. government. With this federal government certification of our security controls, government agencies can use our cloud services with confidence.
A wide range of U.S. government customers are already taking advantage of Google Apps, from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab to the U.S. Navy’s InRelief program, to the City of Los Angeles, to smaller governments across the country like Panama City, Florida and the City of Wooster, Ohio.
You can learn more about how U.S. Government customers can benefit from this new edition in today’s Official Google Blog post.
– Kripa Krishnan, Technical Program Manager, Google Apps for Government
Posted by Dan Israel, Google Enterprise team
Berkeley Lab is going Google
Editor’s note: Today’s guest author is Dr. Rosio Alvarez, Chief Information Officer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Alvarez serves the computational needs of scientists that carry out over $0.7B of sponsored research in quantitative biology; nanoscience; new energy systems and environmental solutions; and the use of integrated computing as a tool for discovery. She is also overseeing Berkeley Lab’s move to Google Apps.
Ernest Lawrence, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, is often credited as being the father of “team science.” He understood that some of the most important and difficult problems in science required bringing together experts from across disciplines to work on experiments that they couldn’t possibly execute individually. That legacy is the foundation of work at Berkeley Lab. Today, we’re excited to be bringing the next generation of tools to support team science to the Laboratory, including Google Apps.
Berkeley Lab is a member of the National Laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science. It is managed by the University of California (UC) and is conducts unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Berkeley Lab employs approximately 4,000 scientists, engineers, support staff and students. Eleven Berkeley Lab researchers have won the Nobel Prize. Fifty-seven Lab scientists are members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors for a scientist in the United States.
Switching to Google Apps supports a number of important Berkeley Lab goals:
- Sustainability We now utilize the Google data centers that power Google Apps, which are are among the most efficient in the world, instead of operating our own servers;
- Efficiency Berkeley Lab is going Google reduces internal infrastructure costs and allows us to recover data center and personnel capacity;
- Collaboration It provides new tools and platforms for improving scientific collaboration, including real-time document sharing and support for easily including collaborators from around the world as full participants in our work.
Berkeley Lab is in the midst of the first production rollout of Google Apps in the Department of Energy. We have moved over 4,000 people to the Google Mail service to date and an expected total of 5,000 accounts by the end of summer 2010. We have already rolled out Google Docs and Google Sites Lab-wide to improve collaboration capabilities for our staff. A transition to Google Calendar is planned in the coming months, as well.
If you want to learn more, we’ve even set up a public site to tell the world about this project. Or you can watch this video:
It’s been really gratifying to watch the adoption of Google Sites and Docs at the Lab. These two applications extend the reach of the Lab's existing collaboration systems by offering new features and easier inclusion of external collaborators.
Smaller research projects with a few dozen collaborators often struggle with building the infrastructure to effectively share information; Google Apps makes it easy for them to deploy the services they need with no help from IT folks.
Since we’ve integrated Google Apps with the Lab's Identity Management System, our users have a seamless experience. And all our users benefit from the extensive resources that Google has dedicated to keeping the Google Apps system -- and our data -- secure.
The Lab expects to realize financial savings as a result of the transition. The final numbers are not available yet, but the estimates range in the area of $1.5M-$2M savings over the next five years in hardware, software and labor costs. Cost avoidance, increased functionality and resiliency were all important factors in the decision to migrate. Above all, we’re empowering our researchers to share, collaborate, and build teams like never before. We think Ernest Lawrence would be pleased.
Dr. Rosio Alvarez, Chief Information Officer
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Posted by Dan Israel, Google Enterprise team
Learning English: Spelling Rules
Writing in English is a representation of the spoken language. Therefore, spelling is very important if you want to be able to clearly communicate with others. The importance in spelling and writing is clear – writing stays fixed, even as the spoken language adapts. So, English spelling can at times, seem totally illogical.
There are certain spelling rules that will help you with your spelling. However, it is important to remember that even the clearest rules have their exceptions.
Words Ending In Double L
When you come across words that end in double l and you are adding a prefix and/or a suffix, you will need to discard an ‘l’.
All + Most = Almost
Full + Fill = Fulfil
Well + Come = Welcome
Skill + Full = Skilful
Will + Full = Wilful
There is, of course, an exception to this rule. When combining the words hill and side, you actually leave the second ‘l’ – Hillside.
Short And Long Vowels
We define short and long vowels in words by the emphasis put on that vowel in the word. Short vowels have more emphasis on other letters, and long vowels have the emphasis on that particular vowel.
When words contain short vowels, they are usually followed by a double consonant:
Bitter
Holly
Dinner
Latter
However, words with long vowels will normally only have a single consonant:
Later
Dine
Holy
When you say the words out loud, you will notice the stress you put on the vowels in the words. This makes it easy for you to determine how to spell that particular word.
Words Ending In The Letter ‘E’
When adding to a particular word that ends in the letter ‘e’, keep the letter ‘e’ if you are following with a consonant. However, if you are following the letter ‘e’ with another vowel, it is common to lose the ‘e’.
Keep The ‘E’
Grace – Graceful
Live – Lively
Hope – Hopeful
Time – Timely
Lose The ‘E’
Take – Taking
Save – Saving
Fame – Famous
Love – Lovable/Loving
‘I’ Before ‘E’, Except After C
People often become confused with this English spelling rule. There seems to be some words that the rule applies to, and others where it doesn’t.
Here is an easy way to remember the words that the rule applies to and the words where the rule changes.
When sounded out, if the sound of the word is /ee/ then it is ‘I’ before ‘e’.
Siege
Field
Chief
Niece
Relieve
Thief
If the sound in the word is /e/ then the ‘e’ comes after the ‘c’.
Ceiling
Their
Perceive
Receive
Making Words That End In ‘F’, Plural
The majority of words that end in the letter ‘f’ become plural by adding the suffix ‘ves’. However, there are a few words that no do apply to this rule: Chiefs and roofs.
One Wolf – Two Wolves
One Shelf –Two Shelves
Making Words That End In ‘Y’, Plural
When words end in the letter ‘y’, and they have a vowel preceding it, just add the letter ‘s’.
* One Boy – Two Boys
* One Toy – Two Toys
However, when the word ends in a ‘y’ and has another consonant preceding it, you should change the ‘y’ to ‘ies’.
One Fairy – Two Fairie
One Baby – Two Babies
One Ability – Two Abilities
There are a lot more spelling rules within the English language, and learning them all may take some time. However, knowing just a few of the English spelling rules allows you to be confident in your spelling ability. A good quality English dictionary is a good tool to keep with you as you learn the English spelling rules.
Words Ending In Double L
When you come across words that end in double l and you are adding a prefix and/or a suffix, you will need to discard an ‘l’.
All + Most = Almost
Full + Fill = Fulfil
Well + Come = Welcome
Skill + Full = Skilful
Will + Full = Wilful
There is, of course, an exception to this rule. When combining the words hill and side, you actually leave the second ‘l’ – Hillside.
Short And Long Vowels
We define short and long vowels in words by the emphasis put on that vowel in the word. Short vowels have more emphasis on other letters, and long vowels have the emphasis on that particular vowel.
When words contain short vowels, they are usually followed by a double consonant:
Bitter
Holly
Dinner
Latter
However, words with long vowels will normally only have a single consonant:
Later
Dine
Holy
When you say the words out loud, you will notice the stress you put on the vowels in the words. This makes it easy for you to determine how to spell that particular word.
Words Ending In The Letter ‘E’
When adding to a particular word that ends in the letter ‘e’, keep the letter ‘e’ if you are following with a consonant. However, if you are following the letter ‘e’ with another vowel, it is common to lose the ‘e’.
Keep The ‘E’
Grace – Graceful
Live – Lively
Hope – Hopeful
Time – Timely
Lose The ‘E’
Take – Taking
Save – Saving
Fame – Famous
Love – Lovable/Loving
‘I’ Before ‘E’, Except After C
People often become confused with this English spelling rule. There seems to be some words that the rule applies to, and others where it doesn’t.
Here is an easy way to remember the words that the rule applies to and the words where the rule changes.
When sounded out, if the sound of the word is /ee/ then it is ‘I’ before ‘e’.
Siege
Field
Chief
Niece
Relieve
Thief
If the sound in the word is /e/ then the ‘e’ comes after the ‘c’.
Ceiling
Their
Perceive
Receive
Making Words That End In ‘F’, Plural
The majority of words that end in the letter ‘f’ become plural by adding the suffix ‘ves’. However, there are a few words that no do apply to this rule: Chiefs and roofs.
One Wolf – Two Wolves
One Shelf –Two Shelves
Making Words That End In ‘Y’, Plural
When words end in the letter ‘y’, and they have a vowel preceding it, just add the letter ‘s’.
* One Boy – Two Boys
* One Toy – Two Toys
However, when the word ends in a ‘y’ and has another consonant preceding it, you should change the ‘y’ to ‘ies’.
One Fairy – Two Fairie
One Baby – Two Babies
One Ability – Two Abilities
There are a lot more spelling rules within the English language, and learning them all may take some time. However, knowing just a few of the English spelling rules allows you to be confident in your spelling ability. A good quality English dictionary is a good tool to keep with you as you learn the English spelling rules.
AdSense: Behind the Scenes - Meet Evanne
In the last video of this series, Evanne, a member of the Partner Development team, talks about her favorite Google perk, her obsession with music, and an important tip she’d like to share with all of you.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in AdSense. If you have feedback on this series, or ideas for future series, we’d love to hear them so please leave us a comment!
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in AdSense. If you have feedback on this series, or ideas for future series, we’d love to hear them so please leave us a comment!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The BOOT at Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 27-30 July - Sydney
I will be speaking this week at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney. The conference runs July 27-30. Day three of the conference (July 29) is the "Travel Technology & Distribution day".Also speaking on the Tech and Distribution day are:
- Richard Noon (CEO Webjet);
- Claire Hatton (Head of Travel, Government and Local for Google);
- Steve Sherlock (MD Oodles);
- Shashank Nigam (SimplyFlying) and
- Martin Symes (CEO Wego)
Solo at 235 pm on
The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel”
* What are the four phases of online travel?
* How consumers get from an idea to going away and making a booking
* The role of airlines, tourism authorities and OTAs in the inspiration funnel
and on a panel at 440 on
Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awareness
* Making better use of existing channels vs investing resources in newer distribution avenues
* How well do suppliers understand the value proposition of social media?
* Brand management through social media
* Integrating User Generated Content into the booking path
Hat tip in advance to Martin Collings of the Shearwater blog who first introduced me to the role of airlines in the bow tie/inspiration funnel.
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