Posted by:
David Dittman
June 2, 2007
Issue #141
In today’s issue:
- What podcasting really means…
- How podcasting is an Easy Affordable way to market your product…
- You can use the "community" of Internet shoppers to drive clients to your product…
- How you can "diversify" your media for maximum coverage…
- How to easily implement podcasting on your website on marketing campaign…
- Some clear and concise resources for learning the more technical side of podcasting…
What is a Podcast?
A few weeks ago I explained in depth what an RSS feed is and how to use it. This week I will take the next logical step to using syndication on your web site: podcasting.
Podcasting is really just a more specific form of syndication using RSS feeds specifically for audio and more recently video.
Typically when you think of RSS feeds, you tend to think text Blogs and text articles. Of course you can put media in an RSS feed but, the norm used to be, just stick a picture at the top of your article intro and then when the client clicks on the feed they can get the whole media experience of your website.
Well, podcasting takes this to the next level. Instead of a quick text blurb to get you interested, podcasting gives you rich media first.
It might be easiest to think of this in an example.
I decide that I would like to have a series of video computer lessons. I have a series of 5 one-hour long lessons that all build on each other.
Now, the product is the five hours of instruction. As a marketing teaser for my product I can also produce 5 five-minute movies that give you a taste of what the entire lesson will get you. So here is where podcasting comes into play.
Now I’m just a poor computer tech, so I don’t have the bankroll to fund a grand marketing campaign. So instead I decide that I can get the most bang for my buck by marketing online.
Now I take my 5, five-minute intros and I set up a five-part podcast series giving you online computer instruction in under 30 minutes!
Of course I’m banking on the fact many people will want the entire five-hour series after they get a taste of my product via my podcast.
The most common podcast is probably not video, but an mp3 audio series. I say probably because video has blown-up so much lately, that the ratio is shifting more to video than audio.
I’m going to talk about both video and audio but, let’s discuss them in the order that they made their mark as a technology.
And frankly, even though video is the latest greatest rage, audio makes a lot more sense for most people, due to the portability and low price of mp3 players these days.
Alright let’s talk podcasting.
In this case you can simply think of podcasting as a specific radio broadcast that in most cases can be saved so you can listen to it whenever you like.
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Posted by:
David Dittman
May 19, 2007
Issue #129
How to use social bookmarking
and other people’s archives
to drive your SEO rankings through the roof.
In today’s issue:
- What is social bookmarking and how can I use it?
- How other people’s websites can help your website…
- A step by step example of how to use our articles to help accomplish some SEO goals…
- And much, much more!
Happy Saturday! I’m glad you’re with us today!
In last week’s article I talked about SEO and showed a few examples of linking strategies that you could employ on your website. Today, I’d like to go more in depth about reciprocal links.
The idea is simple: I put a link to your website on my site and you put a link to my website on yours.
But, before I get into that I’d like to talk about another SEO helper: social bookmarking.
I do however, have a confession to make: I’m a relative newbie to social bookmarking.
I have always been a reader of social bookmarking sites, specifically Slashdot.org, but never a contributor until recently.
In truth I never really understood the purpose of them. So like most things I don’t understand I just ignored them and scoffed when someone else brought it up.
It turns out however, that I was being naïve and really shooting myself in the foot by not recognizing the power of these social bookmarking sites.
In practice, social bookmarking is a very useful tool. So what is it, you ask?
Well, we are about to dive in with both feet and see if we can make sense of it.
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Posted by:
David Dittman
May 5, 2007
Issue #117
A few quick and easy steps
to a stronger linking strategy on your website.
Hey it’s the weekend again, and more importantly it’s my turn to talk shop with you about your website. I mean Newtson (Clayton’s new “Golden Boy”) may be a good copywriter but let’s face it; he’s about as tech savvy as Andy Rooney.
But, you didn’t come here to talk about copywriters. So let’s strap our pocket protectors on and talk about SEO for a minute.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO, for those of you who may have been stuck in a spider hole for the past few years) has been all the talk for some time now – and with good reason. The practices you choose to implement on your website determine how easy or difficult the average client can find you when searching the world wide wasteland.
Today I can tell you the importance of SEO planning.
We’ll talk about:
- Why Without a Plan the Battle is Lost
- 3 Pieces to an External Linking Strategy
- How to Organize Your Internal Linking
- And Most Importantly Some Examples of How to do it!
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Posted by:
David Dittman
April 21, 2007
Issue #105
This Saturday I am going to attempt to unravel the mystery that is RSS but, first I'd like to take a second and acknowledge the tragedy that happened this week at Virginia Tech. Some of my fondest memories come from my college years at Virginia Tech and my heart goes out to all the people affected by the tragedy.
There has been a lot of buzz over the last several years about RSS feeds and what they can do for you as a business. The problem with buzz is it doesn’t actually tell you how to do anything.
But, don’t stress, that’s what I’m here for - to give you the breakdown and show you how to actually use this stuff.
In today’s issue you’ll discover:
- What an RSS feed is
- Several different versions of RSS feeds
- How you can use these various feeds to generate buzz and web traffic
- Exactly how to start using RSS feeds immediately
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Posted by:
David Dittman
April 7, 2007
Issue #93
Happy Saturday and welcome to the first edition of The Total Package’s newest newsletter, Working I.T. Out!
My name is David Dittman, and I’ve been working with Clayton sorting out his IT (Information Technology) issues, (Not a short list …) and now my goal is to provide you business owners with the same means to actually use the technology that drives today’s web business world.
Trust me if you’ve spent a year working with Clayton, you’re more than qualified to instruct the average business owner. It’s like asking a war time veteran if he’s qualified to patrol a Wal-Mart parking lot. I’ve suffered through Clayton’s questions, and lived to tell the story; you better believe I can hack it!
I’ll be showing up every other Saturday to show you what new technology is out there, how it can be used and, most importantly, provide you with the steps to start doing it.
We’ll sit down and sort out what a hype word is. (Also known as a word that copywriters/CEOs/CFOs and other big wigs say but don’t actually know what it means, that make all tech savvy people cringe and want to strangle them).
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