Are you scared of video for any or all of the following reasons?

Well guess what- you can now throw all of those reasons out the window.  Andy Jenkins shows you how any regular joe can become – A Video Boss.

For Free Tutorials on How to become a Video Boss Click Here

A rockin’ video review of Andy Jenkin’s The Video Boss

Here is a sample of what you will learn

How “Regular Folks” who are NOT professional Video-makers are CLEANING UP using simple video marketing strategies:

* How “James” created a short, 4 minute slide-show video as a gift to his dog, and how it went VIRAL and got over 4,000,000 (That’s Four Million) views.
* How “Robert” used camcorder Video of his wife exercising to ramp up to over 90,000 visitors per month to his YOGA site.
* How “Bill” made short, less than 2-minute long demonstration videos for his Artificial Christmas Trees site that are now 11 of his 12 most powerful converting web pages.
* The CURSE of Online Video Marketing – how to protect yourself and take advantage of what everyone else is afraid of.
* The absolutely fastest way I know how to make a killer sales letter video from SCRATCH, so you could be converting more visitors to sales in just a few hours.
* The most popular and powerful software you should use to make slick, professional looking online video. Some of these applications are so easy to use, you might not even need to read the manual.
* A silly, but hardly ever used trick to make the voice quality of your audio sound like it was recorded on an expensive, professional microphone.
* How to make “Flip-Cam” video look like “TV-Studio” video. This secret is a head-slapper.

I am not sure how long Andys going to have these videos available so get in while you can.

Go here to Become a Video Boss

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Being a media and marketing company I encounter bad websites on a daily basis. Granted there are different levels of bad, and in general your website will never be perfect as technology continues to evolve. Right now someone can point their Iphone at your business and get all the reviews that are posted on yelp and other review sites.

Businesses need to think seriously about hiring a web firm that is not just concerned with building a website for your company. In this day and age just having a website is not enough for most businesses to stay with or ahead of their competition. A good web company will not only build a website for you that will build sales and/ or leads but will also put together a marketing plan to effectively increase the exposure of your brand throughout the web.

I have put together a list of ten things you or your web company can do to increase the effectiveness of your website.

1. Add a blog.
Blogs are an excellent way to communicate with your customers. Believe it or not many business owners struggle with what to blog about. It is one of those things were it is right in front of your face and that is why you don’t see it. Blog about your business. If you sell intrinsic products like wine, blogging about your products should be easy. Gary Vaynerchuk has “Crushed it”  with his vlog  WineLibrary TV by tasting and informing the public about wine. You can also blog about how customers are using your products. Sell cameras or video equipment? ask customers to send you their creations so you can post and discuss them on your blog. Notice I used the word discuss, blogs with there commenting features can foster communities that revolve around your brand.

Their are also a lot of  marketing and search engine optimization benefits to having a blog.  I could go on and on about how much a blog can assist you in building your companies web presence. Their are entire blogs devoted to the art of successful blogging. One that I like is Problogger. Use it as a resource as you grow your companies blog. Last note about blogging is that you must be committed to update it on a consistent basis, having a dormant blog is no better than no blog at all. It can even be detrimental to the growth of your business if you let it sit without new content for too long. Whatever community you had built up will leave and look for other sources “maybe your competitors” to get the information they were seeking.

2. Add an “effective” lead capture element.
The contact form buried on the last page of your site is not an effective lead capture system. Put your website to work. It could turn out to be your best salesman. The best way to capture leads from your website is to offer something of value to your visitors in exchange for as little information as possible,  getting a name and email  is usually all you need. The more information you ask for the less likely that you are going to convert leads. It is important that what you offer is something valuable to your visitors. If you are a fitness trainer offering them a free session would be an excellent offer, not only does it get you a lead, it gets you in front of your prospect to convince them of the value of your service. Brainstorm on your value proposition and place this offer prominently on your website or on a landing page.

3. Connect your website to where your target demographic lives on the web. (Social Media).
Social media is here to stay and growing at astronomical rates. Let your visitors know that you are connected and participating in social media. Depending on your demographic certain social media sites may make more since than others for your business. Facebook ( 355 million people + and the complete range of demographics) and Twitter  should be used by every business. Once again this is a subject that I could spend a lot of time on. Bottom Line: Integrate your website with social media.

4. Got Analytics?
You need to know where you are to plan where your going. Google Analytics is free and is very comprehensive in its traffic reports. You can use this information to develop a strategy to increase traffic to your website. It will also allow you to track sales and conversions.

5. Video, Video, Video.
Video can accomplish so much for your business. Types of videos you can release : typical TV type commercial (not my favorite for the web) , how tos, demos, creative skits, educational, and the list goes on..
The secret to video on the web is to give value even if it is just the value of entertainment, if you can combine high entertainment value with high content value. You have what I call the peanut butter cup formula. Your video will be just like putting chocolate and peanut butter together =Awesome!

6. Improve the design.
Do an honest evaluation of your website’s design. Is it ugly? You have 10 seconds or less to capture your visitors attention, and the aesthetics of your website are a huge factor on getting visitors to stay longer. Ask those around you that you trust to give you an honest critique of the design of your site. Friends don’t let friends have ugly websites. Make sure that the look of your site is cohesive with the rest of your branding. Many times the best idea is to keep it simple with a nice two color design.
It is also important to make sure the site looks good in all the major browsers (Internet Explore, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome). Unfortunately browsers do not all play by the same rules. Things can look “out of place” on one browser and not another. Also unless you are a musician , Do not have music play automatically on your site, it can distract the visitor away from your core message. I generally feel the same about video that auto plays. One of the exceptions for video would be landing pages, a lot of times the visitor is told specifically that they are going there to view a video.

7. Dumb it down.
The copy on your site should be understandable to the majority of the general public. Unless you are selling only to those within your industry, do not use “industry terms”. Your copy should not focus on  technical specs or even features. Instead it should let the visitor know the benefits of and problems that your product or service will solve.  The user should not need an instruction book to use your website. For some sites it makes sense to  outline the steps you  want your visitors to take while on the website. Navigating your site should not feel like running through a maze.

8. Search Engine Optimize.
Need a better ranking on Google? Search engine optimizing your site is one thing that can give you a huge boost against your competition. This especially true in local markets. In a lot of areas it is a level playing field, most businesses competing in a local market have poorly search engine optimized sites. You should hire a search engine optimization specialist to research where your industry stands as far as the competitiveness for search engine ranking. You may be surprised that there may be a huge opportunity to leapfrog your competition. As the level you want to compete on (local, regional, national) goes up so does the competition. Some industries are easier to compete in than others as well. The cost of Search engine optimization also goes up based on those dynamics. Many search engine optimization specialist will do work on a mix of  results based commission and a flat fee. If you are interested Arcimedia does offer this service and would love to help you get your business a better search engine rank.

9. Sell
Believe it or not I have been to numerous websites that “forgot” to sell me anything or had their pitch buried deep in their website. If I am searching for a new front door, I am inclined to buy a new front door. I will buy from the first site that effectively sells me that front door.  Yes, I want to know more about your business but I came looking first and foremost for a door.  Once again, think benefits and problems solved when creating the copy for your website. Your pitch should be in the main content of your home page. By the way, remember the blog I talked about at the beginning, that is a excellent place to do more “brand building” and share more non-sales information about your business. You can also sell from a blog but that is not its main purpose. Also do not bury your contact information – It should be above the fold and preferably in the very top portion of your site. Also include testimonials on your home page and let other happy customers assist you in creating more happy customers. Note: This list is not in order of importance, if it was selling would be 1 and lead generation 2.

10. Treat your website like a tool and not a billboard!
Your website should encompass most or all of the following things:

1. Capturing Leads
2. Making sales
3. Building your brand
4. Growing – In both traffic and functionality.
5. Using analytics information to test different copy and design ideas and to seek out new traffic and expand on existing traffic.
6. Connecting with your customers -Using  a blog, social media, and if appropriate video.
7. Educating your customers on the benefits  of your product or service (remember to sell first)

For fun check out Web pages that suck.
Looking for inspiration? The following sites are sites that do most or all of the things I described above.

aaronbrothers.com – could expand even further with videos and a blog.
Winelibrary.com – as mentioned earlier Gary V is Crushin It!
beachfitnow.com – a client of Arcimedia who is in the early stages of developing her web presence but already has a great foundation set up.

So now I have given you a “road map” to make your website perform at an optimal level. If you need an experienced team that is dedicated to the success of your business on the web call us 843-200-5034 or visit our website Arcimedia or our blog Superhero Marketing. We are offering a Free website analysis that will let you know what we would do specifically with your site so that it can operate at it’s full potential.( I didn’t forget to sell) If you need a superstar social media consultant and someone to help you get connected with all the right people contact Mary Kurek .

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What’s that saying, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” Well, just like any marketing strategy, social media needs planning. You cannot just jump on Twitter or Facebook and expect to make sales or generate a lead database without some planning. The fact is, most small businesses fail at Facebook and Twitter because they fail to plan strategies that convert followers and fans to leads and customers. However, when implemented properly, a customized Facebook fan page and a Twitter account can directly increase your ability to collect and message leads and boost sales. Take Papa John’s Facebook Page: it is responsible for improving sales by more than 28% for the pizza chain and their incentive initiatives like free pizza’s for friends helped them double their fan base in a single month. Conversely, check out Jet Blue’s Twitter Page: by tweeting their deal of day, they have directly improved sales and been able to prove ROI on Twitter. But neither of these companies jumped into social media without a game plan and nor should you.

Resources:

Incentivizing Facebook Fans: Papa John’s Doubles Fans with Free Pizza

Case Study: Papa John’s Finds New Facebook Fans

JetBlue Launches Twitter Deals – SmarterTravel.com

Build a Social Media Game Plan

Set a Goal

The very first thing you need to determine is what your goal is. Set a clear goal. For example – set a goal like “I want to exceed 10K fans on my Facebook page.” “I want to generate a database of over 25K subscribers I can remarket later. Or “I want to directly sell my products or services to increase revenues by 10%.” Like I said, be specific in your goal, so you can measure results based on expectation.

Allocate Your Resources

Be aware that social media is not some silver bullet that will save your business. It is one element of a successful online marketing plan and realistically accounts for 8% of all online leads according to a recent Hubspot study. So, figure out how much time and money you want to spend on getting this result. Quantify it and know the metrics of existing sales, leads or subscribers generated each month on your website or Facebook Fan page. The next step is to find the mechanism that will generate that result for you. For example – recently Shakira debuted her latest music video exclusively on her Facebook fan page. The goal? To build fan base in a single place online that allowed for easy messaging of fans. To drive fans in volume and within a limited time to that page by providing debut access to content irresistible to her audience. The result? 1.7 million fans visited and fanned that page.

I am not suggesting you are a pop star in need of fans – but what I am saying is find the irresistible offer that your market is looking for. If you are a web services company to small businesses, offer a limited time discount on services or a free eBook on conversion page design and marketing or even a white paper on social media – each requiring registration. My point is, set a clear goal for yourself.

Resources:

Twucked Up Twit in Social Media

Drive Traffic to Conversion Points

OK, so you have a goal. Making that goal a success requires that you drive the traffic from your social media accounts back to places where people can take action and deliver your result. I am a huge fan of single purpose landing pages. These are pages that you direct visitors to that have only one purpose – to call them to action and create a NEED for them to immediate buy or register their information so you can generate a lead.

Measure Your Results

Know how you will measure that goal before you begin the campaign. In the instances I mentioned you can measure the results even without third party tools – simply based on the number of new Facebook Fans, the size of your database or the number of downloads. Clearly you can get more rich data on your campaign from Google Analytics, Mint, Crazy Egg, Omniture or Visistat, but it is possible to prove ROI without them.

Use The Right Tools

Google Analytics Social Media Tracking Plugin | This will display social media metric data in Google analytics. It can display your activity and mentions from a variety of social sites like Digg, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Mixx.

Bit.ly | When you use a URL shortener, it’s always a smart idea to use one that has analytics information, like Bit.ly This will track information like number of clicks, traffic sources, and even at what time clicks occur.

Xinureturns | xinureturns provides a great dashboard overview of your website’s standing in social media. Run a report and you will receive information on Technorati, Googe Pagerank, Diggs, and even backlinks to your website.

PostRank | PostRank provides detailed information on Tweets, stumbles, diggs, and FriendFeed all in one place. It’s best for blogs and websites with a lot of content.

SocialToo | SocialToo is a comprehensive tool for creating social surveys and tracking social stats. It also will send you a daily email describing follows and unfollows on Twitter.

SM2 | If you are really serious about your social analytics you will use a monitoring service like SM2. SM2 is a software solution designed specifically for PR and Marketing Agencies to monitor and measure social media. As businesses and consumers increasingly utilize and rely on social media, your agency needs the best tools and expertise to stay competitive.

TwitterAnalyzer is one of the most comprehensive Twitter analyzer tools out there. It tracks followers who are online when you are, number of readers that have been exposed to your message, your tweet habits, who is retweeting your updates, twitter follow statistics, growth rates, conversations being made about you, the size of your audience and your followers’ demographics.

Resources:

Top 5 Twitter Analytics Tools

Conclusion

As a small business, you need to hold your marketing campaigns to the same standards enterprise sized businesses do and expect full return on the investments you make into them. Do not fully dive into the waters of social media if you are not prepared with goals and strategy. Results are what matter and using social sites effectively is the key, so plan for your success and know how you will measure that success against your expectations.

Mary McKnight serves as the Director of Internet Marketing for Fuel Records, an EMI Music Group Label and an outspoken blogger on music, social media, SEO and piracy. You can read more of her work on www.sacriliciousmarketing.com.

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Have you ever been frustrated with not being able to contact your web designer to fix an error on your website?

Have you needed to update a website or add HTML on a blog or in a newsletter in the non-working hours of your web design firm?

Have you been discarded by a web design firm after they “completed” your website and left not knowing how to make adjustments to your site?

At Arcimedia we see all of our clients as long term customers. Although we do have “working hours”, we want to give you to be able to tap into our knowledge even when we have went home for the day. So we use this blog as a resource for you to look to in your time of need. This will be our first post in our HTML series. To get you I am going to cover the basic  tags in HTML, and how to apply them to your website or blog.

Lets start with how to access your HTML to change it.

Wherever you are hosted you should have a login and password to your account. You should also be able to access a file manager with this login. Contact your hosting provider to find out how to access your file manager. You can also use an FTP client such as Filezilla ( FileZilla is free, there are others that you can pay for however, Filezilla has all the functionality you should ever need). Once you have access to your files, you can edit them in notepad or an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. An HTML editor is not necessary unless you plan on taking your knowledge above the basics. If you do we have Dreamweaver for sale in the Arcimedia Store.

Lets start talking tags

Each tag will be surrounded by greater than and less than tags, like so <html>. it is very  important that you do not delete either of these containing elements. In addition once you start a tag you must close it. Here is an example <body> this is the text in the body </body>. Notice the backslash in the closing tag, this must be in all closing tags.

Now I will Take you from the top to the bottom of a general webpage.

<html> This tag will exist in each and every HTML page. It lets the browser know what type of file it is dealing with.

<head> Any text inside this tag will not show up on your page. It is primarily used for your meta information (ie description and keywords) and formatting.

<meta> I will not go into too much detail on these except for the fact that they exist in your head tag and help the search engine robots get information about your site. It is worth noting that search engines have decreased the weight it gives the information in meta tags as it has been abused in the past.

<title> Consider this the big daddy of tags. Search engines weigh this tag heavily when determining what your site is about. The text in this tag shows up in the tabber of your browser.  It is a good idea to include keywords in this tag without going overboard.

Headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags. <h1> defines the largest heading. <h6> defines the smallest heading. The smaller the number on your heading tag the more weight it receives from search engines. You are only allowed one <h1> tag per page in regards to search engines giving them weight.

<body> This is where all your content lives whether its images or text.

Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.
HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after a paragraph.

<br> This tag allows you to proceed to the next line without skipping a space.

<img> This is an image tag and can not stand alone. It needs to refrence an image that is located somwhere on the internet either in your site or somewhere else. Here is an example of a “complete” <img> tag:

<img src=“portfolio/roboworld.jpg” alt=“THe Arcimedia home page header: A lightbulb robot standing behind a three dimensional map of world to represent Arcimedia as a global Web Development and Graphic Design Company.” name=“Arcimedia home page header” width=“243″ height=“150″ align=“absbottom” /></div>

Notice all the elements inside this tag
alt= This describes the image for SEO and screen reader purposes
name= This gives a name to the image
The width, height, and align elements format the picture to display on the page

This is only the beginning in the next post in this series we will cover divs, tables, links tags and some more formatting.

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