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Monday, September 12, 2011
The Three SEOs and the Fairy Godmother {hehe}
Three SEOs were plotting their strategies one evening late into the night when they all fell asleep. In their dreams they were visited by a sweet and beautiful fairy god-mother named Matticia. “You have all been so good, abiding by search engine guidelines, you may each have one wish,” Matticia said softly. The first SEO thought quickly and said, “I wish I had a magical link building pen. Every request I send out will get a link back.” Matticia waved her wand, sparkling stuff came flying out the end, and the first SEO felt a tingly sensation all up and down. A pen appeared in the first SEO’s hand. The second SEO said, “I wish I had a magical Mirror of Link Baitiness. I want my Web sites to be so beautiful people will always link to their natural beauty.” Matticia waved her wand again, and sparkly stuff went flying around the second SEO, who felt all tingly deep inside. A mirror appeared in the second SEO’s hand. In the morning, the three SEOs woke up all excited. The first SEO looked down and saw Matticia’s pen. “Look!” the first SEO said. “With this magic pen I’ll always be able to get whatever links I ask for!” The second SEO held up the mirror and said, “But I will never have to ask for links again. People will always link to the natural beauty of my Web sites.” They then looked at the third SEO, who glanced downward and shuffled his feet. “Well?” said the first SEO. “Yeah, what did you wish for?” the second SEO asked. “Nah, you wouldn’t want to know,” the third SEO told his friends. They insisted they wanted to know what Matticia did for him. “Really, you don’t want to know,” he replied. But the first two SEOs demanded to know what wish Matticia had granted to the third SEO. “Well,” he said slowly, “You both had such great ideas I figured I wouldn’t be able to out-optimize your sites. So I asked Matticia to 301-redirect all your sites to mine."
Sunday, September 11, 2011
5 Screen Presence Tips For Recording Home Made Videos
#1 Melbourne SEO Services Company
You’re not alone making home made videos!
It’s all well and good following tips for recording videos in a structured environment with professional equipment in professional hands, but many people reading this will be at home or at an office alone with their video-making!
So we thought we’d focus on a few tips for recording a polished and effective edge to your home made videos, concentrating specifically on your screen presence.
Everything Says Something
Everything in the video frame says something either about you or your business product or service. This means it’s ultra-important to think about what’s in the background, if you’re recording from your home or office rather than outside.
Of course some people just prefer a plain background created by a sheet of fabric, so that nothing distracts from the message; but you might like to add something that says something about you as a person, about your business or that attracts the eye of your customers – something you know they will like and appreciate; a simple example would be to include flowers or soft colours if you’re marketing more to females than males.
Look Them In The Eye!
Eyes are very important when you are recording your video. Make sure that you are confidently looking into the camera with steady eye-contact; that way it will appear that you are looking directly into your viewers’ eyes and this is one of the first rules of sales – make and maintain eye contact throughout the meeting.
This is as close as you’ll get to meeting many of your customers face to face, so make the most of it and avoid looking away repeatedly as this will only unnerve your viewer.
Treat The Camera Lens Like A Person
You don’t have to shake hands with the camera (!) but, in every other way, treat the camera as if it is a potential buyer that you are presenting to. It will depend on who your intended customer is, but knowing that and treating the camera as a potential customer will affect your dress, your tone and your content, as well as your body language. This will keep things more natural in your video than just talking to an inanimate lens.
Consider Where You Place The Notes
The last thing you want is your video to lose impact by making it obvious that you are reading a script or by your eyes being diverted by badly-placed notes.
If you must use notes keep them near the camera lens – directly behind or above it usually.
If you are keeping your videos short, then try to practice reading enough so you don’t need a script and can work off memory or just a few bullet points. Reading scripts can sound “wooden” much like bad acting – and this will detract from the main marketing message of your video, which you are trying to convey.
Take A Look In The Mirror
Many amateur video makers benefit from practicing first in front of a mirror. That way you can iron out anything that doesn’t look or sound right; then by the time you are ready to record you are no longer fretting whether this or that aspect is right. It will help you to build confidence.
Remember – there’s no rush to recording home made videos; use as many takes as you need!
These few tips on screen presence when making your internet marketing videos are expanded upon greatly in the Lights, Camera, Profits! workshop. Find out more about it here today.
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Friday, September 2, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Black Or Green Screen? What's the best choice?
#1 Melbourne SEO Services Company
Video background – Black or Green?
Once you have sorted out your camera, lighting, microphone and tripod, the last thing you need to get right before kicking off is the video background. This is important if you want to do effective video filming.
One option is to use a piece of fabric behind the presenter and the other is to use “green screens” and then edit later.
Here we weigh up both options for a video-maker just starting out.
In the Black Corner!
If you’re going to use a piece of fabric behind the presenter make sure it is clean, has some weight to it and hangs well, as video can pick up a drape that has creases or stains, or is too lightweight.
You want the viewer to be concentrating on you and what you’re saying rather than the backdrop, so keeping it simple is best; make sure that you don’t use your Scottish grandfather’s kilt!
Keep to a solid colour and the general consensus is that black works best – though some prefer to use white.
If you are using fabric be sure to wear clothes that contrast with the colour – so don’t choose a navy blue t-shirt if you have a black video background, for example.
In the Green Corner!
Green screens are a great tool for video makers, as they allow editing out of one image and replacing with another. Weather forecasters often use them and they are used a lot in movie-making.
But using green screens is complicated and they need to be lit separate to the subject. It’s all about the lighting and green screens must have consistent lighting from 2 sources minimum.
Afterwards the green colour can be edited out by chroma-keying in iMovie, but the problem is that unless it’s done extremely well it can look a little unprofessional or tacky, with green glows still visible around the edges.
Unless you have previous experience with green screens or are prepared to work at it to get it right then the best option is to go with the draped fabric as the background for your web videos.
It may seem a little picky to be concentrating on the background of your web video like we have done here, but we at Melbourne SEO services believe that if you do something, you need to do it the best you possibly can.
The Lights, Camera, Profits! workshop concentrates on doing all the different facets of web video production well, so that you start your video marketing strategy on the right foot from the beginning. Find out more about it by clicking here.
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The “Will It Blend?” Video Marketing Lessons {I love video}
#1 Melbourne SEO Services Company
Blend videos into your web marketing.
Is there anybody on the planet who hasn’t seen or heard of the “Will It Blend?” series of online videos?
Those of you left with any doubts about the effectiveness of online video marketing in general and, in particular in answering customer questions or objections, should see the light when they consider the “Will it Blend?” series.
It includes over 100 videos, many of which went “viral”, about whether a Blendtec machine could blend various objects ranging from rake handles to marbles to Justin Bieber dolls; these videos helped to answer the question in EMPHATIC fashion, showing how the blender managed it. The videos created a lasting impact and were much discussed and sent around the Internet.
Here are the top 4 things we can learn from the “Will it Blend?” story.
We Can Pre-empt Customer Questions And Objections
Customers always want to be sure that your product does what it says it does “on the label”. Blendtec blenders were marketed as ultra-powerful blenders so the customer has every right to say “prove it” or “how do I know it’s as powerful as you say?”
In the old days they could only have demonstrated this with pictures, text, testimonials and technical specs. Or they could have spent a fortune with TV advertising.
Online video enabled them to show the power of their machines in seconds and very cheaply and effectively, reaching a huge audience.
Video Is More Effective Than Images Or Text
If a picture can paint a thousand words how many pictures can a video paint?
For many online marketing purposes – answering questions, FAQs, promoting products, demonstrating how something works or introducing your company – online video is proven to be more effective than images or text as it brings a subject to life and creates the “human connection” between you and your customer.
We Can Make Our Videos Entertaining As Well As Informative
The success of the “Will it Blend?” campaign is partly because it is amusing. It’s showing something original and dynamic on camera in short sharp bursts that don’t require any brain-power for people.
They kept it interesting, to the point and entertaining.
Video Has An Enduring Impact
People still talk about “Will it Blend?” The name Blendtec is etched into people’s minds from the strength of their 100-plus video campaign. The effect from video is far more enduring and memorable than pages of text or even photographs.
Online businesses can learn by paying attention to other online success stories and any small business entering the world of video marketing can certainly learn a lot from the “Will it Blend?” story. Further tips can be found on this subject in the Lights, Camera, Profits! Workshop. Just click here to learn more about it.
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