You can use social media strategically, automate a lot of it, and get rid of the time wasters, but what you can’t or should not do is give up the conversation.

The trick is framing your conversation within your niche.

Believe it or not, answering questions, and giving away information free on social media networks like LinkedIn on there “answers” area can go a long way toward creating good will, which can lead to clients who want you enough to pay the rates you’re asking, or site visitors who are already primed to buy what you recommend. By giving of yourself it happens almost magically.

Automation is great for ending time wasting tasks of posting new blog posts, new articles, and outside information. It frees up your time so that you can have a real conversation with potential clients in all of your social networks whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or a forum you enjoy. Spending time having real conversations and answering questions will establish you as an expert, bring traffic to your blog, and provide you with valuable information and connection to your target market.

If you want to make social media truly useful so that it provides a return on investment (ROI) then you have to join in the conversation. If everyone automates everything and only applications and Virtual Assistants are participating in the media then it loses the social aspects and eventually the value will plummet. No one who can make decisions or offer value will be watching if it’s all automated.

The best person to communicate your vision to the world is you.

The myth of the four hour work week is that you don’t have to participate at all. It’s true you probably can outsource your entire life, but where is the joy in that? You might save time, but ultimately you lose connection to the people you wanted to connect with in the first place when you started your business. Certainly you had a goal that involved connecting with someone or helping someone. Never forget why you started your business in the first place.

I hope this helps you and I hope that you put what you’ve learned into action. Also please, please spread the word and share these ideas with someone you think will benefit from this information.

BTW: If you need help with Social Media and Internet Marketing for your business or product, please give me a CALL at +61 2 80056006.

Let me know what you think about the video and information. I will be doing a lot more of these and would love to read your comments. If you have a particular question you would like me to ask please enter it on the Ask Ian page.

Thanks and have a fantastic day.

How would you like to spy on the person sending you an email inside Gmail?

In the video below I show you how you can using a brilliant plugin for Gmail from Rapportive.

Here’s the link to Rapportive where you can install the addon to Gmail >> http://rapportive.com/

Here’s the link to the article on the Aweber site that I mentioned in the video >> http://www.aweber.com/blog/new-features/aweber-rapportive-raplet

So as you can see, this little addition to Gmail helps you know more about the person sending the email.

I hope this helps you and I hope that you put what you’ve learned into action. Also please, please spread the word and share these ideas with someone you think will benefit from this information.

BTW: If you need help with Social Media and Internet Marketing for your business or product please give me a CALL at +61 2 80056006.

Let me know what you think about the video and information. I will be doing a lot more of these and would love to read your comments. If you have a particular question you would like me to ask please enter it on the Ask Ian page.

Thanks and have a fantastic day.

I’d like to preface this article with some thoughts I had while writing it and re-reading it today.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about MY online presence and the web sites I have as part of my business and I’ve realised I need to start demonstrating the things ALL businesses SHOULD do to promote their business using the Internet (including me).  So, after this article is published, I will be doing my best to post at least one video per week for the remainder of this year.

I’m doing this for two reasons.

1. So my websites start getting more visitors to my sites, and I’ll show you in the first video how low my visitor numbers are
2. To show you a number of different ways videos can be produced even if you don’t want to get in front of the camera.

That being said as my public declaration I’ll now move on the the Top 10 YouTube Marketing Tips for Small Business.

Youtube is an excellent advertising tool for any small businesses. You can register an account for free and upload your videos for the whole world to see.

http://YouTube.com

It might be a bit daunting at first, especially if you’re not sure how you can use YouTube to help your business. To help you out, here are my top 10 YouTube marketing tips on how to use Youtube to improve your business.

#1 Make it Interesting

The rule of thumb, YouTube viewers love anything that’s interesting. Funny, attention grabbing or unique videos often perform better than sales or pitching videos. Have your heard or seen the Gary Brolsma, the Numa Numa Kid? It’s a great example of how videos can go insanely viral.

#2 Time Yourself

Whatever you have to say, you only got around 5 minutes or less to present it to the viewers. Time your video so you get to say everything you want in that first 5 minutes. Anything longer and you’re viewers attention will probably be on something else.

#3 Easy Exposures

YouTube is also an excellent place to get more exposure for your website. You can just post the links within your video’s description. Not only will you get a lot of traffic this way, you’ll also get a strong backlink from YouTube!

#4 Save Your Own Bandwidth

YouTube can be embedded anywhere inside your website and the best part about this is it doesn’t cost you any bandwidth. Bandwidth is not cheap and if you don’t watch your bandwidth usage, you might just find your site suspended until you either pay for more bandwidth or wait for the new month when your bandwidth usage resets.

#5 Demos

Rather than telling people what your product can do, why not show it instead? In malls or stores, you can get a demonstration done live in front of you, but what about online? You use videos, of course! And what better place to put your video than on YouTube, the world’s largest video sharing site.

#6 Reviews

Putting up a YouTube review is more interesting than writing an article about it. It can be as simple as creating a PowerPoint presentation for a product and recording it with your voice. A proper YouTube review can capture more attention than a text review.

#7 Advertisements

You can create your own ads or commercials and post it up on YouTube. Strangely enough, people actually like to watch ads and commercials on YouTube, and some of the most viral videos there are actually commercials. You just need a bit of creativity, a video camera and you’re good to go.

#8 Create Your Own Channel

You can group all your video into one channel and keep posting interesting videos about your business, work, just about anything you want. When someone watches one of your videos, they’ll be able to see all the other videos in your channel. They can also subscribe to your channel so whenever you upload a new video, they’ll be immediately notified.

#9 Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

If you check out on Tipp-Ex’ YouTube video, you will notice how it is different from the rest. You can experiment with new ways to present a video so you can draw people’s attention by having something new.

#10 SEO Benefits

As mentioned before, you can add links in the video descriptions to your website and the popular video will appear on the top search page. This actually does 2 things. First, you get a valuable backlink from YouTube, and secondly the extra traffic you get from YouTube will also be redirected to your website whenever they click on the link.

Also keep in mind that when I do video marketing I don’t only post to YouTube, I post to a total of nearly 30 video sites giving you a lot more than one back-link and one set of viewers to see your video.  I’ll show you all this in the videos to come so you get a better “picture”

If you need any help with your businesses (ir personal) image online including website, social accounts (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc) or you would like me to do a Free Analysis of your current website (no obligation) either contact me using the form on this page or call (Australia) 0406-532-730

Social networking sites are nothing new. They’ve been around for about a decade, but have exploded in popularity in recent years largely thanks to MySpace and Facebook. There are now hundreds and thousands of social networking sites around, so let’s take a look at the top social networking sites and why they’re sitting so comfortably at the peak.

Facebook

Facebook is without a doubt THE top social networking sites right now. Originally intended for college students only, it opened up to the public and got incredibly popular within a short period of time.

Facebook is what made social networking what it is today and spawned the “Facebook Generation” which not only consists of the younger generation, but also the seniors. Lots of adults and even politicians who have shunned away from computers and the Internet have taken a deep interest in Facebook.

Maybe it is because you can share a lot of things on Facebook, user friendly and you can easily find new friends in there through your current friends. Or maybe it is because you can connect to apps on Facebook and play games while keeping up with your friends.

Whatever the reason is, there are more than 500 million people who are active in Facebook and they have an average of 130 friends. If you’re not on Facebook yet but your grandpa is, then chances are he has more friends than you.

Twitter

Twitter is somewhat unique within the top social networking sites list. The creators of Twitter recognized that some people do not have a lot to say and don’t want the hassle of writing a full length posts about it. So they let users to say whatever on their mind with 140 words or less. Then people can follow your tweets and sometimes retweet your post.

Twitter is also considered as a micro-blogging platform since no messages can be more than 140 words at a time.

MySpace

Before Facebook and Twitter took over, MySpace was the top social networking site. You could say it was more of a social blog. Users get their own page and they can do certain customization on it like changing background, adding mp3 player or changing the fonts. Anyone can visit your MySpace page but you can add restrictions to those who are not confirmed as your friends.

Even now there are still users who prefer MySpace over Facebook or Twitter. They feel that the customizable page have the edge over Facebook.

MySpace was originally intended for people to share their music and for indie bands to get together.

Friendster

Friendster is one of the most popular social networking website before Facebook or MySpace. In fact, it was one of the earliest social networking sites that were truly successful. Launched in 2002, the concept is similar to Facebook where it allows users to find and connect with old friends while at the same time being able to find new friends without having to meet face to face.

Although at first it may seem as if Friendster had completely dropped off the radar after Facebook, the truth is it still has a very strong presence in Asia.

NOTE: If you have any questions about “building an effective and powerful web presence” or if you want me to do this for your business, please give me a call 0406-532-730 or ask me in the comments below. I’m thinking I’ll do some videos soon and will probably start answering some question via video and posting them here. Let me know what you think, please comment below and please don’t be shy.

Take care and have a wonderful day.

Ian Richardson

Social marketing has been around since the time people started living in groups. It slowly expanded as we improved our ability to send messages faster and further. When the Internet came, the whole world was suddenly opened to you.

People still use social marketing to improve their business as it still works even though the playing field is different. You just need to adapt yourself with these top 5 social marketing strategies.

Focus

The crowds might be a lot bigger but it’s still a community no matter how big or small. People sharing the same interest or ideas will get together and form a community and their interest becomes what you would call a niche.

In order to break into a niche, first you need to become a part of that community. What is acceptable in one community may not be acceptable in another. That is why you need to do your research before getting into any new community and to do that, you need to focus one just one at a time.

First Come, First Served

People love new things. That’s why people are always following the latest fads whether or not it’s actually any better.

But you can use this to your advantage. Found something new? Be one of the first to spread it out.

You can also ride on the latest fad. For example, World of Warcraft, one of the biggest online multiplayer games, is about to release its latest expansion pack, Cataclysm. You can be one of the first to come up with screenshots, latest release date information or maybe one of the first guides covering the new areas opened in the expansion.

Lets Be Friends

People generally dislike salesmen. When they see someone approaching their homes with a suit and a vacuum in their hand, they would usually close all the curtains, turn off their TV and hide in the room. But when you approach them as your friend, people are more willing to listen to you even if you are trying to sell to them.

Be friends with the members of the community first. Once you have their trust and respect, you will be able to get them to listen to you better compared when you are a stranger to them.

Viral Marketing

People love to share funny or interesting things. That’s why funny videos on YouTube get spread around really fast. That’s what you call a viral effect.

You’ll want to get viral marketing working for your own business as well. After all, viral marketing is one of the most powerful ways to get word out and to drive truckloads of traffic back to your site.

There are many ways you can do viral marketing – give away a free controversial report or put up a funny or amazing looking video.

The Word Is… Multi Media

It’s not easy to get someone’s attention and keeping it for long. A long block of text gets boring after the first few paragraphs and the audio recording slowly turns into background noise.

The best way to keep someone engaged in your message is by using multiple different media together. That’s why the use of videos has been gaining popularity over the years. But a simple video with nothing but text won’t do you any good as well. You must have a combination of both audio and visual your viewer will just click on the close button within a few seconds.

Have you ever considered using live online webinar/conferencing technology?

There a literally hundreds if not thousands of professions that could use this technology.

Schools and Universities.
Professional sales training for team members all over the country or world.
Professional consultations with prospects and clients.
Online live training for clients in any field you can imagine.

And that’s just a couple of ideas of the top of my head.

To get an even better idea of what this live conferencing system can do for you and your needs there is an excellent live presentation and question time using the exact same system tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s call on Saturday October 2nd at 11am Eastern (USA Time) is going to be HUGE!!!! >>>CLICK HERE at that time<<<

I fully expect to have 500 people or more there so you better make sure you get in early!!

Another thing to consider before I go.

Maybe you don’t have a need for a system like this, but do YOU know someone that might???

If so then YOU could make some extra money by simply becoming a member and introducing it to people you know that CAN use a system like this.

More about that in the call tomorrow.

Have a fantastic weekend, see you on the call tomorrow and don’t forget to CLICK HERE for access.

Ian

Have you thought about using Vistaprint to create business cards and a number of other key pieces of marketing material you need for your business?

In the video above I show you how I saved over $250 in one order alone.

Please leave a comment below if you would like anymore information or training videos on how to use Vistaprint.

Hope you enjoyed the show. I made it for my sister site TopRankedWebsite.com.au but thought I would share it here as well.

See you next time.

Ian

There has been a lot of chatter online about doing online Webinars and Conferences and how they can benefit you both with your professional image and how you are able to make money online.

Being able to do a conference online has been on my "To-Do" list for sometime now.  The main thing that has been keeping me back it the maintenance costs involved with being able to offer that service to my clients.  I was never able to take the plunge due to the high maintenance costs, that was until recently when I found the perfect solution.

But before I go any further let me put together a comparison chart with what I think are now the two top players in the industry.

GotoWebinar and GVO Conference  <<< you can click on that link for more information.

Feature	GVOConference	GotoWebinar
NUMBER OF ATTENDEES GotoWebinar only had a price for 15 and 100.  I used 15 as it’s the lowest price offered.	50	15
AUDIO/VIDEO CONTROLLERS Disable or enable web cam or microphone	YES	YES
TALK NOW Click to enable voice to be broadcast to members logged into your conference room.	YES	YES
HANDS FREE Moderator can click tab to speak hands free	YES	YES
MUTE CURRENT SPEAKER Moderator can mute guest speaker	YES	YES
REMOVE CURRENT SPEAKER Moderator can remove guest speaker from room	YES	YES
REMOVE CURRENT SPEAKER Moderator can remove guest speaker from room	YES	YES
BAN CURRENT SPEAKER Moderator can ban guest speaker from room	YES	YES
CHAT Text message all guests	YES	YES
CLEAR TEXT CHAT Moderator can clear all text chat posted	YES	?
BROWSER SIDE TABS Expands browser window size	YES	YES
MEMBERS Lists all guests present in room	YES	YES
SETTINGS Systems settings for conference room set up	YES	YES
ACCESS TO SHARED FILES Send files to guests in room	YES	?
1-1 FULL DUPLEX Enable MODERATOR to go into a private video and audio conversation with an end user.	YES	?
DESKTOP SHARING Moderator can display desktop to end users	YES	YES
FLAGS Moderator can see country flag to members location	YES	YES
PRESENTATION Converts and presents your Power Point	YES	?
SHOW Live streaming video	YES	YES
RECORD Moderator can record full audio/video of presentation	YES	YES
ISSUE MODERATOR FUNCTIONS Moderator can issue moderator functions to end-user	YES	YES
IN-BUILT VIDEO PLAYER Broadcast video and movies to your end-users	YES	?
5 ROOM PACKAGE OWNERS ONLY! Your extra rooms displayed in bottom right box. Drag and drop members into other rooms created on your account	YES	?
MULTIPLE MODERATORS Create multiple moderators for your live events	YES	YES
COMPLETE VOTE MODULE Take live on the spot poles	YES	YES
COMPATIBLE WITH ALL OPERATING SYSTEMS Windows/Linux/Mac	YES	?
JUST TO REMIND YOU THE NUMBER OF ATTENDEES GotoWebinar only had a price for 15 and 100.  I used 15 as it’s the lowest price offered.	50	15
PRICE	$8.95/month	$49/month

Anywhere I have put a ? in the table was because I couldn’t find any details about that particular feature.  Not saying it doesn’t have that feature just that the information wasn’t available.

So as you can see from the table above both packages stack up pretty well against each other except for the glaring fact that GotoWebinar is is 5.47 time more expensive for a room that will only hold 15 people.  If you go up to the 100 room package in GotoWebinar the you are paying a whopping $99/month.

GVOConference on the other hand is only $8.95/month for a 50 seat room which I think is most adequate for just about everything I can think I want to do with online conferencing software.  50 seat makes it more intimate and easier to control questions.  Sure it might be nice to have 100 people on a webinar but think about trying to manage all the questions you might receive during the training.

That’s not all either, there are a few other benefits about GVOConference like personal branding, email list management, custom made conference subscription forms that look absolutely amazing, but for the full story I suggest you go and have a look at the GVOConference Pre-Launce Video where Joel Therien will tell you the whole story and you will also be able to watch a few videos that explain everything in detail.

No need to look any further simply visit http://ezyas123.com/solution/CeapestConferenceSoftware 

Just to cover all bases.  Yes I am an affiliate for this service and I do make a small commission only if you purchase a GVOConference package.  When you visit the page for more information there is no commissions paid, I’m passing this onto you completely free simply because I think this is an excellent page and the best price available online, but the offer won’t last forever so visit the page NOW.

Yahoo! Answers is basically a part of Yahoo! which allows people to ask and answer questions. You get points for every answer that you post and because you can go through each and every question posted by other users, you can keep a track of the trends and hence, use it to promote your business as well!

Yahoo! Answers is similar to the traditional alternative of carrying out surveys as it allows the business owner to get an idea of the basic outline of the business environment as well as the needs of potential clients. However, like any other social media, you will have to first make a name for yourself and then use it for business growth.

At first glance, you will realize that Yahoo! Answers segregates the various questions on the basis of the prescribed categories that they fall under. This makes it easier for people to follow a particular niche and stick to that field. Naturally, if you can pin-point a niche for yourself and post questions on a regular basis, you will soon become a known ‘face’ and if your answers are good enough, you will get the label of a Top Contributor as well.

Once that is out of the way, you will have the liberty to choose such questions that will give you a chance to write out detailed articles, relate it your business and leave a link that will direct readers to your website. Naturally, this will only be possible if you add a sense of logic and order to your answers and make sure that the content is not only appropriate but also fun to read.

Keep in mind that when you use Yahoo! Answers to promote your business, you have to be very careful as far as your language is concerned. 

…And then there was Twitter!

If you have ever been on site for more than 10 minutes, you will be aware of the fact that it can be very addictive. It is based on the idea of the facebook status which means that you can stay in touch with the rest of the world just by typing a few words! Not only that, but you can also use it for marketing and take over the world!

Jokes apart, it really is an excellent portal for online businesses because it creates a steady platform which allows customers and sellers to interact on a regular basis.

That being said, the following tips and secrets will definitely keep your business a cut above the rest-

1-Tweetbeep

Apart from focusing on your own tweets, you have to keep a close eye on those that are posted by your clients and potential clients. This will give you a chance to gather information about future strategies as well as explore additional angles as far as the niche is concerned. An application called Tweetbeep will let you know every time somebody types out a keyword of your choice.

2- Don’t Go Overboard with your Tweets

Since you will be using Twitter for business purposes only, make sure that you don’t go overboard and tell the world about your every move. This will add a sense of triviality to your posts and make it very difficult for you to make any progress.

3- Appreciate Your Followers

Most business endeavors run on trust which means that you have to maintain good relations with your followers. This involves replying to tweets, thanking them for being a part of your business and promising them that you won’t let them down. TwitterDMer is a great application in this respect.

Now if you liked this article then I’d like to ask you to use one of the methods you will see over on the right to follow me.  If you do and leave me a comment telling me how you followed me and your username so I can identify you I’ll send you a free detailed report revealing more about the use of Twitter.

Is this s bribe?  Not really, it’s a way of saying thank you for liking what I write.

Have a wonderful day.

Ian