It’s taken a long time, loads of research, lots or reading and ALWAYS keeping up with new trends, but when it comes to social networking, your website, in fact your entire ONLINE presence – it’s ALL ABOUT THE CONTENT!
Through years of producing music and with YouTube gettting more prominent - I found I was getting more involved in video production on top of studio and live recording. And along the way - I HAD to learn the basic of web design and different editing tools (this way I know what to farm out and what I can do on my own - as in todays world the MORE you can do on your own the further you are ahead of the game!
As technology changes, the more you know about what you want from a WEBSITE as well the many things you MUST know such as back end coding etc, I have finally gotten my head around the BIG PICTURE and after OVER many long months of SOLID research, and YEARS of educating myself and learning how to do a variety of different things within multiple software applications that are necessary for the back bone of producing and BROADCASTING CONTENT via numerous platforms – I am for the most part still climbing up the learning curve as that will NEVER stop but at least now I can create the vast majority of my own content for many formats and most importantly know how to communicate with graphics designers or others that I work with. Hence, I know what’s important but being able to produce it all on your own takes a LOT of work and a LOT of time - so know your strenghts. But you CAN learn how to do it ALL on your own! Just be ready to work some LONG HOURS!
A simple way to start to really move toward large content (such as my book) learn to tweet on a theme, then blog at that them or do a newsletter via e-mail is 10 X if not MORE effective as MORE PEOPLE by far read e-mails vs. blogs. So having a way to BLOG and send it out as a newsletter via E-mail is CRITICAL! (As a side note – I doubt that most current audiences are that in to reading RSS FEEDS but they will read their E-mail!)
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/07/10/blogging-vs-email-is-blogging-dead/
However, a blog is still a great thing as it will allow MORE traffic, MORE exposure, increased SEO Rankings and of course Ad Sense (for products) as an EXTRA revenue stream! And with Word Press - you really don't even need to know how to build a website. But you MUST know how to manage your back end coding for tracking, analytics, JS, and CRM.
And you can now get hosting that allows for CS-4 or CS-5 for GREAT design and a sub-domain for your BLOG done in Word Press such that incorporate your BLOG as a newsletter to be sent via regular E-mail (and have people sign up for your newsletter/blog from your website using FEEDBURNER sign up forms or from your BLOG itself) and you can use FEEDBURNER for FREE to power your newsletter via a plethora of mail apps – just don’t SPAM people and OUTLOOK is so outdated.
BUT nobody is going to be interested in your blog – UNLESS it is interesting to THEM and that goes double for your TWEETS – but you can TWEET your BLOG via a LINK to every blog you write e.g. “My Company offers A, B and C; read more info on www.systemtest.blogspot.com “ but if you are business trying to sell more product or services you have to create incentive for people to want to be your friend or sign up for your social networks.
The main thing is that you’ll have to be DILIGENT and constantly cranking out CONTENT for everything you do…the MORE CONTENT the MORE TRAFFIC which equals MORE SALES of SERVICES or PRODUCTS! For you – it should be EASY!
After much reading, reflection and thought, I’m almost CERTAIN now that WORD PRESS is the best option to go with for a BLOG as there’s just way too many new FREE apps and plug-ins that you can take advantage of and once it’s set up it should work GREAT! CS-4 or 5 will allow for much better graphics but you have to PAY a web designer to keep you updated while if you use WORD PRESS which has CRM and other tools that make it much simpler for the business to keep their site and blog updated.
IN THE END I truly believe that having a GREAT LOOKING WEBSITE with vital and critical CONTENT is the number one KEY TO IT ALL!! And that is the ROOT of your social marketing TREE – everything branches out (via links) from there! (Were I only to have the time to invest in my Graphics programs when I’m so busy with A/V - but I'll get there of Farm it out to the EASTERN BLOCK or RUSSIA - great coders, graphics artists and your dollar goes 5 times farther!)
FaceBook Fan Pages, YouTube, and Twitter (plus newsletter/blog) are going to be the MAIN TOOLS and CRUCIAL in this game as you can post video content to YouTube – in turn TWEET that and SHARE to FACEBOOK – you can TWEET about anything or post pics on FB and link them and these TWEETS will go ANYWHERE You want. In fact, your tweets can be shared everywhere including on LINKED IN. But most important of all you can post pictures, and all sorts of content on your FACEBOOK FAN Page, have UNLIMITED FANS (no cap of 5000 for your personal page) and whatever you post to FACEBOOK can be SHARED to anything you want as well….so a FACEBOOK FAN PAGE is critical if used correctly! http://www.techforluddites.com/2009/03/read-send-and-share-tweets-on-facebook.html
However, in the end – it’s about the CONTENT – building this entire infrastructure means NOTHING if you don’t add viable content and OFTEN. And again, that should become second nature and just as much a part of running your business as opening the door when you get to work or locking up at the end of the night!
I’d suggest this – a weekly (or more often blog/newletter) to start unless you can really discipline yourself – as does Krupnic for an almost daily newsletter. Also keep in mind that you don’t always have to WRITE THE NEWSLETTER CONTENT– you can let comments, posts, and responses to your blog/newsletter BE the CONTENT! Just copy/paste them into your blog and resend! And maybe add a comment or two…
I can’t stress the important of posting a YouTube Video at least once a week if possible – but for sure bi-weekly would get you some great content in a year! More would be better – if even 1 minute clips done with a Hi-DEF WEB CAM and posted to YouTube immediately and then click on SHARE to go to FB, Twitter, etc…But I’d also put on ONE REALLY GOOD and INFORMATIVE VIDEO per month that’s a LOT longer than the rest – much more info and MORE TO VIEW! But you’re way better off than I as you can literally create YouTube content in a quick video chat that you record at EOD or possibly just some VIDEO FOOTAGE or places you are..
Once all of that is IN PLACE – it’s just a matter of keeping up with it, making it part of your daily/weekly routine and staying with it - and then sit back and watch your network of people GROW and GROW as your CONTENT GROWS AND GROWS and with Analytics – you can track who is reading what – viewing what, when and from where….you can also use this incredible amount of back end data crunching to know if you need to make changes to certain pages of your website – based upon how long people stay on it – click through or BOUNCE! In short, you can TRACK ALL OF THIS!!!!! It’s amazing!
But I’ll say it again – you will only get out of it what you put into it!
For me it’s not that easy- I write songs, do intricate videos, write books, etc – if I write a song- I have to record, mix, master BEFORE I even think about putting it out as a video…as for my Videos – I don’t travel nearly as muh as I used to and am usually too busy for shooting vid’s when I’m gone. But I’d love to get more interesting footage! As for my book(s) – I could take pieces of it – and post all day long and soon will be doing so – putting out parts of my books, adding parts to the second edition and putting it all up there – and then having E-Books and Print on Demand for that that prefer a hard copy – including offering PERSONALLY signed and dedicated books for the extra cost of shipping and a little time to sign and get that order back out to the customer quickly!
I guess most people don’t think in terms of a BLOG that could eventually turn into a BOOK! But one should as you could use your daily or weekly content and compile all of that info/content into a book – just copy/paste, and then put all that into a 100 ore more page book if you stay on a theme – which is a good idea for your newsletters/Blogs and SELL IT – then write another via your newsletters…again, if you stay on a THEME! I've read about poeple that have allegedly been learning a subject for almost 10 years, and yet they have not written even a TWEET about that information, much less a blog - forget about a book! But unless you take your knowledge and put it in writing will it ever help anyone esle much less make MONEY!
Remember my book is 656 pages, not too many people can stick with reading enough to finish it – much less finding a writer tenacious enough to be THAT thorough….who will WRITE a TRUE REFERENCE BOOK! But one this is for sure – if you want to write a book – start with a blog! And then when it comes to your particular business – remember you must generate content and create it OFTEN and then Market the heck out it – as you can’t just build it and expect people to come!
SM @ MSO -
Through years of producing music and with YouTube gettting more prominent - I found I was getting more involved in video production on top of studio and live recording. And along the way - I HAD to learn the basic of web design and different editing tools (this way I know what to farm out and what I can do on my own - as in todays world the MORE you can do on your own the further you are ahead of the game!
As technology changes, the more you know about what you want from a WEBSITE as well the many things you MUST know such as back end coding etc, I have finally gotten my head around the BIG PICTURE and after OVER many long months of SOLID research, and YEARS of educating myself and learning how to do a variety of different things within multiple software applications that are necessary for the back bone of producing and BROADCASTING CONTENT via numerous platforms – I am for the most part still climbing up the learning curve as that will NEVER stop but at least now I can create the vast majority of my own content for many formats and most importantly know how to communicate with graphics designers or others that I work with. Hence, I know what’s important but being able to produce it all on your own takes a LOT of work and a LOT of time - so know your strenghts. But you CAN learn how to do it ALL on your own! Just be ready to work some LONG HOURS!
A simple way to start to really move toward large content (such as my book) learn to tweet on a theme, then blog at that them or do a newsletter via e-mail is 10 X if not MORE effective as MORE PEOPLE by far read e-mails vs. blogs. So having a way to BLOG and send it out as a newsletter via E-mail is CRITICAL! (As a side note – I doubt that most current audiences are that in to reading RSS FEEDS but they will read their E-mail!)
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/07/10/blogging-vs-email-is-blogging-dead/
However, a blog is still a great thing as it will allow MORE traffic, MORE exposure, increased SEO Rankings and of course Ad Sense (for products) as an EXTRA revenue stream! And with Word Press - you really don't even need to know how to build a website. But you MUST know how to manage your back end coding for tracking, analytics, JS, and CRM.
And you can now get hosting that allows for CS-4 or CS-5 for GREAT design and a sub-domain for your BLOG done in Word Press such that incorporate your BLOG as a newsletter to be sent via regular E-mail (and have people sign up for your newsletter/blog from your website using FEEDBURNER sign up forms or from your BLOG itself) and you can use FEEDBURNER for FREE to power your newsletter via a plethora of mail apps – just don’t SPAM people and OUTLOOK is so outdated.
BUT nobody is going to be interested in your blog – UNLESS it is interesting to THEM and that goes double for your TWEETS – but you can TWEET your BLOG via a LINK to every blog you write e.g. “My Company offers A, B and C; read more info on www.systemtest.blogspot.com “ but if you are business trying to sell more product or services you have to create incentive for people to want to be your friend or sign up for your social networks.
The main thing is that you’ll have to be DILIGENT and constantly cranking out CONTENT for everything you do…the MORE CONTENT the MORE TRAFFIC which equals MORE SALES of SERVICES or PRODUCTS! For you – it should be EASY!
After much reading, reflection and thought, I’m almost CERTAIN now that WORD PRESS is the best option to go with for a BLOG as there’s just way too many new FREE apps and plug-ins that you can take advantage of and once it’s set up it should work GREAT! CS-4 or 5 will allow for much better graphics but you have to PAY a web designer to keep you updated while if you use WORD PRESS which has CRM and other tools that make it much simpler for the business to keep their site and blog updated.
IN THE END I truly believe that having a GREAT LOOKING WEBSITE with vital and critical CONTENT is the number one KEY TO IT ALL!! And that is the ROOT of your social marketing TREE – everything branches out (via links) from there! (Were I only to have the time to invest in my Graphics programs when I’m so busy with A/V - but I'll get there of Farm it out to the EASTERN BLOCK or RUSSIA - great coders, graphics artists and your dollar goes 5 times farther!)
FaceBook Fan Pages, YouTube, and Twitter (plus newsletter/blog) are going to be the MAIN TOOLS and CRUCIAL in this game as you can post video content to YouTube – in turn TWEET that and SHARE to FACEBOOK – you can TWEET about anything or post pics on FB and link them and these TWEETS will go ANYWHERE You want. In fact, your tweets can be shared everywhere including on LINKED IN. But most important of all you can post pictures, and all sorts of content on your FACEBOOK FAN Page, have UNLIMITED FANS (no cap of 5000 for your personal page) and whatever you post to FACEBOOK can be SHARED to anything you want as well….so a FACEBOOK FAN PAGE is critical if used correctly! http://www.techforluddites.com/2009/03/read-send-and-share-tweets-on-facebook.html
However, in the end – it’s about the CONTENT – building this entire infrastructure means NOTHING if you don’t add viable content and OFTEN. And again, that should become second nature and just as much a part of running your business as opening the door when you get to work or locking up at the end of the night!
I’d suggest this – a weekly (or more often blog/newletter) to start unless you can really discipline yourself – as does Krupnic for an almost daily newsletter. Also keep in mind that you don’t always have to WRITE THE NEWSLETTER CONTENT– you can let comments, posts, and responses to your blog/newsletter BE the CONTENT! Just copy/paste them into your blog and resend! And maybe add a comment or two…
I can’t stress the important of posting a YouTube Video at least once a week if possible – but for sure bi-weekly would get you some great content in a year! More would be better – if even 1 minute clips done with a Hi-DEF WEB CAM and posted to YouTube immediately and then click on SHARE to go to FB, Twitter, etc…But I’d also put on ONE REALLY GOOD and INFORMATIVE VIDEO per month that’s a LOT longer than the rest – much more info and MORE TO VIEW! But you’re way better off than I as you can literally create YouTube content in a quick video chat that you record at EOD or possibly just some VIDEO FOOTAGE or places you are..
Once all of that is IN PLACE – it’s just a matter of keeping up with it, making it part of your daily/weekly routine and staying with it - and then sit back and watch your network of people GROW and GROW as your CONTENT GROWS AND GROWS and with Analytics – you can track who is reading what – viewing what, when and from where….you can also use this incredible amount of back end data crunching to know if you need to make changes to certain pages of your website – based upon how long people stay on it – click through or BOUNCE! In short, you can TRACK ALL OF THIS!!!!! It’s amazing!
But I’ll say it again – you will only get out of it what you put into it!
For me it’s not that easy- I write songs, do intricate videos, write books, etc – if I write a song- I have to record, mix, master BEFORE I even think about putting it out as a video…as for my Videos – I don’t travel nearly as muh as I used to and am usually too busy for shooting vid’s when I’m gone. But I’d love to get more interesting footage! As for my book(s) – I could take pieces of it – and post all day long and soon will be doing so – putting out parts of my books, adding parts to the second edition and putting it all up there – and then having E-Books and Print on Demand for that that prefer a hard copy – including offering PERSONALLY signed and dedicated books for the extra cost of shipping and a little time to sign and get that order back out to the customer quickly!
I guess most people don’t think in terms of a BLOG that could eventually turn into a BOOK! But one should as you could use your daily or weekly content and compile all of that info/content into a book – just copy/paste, and then put all that into a 100 ore more page book if you stay on a theme – which is a good idea for your newsletters/Blogs and SELL IT – then write another via your newsletters…again, if you stay on a THEME! I've read about poeple that have allegedly been learning a subject for almost 10 years, and yet they have not written even a TWEET about that information, much less a blog - forget about a book! But unless you take your knowledge and put it in writing will it ever help anyone esle much less make MONEY!
Remember my book is 656 pages, not too many people can stick with reading enough to finish it – much less finding a writer tenacious enough to be THAT thorough….who will WRITE a TRUE REFERENCE BOOK! But one this is for sure – if you want to write a book – start with a blog! And then when it comes to your particular business – remember you must generate content and create it OFTEN and then Market the heck out it – as you can’t just build it and expect people to come!
SM @ MSO -
