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Over 251 Google Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

by MAHESH MOHAN on December 24, 2018

First Published: July 24, 2009; Last Updated: Monday, December 24, 2018.

Google may be a synonym for search, but it’s not restricted to that feature alone. If you are not a tech-savvy person then chances are that you are unaware about majority of Google’s products and services.

Anyway, how many Google products and services do you use? The common answers will be Gmail, Google+, Drive, Docs, or an Image Search. But Google is well beyond that.

Over 2.2 billion Google users. Over 1 billion YouTube users. Over 1 billion Gmail users. Over 1 billion Chrome users. Over 1 billion Maps users. Over 2 billion Android users. Over 1 billion Google Play Store users. That’s the stats of Google.

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The 19 Best Affiliate Programs & Networks For Anyone And Everyone

by MAHESH MOHAN on October 15, 2018

Best Affiliate Programs & Networks

First Published: September 30, 2015; Last Updated: Monday, October 15, 2018.

Affiliate marketing, as you might probably know already, is a multi-billion dollar industry and it’s by far the best way to monetize your website or blog — unless you have your own products and services to sell.

If you have a content rich website then there are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs and affiliate networks available on the web that can make you a fortune. In fact, the secret to six-figure blogging is affiliate marketing.

The reason is pretty simple… if you are monetizing your website with the right affiliate program then it can make a lot of money with little effort (of course you need a content rich website with a handsome amount of targeted traffic).

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It’s just that it takes some time to figure out what’s converting and what’s not.

So first things first.

Affiliate Programs & Affiliate Networks: What’s What, And What’s Not?

Affiliate programs are also called associate programs and it’s a deal between an advertiser and a publisher. For instance, if I’ve a created a software and is promoting and selling it via my blog then I can also generate additional income by inviting my blog readers to promote it in exchange for a commission.

So let’s say, if you referred a buyer for my newly created software product then I offer you a 50% commission (or 50% of the additional income that I have generated because of you). So if you refer more people to me then you make more income.

That’s why affiliate marketing is also known as performance marketing. And it’s a win-win, right?

Now if I have the resources then I can run an affiliate program by myself — within my own blog or website — and then it called an in-house affiliate program. But if I don’t have the resources or don’t want to manage it myself then I can sign up as an advertiser on an affiliate network.

3 Best Of The Best Remote Desktop Access Software That Are Free

by MAHESH MOHAN on October 1, 2018

The Best Remote Desktop Access Software

There was a time when I (and probably you) struggled with Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop software on a Windows PC to remotely access someone else’s computer. It was a terrible experience and never worked for me as it involved quite a few network settings and protocols — which I still don’t understand much.

And there were few free and premium remote desktop connection managers like LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, etc. at that time. But I was least interested in trying those remote desktop connection managers as it was of no use to me.

Then, with the advent of the smartphone era, I tried remote desktop apps for mobile like Splashtop, PocketCloud, LogMeIn, Join.me, and TeamViewer, etc. and almost all of them failed to impress me. It was simply not the kind of productivity apps that I wanted or even care about.

My impression completely changed when Microsoft and Google introduced their own Remote Desktop apps for web and mobile a few years back. The good thing is… both works perfect and is free without any restriction.

So here is a quick review (plus comparison) of the 3 (and only 3) best remote desktop access software that are free.

1. Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop is a Google Chrome app that lets you access all your computer(s) from another computer or from your mobile device(s). It can be used for a variety of purposes like to access your own computer from a remote location or to provide (or get) remote support or to securely access your files or software applications on your computer from a mobile device, and so on.

What I really like about Chrome Remote Desktop is that it’s linked to your Google account. So there’s no such thing as an extra user id or special codes to access your computer from another device of yours. And the installation and setup is pretty simple. All you need to do is install the Chrome Remote Desktop app on all your devices (computers, tablets, mobiles) and you’re good to go. [Read more…] about 3 Best Of The Best Remote Desktop Access Software That Are Free

Over 41 Facebook Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

by MAHESH MOHAN on September 3, 2018

Let me be honest. I didn’t even have a vague plan of writing this very blog post. The actual idea was to list all the products, services, and apps by Facebook — just like I did Over 201 Google Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know.

And I even started writing this blog post with the title “Over 51 Facebook Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know” only to realize later that they don’t even have 21 standalone products (including web and mobile apps). :D

Nevertheless, I’m listing all the products and services and apps offered by Facebook. And you will see that Facebook’s dominance comes from just three ~~products~~ apps. Facebook. WhatsApp. Instagram.

As you probably know, Facebook is the single largest social network out there and is also the second most popular website on the web according to Alexa Top 500 Global Websites (the first being Google + YouTube).

Facebook is not the first social network and yet it’s dominating the web 2.0. Just like Google did. Google wasn’t the first search engine out there but it managed to change the way we used the web. Google changed the way we gathered information, and it changed the way we spend our time online.

Facebook did the same. It changed the social networking scene forever and at the same time it crushed several other social networking websites (MySpace, Orkut, Friendster, Hi5, to name a few) and several mobile apps.

So today, I’m listing all the products and services and apps by Facebook. And I will be updating this article as they launch more products or make more acquisitions.

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Over 71 Amazon Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

by MAHESH MOHAN on September 3, 2018

First Published: September 26, 2016; Last Updated: Monday, September 3, 2018.

Amazon ($AMZN) is the largest retailer on the web. I’m not an Amazon fanatic but I like to shop online (or on Amazon). And I believe Amazon will become a lot more bigger than what it is today.

For me Amazon was all about online shopping and shopping only until a few years go, and then I came to know about its dominance in the cloud computing space.

That’s how I became curious and made a plan to list all its products and services and app (or this very blog post).

So today, I’m listing all the products and services and apps by Amazon. And I will be updating this article as they launch more products and services.

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Over 61 Paid Traffic Sources To Buy (Real) Targeted Website Traffic

by MAHESH MOHAN on August 28, 2018

First Published: March 29, 2016; Last Updated: Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

There are plenty of paid traffic sources on the web from where you can buy targeted traffic to your website. The best thing about online advertising (unlike television, radio, print, etc.) is that it’s totally accountable and you get to know the exact returns of every single dollar that you are spending.

Online advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry and the digital ad spending in the U.S. is all set to surpass television ad spending. Paid advertising on search engines and social media accounts for over 50% of the total ad spend (dominated by Google, Microsoft, and Facebook).

The good thing about online advertising is that it’s super easy to kick-start an ad campaign and it could attract a lot of targeted traffic in the shortest span of time. But the bad thing is that it may be effective only in the short-term because when you stop your ad campaigns the traffic may pause.

However, online advertising is extremely flexible and efficient (in terms of ad targeting, spending, and tracking) and it basically means that if you have a solid marketing strategy then your online ad campaigns can bring in higher return on investment for the short-term as well as for the long-term.

As I have already mentioned, majority of the ad spend happens on paid search because of the superior traffic quality (and hence the performance). Also, you can reach 96% of the U.S. searchers by signing up as an advertiser on Google.com (via Google AdWords) and Bing.com (via Bing Ads).

Over the past several years, I have published a dozen blog posts about website monetization and it was all about selling ads on your website and rarely about ad spending. Actually, I’m a lover of organic traffic (or search traffic). But it’s also true that it takes a lot of time to get some traction that way.

So if you start a new business and want to tap the online advertising space then the best way is buy paid traffic on different traffic sources like search engines, social networks, display ads, video ads, etc. Here is a curated list of some of the best paid traffic sources on the web — categorized and subcategorized.

Don’t Miss: Free Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising Credits Worth Over $1000 [Read more…] about Over 61 Paid Traffic Sources To Buy (Real) Targeted Website Traffic

Long-Form Content vs. Short-Form Content: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

by MAHESH MOHAN on August 28, 2018

Long-Form Content vs. Short-Form Content

Long-form content (especially long-form articles and blog posts) is currently trending on the web among brands and bloggers because they’re proven to bring more search engine and social media traffic.

However, long-form content is not something new. They existed as e-books, whitepapers, guides, etc. for a very long time. It’s just that now it’s everywhere — on blogs, e-zines, news portals, etc.

That said, it’s also true that our attention spans are getting shorter — thanks to smartphones and social networks. Long-form content possibly gained its traction among bloggers because of the Google Panda algorithm update because it started rewarding high-quality content and penalized low-quality content (mainly content farms).

Now what’s high-quality and what’s low-quality? Well, it depends and varies. [Read more…] about Long-Form Content vs. Short-Form Content: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons