Source: How Great Leaders Inspire Action – Simon Sinek

Windows Phone 7 Operating System is as fresh as Apple’s IOS:

Although I do not want to debate right now that which Smartphone OS is better among the three? But I must state Windows Phone 7 user experience is very refreshing and new. I happened to use Iphone, when I first switched to smartphones and the experience was quite good. After that I moved to Samsung Galaxy S, famous Google’s Android driven phone, but the experience was not that great. Although the hardware and style of Samsung Galaxy S was superb, but I didn’t like the Android OS. I had switched from Iphone to expect something new/better, but Android just proved to be a rebranded Apple IOS, it was not new, it was not exciting, it followed the same concept of Apple. So the experience was boring. Additionally, Android is not as mature or perfect as Apple IOs so I felt pretty disappointed after my purchase of Samsung Galaxy S.

My quest for freshness and elegance in smartphones made HTC HD7 my next choice. And when I first laid my hands on it, I must say that it was WAAAOOOOO!

HTC HD7 offered the same level of excitement that I felt when I first used Iphone. Windows phone 7 is completely different in style and interface as compared to Iphone or Android, and this is its best feature. Since I was so accustomed to Apple IOS and Android (both are nearly same) I first felt a little uncomfortable with this new Operating System. But the elegance and beauty of Windows Phone is impeccable. I think anyone who has a taste for smartphones must give it a try.

If you want to see the specs of HTC HD7 you should visit HTC’s Official HD 7 Page. But believe me specs will only tell you half of the story, HTC Windows Phone 7 worth every penny spend on it. Checkout HTC HD7 Deals Also
Check Out Great Windows 7 Phone Deals – As low as 1 penny!

Source: HTC HD7 – Windows 7 Phone – Why I would recommend this smartphone?

Quite recently I read a post on the very blog and I think it is the Best SEO Advice any SEO can get in 2011. I have myself been a follower of the very same SEO methodology, but was not able to express it so well in words. I am copying the whole post here, in order to keep it for future reference and share it with my friends.

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You can’t learn great SEO from an e-book. Or buying software tools.

Great SEO is built on an understanding.

Reducing SEO To Prescription

One of the problems with reductive, prescribed SEO approaches – i.e. step one: research keywords, step two: put keyword in title etc can be seen in the recent “Content Farm” update.

When Google decide sites are affecting their search quality, they look for a definable, repeated footprint made by the sites they deem to be undesirable. They then design algorithms that flag and punish the sites that use such a footprint.

This is why a lot of legitimate sites get taken out in updates. A collection of sites may not look, to a human, like problem sites, but the algo sees them as being the same thing, because their technical footprint is the same. For instance, a website with a high number of 250-word pages is an example of a footprint. Not necessarily an undesirable one, but a footprint nevertheless. Similar footprints exist amongst ecommerce sites heavy in sitewide templating but light on content unique to the page.

Copying successful sites is a great way to learn, but can also be a trap. If you share a similar footprint, having followed the same SEO prescription, you may go down with them if Google decides their approach is no longer flavor of the month.

The Myth Of White Hat

A lot of sites that get taken out are white hat i.e. sites that follow Google’s webmaster guidelines.

It’s a reasonably safe approach, but if you understand SEO, you’ll soon realize that following a white hat prescription offers no guarantees of ranking, nor does it offer any guarantees you won’t be taken out.

The primary reason there aren’t any guarantees comes down to numbers. Google knows that when it makes a change, many sites will lose. They also know that many sites will win i.e. replace the sites that lost. If your site drops out, Google aren’t bothered. There will be plenty of other sites to take your place. Google are only concerned that their users perceive the search results to be of sufficient quality.

The exception is if your site really is a one-of-a-kind. The kind of site that would embarrass Google if users couldn’t find it. BMW, for example, in response to the query “BMW”.

It’s not fair, but we understand that’s just how life is.

An Understanding

For those readers new to SEO, in order to really grasp SEO, you need to see things from the search engines point of view.

Firstly, understand the search engines business case. The search engine can only make money if advertisers pay for search traffic. If it were too easy for those sites who are likely to use PPC to rank highly in the natural results, then the search engines business model is undermined. Therefore, it is in the search engines interest to “encourage” purely commercial entities to use PPC, not SEO. One way they do this is to make the natural results volatile and unpredictable. There are exceptions, covered in my second point.

Secondly, search engines must provide sufficient information quality to their users. This is an SEO opportunity, because without webmasters producing free-to-crawl, quality content, there can be no search engine business model. The search engines must nurture this ecosystem.

If you provide genuine utility to end users, the search engines have a vested interest in your survival, perhaps not as an individual, but certainly as a group i.e. “quality web publishers”. Traffic is the lifeblood of the web, and if quality web publishers aren’t fed traffic, they die. The problem, for webmasters, is that the search engines don’t care about any one “quality publisher”, as there are plenty of quality publishers. The exception is if you’re the type of quality publisher who has a well recognized brand, and would therefore give the impression to users that Google was useless if you didn’t appear.

Thirdly, for all their cryptic black box genius, search engines aren’t all that sophisticated. Yes, the people who run them are brilliant. The problems they solve are very difficult. They have built what, only decades ago, would have been considered magic. But, at the end of the day, it’s just a bit of maths trying to figure out a set of signals. If you can work out what that set of signals are, the maths will – unblinkingly – reward you. It is often said that in the search engine wars, the black hats will be the last SEOs standing.

Fourthly, the search engines don’t really like you. They identified you as a business risk in their statement to investors. You can, potentially, make them look bad. You can undermine their business case. You may compete with their own channels for traffic. They tolerate you because they need publishers making their stuff easy to crawl, and not locking their content away behind paywalls. Just don’t expect a Christmas card.

SEO Strategy Built On Understanding

Develop strategies based on how a search engine sees the world.

For example, if you’re a known brand, your approach will be different to a little known, generic publisher. There isn’t really much risk you won’t appear, as you could embarrass Google if users can’t find you. This is the reason BMW were reinstated so quickly after falling foul of Google’s guidelines, but the same doesn’t necessarily apply to lesser known publishers.

If you like puzzles, then testing the algorithms can give you an unfair advantage. It’s a lot harder than it used to be, but where there is difficulty, there is a barrier to entry to those who come later. Avoid listening to SEO echo chambers where advice may be well-meaning, but isn’t based on rigorous testing.

If you’re a publisher, not much into SEO wizardry, and you create content that is very similar to content created by others, you should focus on differentiation. If there are 100′s of publishers just like you, then Google doesn’t care if you disappear. Google do need to find a way to reward quality, especially in niches that aren’t well covered. Be better than the rest, but if you’re not, slice your niche finer and finer, until you’re the top dog in your niche. You should focus on building brand, so you can own a search stream.

======= End of post – copied thankfully from Aron Wall’s SEOBook blog.============

Source: Best SEO Advice in 2011

Give priority to your Customers and Employees:

The first noticeable point is that his primary focus is his customers and employees and then comes the shareholders (it will be interesting to note that Yahoo is among the shareholders of Alibaba!). He emphasized in his interview that when hard times come it was the customers and employees who stood with him.

I think it can be one of the best lessons for any growing company i.e. to give priority to your customers and employees.

Let the brains run computers:

Another very important take way from Jack’s interview is: “I hate computers running brains. Brains should run computers.” I think for most of the technology focused companies this quote is a gemstone. Too much emphasis on technology often causes creativity to die.

Company Culture:

Jack’s vision of company culture is also very inspiring. He emphasizes the idea of “helping others.” Instead of creating a “leg pulling” competitive environment, a helping environment makes everybody win. When employees have a passion of helping others and solve each other’s problems; most of the organizational problems get solved easily. Also the environment built on “greed” is the main cause of economic imbalance in the world, according to Jack. A culture based on creating and giving value and helping others is thus the solution.

What makes a Great Company?

Jack also stated in this interview that:  “if you want to make a great company think what social problem you can solve.” Associating social problems with company growth is a remarkable idea of Jack and certainly leads to not only a great profitable company but a better society.

One of the most thought provoking idea that I got from this interview was that “people make money by selling small things.” Jack said that he has seen people making millions by selling shrimps but none making money by selling whales or sharks , certainly an interesting analogy to ponder.

Source: Best Business Model in 20 Minutes

Project Management is one of my favorite subjects and I have read many books on the topic. But the most important topic that has inspired me is being “Effective” in your work, especially management. It is effectiveness in action that creates a difference in project management.

The most important thing that I have learnt after much reading is that “Do not confuse brilliance with success or with the ability to execute”.

Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual; they fail to realize that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement. They never have learned that insights become effectiveness only through hard systematic work.

Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results. The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data.

Working on the right things is what makes knowledge work effective.

Know the Knowledge Worker:

Another important thing that I have learned is to make best use of Knowledge Workers in your company or organization. In modern organizations the Knowledge Worker is the key player in making an organization successful.  Knowledge worker is the man who puts to work what he has between his ears rather than the brawn of his muscles or the skill of his hands.

The knowledge workers are the new executives of your company. Their importance lies in the fact that they can make instant intelligent decisions and save “you” and “your time” from being used in everyday tasks and decisions.

The knowledge worker cannot be supervised closely or in detail. He can only be helped. But he must direct himself, and he must direct himself toward performance and contribution, that is, toward effectiveness.

The importance of the knowledge worker is perhaps best illustrated by a newspaper interview with a young American infantry captain in the Vietnam jungle.

Asked by the reporter, “How in this confused situation can you retain command?” the young captain said: “Around here, I am only the guy who is responsible. If these men don’t know what to do when they run into an enemy in the jungle, I’m too far away to tell them. My job is to make sure they know. What they do depends on the situation which only they can judge. The responsibility is always mine, but the decision lies with whoever is on the spot.”

In a guerrilla war, every man is an “executive.”

Hence if you can cleverly leverage the knowledge workers in your team then you can surely push your projects towards completion. Putting ideas and strategies into action and to effectively coordinate with the knowledge workers are two tips that I wanted to share with you in this post.

Were you already aware of these facts? or I have contributed something to increase your knowledge and efficiency, share your views in comments.

Note: This post is based on excerpts (and my readings) from Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive.”

Source: How to become an Effective Manager?

I recommend you to view the video below, then I continue my post.

So this is Nick Vujicic, I had not heard him before, but a little search revealed much about him. Below is a short overview of his life without limits.!

The best thing I like about Nick Vujicic, is that he has grasped the True meaning of Belief in God, although he is a Christian (and I am not.) but the think I liked about him is that he has understood the most important things about God, fate and struggle in life that most people (no matter whichever religion they follow) fail to understand. In the following video Nick tells you How he managed to live happily? Do not look it as a Christian perspective only, view it as way to understand the concept God.

Nick Vujicic is now a motivational speaker. Check his videos on youtube.

Source: If I fail 100 times, I will finish strong. Do you ?