Biz Tips Blog: Online Marketing, Visibility and Business Blogging Tips

NConnects Takes TeleConferencing to a New Level

Breaking News: I just got off a 90 minute conference call with Rick Raddatz, the guy who created Instant TeleSeminar and a lot of other cool and innovative Internet marketing tools. If you've been around me for awhile, you know I LOVE Instant TeleSeminar and recommend it to all my clients.

Well, now Rick and his partners have created a new teleconference system that can take your teleseminars and conference calls to a whole new level. The service is called NConnects and launches on May 19. Some of the features include:

• Emergency backup numbers so the host can ALWAYS dial in
• A call-out feature so you can call your guest or co-host if they forget to dial in
• Listeners can "raise" their hand to ask questions
• You can control the sound levels on your guest/co-host (this is a big one for me) so if your voice is normal and your guest is quiet, you can raise their volume so you get an outstanding recording.
• The recordings are NOT compressed so you get a very high quality recording for your info products and replays
• Multiple dial-in lines so most callers can use a local number
• + much more

If you're already an InstantTeleseminar subscriber, they're going to offer a sweet deal to upgrade. If you don't need all the bells and whistles of IT, you can get a basic service with 100 phone lines.

As I said, the service launches on May 19, but you can get on the early launch VIP list now and enter a contest where they are giving away $500,000 (you read that right) in free services.

Personally, because teleseminars are an integral part of my business and I want to always offer the best experience, I'll be upgrading to NConnects. However, you need to figure out what's right for your business. I do encourgage you to take a look and get on the VIP list because I've been a customer of Rick's for many years and I know he's the real deal when it comes to product, quality and service.

Related Posts:
Teleseminar leaders: two sites to post your events
InstantTeleseminar vs. Audio Acrobat

My Twitter ToolBox is a Helpful Resource

Everyday another tool is introduced to help you manage and use Twitter. Staying on top of the fads, the good stuff and the really, really useful stuff takes a lot of time and energy. So I was really happy to find a really great resource called My Twitter Toolbox. It's a 60+ page ebook with over 100 twitter tools listed including info about what it's for and a link to get the tool.

Having used twitter now for a couple of years, I know how much time it takes to keep up with the new tools and the hours it would take you to research and find what's included in this book. I'm impressed. I thought I was on top of what's out there but I certainly found a few new cool tools that I can put to good use and make my twitter experience more productive.

My Twitter Toolbox is only $7.77 (at the time of this blog post) so it's not going to set you back much and with that investment, you get all future updates. That's a steal in my book! If you're new to twitter, this ebook is an excellent complement to The Twitter Revolution by my friend and colleage @CoachDeb.

Let's connect on Twitter!

Related Post:
Add Video to Your Twitter Profile

Animoto is a Super Easy Video Tool

Animoto finally got me. It's been on my list to experiment for some time, like ever since Lou Bortone and I put together our homestudy course, Online Video Made Easy. Lou talked about how easy Animoto is to create high quality video just from your images.

Then yesterday I saw a tweet from a client with a link to an animoto video she had just created. That moved me to give it a test drive.

In a nutshell, you upload some photos, add some text, choose a music track and click a button.  Within a few minutes of rendering, you have a really cool video. You can create 30 second videos for free. Longer videos cost $3 or you can spring for an annual pass for $30 which gives you unlimited access. That's what I did.

After you create your video, there options that allow you to simply upload your video to YouTube, post is on Facebook, your blog or any of 20 other sites. You can download your video and send a link by email. Sharing is easy.

OK, wanna see my video?

Twitter Tools to Maximize Your Experience

In the Social Media Marketing Industry Report that was released this week, one of the findings of the 900 people surveyed, was that 57% surveyed wanted to learn more about how to use Twitter.

Among my twitter friends, yesterday a link was being retweeted (like forwarding an email) to a list of 27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today. It's an excellent list that culls 27 of the best apps (out of hundreds that have been developed).

While I don't use nearly all of the featured apps, there are some I would say are essential in addition to Tweetdeck (not mentioned, but without which I would not be able to deal with Twitter at all! It's my TOP twitter pick. My other picks from the list are...

Content Ideas: Poll Results

A few days ago I wrote a post about creating content and where to get content ideas for your blog posts and articles. I set up a quick poll on Poll Daddy (so I could test their site). I tweeted the link a few times and it was featured in my Facebook status bar a couple of times. You'll see I got 21 responses. Not a scientific sampling to be sure, but interesting nonetheless.

One of the options was "other" and this is where the good stuff is. Check out the results and various ways people find inspiration for their content.

Here are some of the "other" ways bloggers find inspiration:

• Life experience (2)
• Other experts
• Books
• Private Label Rights (purchase content)
• What people type into Google
• Watching people live blindly and with apathy (!)
• A variety of sources
• Photographs (check out istockphoto for great images)

Anything you want to add to this list?