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The secret is out. Video blogging is a powerful way to engage blog readers. Video adds another multimedia dimension to a blog, it helps create a closer bond to readers, it reinforces your blog’s message, and it is great for expanding your message to other social networks, especially YouTube.

I started messing around with Web video back in 2005 while testing out the kids toy, the Vidster. At the time, I had no idea how to embed the video into a site or blog (I wasn’t on YouTube until 2006). Now, things are much easier and there are a variety of ways to get started.

Getting Started

If you don’t already have a YouTube account, do yourself a favor and go create one now. I’ll add you as a friend and subscriber if you drop me a message (I’m @cinemaluna on YouTube). YouTube is a top 5 global site and has its own rich ecosystem. And, you don’t have to “live there” to get many of the benefits.

Equipment

Dude, I dont’ even have a camera.

If you have a computer and an Internet connection, you can start recording video right now. You don’t even need a camera. You can go to Screenr.com, and do a screen recording of your computer. I do this all the time to create video tutorials and it’s a great way to add video to your site. Screenr allows you to record, embed, tweet out the video link, download the video to your computer, and upload the video to YouTube. Screenr has a 5 minute maximum on screencasts.

The process of recording your screen is called “screencasting.”

Here’s a screencast I did for a WordPress.com tutorial. This video content was actually featured on the WordPress.tv site.

Or, you can go to Animoto.com and create a video based on photos. Animoto uses an ingenious system that can combine photos, video, and text then “automagically” generate the video by matching the multimedia elements to the selected soundtrack. Here’s a simple video I created using pictures (plus a micro video) from my “staycation” a few months back. The free version of Animoto limits the video to around 30 seconds.

Wait a minute, I have a little video feature in my digital camera. Can I use that?

Many newer digital cameras have a video feature. You might only be able to record a few seconds but that’s all we need to get started today. I have an “old” HP Photosmart 320 digital camera that I bought years ago and even that has a 30 second .AVI video feature. You can use a site like http://media-convert.com/ to convert from older and non-YouTube supported file formats to a more current format. Note: I haven’t actually used Media-convert.com so use at your own risk.

In case you’re counting, this is our third way to get video up to our blog today.

I also have an old-school digital video camera. But I’ve only used it to edit things in my computer. Will that work?

If you have the right cable connection for your older digital video camera, you’re in business. I have a JVC digital video camera (model GRDVL517U) that I bought around 2000, that’s 5 years BYT (Before YouTube). I can plug in the digital video cable and connect it to my PC and have access to all the video files.

If you’re going to use an older camera like the JVC then you may run across issues like missing cables, lost mini-dv cassettes, and missing user manuals. If that is the case then you can still find many of those items, but the older the digital video camera, the higher the price you’ll have to pay. My JVC user manual is over $10, and that’s from the JVC site.

That would be the fourth way to add video to your blog.

Wait a minute, we gave my kid a little camera a while back. Would that work?

There are actually several toy cameras out there that record digital video. Cameras like the Vidster by Mattel and RipRoar’s Creation Station sold for around $80 and they both record digital video. I purchased the Vidster, uh, for myself, back in 2005. Both of these toy video cameras come with cable connectors and you’ll need them to access the digital video files. You may also need to download the software for each.

Even though there are two cameras here, I’ll only count this as one way. We’re up to five ways to get video onto your blog.

I do have a web cam, but I’ve never used it.

Now’s the time. Fire up the Web cam, go to your YouTube account, click on “Upload” at the top of the page, then select “Record from webcam” and you should be able to connect and record your video. Your cam will also come with some kind of software. You can use that if you’re not ready to dive into the YouTube pool.

A web cam is the sixth way to add video to your blog.

My cell phone records video. I assume that’ll work?

You betcha. You can record on your video-enabled cell phone and send it to your email or you can post it to one of many video posting services. I’ll list those sites towards the end of this post. I use my iPhone video as a promotion machine.

That was the seventh way to add video to your blog.

I’m hip, I use Flip. Don’t hate, I also use the Kodak Zi8

Flip video cameras are small, easy to use, and very powerful. I’ve been using a Flip Mino HD for the past year and it’s served me very well. Even though the Flips have been out for a few years, they are still very cool and discreet. There’s a big difference between recording using a Flip vs. one of those huge paparazzi cameras. You’re less likely to get the stink eye from people if you’re out recording in public.

I just got the Kodak Zi8 (thanks again @sugarjones) and so far it’s the bees knees. I’m still testing it out and have only posted one video to the site so far.

Once again, we covered two cameras but we’ll count that as one more way. That was number ocho.

How To Embed Video Into Your Blog

Thanks to YouTube, embedding videos into blog posts is super easy. Once you get your video uploaded to YouTube, all you have to do is get the Embed code and add it to your blog.

Here are some blog by blog specifics.

WordPress.org (custom install) blog

Just paste the embed code into your blog post area and Save. That’s all you need.

WordPress.com

Paste the embed code or paste the video page’s URL into a shortcode field. Actually, if you paste in the Embed code then save the post, WordPress.com will turn it into a shortcode for you. This is an example of the YouTube shortcode:” [ youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1zJJGLJ714&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0 ] ” .

Tumblr

Log into your Tumblr account, click on the “Video” button then paste in the Embed code and create the post.

Posterous

Log into your account, click the Settings button in the upper right part of the page, then click on the “Posts” tab. You’ll see a big “Post by Web” button, click on it. Paste in the Embed code and add a Title then click on the huge “Post” button.

We’ll count each blog type as one way. We’re up to twelve ways.

Blogger

Log into your account. Create a new post, switch to HTML Edit mode, paste in the Embed code and you’re all set.

TypePad

Log into your account, create a new post, click on the Edit HTML tab, paste in the Embed code and that’s it. I haven’t used TypePad for a while so please correct me if this process has changed and I’ll update things.

And, we’re at fourteen ways to add video to your blog. But wait, there’s more!

How do I resize the YouTube player. No offense, but it looks horrible in my blog at the default sizes.

You’re in luck. I wrote a blog post entitled, “How To Create and Resize A Custom YouTube Player.” The YouTube interface changed since the blog post so there may be some differences in the way things work though.

Other Very Cool Video Sites

Do I really have to use YouTube for everything? What are some other options?

You don’t have to use YouTube. There are many other video sites out there. I’ll list a few (so I can get to 20 ways )

12Seconds.tv

This is a great site and one that I have used many times. 12Seconds.tv allows users to record, upload, or post mobile uploads of 12 seconds of video. If you’re intimidated by the camera, this is a great way to do a super quick post. You’ll have to be brief!

Vimeo

Vimeo is similar to YouTube only it’s a smaller community. The Vimeo video player is less clunky looking than the YouTube one.

Viddler

Viddler, a favorite site of mega video star Gary Vaynerchuk, is also a smaller video community. A smaller site means you can build a stronger following and have a chance at communicating with the company.

We’re at 17 ways!

I do everything via my iPhone. What do you have for me there? Any mobile app suggestions?

Once again, you’re in luck and these iPhone apps will take us to the end of this post’s journey.

Animoto

Yup, Animoto has an app that allows you to create videos from your iPhone. It works almost exactly like the Web version that we discussed above.

Qik

We didn’t really get into streaming video but the Qik iPhone app allows your 3gs phone to stream live video. You can then log into the Qik site and access the video and add it to your blog. Or, you can get crazy and embed a Qik player on one of your blog pages and have it stream live from your blog!

UStream Broadcaster

UStream is another streaming video site and it has an iPhone app.

Reel Director

Reel Director is a paid iPhone app. It allows you to edit video and combine photos, video, and text. It’s similar to Animoto but bumps things up a notch. This is a bonus “way” to add video to your blog today.

I’m looking forward to seeing your video creations, whether they are life vloggings, sales promos, tutorials, documentaries, or interviews.

I appreciate your feedback and look forward to continuing the conversation in the Comments.

[Originally posted on jesseluna.com]

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[Originally posted on jesseluna.com]

Facebook Pages allow businesses and individuals to create rich branded pages within Facebook. Every major brand in the world is running to build engaging and “sticky” pages on Facebook, because that’s where the people are.

Are your customers, non-profit supporters, constituents, and neighbors on Facebook? You betcha. So why not give them an opportunity to connect with you and your brand?

This tutorial will show you how to get started on building your own Facebook Page (I refer to them as “Fan Pages” in the video). This is Part One of the Facebook Fan Page project so make sure you bookmark this page, subscribe to the email blog posts, and/or subscribe to the RSS feed to keep track of further developments.

Your feedback is golden. I love Comments like a fat kid loves cake.

And don’t forget to view the full Transcript below.

Transcript

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Your assignment: Report back on how people are finding their way to your blog via Web searches. Take that information and make a change based on that finding.

You could dig into your blog’s built-in stats feature (if it has one) and find one or two interesting tidbits about keyword searches. Or, if you’re a masochist, you could try to access your raw log files and parse out referrer search strings. Lastly, you could walk into your sophisticated analytics program and start running massive reports and get deluged with data.

But, there is a simpler way. Enter Wordle.net. Wordle.net is a word art site that works by analyzing text. Paste in a set of words and it returns a beautiful word cloud. Simple.

I created this first word visualization by pointing Wordle.net to my jesseluna.com blog URL. This won’t tell me about visitors to the blog, but it will give me a quick look at what the blog is really offering up in terms of content. The larger the word, the more times it is being used throughout the blog site.

Now that you know what you’re serving up to search engines, you can see what web searchers are really looking for based on keyword data.

These are the steps I took:

1. Log into Google Analytics account.
2. Navigate to the site you want to analyze.
3. You’ll be on the Dashboard. Go to Traffic Sources > Keywords
4. You’ll see a list of keyword phrases under the “Site Usage” tab on the main part of the page.
   
   
   If you’re using Google Analytics or any other stats tracking system, you should become very familiar with this keyword information. These are the words and phrases that people are searching over to get to your Web site.
   
   
   Go to the bottom of that data table and select “500″ from the “Show Rows” drop down menu. The page will refresh and you’ll see the top 500 sets of keyword phrases.




5. Export that view by going to the top of the page and clicking on the “Export” drop down and selecting .CSV or .XLS. Download it or just open up the file.







6. In the Excel file, scroll down until you get to the Keyword data and copy all the keyword phrases in that column.
7. Go to Wordle.net’s “Create” tab then paste those keywords phrases into the “Paste in a bunch of text:” text area.
8. Click on the Go button and in a few seconds your word art will appear.
9. Use the tool bar to filter for language, change the color scheme, layout, and color and explore.
10. You can now save the image to the Public Wordle gallery, take a screen shot of it and save it on your computer, or if you have Adobe Acrobat installed, you can print to Adobe Acrobat and save it as a high resolution image in PDF format.

This is the resulting keyword visualization.

From this visualization, I can tell which of my blog posts have driven the most traffic to the blog. I can see words related to my How To Add A Facebook Fan Badge To Your Blog post which included “Facebook”, “Tumblr”, and “Badge” keywords. When I compare the first visualization at the top of this blog to the one just above, I see that there are a lot of matches between what I’m writing and how visitors are reaching the blog. That’s what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about.


Take Action
If you do try out Wordle.net and analyze your site’s keywords, don’t just sit on any new insights, take action. For example, I rarely write about Tumblr because I primarily focus on writing and teaching about WordPress blogs. But now, I’m going to schedule a couple of Facebook + Tumblr blog posts this month. I’m always looking for good tutorial topics.

Review
In this blog post we learned how to create a word visualization of your site’s content using Wordle.net. We also learned how to create a visualization using actual keyword search data from an analytics program. Lastly, we learned that we have to take action on our insights.

I hope this blog post was useful. If you created a visualization, feel free to comment below or post your Wordle.net art to the JesseLuna.com blog Facebook Fan Page.



Image Credit: Wordle.net

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I love promoting awesome people, great causes, events, and organizations/businesses that are doing interesting things. My favorite tech tool to help me do this is the Apple iPhone 3Gs.

There’s a reason the iPhone 3Gs is such a hot seller, it is a mobile promotion machine. I use it to check email on the road or at home when away from my laptop. I use it to take pictures that I post to my Twitter and Facebook status feeds and to various blogs. The built in video allows me to post to my YouTube Channel, post via email to my Posterous account, send short videos via 12seconds.tv, and to live stream using Qik.com and UStream. With this single tool, I can immediately share what’s going on with my life or at an event.

Here’s an example of how I used my iPhone for shameless self-promotion. A couple of months back, I noticed Nancy Rodriguez’s Twitter update where she mentioned that she and the crew from Q1047, the local Hip-Hop and R&B station, where going to be live broadcasting from a nearby McDonald’s. It was around 7am so I grabbed a fast shower then zoomed over to McDees. I had chatted with Nancy before via Twitter so it was great meeting her and the rest of the Rico and Mambo show. I took a couple of photos of them in action, posted the pictures to Twitpic and Twitter, spoke to Nancy, then headed back to go home.

Now, I’ve been listening to Q1047 since I moved to Ventura County and it’s my favorite station. So I was glad to post pictures and tweet about them on Twitter. But as I headed back to the car I realized that I could have plugged my new online blogging course. So I decided to grow a sack and went back to ask Nancy to send a shoutout to my BuildYourFanBase.com readers and she kindly did so.

Fifteen minutes after I left the live broadcast, I had uploaded the video shoutout to YouTube and had already tweeted out a link to my blog post on the event. Minutes later Nancy retweeted the link and gave my blog and new blog class an on-air shoutout.

Now that’s promotion at the speed of light!

Do you have any other mobile promotion tech tools that you swear by?

[Cross posted to www.jesseluna.com]

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There are so many blog templates and so little time. So it’s understandable why many bloggers stick with “out of the box” template designs.

But here are the top reasons you should have a well-designed custom header image.

A custom header image allows you to:

1. Establish your brand
2. Tell visitors where they are
3. Establish identity

Establish Your Brand

Your customer header image should match your other Web site, print, and offline marketing designs. This consistency helps to reinforce your overall company and/or personal brand.

Mari Smith, Facebook and Twitter marketing expert, exemplifies this branding concept. Below, notice that her Twitter profile and “Why Facebook?” blog both use the same colors, background design, similar pictures, and both use her “blinged out” M logo.

Mari Smith’s Twitter profile also reinforces this same brand. Consistency FTW!

Tell visitors where they are

There are over 100 million blogs on the Internet so it is important that your blog visitors know where they are. The easiest way to do this is to put a big honkin blog title on your header image. Mari Smith’s blog is named “Why Facebook?” It’s clear, it’s obvious, and it eschews obfuscation (avoids confusion).

Search engine optimization tip: Make sure you have your blog title as text on other parts of your blog design. This will help search engines, like Google, index it as a crucial keyword phrase. That way, if someone searches over your title, it will have a great ranking and hopefully show up towards the top of the search results. This is less likely to happen if you only use the text on the image.

This blog is named “Build Your Fan Base”, so I make sure to have this show up as part of the standard blog template text at the top of the page to take advantage of this optimization.

Establish Identity

If you have several blogs, Web sites, and social networking presences (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, etc.), it is important to establish your identity early on. I distinguish between Brand and Identity because you could have a corporate brand for a blog (any many blogs) but a personal identity for the blogger.

How many times have you visited a blog, read through some of its great content then scanned the site only to realize there was no name attached to the blog? This is a huge lost opportunity.

To establish identity via your blog header, use a photograph of yourself and make sure your name is on the header. If you do have several Web presences, go the extra step and make sure your photograph matches the other sites. Having a similar expression and wearing similar color clothing help make things that much more consistent. I use the same image on my Twitter profile as I do on this blog to keep things easy and so I don’t have to shop for a dozen light grey shirts.

Summary

To maximize your blog, use a customer image header that reflects your brand, tells visitors immediately where they are, and also announces your name and mug to the world. If you use this trifecta of tips, you will surely be on your way to building a valuable and lasting fan base.

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[I originally wrote this during Thanksgiving of 2008 but this still applies today. I mention "fans" here but by that I mean super loyal customers.]

It’s great seeing all the Thanksgiving thank you messages on social network sites like Twitter and Facebook. So how can you say “Thanks” to your fans?

Here are two quick examples:

1. ROLL CALL

Internet Marketing expert Douglas Karr extended a special Thank You to all his blog Commenters by listing them on today’s blog post. He listed them in order of how active they’ve been on his site.

Wouldn’t you rather comment on a site that listens to you and appreciates your comments? I would!

2. MAKE YOUR FANS FAMOUS

Here’s an offline example of how to thank your fans. Make your fans famous and post pictures of them!

My favorite little burger place in Ventura, CA is BJ’s. They have great burgers and have lots of loyal customers. When the shop changed ownership, they wanted to keep the regulars coming back so they started posting pictures of folks. The picture below is a bit dark because it was raining but there were still people standing out there to look for their friends and relatives on the picture board.

Do you have any other great ideas for saying Thanks to your fans? Let me know in the comments.

Would you like to be a part of Build Your Fan Base? Post a link to one of your pictures and a link to your blog/site and I’ll post your picture to my new Fans Only page.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it.

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There’s nothing wrong with using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. In fact, Twitter recently changed its pages to use more SEO friendly page titles to get better “Google juice.”

But if that’s your only focus then you can end up going down
some unsavory paths.


There are large companies out there that will help your site improve its Google rankings by creating multiple blog sites, each containing blog posts on various random topics (because they serve many different clients), and include links back to your site.

In the long run, this strategy will not serve you.

Sometimes the “SEO-optimized” blog post will end up complete gibberish because it’s main job is to associate a set of keywords back to the main client site.

It might help your Google search rankings for a bit, but it will mostly help damage your brand.

Nowadays, blogging is easier than ever. Use your blog to share your expertise and attract fans. Remember, content is still king.

[Photo courtesy of @Vermyndax via his blog]

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The revolutionary part of social media is that it takes offline ways of doing business – networking, one-on-one communication, relationship building – and offers an online way of building and fostering them.

This is a fundamental shift in the way companies sell and market online.

In this new sales and marketing world, “leads” and “eyeballs” will now be seen as “people” and “fans”.

The only way social media will go away is the way the “e” fell off of “e-business.” Social media will be folded into the way all companies conduct business.

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I recently had “the Twitter talk” with the CEO of a high tech B2B company. His one main question was, “Will Twitter help us make money?”

My response was that B2B companies should not look to Twitter as a way to sell widgets, but to view it as a trade show.

At a trade show:

1. Conversations and actions are focused on building relationships
2. Outcomes are evaluated on a long-term basis, not a quick hit
3. Strong partnerships are the greatest financial reward. In the CEO’s business, a new vendor can mean millions in sales per year
4. It’s a great place to share the company’s brand and personality
5. To get the most out of a show, you have to engage participants or you will get lost in the crowd

So there is a reward at the end of the Twitter rainbow for B2B companies. But it takes time, work, and a decent strategy.

Oh, and don’t forget the swag.

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I’ve been buying IKEA furniture since the company first opened its doors in California. So when a Twitter friend tweeted about an IKEA social media case study video, I had to take a look.

IKEA ran a promotion this Fall on Facebook to engage its customers and fans. By cleverly using the picture-tagging feature built into Facebook, they drew in over a thousand friends for one of the store owners, Gordon Gustavsson, and spread awareness of IKEA’s products.

The IKEA promotion, as described in the video below, had three key features that made it engaging and memorable:

1) Easy – For Facebook users, the promotion was simple. All they had to do was friend Gustavsson then tag pictures. There were no spammy applications to install in order to participate and share with other Facebook friends.

2) Interactive – It required fans to keep an eye out for new showcase pictures so they could rush to them and be the first to tag a furniture item.

3) Clearly Defined – Facebook fans knew the rules of the promotion – that there would be limited number of showcase pictures to tag and that they had to be first to tag them to win.

I don’t have the numbers on the overall reach of the promotion, but engaging over a thousand fervent fans on Facebook is great way to build a fan base.

Did YOU hear about the IKEA promotion before this blog post? What would YOU have done to extend the reach of this promotion if you were in charge of the campaign?

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