Monthly Archives: September 2014

Comprehensive Guide To Using Google Hangouts On Air for Your Video Marketing

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Video marketing is the most powerful & effective tool for marketing your business.

If you want to improve your visibility, credibility and sales lead generation than you need to start video marketing.

This article will show you, step by step, how to start video marketing without buying a ton of expensive equipment or taking courses on videography.

How to use Google Hangouts on Air as an easy solution to video marketing for business.

What is Google Hangouts on Air?

Part of the functionality offered with a Google + or YouTube account, a Hangout on Air is basically an online video meeting / chat tool.

The difference from other tools, for example Skype, are many. The biggest difference is that you can add up to 8 participants for free, the “events” are broadcast live and can be promoted in advance, and there are all sorts of cool graphics that can be added to user’s profiles to enhance the experience.

In short, Hangouts on Air enable you to start your own media platform from which you can create your own messaging.

What are the benefits to using Hangouts on Air for your Video Marketing?

Hangouts on Air automatically upload and are saved to your YouTube account.

Benefits:

1. Exposure: Provides you with content on the second biggest search engine in the world.
2. Search Marketing: Shows activity on your Google plus account- which factors in heavily to your search engine ranking, or where your business shows up on search results on Google Itself.
3. Content Creation: Gives you neat multimedia content to post to your website or social media.
4. Connect with your audience: You reap the benefits of video marketing by creating a deeper connection with your future customers; video is the next best thing to meeting in person
5. Go Viral: You’re providing easy to digest, shareable content that your future customers are more prone to engage with and share with their networks.

Great, I am sold! How do I get started?

Prepare for your first Google Hangout on Air: Get Your Account Set Up

1. Get a google account if you don’t have one already.

2. Go to YouTube.com and click on your picture, and then Creator Studio

3. Click on Videos on the left hand side, and then Live events.

4. Click on Start a live event- and verify your account if it isn’t already.

5. Click on Broadcast Live and download the Google Hangout Plugin if you haven’t already

6. Invite your interviewee or hangout partner

7. Have fun! Play with the Hangouts Tool Box and other functions on the left side of the dashboard.

Being Interviewed on Video? Here’s what you need to know.

Web Cam: Be sure to be in front of a device with video streaming capability. Laptops, Tablets and Phones typically have built-in webcams. Ideally you would use your Laptop.

Get the Plugin: Download the Google Hangout Plugin here: Get the Google Hangout Plugin – run and instal it on your computer.

Sign up for a gmail address: if you don’t have one already, get one and send this to the person interviewing you.

Lighting & Sound: find a quiet spot that is well lit- but be sure any windows are facing you so we can see your face.

Internet Connection: If possible, connect to the internet with a wired connection and close any running programs besides Google Hangouts

Microphone: Test your built in microphone before your interview. You may need to use a headset (most headphones come with a built in microphone.)

Eye Contact: It feels weird initially, but make sure you’re looking directly into the camera. If you have any notes prepared post them as close to your camera as you can.

Camera positioning: Make sure your entire head is visible and the camera angle is straight on. Lower your chair if need be to avoid the “looking up your nose” angle.

Relax! The audience wants to see the real you. You don’t need to be nervous. Foibles and speech habits are endearing to your viewers, and help them to feel like they know, like and trust you.

Did you find this guide on Video marketing helpful?

Let me know how you did in the comments below, and don’t forget to share this with your network 🙂

 

A Beginners Guide To Blogging For Business

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Today on our one minute tip we are going to start from scratch with blogging for beginners.

What is a blog post anyways and why would you want to start blogging as a small business owner who already has a million things to do?

3 reasons every business owner should be blogging:

You want people coming back to your website, you want people sharing your website on social media and you want your website to be found on search engines.

So one of the most effective ways to kill all those birds with one stone is to blog!

A blog is actually just a fancy name for an article. 500 or so words is all you are looking for.

How to Blog for Business, Step 1: Brainstorm topics.

Think about what your customers or perspective customers always ask you about your business.

If you can think about 5 or 10 topics, pick one and start there.

How to Blog for Business, Step 2: Answer customer questions

Then think about 3 points you normally use to address that question or that topic to your customer.

Expand on those points.

Sit down and write if that is easier or you can use your voice recorder tool on your smart phone which can translate your words to text and will basically write your blog post for you!

Once you are done your 3 points you have expanded on, just add a summary and introduction paragraph to the beginning.

How to Blog for Business, Step 3; Create a Catchy Headline

Think of a catchy headline, like, “3 Mistakes That Most People Shopping for a Fireplace Usually Make”.

Then post this on your website and try to do it on a fairly consistent basis, even once a month is better than none at all.

That is your one minute tip! If you liked this tip, please share and follow our youtube channel here:

 

A Busy Person’s Shortcut To Marketing Yourself On Twitter

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Today lets talk about how to use Twitter to get more credibility exposure and lead generation for your business.

If you are like most small business owners, you are avoiding Twitter because you just don’t see the point! It’s actually really, really simple, which is why most people find it complicated.

But, more importantly it’s an effective way of boosting your visibility and credibility by getting you exposure to your future customers.

Step One: just create a Twitter account.

Step Two: Hashtags

Figure out how to use Hashtags, the pound symbol – the number sign, #.

What that does is connote a key word or topic. Make sure in your profile you are using hashtags to describe what you do. Use your city or a keyword like #pizzadelivery, #vaccummrepair.

That means when people are searching users with those hashtags, your profile will show up!

Step Three: Work your contacts

Once you sign up, make sure you add people you are already know and start following people you like and business’s that you frequent and start engaging with them.

Step Four: Engage in Conversation

Re-tweeting those people and business’s you follows tweets.

It’s a really great way to get their attention and let them know that you are out there because everybody appreciates free publicity and if you are engaging and promoting that business and those people, they will take notice and at least thank you for that. That’s how you start to engage on Twitter.

Step Five: Grow Your Network

You can also search other users by hashtags as well and you can start to follow people in your target market like in your city or people who are talking about the things that you provide solutions for.

Step Six: Get More Visibility

Those are a couple ways you can start using Twitter to generate a bit more exposure for your business and start engaging with your target audience and community at large.

Don’t forget to post your Twitter link on your website, your email signature, and any other promotional materials you may already have.

Best of luck and if you found this valuable please share and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!

 

Pro Tips to Using Pinterest for Business

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Today in your one minute tip we are going to be talking about how you can use Pinterest to promote your small business.

Pinterest is a social media marketing tool that is free to use and really easy because its basically about collecting images and pinning them.


So why can this work for small business?

First, pins on Pinterest last a really long time on the newsfeed.

so if you pinned something 3 months ago that has the ability to stay in the news feed and get promoted, seen or shared for up to 3 months from the time you posted it.

That is a long time compared to other social media sites. For each pin that you are pinning, you get a lot of longevity out of that.

Secondly, it is really easy to build community on Pinterest.

All you need to do is go and re-pin others content, share it to your own boards and like it and comment on it. Its that easy!

There is lots of fantastic stuff that people are talking about on Pinterest. They’re talking about holidays, food, all kinds of stuff.

You don’t need to necessarily pin anything business related, just go and network with the people that you already know. You can go and sync your existing contacts into Pinterest and just begin with your community and go from there.

Third, you can use Pinterest to drive more traffic to your website.

If you re-pin images from your website, IE your blog, onto Pinterest that allows you to drive traffic back to your website and position yourself as an expert in your field.

So its a triple whammy, using Pinterest to start driving business to your site.

That’s your one minute tip and if you found this valuable, please remember to share!

If you like this video- subscribe to my channel & never miss a tip!

 

 

5 Quick and Easy ways to get more traffic to your website

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Let’s talk about getting more traffic to your website!

Here are 5 quick and easy ways to get more people to your web site.

1. Leverage your already existing promotional materials.

One of the easiest and most overlooked ways to promote your website and get more traffic to it is to mention your website address on your voicemail!

Also, don’t forget to add your website address to your email signature and any other promotional materials, and I’m talking any – vehicle decals, brochures, signage, anything else you can possibly add your website address to, go ahead and do it!

2. Work your email contacts.

Either send out a newsletter once a month to existing clients and contacts or a personal email out to the folks you know letting them know you have a website, what it can do and ask them to share it with their network.

3. Network on Social Media

Speaking of networks, if you are not leveraging social media to promote your business yet, you definitely want to go ahead and do that as soon as you are done reading this.

Promote yourself on Facebook, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, you name it! Those are just a few sites out there that can help you drive traffic to your website.

4. Update your site often.

You have to give these contacts a reason to visit your site so make sure to update it on a frequent basis and provide valuable information to your target audience.

5. Pay for traffic

Last but not least, if you haven’t thought of it already, you might want to consider advertising on Google.

Google Pay Per Click ads are an affordable way to get exposure to your clients when they are typing in what you sell on Google.

That’s your one minute tip. If you found it helpful please share and thanks again for visiting!