posted by Steve8th, 2008
Blog popularity is due in large part to blogs’ simplicity. Hosting companies have made setting up a website uncommonly easy. Everyone - no matter what level of technical proficiency - is capable of setting up a blog site. Yep -even me.
I’ve found WordPress to be not only a user-friendly blogging tool, I also believe that when used correctly, it has the potential to be the perfect tool to use to generate an above-average level of traffic to your website. And that can translate directly into more dollars in your pocket!
Here’s why I like WordPress. First, the relative advantages are many; you don’t have to know how to design or program a site, you can automatically import images and video, you can easily customize your site, and yes, if you want, you can blog. Oh -and blog sites are indexed almost instantly by the major search engines. No more waiting for months for Yahoo or Google to recognize your site. It’s just not blogging software, either. WordPress is a content management tool that allows anyone to create a great-looking website.
Secondly - For those of you who are running blogs right now, you are on the leading edge. Web 2.0 is here, simply meaning that smart communicators are encouraging two-way dialogues. It’s no longer enough to build a site that talks to visitors without allowing feedback. Nowadays, people are looking for real people behind the pixels…people who will listen and respond to them.
Finally - Your customers are starting to ask about web videos. You have got to get with the technology to do this, as well as get behind the marketing strategies to sell them what they want. Thankfully, the technology is relatively easy…and if you’ve got some streaming software program and a working knowledge of WordPress in your toolbox, you can not only produce video clips for the web, you can hand your client a brand new, WordPress-based website featuring those clips. Better yet, you can do it in less than an hour, if you have to and, you can almost guarantee it’ll be in the major search engines in a matter of hours - if not sooner.
If you’re looking for more information on WordPress and how to use it effectively, I’ve added 20 video courses on the subject to the Members-Only section of the Video Business Advisor. The newest flight is “Advanced WordPress Training,” a 10-lesson series that covers most of the different aspects of WordPress that usually get answered with lots of technical jargon. None of that ’round here.
Each lesson runs approximately 10 minutes and covers the stuff you need to know, such as changing header graphics, CSS style sheets, using your blog as a Content Management System, desktop blogging, RSS uses and stats, and a few more -like how to customize your 404 pages for fun and profit.
Like the other dozens of helpful videos and hundreds of resources designed to help wring maximum profitability out of a video production business, they’re accessible to VBA members 24/7. There’s membership info here, if you’re interested. Check it out. Get a step (or two) ahead of the competition.
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posted by Steve2nd, 2008
My friend and Video Business Advisor Advisor (I’ve got to think of another name for this great group of people!) John Easton has produced a video of a panel discussion he recently participated in on business networking strategies.
Says John, “I thought the video serves as a good example of how end users can use program-based streaming video to turn their expertise into effective marketing tools. FYI, our Chamber of Commerce (Charlotte, NC) has signed on a distribution partner (4,000 + business audience) and we are working on others The programming is also an opportunity for video producers to sell yet one more service.
“In addition, I mention you and your rule of 8:16 in the discussion. I thought you might get a kick out of the mention.”
I watched the series, enjoyed it and yep, I did get a kick out of the mention, John. Thanks for that, and for giving us another great tip for marketing our businesses.
See the series on John’s Blog. And while you’re there, sign up for a free subscription to John’s stuff. He’s a terrific source of marketing ideas that really work.
posted by Steve20th, 2008
Seth Godin recently commented that YouTube has, quietly, become a significant force in business learning. He stated that “people who would never read a 200 page book would happily watch a three minute video.”
Like it or not, people are turning to YouTube and other video aggregator sites in order to learn things…and they’re using the compelling power of video to get their instruction. Instead of gnashing your teeth about having to compete with rank amateurs (and I mean that in both senses of the word) and poor production values, embrace the new trend in learning! Focus your marketing on people and concerns that need to get their message on video and out to their audiences. Anyone who publishes books or printed instructional matter is a good candidate for your video production skills, both for repurposing their training materials into video, and for getting it onto the Internet.
And yes, we practice what we preach. For the past six months, we’ve been repurposing our earlier books, special reports and live seminars into video courses that are now available online on the Video Business Advisor website anytime of the day or night. We’ll tell you how we do it quickly and inexpensively in a future article.
posted by Steve10th, 2008
Video dudes and dudettes, are you tired of trying to figure out on how to get a blog installed and running on your own server? We just uploaded a brand new, 10-part video training series to the Video Business Advisor members area that will show you how to get your own WordPress blog set up quickly and easily.
The series includes a video that details the steps to manually install WordPress on your server. This covers the whole process of installation, including how to create the necessary MySQL databases on your server. (It’s much easier than it sounds.) Another video walks you through the steps of installing WordPress, using
Fantasitico on your cPanel hosting account. This is the fastest and easiest method to get your blog set up.
Lesson 3 in this 90-part series covers the ‘admin’ area in general. This is the place where you configure all your blog settings, the sites’ feel and look, posting of messages, managing posts and the like.
There are also three lessons on design, including a walk-through on how to work with themes, one on showing you how to replace the default header of the theme to your own desired header image, and another on how to work with the theme editor. This typically involves a bit of work trying to figure out a few lines of code. This video will make editing your theme a breeze!
Finally, there are complete lessons on working with plugins (including the installation of two plugins), working with widgets, search optimization via permalinks, and a final big lesson on how to deal with posts, pages and categories.
Easy to get the online training you need for your WordPress blog; just join the hundreds of other smart videographers who rely on the Video Business Advisor for their marketing and promotional help. Click here for details.
