farzal.ecommerce.spring2008.iba.khi.pk

It was pleasure to interact with all of you during my recent visit to IBA. First of all, I’d like to thank Farzal for inviting me. Secondly, please accept my apologies for a little late follow-up as I’m still traveling.

Following are some of the areas I touched upon during my presentation:

- Importance of Internet from Pakistani Perspective:
+ Over 1 billion Internet users globally spending 30% of their time online (Internetworldstats.com, 2007 & Jupiter Research, 2004)
+ 26% increase in global Internet advertising spending from 2004 to 2005 (Zenith Optimedia, 2005)
+ More than 1 million PC’s sold in Pakistan in 2006 with 20% YoY growth (Bearing Point & PSEB, 2006)
+ Around 12 million Internet users in Pakistan (Internetworldstats.com, 2007)
+ Pakistan Internet usage trends: Attached.
+ Google.com.pk traffic trend estimate @ http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/google.com.pk?site0=google.com.pk&site1=geo.tv&site2=dawn.com&site3=waridtel.com&site4=apniisp.com&y=r&z=3&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large

- Google Trends & Keyword Research:
+ Google Pakistan Zeitgeist @ http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/intl-zeitgeist.html#pk
+ Google Trends @ http://www.google.com/trends
(you can compare upto 5 terms separated by commas; can also select geo-location)
+ AdWords Keyword research tool @ https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordTool
(you need to register for a free AdWords account before going to this URL)

- Google AdWords (Paid Search & Internet Marketing):
+ Main AdWords website @ http://adwords.google.com/
+ AdWords product overview [PDF] @ https://adwords.google.com/select/AdWordsOverview.pdf
+ AdWords advanced reference guide [PDF] @ https://adwords.google.com/select/library/adwordsreferenceguide.pdf
+ IMPORTANT: AdWords official textbook [PDF] @ http://www.google.com/events/business_educators/files/MarketingAndAdvertisingUsingGoogle.pdf
+ AdWords learning center @ http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/
+ AdWords industry knowledge center @ http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads/metrics.html
+ AdWords global success stories @ https://adwords.google.com/select/success.html
+ AdWords local success stories:
> B2B Export: Cotton Socks Indenting: RY International: http://www.cottonsocks.com.pk/
> B2B Local: Software Development & Consulting: LumenSoft: http://www.lumensoft.biz/
> B2C Local: Online Shopping: Shophive: http://www.shophive.com/
> B2B Global: Google Qualified Internet Marketing Consulting: Bramerz: http://www.bramerz.pk/

- Google AdWords Professional (GAP) Qualification:
+ Qualified individual certification website @ https://adwords.google.com/select/ProfessionalWelcome
+ Requirements for an individual certification @ https://adwords.google.com/support/select/professionals/bin/answer.py?answer=12241&hl=en_US

- Tracking & Audit @ http://www.google.com/analytics

- Google Apps for your Domain (GAfyD):
+ Getting started with Google Apps @ http://www.google.com/a/
+ Google Apps overview presentation @ http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews_breeze/Apps/index.html
+ Google Apps administrator training material @ http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=67785
+ Guide to a successful Google Apps deployment @ http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=67774

- Other Interesting Products:
+ Share your videos & rich content with Google Youtube @ http://www.youtube.com/
+ Share your thoughts & view with Google Blogger @ http://www.blogger.com/
+ Monetize your content with Google AdSense @ http://www.google.com/adsense/
+ Google products list @ http://www.google.com/options/ (Don’t forget to try: Alerts, Desktop, Earth, Orkut, Picasa & Docs)
+ Google search features @ http://www.google.com/help/features.html (e.g. Calculator, Currency Converter, Definitions, etc.)
+ Google advanced/refined search tips @ http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/refinesearch.html

Anxious to explore further and would like to try Google AdWords to promote your blog or website? Let me know and I’d send you a free $25 coupon (conditions apply).

I hope I’ve listed all items/products we discussed. Please let me know if I missed out on anything.

Thanks & best of luck with marketing your e-commerce website in Pakistan!

Badar Khushnood
Pakistan Country Consultant
Google Inc.

M: +92.300.8486070
E: badar@google.com
E: badar@badar.com.pk

written by badar \\ tags: e-commerce, Google, marketing, online, Pakistan, promotion, website

Quiz 2 average is 73%, which I assume is going to go up by a couple of points when I return the quizzes and few students will successfully challenge their positions.

This was remarkably better than the 59% scored in first midterm.

written by Farzal (Admin)

I am usually very good with returning graded material, however medical and work related emergencies came up this weekend and I could only grade about half way through.

You will have them this Saturday at 9:20am giving you 25 minutes to review, challenge and return them.

Good luck.

written by Farzal (Admin)

Here is my theory on this course … and reason I give you so little help with assignments, there is no book for the course, etc

When a child is born, he or she is a dumb life form. They can’t speak (talk), understand (hear), recognize (see), transport (move).

But they learn this - with no books, no lectures, no hand holding; they do this by absorbing information from their environment, identifying patterns, and at the same time, the body physically becomes stronger for them to become independent in their motions, movements, etc. Continue reading »

written by Farzal (Admin) \\ tags: e-commerce, ecosystem, farzal, Maria Montessori

Three students disagreed or had questions about their grades - please email with proof of data and/or clarification to receive the extra point (those 3 only!)

The average is between 5.5 and 6.0 - very poor show. Only maybe 5 people had done the reading assignment on Amazon S3 SLA. I can see a very quick, easy to grade mid-term where I get tons of blank sheets of paper.

written by Farzal (Admin) \\ tags: Amazon S3, Quiz

Anyone has ideas on who should be invited to come for guest lecture? I was thinking it should be a 30 to 45 minute interactive session.

1 person from the financial industry (bank, stock exchange, brokerage, etc)

Couple of people from start-ups, ideally IT start ups

1 person from Teleco/FMCG/Oil & Gas/Shipping etc

Suggestions - names?

written by Farzal (Admin)

A suggestion came from Adnan (PixSense) on doing case studies, and seems like a very reasonable set of topics. Any suggestions on web 2.0 failures?

I think the course should cover case studies of e-commerce sites in the
Web 1.0 world first

1) Amazon - Success
2) Ebay - Success
3) WebVan - Failure
4) Pets.com - Failure

Then the course should look at Web 2.0 companies
Continue reading »

written by Farzal (Admin) \\ tags: e-commerce, Web 1.0, Web 2.0

Traditionally, courses like this have groups created to do projects (which has weightage of 15 to 30%), but all the intermediate work is done by individual resources.

One idea I have (has some roots into how York University in Canada conducts its MBA program) is to put students into groups of 4-6 people by 2nd or 3rd lecture (total 28 lectures). These will be called ‘companies’ - and rest of the semester, everything they do, even assignments and class participation, will be team driven. They may even be forced to sit together in 1 row each. And ofcourse the project will be company-based.

Continue reading »

written by Farzal (Admin) \\ tags: real world

The students have taken following courses - relevant courses are listed. Knowing this may help in defining the outline a bit well. There is some project work in Systems courses but other are theory based.

1. Programming
   1. Introduction to Programming
   2. Object Oriented Programming (Java/C++/C#)
2. Systems
   1. System Administration
   2. Systems Analysis & Design
   3. Information Systems Development (Oracle Developer 2000)
3. Data Communication & Networking
   Continue reading »

   written by Farzal (Admin)

Description of the course E-Commerce (MIS 403) is:

The course introduces the e-commerce concept, objectives, market drivers, requirements, underpinning techniques and technologies. Topics include: intelligent agents, client/server model, commitment, concurrency, recovery, network service, and application management, quality of service management, service level agreement management, application service providers and security management. Policy and regulatory issues in e-commerce will also be discussed. Finally, various e-commerce applications in the areas of finance, securities, trading, auctions, and travel will be described.

If you visit the IBA course description page, you notice that these students will not have any course on entrepreneurship. They do take a course in E-Business

Continue reading »

written by Farzal (Admin) \\ tags: "Angel funding", e-commerce, entrepreneurship, iba, venture