Online Marketing Studio with Steinar Knutsen

Commenting on Blogs for Knowledge, Brand Building and Market Leadership

Steinar — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:54:22 +0000

Commenting on other blogs is a fantastic strategy for building your brand online. So few people leave comments these days that you can easily differentiate yourself with this simple tactic. Not only does commenting get your name out there, it also gives you a chance to learn something new and connect with other thought leaders within your industry.

In my daily routine, I scan all of the blogs that I subscribe to in Google Reader. My goal is to choose three blog posts that I find interesting and leave my comment. I find that this gives me exposure to readers on that website, and often drives traffic back my website.

Do you comment on blogs on a regular basis? I’d love to hear your feedback.

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12 Essential Online Marketing Tools for 2012

Steinar — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:04:01 +0000

The list of products and services chosen for this year’s list are products that I use on a regular basis. Some of them are free and others are paid services. In my experience, the combination of these products provides a platform to execute online marketing campaigns more efficiently & effectively.

… thus, I am sharing them with you!

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This year’s list covers a broad range of leading products and services, including keyword research, email newsletter management, file storage, website hosting, contact management, image capture, video capture, mind mapping, social media, WordPress custom themes, online lead generation, membership site management and webinar hosting.

After 15 years of marketing online, it is clear to me that there is more than one way to get things accomplished. In the early days, I relied heavily on free tools and my own programming & marketing skills to make things happen. In almost every case, there is an alternative route, tool, application or service that is equally capable of getting the job done. Trust me, I’ve tried a lot of tools over the years!

How to get started with affiliate marketing for passive income

Steinar — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:17:17 +0000

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make passive income online. Essentially this is the process of selling other company’s products for a commission on the sale. For example, you might sell a $50 product and get 6% or $3.00. With a good amount of traffic though your affiliate link, this could multiply into a decent amount of income.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. Today we’ll discuss Linkshare and how you can get started.

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I started exploring affiliate marketing in 2005 after blogging about the Olympics since 2001. I had a steading flow of traffic to my sites and wanted to monetize them somehow. I tried Adsense but that didn’t seem too promising.

I did some research and discovered a few leading affiliate programs: Linkshare, ShareaSale and Commission Junction. These sites basically serve as the middleman between you and the merchant.

Basic Steps to Get Started with an Affiliate Marketing Site

Before you get started with affiliate marketing, you need a website. The fastest way to do this is get hosting at Bluehost and do an auto install of WordPress. There are tons of great free themes or for a more sophisticated set of customization options check out the Catalyst WordPress Theme.
Once your’ve registered your website, visit the affiliate program sites (Linkshare, etc) and sign up for an account. There you’ll find dozens of categories and 1,000 of merchants with millions of products you can promote on your website. It’s easy to search and find the right products that match your niche.
Once you find a a few good merchants, apply to become an affiliate for their program. Some programs will approve your application immediately, while it may take a day or two for others to let you in or reject you based on a number of potential reasons.
Upon approval, you’ll have access to a plethora of links for each merchant. You’ll see text links, banner links, individual product links and some customizable links. Most affiliate programs also have a feed that you can subscribe to or download so that you no longer have to manually login to see what’s new. It’s really pretty amazing how quickly you can start grabbing HTML code for these links and build out your new website.
Put the links on your site and once someone purchases something a record of the transaction will appear in your affiliate program account. Depending on the program you’ve chosen, you can expect to get a check for your commissions within 30-60 after your total reaches a set minimum. Payouts usually come in the form of check, direct deposit or PayPal.

Have you tried affiliate marketing? What’s worked for you?

3 SEO Strategies You Can Execute Right Now

Steinar — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:09:25 +0000

Search engine optimization is something that all bloggers and online marketers address at some point. The goal is to drive more targeted to your site, but it seems as though the rules keep changing. Let’s explore at least three SEO strategies you can execute right now.

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1) Join Google Plus

Social media is obviously playing an increasingly important role in how people find information online and connect with brands in a meaningful way. Search engines recognize this and have, therefore, changed their algorithms to put social media in the spotlight.

The most recent evidence of this is the launch of Google Plus, an 80 million member strong social media platform run by Google. In the past it was common to find Facebook and Twitter content in Google search results, but in 2011 Google scrapped those relationships and now shows Google Plus content instead.

To take advantage of this I encourage you to set up a Google Plus account. Complete your profile as well as possible including information about you, locations you’ve lived, where you work, what you do, links to other online profiles & websites and your profile picture. Add a few new posts, including one to your website. Upload a few images and videos if you can. You want to send a signal to Google that your onboard and ready to participate.

Of course, the real power of Google Plus is the community, so start adding people to Circles. Comment on their posts, +1 their content and share their posts to your Circles. Mention them in you posts too. If you have a business, setup a Google Plus Page and repeat the steps above.

This entire process should take no more than about an hour and will establish a great baseline for you and your new relationship with Google. The key is to get your profile setup now, so that your “start date” is locked in. Google tends to place importance on the age of domains and other online assets, so consider this your first warning to get things rolling early.

2) Write Great Content

Writing unique content on your blog has and always will be a valuable method for driving search engine traffic to your site. Blogging on a regular basis sends a signal to Google that your website is relevant, among other things.

Personally, I like blogging because it forces me to really dive into important issues within my industry and provide additional clarity to my customers so they can make sense of what’s happening online. The more I blog about current events and trends within my industry, the more traffic I get from visitors looking for help on those topics. The same is true in any niche, so think about your market and what’s happening today. Pick a specific topic and write a couple blog posts that provide guidance for those looking for help.

If your nervous about blogging or have trouble getting started, I recommend that you just start writing without editing at first. You don’t want editing to get in the way of your stream of thought. Rather, get the ideas down on paper, and then go back later and edit for proper grammar and markup such as bold and italicizing. For example, I write this blog post using Siri – a voice to text dictation application on the iPhone. It took me just a few minutes to talk and the results was nearly 1000 words.

With every blog post that you write I also recommend you include categories and relevant tags. In WordPress, for example, you can choose these options when publishing each blog post. This creates additional pages within your site that Google can index and also provides helpful navigation for your users to discover content across your site.

When you finally publish your blog pos, share the link to your content on popular social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. Soon, you’ll see traffic coming to your site that may otherwise have gone to the competition. Of course, use Google Analytics to see exactly how these people are finding your site and what keywords they used when they searched on search engines.

3) Comment on other Blogs

I’ve written about commenting on other blogs previously so I won’t get into too much detail here, but this remains a very powerful method for driving traffic to your website.

When you comment on other blogs or websites there are a few things that happen.

First, it forces you to really read the article, form your own opinion about the subject and then add value to the conversation.
The second thing that happens is that people that read that article will see your comment and your name. If you comment often, they will identify you as a thought leader within your niche. Furthermore, if you leave good comments, readers will click through to visit your website and learn more about you.
In some cases, search engines will also be indexing your comments – buildings backlinks that drive search engine optimization for your site over the long-run.

I hope you find these three strategies helpful. Obviously, as the search engines continues to evolve and new online platforms appear these strategies will change over time.

What is your favorite strategy for driving traffic to your website?

The Advantages of Using Google Plus for Business

Steinar — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:47:37 +0000

I really like Google Plus. It’s similar enough to Facebook and a little like Twitter but delivers a much cleaner layout and some terrific features that I’m finding very useful.

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Here are 3 Advantages of Using Plus for Business (vs. Facebook and Twitter)

Google Hangouts is a fantastic new way to conduct a video conference online for free. You can invite up to 10 people including yourself and keep the meeting going for hours without cost. Whomever is talking gets their video showcased in the conference call while other participants are shown in a row along the bottom of the screen. The system is very responsive and the audio video quality is fine.
Google Circles allows you to categorize people that follow you on Google Plus into groups called Circles. You could have Circles for friends, coworkers, customers, business partners, prospects, pundits, and so on. Once established, you can select which Circle(s) can see your individual posts. For example, you might want to share a new product feature with prospects and a customer service announcement with current customers.
Google Pages were announced in November and allow Google Plus users to set up a special Google Plus Page for their business. Since we are already seeing Google Plus content in Google search results, this is a great way to get your brand in front of general Google Search users. Functionally speaking Google Plus user Profiles and Pages are very similar. You cannot, however, put people in your Google Page Circles until they first connect with your business Page. I’m sure this will all change over time.

I encourage businesses to get on Google Plus now to secure their start date. Google usually uses domain age as a variable in Google Page Rank and it’s to your benefit to get in early.

What do you think about Google Plus? I love it – here’s a link to my Google Plus Profile.

Podcasting 101: Realities of Creating and Editing your First Podcast Episode

Steinar — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:55:27 +0000

This is the second in a series of podcast episodes I’m doing with Mike Bisceglia from Cvillepodcast.com to help educate businesses on the realities and benefits of podcasting. In our first episode we talked about the basics of podcasting, including recording, editing, publishing and promotion.

In this episode Mike and I discuss a few applications to record and edit your podcast.

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Producing and editing your podcast can seem daunting at first. You may not feel comfortable putting your voice out there, but with practice and the right tools this may be overcome with time. Editing can be a rather technical process as well, so be prepared to either learn how to do it your self or hire someone to help.

Here are two great podcasting tools to get you on the right path:

1) GarageBand for the Mac. This audio software comes with every Mac and provides professional level editing tools to capture, enhance and out put your recording as an MP3.

2) Audacity for both Mac and Windows. Audacity has been around for years and is an excellent, free application to record and edit your podcast.

Feel free to contact me or email Mike Bisceglia at cvillepodcast@gmail.com for more information!

Podcasting 101: Tips To Create Your Own Podcast

Steinar — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:41:15 +0000

This is the first in a series of podcast episodes I’m doing with Mike Bisceglia from Cvillepodcast.com to help educate businesses on the realities and benefits of podcasting.

As you know, podcasting is a great channel to leverage the 100 million+ Apple devices out there not to mention the millions of other devices capable of subscribing and listening to your show.

In this episode we lay the groundwork with some basic tips and essential tools you can use to create your own podcast! Want to have your own show? We’ll discuss options to do-it-yourself or work with Mike in the radio production studio for a professional recording, editing and publishing experience.

Feel free to contact me or email Mike Bisceglia at cvillepodcast@gmail.com for more information!

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P.S. – It took some real guts to include this picture of me wearing that awful headset

P.S.S. – You can subscribe to my blog’s podcast via iTunes here

Garageband for the iPad – Mobile Podcasting Getting Easier

Steinar — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:14:58 +0000

With the announcement last week of the iPad 2, Apple also introduced the release of Garageband for the iPad. For those of you not familiar with Garageband, it is a simple yet powerful music and audio production software tool that’s been available on the Mac for several years.

Garageband is loved by both musicians and podcasters because of its simplistic user interface, yet advanced capabilities. Want to burn a single track and email to your friend – no problem. Want to record 8-tracks with both live and MIDI instruments with complex effects and save to your iPod? No problem.

The beauty of Garageband on the iPad is that you’ll now be able to do all of this on the go, with great battery life and the ability for sync your GB file tracks back to your Mac for editing and final mixdown. That’s pretty appealing.

Create a custom URL for your Facebook Page

Steinar — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:42:07 +0000

For those of you using Facebook to market your business with a Facebook Page, it’s important to create a custom Facebook username so that you can effectively advertise you Page offline.

Once you have 25 fans on your Page go to facebook.com/username to select your custom URL. Please note that once you select a name it can never be changed, so please take a minute to choose wisely. Now when you advertise your Page you can use the custom URL rather than just saying “Find us on Facebook.”

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Use the new custom URL in print, business cards and your email signature. Enjoy!

2-Minute Pro Blogging WordPress Tip: Use Press This to Quickly Quote 3rd Party Content

Steinar — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:22:08 +0000

“Press This” is a great WordPress tool that allows you to easily capture content from a third party website and quote that content in your blog post. This greatly increases your efficiency if you regularly quote content from other sites on your blog.

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The “Press This” function allows quick publishing with a special web browser bookmarklet. You can create a post by quoting some text, images, and videos on any web page.

via Press This « WordPress Codex.

Press This comes loaded with every WordPress installation and can easily be added as a link in your browser toolbar by going to your WP administration dashboard. From the dashboard go to the tools menu on the left hand side and you will see the Press This tool listed. Use your mouse and click to drag the Press This link from the page up into you your browser toolbar.

Now when you visit a website and would like to quote something from that site just click on the Press This link in your browser toolbar and a new WordPress post window will open up.

It’s as easy as that.

3 Reasons Why WordPress Blog Post Tags Are Important

Steinar — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:50:05 +0000

WordPress tags are an often overlooked option when publishing a new blog post. Based on some questions I heard this morning, it’s clear that there is some misunderstanding about the use of Tags and why they’ll important to the overall long-term health of you blog.

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3 Reasons WordPress Tags are Important

Tags are similar to the index at the end of a book. They help the reader find specific keywords hidden through your blog. Even better, they help readers find all the posts that are related to a particular Tag.
Tags are great for search engine optimization, since every tag creates a new url or page within your site that Google and other search engines may index.
Tags are also good for creating sub-categories around a niche topic. For example you may have a cooking category and several posts tagged as “breakfast”. Each tag has it’s own RSS feed, so you could use this to either target subscribers or submit your RSS feed to niche 3rd party sites.

How are you using tags?

Two killer Facebook Page strategies to target specific users. This is good stuff!!!

Steinar — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:33:53 +0000

Facebook Pages are a great way to engage your target market online and here are two great tactics to more specifically target individual users or groups within your niche.

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Mentions in Facebook Page Updates

Mentioning others in your Facebook Page updates is a great way to gain significant exposure for your page. If the other Page’s setting include “Others” then your update will appear on their Page. Why is this so special? Because most folks don’t know this is possible and simply put comments on other Pages’ Walls using their personal profile – not good if your running a business Facebook Page marketing campaign.

1. Become a Fan or Like another page in which you would like to get some exposure

2. In your Facebook Page update use the “@” symbol and pick the name of that Page (or individual) from the dropdown menu that appears

3. Write something flattering or worthy of sharing. You do not want to spam the other Page. If you write something nice that their followers find valuable then it’s a win-win situation.

4. Depending on the setup used by the target Page, your update will either appear directly on their Wall or in a hidden portion of their Wall. To see posts by “others” click on the “filter” link at the top of the Wall.

Geo-targeting in Facebook Page Updates

Geo-targeting is great if you have a broad audience but would only like to speak to a specific portion. For example, you may have a shipping offer only good in the US or a discount only for Chicago residents. Facebook lets you specify who will see you update based on location and language. Very powerful stuff!

To do this simply select the “Custom” link in the lower right hand corner of the update field next to the Share button. Input your Location and/or Language criteria and that’s it. Enjoy!

Any other tips you have for targeting specific users with Facebook Pages? Would love to hear your thoughts!

New Audio: Podcasting from my iPad again with AudioBoo

Steinar — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:12:16 +0000

Podcasting on your blog and iTunes is a great way to reach your market and the iPad makes it easy. Check out the Related Posts below for more details on how this is done.

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Audio and Video: How to podcast from your iPad or iPhone and publish on WordPress and iTunes

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

It’s finally here … Mobile Podcaster. Since January 2011 I’ve been podcasting on from my iPad and publishing to WordPress and iTunes without ever touching my blog or a computer. It’s a really awesome system. I’m really proud of it and it’s now available for you too, so if you’re interested check out Mobile Podcaster.

The process I’ve outlined below with Audioboo is also perfectly good, but Audioboo is limited to 5 minutes, so keep that in mind.

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.

Audio and Video Description of Recording and Creating a Podcast on my iPad with Audioboo

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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 (Audiobook is limited to 5 minutes. For longer recordings, check out Mobile Podcaster)
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?

4 ways to use Google Reader to track your industry, engage your market and monitor your brand

Steinar — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:54:27 +0000

As many know, Google Reader is one of my favorite tools to help establish yourself as a market leader online. In this audio post I discuss the 4 ways Google Reader can help you track your industry, engage your market and monitor your brand.

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Four advantages of Google Reader

Ability to track your industry by subscribing to popular blogs or RSS feeds that contain the latest news, trends and product information
Ability to share information with your social network via share button, shared custom Google Reader RSS feed or email link
Ability to save searches from Twitter to easily identify opportunity to engage with people asking for help on topics you understand
Ability to track mentions of you, your company, your brand or your products and service so you can jump in the conversation early and often.

How do you use Google Reader? What other online tools do you use to accomplish these or similar tasks?

Setting SMART Goals for your 2010 Internet Marketing Strategy

Steinar — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:28:11 +0000

Listen or Download: Setting SMART Goals

Setting SMART goals is a proven approach to achieving success more quickly. As 2009 winds down, this is the perfect opportunity to examine your goals for 2010 and apply the SMART mnemonic or acronym to increase the likelihood your goals are met.

SMART stands for:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

Free Template Downloads:

Specific

You want to clearly define your goals to articulate specifically what you are trying to achieve. The question is what, how and why are you striving toward this goal?

What are you going to do? Use action words, such as create, sell, manage, or grow, etc. to bring a sense of energy to your goals.
Why are you doing this? What is the ultimate outcome? Why is this important and what impact will this have on you, your business, or your customers?
How are you going to do this? What are the sub-goals or action steps that will enable you to achieve your goal

The more specific you are, the greater your ability to identify success when it occurs. For example, “I will write and publish 21 blog posts (250-400 words) about skydiving equipment by March 1, 2010.“ In this example I used action words “write and publish”, specified the number, length, and topic of the blog posts and put a date on it. As we’ll discuss next, this goal is also measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Measurable

If you cannot measure your goals then you cannot manage your progress. Furthermore, it is far more difficult to achieve your objectives if a) you do not measure your progress or b) you do not measure the appropriate metrics. In some cases a progress chart, table or simple checklist might help.

For example, you might be trying to improve visitor conversion rates. Using a web statistics tool, such as Google Analytics, can help track vital statistics but make sure you understand and pick the right metric that defines success. You can get 1,000 visitors a day, but if no one buys, that metric is meaningless. Don’t get caught up trying to move the wrong target.

Attainable

Is your goal possible? Is it limited by your resources or require more time to achieve? I encourage you to set stretch goals for yourself to push your limits, but keep them within reach. The benefit is that you’ll see real progress toward success. The risk is that you do not achieve your goals and lose momentum or hope.

For example, you may have just launched a new blog and you want 20% of your visitors to sign up for your newsletter out of the gate. While this is a realistic rate that you could eventually achieve, it is unlikely to happen right away. A more attainable goal would be to grow your newsletter list by 5% each month.

Realistic

Is your goal realistic? You might want 5,000 newsletter subscribers, which is attainable, but is it realistic to achieve this goal by within 2 weeks? Maybe not. Be honest with yourself and your business when setting goals by keeping them realistic or you risk disappointment.

Timely

When is the deadline to achieve your goal? Next week, 3 months, by year end? Setting a specific date will help you identify your tactical sub-goals and action steps to achieve your goal within a given deadline. Map out these deadlines or milestones on a calendar. Plan rewards for yourself when you cross each line.

A common mistake is to generalize about timing. For example, avoid using descriptions such as “this year, next quarter, in the next two weeks.” Without a specific date, these deadlines will slip away.

In my experience, SMART goals help you reach your objectives more quickly with a defined path for success. I recommend writing them down and revisiting them frequently to check progress and adapt to changing circumstances. In most cases, you will over-achieve — either beating a deadline or delivering something of greater value.

What’s your experience setting goals for the new year? Do you use the SMART mnemonic?

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

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

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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?

The opportunity cost of obsessing over web design vs. consistent content creation (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:45:19 +0000

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In this audio I post I discuss the challenge of managing multiple day-to-day responsibilities vs. the opportunity to create unique and compelling content for your readers. The realty is that created content should be your #1 priority in terms of Internet Marketing. Everything else is secondary – not becuase it’s not important, but simply because content is proven as the leading tactic to engage your audience online.

The challenge is to find a schedule with which to post new content on a regular basis. It’s easier than ever these days to quickly produce and publish audio, video, images and text-based blog posts, but many folks simply can’t find the time or don’t have the right tools to make it easy and effective.

For me, it’s about publishing at least one blog post everyday and allocating a few hours once a week to tweak my site. What’s your strategy? What’s working for you?

Leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:42:23 +0000

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Upcoming events are a great opportunity for you to leverage keywords related to that event and drive SEO traffic to your blog.

If you can, research an event within your niche and identify 2-3 long-tail keyword phrases that a potential reader might use to search for information on Google. Write a few blog posts about the event and use these keywords in your title, post text, meta keywords, and meta description. Follow up your post with a link in Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and your other favorite social media and bookmarking sites.

In my experience, if there is little competition for the event I can usually score a top 3 position in Google if I choose my keywords correctly. There are several tools to conduct keyword research, but I suggest starting with Google Keyword Tool to familiarize yourself on the topic.

Although events come and go, the benefit of optimizing for them is the ability to attract new followers within your niche. Give it a try – it’s actually a bit fun.

What’s your experience leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog? Any success or other tips to share?

Now broadcasting live from Ustream (Audio)

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

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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?

Getting funny looks when you mention Twitter. We can all relate. (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:52:12 +0000

Listen or Download

The fact is, many business owners still do not understand the power of social media and Twitter in particular. Those active in social media marketing can easily point to at least one if not several businesses that have derived some benefit as a result of their engagement.

How to post mobile friendly audio to wordpress from iPhone using one application (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:27:27 +0000

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Get Over It and Start Blogging (Audio)

Steinar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:27:56 +0000

The most common question I get from business people is “What should I blog about?”. In this audio post I’ll talk about tactics to overcome your fear of blogging and how to leverage audio to create a library of ideas.

What Should I Blog About?

How do you come up with topics to blog about? What’s holding you back from blogging?

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?

Can You Avoid Copywriting Problems with Audio Blog Posts? (Audio)

Steinar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:48:32 +0000

In this audio post I discuss how audio blogging can be more direct, simple, and straightforward versus text-based blogging.

005-avoid-copywriting-problems-with-audio-blog-posts.mp3

What are your thoughts? Is audio an effective method for blogging. Should you mix audio and text posts?

Blogging – Tools, Topics and Traffic (Audio)

Steinar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:07:11 +0000

In this audio post I discuss the benefits of blogging and strategies to easily get started.

001-blogging-101.mp3

Topics Discussed:

What are some of the tools I can use to get started?
What do I blog about – what should I say?
How do I drive traffic and more readers?
What are the benefits of blogging?

Tools Covered:

What are your thoughts? What tools are you using and what makes blogging easier for you?