Web 2.0

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.

Don’t Miss: Over 71 Microsoft Products, Services, & Apps You Probably Don’t Know

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.

Don’t Miss: Over 61 Amazon Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

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.

Don’t Miss: Over 201 Google Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

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

11 Blogging Years. 11 Blogging Lessons. 11 Blogging Tips.

by MAHESH MOHAN on August 13, 2018

Note: This blog post is an updated version of 7 Blogging Years. 7 Blogging Lessons. 7 Blogging Tips. (published 4 years and 100 blog posts ago).

Yes, that’s right! It’s the 11th Blogoversary of Minterest. I started Minterest (minterest.com) as a personal finance blog in 2006, and later in August 2007, I started blogging about “Money, Internet, Investing” (yes, that was the first tagline of Minterest and now it’s — tech. marketing. mashups.).

To be honest it was literally “Just another WordPress site” and I was simply rehashing topics that were of “My interest“. But there was one thing… I was learning. And the transition from Blogger.com to WordPress.org is simply amazing.

Don’t Miss: Blogger vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

I started creating blogs on Blogger.com back in 2004 and was treating it like a simple publishing tool. I guess the reason why it didn’t impress or motivate me much was its inability to customize things the way I wanted.

When I tried WordPress I liked almost all of its aspects and found out that I liked coding as well. Oh yeah, I’m a software engineer by education but it is not the coding that inspired me — it’s the magic in “technology”. Thanks to Microsoft.

Coming back…

I’m going to feature here 11 blogging lessons and tips that I have… learned, realized, or experienced in one way or the other over the past many, many years.

FreelanceMyWay Review: A Simple Freelance Marketplace To Hire & Find Jobs

by MAHESH MOHAN on May 28, 2018

FreelanceMyWay Review

Ever tried hiring a freelance writer? I have, and it’s tough. Really tough. And it’s tougher if you don’t know how to screen the writers or if you don’t know the industry well. For instance, I have recently started a trip planning company with my besties and finding a freelance writer for travel content was the biggest challenge in the whole process. The reason? I’m not that much of a traveller and I don’t follow the travel industry.

However, I do know good content when I see it — no matter what topic it is. So I had to try several freelance writers before finding one that matched my requirements and budget. It was actually the first time I worked with several freelance writers for a single project. It took a lot of time but in the end, I learned to hire.

That said, it’s not difficult to hire a freelancer (for any project) if you don’t care about the budget. If that’s the case, all you need to do is find the best in the industry and hire them. They will get your job done without much input from your end because they know what they are doing. On the flip side, when your budget is limited, it’s difficult to find someone who matches your requirement plus budget.

I have recently come across a new marketplace —FreelanceMyWay — that features only hand-picked freelancers. And from there, I found my latest freelance writer. [Read more…] about FreelanceMyWay Review: A Simple Freelance Marketplace To Hire & Find Jobs