Musings Of A Marketer

I am afraid I was too fast hailing guys from GoDaddy. It appears they are making troubles to some of the Russian hosters - banning the domains registered at GoDaddy and hosted at some Russian providers.

I read a post here (in Russian) - in June 2006 GoDaddy blocked 1399 domains hosted at one of the biggest Russian provider Majordomo. No warning, no decent explanation etc. The main idea was spamming issues, but come on, 1399 names in one go? Among those - sites of Governmental institutions.

Why am I now talking about this old story? Just yesterday I found my friend having the same porblem. He just registered a cool domain name with GoDaddy, to the website hosted with a big Russian provider - Ru-Center. Neither he received any sort of a warning, nor he was explained of anything - he cannot start his website working - the domain is blocked, and the DNS link to SUSPENDED-FOR.SPAM-AND-ABUSE.COM. They replied a couple of times to his mails - explaining that there were some sort of security issues - spam, untrustworthy blah-blah. And then suddenly disappeared - no reply for several days already.

I mean, what kind of spamming problem can there be with a website that has not even started yet? Is it a fair policy - blocking crowds of domains for one or two spammers? I dare say, it’s not… So I am expecting my humble site to be blocked soon. Stay tuned

Ever had a chance to beta test a coffee? Here’s Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company coming up with a cute idea. As a blogging you are invited to beta test a new flavoured coffee.

The main requirements are that you have to be a blogging, testing and coffee enthusiast. Sign up by providing your blog url (which will be published on the net amongst others) and, if you are eligible, you will be sent a trial version of the new-flavoured coffee Jamaican Me Crazy.

Who and how decides on the eligibility is what I am not sure about, but I know for certain that blogging from Russia I may forget about being among of the happy ones

A very neat, cute and interesting launch - idea to my liking. Hope both Joffrey’s and the bloggers will enjoy…

Technorati : beta test, blogs, coffee, internet, marketing, web 2.0

Food Production Daily reports Mars launching a gift service throough Facebook. This wouldn’t be a big deal, knowing how many widgets have been coming out for Facebook. However, this new service takes a step further on, since it is not any longer a virtual giftshop - the chocolates are pretty real and can actually be eaten

What you need as a Facebook user, is choose a gift (for the moment this will have to be a Twix or Galaxy chocolate), and make a payment through PayPal. The recepient then will be delivered a Facebook message, requiring a mobile number to which a voucher code is sent. This code can then be exchanged for the gift at one of 12 500 participating shops through the UK.

The idea looks pretty raw to be, and only UK-based just yet, however, it is a pleasure to see the giants like Mars searching for ways to combine traditional marketing techniques with completely new methods of our digital age.

One might argue that a gift should be, well, gived… Rather than having the receiver search for the participating stores. True, but let’s hope this will be another step further. And… come on, as if you wouldn’t like to get or give a little something to a mate that you might not have a chance to meet every day but rather once in a month, or not even so. And this now becomes just a couple of clicks away.

I don’t know how confidential the information is, and neither do I know how strict the regulations are, but it would be great for Mars if they had a chance to link their cute widget to birthdays or anniversaries info on Facebook, and let the best customers have little somethings from Mars themselves…

Technorati : facebook, internet, marketing, mars, social network, web 2.0

I have just stumbled upon a great website - Kiva.org, a project started by Matt and Jessica Flannery, which helps small entrepreneurs in developing countries get funding from all over the world. The feature that makes it great is that you do not give the money away, but rather loan it to the entrepreneur of your choice. The amount is as little as 25 bucks which you can pay by paypal or credit card.

The scheme is roughly as follows:

1. You choose an entrepreneur on the site.

2. You make your loan to the businessman.

3. You start receiving feedback from the project’s partner institution about the sponsored entrepreneur’s progress.

4. In the end you receive your loan back from the entrepreneur, which you can withdraw or re-loan to smb else.

I have no idea what makes up the profit for the project owners, but this is a very cool way one can help people who need help and who are willing to work and develop. The project is being supported by many respected managers (YouTube’s Steve Chen among them, e.g., or Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn).   

Kiva guys define 2 risks for you as a lender:

1. Entrepreneur risk. To reduce this risk, Kiva is cooperating with local field partners - various microfinancial institutions who are screening each applicant for eligibility before posting on the website. The Field Partner looks at a variety of factors (past loan history, village or group reputation, feasibility of business idea, etc) before deeming the entrepreneur as credit worthy.

2. This leads to the Field Parner risk - bankruptcy, fraud or just lack of knowledge. This is reduced by Kiva people who have rated the institutions from 1 to 5.

In general, I have had a very positive impression of this project - a great idea, well executed and supported by many respected managers and companies from various industries. I hope this will be a long living project, good luck, guys…

To illustrate what I was posting about just yesterday, I have come across two articles in two different business magazines. The articles are about a very well-known Russian web service Odnoklassniki.ru (main idea - reuniting with classmates and friends from childhood and youth - analogue of classmates.com).

The idea of the project is great and it has been very successful, claiming millions of registered users. How many of them are fake is another story but anyway, the number of visits is very impressive - claiming the figures of around 50 million people over the last month.

However, what I have noticed is that people who are being interviewed seem to be quite careless about what is going on around. The striking point: the owner is very certain about the fact that his project and the rival site Vkontakte will be the leaders in the near future, with the competition lagging behind. Honestly, I hope (for his own good) that his choice of words and tone is not as confident when talking to the investors. Be confident but careful, and remember to look around for competition.

The same people managing Odnoklassniki project would in another article comment on Myspace expanding to Russia: these guys have nothing to do here, the market is shared by the two projects (I mentioned them above), and there’s no more room for Myspace. Come on, just have a look at Myspace’s concept to find that they are different. And have a look at their investors to find that they can find some space for themselves here in Russia. I would say, if you are a Myspace, a Facebook, a Badoo or anything of the kind, do not waste your time - the leaders here are very willing to give away their users.

Unfortunately, Myspace have been really slow so far. Their post about a single vacancy has been on for months, and God knows how long it will keep hanging there. I wonder what their HR policy is…

It’s a very interesting – logically sound and a fun – idea. After years of being judged and rated by their students, professors now have a chance to “strike back” – responding to some of the comments (I don’t know if it is them or the project owners choose the comments) in short movies with the help of MTVU guys.

One should have expected this sort of a strike back. What kind of a Web 2.0 experience would it have been otherwise? J And, though not directly on the rating site Ratemyprofessors.com, the communication is now transferring into a true dialogue.

What do we get from it? We come to understanding that professors are far from being boring – their wit and sense of humour give away really intelligent and nice people who have been often judged by losers who flunk their exams for no other reason but their own laziness or foolishness (to put is soft). Some, though, are exactly the way they are described by the students. Although the rating sites are perceived mostly as a joke, professors are not just having fun filming the movies. There happens to be a well-grounded criticism from the students, and the teachers have a chance to view themselves from their point of view. Some take the chance to apologize if they find the criticism well-argued.

However, the majority of the professors state that they do not normally check the rating and comments. To me, this seems wrong – among the boundless (if there are so many) comments from the whining students there will appear a couple of useful comments that are worth thinking about. Therefore, this strike-back project seems a tool to attract those pedagogues to the site more often, and respond accordingly – not necessarily through a movie but through educational process.

I hope, the films will continue, and the parties will have a chance to communicate to each other the points that they, for that reason or the other, cannot (or just don’t) discuss in class.

Especially, when shopping online, if you’ve chosen to pay by a credit card - what would the reason be? You don’t want to waste time on physical shopping if you are certain about the features of the product. Would you come up with a more e-business than selling hosting and domains? To me, it is somewhere in the top of e-businesses. The least of physical participation required.

Not so very true here in Russia, it seems. My latest experience with a Russian provider (Ru-Center) was a failure. I choose to buy from Internet using my credit card, I enter all the info, and lo! On the final stage of registration it turns out that I need to come down to the office to sign an agreement. Come on, guys, why would I care to come over if I want to pay by a credit card? If I do care to come – I will bring cash with me – it is just 20 bucks after all.

Result? I am here, registered with GoDaddy – the guys from over the ocean