This is how video is supposed to help your presence online
September 29, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I was clicking through to see some of the searches in google analytics and noticed that a simple google search on “doug mitchell” was executed. It’s been a couple weeks since I googled my name so I followed the link and got the page of results below. Before you click in and open the full sized image, notice all the way down at the bottom.
Related Google/YouTube video appeared as well. This is the FIRST time I’ve seen this happen on my name and it made me happy.
This is what is supposed to happen when you organically grow your Internet Findability factor. Not only will your name and relevant material produce higher search results…you’ll also give people a chance to SEE YOU and HEAR YOU through another powerful means of findability…video. I’m the one on the right…please 
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US News and World Report Blogging for Business article right on target
September 29, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia
Matthew Bandyk wrote a great piece in US News and World Report called How to Blog Your Way to Small Business Success.
The article includes quotes from some key blogging, social media, and marketing guys in practice today including:
- John Jantsch of Ducttape Marketing
- Chris Brogen of just about everything social media
- Joel Libava of “The Franchise King”. (Thanks to Rush Nigut for introducing me to Joel’s blog a while ago)
I think the main punch of the piece is that it summarizes the 5 key reasons why small businesses should blog. I’d like to highlight number 5
5) Keep it simple with search engine optimization. That’s the term for getting the most out of Google searches for your site. There are countless ways to figure out how to make your blog more search-engine friendly. But trying to know everything about it is almost a second job.
Yes! Most of us are really too busy to understand the inner workings of why search engines love us or hate us. We coach that you should ONLY consider building your corporate website platform on a blogging software platform like WordPress or Typepad. The bottom line is that with templates and other “plugins” and “widgets” there’s nothing you can’t do to give your blog the FULL treatment from the corporate brochure ware stuff…to the keyword/link/meta data rich blog stuff. Just give yourself the best chance to be more findable. Or…as we say,
“Raise your Internet Findability Factor.”
As a small business here in the Des Moines metro area, in Corona, California, or New Philadelphia, Ohio…you need to focus on high return activities. Although small business blogging may be a long term investment, it will pay dividends far greater than the norm over time.
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Video as a recruiting tool
September 25, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
The Wall Street Journal’s Independent Street has a piece highlighting how Liz Claiborne is using video as a recruiting tool. They’ve created a nice piece that walks through various positions in the company, the opportunities, etc.
The article wraps up with the following paragraph:
Small businesses now have certain online tools to help them achieve this cheaply and easily – to spread the word about their company to the YouTube-era crowd. A few weeks ago, Google Inc. launched Google Video for Businesses. Google says that businesses have outgrown the relatively low-quality specs of YouTube videos and are now ready to embrace a more mature way to create corporate videos.
Sentence one: 100% correct. SMB’s have a massive mostly untapped thus far opportunity to create buzz and drive increased revenues through the use of video online.
Sentence three: Not so much. While Google’s video for business is really a great product, to suggest that businesses have grown past YouTube quality and have matured into something else is entirely untrue. Most businesses haven’t begun to use video PERIOD. If Google’s point is to say that some companies are looking to rise above the chaff and put a bit more production value into their videos…we agree. Here’s the rub:
You Can Do Both!
On a limited small business budget, you can create excellent video that conveys your message with impact while leveraging online social video hosting/distribution platforms to generate and increase buzz/traffic/revenues/retain/gain employees.
I bet Claiborne’s budget for this piece was more than many of our clients spend in a year on marketing across all mediums. But the key thing to remember is that video can be used in so many different ways in your firm…including wooing the best employees away from competitors.
How do you think Claiborne did at showing themselves off?
Yes. Yes. and Yes. Small business can thrive in downtimes
September 25, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia
So everything you read in the paper and see on the news talks in terms of crises. Yes things are rough out there for the likes of Wall Street. On main street, things are down. But since no one is offering up a trillion dollar bail out for us, we keep grinding, creating, pushing, and delivering.
This article in the Wall Street Journal is called “For Entrepreneurs, Opportunity Still Knocks” and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re feeling down or need some encouragement give it a read.
When the economy stumbles, “big companies tend to cut back on innovation,” Gaebler says. “You’ll [even] see big companies divesting from businesses.” This means that smaller, more innovative companies can move in and gain market share.
Exactly. Maybe that’s why our business continues to grow at a steady clip. We of course fit the mold of a small business, but we work almost exclusively with small and medium businesses. We’ve got our nose to the small business grindstone…our ear to the bootstrap ground…our…well you get the picture.
You see SMB‘s don’t have the luxury of moping. We don’t get bailouts. We get bankruptcies if we don’t perform. So buck up little buddies.
NOW is the time to differentiate, lead, show the world what you’re made of. There’s no better time to invest in your success and attract more business as cost efficiently as possible. You can hand out fliers on the street. We certainly approve of such guerrilla moves. But you might gain 100x the exposure by giving yourself a little “Internet Findability Spa Treatment.”
Perhaps we’ve hit on a new marketing plan…yes…that’s it! You visit a spa with us in tow for 48 hours and we pamper your Internet Findability while you get pampered with spa treatments. Imagine the video we could capture from that. Yikes.
What say you?
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Nice concise video SEO checklist
September 24, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
The Web Optimist has a nice concise post listing the “Should Do’s” for video search engine optimization (SEO). We know that our clients and target clients are MOST interested in becoming MORE FINDABLE. So no matter what we call the technology/science/art…
Let’s just say that following these simple guidelines gives your site and videos more Internet Findability.
I’ve included just 2 of the killer useful bullet points below. You MUST visit this post and tag it/bookmark it/subscribe to…whatever you do to archive USEFUL information. Now go forth and USE this stuff. It’s good and a good part of our sermon at createWOWmedia.
- Use TubeMogul.com – Use this site to upload your video to several video sites at once. Your video could actually show up several times for a single search. See my previous post Importance of Diversity in S E O for an example. TubeMogul.com also includes YouTube stats for you and your competition.
- Use rich meta data – Video optimization, like web page optimization, is still driven by this. As with your content-rich web pages, make sure your title and meta description are keyword rich and helpful to the visitors (and spiders).
Thanks for being a great resource Web Optimist. As the weather begins to cool here in the Midwest, I’ll flash back and think of you basking in the Palm Springs, CA sunshine.
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Welcome Adam Steen and 25Connections to the createWOWmedia family
September 23, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Adam is the most connected person I know. It made perfect sense when Adam named his company “25Connections“. I had no clue what the 25 meant and thought, “Maybe that was the only URL available?” Wrong.
Adam tells you exactly why he named the company 25Connections in his company intro video that we’ve just finished.
Adam is a natural connector of resources, both seen and unseen, with the goal of creating commerce. He does it well too.
Take a look-see at our use of imagery, music, and few other goodies to convey Adam’s message with excellence.
Thank you National Pork Board
September 23, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Thank you to the National Pork Board for asking me to speak today.
It was a pleasure to share some of the things we’ve learned through our web video journey. There’s always a balance between production quality and cost. It’s createWOW’s opinion that many small and medium firms are better served by the “Guerrilla Video” approach of putting out MORE, BETTER, FASTER on their own vs. leveraging the “Pro Studio” folks all the time.
We still stick by the winning formula of “You create…..we produce” model as well. It doesn’t take much training (our courses are available soon) to create good quality video with lighting and a decent lapel or or boom/shotgun mic. However doing good edits and post-production usually involve a bit more software, time, and expertise that SMB’s don’t have. How about uploading that raw video to your trusted editing partner? Let them crank out a blockbuster and either deliver it right back or blast it to 20 websites for you. Your call.
Of course we’re SUPER excited when a company “graduates” and can produce all of their own material but sometimes…it’s just more efficient to leverage someone outside.
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Video presentation on Video SEO and Internet Findability
September 23, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
The topic of “Video SEO” is exploding around the Internet. Here’s a link to the Twitter Search on the topic. You may want to subscribe to keep aprised of the developments in this new frontier of Internet Findability. We all want our videos to catch on like wild fire but most don’t get more than 100 views over their lives!
While there is no magic bullet, there are things you can do NOW to make your video more findable and increase its “SEO” factor.
The presentation covers:
- How to make better video from the start, i.e. produce better inputs to begin with.
- The tools and tips available to make your video more “findable”.
- How to measure effectiveness (dare we say ROI) on your video production.
I hope you enjoy. If you have any questions after watching, please ping me.
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Case Study: Nutrisport FPT (Full Potential Traning)
September 22, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Case Study: Nutrisport – Full Potential Training
Nutrisport – Full Potential Training is a nutritional supplement shop and personal training studio located at 9992 Swanson Blvd, Clive, IA 50325. Owner/Manager Ryan Irwin gains new clients almost exclusively through word-of-mouth. While WOM advertising demonstrates clients’ happiness with NutrisportFPT, Ryan has room to grow revenues by adding additional clients for his classes and personal training sessions.
Nutrisport FPT Challenges:
- Ryan didn’t have a consistent marketing methodology to back up and reinforce his message.
- NutrisportFPT lacked a web presence other than the online supplement store at www.fptnutrition.com.
- Ryan knows that the personal training, gym, and nutritional supplements sectors are very competitive and continuing to add new entrants to the local market each year.
- Ryan wants to differentiate himself and show the greater market why people refer so much business to him but didn’t know how to maximize the effectiveness of available social media technologies and platforms.
- Ryan wanted to use video in promoting his business but didn’t have the time nor expertise to start shooting and producing good quality video.
createWOWmedia Proposed Solutions:
Ryan engaged createWOWmedia after we recommended the following solutions:
- Zoom in on the brand qualities that make Ryan and Nutrisport FPT so successful at word-of-mouth business generation. Identify the key words that truly described and supported Ryan’s business.
- Create a blog based corporate website at www.nutrisportFPT.com. The createWOW team showed Ryan the power of “organic search findability” through consistent blogging and use of social media tools. But we needed to ensure that Ryan wasn’t overloaded with new work on tools that had little impact.
- Create a company introduction video that amplified the Nutrisport FPT brand. The video including scripting, shooting onsite, editing, voice over, and music.
- Create a series of 1 minute “training tips” that are released weekly. We proposed recording these in one large batch and creating reusable “intro and outro” clips so post-production is quick and cost-effective.
- Leverage our Online Reputation Management (ORM) solution (powered by 48Web) to track “buzz” about Ryan’s brand today and over time so we can chart progress.
Impact on NutrisportFPT and Results:
- The blog site and videos just went live on September 18, 2008
- Ryan is receiving emails already from people who’ve seen his “Training Tip Videos” online.
- Ryan has been coached in how to leverage Tubemogul to upload his videos to multiple social video sites with a couple of clicks.
- The NutrisportFPT team has a new marketing process for potential clients that walk through the door that includes offering a website feed subscription to each visitor and pointing every single person to the website for training tips and videos.
- We’ll be posting tangible results numbers here as they become available.
Welcome to the family Ryan and Mandee. Thanks for your business, your support, and an ongoing and fruitful relationship.
Meet Paul Gratton – Media Maestro
September 17, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
This is what happens when smart and creative multimedia types in Des Moines, Iowa have spare time.
They build rock climbing walls in their apartments…and they make fantastic multimedia. Everything in this video is Paul original including the back track. He’s a smart fella and talented to boot. createWOW is lucky to have him.
Take a listen and see why Paul adds so much mojo here at createWOWmedia.
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