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10 Tips to Grow Your Business Using Online Video

January 18th, 2010 |

Author: JYDC Admin

Article Source: The Only Yard For The Internet Junkie

Lacking any information to the contrary, many businesses still think that all they need to do to get new clients is to put their name and face in the Yellow Pages or online social directories, get some professional looking business cards, a website and Voila! It’s the old adage “build it and they will come”.

Trouble is, that’s what their competitors are doing also and in this day and age, it’s just not enough.

Does Your Business Stand Out Online?

Most advertising on the Web follows a time-honored format, although some might call it a time-worn format as it does little to differentiate itself. You can bet that a high percentage of this advertising will be ignored and the money spent on it will be wasted.

So how does a company stand out from the crowd online?

Thanks to an oversupply of similar text, claims, and presentation – coupled with a short 21st century attention span – your website has less than ten seconds to move a visitor to action. If it doesn’t, that visitor will click away to another site, and then another. Therefore, it’s critical that you find a way to break through the noise your competitors are making. But even that’s not enough.

Statistics show that even the best-looking websites generate conversion rates of under one percent, so for every 100 visitors you do manage to get, less than one will call or email you. Sound bleak? Thinking of redirecting more of your advertising budget back to the Yellow Pages? Don’t. You’re on the right
track – you just haven’t leveraged all the power available to you online.

One-to-Many Communication. On-on-One Feel.

Most websites are little more than electronic versions of Yellow Page advertising. For the most part, they don’t encourage interaction beyond the obligatory “Contact me for more information” plea. These sites don’t encourage trust any more than their print counterparts. They don’t give visitors the
warm-and-fuzzy feeling that a face-to-face meeting would. But they can.

Searching for a local service provider online can be a daunting prospect, but even more daunting than the search is deciding which provider to use once you get to the page, especially since most websites promise the standard good service, competitive pricing and high quality.

So how does a business differentiate itself from the sea of competition? Web video makes this possible on a grand scale. Thanks to rapidly improving technology, it’s easier than ever to add that warm-and-fuzzy, face-to-face element to your site, replicate an in-person interview, and offer your visitors an opportunity to check you out before picking up the phone. With Web video, you can present an interview that addresses all the questions and concerns of potential clients. You can keep them on your site longer and give them insight into the “business behind the business.” In a way that wasn’t possible even a few years ago, business owners can now speak directly to their audiences and showcase their personalities and areas of expertise. This is especially helpful if you are a professional service provider.

Any business that relies on conveying trust-ability will benefit from this type of web marketing. Really, it’s one-to-many communication with a one-on-one feel. It’s the perfect ice breaker and an efficient means of generating the interest and trust needed to compel potential clients to make an appointment
and do business.

A high-quality Web interview placed strategically on your site is a huge timesaver for you and prospective clients because you reach a wide audience in minimal time. Potential clients get the information they need to pre-qualify – and pre-sell – themselves before they call.

Online video delivers some of the best ROI of any advertising medium today and if set up properly, actually ranks higher than text now by the major search engines like Google. Short of spending valuable face time with a potential client (often times a poorly qualified potential client) there is simply no better way to forge a personal connection with them. With that in mind, here are 10 tips to help you get the most of your online video marketing efforts.

10 Tips for Making the Most of Online Video

1. Make Sure Your Video is Professionally Done.
This is an absolute must. The whole point here is to establish credibility and trust, but you’ll do the opposite with a poorly executed and produced video. Yes, many of the videos you find on sharing sites are mediocre at best, but that is changing rapidly as companies begin to see the value of promoting themselves in this manner. In fact, a recent Permission TV survey found that 67% of 400 hundred top executives intended to focus their online marketing efforts on video in 2009. The rush is coming – find a personable, engaging interviewer and a top notch production crew to really stand out.

2. Submit Your Video to as Many Outlets as Possible.
While YouTube is the clear leader here, there are many other video sharing sites worthy of consideration. Here are some others you won’t want to pass up:

    • Google Video
    • Yahoo! Video
    • Daily Motion
    • MySpaceTV
    • MetaCafe
    • Revver
    • Veoh
    • Blinkx
    • Break

3. Embed Your Video on the Front Page of Your Site.
Don’t hide what’s going to become one of your most effective selling tools on a dusty inside page. Get it out front. Customers and search engines will love you for it.

4. Find Out What Search Terms Your Potential Clients are Using
and Put Them in Your Video’s Title.
If you don’t know what words clients in need of your services are typing into Google and other search engines, get professional help or use some of the resources featured on this page. Once you’ve identified these terms, use the most popular in your video’s title.

5. Make Your Tags and Descriptions SEO-friendly, too.
Most video sharing sites let you tag videos with keywords and post a short description, so get the most out of these by sprinkling in the search terms you’ve identified.

6. Don’t Forget Your Thumbnail.
A thumbnail is a still shot from your video that appears along with search results. Don’t waste this opportunity to present yourself in the best light possible – choose a key moment from your video, preferably one where you’re smiling as you speak with your interviewer.

7. Link Back to Your Site.
Put your URL near the top of your video’s description. You’ll get a higher search ranking and potential clients will quickly learn where to go for more information.

8. Interact With Your Viewers.
Most video sharing sites allow viewer comments. Use this opportunity to answer questions, respond to comments, and further promote your business.

9. Consider a Pay-Per-Click Campaign.
Natural search engine optimization, while effective, takes time to bear fruit. In the meantime, you might want to jump start the process with a pay-per-click campaign that gives you a sponsored search listing. You can learn more about PPC advertising at:

• www.google.com/intl/en/ads
• sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/searchenginemarketing

• advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising

10. Add New Content Often.
Search engines look for it and so do potential clients. Keep your content fresh and up-to-date and keep visitors coming back for more.

With an ever-increasing stream of competition, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. These days standing out means maximizing your online presence and leveraging the technology to present the unique advantages of you and your firm. There’s no better way for a growth-oriented business to build a solid and secure future than by using effective and affordable online video.

Use these free resources to get a handle on the terms that potential clients are using to search for you right now.

    • Wordtracker
    • Google AdWords
    • Keyword Discovery
    • KwMap
    • Google Trends

Diana D’Itri is co-owner of IDR, LLC, a media production and marketing company. Since 2002, Diana has helped business professionals all over the U.S. to differentiate themselves from their competition and increase web conversions through online and cable television broadcasting. www.idrbroadcasting.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

10 Tips to Grow Your Business Using Online Video

Google Adds Fast Flip to News Homepage

January 11th, 2010 |

Author: JYDC Admin

Article Source: The Only Yard For The Internet Junkie

If you go to Google.com/news and scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll now see Fast Flip. This is a visual-based news platform that was launched into Labs last September. It’s designed to enable users to read the news similar to how they would a print edition – there are pages, that you flip through.

Google was keen to point out that Fast Flip remains in Labs. But it is a feature that is quickly growing. Last month, 55 resources were added to Fast Flip.

This does appear to be an attempt by Google to coddle traditional news publishers. Many of them are losing ad revenues and subscriptions due to the dang internet. Perhaps displaying the news online in a format that mimics print will allay fears. It will only do so if adopted by web users, however. And for that, we shall see.

The League of Extraordinary Internet Marketing Experts

January 5th, 2010 |

Author: JYDC Admin

Article Source: The Only Yard For The Internet Junkie

Google the phrase “Internet Marketing Experts,” (without the quotation marks) and you’ll get back over 30 million pages of results. But just calling yourself an Internet Marketing expert doesn’t necessarily make you one.

And despite those 30 million pages of results, there are very few “legitimate” Internet Marketing experts. And even fewer who have built universally recognized “authority” sites.

And who bring to the table “real world” business experience, combined with useful, practical knowledge that will actually sharpen your marketing acumen and increase your skill level.

In other words, help you take your Internet Marketing business to the next level.

In my opinion, this group of extraordinary Internet Marketing experts not only meet that threshold – they far exceed it. Are they the only Internet Marketing experts capable of teaching you effectively? Of course not.

However, in addition to having the ability to teach effectively, this group of experts are worthy of our admiration for another reason – longevity. Like the legendary Rock of Gibraltar, they have stood the proverbial test of time. Each individual has been successfully doing business on the Internet for at least ten years – delivering a decade of excellence.

Considering the incredibly competitive and fickle nature of Internet Marketing, that’s quite an achievement. And I humbly salute these outstanding marketers (listed alphabetically) for their impressive accomplishments.

1. Allan Gardyne
http://www.associateprograms.com

Allan Gardyne Gardyne began his professional life in Australia as a journalist. One of Allan’s earliest forays into Internet Marketing was founding AssociatePrograms.com in 1998.

Today, ask knowledgeable affiliate marketers who the leading authority on affiliate programs is and chances are, they’ll say it’s Allan Gardyne – and they’d be right.

AssociatePrograms.com, is a comprehensive directory of affiliate programs – a virtual cornucopia of affiliate marketing information, if you will – including articles, software and plenty of helpful tips and advice.

The AP website is divided into three sections – beginners, intermediate and advanced. So you have the ability to choose your own level of learning.

If you would like to learn how to make money with affiliate programs, AssociatePrograms.com should be your first stop. Also, be sure to subscribe to the Associate Programs Newsletter.

Each bi-weekly issue is jam-packed with insider tips on how to market affiliate products successfully. In addition, the newsletter reviews the best and worst affiliate programs – and interviews super affiliates who offer success tips of their own.

2. Bill Platt
http://thephantomwriters.com

Name the job, and Oklahoma’s Bill Platt has probably done it. He has worked as a waiter, computer technician, computer programmer, substitute teacher, a radio dj, a salesperson and a manager.

However, since 1999, Bill has been operating for-profit websites. In 2001, he started ThePhantomWriters.com, the preeminent article marketing service on the Internet today.

Unlike other article marketing services, however, TPW doesn’t submit your articles to article directories.

Their reasoning for this is simple: When you submit your article to an article directory, your article is just one of hundreds – possibly even thousands of new articles submitted that day.

That means once your article has been submitted, publishers or anyone else looking for content have to search the directory to find your article among thousands of other articles in the directory.

Instead, TPW uses a different approach. They submit each article directly to relevant websites and newsletter publishers most likely to publish your articles.

Does their approach work? Apparently it does, because on the TPW website is a “who’s who” list of repeat clients that include some of the biggest names in their respective fields.

By the way, as their name suggests, if you need a ghostwriting service, TPW can provide that as well.

3. Christopher Knight
http://ezinearticles.com

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last decade, you’ve no doubt heard of EzineArticles.com, an expert author community of over 150,000+ authors. But just in case you haven’t heard of them…Christopher Knight’s EZA happens to be the #1 article directory on the planet – period.

That’s no small feat, considering there’s a tremendous amount of competition among the mega-article directories. And they’re all vying to dethrone EZA as “King of the article directories.”

However, there’s one thing that sets EZA apart from all the other article directories. And that’s Christopher Knight himself, Publisher and CEO of EzineArticles.com.

Unlike most article directory owners, Chris is personally involved with his article directory. And personality is the one thing you just can’t duplicate in business.

Speaking of being personally involved, you can actually communicate with Chris personally, through his EZA blog:

http://blog.ezinearticles.com

Think about that for a second. You can communicate personally with the CEO of the world’s largest article directory. With that kind of personal involvement, something tells me, EZA isn’t planning on giving up its crown anytime soon.

4. Dr. Ken Evoy
http://www.sitesell.com

Dr. Ken Evoy formerly taught and practiced emergency medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he was born. Since 1979, Dr. Ken Evoy has been the founder and Chairman of the Board of SiteSell, Inc., and the creator of the revolutionary “next generation” website-building/hosting/marketing system, Site Build It!

Evoy also co-wrote what is considered by many to be the “bible of Internet Marketing,” Make Your Site Sell. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do so.

To say that this e-book over-delivers would be a gross understatement. It over-delivers to the tune of 1500 information-filled pages. You can get a free copy of MYSS at:

http://myss.sitesell.com.

5. Marnie Pehrson
http://marniep.typepad.com/ideamarketers

Marnie Pehrson was born and raised in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. In 1998, Pehrson, a mother of six combined her love for writing with her knack for marketing to create IdeaMarketers.com, one of the first and most successful article directories on the Internet.

She also has the distinction (along with her friend, Alanna Webb)of creating the first online mall.

Marnie has a background in computer programming, and she has put that skill to good use by continuing to expand IdeaMarketers, and it shows. Over 50,000 writers submit content to IdeaMarketers.

6. Michel Fortin
http://www.successdoctor.com

Michel Fortin was born in Canada to an abusive father. And while he had a built-in excuse to fail or underachieve, instead, Michel ascended.

Inspired by a quote from author and poet Henry David Thoreau, Michel took his natural ability for persuasive writing, and entered the highly competitive world of copywriting.

Fast-forward to today, amd Michel Fortin is now known as The Success Doctor.

Since its inception in 1997, The Success Doctor, Inc., an international copywriting and direct response consultancy company has helped countless business owners and sales people learn to write the kind of copy that gets results.

Michel is the epitome of that rare breed of Internet Marketing experts who have the ability to teach effectively. In fact, he used to teach sales and marketing at a local college in Ottawa, Canada.

7. Shelley Lowery
http://www.web-source.net

Since 1998, Web-Source.net has been owned and operated by Shelley Lowery, President of Brajusta Publishing, Inc., a direct marketing company located in Lewis Center, Ohio.

Web-Source.net specializes in providing instructional electronic books, software and publications, and provides visitors with the latest Internet technology for website design and development.

The site contains a comprehensive listing of articles, reviews, HTML tips, tricks and JavaScript codes – as well as the latest Internet Marketing news.

Shelley is also the author of Web Design Mastery – an eight volume, in-depth guide to professional website design. This acclaimed course includes step-by-step instructions, professional web site templates and hundreds of copy and paste codes.

David Jackson is a writer, marketing consultant and entrepreneur. Which online businesses can you trust? Find out here: http://reviews-by-customers.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The League of Extraordinary Internet Marketing Experts