Twitter Search RSS Feeds to Find Customers and Blog Content (Video)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 10, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 2 comments

In this video I show you how to use Twitter Search to find people in your niche, answer questions, and find new content for your next blog post.

In particular I illustrate how to:

• search twitter for leading indicators of questions
• use exact phrase match to narrow in on the right tweets
• save the RSS feeds to your RSS aggregator
• leverage Twitter questions to build your following, knowledge, and business

UPDATE: if you want to exclude Tweets that include links, simply add -http to your search.  This will weed out Tweets that look like user questions but are potentially links to an answer of some sort.  Here’s an example:

I hope you found this useful.  I know it’s been a great approach for me.

You else do you conduct real-time online market research?  What other techniques can you share that work?

Seven Elements of an Effective Blog to Drive Traffic, Engage Customers and Stay Organized (Video)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 5, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

Blogging is a great channel to deliver content online, deliver your message and engage in meaningful discussions with your target market. One of the challenges for bloggers is their ability to make their blog more effective and efficient.

In this video I discuss my recommendations on seven elements to drive effective blogging. There are more elements than just seven, but it’s the most I could fit into a ten minute video. For a great library of resources on this topic I encourage you to read http://www.problogger.com and http://www.copyblogger.com.

Topics Covered:

• Unique & engaging content
• Personality & balance
• Consistent activity
• Design with purpose
• Focus & organization
• Contact information
• Comments & interaction

What’s been most effective for your blog? Which key elements am I missing?

Leverage Online Video to Engage Readers, Drive Website Traffic and Differentiate Your Business (Video)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 4, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

YouTube has been around for years and is without question one of the best video sharing sites. Getting your video message online is a terrific method of engaging readers, driving traffic to your website, and differentiating your business. It takes practice but the payoff can be significant.

Topic Covered:

• Test and gain confidence (It’s all about practice)
• Use the right tools to shoot, edit, publish, promote
• Using Multiple platforms to share videos online
• Leveraging the network to reach a broader audience
• Engaging with readers unlike text or audio content
• Search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site
• Mix it up with different approaches to use video.

How can you get started with video today? What holding you back? Have any success or horror stories to share?

Evidence that YouTube Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Works (Video)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 2, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 5 comments

YouTube search engine optimization (SEO) is an often overlooked element that can drive significant views and traffic back to your website.

Setting up a search engine friendly video is very simple and only take a fraction of the time required to actually shoot, edit, and publish the video.

Keywords are critical in your title, description, and tags. In this video I provide an example of a video I uploaded 2 years ago, which continues to get a steady flow of viewers now topping 250,000.

The link in my description feeds these viewers back to my website of choice (another feature that 99% of videos fail to incorporate).

Why don’t people optimize their videos?  What do think?  Seems like good sense but it’s so often overlooked.

The video referenced in this article is the 1st video in this YouTube Search.

Does Audio or Video Really Engage Blog Readers? (Audio)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 2, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

In this audio post I discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using audio and video on your blog.
 
003-audio-versus-video.mp3

Advantages of Audio Blogging
•    Quicker to record and post
•    Fewer tools required
•    Faster download
•    Greater reach with MP3 players

Advantages of Video Blogging
•    Great to put a face with your name and voice
•    Good for presentations or tutorials
•    Good to leverage YouTube channel network
•    Most engaging web content according to studies

In either case, audio and video both add color to the standard text based blog, much like photos make your posts pop.  Experiment with both and find which works best for you.  You may find that video works in some cases, while audio is better for others.

What are your thoughts?  Are you finding success with audio and/or video.  Which seems to work best given the topic or situation?