Getting Started with Video and Websites

On a regular basis I run into people who talk about doing things with websites or video who show the same set of reasons why they cannot get things moving:

• I don't like the way I look on video.
• I can't seem to talk without stumbling.
• I don't know how to use Youtube.
• I don't know how to use Microsoft Movie Maker.
• I can't write well or I don't have enough to say.
• I don't have the time.

All of those seem like perfectly viable reasons as to why you wouldn't want to get going with your website and youtube videos.  All of them, however, are easily overcome if you have the right attitude.  I realize that there is fear for many people when it comes to things like public speaking or just doing new things.  Here are my tips for helping you with websites and video to help your small business.

I don't like the way that I look on video.

Ok - I'll give you that it is awkward seeing yourself on video.  Your voice sounds different and you know every single one of your perceived flaws.  I'm pretty sure that everyone feels that way.  I know that when I did my first video on the Asterisk phone system I was so nervous that I forgot to smile.  Here is that video:

When I watch the video, I really don't like how I look in it.  It just feels awkward.  I've got over 12,000 views on this video and I get links from it on a regular basis.

I can't seem to talk without stumbling.

Neither can I.  Have you seen the above video?  Our expectations are set high by people that do nothing but talk in front of others or on video.  In many cases, that is their job and they don't need to know or do much else.  As someone who is using video as a part of another business, you can look forward to not being as good as the professionals forever!  Don't let that stop you.  Also, if you find that you do stumble, take a pause and think about it.  Start over again.  That is the magic of editing.  You can do it 15 times and just cut out the bad parts with Microsoft Movie Maker.

I don't know how to use Youtube & I don't know how to use Microsoft Movie Maker.

I shot this video in my home office with a Sony still digital camera with a video mode.  I did my editing with Microsoft Movie Maker.  In fact, my movie editing skills at that time were the result of about 10 minutes of training with my 9 year old daughter.  She made some videos and showed me how easy it was.  As far as the Youtube use - just sign up for an account.  Microsoft Movie Maker now has a button that lets you upload your video directly.  Many people are doing this now so you can do it too.

I can't write well or I don't have enough to say.

You are an expert at somethings, maybe many things.  If you think about problems you have encountered in your business and what you do to solve them, then you have ideas.  If you can think about your best wins and worst losses, you have content.  If you have helped anyone do anything in your industry than you have ideas and content.  If you find that you are having a tough time with ideas than write down the questions that your customers generally ask, and start answering them.  Think in terms of being your customer, and write answers to how they would ask the questions.  There are plenty of guidelines for how you should write.  The formal guidelines are fine, but I wouldn't be overly concerned about that right away.  If you take the first steps and get your ideas out, you can always go back and make it more complete.  I write just like I speak so it flows easily.

I don't have the time.

No one does.  I pick out 20-30 minutes at a time to sit down and write out an article.  Sometimes I have to write a rough draft and go back, but many times I can complete everything during that time.  It gets easier the more that you do it.  My favorite place to write is at McDonalds or Panera Bread after I've had a quick lunch.  I typically will have a topic in mind already that I've been bouncing around my head while driving towards my next appointment.

I'm calling you out!

The process of creating content with websites and video has been very rewarding for me on multiple levels.  I am SO glad that I was around the right influences to give me the little push I needed in the proper direction.  I had the drive to do something, and all I needed to do was to borrow a little confidence.  So here I am - calling you out.  If you are OK with being the guy at the dance who doesn't get to dance, then just stand against the wall.  You won't do anything embarrassing there - just nothing special.  But if you want to do things, to achieve, to have a better life, to DANCE at the dance, then get going and do it right now.  You miss 100% of the shots you never take.

If you want a website platform that is designed for ease of use and getting your content (including video) organized for you - check out www.save-on-websites.com.  For around $5.00 per month you can have a website platform to work with that uses Wordpress to make things easy for you.

Avoid These Mistakes with Your Website

The Web is the best way to attract new customers at the lowest cost.  Why? - Traditional methods of advertising and marketing appeal to a small and shrinking base of customers.  Who breaks out the phone book to find a local business?  Not too many people.  Who responds well to getting that call about services that you are selling?  In a best case scenario – it’s 10% or less.  The key is being able to be FOUND when your likely prospects need you.  The key to this visibility is to be friendly with the search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.

Search Engines – Are they your friends or your paid entourage?  You can approach it two ways.  You can give the companies money through advertising and they will position your ads in front of the right searchers.  Or you can provide them with value through content that they can use.   If you want to control your budget and build higher value traffic, good content is the key.  Here are some things to avoid when putting together content.

Don’t Use Lots of Pictures, Few Words

While pictures are helpful to make your site easy to look at, they do almost nothing to get traffic to your site in the first place.  It is a balance between pretty and useful.  Search engines work on words and phrases, not pictures.  Focus on your written message and then add the appropriate graphic elements.  The graphics are necessary – no one likes a bland website.  More important than the look is the message.  Avoid using pictures of logo and text where you could easily substitute searchable elements.

Stop thinking in your own terms, and start thinking of your customer

I’ve learned this from experience.  It’s easy for you to describe your business in exact terms.  You know exactly who you are and what you do.  In many cases, that isn’t what matters to people who are searching the internet.  They are trying to solve some problem that they have.  Does your website have answers to problems?  Of course it does.  Every product is an answer to some sort of problem or need.  If you had the same problem as your prospects, how would you search for your answer?  When you answer that question you have some ideas for content that matters.

Don’t Hide the Details

Disclosure builds trust.  If you are a vendor that has nothing to hide, then you are someone who can build trust with just words.  Do you have some problems that you’ve encountered and overcome?  Maybe you want to share that story.  Can you give approximate pricing for your products?  Do it!  It’s both a good trust builder and a qualifier.  If you have a $100 widget and the customer is looking for a $10 widget, do you want to spend your time convincing them otherwise?  On to the next!

Avoid Never Changing Content

Once you are done with your site,  you are NOT done.  It’s a start and you need to continually enhance the content that you provide.  Some folks will tell you that you are doing this to be interesting to customers that may return.  I’m sure that is true in some businesses.  My primary goal with fresh content is to entice the search engines to regularly scan my site.  They make their living on knowing what is out there and it’s to your benefit to change it enough so that they care enough to visit your site with regularity.

Do Not Wait until it is Perfect

We’re not talking about building fine watches or nuclear reactors.  It’s a website.  If you happen to slip up and use some improper grammar or some awkward phrasing chances are that people are not going to die.  Get your content to the point that it delivers your message and then move to the next.  Go from a concept to execution to review to tweaking, then repeat the process.  Content on the web is like money in an interest-bearing account.  The content that you have out there today is found and indexed by the search engines and other sites.  You will build credibility based on how long your content has been online as well.

To summarize:  Your website is key to getting new prospects to look your way.  Apply some strategy to the process and get good results.  Do it now, as the longer you fish the more chance you have to catch some fish.

Cloud Computing

There is a lot of talk in the media about cloud computing.  If you don’t know what it is, you should!  In fact, you are most likely already using some cloud-based applications.

Ever hear of gmail? Webex? Microsoft Windows Live?  YouTube?  eBay?  Sure you have.  Those are some sites that get the idea across.  Cloud Computing is using resources that exist on someone else’s computing platform to run your applications.  That means that you can worry less (if you trust the host) about how much processing power, memory and storage that you have.

What’s the benefit to Cloud Computing?

There are several upsides to using applications that exist in the cloud, including:

Anywhere Access Access your applications from anyplace that has an internet connection with your own equipment, or through shared access computers like those in an office or library.

Pay for What You Use Cloud based services are provided either free (paid through some advertising) or on a pay as you use type of model.   This is great because you can easily scale up or down based on your needs.  Got a new initiative that you need to roll out?  Great – ramp up quickly using someone else’s platform.  Do you have an area that you want to close or change?  Not so great, but at least you don’t have the sunk cost of custom hardware/software platforms to worry about.

Shared Innovation / Shared Support Software developers are heavily incented to continually improve their products.  This is because the product improvements can be taken advantage by many users at the same time since they are part of a shared platform.  Since the applications are live, if there are improvements or fixes that are implemented then you get access to them as soon as they are enabled.

How should I prepare for Cloud Computing?

Since your data and software is being hosted elsewhere, your connection to the Internet becomes more important.  You don’t want to push your applications to the cloud only to have your processing slowed by slow Internet!

Additionally, you will want to have security in place to make sure that your data gets to the cloud in a secure manner.  Basic firewalls may be enough if your data isn’t sensitive, but more is required if the data must be protected.  There is a new generation of application-aware security appliances available such as the ADTRAN Unified Threat Management suite of products.  (www.adtran.com).  This type of product is aware of the applications that are being worked with, and are able to both secure the transactions and prioritize traffic so that your business-critical applications take precedence over Facebook or YouTube!

Get on Board!

Don’t let the cloud-computing train pull out of the station without you.  There is no question that this is the wave of the future.  Get on board.  Get familiar.  Be one of the companies that leverage the technology while it is still an advantage, not just the status quo.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Langys