Monthly Archives: July 2012
iPhone Video Hero Review – How To Shoot Videos Like A Pro
Okay so I recently found this AWESOME training program on how to shoot videos like a pro – just using an iPhone. Well, since I have an iPhone and use it to shoot most of my videos, I thought I’d try it out.
I was blown away!!
iPhone Video Hero is the bomb. I’ve never studied videography myself so when it comes to what mic to use or how to properly light a video, I was friggin’ clueless. This training program showed me EVERYTHING I needed to know about how to shoot videos professionally (or semi-professionally). Now, to be honest, I do not want to be a professional videographer at all.
But video marketing is huge now and it’s already become a huge source of traffic, leads and sales for me so I just thought I’d invest in my knowledge a litle bit and learn more to make my videos really shine. iPhone Video Hero definitely helped!
Anyways, I recorded this screen capture video inside the iPhone Video Hero product so that you can see for yourself what it’s like. Check it out below!
What’s In iPhone Video Hero
Controls – How to control your iPhone when shooting video. Everything from ninja tricks for turning on and off the video recording without shaking the camera to sweet remotes you can use to record from a distance.
iPhone Headset and Microphone Tips – everything you need to know about headsets and mics for your iPhone to make sure your sound quality is hot.
Depth of Field – How to focus the iPhone camera when recording and create a movie-like effect in your videos.
Steady Recording – How to hold your iPhone so that the video is not annoying and shaky. I was blown away by this section!!
Audio Tips – How to make your audio quality crystal clear with a low budget.
Low Budget Lighting – How to light your videos very well with just a few dollars.
Filming Yourself – great tips and resources for filming yourself – perfect if you’re a video blogger, author, speaker, teacher or trainer.
How To Get A White Video Background – How to get a flawless white video background that looks professional (think of the Apple ads with the all-white background)
Video Blogging TIps
How To Shoot Videos Outdoors
iPhone Apps for video shooting – like TiltShift Video, Videolicious, Animoto, Magisto Magic, Filmic Pro, iTimeLapse, Action Movie FX, and iMovie.
YouTube Video Editing Tips – great tips for editing videos inside of YouTube (as well as in various apps and video editing programs)
…and much more!
This course had everything I ever wanted to know about shooting high quality marketing videos for my business using the iPhone. You can check out iPhone Video Hero for yourself and let me know what you think about it in the comments below.
Why Local Search Marketing is a Must for Small Businesses
Small businesses are weighed down with limited capital which is why they have to prioritize their investments in avenues that can deliver faster, better ROI (Returns over Investment). Most companies state that they wish to advertise as much as they want to but they are limited by the cost of advertising as well as the inability to attract the potential buyers or subscribers.
With more and more people turning to the Internet, it is now a gold-mine for many small yet ambitious companies to benefit from local search marketing.
What is Local Search Marketing and why is it beneficial?
This is the most cost-effective way to market your local business online. Compared to traditional media like TV and print, advertising through local search is incredibly beneficial. There is hardly any advertising wastage because people are proactively looking for products and services that you are offering.
The target audience is right there; you just have to offer what they are already looking for. Local search marketing is highly customized; you can choose to target your customers with certain set of demographics like age, gender, location, price etc.
More and more people are comfortable buying products and services online because not only are they usually available at a lower price, they do not even have to waste time and effort in travel. If you are a business catering to a local audience, you have a much better chance of attracting your target customers easily online.
Through the power of local search marketing, you can ensure that your business gets top listings in search engines when people are looking for products or services near their area. Having high rankings in local search can be amazingly beneficial because you will be able to drive a quantum load of traffic to your website, resulting in high amount of sales and profitability.
Strategies used in Local Search Marketing
A good SEO company specializing in local search marketing can ensure that your website optimization strategies are spot-on to deliver the results. Some of the ways to get top rankings online are through appropriate use of keywords for your business and informative content about your business and its offerings. Adding the right titles and description can definitely aid in notching high ranks in local search engines.
There are also other successful strategies that should be a part of your local online business model like pay per click and social media.
Social media is one of the most effective ways for a small business to gain customers who are looking for products or services in a local market. Having a growing presence on social media sites like Facebook builds trust and patronage for your brand.
Pay Per Click method includes creating an ad and posting it on ad networks like Google Adwords, Facebooks ads etc You can set the advertising budget according to your requirements and also customize it in such a way that you can ensure that they show up on certain times and cater to a particular niche or age group.
There are many other methods also that can give you better rankings for your local business without burning a hole in your pocket like including your business in online local business directories, Google Pages, Google Maps, Google Places and leveraging the power of Google Plus, the social networking site of the search engine giant. A smart-thinking business should not be concerned by budgetary constraints because there is a way to get a huge amount of potential customers at less cost through the power of local search marketing.
About The Author: John Shaw is originally from New Orleans and is an accomplished Internet Marketing Specialist with 12 years of experience in the industry. He is especially adept at analyzing, developing, and facilitating strategic marketing plans for his clients, who include hundreds of corporations and local businesses in the Austin, Texas area where he currently lives and works.
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, John has worked for large technology companies such as HP and Pervasive Software in addition to running the Internet Marketing Department for marketing agencies such as Leverage Marketing. He is currently a founding partner at Local Superiority, a good SEO company specializing in local search marketing.
In his spare time, John enjoys drumming, which he has been doing for 20 years, riding motorcycles, and spending time with his son and his dog.
Why Focusing On Google’s Latest Update Is The WORST Thing You Can Do For SEO
There’s so much talk now in the SEO and internet marketing industry about Google’ latest updates – Panda and Penguin.
The problem with focusing on Google’s latest changes is that it takes you away from what’s REALLY important about SEO and getting traffic to your website – quality content that people read, love, enjoy and SHARE.
How Google Works
No matter what updates and changes Google came out with last week, last month, last year or 5 years from now, Google still has the EXACT SAME MISSION: To find the best web page that matches up with what a user searches (and make a ton of money from Google ads doing it).
You see, Google does not give a crap if the search result has 3% or 7% keyword density or if it has just one infographic image or 50,000 words with no images. Google DOES NOT CARE what is on the page – they just want it to be the best, most RELEVANT page for the searcher to view.
Pretty much every change in Google just has to do with catching up to spammers (who call themselves “SEO experts”) who create shady ways to try to jack up and over-optimize their sites.
This means that if you’re actually an honest, sensible and non-spammy blogger or website owner, you won’t have to worry about anything. If you don’t buy links, sell links, stuff keywords, post duplicate content or link to porn sites, YOU WILL BE JUST FINE now, next week, next year and 1 million years from now. Google’s not trying to penalize honest site owners – they’re trying to get rid of the spam that has overtaken the internet.
So what should you do?
If you’re just a regular webmaster, you should focus on creating GREAT content that is:
Helpful
Useful
Interesting
Entertaining
Worth Sharing
This is what you should be focusing on – because guess where all the links to your site are going to come from? PEOPLE!
Quality backlinks to your site don’t come from spamming blog comments and auto-blogging – they come from real people who own real quality websites who have a real interest in the subject you write about.
How To Build Quality Backlinks
If you’re still trying to build backlinks to your site, the BEST way to do it BY FAR is to find HIGH QUALITY sites in your niche that already have good traffic (check their Alexa Ranking) and are obviously not spammy. Contact the site owner and ask to collaborate or guest blog for their site. It’s all about building relationships!
The key here is to find high quality sites. Honestly, the BEST site owners to contact are the ones who have NO IDEA what SEO is or what the latest Google update did – because you know they’re probably not trying to game the system, spam blog comments or buy/sell links.
Thanks to SEO Geezer for the inspiration behind this article.
How To Use TweetAdder To Get Massive Traffic from Twitter
So a lot of people have been asking me how I get so many Twitter followers and so much traffic from Twitter – I thought I’d share with you my secret.
I use TweetAdder to automate my following and schedule my Tweets for me – so I don’t have to waste hours every day tweeting. It makes it all very simple and allows me to get hundreds of new followers a day and hundreds of hits to my websites.
If you don’t have TweetAdder yet, you can grab it here.
Here’s how I do it step by step in this video:
Like what you see? Then make sure you get TweetAdder here: http://bit.ly/NAVZ0s
And make sure to read my complete marketing guide for Twitter totally free here: http://onlineinternetmarketinghelp.com/how-to-get-started-using-twitter/
How Article Submission Can Boost Your SEO Rankings
The very first time you get to view your completed website on the internet it is one of the best feelings in the world, but then what?
You submit your website description on every search engine and post ads everywhere but now what? What really works for long term SEO ranking? Article submission is the key to getting a higher ranked website and getting qualified and targeted traffic.
Article Submission
Article submission is the process of writing articles on topics that concern your business practices as well as the many different aspects of your business industry and posting them to article sites for back links and to gain huge amounts of qualified targeted traffic.
This method is used by all of the most successful SEO experts and is one of the most viable ways to introduce new traffic to your website. This is one of the oldest link building strategies utilized online. You can dramatically boost your SEO ranking by using this method to connect with your target markets. Search engine spiders give a lot of love to quality back links.
To get started with this method you should get a free email address from Google and put together a list of the top article directories online. You will need to get article submission software or manually submit your articles to hundreds of directories. You will need to join each article submission site individually thus you will see the need for a free email address. If you decide to write your own articles it may be easier to start with the “Tops ways, How to, Tips” these types of articles are much easier to write.
What To Write For Article Marketing
Like in my case I could write “7 Tips to Master SEO” it is a 123 process. Most article directories will allow you to put an author resource box at the end of your article. Your author resource box contains your information and your website link. Your resource box should make readers want to click through to your website and see what you have to offer. Your resource box is the only area in your article that you are allowed to post your web address.
There are not too many stipulations or rules to submit your article to a directory but you must adhere to them or your article submissions may be declined.
Submitting articles is a proven SEO tactic and will take your web address to the very top of the major search engines. These tactics have taken the smaller marketer and webmasters by storm thus changing the way that we market online. When you are doing article submissions online you should also send your articles to Ezines that coincide with your article niche. Using Ezines to submit to will boost your SEO rankings for the long term benefits.
About The Author: PHP Dir Submit is a unique SEO tool that allows you to start your own directory submission service online quickly. Visit www.phpdirsubmit.com for more details and live demo.