Steinar Knutsen » technology

My fist QR Code – scan this into your phone

Steinar — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:25:10 +0000

If you’re not familiar with QR codes, they are an increasingly popular method of sharing information similar to a bar code. Users with a smartphone can focus their camera on this code and the QR code software will save the information behind the code on their phone.

In this case, it’s my URL, but it could be your contact info or any number of attributes.

Looking for a QR scanning app for your phone? Here are some sources I found:

I’m already starting to see QR codes on packaging and websites. What do you think? Are QR codes here to stay?

… Sent from my iPhone

Record and publish online video with no additional hardware or software with screenr.com

Steinar — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:17:44 +0000

Sharing video content online is something we would all like to do and screenr.com makes it easy. It’s basically a free web app for simple screen casting. It’s great if you want to narrate a powerpoint presentation or share something you’ve found online via video.

Details: Up to 5 minutes, audio recording, download finished video, save or export to YouTube, embed link and custom URL’s for linking. Plus, it’s integrated with Twitter so it’s easy to share with your friends.

Check it out at screenr.com.

Share iPad links on Twitter and Facebook with Ping.fm bookmark in Safari browser

Steinar — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:19:21 +0000

Here’s an easy technique to share iPad Safari browser links on Twitter and Facebook with a Ping.fm bookmark.

One of the most popular tasks in twitter is sharing links with your followers. On a laptop or standard computer this is fairly simple since you can just cut and paste from the browser into your favorite Twitter client, such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite.

You can do the same on the iPad but Ping.fm makes the process significantly easier by adding a Ping This bookmark in your iPad Safari bookmarks. I use MobileMe , so the Ping This bookmark is already there from my iMac and Macbook Pro.

What do you think? Easy right?

Audio and Video: How to podcast from your iPad and publish on WordPress with AudioBoo App

Steinar — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:53:20 +0000

The iPad serves many purposes, but for me it’s about marketing and finding new and different ways to leverage mobile technology to grow my business and engage my market online. New media has been especially interesting and I’ve confirmed the iPad is great for recording audio to create podcast episodes which can translate into new WordPress blog posts.

Listen or Download

I’ve written previous posts on how to post audio directly to WordPress from iPhone, so I won’t repeat everything here.

I love using my iPhone to podcast with AudioBoo and now I can do the same with my iPad. It’s a a great free app from the Apple iTunes store that allows you to record up to 5 minutes of audio, share on Twitter and tag for use in other platforms.

Personally, I use the AudioBoo RSS feed and WP-O-Matic WordPress plugin to automatically import my audio episodes into WordPress as individual posts. It’s great when you want to get content out on the fly and don’t necessarily have time to write a post or record a video.

What do you think? Have you tried AudioBoo? Does it seem like a good fit for your audience?

What

Improve Productivity with the iPad – More Focus, Less Multi-Tasking

Steinar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:33:08 +0000

With the upcoming iPad release, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how exactly I could use the new device in my daily routine. I already have an iMac, MacBook Pro and iPhone, so the questions for me as a business owner is will the iPad help improve productivity?

Many have criticized the iPad for its lack of Adobe Flash and inability to run multiple application simultaneously, unlike Windows or Mac OSX which allow you to multi-task and easily share your desktop among several apps at once.

I actually see the single app iPad limitation as an advantageous feature to help me focus on a single task and ultimately help drive productivity in some situations. Of course, there are exceptions, but with the right iPad apps, I believe this will be a good thing.

“When people try to perform two or more related tasks either at the same time or alternating rapidly between them, errors go way up, and it takes far longer — often double the time or more — to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially.” — David E. Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan

via 4 Steps for Managing Social Media Attention.

A good example is writing blog posts. Many times, we spend a disproportionate amount of time researching a new entry rather than actually writing. It’s not that the inspiration is difficult to find, it’s that we easily get distracted during our research by tangential subtopics, comments, and related posts from source material … I’m sure you can all relate.

On the iPad, however, I’ll be forced to stick to one app to write my post – at least the initial draft. Without the distraction of Twitter, email, and the web looming off to the side, I can spend some serious quality time focusing on my writing.

And yes, I have a few wireless Mac keyboards handy, so the physical typing part will be easy and familiar.

Of course, this sounds good in theory, but I won’t really know until I have the iPad in my hands.

What do you think? Will the iPad improve productivity? Is the lack of multi-tasking across apps a limitation or feature?

Create Video Content to Engage Your Readers Online

Steinar — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:23:18 +0000

Creating videos to engage your readers is a great tactic you should consider if you manage a blog or would like to take your online communications strategy to the next level.

Publishing online video has vastly improved over the years and for a minimal investment you can easily shoot, upload and share video on the fly. The two biggest barriers I most often see are 1) fear of criticism and 2) assumption that video takes a long time to produce.

I’ll admit, shooting video takes some nerve. My advice is to practice. If you need to, shoot a video everyday for 30 days and then start publishing. This will give you the chance to become familiar with the tools and find your voice or individual level of comfort.

In terms of time required – true video can take longer than simply typing out a new blog post. However, that doesn’t need to be the case if you’re willing to sacrifice perfection for efficiency. You can easily shoot and post video right within Youtube or use a tool such as Seesmic.

So, what’s your experience been shooting video and what’s the reaction you’re getting from others?

Part IV – How to Podcast from Your Mac (iWeb and iTunes)

Steinar — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:39:36 +0000

In our last episode of How to Podcast from Your Mac with Skype I discussed how to record Skype conversations for your podcast and today I’ll show you how to publish your podcast using iWeb so that it is available on iTunes. This episode assumes you have a MobileMe account, but you can still achieve the same results with your own domain.

Basic Steps to publish your podcast from Your Mac using iWeb include:

Create your audio in Garageband and either Share with iWeb or save to a file
Open a new Site in iWeb, choose a theme, and choose the Podcast template
Change the name of your Site, Page, and entry to include the title of your podcast and any keywords to reflect your subject
Update the podcast page title, description, and image. This is information captured in the iTunes store for your podcast name and cover art
Update the podcast episode entry title, description and image
Import the audio and image for the episode (this is automatically done is you started in Garageband Share with iWeb)
Open Inspector>RSS>Podcast and update the podcast series and episode author, email, parental advisory, and Publish to iTunes Store settings
Update your site publishing settings to MobileMe (or other destination depending on your preference)
Publish the entire site
Choose File>Submit Podcast to iTunes, check settings and select Publish and Submit.
To add an additional episode, create your audio in Garageband and Share with iWeb to automatically create a new entry on your site.

At this point you will get a confirmation email from Apple that your podcast submission request is being reviewed. Within 24-48 you will get notification that it has been accepted or denied. If accepted, Apple will provide a link to your podcast on the iTunes store, which you can begin to share immediately on your website, email, Facebook, etc. Your podcast will begin to show up in search results on iTunes within another 24 hours.

Congratulations! You now have a podcast on iTunes that people can subscribe to and enjoy for free!

Just getting started with podcast on your Mac? Check out previous episodes:

What do you think? Does this process make sense and is this an easy approach to podcast from your Mac with iWeb? Let me know how it goes!

Part III – How to Podcast from Your Mac (Recording Skype Conversations and Interviews)

Steinar — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:56:04 +0000

As I reviewed in Part II – How to Podcast from Your Mac, using Garageband to record a simple podcast is pretty straightforward. I hope you got a chance to try out the process I outlined in that video and found it rather easy to get started.

For most new podcasters, the challenge is finding a certain level of comfort in front of the microphone. It is a funny thing, considering we have no problem talking throughout the day, either in person or on the phone.

A great technique that many podcasters find appealing for their listeners is to record a conversation or an interview over the phone. Traditionally this would require a phone tap of sorts or a paid recording conference service.

Today it’s much easier with Skype. I f you’ve never tried Skype it’s basically an online phone service that let two people talk over the Internet anywhere in the world for free. You can also purchase blocks of minutes and call people on their land line from your computer.

WARNING: it is against the law to record a phone conversation without mutual consent. You must disclose the fact that you are recording the conversation and get verbal agreement from all parties that this is acceptable before you proceed with the recording.

The beauty for podcasters is that you can record Skype calls and the quality is generally very good. It’s a common practice that leading podcasters use and a technique I use on my Entrepreneur Weekly podcast.

Install Skype and Recording Plugin

Visit Skype.com and download the free application
Sign up for Skype Out if you plan to call people who do not have Skype. I highly recommend this even as a backup security measure should they have trouble connecting with Skype. Calls are only $.02-$.03 per minutes.
Download ECamm Call Recorder – this plugin let’s you record calls and split the tracks for editing in Garageband.
Get a good headset. Skype has a number of models they recommend. You can also use a mic like the Samson CO1U (aff) and a separate set of headphones. In either case I recommend the mic inputs are USB rather than using the mic input jack. Check out Part I – How to Podcast from Your Mac (Equipment and Software) for more tips on this.

When you first install Skype, you have the option to make a few free test calls. I also recommend you find a friend to also install Skype and familiarize yourself with how Skype works before you start doing any recording. Of course, I just dove right in and learned the hard way, though I must say Skype is simple to use.

Skype Recording Preferences - Click to Enlarge

Once you install Call Recorder, you have the option to modify its setting from within Skype, but you will be fine with the default settings. Personally, I set the recorder to record by default so as not to miss something by accident.

Once you’re ready to record, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Minimize any background noise. Turn off the ringer on your phone and any other machines that make white noise (fans, printers, etc). Close the door and put a sign outside if necessary – you don’t want someone barging in and ruining your great recording.
Click the red record button on Call Recorder when you are ready and let the conversation begin.
You might want to start off with an introduction of yourself and anyone else on the line.
Keep it conversational and do not read from a script. You may find a list of leading questions helpful, but try to talk as if you were have a regular discussion.
Speak clearly and ask open ended questions – those that require more than just a simple yes or no response. This will help keep the discussion going.
At the end of the call, ask your guest how people can find them (website, contact info, etc)
Thank your guest and finish the call.

At this point Call Recorder will stop and save the recording to the default folder. You can change this folder in Preferences.

After the recording is complete you have a few options:

Save the recording as is.
Open in QuickTime Pro and split the tracks. Save both tracks and import into Garageband, so you can tweak individual tracks
Open the recording in Garageband and edit or add some intro music and other elements.

In my upcoming posts, I will review how to send this new podcast episode to iWeb or WordPress, among other details for making your podcast public.

What do you think? Have you tried recording calls with Skype for your podcast? How is that going?

The Future of the URL Shortener and All Those Links We Are Creating

Steinar — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:02:04 +0000

Everyone is getting into the URL shortening game these days. Google, YouTube, and Facebook are just a few joining the likes of the established players such as Bit.ly. And now Microsoft is jumping in. But there’s something weird about their URL.

via Fa.il: Bing’s URL Shortener Is Longer Than Bing’s Own Domain.

Seems like every link you see these days has been shortened by one of the popular URL shorteners, such as bit.ly or tinyurl. These services are great, especially when using a social network like Twitter where messages are limited to 140 characters.

It was inevitable that Microsoft would get in on the game, but it raises an important question. What happens to all those links when one of these URL shortener services goes under?

I see a couple major implications:

all your links old become broken
any search engine optimization benefit you enjoyed would now vanish

If you are a casual user of the Internet and social media, this is probably no big deal. But companies or individuals investing in the business of driving traffic online should beware. The rapid proliferation of URL shorteners should be a clue that ultimately some will not survive.

And then what?

Do you use URL shorteners? Have you considered the potential risks of handing control of your links over to a 3rd party?

Mobile Phones Will Serve as the Online Content Consumption Platform of Choice by 2013

Steinar — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:11:37 +0000

More evidence today from Gartner that mobile phones will serve as the online content consumption platform of choice by 2013. Is your company preparing for the shift? It’s happening now, so get on-board.

By 2013, mobile phones could easily surpass PCs as the way most people hop onto the Web. Gartner’s statistics show that the total number of PCs will reach 1.78 billion in three years, while the number of smartphones and Web-enabled phones will shoot past 1.82 billion units and continue to climb after that. This trend will force more Web sites to revamp their pages to make them easier to surf on a mobile gadget.

via Smartphones to dominate PCs in Gartner forecast | Business Tech – CNET News.

Consider the following tactics to make your site mobile friendly:

Create a mobile version of your website or if you’re using WordPress, install a mobile theme such as WP-Touch.
Use mobile friendly video, not flash. YouTube is a great choice and now supports high-definition. Some services, such as Vimeo, don’t play nice on many devices, including the iPhone.
Understand the bandwidth and screen size limitations (and opportunities) of mobile devices. Large images, files and other on-page elements create a barrier for users.
Consider more new media – audio and video – instead of just text. Text is difficult to read in some cases if not properly formatted, whereas optimized audio and video can potentially get your message across faster and with greater impact.
Use a website statistics analysis tool, such as Google Analytics to track visitor devices and navigation. You can learn a great deal about their behavior and tweak your content appropriately.

What are your plans to meet the needs of mobile users? What’s working for you?

How to post audio directly to WordPress from iPhone

Steinar — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:09:55 +0000

Posting audio directly to WordPress from my iPhone has been a project of mine for a few weeks and I have a very good solution now that you might try.

Audio is a great format to communicate with your readers for several reasons:

audio blog posts are much faster to produce
audio blog posts do not require extensive editing
you can easily set up a separate RSS feed for audio posts and let readers subscribe via iTunes (see my sidebar)
audio blog posts can be created while driving – much like talking on the phone
audio blog posts are great for interviewing people
audio blog posts are a great way to differentiate your blog and add variety

My solution satisfies the following criteria:

post audio to WordPress from my iPhone without logging into WordPress
blog posts must contain a flash audio player that is user friendly for desktop users
blog posts must contain a direct link to the raw mp3 file so that audio is mobile friendly
audio posts must publish automatically without any further editing or logging into WordPress
Any social networking notifications stem from my blog and direct users to my site, not some 3rd party site.

Installation and Setup

Here are the steps to post audio directly to WordPress from your iPhone:

Install the AudioBoo app on your iPhone
Install WP-o-Matic plugin on your WordPress blog
Install Podcasting plugin on your WordPress blog

AudioBoo

No custom settings are required. Just set up an account, go to My Boos, and copy the RSS feed address from the Address Bar.

WP-o-Matic

Set up a new Campaign
In the Basic tab, give your campaign a name, activate it, and provide a slug. I use “audio.”
In the Feed tab insert the RSS feed address from AudioBoo
In the Categories tab, indicate your preferred category. I use “podcast.”
Leave Rewrite tab blank
In the Option tab create a custom post template with the code below.

- Set Frequency at no less than 1 per hour to determine when new feeds should be checked.
- Select Published when you’re ready to go live. Choose Private or Draft while testing.
- For Max Items, I select one(1) since I do not want more than one audio post per day. You could do more if you like.
In the Tools tab, do nothing.

Podcasting Plugin

The only option I recommend you modify is the Player Width under Audio Player Options so that it fits horizontally within your post appropriately. I use 480px on my site for example.

How to Use

Open the AudioBoo app on your iPhone
Record your audio, give it a title, and publish
Your MP3 will now appear as a new post, based on the frequency you selected in WP-o-Matic Options.
After post has published you may add text to the post. If you want the ability to add text prior to publishing, change the WP-o-Matic Options back to “Draft,” but this defeats the purpose for me – the ability to publish audio to my blog without logging into WordPress at all.

What do you think? Does this work for you? There are other solutions – what are you using?

Optimize your WordPress Blog for SEO and User Experience – Joost de Valk (Video)

Steinar — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:37:56 +0000

Another great video from Joost de Valk “Yoast”, including some useful advice on strategies to optimize your WordPress blog for SEO and user experience.

In particular, Yoast shares some very helpful hints for Analytics, Automation, RSS, Commenting and Plugins. Hope you enjoy.

What tips do you have to share to optimize your WordPress blog for SEO and user experience?

How to start a podcast quickly, easily and without spending a fortune

Steinar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:49:12 +0000

Listen or Download

Starting a podcast is easier than ever these days. You can use some of the free tools that come with virtually every computer these days or make a few modest purchases to improve the quality of your podcast. I recommend you focus on content creation before buying a bunch of unnecessary equipment.

Here’s are some of the basic elements to consider when launching a podcast for the first time:

What is a podcast? There’s some argument over where the term came from and who produced the first podcast, but i use the definition: audio & video “portable on demand”. Essentially, this includes new media content that’s available for consumption in iTunes (or another leading podcast hub), directly on your website, or via a mobile device, such as the iPhone.

What microphone should I use for my podcast? Since a podcast obviously involves audio communication, I recommend you use the best quality microphone you can afford or one that at least offers a level of quality your listeners will find acceptable. I’ve done podcast episodes using my Mac internal mic and my iphone, but when I’m in the office I use the Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic.(aff)

Where should I deliver my podcast? Any website or blog can have its own podcast. By definition, a podcast doesn’t need to be on iTunes so don’t let that misconception stop you from publishing audio content. For example, sign up with AudioBoo and record a show – then paste the html or script into a blog post or a web page. This is an example of a very simple approach. You could also set up a WordPress blog, install one of many podcast plugings, and upload audio files from your computer. I prefer to use the Podcasting plugin, but there are several other WordPress plugins available.

What should I say on my podcast? All of us have something to say; however, podcasting is not for everyone. My suggestion is that you find a subject you are passionate about and make a list of potential topics you could discuss. What are the top 5 questions people ask you about your topic? What are the top 5 questions they should be asking? There’s content for 10 episodes right there.

Should I do all the talking on my podcast? Some podcasts are run by a single person who does all the talking, while others are two or more people engaged in a conversation. Some are discussion style, while others are more of an interview. It really depends on your subject, what you have to share personally and who else you know that can help liven up the discussion. Ask your listeners what’s working for them and change as needed.

Is there a show format I should follow? I recommend you establish a consistent format or ageneda for your podcast episodes or shows. The reason is that a consistent format puts the listeners at ease and builds a certain level of expectation over time. For example: 1)intro music 2) introduction 3) topic one 4) topic two 5) pick of the week 6) closing remarks with call to action and 7)closing music. That’s just an example — the possibilities are unlimited.

What file format should I use for my podcast? MP3 is the most widely accepted audio file format, but most podcasting hosts will accept a variety of file formats.

How do I get my podcast on iTunes and how much does it cost? Podcast distribution on iTunes is free. Just be sure you’re using the correct RSS format. To learn more open iTunes and go to Store>Podcasts>Submit a Podcast. You may also have readers subscribe to you podcast through iTunes without actually publishing to iTunes. Of course, this does not make your podcast available to the general public but is a convenience.

Are you thinking of starting a podcast? What’s holding you back? Is there something I can help clarify to get you started?

Charlottesville – Great Example of How Local Businesses Use Social Media

Steinar — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:38:14 +0000

I read this recent blog post from John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing and immediately thought of the strong connections that local Charlottesville businesses have made through the use of social media.

Some evidence:

cross-promotions and partnerships between businesses that would not otherwise cross paths
instant referrals for business services online vs. the yellow pages
Twitter and Facebook images on the local news – nearly real-time
monthly tweetups where local folks connect offline
social media club meetings
and more … (what did I miss?)

Using social media to grow your local business is one of the most powerful marketing tactics going right now. Think about it, you’ve already established a level of trust in a community and now you can use technology to help build deeper engagement and deeper relationships with the folks that you already do business with.

via How Local Businesses Use Social Media | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.

What do you think? Is social media an effective marketing tactic for local business growth?

Now broadcasting live from Ustream (Audio)

Steinar — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:22:08 +0000

Listen or Download

In this audio post I discuss Ustream.tv and the new opportunities available to reach your market in a new and exciting way through video.

Ustream has been around for years but many businesses have yet to grasp the potential. Basically, Ustream offers the ability to broadcast live video over the Internet in a controlled, yet open platform. Viewers may interact through a closed chat feature or through the new built-in Twitter feed. Live broadcasts may be recorded and saved for future playback.

Obviously, the implications of this are huge in terms of market reach and differentiation for your business. Consumers are ready for this new media and comfortable consuming content in this manner – think of it as a real-time version of YouTube. Of course, if you’re not comfortable creating video in the first place, this may be quite a leap in terms of confidence and risk. The key is to get started today and practice. It will get easier – trust me.

I’ll leave with the final thought. Video creates a personal touch with your market. If any of you have ever “finally met someone in real-life” after chatting with them on Twitter, then you can appreciate this. People want to see, talk and interact with others beyond text based methods. If that makes sense to you, then I encourage you to push your comfort zone and leverage Ustream (or YouTube) to take things to the next level. You’ll be glad you did.

What are your thoughts? Is streaming video something that would help you communicate with your market? Are consumers ready for this?

Build a content distribution strategy, not a Twitter or social media strategy (Google Real-Time Search)

Steinar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:50:35 +0000

The recent news of Google real-time search inspired me to share my thoughts on content and how we share information on the Internet. For those of you not up to speed, Google real-time search provides a subset of real-time search results within the standard results for popular keywords searches. Google real-time search includes Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, identi.ca and Jaiku.

The fact is Twitter will fade into the dust one day and social media will shift to new and different platforms over time. Instead of sinking all your eggs in one basket, I encourage you to think about a broader content distribution strategy rather than focus on one platform.

To be clear, by content distribution I mean two-way communication. Your message goes out and replies come back. The strategy boils down to what networks you connect with, why you connect with them and how you manage those relationships.

Use RSS to Distribute Content

RSS (most commonly expanded as “Really Simple Syndication”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.

via RSS – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RSS is nothing new, yet often misunderstood. I’m not claiming to be an expert on the subject, but I will say it’s worth understanding how to publish your RSS feed, either from a blog or from some other source in which you contribute. For starters, I recommend submitting your blog RSS feed to Technorati, MyBloglog, Friendfeed, Google Reader. You might consider these RSS aggregators that can help get more eyes on your content.

On the social media front, submit your blog RSS feed to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, identi.ca, BrightKite, Bebo and others. The point is that not everyone “hangs out” on Twitter and if you are truly trying to reach more people within your target market (aka, internet marketing), you need to have a voice on multiple social media platforms. I’m sure some of you will disagree with this and I welcome your feedback.

Use RSS to Manage the Discussion

On the flip side, RSS is also useful for collecting, monitoring and responding to content posted by others that is either directly or indirectly speaking to your interest, industry or niche. Virtually every website has an RSS feed you can subscribe to today. You can subscribe to RSS feeds for a particular search phrase. You can monitor social media platforms remotely with RSS feeds.

Honestly, there is very little need to physically visit these individual sites anymore, other than to tweak your profile or add new connections. Of, course even those functions are moving off-page as well as new tools pop-up to handle administrative tasks such as this. Beware: some deliver great benefit, while others may cause you to lose control.

For me, Google Reader is the ultimate platform to manage RSS subscriptions and engage with people from multiple websites at once. Sure, I use Tweetdeck for Twitter, but it’s much bigger than than that. From Google Reader I can check updates from people, store items of interest, share content, and reply to people all in one place. It’s really simplied my life.

Build Your Content Distribution Strategy

The beauty of the web is that often there are multiple solutions to the same problem. For me, the best way to map out my strategy was to put pen to paper and start drawing out how information is shared and how my network can be connected to increase reach, efficiency, and overall effectiveness. You could also use presentation software or a mind mapping application such as Bubbl.us.

I suggest you start by exploring Friendfeed, Ping.fm, and Posterous. These tools manage multiple RSS feeds in a centralized manner and can direct inbound and outbound activity from you and your connections. I also recommend you start with a single distribution point for all of your original content – for me, this is my blog.

What’s your content distributions strategy? What’s working for you? What would make it easier?

Leverage Online Video to Engage Readers, Drive Website Traffic and Differentiate Your Business (Video)

Steinar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:11:54 +0000

YouTube has been around for years and is without question one of the best video sharing sites. Getting your video message online is a terrific method of engaging readers, driving traffic to your website, and differentiating your business. It takes practice but the payoff can be significant.

Topic Covered:

Test and gain confidence (It’s all about practice)
Use the right tools to shoot, edit, publish, promote
Using Multiple platforms to share videos online
Leveraging the network to reach a broader audience
Engaging with readers unlike text or audio content
Search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site
Mix it up with different approaches to use video.

How can you get started with video today? What holding you back? Have any success or horror stories to share?

Safari User Agent iPhone Simulator – See How Your Site Looks to Mobile Users (Video)

Steinar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:06:02 +0000

Safari 4.0 has a great feature in Advanced Preference that let’s you activate the Developer’s menu and view websites as if you were using an iPhone or iPod Touch. This is great if you are just curious, but even better if you are working on a new theme for your site to make it more mobile user-friendly.

I am using the WPTouch plugin on my WordPress blog to create my mobile theme and its proven very simple to install and customize. I’ve also incorporate Push notification, so when anyone leaves a comment on my blog, my iPhone notifies me with a pop-up message – it’s a beautiful thing.

WPtouch: WordPress on iPhone, iPod, Android, Storm & Pre

More than just a plugin, WPtouch is an entire theme package for your WordPress website. Modeled after Apple's app store design specs, WPtouch makes your WordPress website load lightning fast on touch mobile devices, show your content beautifully, all while not interfering with your regular theme.

via WPtouch: Mobile Plugin + Theme for WordPress ↔ BraveNewCode Inc..

Have you updated your site to be mobile friendly? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Evidence that YouTube Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Works (Video)

Steinar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:50:43 +0000

YouTube search engine optimization (SEO) is an often overlooked element that can drive significant views and traffic back to your website.

Setting up a search engine friendly video is very simple and only take a fraction of the time required to actually shoot, edit, and publish the video.

Keywords are critical in your title, description, and tags. In this video I provide an example of a video I uploaded 2 years ago, which continues to get a steady flow of viewers now topping 250,000.

The link in my description feeds these viewers back to my website of choice (another feature that 99% of videos fail to incorporate).

Why don’t people optimize their videos? What do think? Seems like good sense but it’s so often overlooked.

The video referenced in this article is the 1st video in this YouTube Search.

Does Audio or Video Really Engage Blog Readers? (Audio)

Steinar — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:20:11 +0000

In this audio post I discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using audio and video on your blog.

003-audio-versus-video.mp3

Advantages of Audio Blogging
•   Quicker to record and post
•   Fewer tools required
•   Faster download
•   Greater reach with MP3 players

Advantages of Video Blogging
•   Great to put a face with your name and voice
•   Good for presentations or tutorials
•   Good to leverage YouTube channel network
•   Most engaging web content according to studies

In either case, audio and video both add color to the standard text based blog, much like photos make your posts pop. Experiment with both and find which works best for you. You may find that video works in some cases, while audio is better for others.

What are your thoughts? Are you finding success with audio and/or video. Which seems to work best given the topic or situation?

Drive More Traffic to Your Blog and Engage Readers (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:10:25 +0000

In this audio post I’ll touch on a few techniques to drive more traffic to your blog and engage readers in a more meaningful way.

002-more-blog-followers.mp3

Topics Covered:
• Creating unique and compelling content
• Search Engine Optimization and long-tail keywords
• Commenting on third-party websites
• Leveraging Social Media

How are you attracting more readers? Which tactics are getting the best results?