8 popular myths about start-ups

For those who have heard of startups only in magazines and success stories, it is a black box. It is a mystery word, with no definite path, no entrance exam to gauze success, no thumb rule to triumph. The more you read and hear about startups, the more confused you would be. Unless you get your hands dirty, you will have as little idea about startups as your son or a corporate bitch next door. Here we would strive to demystify some of the popular myths that people have-

#1. Wanting to make money is not a bad reason to startup
I have often heard experts saying " If you are starting or joining a startup to earn a good wage; you are at a wrong place." This statement is often misinterpreted and is the greatest myth I have ever come across. What it means is, single eyed devotion to money is not good for startup and thats very true. What it definitely doesn't mean is wanting to make money is bad reason to startup. In the end, success of your startup is gauzed by your company's turnover and cash-flow, so unless you are money oriented, you will never make it big. So in nutshell, wanting to make money is not bad but expecting a windfall just in the starting is too Utopian.

#2. Profit is not the only driver to decision making
Having said that wanting money from startup is not bad, I must reiterate that money or profit should not be the key driver of your startup. These two myths are often taken to be contradicting and hence we follow one and throw the other out of doors leading to downfall. Profit is one of the many parameters that must be evaluated before making any decisions but is not the only parameter. Brand value, customer loyalty are as important a parameter if not more.

#3. Its not just about idea or product, but about how you deliver
Not every unique idea or super-awesome product would convert into grand startup. There is a huge difference and one doesn't guarantee the other. Idea or product is most pivotal, but how you present it makes all the difference. How approachable you are, how good is your customer relations, how well is your on-line presence, how efficiently you tackle generic problems so as to ensure quick service without taxing the team are some of the vital questions that constitute the complete package that you present to your consumer. Most of the times, startups are so busy polishing their product, that they ignore the complete package and hence are not popular among customer.

#4. Its not about how many lives you affect, its about how deeply you affect few lives
One common myth around entrepreneurs is that more are the people affected by a startup, the better it is. In fact I have seen many startups flashing the number of potential customers, their idea can spread to. But these are those which fizz out like a flash in the pan. If I have an idea that improves a million lives by an iota and another idea that helps a thousand people but in significant way, I will surely opt for the later. Because:

In todays competitive market, if there can be a product touching million lives, it already exists. Someone must have come up with it, may be you are unaware. So ensure that your idea is unique before taking a step forward.
If you product is not creating significant difference, chances are fare that you might be forgotten. Because you are not creating a dependency, hence your penetration to market is less and chances of saturation are higher. Any product with a better offer can displace you in a jiffy.
If your product creates significant dependency, you create a loyal customer base, which comes back to you. Moreover they become your flag bearers, promoting your product.

#5. Give more reasons to remember
Today, marketing is all about being in your customers sub-conscious mind. If product, is the only reason why your customers know you, you might be forgotten soon. The trick is to give as many reasons to your customers to remember you as possible. The more the better. So that even if they forget one, they remember the other. Hence you obtain a perpetual space is market. The reason can be diverse as- a story, a cause that you endorse, a contest, a campaign etc.

#6. There is nothing called failure in startup
I have seen person with great entrepreneurial streaks, dreading startup for the fear of failure. But as a matter of fact, there is nothing called failure in startup. Either your venture is successful or you grow in your experience. So called failed startup can teach what successful startups would never touch. Hence you can start afresh, bigger and better every time

#7. Just because you hate your job, don't startup
Having been in corporate life for a while, I have seen 99% of people loathing what they do and the rest don't care. But just because you hate your job, don't start up. Chances are very bleak that this dissatisfaction can ever lead you to venture out. And if you ever do, you shall fail miserably. Passion for an idea, for a product, for a change is what drives great startups and successful companies alike.

#8. Most people leave bosses, not the job
Its true that as a startup retaining employees is difficult. They tend to jump on to bigger players as they get experienced. But attributing this to your company's age or brand name solely would be unjustified. Most employees leave their bosses, not the job. What it means is, the manager matters more to an employee than the employer itself. So be a good boss. Rather than taking all the decisions yourself, involve others, take their opinion. After-all, its better not be in drivers seat for a while.

09:18 | Posted in recent, start-up | Read More »

Airbags to protect your Smart Phones when dropped

Tech giant Amazon has devised an innovative technology to protect your smart phones and tablets. They have developed a mini airbag to protect your precious gadget, if you accidentally drop it. This is realized using motion sensors, already in use in many smart phones, to detect when the potential damage to your device exceeds the threshold and consequently activates the mini air bag to protect your phone and air jets to change the trajectory of fall. So, even if you drop your device, it would be safe and sound.

The patent which was granted this week says “Prior to impact between a surface and a device, a determination of a risk of damage to the device is made. If the risk of damage to the device exceeds a threshold, a protection system is activated to reduce or eliminate damage to the device.” The patent explains the use of gyroscope, accelerometer, camera and other in-built sensors to sense any potential threat.

This solution may take the mobile devices to the next level. It would save a millions of consumer from running to repair shop and hence save money. Experts are apprehensive of extent to which it would protect the device. No matter whatever you innovate, customer will always find a way to bang and break his device. Well this might be true, but surely airbags would drastically reduce such cases.

While end consumers are enthusiastic about such product and say they have been looking for such a solution for a while, mobile experts have expressed their concern about integrating this technology into smart phones and tablets. One will have to hide these airbags within the device, hence making it bulky and heavier. So implementing this to iphones or ipads without compromising with its design is the next big challenge. We will have to wait for a while to get any such gadget in the market.

09:51 | Posted in recent, technopreneurs | Read More »

10 roadblocks to your Startup's Success

Start-up is the new buzz-word. Every other guy is setting up his own venture or expanding his family business. As number drives number, more startups mean further more people being motivated to taste entrepreneurship. Most of these startups are put together in a jiffy and break down like a house of playing cards. So before you start your venture, plan it well. Ofcourse a well planned venture may not always florish, but chances of failure can be minimized. Even if you take care of every thing that you can think of; these are the roadblocks that you can't evade.

1)You end up with something that you never started
There is a huge gap between management theories and harsh realities of life. While you might validate your idea or product thousand times and ensure that it conforms to all the theories, it never works in real life. You will always end up with one assumption which is never true. This leads to remodelling and restructuring. So, choice is yours, either you stick to your original plan or be flexible enough to accommodate consumer feedback. The problem is ; if you change, you end up with something drastically different than what you started with. But the real problem is; if you don't change, your solution is not solving your consumer's problem. Hence you will end up with no consumer. So change is a good sign, it signifies that you are on right track. Startup in itself is a iterative process which should always evolve.

2)Building Initial Team is Difficult
Building the initial team is the most tedious task up your sleeves. You will have two major challenge while picking up the team

To identify the right set of skill sets needed for your start-up. You have to make sure that the composition of team is perfect, at the same time, with limited resources, you don't have the liberty of 'extras' in your team.

To convince people to join you. Once you have identified the right talent that you need, you would have the herculean task of convincing them to join you. The problem is acute because most of them would be paid better and your start-up wouldn't have reputation enough to ensure job security. The key to this is to spread your passion so that your team is as passionate and motivated as you are.

While hand picking your team, don't run after big names in the industry because they would have a heavy price tag attached with them, which can throw your budget off balance. Its good if you can get industry experts on board but don't rely so much on them that if they refuse in the end, your start-up goes for a toss.
3)Its hard to convince your family and friends
Try telling your parents that you are opting out of the finance firm that you were placed in and would rather start something on your own and you should expect -"Are you ****ing crazy?". Today if I tell my friends that I am thinking of a start-up they rather feel that I am unemployed and am trying to keep myself busy. Even if your start-up is fairly successful, most of your acquaintances won't believe in you unless you are listed in stock exchange. It is hard to make your family and friends believe in you, and don't even try that. You would be banging your head against wall. All you need is to believe in yourself and someday your friends would subscribe to your IPO and subsequently believe that you are doing something wonderful :)

4)You earn less than your friends and neighbours
In early stage startups, you would always complain that you earn less than your friend or neighbour and that is a fact you have to live with. If you are starting something or joining a startup to earn a good wage; you are at a wrong place. Startup is typically a place you have to work harder and are paid lesser in return. Startup is not about money, its about passion; money is a byproduct. In nutshell, passion can't pay for foods, but trust me, it can kill your hunger.

5)Deadlines are never met
One crucial lesson that you would learn in a while is no matter how well prepared you are, deadlines are never met. To me, deadline in itself has negative implications. 'Either you complete this assignment by today or you are dead '. I would rather refer to these as 'checkpoints'. Its fine, if deadlines are not met. In fact it depicts that we are still human.

6) No Magic Wand
There is no one customer or one big deal that can make you successful. Success is a gradual process. Every single day or deal is a one small step towards that mighty goal. The overnight success is no untrue outside the eutopian world. So don't expect that moment you launch your product, world would go insane.

7) Employee Retention
As we have discussed, in startup you work harder and are paid lesser. So chances are fair that your employees could look for better job opportunities once they have enough experience. So trick of the trade is to continuously evaluate your employees and reward them as per their skill and experience. No matter how hard you try, as an early stage startup, your remuneration can never compete with industry standards. So you should make sure that your emplyees feel attached to the startup and have a sense of ownership.

8)Expand team when business expands
You are no superhero. As your business expands, so should your team. You must include more partners and employees subsequently. If you don't expand your team, you would over stress yourself and ultimately hamper the progress of your startup.

9)Customers can be over-demanding
With new kid on the floor, customers can be over-demanding. They would customize the service or product as much as possible. While one consumer may want something taller, other might demand smaller ones. The key to success lies in address each customer individually. Even if you don't agree to their demands, few sweet words can do the magic.
10) Too much to offer, but is anyone listening
Most of the startups that I have come across, have too much to offer. They offer unique products and services and too many of them. The focus should instead be more on visibility. Instead of launching a line of product, first launch one unique product, make it known to target consumer, create a brand value. And then use this platform to showcase other products.

Stay tuned to TricksWork for all latest updates.....tricks do work!!!

19:39 | Posted in recent, start-up | Read More »

Why Product based start-ups should not roll out services to sustain

Planning to set-up a product based start-up, not sure if you could get enough funds!!! Well this situation is not uncommon to most of us. In recent years, entrepreneurs have come up with a crafty solution to it. Most of the product-based start-ups roll out 3rd party support services to ensure cash flow, with which they support their product based start-ups. This concept looks viable superficially, but we at TricksWork would discourage such practices. But why so??

1)Product based start-up needs a dedicated team
Product based start-up needs a 24*7 dedicated team, a robust R&D and an able management. Moment we roll out support service to sustain; the dedication of the team is divided, R&D takes a back seat and management is overburdened.

2)Support Services have their own deadlines
If you provide 3rd party service support; you must adhere to given deadline. You might start with a dedicated team for you product based start-up and a separate team for support services. But if deadlines are not met, you will have to put your entire team to task. Hence the flow is badly hampered and your employees are overburdened.

3) Failed product and poor service
You are caught in tussle between support services and product based start-up. Each have their own needs. And as an start-up it is not feasible to maintain adequate expertise and resources simultaneously for both. So compromise with one to push another and you end up with a failed product and a unsatisfactory service.

4)Lack of Vision
This would also indicate a lack of vision and confidence in your start-up and hence funds would be hard to come by. When you yourself are not convinced about viability of your product, how can you convince others?

5)Product Potential
You would be so busy meeting deadlines and optimizing your resources that your product would slip down the priority list and hence you would never realize the full market potential of your product. You will mess thing up.

So, if you are planning to set-up a product based start-up. A support service to sustain your start-up is a bad idea, get rid of it. The next big question that crops up - how do we support our start-up?

6)If you are not getting enough funds, you have not spent enough time
Today, funds are easy to get. If you have an idea, a prototype - that can create the difference. You will get as much as you want. So if you are not getting enough funds, it clearly means ; either your idea is not viable or you have not spent enough time on it. Go back, start with basics and make sure you cover these aspects before you approach any VC for funds-

Value Proposition: Your product must be adding a value ; i.e; it must be solving a real life problem. So if you are launching a product, first be convinced that your product makes life easier in some way.
Target Consumer: You must be clear as to what consumer base you are targeting-urban or rural, youth or old etc.
Delivery Channels: You should primarily focus on two delivery channels- a)Product Distribution Channels b)Advertisement Channels Product Distribution channel is easy to figure out but the real problem is to sync it with your advertisement channels. This vaguely means, can your advertisement channel create enough demand to compliment you Distribution channel and vice-versa. And most critical of all, do you have right advertisement channel to target your consumers.
Pricing Model: You should have a clear understanding of your revenue streams. Pricing today is much more than just figuring out expenses and deciding cost per unit of your product. Today, you have to give incentives to you buyers to buy more, to buy frequently and to recommend the product to others. For all these, an apt pricing mechanism is very crucial.

Once you have figured out these, you are pretty much ready to deliver your product to consumers. But your start-up vision is still half baked. you ought to include

Competitive Edge: You must identify who your competitors are and why would consumers prefer you over existing solutions in the market. In the nutshell, your business must have an USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
Growth Options: You must have a clear vision of what your company would look like 10 years down the line. If you want to make it big, you should start early. You should create enough room to accommodate future expansions and growth.

If you have a vision and a product which objectively satisfies all the above requirement, your start-up will never be short of funds. Stay tuned to TricksWork for our next post on 6 points that can make any start-up successful.

02:25 | Posted in recent, start-up | Read More »

Free sub-domain co.cc closed : Should bloggers use these?

co.cc ,which claimed to provide free domain names, has finally closed down, probably forever. Experts saw it coming for moths and finally co.cc gave in for various reasons.Before jumping into the resons and discussing whether such free 'domains' are trust worthy, let me make one point very clear. NO COMPANY ON THIS EARTH PROVIDES FREE DOMAIN. All these companies which claim to provide free domain, actually provide you sub domains of their top level domain. XYZ.co.cc is a subdomain of co.cc very similar to XYZ.trickswork.com being a sub domain of trickswork.com.

Now, having understood that we actually get sub-domains instead of domain, we can understand the complications involved. So if top level domain is registered to my name (say; trickswork.com); if I start distributing sub-domains(say, XYZ.trickswork.com), a who's-who query of the sub-doamin would still return the name of top level domain owner and hence tracking of real owners of websites become impossible. This further leads to other complications and security threats.

As the real owner of the website is masked-off and can't be held accountable, so it has been found that most of free sub-domains websites are spams, phishers, malware or hacks. This is precisely the reason why Google blacklisted and de-indexed all co.cc domains back in 2011. So the biggest disadvantage of using such domains is that your search engine visibility is very poor, hence you lose out on a major source of your traffic.

Back to why and how co.cc was closed, since Google and other search giants started neglecting co.cc, it became very difficult for them to survive. Though some of the co.cc sites were re-indexed, majority of them were penalized heavily in terms of page rank and visibility. This led to less people opting for co.cc paving way to final shut-down. Since November 1st, co.cc stopped registering new sub-domains, but existing users could still login or report spam. But mid-November they finally closed their shops and vanished.

All free sub-domain users, don't lose hope, you have plenty of options still. We have sub-doamain providers like cu.cc which are free till they survive. But TricksWork would advise you not to take these for reasons discussed above. Better register your own domain through bigrock, godaddy or whosoever gives you the best deal. And if you still need a free sub-domain, opt for blogspot or wordpress which not only provides you with free sub-domain but also a content management system as well for free.

00:53 | Posted in blogging tips, recent | Read More »

Top 10 free iphone apps that you must have

Planning to buy the new iphone5!!!
Well here is a list of 10 iphone/ipad/ipod apps that you must install, once you login to your itune account. And as an icing on the cake, these apps are absolutely free.

#1.Youtube App(Google Inc):
With Apple iOS6 making its way, its time to say good-bye to the iphone's built in youtube app. In September this month, Google launched a youtube app for iphone and ipod touch. This add is claimed to be cleaner, faster,more user friendly and ad free. Once you install this youtube app, your old youtube icon would be replaced by this one. Given our dependency on youtube, this undoubtedly should be the first installed app on your iphone.

#2 Find My Friend (Apple):

This free app helps you locate your family and friend, given that they have iphone, ipad or ipod touch and have this app installed and have agreed to share their location with you. Install this app in your device supporting iOS 5 or later, sign in with your Apple ID and add your friends and family members into your list, similar to google+ circle or facebook friend list. Once your request is accepted, you can get notifications on the location of your friend 24*7.

#3 iTunes U (Apple)
This educational app is an entire course at one touch. From the iTunes U app, students can play video or audio lectures and take notes that are synchronized with the lecture. They can read books and view presentations, see a list of all the assignments for the course and check them off as they’re completed. And when you send a message or create a new assignment, students receive a push notification with the new information. If it has been ages since you left the school or have read anything apart from newspaper, this app is surely not for you.

#4 Instagram

80 million users love Instagram!
Instagram has been making people prettier and slimmer since 2010. Its not a pill or cosmetic solution but a powerful yet simple photo editing tool
to share gorgeous photos on your iPhone. Choose one from plethora of effects available, blend it with your creativity to create epic pictures. Share your photo with your friend with a single click and check who among your friend is most photogenic. Since Facebook acquired Instagram, this app has only become better and sharing pictures across social networking platforms has been simplified.

#5 Note Anytime
Note Anytime is one of the coolest note taking and sketching application for ipad. Though this application is not for ipod touch or iphones, still it makes into the top ten list because of awesome user experience.

Write stylish noted with onscreen key-board or freely handwritten notes. Mix these typed text or hand written notes with photos, graphics,PDFs etc.
Use sticky notes, paint brush to add flavors to ur notes It is *free for now*. So install it before they start charging you for this.
Evernote is much robust and reliable though less fancy substitute of Note Anytime and can be used with iphones as well.

#6 Find My iPhone (Apple)

Find My iPhone is a web based security application that you can use to help you locate any of your lost iOS devices provided you have added them to your Find My iPhone apps. This app from apple is an extension of find my friend app with focus more on security than connectivity.
Track the location of your device in real time, remotely lock and discover your lost device. You can even make you device play a sound or remove vital information from your device.

This app is best suited for you if you tend to forget your device too often or you carry to much of confidential information on your device.

#7Subway surf (Kiloo Games and Sybo Games)
A game based on a concept similar to Temple Run but with enhanced user experience and better graphics. The concept is same-avoid the hurdles to survive, collect coins to tick score board. This game has been reported to me more addictive than any other adventure games available for iphone. So if you have a big exam coming or have to meet some deadline, better don't install this app!!

#8 Escape: The Dark Train Station (WaveA PTE.LTD.)

This one is for game freaks. Escape The Dark Train Station by WaveA PTELTD is a unique puzzle game, intended for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. This is an especially challenging game of skill where you have to solve diverse and interesting stages that can be solved by using the different tools you get on each stage.

#9 Songza (Songza Media, Inc.)
Right music at right time!!
This is a boon for pandora users. Now categorize and play your favorite song on the move. It has also made it possible to share songs and purchase from iTune stores possible at one touch. An integrated Alarm, greets you early in the morning.
If you are one of those crazy music lover, you must have this; if if you aren't one, you must try this app, and you would start loving songs.

#10 Flashlight(iHandy Inc)
Simple and Bright- best describes this app.

Struck in the middle alone in a dark night, this app will guide you to your destination because added to flashlight it has a compass to help you navigate through your way.

Some of these apps like Find My iPhone and Instagram require internet connectivity to work. We would soon come up with Top 10 iphone apps that work offline.

Tricks do work an so do apps!!!

23:17 | Posted in recent, technopreneurs | Read More »

8 reasons to switch to Android Jelly Bean 4.2

When Google announced its new smart phone and nexus tablet series, the writing was on the wall for the entry of new version of Jelly Bean: Android 4.2. With the new tablet series from Microsoft,Google etc; Android has tried to maintain its monopoly in the tablet sphere as well with this new version. Android 4.2 retains the name of Jelly Bean, as this version is not drastically different from its predecessors.It is more of an extension of Android 4.1, wherein many features have been updated. Moreover, there are some cool add on features which would not only redefine the user experience but would also open new avenues for android developers. Most of these features like 'panoramic' camera and gesture typing were already being provided by third party, google has tried to bring the entire package together under the umbrella of Android.

Top 8 Features to look out for in Android 4.2

Multiple-User Tablets: As discussed earlier, android 4.2 clearly focuses on Tablets with surface from Microsoft and nexus4 from Google to hit the stands soon. Jelly Bean 4.2 makes it possible for multiple users to use the same tablet and customize it as per their requirements, such as Google Play account, home screens, preferences and access control. The ability to add multiple user accounts just on the lines of PC was due since long. This is more of an attempt to project tablets as a replacement of traditional PCs

Photo Sphere Camera: Following the footsteps of Apple iOS 6, Anadroid 4.2 has upgraded its "panorama" function."Panorama" image was first introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich, photo sphere camera is just an extension of this.Photo sphere Camera creates huge mutli-shot scrollable image similar to Google Maps street view. In simple terms, it is the ability to take larger photos by moving the camera, these multiple snapshots are then digitally added together to create a 360o panoramic image which can be shared across social networking platforms.

Gesture Typing: A popular and powerful third party Android typing feature, now comes inbuilt with Android 4.2. It is more of a smart on-screen keyboard where you glide around your screen keyboard from letter to letter without lifting your finger. It is powered by refined and powerful dictionary, word recommendor and robust speech-text, thus redefining your typing experience.

Wireless Display: Just on the lines of Apple's AirPlay, wireless display helps you watch movies, stream games wirelessly on your HDTV. So you get the best of both the worlds.

Daydream: Android's daydream is basically a smart screen saver which lets you display slideshows, news feeds, google currents etc on your display screen when your Android device is idle or docked.This feature again is to bridge the gap between the tablets and PCs.

Execute Notifications: Jelly Bean 4.1 ibtroduced the feature of expanding and contracting notification. This feature has logically been extended so that now users can also perform actions as per those notification simply by tapping on them.

Google Now refined: Google Now aims to empower users by providing them right information at right time. It could be customized to provide you traffic information of the route you regularly ply and could provide you alternate routes to your destination. It can provide you flight details, weather conditions or scores of your favorite team. This powerful tool has further been refined in the latest Android version.

Android Beam: A lot of effort has been put into making Android smoother and faster. What distinctly differentiates Android 4.2 from Apple's iOS6 is Android Beam, the Near Field Communications (NFC) function which empowers users to share photos, websites, music, directions or videos with a single touch,
an improvement of its initial introduction in 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

In nutshell, Android 4.2 is being seen as a stepping stone for more drastic changes that are to follow in coming Android versions. The first device to use this OS is expected to be Google's own Nexus 4 which is scheduled to hit the stands this November.

03:26 | Posted in recent, technopreneurs | Read More »

Wordpress Vs Blogger - Which one is better??

Blogger and Wordpress are the two best blogging platform present, the problem arises whrn you have to choose between them. I have have been asked this question too often, and here comes the elaborate explanation. Having worked for years on both these platforms, for me both have their own limitations.

Blogger

Since google acquired blogger in 2003, it has been redesigned and upgraded constantly. Blogspot provides you complete freedom to tweak around with your design by modifying the html and CSS of your template. You can point your xyz.blogspot.com to any registered custom made domain of your choice; say xyz.com. You are not bound to register this domain with a google partner. You can independently buy the domain name and integrate it with. With the freedom in designing and domain registration, blogger has its own limitations. Multi-author blogs become difficult to manage with blogger. Moreover there are limited widgets and professional themes for blogger, even if you are willing to pay for it. But the fact that google apparently favors blogspot website coupled with easy adsense integration partially makes up for this.

Wordpress

Wordpress is the most popular and versatile CMS(Content Management Software) available. It has two different flavors

1)Wordpress.com

2)Wordpress.org

WordPress.com is a hosted version of WordPress.org.It Provides free platform with limited features as free and rest paid premium features. In short, you dont need a separate domain space for wordpress.com. Its free!!! you will have a free domain name as xyz.wordpress.com which you can point to your customized domain , which you will have to purchase from a wordpress partner costing you around $17 p.a. Most of the plugins, themes and widgets don't work with wordpress.com.

So, wordpress.com is not only costlier but has subsequent restrictions as well as compared to blogger. An alternative to it is wordpress.org, which is a open source CMS software. You need to have your own domain space for this. A domain space can cost you around $100 p.a, if you are ready to invest this, wordpress is the right option for you. It has a wide library of plugins and widgets to help you. It might appear complicated to start either, but as you get used to it, you would simply love it.

Coclusion

If you are designing a professional website, go for wordpress.org. But if you want a cost effective solution, or a you are a newbie testing your writing skills, better choose blogspot. you can have your own website in as low as $10. If I ever have to choose between blogspot and wordpress.com, I will always go for blogger.

12:12 | Posted in blogging tips, recent | Read More »

Bigrock Vs Godaddy: Where to buy DomainName from?

Domain-name is undoubtedly the most crucial part of your website. It defines who you are and what you become. Even when you contact sponsors, a good domain name creates a descent first impression. So once you have figured out your preferred domain name from the list of available domain names, the next question is where to buy domain name from?
Well there are innumerable domain-registrar companies, some of them are as follows-

All of these provide competitive prices and similar schemes, then which domain registrar should you choose. Well lets compare the top two in the list (they are the most commonly used ones), Suppose we search for tricksworkgood.com
As per current rates , Annually this domain name would cost you $10.67 (Rs 575.75) from GoDaddy.com(with 30% discount that they give to everyone, if you are not the lucky one you can contact me :P) and Rs 599($11.1) from BigRock.com. if you are an Indian consumer, they might charge you addition taxes hence costing you around Rs 674($12.49).
So apparently, GoDaddy appears to be a cheaper alternative, but there are devil in details. At $10.67, GoDaddy won't provide you any mail accounts or privacy protection. This would mean, all your contact details would freely be available worldwide on the whois datbase, which is ofcourse not recommended. So if you want privacy prtection as well, godaddy charges you $3.9 extra. If you want few mail accounts as well(which surely you will, if you host your website on blogger or wordpress), godady will charge you around $15 extra for this.

So in nutshell, package of domain name+privacy protection+2-5 mail accounts would cost you around $25 if you go for GoDaddy and would cost you $11 to $12 if you choose BigRock. As a ]n icing on the top, you can avail upto 25% discount by using trickswork.com as coupon code.

So, BigRock would be a smart choice. BigRock happens to be the registrar of trickswork.com domain name as well. And would you believe it, I got it for $5 p.a!!!

We would soon update an article on webhosts as well....
stay tuned..
Tricks do Work!!!

11:36 | Posted in blogging tips, recent | Read More »

Why TricksWork?

There are so many online portals on the similar niche of blogging tips and making money online, so why this new kid on the floor?? Well the main reason being paucity of Indian perspective in this field. If you look around, you find incomes and costs in dollars and not in rupees(INR). This can mostly be due to the fact that most of the bloggers tend to replicate the already available content on the web. So be it, what's the harm?

1)Tricks and tips for Indian bloggers from a Indian Blogger
India is one of the fastest emerging market for virtual online space. Thousands of new blogs from India are added every day. TricksWork understands that a blogger from India may have different requirements and hence this is our effort to provide custom-made solution specifically to Indian blogger.

2)Global Audience
While assisting Indian blogger, TricksWork would strive to bring out Indian picture to the entire globe. Also by providing a new perspective into blogosphere, we are adding a new dimensions to the blogging world.

3)Knowledge Sharing
Blogging since last 4 years and having established some big names in this field, I must admit that I have been helped a lot by blogger community. Hence onus is on me to give back to the world, hence I would share my knowledge and learn from your experiences as well. They say: Knowledge grows when shared.

4) One stop solution:
This is one of its kind blog, which strives to cater to most diverse section of online audience. Blogs ranging from blogging tips to health tricks and technological developments would be updated on this portal. We would stive to maintain same high standards and provide unbiased reviews to our viewers.

5)Interactive Platforms
This is no classroom, where I would write and you would read. I would encourage readers to get interactive, comment on our posts, get in touch with us or even write for us. Our main objective is to make the entire user experience more interactive.

10:07 | Posted in recent, technopreneurs | Read More »

Top 5 Ways to Earn more with ADSENSE

Many adsense publishers complaint that adsense hardly pays them anything. This problem is more prominent if your website is new. Even if your site is old and popular enough, that doesn’t always guarantee you a higher revenue

5 Tips to earn more from adsense

1) Higher traffic doesn’t always mean higher earning. Most people divert traffic from other websites by posting comments on forums or other platforms. While you do so, make sure that you only target the concerned traffic. Post comments only on the forums that are congruent to your niche. More concerned traffic you get, more is the revenue.

2) Placement of the ads is the most pivotal determinant of your earning. There are some universal hotspots. Placing ads on header, footer or within the posts would always increase the clicks and revenue. Avoid placing ads on the sidebars.

3) Improve the quality of your content. Put more impetus on quality than sheer advertisements. Advertising on social media is not a bad option, but traffic that you get through them, is most unlikely to affect your earning.

4)Along with adsense, use infolink’s intext advertisement. Intext advertisement will always pay you better than banner or text ads.

5) Sell your ad-space on monthly basis to publishers directly. This would not only increase your revenue but would also act as an alternative in case your adsense is blocked.

07:46 | Posted in make money online, recent | Read More »

ALTERNATIVES TO ADSENSE

You can double your earning with few smart tricks

Adsense is no doubt the the most popular way to monetize your website.But, never build your business around adsense,i.e, your website must have some alternative income source along with adsense. Adsense is the quickest and easiest way to earn online . But its hard to comply with its norm.

If your adsense is blocked. No matter how hard you try,be sure, it would not be re-activated. So in that case you should look for some other ad publishers

Best alternatives are

1)Chitika

2)Adbrite

3)Bidvertiser

Many publishers have reported greater earning when they switched from adsense to chitika. So to opt for Chitika whether as an option or as a mere compulsion, may end up to be a blessing in disguise.

Adbrite is also a good alternative. Ads are more catchy and will fetch you more money but may not always be relevant with your site content. So they may fall out of place.

The advantage with bidvertiser is that they bid for your website. Higher the advertiser bids for your site, higher the amount you get. So your earning per click increases as your site becomes better and popular. The added advantage with bidvertiser is that they have $10 as payment threshold as compared to google adsense threshold of $100. Moreover you can get the payments directly into your paypal account.

To supplement, You can also opt for infolinks. It is the greatest client for intext advertisement and may help increase your site’s earning manifolds.

My friend whose adsense account was blocked, today earns 500$ + per month using infolink and chitika, more than what he would ever have expected from adsense. He is more secure and happy. To conclude, if adsense has been deactivated. It is not the end of world in itself. You should look for alternatives. There is no point in crying. Move on!!!

07:45 | Posted in make money online, recent | Read More »

Adsense account blocked!!

My friend’s google adsense publisher account was blocked a fortnight back. What was more annoying was that google had 45.34$ due to him. But they confiscated the entire amount. It took thousands of impression and clicks and to 2 months wait to earn 45.34$. But it all went away in a stroke.

Initially when the website was first launched, it hardly earned 0.1$ per day but eventually it had some traffic and started making some money, google blacklisted him. Google paid him nothing for displaying adds 24*7 for 60 days.

One morning he woke up to be greeted by this message from google

Hello,
After reviewing our records, we've determined that your AdSense account
poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a
responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due
to invalid activity, we've found it necessary to disable your AdSense
account. Your outstanding balance and Google's share of the revenue will
both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers.

Please understand that we need to take such steps to maintain the
effectiveness of Google's advertising system, particularly the
advertiser-publisher relationship. We understand the inconvenience that
this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and
cooperation.

If you have any questions or concerns about the actions we've taken, how
you can appeal this decision, or invalid activity.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

As my friend says, he was not involved in any illegal clicks or traffic exchange program so he appealed against the decision which was subsequently rejected and he received a firm denial.

Hello,

Thank you for your appeal. We appreciate the additional information you've
provided, as well as your continued interest in the AdSense program.
However, after thoroughly re-reviewing your account data and taking your
feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're
unable to reinstate your AdSense account.

As a reminder, if you have any questions or concerns about your account,
the actions we've taken, or invalid activity in general, you can find more
information by visiting

google.com/adsense

I googled for days and days together and came to know that adsense blacklists publisher and not the website itself. So I advised my friend to use some other adsense publisher to activate adsense for his website. Initially Google approved the account and his website again featured advertisements from adsense, it had accumulated around 2$, when google again blocked him siting that this account was linked with a blocked account. This was completely disastrous, why did google approve the new account, when it had to disapprove it later on. Is it a ploy of Google to flourish at our cost?

After months of survey, I really found this to be a common problem of many adsense publishers. Many have lost as much as 200$ for one reason or the other. Its true that google is strict rather it is very strict. But at the same time it is not completely unjustified. Ofcourse google has to look after it’s adsense advertisers money. It is google’s strictness that has made it no 1 choice for all the advertisers.

07:44 | Posted in make money online, recent | Read More »

Welcome to TricksWork

TricksWork is a one stop solution to all your online worries-from blogging to making money online, to your health issues--everything at one place.

Really tricks do work!!!

11:03 | Posted in make money online, recent1, technopreneurs | Read More »

TricksWork: