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Video Blogging Lesson: Treating Your Blog Like A System

June 15, 2010 By 18 Comments

As many of you know, I do blog consulting on the side and one of the biggest problems I see with most blogs is the lack of system integration between the blog and other social media outlets. It is almost as if the blogger thought about each individual part, instead of how they affect each other as a whole. Your Twitter account, Facebook account, email newsletter and blog are all apart of a system that you, as the blogger, use to convert casual viewers into longtime readers and customers. Without this integration and planning, you create branding confusion amongst the different mediums and your conversion rates suffer. So let’s take a look deeper into how you need to treat your blogging like a system.

Video Blogging Lesson: Treating Your Blog Like A System

Discussed In This Video – Logopond.com | Aweber

Ok…so the idea here is that you want your blog and your related sites/social media to be a sum that is greater than it’s parts. With branding and design consistent across mediums, you are able to build trust in your content and brand through integration. Think of it this way…what do you think when you switch from someone’s blog to their Twitter account and finally to their Facebook account and everything matches? It helps you remember who they are and what they are about right? Well…that is the idea.

So…how do we treat our blogs like a system?

While the video goes more in-depth on the subject, here are the cliff notes.

Your Blog: On Page Optimizing

Your blog is typically your first line of attack with your readers. It is what creates that first impression and gets a new reader to start absorbing your content. On your blog you need to have some items that all look seamless within the design and compliment your goals.

  1. Unique Logo in the header.
  2. Social Media Icons that match your color scheme and design.
  3. Newsletter Opt-Ins below content and in sidebar that carry the same color scheme and design. (Preferably through Aweber)
  4. Personal photo on about page that is professional looking even if it is humorous.

From your on page blog system optimization, you are laying the foundation for your other social media and newsletter elements.

Your Social Media and Newsletter: Off Page Optimization

We carry this same theory to your off page sites using your blog as the foundation.

Facebook Fan Page
  • Professional picture – Matches the picture on your about page.
  • Matching Logo – Same as the one in the header of your blog.
  • RSS Feed – Deliver your content to your Facebook fans.
Twitter Account
  • Professional Looking Personal Avatar – Matches your Facebook fan page and blog about page.
  • Logo – Located in the background of your profile page.
Newsletter
  • Same voice and style in content as blog content.
  • Same color scheme and logo if html formatted.

There Are No Assumptions in Blogging!

The biggest excuse that I hear bloggers say as they choose to ignore this crucial part of the process is…

I don’t have to worry about that…they’ll know.

Well…guess what? They don’t. It is up to you as the blogger to operate under the assumption that there are no assumptions. You have to make your blog and your brand stand out from the competition by making everything easy to recognize and as simple as possible. Any confusion will only hurt you in the long run. It is not always about what you like or what you think looks good. It is about what converts the best while keeping within your personal voice and originality.

Next time you are jumping around blogs being a consumer of content, take a look at how the successful blogs attack this theory. Chances are…if they are seeing a lot of success…they are holding true to their branding and voice across all of their outlets.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content, Social Media, Tutorials/How To, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ramped Blogging Success: "A Sitting Duck" – Animation Production

April 3, 2010 By 10 Comments

After you complete the 7 week Ramped Blogging eCourse, I offer the opportunity to publish your blogging story on RobbSutton.com to show off your success after completing the eCourse. This week, we have a submission from David Edwards of A Sitting Duck.

I started “A Sitting Duck” in May 2008 after 5 years in the sales industry. I was 25, I had a good background for working with lots of different people and I have always enjoyed working for companies. The interactions are great and it’s always good to go out for drinks on a Friday at the end of the week.

The reason why I left, was because it seemed that although I was gaining experience over the years, I was not building anything that I could be proud of. In the sales industry, you are constantly reminded that you are only as good as your previous week’s sales. I started to see the more experienced guys feel down as the new starters were hitting more sales than them. I thought that’s just not fair and I don’t want to end up in my forties competing with someone on a gap year!.

So I vowed never to go back to sales… I said to myself if I do then I have to own a substantial stake in the company so when I do walk away, I can look back and think: “I built that!”…

Back to blogging…

Maybe some of your readers have picked up on the fact that I’m not going to write the next “Harry Potter”, the website was built and on-line in September 2008, the plan was to make the blog more visual with photographs and illustrations. I have always drawn on envelopes, scrap bits of paper around the office and on the back of bills!. I had never taken illustration seriously and always thought I had a business mind, but I do enjoy drawing and designing characters so I thought if I can start a business around that then its a win/win situation!.

I uploaded all my drawings and illustrations, I wrote about different artists and I read 100′s of art blogs and websites. After a while I got bored of small blogs and ended up just reading “Kidrobot” which takes all the news from artists and presents it in a really cool way.

Getting tips from those artists was great and how they promote their work. It was clear to see that video was so powerful to them and combine that with photographs and illustrations, you can have a really nice looking website.

So I thought: I have a well designed website, good illustrations and a pretty good number of posts. I need videos!… I was too shy to be a presenter like “Gary Vaynerchuk”, he’s fantastic at video blogging. I’m not ruling it out in the future, maybe interviews etc, but I couldn’t talk directly into a camera!. So the mission was to make the best “flash animation series of all time”!!!!!…

Before I could make awesome flash animations, I needed to build a team that could achieve this goal with me. Siobhain my fiancee was happy to be a voice, Boyd Clack (incredible actor) I’m friends with agreed to be a voice as well and I found Luke Hyde (flash genius) on Facebook. He met up with me and brought his two friends along: Mike (Sound Producer) and Joe (Graphic Designer). The team was built!.

In May 2009 we launched the first episode, it was a success!. 5 stars on “You Tube” and we distributed the video with top established websites. We followed with episodes 2 & 3, which were also getting thousands of views…

Bring it forward to March 2010, the internet series : “Candy The Magic Dinosaur” has been viewed over 100,000 times on “You Tube” and estimated over 1 million times on the internet in total!. We have a video-game being launched in November and a toy deal with “Patch Together”. To give hope to your readers this is all from a £500 website and a lot of hard work, no other investment!. I have lived a pretty simple life for two years, no holidays or fancy restaurants but I’m sure that I’ll make up for that next year!..

David Edwards

http://www.asittingduck.com

Filed Under: Ramped Spotlight Tagged With: , , , ,

Video, Blogging and Making Sense of It All

March 9, 2010 By 18 Comments

One of the questions I get asked a lot about successful blogging is about how crucial of a role video is going to play in blogging. There is no getting away from it…video is a large part of the future of blogging, but most bloggers are struggling to figure out where it will fit into their plan and future growth.

I used to work as a post production video editor in Atlanta, so here is my take on online video and its impact on the blogging world. Of course…these are just my opinions so you need to apply these how you see fit to your blogging, but…for the most part…these are pretty universal truths as things sit right now.

Video, Blogging and Making Sense of it All

As a blogger, video should be in your future if you are not doing it already. There are certain things that video does incredibly well that benefits a blog greatly in the long run. There is a reason that you even see bloggers just sitting in front of a camera talking. While some people might think, “wow…that is boring…there is not much going on there”, it does fill a necessary void in the social media atmosphere that can not be denied.

Now…there are also some things that blogging can not do in the current technological environment and we will take a quick look at those aspects as well.

Don’t Be Scared Of Video

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of blogging and video, if you are not utilizing video in your blogging now because you feel like it is too complicated or out of your reach…do not be scared of it.

  • It is not too expensive.
  • It is not too complicated.
  • And you can get started today.

One of the biggest barriers of entry in video production for bloggers is that they perceive it as too expensive. For under 200 bucks, you can be up and shooting in HD with a Kodak Zi8 (that is what I use for blogging) and the software that comes with it is fine for blogging! Video in blogging is actually better the simpler it is, so if you are worried about having to produce complicated Hollywood style productions…forget about that. Simple cuts and simple titles that anyone can do is perfect for producing video for blogging and actually converts better.

So if you are letting the fear of video keep you from integrating it into your blog…do not worry. It is far simpler than you have it laid out in your head, and the cost of entry is drastically lower than it used to be several years ago.

Note: As a reference…to get the same quality output online as we do today…we used to have to spend over 5 grand. Have to love the way technology progresses these days.

What Video Does Really Well and Why You Should Use It

Ok…now that your fear of video has all but escaped you (or you are already using it), let’s take a look at what video does really well in your blogging.

1 – Social Media Traffic and Spread

With video, you get in the eyes of a completely new audience with YouTube, Vimeo and the other video sharing sites. YouTube is one of the largest sites in the world, don’t you want to tap in on some of that action?! Of course you do…but the only way is by submitting some video. By putting a simple title screen at the front and back of your video with your blog name and url, you are able to pull more potential subscribers to your blog from an outside source. You are also giving them a preview of what to expect with a personal touch.

2 – It Gets You Up Close and Personal

As I hinted to in the last point, video brings the ‘real you’ into your blog. You can put up as many pictures as you want, but until you put up some video of you talking, that personal connection is never really there. You readers want to connect with you and video is one of the best ways to do that outside of knocking on their door and shaking their hand. Video brings you into their home through a computer screen. That is worth its weight in gold as you continue to try to get that connection.

3 – Video Stimulates The Senses

Every one of your readers is stimulated in a different way. Some love reading text, others kill to look at your pictures and some will fall in love with your videos. It is your job as the blogger to stimulate as many different kinds of readers as you possibly can. By introducing video into your offerings, you are guaranteeing that you are going to connect with the readers that want to engage with that kind of content.

Example: With my product reviews on Bike198, I am able to not only show my readers what the product looks like through pictures, but how it actually works! Can you see the power with that model? I am able to bring that product into their senses using every method possible outside of them touching it themselves. Video makes that possible.

What Video Does Not Do Well and Why It’s Not the End All

Video…just like text or pictures…is not perfect. While you might think, “wow! If it is that great, I’ll just switch completely over!”, but you do need to know several things about incorporating video into your blogging before you run off to change the world.

1 – Video and Google/Other Search Engines

While video can show up on the first page in organic search engine results for high competing keywords…remember this…that search engine visitor is getting sent to YouTube and not your site. As of this point in time, Google and other search engines do not directly spider your embedded content outside of pictures and text. So when you embed that YouTube video on your blog post, Google basically doesn’t see it. That means all of those video only posts you publish are going to have a hard time ranking well unless it is on really low competing keywords.

2 – Not Everyone Can View Your Videos

A lot of your readers digest your blog at work, so if you are just putting up video, you might lose a lot of readers who can see YouTube due to it being blocked or can’t hear it because they do not want everyone around them knowing they are not working on what they are supposed to. Just having video (or just audio for that matter) can heavily decrease your target audience because of this.

3 – Yes…There Are Still People On Dial Up

I find it hard to believe too, but there are still people that live on dial up and large video files are out of their reach unless they want to wait an hour to see what you have to say.

How To Get Around Videos Shortcomings

So…given these shortcomings of video on your blog, how can you get around them and still incorporate the latest in blog gold on your blog? It is pretty simple really.

Provide Your Readers With The Complete Package

When you post a video review, video content and other related video posts, provide your readers with the complete package. In that same blog post that you want to display video, also provide a text version of the blog post that either summarizes the points in the video or directly transcribes what you were saying. This allows people who do not want (or can’t) to watch the video to digest your content in another manner. It also provides you with the text necessary for search engine spiders to see what the hell you are talking about.

Much like I do with my interviews with transcriptions, you have to keep in mind every single one of your readers when you publish a blog article by providing multiple outlets for engaging with the content.

Video is in your future as a blogger, but utilizing it correctly is your key to success.

Are you using video in your blogging?

Image by fensterbme
Filed Under: Blogging, Content, The Web Tagged With: , , ,

Video Blogging: Kodak Zi8 Pocket HD Camcorder

February 2, 2010 By 13 Comments

As you may have noticed yesterday with the Problogging Is Dead launch, I have stepped into the high def video blogging realm with a new purchase, the Kodak Zi8 pocket HD camcorder. This little hand held unit is about 200 dollars after tax and records in 1080P @ 30 FPS, 720P @ 60 FPS or 30 FPS and WVGA. So as you can see, there are a wide range of options to chose from and record time depends on what size SD card you have inserted into the unit. As you can see by the picture, it is about the size of my iPhone 3GS and it actually weighs less. The 2.5″ viewfinder is good enough and gets the job done, and the Kodak Zi8 also has some cool features that other hand helds don’t like an external mic plugin port and HDMI output (HDMI cable included).

Kodak Zi8 HD Camcorder and iPhone 3GS

So basically, you get a lot of bang for the buck as a blogger looking to create some HD video online. It even has a macro focus setting if you want to get real up close and personal.

Is it super high quality HD? Not really but who is really going to be able to tell once you compress your footage and put it online? The smaller chip size and cheap lens are not going to have the output of a $1,000 and above video camera, but…for its intended purpose…I think it is the best out there right now. I actually used to do post production editing in Atlanta back in the day, so it is pretty cool to see how far video has come over the years. Who would have thought that for 200 bones you can have high quality video and on a hand held? Pretty cool in my book.

Kodak Zi8 HD Camcorder

A couple of notes from the video.

  • I like Dunkin’ Donuts and they have 0 Trans Fat…so that makes them healthy right?
  • You can own two Boxers and grass…just not both at the same time.
  • You build a waterfall in your backyard to make it more relaxing only to find that you really built a really expensive water bowl for the dogs.
  • Yes…my check engine light is on. It is a stupid valve above the gas tank that I have been too busy (fancy description for being lazy) to spend the 30 bucks to fix.
  • Yes…my wife was really laughing at me.

The ease of use and tripod mount for this camera makes video blogging much easier, so expect to see more video on RobbSutton.com and my other sites in the near future.

For the best prices on the Kodak Zi8 HD camcorder…click here.

Filed Under: Blogging, Technology, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , ,