Posterous provides screen capture blogging in addition to the email blog discussed in my last blog post.
You can add the Posterous bookmarklet to your browser and you will have unlimited screen capture options to use as Posterous blog posts. You can capture photos, video, podcasts and text to add to your blog. The bookmarklet supports numerous sites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and Metacafe. Posterous, through its screen capture technology, automatically tries to find flash embeds and large images so that your videos and podcasts can be played on your Posterous blog.
What you do is highlight the area of screen that you want to capture and click the Posterous button in your browser (you need to be logged into Posterous – you can stay logged in as an option). There is an example of text capture from the 12SecondCommute website in the image at the top of this post.
When you use the Posterous bookmarklet for screen capture you can add comments to the captured image together with a hyperlinked URL Here’s an example of a text screen capture and the provision for a comment on the Posterous extract:
Ideally, you would make a 100 word comment that is keyword rich and adds to the information in the screen capture window. The comment would also include a link to your target website/blog. Here’s an example comment created in relation to the text screen capture at the top of this post:
Posterous automatically records the URL of the screen capture and adds it as a hyperlink. However, you can edit the screen capture and URL displayed before posting to Posterous. You do this by clicking on the text/image displayed in the screen capture and this will result in a window displaying the HTML code for editing. You can just highlight the relevant text or link and replace it with the desired information:
Screen capture blogging with Posterous is another great option for small business marketing online as it is easy to use and is very versatile.
The webinar has become the most powerful form of online marketing for small business. One of the leaders in the field of online conferencing, GVO Conference, now offers state-of-the-art webinar facilities for the cost of a burger (per month).
The benefits of conducting a webinar
Why would you use a webinar? Well, the benefits speak for themselves. I have seeen many benefits through participating in numerous webinars and running my own in the area of social media marketing. Through a webinar, you can:
use visual aids – slides, photos and video (…and Squidoo lenses as I have done)
build trust as participants get to hear your voice and see you
easily explain complex ideas
demonstrate products or services
quickly build awareness and credibility
interact with your audience via voice and text chat
reach a wider audience (even global)
achieve a sales conversion rate of 4 to 10 times that of other marketing methods.
Webinars make you and your expertise visible and engender personal relationships with your existing and potential customers.
What would you use a webinar for?
Well, you are really only limited by your imagination here. The webinar is such a flexible format that you can use it for many marketing endeavors. Here are some applications:
launch a new product or service
promote other products to existing customers
introduce your product and services to potential customers
provide ongoing training for customers
conduct meetings or training for geographically dispersed staff
develop product ideas with your customers or staff
conduct surveys or obtain feedback from customers
extend your customer base beyond your limited geographical area.
A webinar is a flexible medium if you purchase the right facilities at the outset. I have used four different webinar platforms and have found the GVO Conference facility to be the best in terms of cost and features.
Features of the webinar facility from GVO Conference
Online conference facilities vary widely. GVO Conference provides the most comprehensive facilities at the cheapest price. Here are some of the features of this webinar platform:
auto-display of conference room when participants click on the link provided by you
slide presentations such as Powerpoint
video streaming
electronic whiteboard
inbuilt (text) chat room
voice chat via headsets
no dial in required (so no phone costs for participants)
display browser results
record webinar (video and audio).
The last time I checked, you could get access to a 50 person conference room with GVO Conference for under $10 per month with no limit on the number of webinars you run.
How to use a webinar for promotion of a product or service
Professional Internet marketers increasingly use webinars for the launch of new products/services or re-launch of rejuvenated products/services.
The most common approach uses the following steps:
create a webpage with a sign-up form for the webinar
advertise the web page and send an invite via email to your mailing list
capture the email address of participants via the web form
offer valuable information during the webinar that is relevant to the new product/service (teaser information)
explain that there is a lot more to the problem/solution than can be covered in the webinar
introduce new product/service as a solution to customers’ problems/issues/needs
offer the new product/service at a discount for webinar participants (via a special participant-only webpage)
follow-up participants via the email addresses captured during the sign-up phase (and extend the discount period if desired).
The webinar is a very powerful form of online marketing for small business as it builds trust, credibility and understanding while extending the reach of small business to a global audience.
All in One SEO Plugin is a free WordPress Plugin that enables you to very easily optimize your blog posts for the search engines. It also forms the foundation for the analysis and research conducted by the more sophisticated WordPress Plugin, SEOPressor, described in an earlier post.
As you can see from the image above, there are three main sections of the All in One SEO plugin you need to complete for each blog post to enable the search engines to readily locate your content. The three main aspects of this free WordPress Plugin are keyword, title and description.
Keyword for All in One SEO WordPress Plugin
It is really important to decide the primary keyword for your blog post (and the Free WordPress Plugin). The primary keyword should determine the title and the description. The keyword chosen should be governed by the content and the purpose of your article and your market research.
Title for the All in One SEO WordPress Plugin
The title should include the primary keyword and, where possible, another related keyword. However, it is important to avoid keyword stuffing otherwise your site will be penalized by Google. One of the real benefits of the All in One SEO WordPress Plugin is the ability to provide a catchy, “sexy” title for your blog post to engage the reader and then to have a more SEO-aware title for the search engines.
Description for the All in One SEO WordPress Plugin
The description should contain the primary keyword at least twice but needs to be conversational in nature – it has to be a meaningful sentence(s). The important thing with the description is to keep the reader in mind – who are they and what do they want in relation to your blog post? What problems or issues are you solving with your post?
Not only does the All in One SEO Plugin help you with your title and description, it also gives you a recommended length for each based on how search engines treat these aspects of blog posts.
The free All in One SEO WordPress Plugin can help you make your blog posts reader-friendly and, at the same time, improve the search engine results for these posts – thus boosting the marketing of your small business online.
SEOPressor is a WordPress Plugin that enables you to achieve great search engine results for your blog posts and website pages. The Plugin is easy to install and it provides you with a means for ensuring that your blog posts are optimized for the search engines; that is, they will rank highly in the search engine results for their targeted keyword.
What the SEOPressor WordPress Plugin does
I’ve used SEOPressor to score first page results on Google for my blog posts. What this WordPress Plugin does is help you to improve the onsite SEO for your website – it identifies what aspects you can improve with minimum effort to gain better positioning in search engine results.
SEOPressor does all the work of analysis and research and reports an overall SEO score for the post/page being analyzed. It also identifies how you can improve your use and placement of keywords, font emphasis (bold, italics and underline), images and the key markers that tell Google what the post is about.
What you can do with the information from this WordPress Plugin
With this information you can improve the ranking of your blog post/page by implementing the minor changes recommended. SEOPressor will then recalculate your overall SEO score for the blog post. In this way, you are able to gain better results for your writing through higher placement in search engine results.
The Plugin also educates you so that you can consistently achieve improved traffic from search engines irrespective of what blog or website you are writing for. This is an easy way to maximize the return on your investment of your time and energy in writing.
The SEOPressor is a WordPress Plugin that improves your writing, boosts your search engine results and brings increased targeted traffic to your small business blog or website.
Audioboo is a very easy, free podcasting platform that lets you create up to 5 minute podcasts either online or via mobile phone. It creates the podcast, provides the MP3 player online and supports distribution.
Audioboo has a Google Page Rank of 7/10 and is ranked by Alexa in the top 30,000 sites in the world (in terms of traffic). The dominant audience demographic is women between the ages of 35 and 54 who have postgraduate education. The over 65 age group is poorly represented in the Audiboo’s audience.
Audioboo – online recording
Let’s check out the online version first. The process is very simple. Once you register you can record an audio online or upload an existing audio – Audiboo takes most formats. You can tag (keyword) your podcast to assist the search engines to find your audio. Audioboo will also give the location (city) of your recording (if you agree to this).
Better still, you can tell Audioboo in advance what sites should receive your podcasts automatically after each recording/upload – Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, Tumblr and/or FriendFeed. Visitors to your site can also promote your podcast via Twitter or Facebook. Both you and your visitors can embed the podcast on a blog or website.
Audioboo is a great place to start if you are new to podcasting. You can start small (maximum 5 minutes) and have the system produce your audio for easy play and distribution.
One way to start if you are nervous about speaking is to read something as a recording (e.g. an article, blog post, short chapter of an ebook). Get used to the sound of your voice first even though reading may make you sound a little stilted. Then you can progress to having a few notes or headings to talk to. You can always start again and re-record – practice makes perfect.
You might even discover that you love this form of content creation and that others love your voice. Just be yourself and genuine – it’s all part of the transparency of social media marketing. Remember too that audio/podcasting is a very forgiving medium – people will overlook the odd stutter or break or “um” because they themselves have not been willing to give it a go. Just do it – you will be so glad you did.
Using Audioboo with your iPhone
The Audioboo application for the iPhone is free and is a superb tool. You can download it through iTunes or directly through the Audioboo site.
Picture this – you are with someone you want to interview. You take a photo with your iPhone, call up the Audioboo app and start recording an interview. When finished, touch a button to add the photo, insert tags (keywords) and touch another to upload your podcast to Audioboo. If you set it up right, the audio will be automatically distributed to other sites such as Facebook.
Alternatively, you might be reading an ebook or listening to a webinar and you get an idea for a brief podcast. You could just pick up your iPhone and record something via the Audioboo app.
Here’s my Audioboo site (refer to the Widget at the start of this blog post for the feed):
You will notice that I have not used Audioboo much yet as I have been using the more sophisticated program, Audacity, which enables you to (1) record a lot longer audio (some of my recordings are an hour) and (2) edit extensively (something you need for longer audio recordings).
Audioboo also has some restrictions on commercial use and may charge a fee if you are overly commercial in your use of the site and its services. As with social networking sites, overt marketing is frowned upon.
However, Audioboo has recently introduced an upgrade service, Audioboo Plus, which includes the following features:
30 minutes recording time
enhanced iTunes settings
posting to Facebook fan pages
Audioboo is a great place to start podcasting for small business owners. You can practice and build up confidence with short podcasts and then upgrade to the new Audioboo advanced service.
Thumbnail Photo Credit: Audioboo Podcasting – by pixelsebi
