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pchaney says...
Nov 23, 2009

The Easiest Way to a First-Page Ranking on Google

So how can you optimize your online videos? The agencies and search engines I've talked to offer a number of different tips:

  • Insert keywords into your video filenames.
  • Host your videos on YouTube, and embed those YouTube videos into your own site. Google says its algorithms consider how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the 'views' tally on YouTube. (And yes, nearly every video we saw Google blend into its results came from YouTube.)
  • Optimize your YouTube videos by writing keywords into your videos' titles, descriptions, and tags.
  • Embed videos into relevant text pages on your site. The context provided by the text on those pages (which is hopefully already optimized for search as well) will help the search engines figure out what your videos are about.
  • Also create a video library on your site, so Google knows where to find your video content. (Google Video Sitemaps can help with this too.) Write keyword-rich annotations for each video in the library.
via blogs.forrester.com

Good pointers on how to optimize online video for search.

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Dave says...
Nov 09, 2009

Kickstart America Update

There has been a lot going on here getting videos creating and working on the technology backend to create a site where people living in camps can post their video resumes and traditional resumes so that when we launch the PR campaign people can be found.

We’ve decided to move the PR campaign closer to Christmas because we believe that there will be more attention then though likely more competition. There will also be more opportunities for temporary employment etc.

The teleseminars for small businesses by the helping 100 will begin right after the first of the year so that we can maximize the reach and so that those people can help as many small businesses create growth as possible.

Finally, we are putting out for bid our technology requirements for the technology we’ll be giving each camp. That technology will include a notebook computer, LCD projector, Screen, Camera, Speakers, Tripod etc., that will be required for onsite facilitators to deliver the training to the populations that they manage.


This is a project that was a lot bigger and more ambitious that I expected and I’m excited about that. It will take longer than I imagined to deliver everything, it will take more effort and funds than I imagined, but creating massive change isn’t easy. We’re up to the challenge. I appreciate all of your support.

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Steve says...
Nov 03, 2009

Three Ways to Thrive in the Age of Streams

The images above should strike fear in any one who seeks attention - be it a brand, a politician or an individual. They come from Nielsen. The first (87) is the number of domains the average American visits in a month. The second (2600) is the number of web pages the average American visits in a month. 

This funnel is small when you think about the infinite choices we have today - an era of information abundance. And given that human attention doesn't scale, I anticipate these stats will remain stable. So how do you break through? Here are three steps I am considering in my work as a communicator ...

1) Limiting all writing to 400 words or less - that's what Leo Baubata is doing and I think he's on to something. (You can do the same with email.)

2) Doing more with visuals - most of my PowerPoint decks don't have bullet points and I am doing more with mindmapping. (According to the book Brain Rules, if information is presented just verbally orally, people only remember about 10 percent. This jumps to 65 percent if you add a picture.)

3) Embracing a hub and spoke approach - it's difficult to expect anyone to come to you. This is why I like Posterous. I can start something here and engage with it everywhere via their auto-posting feature

Is your message being heard? And if so, how are you coping

Filed under: attention, attention crash, marketing, simplicity, trends
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Lou says...
Sep 10, 2009

Happy Follow Friday!

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tweetdeck says...
Sep 09, 2009

Introducing the TweetDeck Directory

The first question we all faced when we were new to Twitter was who to follow. For some of us it wasn’t such a hard decision as many of our friends and co-workers were already tweeting but for many figuring out who to follow isn’t so easy. And of course without interesting people to follow Twitter isn’t so useful.

At TweetDeck we want to make sure all of our users, new and old tweeps alike, have a great experience. That’s why we introduced the TweetDeck Recommends column to help you find new and interesting people to follow.  But we’re not satisfied yet, we want to do more, to give you a way to easily browse and find the best people to follow, whether you’re interested in trampolining or travel, potholing or politics. 

That’s why we’ve created the TweetDeck Directory to make it easier to find and follow your favourite subjects on Twitter.  Think of it as a TV Guide for Twitter channels.  Simply browse the directory by topic.  You’ll find everything from music to news and sports to travel.  When you find the perfect group for you simply click ‘Add to TweetDeck’ and the column will magically appear in your TweetDeck.

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Steve says...
Aug 22, 2009

Streams from the Road: Public vs. Private Personas

  
(download)

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Dave says...
Aug 05, 2009

Our First Tent City Success Story

While I was at the tent city in Pinellas County I met this wonderful man who was getting ready for an interview. He didn’t have his own nice clothes to wear so he borrowed some clothes from the clothes closet. They don’t have clothes that fit everyone perfectly so they make do. Virtually no one in the camp knew how to knot a tie, the final step in getting ready. I was able to help the gentleman with his tie and speak with him for a few moments and offer some encouragement.

While we spoke, the staff became increasingly concerned that he was going to be late for his appointment because the person who was supposed to take him wasn’t back yet. There were no cars for rent in Tampa when I got in so I took a car service which was waiting for me to the camp. While I was finishing my tour of the camp I asked the town car driver to drive this gentleman to his interview.

Did I mention that this man had been employed continuously for years. With Wise Potato Chips, Snapple and many other big companies. You can see his resume in the photos in the post below this one.

I left before I found out what happened but I got a call from Miss Sheila the woman who runs the city two days later and she said that he was confident and felt great that day and as a result, he got the job. He’ll be out of the tent city in less than six weeks. To the naysayers (and there have been a few) these are not people who are content to live in tents in sweltering 90 degree, humid Florida heat, they are people who because of a bad economy and loss of employment ended up here . . . and they are eager to get out.

Small businesses like the one that hired this man will be the savior of this economy and of so many people like this. Part two of Kickstart America is training small businesses so that they can grow and add new jobs. We’ve got a lot of work to do yet and are just getting started. But I wanted to see that even a little help can go a long way.

One of the things they are interested in doing is putting in a call center or something in some of the temporary buildings where they could employ some of these people right at the tent city. If you know anyone who is considering developing a basic call center, please let me know, I’d love to bring that resource here.

It is nice to see success stories like this. People just need a little help and encouragement sometimes to feel good and feel empowered. I’m not suggesting I had anything to do with him getting the job, he did that on his own, but it was nice to be able to help (with your assistance) wherever we could.

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