SteitBlog » Reviews

Is Google Buzz going to buzz?

Steitiyeh — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:35:53 +0000

Last night the announcement and launch of Google Buzz buzzed the whole sphere on all levels. But the question is: “Is Google Buzz going to buzz on the long-term or it’s going to be a momentum and that’s it?” I personally have various concerns about Google Buzz specially that it still has not yet been added to my Gmail, which I think is a sin in launching any new product!

Earlier last year Google launched Google Wave, which I personally considered as a one great collaboration tool and I have used it in different projects ever since. When Google first launched Wave, a lot of people shared their wish lists or which could be considered as a list of missing features that should be added to it. Since I didn’t try Google Buzz yet, I have a few concerns regarding it.

Product Roll-Out:

I don’t think that it’s a good idea to have the service available for a certain bunch of people rather than everybody together, specially when you’re launching a whole new product. Availability in phases works well when you release a new feature to a current product/service but not when launching a whole new service. We heard a lot about Google Buzz and it’s not there, very soon; the buzz will disappear and the conversion rate will be WAY less than it could have created if the service was available.

Facebook:

All the reviews I read mentioned that Google Buzz is not integrated with Facebook, which is the biggest social network on the Internet with more than 400 million users. I really don’t know what Google is trying to do, are they thinking to replace it!?!? No, they will not! It’s too late to replace it now, why don’t you think of complementing it and enable your users to manage it in addition to the variety of options you are providing!

Name:

Seriously? Couldn’t you guys find a better name?! Yahoo already used it ages ago, didn’t you hear about Yahoo! Buzz? This is not the point, I really don’t like the name and I don’t think it’s catchy and fits for a social network! Compare it to MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Orkut, Flickr. Buzz is a very formal naming, couldn’t you find any lamer name for your product?

I am sure that I will have much more concerns once I try it out, but till then I should be fair enough and mention a few features that I think are cool to have and utilize in Google Buzz.

It’s integrated with your Gmail, no need for a new tab on the browser with different login details, you can use it on the go while reading your emails and replying to them.
Links are shown as Thumbnails as if they were linking to any multimedia content such as photos or videos.
When it comes to sharing content with your followers/friends you can choose it to become either public or private sharing, this feature is really cool and gives you more control over what you are sharing.
You will also be notified on all comments and updates that occur on the buzz you create over email, and those notifications are updated LIVE!

Back to the title of this article, is Google Buzz going to buzz or not? I can’t really judge right now, but I think it will buzz specially for businesses, I think it will be a very beneficial social marketing tool for them. Do you think it’s going to buzz or not? Did you try it yet? Let me know.

Interesting Articles

Apple’s iPad is out!

Steitiyeh — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:29:42 +0000

Apple just revealed the long-waited iPad (aka iSlate, iTablet, Apple Tablet) shocking everyone with the specs and surprises they announced.

The iPad specifications up to my knowledge are:

1- 1GHz Apple A4 chip

2- Storage: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB.

3- Wi-Fi 802.11n

4- Battery life: 10 hours

5- Full Capacity Multi-touch.

6- 9.7” LCD.

7- 0.5” thickness.

8- Compass.

9- Accelerometer.

The iPad also comes with a 3G connection and is internationally unlocked. They have also announced some cool accessories for the iPad such as the docking keyboard, which I think is so cool! During the announcement, they demonstrated iWork suite on the iPad and I think this is one hell of an option for presentations on the go!

The most shocking part of the event was the pricing which starts from: $499.00.

Via gdgt

Interesting Articles

7 Reasons why to get Darren’s 31DBBB workbook

Steitiyeh — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:50:09 +0000

Darren Rowse, the author of “31 days to build a better blog”, is re-launching his e-book and giving out 3 FREE bonuses to all of those who get it before the 19th of January.

I got my copy earlier when Darren launched it the first time and I will be sharing with you guys different reasons why I recommend getting it if you still didn’t grab your copy yet!

1- Darren has managed to divide the content of his book in a very useful way, where the readers can really benefit out of it. He separated his tips into Daily tasks which each blogger can easily do and use to improve his blog.

2- Darren also didn’t forget to add to each day, a HOW and a WHY paragraph so the reader could really know why this task is important and is a must do task.

3- Over 19,000 copies were sold so far and it is highly recommended by a lot of A-List bloggers.

4- Darren is offering a 31-days money back guarantee which means that after the 31 days challenge are over and you think you haven’t benefited from the e-book or if you are not satisfied, you are totally eligible to ask for a refund, 100% refund!

5- As a new year’s offer, Darren is giving out 3 FREE bonuses to get your blog going in 2010. He is giving out: Free Report: 9 Things to Do to Get Your Blog On Track in The New Year, Podcast with Leo Babauta from Zen Habits and a Podcast with Neil Patel from QuickSprout.

6- Darren is also giving out a FREE, a 1 hour long podcast including questions and answers where he answers different questions asked by various bloggers who want to take their blogs to the next level.

7- The 94 pages e-book, with the FREE bonuses and the 1 hour long podcast, is sold for ONLY $19.95.

To all of you guys who haven’t yet gotten their copies, it is highly recommended to all of you and it is a GREAT way to start your 2010 blogging journey! Go grab your copy right now!

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SteitBlog’s 2010 Goals (10)
5 Tips For Writing A Killer Guest Post (10)
Why You Should Write An E-book? (11)

Online Profits To Open Its Doors Tomorrow

Steitiyeh — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:17:32 +0000

~~Tomorrow~~ On The 18th of January, Online Profits is opening its doors for the 2nd year! Online Profits, by Daniel Scocco, is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) collaboration program available on the Internet that takes you hand by hand on how to create your online business, traffic it and monetize it!

I was honored to take part in Online Profits last year and to be amongst the first people to try it and I really can’t tell you how beneficial it was, not only the information you get from the tutors, but from the connections you create and the benefit it gives back to your business by interacting with other users in the forums.

Why should you consider Online Profits?

1. First Class Mentors

The lessons of the Online Profits training program have been produced by top experts from different fields and specializations. Combined they have years of Internet marketing experience and have generated millions of dollars with online projects. Here is a list of the mentors:

Daniel Scocco, Michael Gray, Neil Patel, Yaro Starak, Chris Garrett, Tamar Weinberg, Hamlet Batista, Zac Jonhson, Courtney Tuttle, Nathan Rice.

2. The Most Complete Program

The Online Profits training program is by far the most complete on the web, and therefore it is ideal for the people who want to learn all the different facets of Internet marketing. Here is the list of modules (each of which contains lessons, video tutorials, case studies and interviews):

Introduction and Business Principles
Domain Names
Setting Up Your Website
Markets and Niches
Business Models
WordPress
Web Design for Entrepreneurs
Blogging
Keyword Research and Mini Websites
Online Forums and Communities
Online Stores
Web Content and Linkbaiting
Basic SEO
Advanced SEO
Link Building
Traffic Generation
Web Metrics
Social Media
Selling Advertising
Email Marketing
Affiliate Marketing
Pay-per-Click (PPC)
Landing Page Optimization
Selling Your Own Products

Again, Online Profits will only open for new subscribers for one week starting from tomorrow. After that time frame they will close the doors again, probably for the rest of 2010. If you don’t want to miss the launch, you can subscribe to their newsletter which is placed at the bottom of the page and get notified about it.

You can pay for this program in four payments of $98 (sums to $392 in the end)! If you pay in full, you will be entitled to a lifetime access to the program, including the lessons, exclusive resources, content library, social clubs and private forum.

They are also are giving away a free report named: 10 Deadly Business Mistakes You Should Avoid.

Update: I have just received an e-mail from Daniel informing me that the launch of the course was postponed till the 18th of January, 2010. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but you still can get the FREE-Report when it is published and you can also subscribe to their mail list to get notified once the course is open for registration. Sorry again!

Interesting Articles

Go with your blog “Beyond Blogging”

Steitiyeh — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:40:16 +0000

Last night my friends Mike and Nathan have launched officially their long awaited book, Beyond Blogging! What makes Beyond Blogging different than other ebooks in the market is that Mike and Nathan took the responsibility to go beyond copy and pasting the interviews with the Star Bloggers to assemble an ebook and sell for the audience, they have went deep and analyzed every word mentioned and made it easy for anybody who reads the book to really learn from the experiences of the best bloggers.

I was sent earlier the Author’s copy in order to read and review it to you guys, and those who are subscribed to my newsletter would know how high my recommendation was to this product! Reading Beyond Blogging really opened my eyes to different spots and areas that I haven’t been to earlier.

I don’t want this post to be more like buggy and nagging “Go Buy NOW” one, but I really suggest all of you who think of taking their blog into the next level to go and grab a copy right now, they are also offering a fantastic blog consulting package to go along with your book. I think they’re crazy, but they’re giving you a 75% discount! I know it’s right after Christmas, and you’ve got a lot going on, but there has never been a better time to start planning for a profitable 2010 than right now…so buy this book, use it to create your 2010 plan, and create the life you’ve been dreaming of.

Content of Beyond Blogging:

Interviews with:

Gary Vaynerchuk
Chris Brogan
Chris Garrett
David Risley
Penelope Trunk
Chris Guillebeau

Case studies featuring:

Brian Clark
Shama Kabani
Darren Rowse
John Chow
iJustine
Jonathan Fields
Steve Pavlina
Michael Dunlop
Pete Cashmore

I personally think that Beyond Blogging will be the book of the year, I think I will be reading it again and again every now and then.

Oh, one more thing! They are offering 100% MONEY BACK guarantee in case you think that Beyond Blogging is not made for you within the first month of your purchase! What are you waiting for?

Interesting Articles

7 things we should learn from Avatar

Steitiyeh — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:30:56 +0000

Tonight I finally went to watch Avatar with my wife and friends, it was amazing and really cool, I dont know if it was because it’s the first 3D movie I watch! The movie was like 3-hours long and I couldn’t resist taking notes on my iPhone for this article! I think all bloggers should learn a lot from the movie Avatar and especially the character Jake Sully.

1-Risk

When Jake first controls his Avatar and then immediately goes to the Na’vi

Every step you take in your life has its risk. In order to succeed you should consider taking risks in your life, and don’t for a second think that blogging is any different than any other business in life and that it’s risk-free. Maybe blogging as a hobby has no risks or minimal ones, but when you want to take it to the next level and create a full-time income from your blog; you will be going through a path FULL of risks specially when you need to invest time and effort. Some people have sacrificed their full-time jobs to blog and it worked out with them and some others failed but continued to try.

2- Be different

When he left Grace and Norm in their first visit and was attacked

When it comes to blogging, almost all new bloggers just imitate what probloggers do and wait for miracles to happen. That shouldn’t be the case! What happened with all successful probloggers shouldn’t necessarily happen with you or with anyone who tries to do what they have done! We should learn from successful bloggers, but we shouldn’t copy them! I believe that you should have your own style and just be yourself rather than imitating others.

3- Be patient

When the Na’vi decided to train him and teach him their language, traditions and ways! It wasn’t easy for him at all

A successful blog takes time to reach the level that its owner wants and aims for, it just doesn’t happen in a couple of days! It needs time, effort and dedication; the more you give your blog the more it will give back to you! You should focus on building a proper community around your blog at the early stages rather than wasting time thinking how can you generate money from it! You should be patient.

4- Goal

He had set a goal to help the Na’vi and stop the attack against them

Have you ever gone camping? Camping without a map would get you lost! The same thing goes for blogging, you should set goals and work on achieving them! Your goals are your map, if you work without having any goals in front of your eyes you are just wasting your time. If you haven’t set your goals yet, you should check this article on how sharing your goals with the public will help you and motivate you in achieving them.

5- Enjoy

Jake enjoyed every second while controlling his avatar

In one of my very early articles I mentioned that you should choose a topic you enjoy and like to write about. One of the very important factors in any blog’s success is enjoying it! If you don’t like what you are doing and what you are writing about, you will never make it and take your blog to the next level!

6- Link, Feel it

You should link with creatures in order to control it

You should link and engage with your readers! Know what they want to read about, put yourself in their shoes! You should make sure that you are writing for your readers instead of writing randomly! Your readers are your most valuable asset, you should take good care of them.

7- Collaboration

Hand by hand, the Na’vi beat the power and science with their bows and arrows

1+1=3 yes, this is what I call collaboration and team work! If you are working on any project, get new blood in it and involve other people that are interested to help you out! The result of any collaboration project is always awesome!

Have you seen Avatar already? How was it? Did you learn any other lessons?

Interesting Articles

3 People Who Would Benefit From Google’s Real-Time Search

Steitiyeh — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:10:23 +0000

Earlier yesterday Google launched it’s long-awaited feature, which is the Real-Time Search. Real Time search is currently available to limited users, but will go globally for the public within the coming days. I personally use Twitter’s search for tracking the newest trend of a certain topic, since Twitter is the biggest real-time community on the web and originally is the one who started the real time revolution.

What Google is doing is that they are adding this feature to the Internet. Now with Google’s Real Time Search you can get LIVE updates from different communities including; Facebook, Identica, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku, and Twitter. Other than having the updates of these communities in real-time, Google will also include results from different websites on the Internet also in real-time.

Who can benefit from Google’s Real-Time Search?

1- Brand Managers:

Now, it will be EXTREMELY easy to know what people are saying about your brand in Real-Time and you can in return respond directly. This will improve your presence online and will give you the advantage of direct response to all inquiries, complaints or even compliments.

2- Second Level News Portals:

I mean with second level news portals, all portals that are not part of a news agency and that depend on a third party to get its content. By searching a specific keyword, they will easily get all updates and most recent news about this keyword.

3- Everybody Else:

Everybody will benefit from Google’s Real Time Search for the accuracy and the quality of the results it’s providing for its users. Who doesn’t want to have the newest and latest news of a certain topic in real time?

Personally, I am excited to track and manage what people say about SteitBlog and other products. I usually track the feedback through different services and apps, but now it all can be done through Google.

Google also announced that they have applied this new feature to their Android and iPhone applications, but it seems the update is yet to be officially released since I have tried to use Google’s application on an iPhone and still it’s operating as usual.

Are you excited about Google’s real-time search? How do you think you can benefit from it?

Interesting Articles

Build Your Mailing List NOW

Steitiyeh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:33:39 +0000

Any website/blog on the Internet is measured by its number of users regardless the traffic. So how big is the mistake to start working on your blog for months and promote it aggressively, have killer content that consumed over 70% of your time without having a database of your users’ details (their names and emails, at least)? Trust me it is a HUGE one. This is not my personal opinion, it’s everyone’s opinion. Let’s turn the calendar 6 pages in advance (May 2010), go through the effort and time you spent on improving your blog and promoting it, and now it’s time to sell your first e-book, subscription forum or any other product. How are you going to sell it? Good question, huh?! How much time will it take to build a proper list?

Building your own mail list from day one, even if you’re not going to use it, will help you a lot and will save you time as well. I planned to start building my list on SteitBlog since day one, but for no reason I didn’t! The other day I received an e-mail from David Risley advising all of his subscribers to start building their mailing lists NOW and using AWeber. He also shared a sad story of his that I think everyone would learn from. Seriously, once I read his e-mail I immediately visited AWeber and registered an account.

I heard a lot about AWeber and its features and flexibility, but I had never registered before. I highly recommend AWeber for anyone who wants to start building his mailing list. With AWeber, customizing doesn’t take much time at all, you can also integrate your auto-generated forms into almost all platforms with AMAZING reports. It also has a tracking feature that enables you to know how many users from each form was referred and to mention a few. You can realize the form I added to the end of the post, and another one that pops-up ONCE (till cookies are deleted) whenever you visit SteitBlog. So far I have 10 subscribers, I know it’s not much but the list will help a lot whenever I think about monetizing SteitBlog. For all who subscribed yesterday, I would like to thank you and I promise you I won’t be spamming you or sharing your contact details and for the ones who didn’t, I would really appreciate it if you subscribe using the form at the end of the post.

AWeber Features

Send Email Newsletters.
Publish a Signup Form To Your Website.
Create Autoresponders.
Manage Unlimited Email Campaigns.
Email Templates Ready For The Big Time.
op Notch Email Deliverability.
Free Expert Customer Support.
Send Blog Newsletters (RSS to Email).
Email Web Analytics.
Easy Shopping Cart Integration.

What’s so amazing about AWeber is that it takes no time to have it up and running. It really took me less than an hour including, registration, list creation, creating 2 forms, customizing a confirmation e-mail, creating a follow-up email, and integrating it into SteitBlog. The coolest thing is yet to come, AWeber is having a trial promotion for all of those who are interested in trying it out, $1 for the first month AND a full, hassle-free refund in case you were not satisfied with the service. I advise everyone who hasn’t yet started building a mailing list or is using another e-mail marketing service to try out AWeber right now, you will never regret it.

Again I would appreciate it if you subscribe to SteitBlog’s newsletter which you will be receiving whenever there is something important to share with you, and I promise you it won’t be on Weekly or Daily basis.

Interesting Articles

Ping! iPhone-to-iPhone Messaging

Steitiyeh — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:03:04 +0000

I always heard of BlackBerry’s BBM and how people just can’t live without their BB and their addiction to the BBM. Honestly, I am not a fan of BlackBerry and never tried it either; I just believe that it has nothing unique! Please don’t tell me “e-mail access”, Push E-mail could be setup on all smart phones and some of the dumb ones as well. What some of you don’t know is that ALL Nokia E-Series are compatible with the BB service, some of the SonyEricssons and Motorolas as well.

Anyways, back to the core of the article. I’ve always been curious about this BBM thing and always thought it was cool, till early last month when Ping! for iPhone was announced and available in the AppStore for free. I immediately downloaded it onto my iPhone and my wife’s and started trying it out.

I started spreading the word about it, since it’s useless if none of your friends have it. I succeeded some how, and now a few of my friends have it and we keep messaging using it! It works very smoothely, it’s fast and free. All it needs is an Internet connectivity (Wi-Fi, GPRS, 3G, etc…) which is available on all iPhones I think.

What’s so cool about it also, is that it works exactly as the SMS does, it notifies you whenever you receive a message and it shows you the number of unread messages on the icon of the application. It’s really cool, but I really think that Apple should take a closer look into such applications and how much value it will add to their products! If I were in Apple’s shoes, I will invest and buy this application and have it pre-installed on all of my devices. Such a service is really needed by everyone!

I really agree with what Adam Ostrow from Mashable said: “The ideal messaging app would seemingly have a version for multiple platforms (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, etc.) and also support texting to non-users. That’s likely the direction most of these companies will ultimately move in, but we’re not quite there yet.”

All iPhone users download Ping!, and Ping me. My ID is: Steit

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Why did I join ProBlogger Community?

Steitiyeh — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:08:19 +0000

I am a big fan of Darren Rowse and his blog Problogger.net, I have been reading it and interacting within it for around a year now. You can’t imagine the amount of information you can get from reading his beneficial posts and from interacting with other readers. Back in April 2009, Darren launched a program called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (31 DBBB) which really was a huge success and made a buzz in the sphere, basically the program was a daily task that will help you build a better blog throughout 31 days, whether for current bloggers or new ones. After the program was done; Darren didn’t stand still, he transferred this program into an e-book and added some extra tips to it and started selling it achieving amazing numbers. I purchased it and read it, although I had participated in the program. You can get Darren’s 31DBBB book here.

Almost a month ago, Darren launched the ProBlogger Community, which is a paid forum for bloggers to interact and exchange experiences and knowledge. The monthly subscription for the forum is $1.95 which is a symbolic fee just to keep out trolls and robots.

The community is divided into different topics including, Design, Blog Promotion/Finding Readers, Technical Issues, General Talks, Critique, Writing Tips and much more beneficial tips. What a bargain, don’t you think, for only $1.95 a month?

As I’m writing the forum contains 12,375 posts under 1,158 threads, submitted by 3,179 members out of which 3,174 are active.

Why did I join the ProBlogger Community?

Because I launched my blog at the same time, and I believe it will give it a good exposure and boost, and it did.
Having a lot of probloggers on board and ready to answer your questions along with other members is so cool.
You can easily have the feedback of all members on any issue you want by just posting a help request thread or a question, since all of the members are bloggers and interested in what you are talking about.
Socializing with big names and other bloggers, as mentioned in different articles of mine I really believe in socializing with others in your niche, the best place to find people in the blogging industry is ProBlogger Community
Its subscription fee is affordable and worth the investment BIG TIME!

Check it out now; you will never regret it, trust me. If you joined it add me as a friend, my ID is: Steitiyeh.