Archive for the ‘Local Businesses’ Category

This presentation trick uses QR Codes, those funny little scrambled bar code looking things that you’re now seeing all over the place. Smart phones with QR Code scanners can scan these QR Codes and be taken to the associated web address that are embedded in the code.

What we’re going to do is to add QR codes to a presentation, then allow your audience to scan or link to a mobile version of your presentation. That’s right, they’ll have the presentation in their hands and don’t have to do things like take pictures of the screen or re-type every single note into their laptops.

This is how to do the trick:

1) Create a special link for your presentation. I use the “Pretty Links” plugin in WordPress to generate these redirecting links. For example, if I have a presentation for the Santa Paula “Good Morning Santa Paula” event, I’ll make the link be: “http://www.jpluna.com/gmsp.” Using Pretty Links, I can direct the link to anywhere I want on the Web, including pages that are not on my JP Luna Media site.

If you use something like Pretty Links, you can also build in tracking codes but that’s an advanced topic. If you don’t have Pretty Links, you can create a Web page that uses that name and do a Meta Refresh to the new presentation Web location or use your other preferred redirect method.

2) Create your Power Point presentation then generate a new QR Code that redirects visitors to your custom web address. You can use my QR Code Generator tool to create the QR Code. Yes, now you’re starting to understand the full extent of my geekiness.

Snapshot of QR Code Generator tool

3) Upload your Power Point presentation to Slideshare.net. This puts your presentation online immediately. Slideshare is a great tool because it has a strong social component and it works well on most smart phones.

4) Go back to your Pretty Links setting or your Web page redirect resource and make the pretty link redirect to the new slideshare.net web address for your presentation. The slideshare.net link will be something like “http://www.slideshare.net/yourusername/your-presentation-title” where “yourusename” is your Slideshare username and “your-presentation-title” is a portion of your presentation title.

5) At the beginning of the presentation, tell your audience that they can view the presentation on their mobile devices either by scanning the QR Code OR by typing in the pretty and shortened link into their mobile devices. This will direct them to a great mobile version of your Slideshare presentation and they can focus on your message and not on writing down everything they see on the screen.

Want to try a QR Code Scanner for you iPhone? So far, my favorite scanner is the ATT QR Code Scanner. You can either look for it in your iPhone’s app store or you can link to the online iTunes store. If you already have another QR Code scanner and want to try this one out, you can scan this code and it will take you to the app on your phone. This is a good example of why QR Codes are powerful.

 

It’s hard to describe the glee that shows up on people’s faces when they see the presentation on their mobile devices. This is especially true if their geekiness is rewarded for having a QR Code scan application on their mobile device.

First page of the presentation:

Note, I found that embedding Slideshare on a WordPress page/post works fine for Web visitors using regular PCs, but it will only show a link to the Slideshare presentation on mobile devices. Clicking the link takes the user to the Slideshare site that will then properly load the device. But that’s an extra click. That’s why I link directly to the Slideshare site now.

Would you like to see a VIDEO TUTORIAL of how I do this? If so, I will create a video once I get to a total of 100 retweets of this blog post, Facebook comments on the JesseLuna.com FB page and Facebook “Likes” on this post.

Resources:

• View the Good Morning Santa Paula presentation on Slideshare.net
• How to Add QR Codes to your blog (VIDEO)
• Create your own QR Code

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HTML knowledge is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for small business owners looking to manage their own blogs. On a blog platform like WordPress.com, a non-techie can configure 80-90% of their site without knowing any HTML. On Posterous or Tumblr blogs, 95% of the blog site can be well configured without HTML.

It’s that 5-10% that can stop a small business owner in their tracks. The intent of this post and the whole course is to help you get over that learning hump so you can manage your blog effectively and go on and do what you do best, run your business.

Let’s get started.

Web Page Basics

* Web pages are created using the scripting language called HTML.

* HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language

HyperText Markup Language

HyperText

* Web pages may include text, images, videos, and links to itself or to other Web pages or documents.

* Links are also called “Hyperlinks.”

Markup

*HTML is used to describe a Web page’s layout.

Exercise

For this part of the lesson to be most effective, you will need to print out this worksheet (PDF). This page has the two examples below and some instructions.

Now, get a marker or crayon and have it handy (red ones work well). Look at the first example and describe what you see. Pretend that you’re on the phone describing to someone what you see in the little Web browser. Then write those same descriptive words on the paper with your marker or crayon. Write them next to the element on the Web browser that you are describing.

This is the most important part of the entire course. There’s no wrong way to do this. You’ll see.

Ok, so you marked up the first little Web browser on the worksheet. That wasn’t so bad, was it?

You’re wondering if “you did it right”, aren’t you? That’s natural. Click here to see how I marked up the first little example. If you did it a different way then that’s fine.

Now go to the second little Web browser on the worksheet and do the same thing. Mark it up. Remember, you’re writing down words that you would use to describe it to someone else. Don’t be afraid to draw arrows and circles to make things super obvious.

You can see how I marked up the second example here. Once again, if you did things in a different way that’s Cool and the Gang (movie reference).

Congratulations, you just finished Lesson 1! The purpose of this little exercise was to practice the “marking up” process. We essentially just created our own little language for describing Web content. The language was made up of descriptions in English and maybe arrows and other marks.

In the next lesson we’ll learn the formal way to use the HTML scripting language to describe Web content. You’ll learn about the key HTML “tags” and the structure of an HTML document. You will also learn the first tips for using HTML to update your blog content with confidence.

Have questions on this Lesson? Was it useful? Leave a Comment or “@” me on Twitter, @jesseluna. While you’re at it, subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss Lesson 2.


[Update: HTML For Bloggers Course - Lesson 2 has been posted!]

Photo credit: Studiocurve on Flickr – License

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I had the pleasure of presenting at the Tecnifícate seminar at Mission College in Sylmar, California this past Saturday. I presented on how small businesses can leverage social media for success. There were over 100 attendees eager to learn and share the latest in technology information. The event targeted Spanish-speaking small business owners, startups, and people looking to improve their job situations through technology learning.

Recent studies have found that Latinos are starting to accelerate their use of online and mobile technologies. Some are even calling this trend the end of the Digital Divide. I’m a bit more cautious about those type of proclamations but was pleasantly surprised to see such a strong turnout at the event. This really was a community event and there were entire families in attendance. I’ve never seen that at a tech conference.

The event was put on by The New Media and Entertainment Initiative, The Economic and Workforce Development through the California Colleges program, Ariel Coro (@arielcoro on Twitter) and Tutecnologia.com. Ariel Coro has a strong fan base from his TV appearances on Univision and on the show Despierta America (Wakeup America) as the technology guy.

The other speakers were Judith Valles (President of LA Mission College), Juan Carlos Perez (founder/President of mialtos.com), Steve Funes (a collaborator with TuTeconologia and proud tech student), reporting by Yeney Amaro, Eduardo Garcia (Consultant at Cisco Systems) Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, and a representative from LA City council member Richard Alarcón’s office.

Many thanks to Ariel for inviting me to be a part of the seminar and for the warm reception by Mission College and by Ariel’s kind army of Tutecnologia users.

Video and Event Pictures

Univision channel 24 was in attendance and reported over the event on TV.

My photos from the seminar are below and you can find more at the Tecnifícate site.

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Email is still the killer app of the Internet. I wrote about unleashing your message a couple of months ago but forgot to include one important method – including social links. It’s easy to take email to the next level by adding social media friendly links to your messages.

In the example below, the EDC-VC (Disclaimer, I’m a business advisor there) is sharing information about an upcoming workshop for startups in the Ventura County, CA area. The EDC-VC uses Contact Contact for its email services.

Let’s take a closer look at the social links at the top of the email:

By adding an offline version of the email newsletter, you unlease the email content to be shared across the Web. That means allowing people to:

* Share it on Facebook. When someone shares an item on Facebook it will be added to their Profile page. Or, they can take the web URL and share it on any of their Facebook Pages.

* Tweet out a link on Twitter. You don’t even have to be active on Twitter to allow people to share links to the offline version of your email newsletter! I just tweeted out a link to the email below. Wouldn’t you want someone with over 8400 followers to be sharing your content?

I customized the default message that Constant Contact provided after clicking the little Twitter button. Here’s the tweet:

* Post to LinkedIn. More and more business users are posting information to LinkedIn. For some, LinkedIn is the only social networking site that they are allowed to post to during the work day so they like to share great and relevant content.

Viewing the email online

The other powerful link on this email message is the “Having trouble viewing this email. Click Here” section. By clicking the link, viewers are able to go to the online version of the site then use all their usual methods of sharing information. This is subtle feature but extremely powerful.

The power of content re-use

By adding social links to your email newsletter, you extend the reach of your message and are reusing that content for different platforms. How awesome is that?

Review

So if you’re building an email list for your business, I strongly suggest you look into any feature that allows you to share your content via social networks. It will help your messages run wild!

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At meet and greets, presentations, and during client meetings, small businesses are talking about Facebook. Facebook is quickly becoming the face of small business.

Why? I think there are three reasons why Facebook is now the third most important tool in the small business’s marketing arsenal:

1. That’s where the people are. Bank robber Willie Sutton was asked “Why do you rob banks?.” His famous reply was, “Because that’s where the money is.” The same thing applies to Facebook. With over 500 million users, Facebook is definitely the biggest watering hole on the planet.

2. Facebook fan pages are much easier to set up and update than Web sites. If you want to build a serious Facebook page you might need to hire some help. But for a basic setup you can crank one out in no time. Here’s a video tutorial on how to get started on your own Facebook page.

3. Facebook allows small businesses to reach out and directly connect with customers, with limited resources. I recently spoke to the owner of Bobbi’s Mexican Restaurant and Grill who manages to post menu updates every day at noon. She doesn’t pay anyone to do the posts, she does them herself. Small businesses have limited time, money, and personnel to do Web updates, so Facebook is a great way to push out information to a large group of hungry fans.

According to a Constant Contact poll reported by eMarketer, Facebook is the third most important marketing tool for small businesses.

The eMarketer article also points out that small business is actually adopting social media marketing slower than large companies.

Do you think it’s smart for small businesses to move to Facebook, or is that a recipe for disaster?

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The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Los Angeles held its year-end event in Santa Monica this past Tuesday. Center directors, business advisors, staff and SBA staffers were all there.

I’m a marketing and social media advisor at the SBDC center as part of the Economic and Development Center in Ventura County (EDC-VC) and this was the center’s first trip to the year end event.

I was inspired after speaking with many of the talented and caring business advisors and staffers who are responsible for providing free and low-cost business services to the 17 million residents of the greater Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties.

I was also impressed by the amazing client success stories. One client went from having sales of $200K to 1.2 Million after 2 years. Many of the SBDC clients worked with several advisors per site, getting help with capital infusion, business plans, marketing support, and foreign trade assistance.

Have you had any experiences working with the SBDC? Please share you stories in the Comments section below.

Here are some photos from the event. Enjoy!

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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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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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