Thursday, June 30, 2011

Not-for-Profits Benefit from Video

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Strange Google Search Results Spotted - Reminder To Add Video To Google Places

Some well-known SEO folks are seeing some drastic changes to local-result queries on Google, including Frank Reed over at Marketing Pilgrim.

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8 Reasons Every Ecommerce Site Should Get Serious About Video

The truth about doing business online today is that for many companies, increasing market share requires winning customers from competitors. Using online video to build business is one tactic that has been rapidly gaining popularity in the past few years. It delivers benefits that include personalization, competitive advantage and cost-effectiveness...

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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Business

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

You’ve seen videos of people doing ridiculous things on the Internet. But you probably haven’t seen too many videos of small businesses sharing their good work. Web video is more or less the domain of the ridiculous — whether that means something cute or something painful. Even top ads and commercials have a touch of the absurd (Old Spice, Dos Equis, I’m looking at you).

So how does a small business compete with disturbingly low attention spans and a whole Internet of viral videos? Read on for five ways that small businesses can take advantage of web video without blowing their budgets and let us know your own success stories in the comments below.

1. Request User Submissions

“Going viral” is a frustrating term both for its elusiveness and effectiveness. Viral videos can quickly get your product and brand out to a wide audience, but there is also practically no guaranteed way to “make” a video viral. Save yourself the trouble and get your audience to do the work for you.

Ask your fans or customers to send in videos of themselves using your product. For some, this can be a guaranteed hit. Such is the case with Michael Di Pippo, inventor of Pen Fishing Rods, a telescoping fishing rod that collapses to the size of a large pen. If that didn’t spark your interest, check the above video of someone actually catching a fish with it. Di Pippo bet that the shock value of it actually working would inspire customers to take videos using his product. The result was a motivated user-base and free publicity.

You might not be selling something as unique, but you can still encourage your clients to send in videos of them using whatever you’re selling. It’s a good way of extending the relationship past the point of sale and building a community.

Alternatively you can try to create a viral sensation like Blendtec’s Will It Blend? series. Rather than testing their blenders on tomatoes and walnuts, they started blending strange products like glowsticks, an iPad, and a crowbar. As a result, the videos (and Blendtec’s product) received millions of views and all it took was a little creativity. And a crowbar.

2. Replace Content

Try making a video instead of writing out your business updates. It’s easier for people to click play on a ~5 minute video than read a 500-word news brief. It helps to have some experience with basic editing and a decent camera, but people will ultimately tune in because your content is interesting or useful. Try offering deals or discount codes through your videos, while also talking about your product or service.

Using video to share business news or deals will help your business feel more personable as customers get accustomed to seeing you speak. This choice isn’t for everyone and every business, but it can help make your updates easier to digest and give your homepage a boost of personality.

3. Teach Them and They Will Come

Product demos are fun, but may not work for every type of business. For example, it could be tough to do a “demo” if you sell quilts or home garden supplies. Instead think of ways to teach and give back to your customers while also using your product. Selling quilts? Try a “How To” video on how you sew your quilts. Garden supplies? Make a video on how to plant a variety of bulbs and seeds using the products you sell.

If you’re business isn’t based around a physical product, think about doing a webcast or video on how to use your advanced features or set up the service.

4. Make Some Face Time

If you’re a small business, you can make your size work for you with video services, like Skype or even video calling on Gmail. Huge corporations like PepsiCo and Virgin are constantly trying to make their outreach more personal by attaching real people and real names to their customer service and social sites.

To get even more personal, create a business Skype or Gmail address (or any other service that allows you to video chat). Let customers know they can call you for some digital face time if they have any questions about your product or need help troubleshooting it. Doing so will help you build a stronger relationship with your customers and make your business feel more approachable at the same time.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

3 Methods for a Faster Website:

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10:53 am Jim Marks: 3 Methods for a Faster Website:
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How many times have you clicked a link or search result, only to click the ‘back’ button after waiting for a whole ten seconds to load? After the first three seconds of loading, visitors start leaving at an exponential rate.
Wait a minute, are we being impatient – I mean three or even ten seconds is nothing. Think of the time it would take you to find a similar book in the library, or to lookup a subject matter expert and arrange a call. After putting it in perspective, 10 seconds to find what you’re looking for doesn’t seem like a problem at all.
But it is! In fact, a 2006 study conducted by Akamai established that 40% of online shoppers feel load time is the most influential factor for them when revisiting a site. In the past five years, the online audience has only grown more demanding and there are significant benefits for webmasters who are ready to speed up their own site.
For businesses on all scales, a faster website can result in:

Decreased IT and server admin expenses,
Heightened user experience and lower bounce rates,
Increased performance, from traffic to conversion rates; and,
Higher search ranking positions (Google recognizes page speed as a ranking factor).

There are a number of ways to speed up your website for all levels technical skills. First, it’s a good idea to run some tests and see just how fast (or slow) your pages are . Below I’ll go over three key methods to improving your own site speed – ideas you can put to work immediately for your business or personal websites.
Optimize Website Content
Start with the largest content that takes the longest to download. Typically, there is always room for improvement when it comes to images but you’ll find ways to optimize your content from included scripts to small css changes. This article has a great list of ways to optimize your webpage content for speed .
Choose the Right Hosting Service
Your hosting service can play a significant role in your site speed – and it’s common for unknowing webmasters to trade speed for a low cost service. There are plenty of hosting companies that deliver an exceptional service, but there are also those who cut costs at every corner. Make sure your web host isn’t slowing you down and that you have sufficient transfer bandwidth with your account.
You can find some great recommendations from other webmasters in forums or blogs, but be careful of the occasional affiliate trying to sell you on a lower-quality one. Do your homework when it comes to hosting because it’s one-time step and can have a significant impact on your site speed and user experience.
Add a Proxy Layer
Finally, a more advanced technique used on higher volume sites is to integrate a reverse proxy server. The objective of a reverse proxy server is to have greater control on how content is delivered, based on who is visiting.

This enables a site to reduce the amount of loading necessary and depending on the setup, the options are vast. For large companies they might purchase and setup their own server, but even a smaller business can use this technology through services like Cloudflare or Akamai . For those interested in deploying their own server, take a look at Squid .
The Bottom Line
Page speed is important. It can have a profound effect on your revenue, conversion rates and a faster site is always better positioned to increase traffic. The bottom line is that a fast-loading site creates a much better experience for you, your customers and for the new prospects that will be discovering your content throughout the years.