Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips

Video Landing Page Secrets from Mike Stewart

As a quick follow up to my post about how I'm learning about video on the web, you might be interested in checking out Mike Stewart's Video Landing Page Secrets. Mike is really the master at using video as a sales tool on the web, and he's the one whose tutorials I bought to learn how to use Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

Even though Mike advocates using Wordpress for your video landing pages, I contend you can do the same thing on TypePad or on any web page.  His point is that you can set up a video sales page in a few minutes with no knowledge of html by using a blog, and he's right. Mike produces excellent training tutorials so this may be a good way for you to go if you're ready to jump into video.

Read this article from USA Today: Marketing Gold Could Be Found in Web Video

Flip Video Gets Reviewed in The New York Times

One of my favorite tech reviewers is David Pogue in The New York Times.  Finally, he has reviewed the Flip Video and he really likes it.  You have to read the review and watch the video of Pogue and his clones demonstrating the differences between a camcorder and the Flip.

I got my Flip about 9 months ago, the original version. The new Ultra Flip has an attachment for a tripod which makes it a heck of a lot easier to shoot video of yourself.

Next week Patsi and I will be at a 3 day marketing seminar. We're bringing our Flips so we can shoot a bunch of video tips for you. Stay tuned! And, if you want to get going with video, get a Flip. It's about as easy as it gets.

Related Posts:
Patsi Flips for New Flip Video Camera
Flip Video Camera Gets Pink Shoes
Flip Video is a Hit at BlogWorld Expo

Facebook Privacy Settings Tutorial

We're focused on Facebook right now. On Monday, March 10 we're interviewing Facebook Business Coach Mari Smith about how to use Facebook to build your business. With that in mind, we know quite a few people will be jumping on the Facebook bandwagon.

One of the issues many folks are concerned about is privacy. Mari Smith has done a 9 minute tutorial on how to adjust your Facebook privacy settings. So here's your assignment:

1. Register for the Facebook class on Monday.
2. Set up your account on Facebook so you can see what Mari's talking about
3. Watch the video to make sure you have the level of privacy you want.
4. Add me and Patsi as Facebook Friends!

Has Google Indexed Your Site?

I received an interesting question yesterday:

I have a client that uses TypePad for her blog. I would like to know why Google has not picked up her blog yet. Any suggestions? I have set up Google alerts using her keywords and her postings don’t show. I have also registered her blog with Google. I would appreciate you assistance.

Let me say this right up front...I'm not a Google expert by any stretch of the imagination so I was a little taken aback by this question.

My first thought was "how the heck would I know why Google hasn't indexed the blog?" But that wouldn't be a very polite response. Here's how I responded instead:

POLL: Social Networking Sites

Social networking. It's all the buzz right now. So, we want to know...what is the primary social networking site you use to market and promote your business?  Please take our poll!  If your preferred site is not on the list, please use the comments to let us know. We're very curious to know where you're spending your time online.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

It's amazing how many social networking sites there are. Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of sites. There's something for everyone.

David Meerman Scott Uses Video to Promote His Speaking Gigs

On Facebook today, I ran across an excellent example of using video to promote one's services without being overly promotional.  David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, has posted a video, also on YouTube, that gives a great example of how he engages audiences, the topics he speaks about, and valuable content so you don't go away thinking you only saw a commercial.  Check it out...

Scott's goal is to provide education, entertainment and motivation. Watch the video and let know if you think he achieved that in this 3 minute spot.

POLL: Internet Marketing Traps...What are yours?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Your "trap" not listed here? Let us know what it is by submitting a comment below.

Have your registered for our FREE teleseminar yet? Click the link below.

Find out how you can avoid the common Internet Marketing traps that can derail your business.

Extreme energy makeover: Home technology edition

This isn't about leveraging the Internet; it's about leveraging your money as a home office user. It's a fascinating article about how to reduce the energy you use in your home office. I was already able to make some tweaks to my equipment after reading the article.  And what small business person doesn't want to save money? Here's the brief synopsis:

Step by step, tech writer Rob Mitchell shows how he measured energy use of all his home office equipment, and then targeted the energy pigs for replacement. With better equipment choices, he'd save $90/year. You can apply his techniques in your own computer room. Includes formulas, a spreadsheet and, of course, a gadget.

read more | digg story

One Laptop per Child - Give one, Get One

This is one of the coolest offers I've seen in a long time: One Laptop per Child - Give One, Get One:

For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. $200 of your donation is tax-deductible (your $399 donation minus the fair market value of the XO laptop you will be receiving).

This appeals to all my philanthropic beliefs.  First, I believe in empowering people to get an education so they can achieve what they want in life. Second, this is an amazing tool that will not only help one child, but can potentially help many because when one child becomes technically literate, they will probably share their skills with others. Third, this offer, for a limited time (until November 26) allows you to get one of these cool laptops and give it to someone of your own choosing. 

Most of the kids I know don't need a laptop -- their parents can afford to buy one for them or they already have one, but what about an organization in your own community that helps underprivileged kids, or a school in a low income neighborhood?  This  is a great way to make a contribution to your own community as well.

Thanks to the TerraPass blog for bringing this program to my attention. As they say, this is a great experiment in social entrepreneurship.

Open Source Software is Worth Checking Out

Following on my post yesterday about how important I believe it is to be able to create your own web pages, today's post is about how to get free or low cost software to create your web pages.

A few weeks ago on Blogging and Beyond, we interviewed James Gaskin about open source software. He shared info about a site called theopencd.org that distributes free software that can replace the expensive software you're probably familiar with. Me being me, an active experimenter, I immediately went to the site and purchased a cd with 33 software programs on it. The cost was $10.

NOTE: theopencd.org is no longer a functioning site. The OpenCD is available here instead.

There's a lot on this disc that I will never use, however, a couple of things caught my eye: