AOL Acquires Bebo

Apparently, there’s still value in the mostly ad-supported Internet business of social networking.

Yesterday AOL announces a plan to acquire Bebo, the third-biggest social networking site in the United States, for $850 million in cash. It’s reported that “AOL has spent close to $2 billion in the past year or so on acquisitions as it races to leave behind its tangled legacy as the 1990s phenomenon that introduced much of America to the Web.” (CNNmoney.com).

Filed under: AOL, Internet, Web 2.0, adsense, advertising, adword, blog this, business, networking, social, startup, technology , ad, adsense, advertising, adwords, branding, campaign, design, Gatepedia, Internet, logo, marketing, online, PPC, promotion

The Social Networking Web Explosion Years of 2003 – 2005, What Were You Doing?

Okay, I am a child and a graduate of the web 1.0 bubble-era, so I have learned a lot from it, but may be not good enough to some. But do you remember that one guy, I can’t remember his name right now, but he’s from the Silicon Valley area. He had a very successful dot com company; he became an instant dot com millionaire (well on papers) in that era.

When his company received plenty of VC funding and eventually made the IPO, he had gone out and spent millions (on paper), buying huge houses, cars, etc., without having his company actually made any money.

So, after the collapse of the web 1.0 thing which also caused his company to fold, the banks came and took away all of his possessions. Perhaps not knowing what else to do, he was probably more embarrassed than being disappointed, he then left for Asia and joined the Monk convent, but no biggie, and it’s all good, right? Right!

My question is this, after the dot com 1.0 bubble, what were you doing between 2003 and 2005 when they were starting Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5.com, and some of today’s most successful dot com 2.0, web based applications and social networking sites?

Well, for me, I had gone back to school, and I passionately dislike myself because this entire web 2.0 thing caught me asleep. I didn’t see it coming. I guess I initially looked at their business models and said, hmm, they are just another TheGlobe.com wanna-be’s. Do you remember TheGlobe.com? I’d say that TheGlobe.com was the first social networking site for the web 1.0, but it’s too bad, it didn’t survive the bubble.

The question is; if you are an Internet aspiring entrepreneur, what were you doing between 2003 and 2005 when they were starting MySpace, Facebook, Digg, and the late coming, but fastly growing kid, YouTube?

Do you think there is still a room for another web startup to make it?

Filed under: Google, Internet, Web 2.0, adsense, advertising, adword, article, blog this, business, culture, eBay, entrepreneur, living, networking, news, social , ad, ads, adsense, advertising, adwords, branding, campaign, design, Gatepedia, Internet, logo, marketing, online, PPC, promotion, social networking, web 3.0

The Better Way to Design Your New Logo

It’s a fact that your logo is the face of your company, your corporate identity and brand and it is the very first thing that your customers and audience recognize, remember and associate you with what you do and your product offerings.

But getting a logo designed is the hardest task, and companies spend tens of thousands of dollars designing their logos. There are many firms that offer logo design services, corporate identity, etc., and some charge extremely large fees, just to design your logo.

Most of them do really good, but charging hundreds of thousands of dollars just to design a logo seems rather ridiculous, but hopefully worth it. Is it the designer who makes the logo stand out and make a statement or you, the logo owner?

It’s partly the designer but it is all about you. And you can hire a small time in a sense of the firm size, or a local freelance graphic designer, even a college student and pay him or her a normal fee, whatever she or he charges, hopefully not in the tens of thousands of dollars, and still get the best logo designed, than paying a large design firm hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Hey, you can have or hire the best of all the best graphic designers in the world, but if your taste is ugly, then you’ll end up with a logo design that has no good value or appeal to anyone, except those who have the same taste as worse as yours.

Getting your logo designed is as easy as you may think. First of all, you have to know what you precisely want. And do a lot of research; compare several designs already out there before you embark on your own design. And most importantly, you must know your industry, your targeted audience, and your product offering.

Imagine how your design fits in with your audience and your industry, and always look at what other successful companies in your industry have done with their logo designs.

Picture in your mind placing your logo on top of your office building as your logo signature, picture putting it on your business cards, entrance ways, merchandise, etc., imagine what it will look like in the eyes of your audience and everyone else who sees it.

I am personally not easy to work with when coming to things like these; I may ask to make several modifications until it feels completely right to me. And, if it doesn’t feel right even for a little, then I’ll have it changed to my liking. It’s better getting it done the way you exactly want it rather than not being completely happy with it.

I like taking long drives or a short nap, and then I try to imagine the design in my head and how I like it, when I take a nap, while I am half sleep, that’s when I think creatively the best, and if there’s one thing, even a little that bothers me or displeases me on the design, then I’ll have it corrected to my pleasing.

That’s my personal secret and hopefully it helps you a little. I am not a graphic designer, although I try to, but what I do, I open a new MS Word file, after I have done my research, and write down everything how I want my design to look like, and then I take it to my designers or find a freelancer. Yes, there are in-house designers that I can use, and I do use them most of the time, but I like it when I get outside designers to design some of my stuff, that way I get new and different design ideas, but per my pleasing.

And, when I get the designer that I want, I allow the designer to input his or her own artistic style in my design, giving them artistic freedom, so I try to go with the designer who may offer exactly the style that I want, and then when I give them my MS Word file, I also allow them to express themselves artistically, to expand on what I have proposed, and then I get a mixture of his or her idea with mine, combined, and the results, marvelous.

Today, I have just unveiled our official Gatepedia.com logo as can be seen at our current blog at http://www.gatepedia.com. This logo was designed by one of my all time favorite graphic designers, Lindsay Marsh at Marsh Graphic Design (http://marshgraphicdesigns.com).

She is the best and very affordable, which is a big plus. If you need a logo or whatever graphic work for your small or large business, I personally recommend her. That’s the second artwork she has designed for us, and we are very happy with her work and we will continue to use her service more.

Well, I can keep on writing but that’s my secret advice for how you can design the best logo for your project or business, and now, go out there, make great logo design, and make it happen, and BIG.

“Each One, Teach One”! Make the best of it, and remember to help the needy and those who seek and ask for your help in whatever and every way you possibly can.

Filed under: Internet, Tools, Web 2.0, adsense, advertising, adword, art design, article, blog this, business, culture, design, education, entrepreneur, graphic design, launch, logo, production, project, promotion, social, startup, technology , ad, ads, adsense, advertising, adwords, branding, campaign, design, Gatepedia, Internet, logo, marketing, online, PPC, promotion, social networking, web 3.0

AdSense leaves Google?

Is there any more room in the entrepreneurial world for a well known, well funded, well experienced and respected individual to enter the entrepreneurial world?

Will he be a threat to most of us or an icing on a cake, a blessing in the sky?

Whatever he decides to do will be a monster success. Welcome to the jungle, Gokul!

Gokul Rajaram, a high-ranking Google product manager who helped launch one of the search giant’s most profitable ventures has left to start his own company.

“I’ve been having the itch to do something entrepreneurial for awhile now,” says Rajaram, 33, known by Googlers as one of the “godfathers of AdSense.” “I’m in my early 30s and I have some experience and financial security, so the time felt right.”

“I have some ideas on the consumer Internet side,” he adds. “I’m still trying to flesh that out in the next few weeks. Right now, I’m just trying to get used to not going to work.”

Read the entire article at CNNMoney.com.

Filed under: Google, Internet, Tools, Web 2.0, adsense, advertising, adword, article, blog this, business, project, technology , adsense, advertising, adword, entrepreneur, Facebook, Gokul Rajaram, Google