Jul13

Planning Your Small Business Video

by Don on July 13th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Posted In: Social Networking

Planning Your Small Business Video
By Amy Dubin (c) 2011

Most small business owners barely have time to manage their social media presence and conventional marketing. Suddenly, video seems to be taking over, and every business must have videos to share on their own websitRingleaderCommunications.come and YouTube.com.

Making videos can sound expensive and daunting, but the process can be much easier – and cheaper than you think – if you assess the project properly.

1. First of all, does video make sense for your business?

You probably don’t need to make a video for your company unless you sell a product that’s complex or difficult to explain.

For example, if you sell socks, you really don’t need a video to explain what socks are, or demonstrate how they’re worn or explain why you’d want socks.  Unless your socks are very upscale and you really feel the sheen of the yarn and beauty of the designs won’t show up well in still photos on your website, I wouldn’t likely recommend you bother with video.

“Helpful Tip: Assess your current marketing efforts. If you have plenty of business coming in, and your site is working well for you, hold off on video until you’re ready to kick your marketing up a notch.”

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
*What information is difficult for your customers to get from your website and other marketing materials?
*What questions do they have when they call or email your company?
*What could move someone from not understanding your company or products to engaging your company in a deal, or buying your products?

If you feel there’s nothing that really can be explained better in video than in pictures and text, stop reading right now, and go focus your time on making your current marketing efforts more effective.

Okay, so you’ve read all this, and you still feel that video would help you explain your product, service or process to your potential customers. Here’s the process to follow.

2. Figure out where your video should go on your site, and what you want people to do once they’ve seen it.

“Helpful Tip: Consult your web designer to make sure it’s possible to add video where you want it. Pull in your marketing advisors and whoever is going to edit your video now, before you start creating it. Make sure you’re on the right path.”

*Which pages on your site need a video to explain things better or get people more engaged?
*Do you want people to buy something once they’ve seen your video? Share it on their social networks? Sign up for your newsletter?

Great, now you know where the video will be placed, who it’s for, and what you want them to do once they’ve seen it. Now for the actual creation process.

3. Write out what you need your customers to take away from the video.

“Helpful Tip: Written language is very different from verbal language.  Read your script aloud — with someone else is best — and rewrite any parts that are too long or awkward to say.”

This can be forging a more personal connection to your business, understanding a process more clearly or actually buying your product. Translate that message into a few sentences.

This will be your voiceover.

4. Choose the visuals that will convey your message.

Maybe it’s just you sitting at your desk in the office, talking to the viewer as if they were sitting right in front of you. Maybe it’s taking apart a piece of equipment by hand, and pointing to the individual components. Maybe you’re going to demonstrate the many ways your product can be used.

Try to imagine the finished video, and match the visuals to the voiceover. This process is called “storyboarding” in professional video and filmmaking circles. Some of your visuals may communicate just fine without a verbal explanation. If they do, great – you don’t need to force it. Make sure the sequence of images will make sense when they’re presented to the viewer in real time.

5. Decide if music would add to your video.

Music can be nice, but don’t let it be so distracting that people will want to mute it. And please be respectful of copyrights. Using copyrighted music is a quick path to getting your video removed from a site like YouTube. There’s plenty of free stock music out there – check out sites like Rumblefish. You can even use the free tools at Aviary.com to create your own video soundtrack.

A full presentation means visuals, a voiceover and music. But you don’t have to do it all. Just do what makes the most sense for the placement on your site, for your audience and, most importantly, for the desired result – getting someone to learn more, share with friends or pull out their credit card. A demo of how to screw in a light bulb doesn’t really need music or voiceover, right? You could get away with a simple caption.

6. Who is actually going to shoot the video? What format? Do I need a studio?

The ideal person to shoot your video is someone who knows their way around a camera and editing software. It’s also important for that person to understand what resolution and size the video must be for your site and purpose.

Lots of people successfully create video just using a basic camera and a tripod, and experimenting with lighting. You may even be able to do a single, well-practiced take….and in that case, you don’t even need an editor.

If you do need an editor, expect to pay about $50 per hour for someone to pull it together for you. Be prepared – it can take a lot longer to edit a video than to shoot one. Your editor should be able to give you a digital copy of your video, exported to the proper resolution for your site or YouTube – wherever you plan to display it. You may be able to find someone good on Craigslist or
Mandy.com or ask your friends and colleagues for recommendations.

You may need an experienced professional or video studio if you plan to do animated effects, or if you’re going to work with multiple actors, sets or locations. This will probably cost you a good couple thousand dollars or more.

7. Promote your video.

Video shot, edited and placed on your site! Now it’s time to share it in your newsletters and link to it from your company’s Facebook page, Twitter account and other social-networking presences. Ask your staff to blog about it and share it with their own social circles. Be sure you mention your video at in-person gatherings and use it during sales calls and presentations.

“Helpful tip: Give your video a title that includes the important keywords that are relevant to its content. You do want it to show up in Web searches for those keywords…after all, you want lots of people to see it, and videos are an increasingly important part of search results.”

Tracking is really important. You need to know how many times your video is viewed, and whether people are responding to it as you hoped or expected. Tracking will help you determine whether video makes sense for your business. Sites like YouTube offer you a fair amount of detail. You can use Google Analytics to track views of the video on your site, how people get to it, and what they do once they’ve seen it.

Now you know a lot more about what it takes to create a marketing video. If it was all too much for you and your company to handle, consider calling in some help to assist you with creating the concept, production or marketing the video….or all three.

Good luck!

Want to learn more about video marketing? Read Video Marketing 101 and How To Add Your Logo to Your Video.
================================================================
Can search engines see your home page? Check it out with the free Home Page Analysis. For a deeper analysis of your entire site, try an AboutUs Site Report. This article, originally published on AboutUs.org, was contributed by Amy Dubin of RingleaderCommunications.com (visit). Amy is the owner of Ringleader Communications, a firm that provides creative consulting services and technical solutions for tech companies and other small businesses in Portland, Oregon.
================================================================
Copyright © 2011 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

    Latest Videos of Planning Your Small Business Video:


    View movie»

 Comment 
Jul09

Google Plus Enters Social Networking!

by Don on July 9th, 2011 at 4:22 am
Posted In: Social Networking

Google Plus Enters Social Marketing!

Google this past week entered the Social Media pool with a giant splash. Google+ is aimed at taking on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. The search giant last week released a brand new social network and it wasn’t long before it was given the label of “the Facebook killer”. But will this really be the case? Let’s take a look at Google+ in detail and you decide.

What is Google+?

It is Google’s latest attempt in gaining some market share in the social network area. Here is how Google explains the new service: We realize that today people are increasingly connecting with one another on the web. But the ways in which we connect online are limited and don’t mimic our real-life relationships. The Google+ project is our attempt to make online sharing even better. We aren’t trying to replace what’s currently available; we just want to introduce a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you. Sounds pretty cool, huh? And it is. Google+ membership is by invitation only at this time, much like Google did a few years ago when it launched Gmail.

There are 5 main features to Google+: Circles, Hangouts, Instant Upload, Sparks and Huddle.

Circles
While most social networks are about sharing with a wide audience, Google has gone in the other direction. Circles allows you to group friends, family, and various associates into groups and optimizing the flow of information to each one. This is a great way to keep your professional and private life separate and something which Facebook doesn’t easily provide.

Hangouts
In my opinion, this is the coolest feature of the project and it’s what sets Google+ apart from Facebook. Hangouts lets up to 10 users simultaneously video chat with each other face-to-face.

Instant Upload
This is a simple way to ensure that all the photos you take on your phone are easily accessible. While you’re snapping pictures, Google+ adds your photos to a private album in the cloud. This way they’re always available across your devices-ready to share as you see fit.

Sparks
Think of it as anything that is meant to “spark” a conversation. Google+ will keep a feed of content that is based on your interests which you can view at any time and then share with your friends who have the same interests.

Huddle
Huddle is a group text-chat tool within Google+ for having private conversations within a Circle. You can use this feature directly from your phone – that’s if you use an Android 2.0+ or iPhone 4.0+ phone.

There are some videos explaining each feature in more depth here.

The soft-launch of Google’s new social galaxy, Google+, raises one interesting question: Can Google, a massive, multinational, cash-rich, consumer technology company with multiple successful productivity applications and services, take its dough out of the oven and bake a into their bread?

 Comment 
Jun11

What Makes a Good Website?

by Don on June 11th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Posted In: Search Engine Optimization

What Makes a Good Website?

What makes a good website? Every new webmaster who enters this internet world asks this question. Keep reading and get an insight in to what makes a good website design. Get some ‘Webdom’ (web wisdom) about making a good site and enriching the web experience!

The eternal question asked on the web must be ‘What makes a Good Website?’. The answer according to common ‘web’ sense (which is unfortunately not so common on the Internet) is presented here. Its based on tips from and experience of webmasters, who have created highly popular web pages and seen the Internet grow over the years, right from its birth. Once the answer to this question used to be very simple – ‘Good and Original Content’. Even today, in Web 2.0 times, that remains the gist of the answer, but many more things need to be done and incorporated into your web pages to make it a good website. There are no absolutes on the web. It is an ever changing and dynamic medium which keeps on evolving but there are certain simple guidelines on what makes a good website, which will remain the same even in the future. Let us see what are the key elements of a good website.

What Makes a Good Website Design?
Here are the qualities that describe the anatomy of a good website. Creating a good website is hard work. These tips on what makes a good website, have been garnered from my own understanding and from many wise webmaster souls, who have gladly shared their ‘webdom’ with me. Read and gather what you can!

Original and Trustworthy Content
Original content is the soul of a good website. Website content development is the single most important task you must focus on. You need to offer something new or original, if you want people to visit your site. Internet is a sea of data, information and opinions. People come on the Internet for various reasons and one primary reason out of them is for information. <p>

So if you offer the viewers, ready and credible information or specialized knowledge of any kind, they are going to visit your site and also probably bookmark it, to come back later. If your information is specialized and detailed, there is more probability of search engines taking notice of your site. The website content should be well presented and the quality of your articles should be good. Bad grammar and typos are a big turn offs! Updating information and content is also very important. Users like to have up-to-date information. The bottom line is- ‘Original Content is the King!’ Original and regularly updated specialized content, is what makes a good website!

Decide A Target Audience For Your Site
Before even beginning the website design, decide who your target audience or viewers are. That will help you in creating and presenting your content accordingly. If you give what your target users want and make it presentable, the likelihood of getting viewers, will definitely increase. Create your own ‘Specialized Niche’ in the Internet landscape and your site will thrive. See the demand in the market and fulfill it!

Let Your Content be Browser Independent
If you stick to standard HTML code, your site will have uniform appearance in all web browsers. If you use HTML features provided by any specific browser, chances are that your site will not look good in other browsers. So make your site browser independent. With the advent of 3G technology, internet surfing on mobile phones is a reality. You need to design a site which can be easily viewed even on a mobile phone browser. Test your site on various browsers and especially Lynx web browser before making it live.<p>

Minimal Loading Time
An extended loading time is a big turn off for most users. Your site will be viewed by many around the world with varying internet bandwidths. Design your site in such a way that it takes minimum loading time. Users prefer fast loading sites.

A Catchy Domain Name
Register for a domain name which is catchy and easy to remember. Let it be short and be such that it captures the idea behind your site. Think big when you are designing your site. Who knows? One day the domain name may become a brand! Read more on ‘Domain Name Registration’

Interlinking Among Pages is Important
More the interlinking between pages on your site, and linking from other sites to your pages, more is the possibility of your web page getting ranked on the first page of the Google search engine and other ones.

Use Minimal Graphics
The web crawlers make search engine submissions of your site for indexing them in their database. The search engine crawlers that visit your site, once in a while, with the purpose of indexing, give more importance to the text than the graphics. High usage of graphics prolongs the loading time of pages.

Have a Site Map and Internal Search Facility
Organize your site well and let there be a site map which helps the user to get an outline of all the information available. When the data on your site in enormous, it’s a good idea to have a search facility to look for specific content.

User Friendly, Interactive and Easily Navigable
The site should have a pleasing graphic feel. Take care that you choose colors which are not too harsh on the eyes. Let the webpage design and access features be user friendly and most importantly, simple. A user must be able to navigate easily from one page of a site to the other. Users like an interactive environment on the site. Let there be a facility for commenting on articles and other features that get the user involved in the site. Read more on
•Web Design and Development Software
•Good Web Design Tips
•Web Design Tips For Dummies

Use a Secure Server and Analyze Your Traffic
Use a secure web server with capacity to handle large traffic on your site. Let the site design have room for expansion in the future. Make sure that you make a back up of all your site data. Do not compromise your site’s security for low cost web hosting. Take no chances in making your site secure from crackers. Obtain and analyze the web traffic to your website taking help from sites that offer web analytic. Think about strategies that can increase website traffic and make the necessary programmatic changes in your site.

Place Advertisements Sparingly
Thanks to Internet advertising, as it has provided many people with an extra source of income from sites. Everyone wants revenue from our web pages and placing advertisements is essential but take care that advertisements are not the only thing on your site! Let the ads be relevant and subtly placed around content. The advertisements should be around the content and not the other way round! Read more on ‘Ecommerce Web Hosting’.

Search Engine Optimization!
The last but the most important and often underestimated part is search engine optimization (SEO)! Even if your site is extremely good, if search engines do not take a notice of it and it does not get a search engine ranking, it is of no use! Search engine optimization is a bunch of intricate techniques that help in making your content more visible to search engines (read Google) and help in getting a good ranking in search results. It also includes marketing of your site, so that it reaches a wider audience. Study and follow search engine optimization techniques without compromising in any way on the quality of your content. Read more on ‘Search Engine Marketing’.

A combination of all the factors implemented here is what will make a good website. Even if you include all these factors in your site, bringing in traffic and getting hits will take time. Understand how Internet search engines work and apply the knowledge to improve your site ranking. Keep putting in good content, which is optimized for search engines. Have faith and a lot of patience! Also keep improving and making your site better! I hope my article has given you a rough idea about what makes a good website and what are the ingredients that make it the best!

 Comment 
May30

10 Top SEO Facebook Strategies

by Don on May 30th, 2011 at 3:49 am
Posted In: Social Networking

10 Top SEO Facebook Strategies
By Nina Hirasawa (c) 2011

Facebook is more and more becoming a “second home page” for organizations on the web and has recently developed a number of innovative options for Pages to get increased traffic through the tried and true techniques of search engine optimization. Making use of important web optimization tactics on your Facebook Page can help you to progressively acquire more Facebook devotees. Search engine optimization reveals your Facebook Page to Facebook’s total user base. In fact, Facebook has taken big steps to improve its own web optimization in recent weeks and months, increasing its own worth and creating opportunities for Page managers to benefit immediately.

Listed below are TEN SEO techniques and tactics every Facebook Page user will need to understand:

1. Decide on the Best Title for Your Facebook Page – and Don’t Ever Change It

Choosing the right identity on your Facebook Page is crucial. For instance, if your name appears too spammy, people will probably be less likely to talk about it with their associates on their own page and more likely to conceal your updates from their Facebook feed. Secondly, don’t give into the temptation to choose a completely common page title. Facebook’s intention for Pages is that they legitimately characterize businesses and
brand names, as well as stars. Recently, Facebook has been disabling updates for common Pages.

The bottom line: Work with your corporation’s true title as the name of the page and when you choose your Page’s name, don’t alter it. Facebook makes use of your Page name in the title of the Page, and considering that Google dings webpages when their particular titles change, changing your Facebook Page’s name can cost you SEO points.

2. Select the Very Best URL for Your Facebook Page

Facebook recently provided the flexibility to choose a title for your Facebook Page, just about the most important SEO option on Facebook to date. Facebook wants Pages to legitimately stand for the identities of businesses. Brand names with commonly used
titles have had their rights suspended previously.

The soundest solution would be to decide on a username which authentically presents your online business or company. As soon as you select a Facebook username/URL for your Page, it cannot be altered. So, look for a username you are going to be at ease, and satisfied, with for the future. If you have a company that specializes in replica watches, make the URL something to do with replica watches.

3. Use the “About” box to Place Key Phrase-Thick Content at the Top of the Page

One critical SEO approach that needs to be utilized in your Facebook Page whenever achievable is inserting key phrase-thick content as close to the top of the Page as it can be. Since Facebook restricts exactly where Page managers can place substantial sections of textual content on the Wall of Facebook Pages, the “About” box basically is the best location in the CSS structure of the page to incorporate custom content. You will find there’s 250 character restriction, so choose your words and phrases sensibly.

4. Use the “Info” Tab to Add Extra Critical Key Phrases, Content, and High Precedence Backlinks on Your Page

Facebook creates an “Info” tab for each Facebook Page which has fields made up of important illustrative data about the Page. It’s imperative that you complete all these fields, for the reason that they provide the option to add keyword phrases, content, and hyperlinks that may improve the content material rating within your Facebook Page for many kinds of Google queries. The specific fields existing could differ based on the type you choose for your Page whenever you create it, so pick out the class which most effectively meets your business needs.

5. Develop “Static FBML” Boxes and Tabs to Place Lengthy Content Material Plus More Static Backlinks on Your Page

While chances to place substantial blocks of textual content on the default tab of the Facebook Page tend to be quite restricted, Facebook enables Page managers to set-up
supplemental boxes or tabs which could carry any type of subject matter, including text, images, and hyperlinks. Adding content boxes or tabs to your Page could be a terrific way to supercharge the score of your Page.

6. Publish Direct Backlinks Aimed at Your Website Inside Your Page’s Stream

Status updates offer a highly effective solution to place direct backlinks at the top of your respective Page. Since Google boosts ranking for webpages which link to relevant internet
sites – and penalizes pages which link to irrelevant web pages or that add a great number of inbound links too suddenly posting hyperlinks in status updates can be quite an effective
and reliable approach to better rank your Facebook Page.

You can find 2 methods to submit hyperlinks:
a. Including the URL within the text of the status update itself.
b. Using the “attach link” function.

7. Add Pictures with Captions, Activities with Descriptions, and a Conversation Discussion Board

This almost goes without saying, yet it’s crucial that you regularly spread useful subject matter on the Facebook Page, along with always making use of all offered illustrative
fields on every single kind of content shared. When posting images apply lengthy and key phrase-thick explanations. Use the resources Facebook provides for your entire gain.

8. Create Inbound Links to Your Facebook Page from the Internet by Posting Backlinks to Your Page on All Your Websites

Just as a good number of inbound links from high-authority web pages can help improve PageRank for regular internet websites, acquiring inbound links for your Facebook Page may improve its PR as well. You can accomplish this with text backlinks, but Facebook has also developed a badge which it encourages Page managers to utilize.

9. Get Intra-Facebook Inbound Links by Simply Acquiring More Facebook Supporters

The more fans you get, the more backlinks you will have to your own Page inside of Facebook. For Pages with thousands of supporters, the volume of backlinks mounts up.

10. Reinforce Intra-Facebook Linking by Getting Followers to Review and Like Content in Your Stream

Whenever supporters comment or like content in your Facebook Page’s stream, Facebook links their name back to their own Facebook profile page. Subsequently, once the profile stubs of those supporters who’ve put up feedback and likes on your own Page are listed, Google will discover more reciprocal links between your Page and your Page’s followers, which it will see to be a much better relationship. This results in a cycle of enhanced link weight from the listed profile page stubs to your Page.
================================================================
Nina Hirasawa is a shopping and consumer service expert. She is an established writer for two shopping guide magazines, and specializes in both on-site and off-site SEO, yoga, Internet marketing, replica watch websites and Facebook marketing.
================================================================
Copyright © 2011 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SEO-News is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

    Latest Videos of 10 Top SEO Facebook Strategies:


    View movie»

 Comment 
Apr29

Don Jeffre’s Blogfather Feed

by Don on April 29th, 2011 at 10:47 pm
Posted In: Leads Generation

The Dynamics of Competition - Sat, 18 Feb 2012
The Dynamics of Competition

Adam Smith on Competition: “The natural price or the price of free competition ... is the lowest which can be taken. [It] is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business.”

Today, marketing is not the same as it was in the ‘60s or ‘70s, because there are enough products to satisfy customer’s needs. In fact customers are “hyper-satisfied”! Companies have segmented the market until it has become almost too small to service profitably.

Distribution is now largely in the hands of giant corporations such as Wal-Mart and Costco. There are more brands and fewer producers, products “life” have been shortened, and it’s cheaper to replace than to repair - all complicating the process further.

Marketing has always started with identifying the needs of your customer, but many companies are now focusing on the product. They focus on what category it falls into, and then what sub-category (for instance pudding and then what flavors). By focusing on the product, companies then focus on who’ll use the product, and those considered “not using” are excluded from the picture. In doing this, you’ve just given your competitor a target market.

You may have captured 75% of your “user market” because you have a USP (unique selling position) i.e.; more flavors, more convenient packaging, longer shelf life, etc. But why can’t YOU also take care of the other 25% instead of your competitor?

To do that, requires a new way of thinking known as “Lateral Marketing”. Stop thinking about how you can keep the 75% in love with your product (Vertical Marketing), think about drawing in the 25% of the market that wasn’t your customer. This is done by innovative thinking. This may be seen as further “segmenting” the market-place, but at the same time it’s making it bigger.

Let’s say you sell soap. You’ve captured 75% of your market because of some formulary development that makes more suds with fewer products. The 25% that your competition is trying to capture would rather spend less for soap, than use less. Your method of also capturing that 25% is to start thinking “innovation” and not different product.

Lateral Marketing works within the original category of product and complements it, not competes with it. You could come up with soap with more bleach, with less foam, fragrance free, with more foam. You can innovate by size – selling in large economy packs, selling in individual packs, and do this without ever changing the formula of the product. This type of marketing works best for mature markets with no growth (after all, what new uses can you come up with for soap). It also can create markets from scratch, requires greater resources, and may redefine your company’s mission and business focus.

This innovative method of marketing doesn’t create “new” categories or markets, it always occurs “within” the category where the idea originated. If you’ve done everything right, you’ve garnered the 25% of customers that might have got away and it didn’t require a lot of overhead – you’re still producing soap!

 

Copywriting - Words Matter - Thu, 02 Feb 2012
Copywriting - Words Matter

Despite the high volume of e-mail that flows invisibly all the time, there is often no substitute for talking with people. Indeed, in many organizations, big decisions are made only after in-person conversations. Many career people take this seriously. Herein lies an opening for misjudgement.

present with sincere gusto It is not uncommon to find a white-collar worker who believes that tone of voice and body language are underrated in effective speaking. Some polish their hand gestures and rehearse specific tones of voice because they believe that substance without style is weak. It's not just content, they say, but delivery. Seeking an edge, some even have the famous 7% rule memorized.

The 7% rule states:
• 55% of meaning comes from presentation
• 38% of meaning comes from tonality
• 7% of meaning comes from the words themselves.

Though this has brought confidence and success to some, there are still people who pay more than 7% attention to the words others speak. Neither is a fringe group. However, only the latter has the backing of scientific research.

still misunderstood
In 1967, Dr. Albert Mehabrian and his UCLA colleagues concluded studies in communication that yielded an astonishing result: The words you use in speaking to others do not matter nearly as much as the tone of your voice or your body language. As the press picked up the story, the idea was extended: written words also take a back seat to presentation and tonality.

good for shock value
According to Mehabrian and his team, the original studies were never well understood. They have always asserted that words matter very much. Perhaps they didn't use the right presentation and tone - or perhaps the media were hunting for shock value.

single-word expressions only
The Mehabrian studies attempted to reveal the relative impact of facial expressions and tonality on the understanding of spoken words. Subjects listened to recordings of a female voice saying single words (such as "maybe" and "honey") in different tonalities. They were also shown photos of female faces with different facial expressions. They were then asked to guess the emotions portrayed in each, and to link the recordings with the faces.

presentation and tone as guides
The results of the studies appeared in full in Mehabrian's books, Silent Messages (Wadsworth, 1971) and Nonverbal Communications (Aldine Atherton, 1972). In both books, he clearly states that for inconsistent messages or incongruent communications, body language and tonality are probably more reliable indicators of meaning than the words themselves. Presentation and tone are more reliable than words alone for interpretive guidance with single-word expressions. These are not general circumstances.

The 7% Rule is a Lie!
In a 1994 issue of Anchor Point, Dr. C.E. Johnson writes, "If these percentages were really valid, it would mean that learning foreign languages could be greatly abbreviated. After all, if the words only account for 7% of the meaning, we should all be able to go to any country in the world and simply by listening to tone and carefully observing body language, be able to accurately interpret 93% of their communications!"

Tone mightier than a sword?
In a 1997 issue of The Toastmaster, J.E. Pearson asks, "Imagine if Nathan Hale had said, 'Okay; I'm willing to die for my country,' instead of 'I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.' Imagine Winston Churchill saying, 'Don't be afraid,' instead of, 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.'

Yes; tone of voice and body language matter very much - especially with single-word expressions. When speaking within a common language and culture do not be fooled by the myth of the 7% rule. Words matter - probably much more than 7%.

About The Author
Don Jeffre is the Owner of DonÂ’s Sales, a computer repair business based in Vilonia, AR. USA. He owns and operates Really Unique Home Business Ideas, a blog dedicated to providing social media marketing and search engine optimization information. With over 14 years of industry experience, Don Jeffre shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog. Contact Don Jeffre at 501-796-2525, Skype: revenue4u, or Facebook

Digital Marketing - Mon, 16 Jan 2012
Digital Marketing

Utilizing online distribution methods to promote products is known as digital marketing. This approach is both time saving and cost effective. Digital marketing is done through items such as cell phones, SMS, MMS, instant messaging, websites, emails, banner advertisement and digital billboards. Digital marketing involves some of the techniques of direct marketing and Internet marketing. In digital marketing traditional methods of promotions are executed digitally. It involves marketing in two forms, pull and push.

Pull digital marketing requires the user to pull or extract the content directly. The customer has to approach the promotional matter and see the matter by himself. Examples are websites, forums and web logs. All these require clicking on a URL in order to view the content. The content that is being displayed doesnÂ’t have to follow any guidelines. Effort is required to only display the content on the website or forum and there is no additional cost of sending the information to the customer, but the customer has to make the extra effort of reaching to the content. The customer doesnÂ’t have to opt-in for such kind of promotion and one message is being viewed by all and it cannot be personalized. The customers who see the content cannot be traced, although the click through rate can be considered which give details about the number of clicks the message received. This is be done by enabling the click though tracking during the campaign, which records the information.

Push digital marketing technologies requires the effort of both the marketer and the customer. The marketer has to push or send the content to the customer and the customer has to make the effort of receiving it. This is a very effective kind of marketing and the investments surely earn a big return as it creates brand recognition. SMS, MMS, emails, RSS podcasting are examples of push digital marketing. Since the content is sent to individuals, it can be personalized according to the intended recipient. Whether the message has been opened and viewed by the customer or deleted it can be tracked and reported.

Information related to the customer such as name, geographical location could be traced. But when sending this king of message, certain criteria should be met as the SMS and emails sent are monitored. If the marketer doesnÂ’t follow the rules and regulations properly, there is a possibility of messages getting rejected and blocked, before they reach the targeted audience and the message is considered to be spam. Bigger consequences involve marketers getting blacklisted temporarily or even permanently. The number would be blocked and they wonÂ’t be able to send any messages at all. Messages sent to the RSS feeders require a mechanism with an application to reach, when sent by an email marketing system.

Both forms of digital marketing should be used in consonance to achieve positive results. A smart marketer sends out emails along with SMS and uses multiple channels to market his products. The type of messages being sent should also be different from one another. They should not only be text, but animations, audios and videos. There is a possibility of using pull and push message technologies in conjunction like the email sent to a potential customer can have a URL or a banner ad, which on clicking downloads information. If there is enormous group of people to be reached via email, Email service providers can be hired who sends loads of emails to the customers on behalf of the marketer and they take measures so that the messages are not considered as spam.

Although much of the marketing is opt-in, federal laws, such as CAN SPAM Act, have been passed to protect the customers from unscrupulous marketers who would go to any extent to promote their products or hackers or spammers who have a bad intent i.e. like harming the computer or installing adware, spyware on peopleÂ’s computers.

Use Screen Sharing or Remote Desktop Sharing for Small Meetings - Sat, 31 Dec 2011
Use Screen Sharing or Remote Desktop Sharing for Small Meetings

Webinars are intended for larger groups of participants. Many times, you do not need a large web conference room, you only need to work one-on-one with a single individual or a small group. Fortunately, there are two catagories of utilities available to make this an easy task. They are screen sharing and remote desktop sharing.

Screen Sharing - When you simply need to share a screen for others to see, a screen sharing program is the preferred choice. Examples of screen sharing utilities include: Brosix, YuuGuu, and Skype, among others. With these programs, you can easily show people exactly what you are talking about.

Remote Desktop Sharing - Remote Desktop sharing allows screen sharing as discussed above, but also offers the added advantage of allowing interaction by visitors with the client machine. For example, it is possible to connect to someone's computer and click their icons to start programs, create documents, use browsers and perform virtually any function you can perform on your own machine. Both Windows and Mac operating systems have had some form of "remote assistance" built in for many years. I have used the Windows version a number of times to assist others with PC issues. The difficulties with connections, especially between operating systems, has given rise to a number of 3rd party solutions which work quite well and connect almost instantly.

Team Viewer - TeamViewer connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. You can remote control your partner's PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. Features allow: Online meetings, Presentations, Training sessions, and Team Collaboration.

Mikogo - Simple & Secure Desktop Sharing - Show any screen content from your computer live over the Web to multiple people. Anything you see, they see. Mikogo is ideal for web conferencing, online presentations and remote support. Features allow: Online Meetings, Web Conferencing, Product Demos, Online Presentations, Remote Support and Webinars.

Crossloop - CrossLoop makes helping other people fast, friendly and cost-effective by empowering any two people anywhere in the world to connect live via computer. Through its easy-to-use desktop sharing software and global, user-verified Help Community, CrossLoop connects computer users with trusted, qualified service providers and friends who can provide the support they need quickly and conveniently.

More Info

Build a Free Website using Free WYSIWYG Editors - Wed, 28 Dec 2011
Build a Free Website using Free WYSIWYG Editors

There are literally hundreds of free WYSIWYG editors available on the Internet so depending on your skill level and desired features, all you have to do is find the one that works for you. The following list will help you get started.

CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor - The CoffeeCup Free HTML editor is a text editor which offers a free version.

Evrsoft First Page - Evrsoft First Page is a text and WYSIWYG editor for Windows. It offers a lot of the features you expect from a professional web editing package.

Kompozer - KompoZer is a good WYSIWYG editor. It was originally based on the popular Nvu editor and is now based on the Mozilla platform.

PageBreeze Free HTML Editor - An HTML Editor which has both visual (WYSIWYG) and HTML tag/source modes. PageBreeze Free HTML Editor's design emphasizes simplicity and ease-of-use.

SeaMonkey - SeaMonkey is the Mozilla project all-in-one Internet application suite. The built-in Compose page is easy to use.

Trellian WebPage - Trellian WebPage is one of the few free web editors that offers both WYSIWYG functionality and image editing within the software.

This list is by no means exhaustive, there are plenty more free WYSIWYG editors, just Google it.

Warm Regards
Don Jeffre

    'No new videos.'
 Comment