Today, I began my journey of writing my next eBook. After completing my last two eBooks, I realized the need for a more comprehensive guide on IoT. I want to provide readers with an enhanced version of my previous book, “Your IoT Journey,” with even more valuable content.
However, as I pondered over the title, I started to have second thoughts about the original one. I believe a captivating title is crucial for attracting readers and conveying the objectives of the book effectively. So, I decided to brainstorm some alternative titles that would encompass the essence of the book while sparking curiosity. Here are a few options I came up with:
Start Your IoT Business
Your IoT Guide
IoT Journey Guide
Transform into IoT
I’m open to any suggestions or feedback on these titles. Feel free to share your thoughts and help me choose the perfect title for my upcoming eBook. Stay tuned for the next update!
However, beginning early this year (2023), I started to become more active. In 2022, I only posted 16 articles, but today (May 16, 2023), I have already posted 54 articles!
And the number of views have increased 37.5% and we have 6-7 more months in 2023. Most likely it will reached far higher than this by end of 2023.
This is what I did to make the difference:
Be more active in generating contents
Daily postings either through new articles or responding to WordPress Daily Prompts.
Post trending topics. Currently the topics are related to Generative AI such as ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney and AIPRM
Post new tips and tutorials
Engage with other readers using WordPress Reader. Exchanging comments and give Likes.
Increased number of followers. Especially after I reach out and engage with other Bloggers
Using FB Page and WhatsApp Groups to share links. This help to attract new visitors.
I will keep this methods to increase more visitors and views.
What do think? What other methods did you use to increase traffic to your Blog?
Knowing about the top AI tools available is essential for several reasons, particularly if you’re involved in the tech industry, data analysis, or any field that could benefit from artificial intelligence. Here are some reasons why:
10 AI Tools
Stay Updated: The field of AI is constantly evolving, with new technologies, applications, and tools always emerging. You can stay at the forefront of technological advancements by keeping up-to-date with the latest tools.
Improve Efficiency: Many AI tools are designed to automate tasks, analyze large amounts of data, and make predictions that can help in decision-making. Utilizing these tools can significantly increase the efficiency and productivity of your operations.
Competitive Advantage: Understanding and implementing the right AI tools can give your business a competitive edge. It can enable you to provide better services, make more informed decisions, and operate more effectively.
Innovation: AI tools can open up new possibilities for innovation. They can provide insights from data that were not previously possible and enable the development of new products and services.
Cost Savings: By automating tasks and improving efficiency, AI tools can significantly save costs over time.
Skill Development: If you’re a professional or a technology or data science student, familiarity with the latest AI tools is an essential skill that can enhance your career prospects.
Problem-Solving: Each AI tool has its strengths, and understanding what’s available can help you choose the right tool for solving specific problems, whether they’re related to data analysis, natural language processing, predictive modeling, or other areas.
Better Decision Making: AI tools can analyze data and provide insights that aid in better decision-making. This can be particularly beneficial in business settings, where making informed decisions can significantly impact a company’s success.
In today’s fast-paced digital age, being recognized as a thought leader in your industry is more critical than ever. But how can you achieve this status? This article will discuss some critical tips for becoming a thought leader in any field.
Educate Others
The first step to becoming a thought leader is to educate others. Share your knowledge with your audience about your industry, product, service, or company mission. One way to do this is by starting a blog and regularly posting content about your industry and product. This can help you establish credibility and build a following of people who look to you for information and advice.
Create a Personal Brand
Once you have established yourself as an expert in your industry, it’s time to create a personal brand. This can be challenging, especially if you don’t have much experience in marketing or public speaking. However, by being yourself and building relationships with others who share your values and beliefs, you can create a personal brand that resonates with your target audience.
Establish Social Proof
Social proof is a measure of how much other people like your content. This can be gained by having a solid social media presence or by having many followers, likes, shares, and comments on your posts. When people see that others are talking about you on social media or that you are verified on Facebook or Twitter, they are likelier to believe what you say, give you money, or buy from you.
Publish Regularly
To establish yourself as an authority in your field, it’s important to publish content regularly. These include blog posts, social media updates, videos, podcasts, or webinars. By sharing your thoughts and ideas with the world, you can build trust with potential clients who may want to hire or do business with you.
Be Active on Social Media
Social media is one of the most essential tools for building your brand and establishing yourself as a thought leader. Share your content on social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Engage with other thought leaders in your industry by commenting on their posts and participating in online groups and forums.
Make Your Content Easy to Share
Make sure that your content is easy to share. Use a call to action, such as “Share on Facebook!” or “Tweet this!” Make sure the text is easy to read and doesn’t have unnecessary clutter in it. Use high-quality images and subheadings to make your content more readable.
Have a Point of View and Be an Authority
To become a thought leader, you need to have a point of view and be an authority in your industry. Be unique and controversial, but in a good way—not offensive or hurtful. Share your knowledge and experiences with others and create content that is easy to share.
In conclusion, becoming a thought leader takes time and effort. Still, by following these tips, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and build a following of people who look to you for information and advice. Remember to educate others, create a personal brand, establish social proof, publish regularly, be active on social media, make your content easy to share, and have a viewpoint and authority in your industry.
I must admit that I have many personal Blogs excluding the Professional Blogs such as IoT World.
But now, only two which seems to be more active than others.
Travelog Mazlan is one of the earlier ones which I have created but using WordPress domain (free).
And the one here (Mazlan Abbas Blog) which I have created using a domain which I subscribed.
The reason I build this Mazlan Abbas Blog is for my professional portfolio and to write about other topics than IoT – for example thought leadership, social media and entrepreneurship.
But then, I realised that Mazlan Abbas Blog lacked content because I frequently write on Travelog Mazlan Blog.
However, I also saw an increase of visitors traffic that constantly visit Mazlan Abbas Blog.
I am now in a dilemma which Blog should I focus? Should I answer the daily WordPress Prompt on Travelog Mazlan or Mazlan Abbas Blog?
IoT Adventure Book will delve deeper into the business of IoT. It will also share the experience of being an IoT entrepreneur. Some of the topics have been written in the IoT World Blog. Check out the contents below:
A couple of weeks earlier, I was very depressed and frustrated when my boss did not approve my application to attend IoT Asia 2014. I applied for the trip with two of my staff to attend the first IoT event in the region, yet only two of my staff applications were approved but not mine.
Our organization started the work on IoT almost two years earlier, and I thought this would be my best opportunity to hear from the industry leaders.
But the news that my staff brought to me was very unexpected. I wondered – how do I get to be selected by a prestigious organization like Onalytica?
The news spread very fast in the organization, with many people congratulating me. And one of them is the HR Vice President; she congratulated, “Dr. Mazlan, you are now a Thought Leader. That’s an amazing achievement!“
But since I have never bothered to know what a “Thought Leader is,” I began to wonder what I did to gain that recognition? And what exactly is a Thought Leader?
How Onalytica Picked the Top 100 IoT Thought Leaders
Onalytica took in all Twitter conversations using the hashtags #IoT and #InternetOfThings and created a network of the top stakeholders discussing the subject. The network diagram of the top 100 is shown below.
I was thrilled to be ranked No. 20th on the list with Kevin Ashton (Father of IoT ranked 11th). And, of course, very proud to be the only Malaysian (or probably Asian) on the list!
But really, how do I reach that stage? Is it by accident? In a way, most probably the answer is yes, but I didn’t realize that the things I did were actually how a Thought Leader should do – by influencing others.
It started probably 1 or 2 years earlier when my team was working on a research area called Wireless Sensor Network, 6LoWPAN (IPv6 Low Powered Area Network), and Internet of Things (IoT).
And during 2012 to 2014, I was a frequent social media user on LinkedIn and Twitter. Whatever I read on IoT topics, I will share this on Twitter and LinkedIn and use that hashtag #IoT. This includes sharing my thoughts about the industry in IoT.
This was when my circle of influence widened with more Twitter users following my Tweets. That’s how these Tweets are captured and analyzed by Onalytica.
The Start of an IoT Thought Leadership
Two years later, in 2016, I was the first Malaysian IoT Speaker in IoT Asia 2016 (“Issues and Challenges of Deploying a Smart Citizen Engagement Solution,” IoT Asia 2016, Singapore Expo, 30-31 March 201). The same event was when my boss rejected my application to attend in 2014. This time, the host invited me to speak with all expenses paid.
That was the beginning of the Thought Leadership journey, whereby I was invited to many speaking engagements as Keynote Speaker, Invited Speaker, TEDx Speaker, and many others. I created an IoT Blog called “IoT World” which became my official channel to share my thoughts and knowledge.
Other than the recognition from Onalytica (Onalytica Report can be downloaded here), I was ranked among Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on the Internet of Things (February 2019) and Digital Disruption (October 2019) by Thinkers360, Top 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017 & 2018,
It all started with a rejection….. From Zero to an IoT Thought Leader
But I have this terrible habit of not finishing the book I read or didn’t even start reading them. And the worst part, sometimes I buy the same book twice because I don’t remember whether I have purchased it before or not.
When books are converted into digital, it changes how we consume knowledge. It also changes the way the reading habit.
This is what happened to me. I used to buy many print books (real books) and am proud to have a “library” to place the texts on proper shelves. Books on my shelves.
Books on my shelves
But I have this terrible habit of not finishing the book I read or didn’t even start reading them. And the worst part, sometimes I buy the same book twice because I don’t remember whether I have purchased it before or not.
And then, I began to start to download E-Books, and I began to read them finally. And the best part, I managed to read them till the last page!
E-Books LibraryIoT E-Book
Initially, I was convinced that Real Books are far better than E-Books because it doesn’t feel the same holding a book compared to something just digital.
BBut due to the Covid-19 lockdown, I started to read more E-Books and have changed my habit of reading. Below are some of the reasons:
Freedom – I can read the E-Book anywhere. I need to carry multiple of them with print books if I want to read more than one book. Of course, real books are heavy to carry. During travel, you don’t want to carry heavy luggage unnecessarily. What if you don’t like to read that book and that is the only book you have?
Easy to Highlight – Since I bought an iPad with a Stylus called Pencil, it simplifies me to jot down or highlight specific points or facts in the E-Book. And it does not destroy or dirty the E-Book because you can still erase the highlights quickly.
Only Digital – Some books are only published in digital form. Or you can convert a web article into PDF and read it like an E-Book. You don’t have to waste printing the papers.
Cheap or Free – E-Books are far more affordable than real books. And you can find free or “free” E-Books on the web.
Furthermore, I will be writing my E-Book called IoT Adventure and hopefully complete it by 2022.
One of the main reasons people stopped to Blog is because they are easily discourage with the low numbers of views and visitors to their Blog.
I have to confess – I love to see the number of views and number of visitors to my Blog. It gives me some encouragement whenever I see activity on my Blog, although I am aware it is still very new.
I started to write my first two articles on November 17, 2021, i.e., when I officially published the Blog for the public. It is very new, and I am struggling to make the look and feel of the Blog easy to navigate with some content such as my background, books, speaking experience, Blog, YouTube, Podcasts, Projects, and Press Info.
One of the frustrating parts is when I Google the name “Mazlan Abbas Blog,” the website does not even appear in the Google Ranking!
Here’s where many Bloggers would start to get very frustrated and abandon their Blogging activities. In reality (as described by many professional bloggers), it’s very typical, that we will only see the impact after several months!
Below is my traffic stats that showed the ups and downs. The “ups” is because I mainly promoted the posts on my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – and Facebook seems to be the highest referrals.
Mazlan Abbas Blog – Views and VisitorsSource of Referrals
Surprisingly my top 3 countries (other than my home country Malaysia) are the United States, India, and Ireland.
Mazlan Abbas Blog – Countries of Readers
Types of Blog Posts
The idea of my Blog is for Personal Blogging – sharing my journey into the world of Entrepreneurship, which mainly referred back to my business Blog called IoT World.
By monitoring the article’s number of views, I will understand what content attracted the readers.
Top be fair, the Blog is still at its infancy stage. It requires constant update with high-quality contents. I will be revisiting this statistics monthly and monitor the progress.
I am now using All-In-One SEO (AISEO) plug-in to help increase the SEO. And I have also followed many tips given by many other veteran Bloggers.
Kindly leave your comments and share your thoughts. I love to hear them.
Finally, we decided to follow our gut feeling and start building our fourth IoT product called Dscover (formerly named D’scover – we will reveal the reason for changing the spelling later).
When we introduced Raqib as a single device solution for tracking (instead of using a Bluetooth smartwatch and a smartphone), we received much feedback that they don’t need the features of monitoring vital health signs.
But in which market is tracking the best suit for this product? Why the need for monitoring an individual in the first place?
In our early customer development process, tracking an individual is critical for safety – especially during travel.
If a person travels in a tour group, he wants to have some freedom on his own. But he also needs to be constantly connected with the group or his tour bus.
In the case of a tour guide responsible for the group, he must ensure the group’s safety, and the travel itinerary must be adhered to and to ensure no one is late or left behind.
If that person is lost, the easiest way is to locate through the mobile app. The app should also have a travel planner feature to organize and share among the tour members.
How Big is the Market
Initially, we targeted the Travel and Tourism market, which was vast and active before the Covid-19 strikes in early 2020.
Below are the statistics of the world’s and Malaysia’s No. of arrivals.
Travel and Tourism Market
However, when travel and tourism were severely affected in 2020 and 2021 by restricted movement orders and banned in traveling, we pivoted our market to a family and friends app.
The IoT Solution
We chose a mobile app as the solution because of the following reasons:
Cheaper because this “IoT” solution uses the individual’s device, i.e., smartphone. GPS is the only sensor needed. The user has paid their connectivity charges (mobile data). The user only needs to download the app and pay for premium features.
Easier to deploy and manage the users (only via the Google Store and App Store)
Dscover
Go-to-Market
The biggest challenge for such a product is that it has become a B2C model whereby the channel to market can be very challenging.
The most accessible marketing channel to reach the users is via Social Media – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
To conduct targeted ads, we need to identify the users’ demographics – in this case, the family members and friends.
Earlier, we named the product D’scover, but it is complicated for a user to search the app in the App Store because of the unique spelling. Finally, we decided to change the name to Dscover.
In the travel and tourism market earlier, we have a B2B model approaching Travel Agencies and Government, but unfortunately, Covid-19 has a significant impact in this sector.
We have even expanded the market segment to solve the issues of monitoring quarantined patients. However, for some unforeseen reasons, this solution did not get the buy-in from the authorities.
Time to Stop Developing New IoT Products
We asked ourselves, have we done enough marketing and sales before moving into another product? Building a new product can be long and tiring.
All four IoT products have their strengths and weaknesses – which I will be able to share in other Blog articles. It is only the beginning of my IoT Adventure – you may subscribe to the newsletter or the RSS feed.
