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0:12 – Where do your visitors come from?
1:39 – How can the new YouTube associated website link annotations feature help you?
2:23 – Videos are highly appreciated by search engines
2:51 – Video How-To 1: making video creation a habit
3:13 – Video How-To 2: creating quality videos on a shoestring
3:53 – Video How-To 3: designing a video format
4:47 – Video How-To 4: get better through practice
5:23 – Video How-To 5: ask for help when you need it
6:02 – Video How-To 6: the key to success is in your personality
6:43 – Setting up your business profile on Pinterest with this e-book
Hi, Fiona Soutter here from Super Savvy Business with this week’s SEO and Traffic news update.
0:12 – Where do your visitors come from?
As 2012 draws to a close, we start to look towards the coming year as online marketers to see where the trends are going. One of the things that I wanted to… I suppose explore, is the idea that traffic does not go in a straight line anymore. Gone are the days when PPC and SEO were the main forms that were driving traffic to your website. Going back 3 years ago, they were the two main ways that you would bring traffic to your site, whether that be small or big businesses alike.
What I think happens now is that people are coming through multiple channels and this is great to be able to track that with your Google Analytics; you can actually see the multiple channels that people have come through. As online marketers, I think it is important to understand that the trend of website users and internet users is that they don’t generally come to a business just from one form of traffic.
So they might come to you initially through a search result, then they might see you again, then through social media and come back to you through multiple different forms. And I think, as we look into 2013, it is very important to ensure that your business does have a strong presence on multiple channels, because otherwise what you might find is that you are losing traffic to your competitors.
1:39 – How can the new YouTube associated website link annotations feature help you?
Another very exciting news that has come out this week is that YouTube has officially launched its associated website link annotations. What this means is that you can now put a link within your YouTube video that goes directly to your website. Now, you can imagine the implications of this and how it might help to bring traffic from YouTube and other sites where you embed the YouTube video and bring visitors directly into your website.
Your YouTube account does need to be in good standing as to allow this to happen and to get your website set up. So go into your Settings and check to see whether or not your account has been enabled for this new feature. It’s very, very exciting!
2:23 – Videos are highly appreciated by search engines
Now, on the topic of ‘video’, we all know that video is one of the things that Google is really seeing as a future trend of the online world. It’s already massive, but I know from speaking with Nick Leeder several months ago that it is one of the trends they are putting a lot of energy and time into, into watching and developing and taking into consideration with the online world.
So, what can you do to get a solid video marketing strategy up and running?
2:51 – Video How-To 1: making video creation a habit
First of all, make it a habit and make that habit public. If you let people know – perhaps you have a mentor or a coach, or perhaps just a little buddy that you can tell that these are the days or this is the day each week that you plan to get your videos done and then make it a habit; actually stick to it.
You might want to record several videos in one day so that you can reduce the amount of set up time that it takes in order to get it going.
3:13 – Video How-To 2: creating quality videos on a shoestring
Step 2: Creating your video environment – you don’t need to spend an awful lot of money:
- You can make good, HD quality videos simply with your iPhone or other smartphone device.
- You might want to think about lighting, so for instance I’m currently using some lighting here today which I bought off the internet for a couple of hundred dollars, and that just gives me good, quality light.
- I’m also using a cheap Lapel mic which I just pin on to my shirt – that cost me $20 online
So really, you can get good quality videos without it costing you an awful lot of money.
3:53 – Video How-To 3: designing a video format
Step 3: Create a format for your videos and stick to that format so that your viewers know what to expect from you and that they can become familiar with the types of videos that you produce.
For example:
- it might be a Q&A video
- it might be an interview
- it might be How-To videos
Sometimes you might even think about having different types of videos that you release on different times of the day or different times of the week and you might want to do what I do, which is storyboard your video before you do it. I actually create notes where I write down the main points; sometimes I might have that seeing on Evernote, just at the side of me so that I can look across to remember what I want to say, or you may want to just get a small whiteboard and have that sitting in front of your camera, so you can have just little queues to remind you of each of the points you want to cover in the video.
4:47 – Video How-To 4: get better through practice
The next thing, which is Step 4, is just to practise. I understand that it can be a little bit daunting for people to get in front of the camera and just to start talking. But the more you do it, the more regular it becomes, the more comfortable you are going to be talking in front of a camera. I know that if you were to look back at some of my videos from a couple of years ago, you would see that I was very uncomfortable and not speaking as naturally as I do these days.
So really, it does come down to practice; just do it, even though you might have a fear, because we all know with your comfort zone, when you step outside of it, that’s when the magic happens.
5:23 – Video How-To 5: ask for help when you need it
Step 5 is to get help when you need it. Now, whether that means you might need a coach to help you get through your fear of sitting in front of the camera, perhaps you might need help to get your videos edited – obviously, you can outsource that to someone here in Australia, or you might want to do that offshore. It really doesn’t matter who you get to do it.
Personally, I edit my own videos because it’s a lot quicker to do it now that I know how to do it. I use a software called Camtasia and then I upload it to my team and they take over from there. But get help when needed, don’t let that stop you from creating your videos.
6:02 – Video How-To 6: the key to success is in your personality
The final step that I’d like to touch on is just to let yourself go. Just be yourself; if you make a mistake every now and then, that really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be perfect – it’s better to do 80% of something than 100% of nothing . Let your personality show; have a laugh at yourself if you need to. If you are a witty or funny person, then let that show.
Just be yourself – I think that’s when people will be more likely to connect with you, which is the whole purpose of doing the videos, so that people can actually connect with you. It’s a lot harder to let your personality shine through in the written word. So getting in front of the camera is going to allow you to do that.
6:43 – Setting up your business profile on Pinterest with this e-book
The final thing that I’d like to touch on today in our SEO & Traffic news update is that I have just finished creating an e-book on creating a Pinterest page for business. A few weeks back Pinterest launched their business pages and as marketers we are all very excited that we can do this. Now, remember at the beginning of this video I spoke about having multiple channels online for your business.
Pinterest is definitely one that you should NOT be ignoring. It is growing exponentially; much bigger than Facebook did at the same time of its life cycle. So, if you would like to get hold of this e-book – and it’s a very comprehensive step-by-step instructions and screenshots to show you exactly how to get your business page set up and to do it the right way and to have it optimized properly for your business – all you need to do is be part of the Super Savvy Business mailing list. If you are not currently part of that, then just go to supersavvybusiness.com and I will be e-mailing everybody on our insider’s circle a link to that e-book. It is going to be free, but only to my insiders community.
So if you are watching this video anywhere else but on SuperSavvyBusiness.com, head over to my website and opt in to our weekly free training word of the week (WOW) videos like the one you are watching now – you will actually get free training on a weekly basis.
I hope that you’ve gained some great value out of this video – please remember to leave your comments; they are very valuable to me. If you’ve got some feedback, I’d also love to hear from you as well.
My name is Fiona Soutter from Super Savvy Business and I will look forward to seeing you again in our next news update.