How to Use Youtube to Build a Successful Business
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Great Video Marketing SPCA, NZ on Porter, First Driving Dog!
We love this Ad - see why!
It's not just that Porter is the first Dog or that we like dogs ...
Twitter: How to Change Your Header Image (and Improve BRANDING)
Twitter Tutorial: Change Your Header Image and Promote Your Brand!
There has been more changes added by Twitter as they roll out Header Space to more account holders, for their images (similar to Facebook's Cover Page but not quite as big). So now you can use that as an 'advertising billboard' for your brand. Share this http://youtu.be/NWIglTdIoK4
You don't have to fill the Twitter header-space with an image if you prefer to leave it blank - it will look black by default. However it's a good idea to use this valuable real estate especially as it's right behind your Twitter Avatar, Bio-lines and URLS and gets first view whenever someone clicks on your Profile.
For example, what kind of band are you? A country and western band? Folk band? etc. When you place an appropriate and relevant image eg. rock band in your Header Space, you immediately send out the correct impression of your band and get the kind of enquiries and leads that you are seeking that could lead to increased bookings eg. for a wedding, dance or social event, private function, etc. and increased sales.
For example, what kind of band are you? A country and western band? Folk band? etc. When you place an appropriate and relevant image eg. rock band in your Header Space, you immediately send out the correct impression of your band and get the kind of enquiries and leads that you are seeking that could lead to increased bookings eg. for a wedding, dance or social event, private function, etc. and increased sales.
You can make that vital first impression whenever someone lands on your account - make it impressive and congruent with your BRAND. Explicit statement? Or implicit message? Either or, or both! Here's your opportunity to get creative, promote your brand and get more Twitter followers with ONE (Header) space!
TIP: You can overlay text messages in your image (so you are getting more messages across), in addition to your text narrative and text links that are sitting on TOP of your header image (your Bio lines) - in effect you are graphically reinforcing your written message. If you wish to do this smarter then do it subtly because this approach often works better than a sledge-hammer approach!
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Even the Pope's on TWITTER!!
The Pope can teach us a lesson on Marketing 101!
Monday, 10 December 2012
Instagram Introduces Crop & Scaling Tools
An improvement but images are still small ...
at least you can still crop and scale your pics for now.
Looking forward to more improvements in the near future.
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Does Controversial Content Increase Sales?
Does Controversial Content / Marketing Drive Sales?
Check out this Video
Note it's the same garment (man's)!
Note it's the same garment (man's)!
On the Web, if it Don't Spread, it's Dead!
For some organisations, one way to increase traffic and / or sales is to run an Ad Campaign that's based on controversial content. There are some pros and cons to consider before this is launched.
If you do this right you will be amply rewarded, if you get this wrong it could backfire and compromise your reputation. For some any publicity, even bad, is good for business so it will depend on the objectives of your current campaign and long term goals of your organisation.
For the best outcome we feel that such ad campaigns while they usually push the edge should ENSURE that these do not offend, exploit or trample on the rights of the vulnerable groups of society viz. children, women, elderly, disabled, minority groups, nursing mothers, orphans, illiterate, etc. that is, the ones who are least able to defend themselves properly if at all and often the targeted subject because they are perceived to be easier prey.
Just because some big brand does it does not mean that one has to condone it, especially if there are graphic images or videos that suggest really dark ideas - even if the actual Ad does not explicitly and / or graphically portray the end-result but implies it instead. The power of suggestion cannot be understated - many a crime or great acts are all preceded by thought - from seeds planted in the imagination. You just never know who your audience are. While most people are psychologically balanced your ad may strike a chord with someone who has latent, psychopathic tendencies or who can't distinguish fantasy from reality.
If you get your Ad Campaign wrong you could potentially unleash the fury of a trillion hornets that would sting you where you hurt most ... your WALLET. This is a highly possible scenario. Why?
Think about it, social media is on the rise and rise. The most prolific and savvy users of social media are women (and Y generation). Women make more purchasing decisions than men. Ask the big brands who their target markets are?
Take my Grandma for example, my Grandad hands over his wallet to her on payday (intact) and she organises the running of the household. She pays the bills and does ALL the purchasing including his underwear (Grandad hates shopping and prefers to go fishing instead), and it's not just for her immediate household. Everyone in her clan is a beneficiary of her generosity, bless her heart.
Seriously, she remembers everyone's milestones - birthdays, anniversaries, graduation days, etc. and she shops for them. Take Bessie - Grandma's bought her her birthday present already (yup! she follows the coupon trail and Discount Days). Bessie is only 7 weeks old. And NO, Grandma was having none of that "Hashtags" stuff for a name for her granddaughter! She's not the only one as her Supergrans club is full of women like her and their daughters.
On social media you will find them sharing tips and tricks of where to get this or do that ... offline or online they are engaging in what they do best ie. 'communicate'. That's the way they are wired ok? so accept that the 'weaker' gender is actually gifted in the gab and their favourite past-time is 'sharing'. Don't believe me? Just eavesdrop on their morning tea-break and hear how she rated you last night!! No joke, you get more news via the office's skirt-feed in 10 minutes than you can glean from the company's entire timeline!
And when you offend these sisters with a bad-taste Ad Campaign, then shut down your mobile devices, and head for the hills because your server is going to melt-down! That's the sisterhood for you. Yep, women are more consultative and collaborative (and less competitive) than men and many firms are now moving away from an all-male-executive, business-model for the reason that corporations based on a healthy ratio of men and women executives perform better than those whose boardrooms are monopolised by only one gender. (Note: it's all about the MIX, rather than an all-female board either.)
We therefore feel that the best policy is NOT to be socially insensitive to other groups in society. We have a SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY to send out the correct messages to a society that is increasingly facing a decline in moral and social standards partly because the Internet serves so much controversial content to anyone who wants it and for FREE, and makes it seem as if all THAT is the NORM!
Exercising Care & Caution, Sense & Sensitivity
For some organisations, one way to increase traffic and / or sales is to run an Ad Campaign that's based on controversial content. There are some pros and cons to consider before this is launched.
If you do this right you will be amply rewarded, if you get this wrong it could backfire and compromise your reputation. For some any publicity, even bad, is good for business so it will depend on the objectives of your current campaign and long term goals of your organisation.
For the best outcome we feel that such ad campaigns while they usually push the edge should ENSURE that these do not offend, exploit or trample on the rights of the vulnerable groups of society viz. children, women, elderly, disabled, minority groups, nursing mothers, orphans, illiterate, etc. that is, the ones who are least able to defend themselves properly if at all and often the targeted subject because they are perceived to be easier prey.
Just because some big brand does it does not mean that one has to condone it, especially if there are graphic images or videos that suggest really dark ideas - even if the actual Ad does not explicitly and / or graphically portray the end-result but implies it instead. The power of suggestion cannot be understated - many a crime or great acts are all preceded by thought - from seeds planted in the imagination. You just never know who your audience are. While most people are psychologically balanced your ad may strike a chord with someone who has latent, psychopathic tendencies or who can't distinguish fantasy from reality.
 | |||
| We Sting when U Suck! |
GURRRL PPPower ~ Something Guys Don't Have!
Think about it, social media is on the rise and rise. The most prolific and savvy users of social media are women (and Y generation). Women make more purchasing decisions than men. Ask the big brands who their target markets are?
Take my Grandma for example, my Grandad hands over his wallet to her on payday (intact) and she organises the running of the household. She pays the bills and does ALL the purchasing including his underwear (Grandad hates shopping and prefers to go fishing instead), and it's not just for her immediate household. Everyone in her clan is a beneficiary of her generosity, bless her heart.
Seriously, she remembers everyone's milestones - birthdays, anniversaries, graduation days, etc. and she shops for them. Take Bessie - Grandma's bought her her birthday present already (yup! she follows the coupon trail and Discount Days). Bessie is only 7 weeks old. And NO, Grandma was having none of that "Hashtags" stuff for a name for her granddaughter! She's not the only one as her Supergrans club is full of women like her and their daughters.
On social media you will find them sharing tips and tricks of where to get this or do that ... offline or online they are engaging in what they do best ie. 'communicate'. That's the way they are wired ok? so accept that the 'weaker' gender is actually gifted in the gab and their favourite past-time is 'sharing'. Don't believe me? Just eavesdrop on their morning tea-break and hear how she rated you last night!! No joke, you get more news via the office's skirt-feed in 10 minutes than you can glean from the company's entire timeline!
And when you offend these sisters with a bad-taste Ad Campaign, then shut down your mobile devices, and head for the hills because your server is going to melt-down! That's the sisterhood for you. Yep, women are more consultative and collaborative (and less competitive) than men and many firms are now moving away from an all-male-executive, business-model for the reason that corporations based on a healthy ratio of men and women executives perform better than those whose boardrooms are monopolised by only one gender. (Note: it's all about the MIX, rather than an all-female board either.)
 |
Conclusion
We therefore feel that the best policy is NOT to be socially insensitive to other groups in society. We have a SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY to send out the correct messages to a society that is increasingly facing a decline in moral and social standards partly because the Internet serves so much controversial content to anyone who wants it and for FREE, and makes it seem as if all THAT is the NORM!
It is NOT a case of the means justifying the ends. Ad campaigns should be socially responsible regardless of whether it's for profit or non-profit motives.
For that reason we advocate that businesses take a firm stand and formulate a clear and sensible policy about controversial content to prevent strife with staff and followers and to ensure they do NOT compromise their reputation ~ BEFORE ~ they even plan their first Ad Campaign.
The above video is actually quite innocuous and well executed but there are others that can send out the wrong message ... if it falls into the wrong hands. Your thoughts on this?
The above video is actually quite innocuous and well executed but there are others that can send out the wrong message ... if it falls into the wrong hands. Your thoughts on this?
*******
PS: If you are going to use controversial content avoid posting nude or incongruent images just to get eyeballs - it has to be RELEVANT and not out of context. See the bizarre stuff from Godaddy. Nerds have enough to do without taxing their neurons trying to decrypt saucy pics ...
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors
The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors
What's a Periodic Table?
Not sure what a periodic table is? You encounter this when you do Chemistry 101 at Uni. I hope chemistry was your favourite subject, if not here is the definition from about.com:
"Periodic Table Definition: The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements by increasing atomic number which displays the elements so that one may see trends in their properties. The Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev is most often credited with inventing the periodic table (1869) from which the modern table is derived. Although Mendeleev's table ordered the elements according to increasing atomic weight rather than atomic number, his table illustrated recurring trends or periodicity in the element properties.
Also Known As: Periodic Chart, Periodic Table of the Elements, Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements"
Basically a chemistry periodic table shows recurring trends or periodicity in the PROPERTIES (eg. number of atoms) of chemical elements. The SEO "periodic table" is a clever way to use this concept that makes SEO (search engine optimisation) easier to grasp at a glance, especially visually, for those whose learning style is more visual and image-based. Don't get too bogged down in the terminology - just realise it's another way to organise information that hopefully, the reader will find easier to grasp.
How to Use the SEO Periodic Table
Basically there are 3 categories, also "colour-coded":
- Greeny block of factors on the LHS
- Greeny block on the RHS and
- below this the RED / YELLOW block (= dangers to heed)
Note: Don't get too intimidated by "formidable-looking" infographics or stats / metrics - just try and distil the information into short key points that your brain can handle without melt-down! For example, famous people like Rupert Murdoch (an octogenarian) running their billion-dollar empires are still able to track and assimilate huge amounts of information by having them condensed into ONE-PAGE DAILY summaries! Perhaps you have a talented PA who can present your daily info on a small platter, if not, try this:
TIP: Condense the most important info into 5 major points. If you can assimilate 5 major points a day, in one year, you would have amassed a massive of amount of key tips and tricks - to boost your business and your bottom-line. Trying to master 67 social media infographics, 2798 lessons on SEO, 59 twitter tools? ... it's too easy to spread yourself too thin and become a Jack-of-all-trades and master of none. (Besides it's not possible nor desirable given the avalanche of infographics that's sprouted up faster than wild mushrooms on a fertile paddock, since Pinterest took off on its upward trajectory.)
We recommend allocating your best time and resources to only those tasks that will directly impact your bottom-line ... THE MOST. Less is indeed more.
A Quick Rundown: On-the-page Factors (where kw = keywords)
5 Content Factors: consider "quality, research, words, engage, fresh"
- q - quality - self-explanatory: is your content good quality?
- r - research - found actual kws that people use in their search for your proposed content?
- w - words - AND using such keywords on your site that your page will be found for?
- e - engage - resonates with visitors or do they bounce away fast?
- f - fresh - is it a topic that's current or 'hot' - ie. not dated or unpopular
The similarity to the Chemistry Periodic Table is the way in which the factors have been portrayed, eg. by a letter. Each factor is further broken down by sub-factors, eg. Cq, Cr, Cw, etc. - ie. content as denoted by C, has been broken down further into the different aspects of quality, research (relevance), keywords, etc. Then each sub-factor is weighted by a number at the top, in ascending order ie. 3 is more important than 1 (subjective element in the weighting process?).
{ In a nutshell the chemistry periodic table (PT) consists of elements denoted by a symbol. These are organised into groups eg. alkali metals, gases, etc. and in the order of their atomic weight, as denoted by a number at the top. Eg. Sodium (Na) (#11) comes before Magnesium (Mg) (#12 ) and is grouped under alkali metal because that's what Sodium is.}
3 HTML Factors: kws in your html title tags, meta description tags, title and sub-titles?
3 Architecture Factors: crawl (self-explanatory), speed (loads fast?), URL.
And so on for the LHS. Note the RED violations - spamming, keyword stuffing, etc. - basically anything that is counter-indicative to good SEO practice. The factors on the RHS are harder to control as they are external and influenced by third parties as opposed to being under your DIRECT CONTROL (LHS).
Summary
The table is organised vertically from the most important (top) to less important factors at the base and from the LHS to the RHS. However the red factors are NOT unimportant - cf. the bottom of the table (eg. paid-links, link-spam). These are definitely NOT to be ignored, but then webmasters worth their salt, would respect search engines and rise above such practice anyway.
On the whole, the "SEO Periodic Table" is a clever concept and makes SEO information easy to assimilate quickly provided you remember that there are subjective elements in the SEO process that you do not have with Chemistry. There are no definite FORMULAE for success especially as rules and algorithms change regularly. Just guidelines.
Content is Still King
In a sea of constant change the only constant you can count on is your content. The best recipe for successful content (=success) is to focus on quality ingredients and 'cookin' style, the kind that visitors return for repeatedly as they simply can't get enough of your ... HASH (tags)! When you have droves of returning regulars you won't have to rely (so much) on leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for the search engines to follow - like a heat-seeking missile they will sniff you out and beat a path to your door!
In a sea of constant change the only constant you can count on is your content. The best recipe for successful content (=success) is to focus on quality ingredients and 'cookin' style, the kind that visitors return for repeatedly as they simply can't get enough of your ... HASH (tags)! When you have droves of returning regulars you won't have to rely (so much) on leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for the search engines to follow - like a heat-seeking missile they will sniff you out and beat a path to your door!
PS: I think Grandma would like this post as it has reference to a subject dear to her heart
- and no! it's not the Periodic Tables, chemistry or otherwise.
- and no! it's not the Periodic Tables, chemistry or otherwise.
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