Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Websites and People I Follow for 2010
Weekly Newsletters and Feeds I Follow
Chris Brogan from ChrisBrogan.com is sort of the it guy lately on writing about using social media and general marketing for building your business. Very practical straight forward advice. I don't know how he keeps it up but he is someone I recommend following and I reading every day. I learn a ton.
Mashable.com, pulls together information from all over the web, on social media, changes, what is happening with Facebook, technology, social media, what is hot, very tuned in. Mashable.com is a great site to follow.
Joan Stewart, Publicity Hound.com, A great, practical newsletter on PR and marketing that comes out every Tuesday afternoon. 7-10 well thought out practical tips that you can apply to your business today.
VideoMaker.com, if you are interested in video, video equipment, techniques, VideoMaker.com just the site, with an informative newsletter, shooting tips, new products, comes weekly.
New York Times, The on line version, easy to read, tells you what is going on in the world. I really like the Most Popular section, lets you crowd source what people are reading, NYTimes.com.
Primary People I Follow
Chris Brogan, see above, he just comes up with great, practical content over and over.Paul Colligan, I met Paul at Ed Dale's Coming Home3 event this spring, I think he was the best speaker there outside of Ed. Sends out a very interesting weekly email with links to check out. Paul's contribution and message is to make your content once and publish in as many different ways that you can. Subscribe to his weekly newsletter, great info. www.paulcolligan.com/
Steve Garfield, Boston based Steve Garfield and SteveGarfieldtv.com is one of the early video bloggers and runs a great meetup called Boston Media Makers the first of every month outside of Boston on video and media and a weekly web based TV show on the www.PulseNetwork.com. The more I listen to Steve the more I learn. Also wrote an excellent book on making and using video for your business call Get Seen, available at Amazon.
Pat Flynn, Pat is the creator of the Smart Passive Income blog. a blog that follows his ecommerce life. Pat lays it all out for us to follow and copy. He is also the author of one of the best ebooks on producing ebooks that I know, you can read all his stuff at http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/
Secondary Group
Ed Dale, creator of www.Challenge.co the best online training for building a web business
Dave Kaminski and WebVideoUniversity.com, excellent video information
Gideon Shalwick,writes on using online video and blogging to market your products and services. http://gideonshalwick.com/
Fun People I Watch
Natalie Tran, Community Channel on YouTube
iJustine on YouTube
Printed Magazines
Entrepreneur, great coverage for small to medium size business, nice social media coverage
Newsweek, going through changes with the recent sale to Tina Brown, lets see what she does with it.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Is Anyone Using Blogs Any More?
Mashable.com has a very interesting article this week on web usage and what people are using at different ages. This is kind of a must read article for those of us in marketing. The article is called:
Everyone Uses E-mail, But Blogging Is On the Decline at Mashable.com
It is based on a Pew Internet study on how different generations are using the Internet for 2010. Older generations are catching up with the younger users. What is surprising is email is like number 1 everyone is using it, but blogging is like number 22, very low usage. They looked at things like; using search, email, watching videos, getting news, IM, listening to music, travel reservations, playing games, financial info, religious info, podcasts, blogging and virtual worlds. Check it out, it is worth the read.
Everyone Uses E-mail, But Blogging Is On the Decline at Mashable.com
It is based on a Pew Internet study on how different generations are using the Internet for 2010. Older generations are catching up with the younger users. What is surprising is email is like number 1 everyone is using it, but blogging is like number 22, very low usage. They looked at things like; using search, email, watching videos, getting news, IM, listening to music, travel reservations, playing games, financial info, religious info, podcasts, blogging and virtual worlds. Check it out, it is worth the read.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/generations-internet-infographic/
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
How Do I Get My YouTube Video Found in Search?
We have completed the videos on our talk at the Apple Store for the Future M Conference on NOW WHAT, You have finished you video, what next and have posted them on our YouTube Channel where you can watch them.
I thought I would repost the key points that go along with the videos on the 10 Tips for Making and Getting your YouTube Videos found in Google and YouTube search and how to get views for your video on YouTube.
One of the big secret with video platforms like YouTube is to fill in all of the boxes they give you when you upload with relevant, well keyworded text. Including the video title, description and key words or tags that are added when you upload your video.
10 YouTube Marketing Tips
1. If you can, pick an account name that relates to your subject matter.
2. Keyword your title and include a web address. This isn’t a live link but it reinforces that you have a website.
3. All promotional videos should have some kind of call-to-action, including a web address or contact info during or at the end of the video.
4. In the initial sentence of the description, include a full web address as the first item, including the http://, then a short intro description. The first sentence needs to grab viewers attention because this is all you initially see below your video.
5. For the rest of the description, fill it out with a lot of relevant copy, maybe with a transcript of the video and contact info. You can really fill this area up with text. Google indexes this area so it is important to also add in your keywords to the copy.
6. Pick a relevant Video Category
7. Relate Keywords or Tags to the video and the topic, this is super important.
8. YouTube has a lot of data on your video and its’ performance, including demographic info, viewing locations, popularity, and keyword suggestions. All of this is located inside your account once you log in.
9. Your video can also be annotated and linked to other videos in YouTube. This feature is available once you log in.
10. YouTube now close captions all videos and adds the text to the video file. Most videos are watched for no more than 20 seconds, so make sure your key phrase is included in those first seconds. It is rumored that Google indexes this copy and it also can be updated and corrected.
Bonus Tip: Share and Embed code for re-posting your video on your blog, website, Facebook, and social media.
Remember pick up your FREE NOW WHAT? 10 Essential YouTube Tips for Marketing Your Videos on YouTube book
I thought I would repost the key points that go along with the videos on the 10 Tips for Making and Getting your YouTube Videos found in Google and YouTube search and how to get views for your video on YouTube.
One of the big secret with video platforms like YouTube is to fill in all of the boxes they give you when you upload with relevant, well keyworded text. Including the video title, description and key words or tags that are added when you upload your video.
10 YouTube Marketing Tips
1. If you can, pick an account name that relates to your subject matter.
2. Keyword your title and include a web address. This isn’t a live link but it reinforces that you have a website.
3. All promotional videos should have some kind of call-to-action, including a web address or contact info during or at the end of the video.
4. In the initial sentence of the description, include a full web address as the first item, including the http://, then a short intro description. The first sentence needs to grab viewers attention because this is all you initially see below your video.
5. For the rest of the description, fill it out with a lot of relevant copy, maybe with a transcript of the video and contact info. You can really fill this area up with text. Google indexes this area so it is important to also add in your keywords to the copy.
6. Pick a relevant Video Category
7. Relate Keywords or Tags to the video and the topic, this is super important.
8. YouTube has a lot of data on your video and its’ performance, including demographic info, viewing locations, popularity, and keyword suggestions. All of this is located inside your account once you log in.
9. Your video can also be annotated and linked to other videos in YouTube. This feature is available once you log in.
10. YouTube now close captions all videos and adds the text to the video file. Most videos are watched for no more than 20 seconds, so make sure your key phrase is included in those first seconds. It is rumored that Google indexes this copy and it also can be updated and corrected.
Bonus Tip: Share and Embed code for re-posting your video on your blog, website, Facebook, and social media.
Remember pick up your FREE NOW WHAT? 10 Essential YouTube Tips for Marketing Your Videos on YouTube book
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The SEO Essentials with Lew Sabbag, Using Keywords, Part 2
We are back with Part 2 of an interview Lew Sabbag had with Dan O'Sullivan of The Hired Pens on SEO Essentials. Part 1 highlighted the bare basics, in this post Lew talks to us about how to use keywords on our site.
What's your advice for incorporating keywords into your content?
You should create content that takes into account your keywords. So, work the keywords into a few paragraphs on the page. But don't go overboard. Always remember that you're writing for humans; there's an art to SEO writing, and "keyword stuffing" won't cut it.
And what role do links play?
The more inbound links — i.e. the more sites that are linking to your site — the better. Google likes it when other sites are "endorsing" your site.
Any other advice to share?
So many people really miss the boat on SEO but also on orienting users once they've come to your site. Here are three good rules to keep in mind on this point:
What's your advice for incorporating keywords into your content?
You should create content that takes into account your keywords. So, work the keywords into a few paragraphs on the page. But don't go overboard. Always remember that you're writing for humans; there's an art to SEO writing, and "keyword stuffing" won't cut it.
And what role do links play?
The more inbound links — i.e. the more sites that are linking to your site — the better. Google likes it when other sites are "endorsing" your site.
Any other advice to share?
So many people really miss the boat on SEO but also on orienting users once they've come to your site. Here are three good rules to keep in mind on this point:
- When the user comes to your site, he immediately wants to know where he is. What's your company? What do you do? Spell this out clearly in the header and right in the main copy block on the home page.
- Next, think about what you want the user to do. Download something? Buy something? Donate? Watch a video? Contact you? The end destination must be clearly established.
- Finally, consider how you'll drive the user to the desired destination. Create an intuitive path so that it's easy for the user to get where you want him to go.
Monday, December 6, 2010
What are the SEO Essentials? Part 1, Keywords
Our co-founder Lew Sabbag recently sat down with Dan O'Sullivan of The Hired Pens and pulled together some of the current thinking on getting your website found and getting a handle with SEO basics. What is SEO, that stands for Search Engine Optimization, these are the tools for getting your website found in the search engins and then on line.
The SEO Essentials, Courtesy of SEO Expert Lew Sabbag
Lew Sabbag is the founder of Publish Today Media, a Boston-based firm that provides a full range of Internet marketing services, including search engine optimization (SEO). We [The Hired Pens] recently chatted with Lew to get his advice on the essentials of effective SEO. You can learn more about Lew at http://publishtodaymedia.com/
What should every newbie know about SEO? Let's talk about the bare basics.
Effective SEO boils down to three things: 1) the right keywords; 2) the right content, which incorporates those keywords; and 3) inbound links. Those are the basics.
What are the keys to a solid keyword strategy?
Here's where we try to work in keywords:
• URL: whenever possible, it's great to have a targeted keyword within your URL
• Title tag: i.e. the line of HTML code that also appears at the top of the browser window
• H1 tag: i.e. the first headline on a Web page
It's particularly effective to have the same set of keywords at work in the title tag and H1 tag.
How do you go about determining keywords?
First of all, you have to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Consider how they — not you — think about your services or products. Consider the problem you're helping customers solve — that determines what keywords they'll be searching for.
It's also important to pick keywords that people actually are searching for. I've seen sites that don't take this into account, which is why they get no traffic. In fact, a colleague recently told me about a client that had none of the essential keywords for its industry anywhere on its site.
The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is very useful for keyword selection. Just enter a phrase, and it'll give you 200-300 variations of that phrase. You can find out how many people search for each phrase each month and its competitive ranking, in terms of spending on AdWords.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Part 2 will deal with how to use keywords on your site.
The SEO Essentials, Courtesy of SEO Expert Lew Sabbag
Lew Sabbag is the founder of Publish Today Media, a Boston-based firm that provides a full range of Internet marketing services, including search engine optimization (SEO). We [The Hired Pens] recently chatted with Lew to get his advice on the essentials of effective SEO. You can learn more about Lew at http://publishtodaymedia.com/
What should every newbie know about SEO? Let's talk about the bare basics.
Effective SEO boils down to three things: 1) the right keywords; 2) the right content, which incorporates those keywords; and 3) inbound links. Those are the basics.
What are the keys to a solid keyword strategy?
Here's where we try to work in keywords:
• URL: whenever possible, it's great to have a targeted keyword within your URL
• Title tag: i.e. the line of HTML code that also appears at the top of the browser window
• H1 tag: i.e. the first headline on a Web page
It's particularly effective to have the same set of keywords at work in the title tag and H1 tag.
How do you go about determining keywords?
First of all, you have to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Consider how they — not you — think about your services or products. Consider the problem you're helping customers solve — that determines what keywords they'll be searching for.
It's also important to pick keywords that people actually are searching for. I've seen sites that don't take this into account, which is why they get no traffic. In fact, a colleague recently told me about a client that had none of the essential keywords for its industry anywhere on its site.
The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is very useful for keyword selection. Just enter a phrase, and it'll give you 200-300 variations of that phrase. You can find out how many people search for each phrase each month and its competitive ranking, in terms of spending on AdWords.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Part 2 will deal with how to use keywords on your site.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
iJustine Takes Advantage of YouTube's Linking Ability
We all know Justine as the cute girl with the crazy dancing videos. But that isn't just all, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Like some very smart marketing. Take a look at this video all the way through. I first saw Community Channel use this technique and we have written on her. Justine takes it a little further with this very clever video catalog. By the end of the video she has set up a catalog that links together 6 other videos. Very clever and a great technique to move people around in your YouTube Channel, take a look.
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