OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO

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Over the past year or so, I’ve become quite enamored of video. I’ve been making lots of short films for my blogging business, for Overcome Everything, and for a special project I’ve been working on for more than a year. If you want to get into a sci-fi video novel, this is my client’s site: http://CugelsCastle.com

Anyway, these are all different types of videos… screen capture, talking head, and Power Point. The first thing I did was buy Camtasia. Why not, right? Everyone uses Camtasia.

OK… Works great for most stuff, but when I started working with the video novel, I bought Sony Vegas Pro 8 Editing Workshop. Wow! I mean it’s so much more powerful! It’s very easy to add rolling credits, a watermark, and to edit. I totally love it. I know I’m only scratching the surface with the software, so I plan to learn tons more about that.

Cameras were a problem, too, believe it or not. We bought a digital camcorder last year and though that would do the best job for the talking head videos. Wrong. When it came time to render them, it was a total hassle. I had to reformat them, and then the sound didn’t always meet the facial expression. I worked that out with Vegas, but there were just a ton of glitchy things that happened.

Well…

Brian Edomondson, our resident video guy at Overcome Everything, told me to get the Mino Flip Video Camera. It’s like $150 less than we paid for the other camera we bought, so I didn’t think too much about it. Then, Brian made some videos with it for The LIst Building Club, and the picture and sound were so clear that I went out the same night that I had seen Brian’s videos and bought one for less than $200.

Wow!

If you’re doing video or contemplating it, the Flip Cam is the easiest way to go. I LOVE that thing! Plus, you can take it anywhere because it’s so slim and small. (Yeah, I was lucky enough to have waited until the slimmer version came out.) It’s just the best.

So, if you’re hesitating about doing video, don’t. It’s becoming more and more important online.  And, I have some great advice for you, which can save you tons of aggravation and time:

1) Get a Flip Cam

by Douglas Spotted Eagle

2) Get the free version of Sony Vegas and work with it until you feel you’re ready to upgrade. Then, work with it for a while. Try not to get too frustrated. But if you do, there’s a book you ca buy: Sony Vegas Pro 8 by Douglas Spotted Eagle. I haven’t had to look much up, but it sure comes in handy when you’re scratching your head.

3) If you’re lucky enough to be in Stomper Net, watch the Stomper Vision videos by Mike Stewart. Awesome! If you aren’t in Stomper, buy the course. It’s totally worth it and helped me to understand Vegas a whole lot better.

And then, shoot some video! It’s a blast!

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So, I was over at SEOmoz.org today, which is a very cool site. There are tutorials and tools out the ying-yang, which is sweet. But the one thing that took up about twenty minutes of my lunchtime today was the SEO test. How cool is that? You can measure your understanding of SEO.

I did well, though not as well as I’d have liked. I’m always leery of tests, you know. I always assume that what I’m seeing is a trick question, and pick the wrong answer instead of an obvious one. Testers are a sneaky bunch, you know?

But here was the question:

“What of the following is the WORST criterion for estimating the value of a link to your page/site?”

Hmm… there were about 5 choices, but what stuck out at me right away was “Alexa.” I was ready to click that radio button, when I saw Google toolbar page rank.

Toss up?

The Alexa ranking is so nebulous. It means bupkiss, really. Here’s what SEOmoz.org had to say about it:

Since Alexa data is typically less useful (http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-blog-stats) than monkey’s throwing darts at a laptop, that’s the obvious choice for worst metric. The others can all contribute at least some valuable insight into the value a link might pass.

OK, totally true, except… Google toolbar. Brad Fallon told me personally that it means very little because it’s never current. Your page rank changes constantly, but they only update the toolbar about once a quarter.

So, that to me means that PR is also questionable, but it’s obvious where I went wrong. It’s not the WORST indicator of a valuable link. Duh. It’s not a clean estimate, but in the ballpark. Duh again.

Course that’s SEO. Not everyone agrees with everyone else. Want to know what’s right? What works through testing, testing, testing.

Anyway, it was a trick question. LOL

Shouda picked the obvious… Alexa.

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Don’t you just love it when someone comes to your blog and types in “Internesting post”? I mean, it’s nice that they read it–maybe, but I totally doubt that they did, but if they did, nice. But let me ask you why don’t they have anything better to say?

I mean, I get some great comments here. People are totally helpful, start up a discussion, or whatever, and that totally rocks!

But when I see a comment that says, “Interesting post,” I’m SO beyond flattery. LOL I know it’s someone just tyring to get a link back or whatever.

‘Course you’ll notice that I got the smackdown again from Google for having the paid links on my site. I’m a PR 2 again. Big whoop. Page rank means exactly the same thing to me as does “Interesting post.” I totally ignore both of them. The vapid blog comment gets sent right to Akismet.

PLONK!

Am I cranky today or what?

Yes, I am.

Working too hard.

But I have a call coming up tonight. But that should be fun. Some SEO talk: http://easyseotricks.com/paul if you’re interested. This is what I love, so it will be fun. Come on over.

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So, today is Monday, and as with every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., I’m working like crazy. I totally love what I do, but our company is growing and there are tons of interesting things coming up.

Today, Tellman launched “The Tellman Show” on video, for example. (You can see it at http://www.viddler.com/explore/Tellman/videos/10/ )

He’s just incredible and has more ideas and energy than any person I’ve ever met before. I love being part of his company–Overcome Everything, where I have the awesome job of being Content Manager.

To be honest, I’ve never worked with a group of people that I respected and cared for so much. It’s very cool, and after two years, I wouldn’t trade what I do at OE for any other job.

So, here’s the thing…

I’m to the point where I need people, so I’m gathering a team.

• I need a videographer who can make Camtasias and work with Sony Vegas, for example.
• I need writers… People who can write articles, special reports, or whatever else that’s not copy.
• I need graphics savvy people who can dress up a report or physical product.
• I need people who are comfortable with fulfillment and getting all that together.

Might YOU fit the bill?

Are you looking for some extra income, albeit sporadic? This isn’t like a job, it’s like extra help when the time presents itself, like when we’re doing two launches simultaneously, or rushing to get the latest newsletter down the pipeline. I need people for when the work just gets too heavy for me & Brian to handle. Brian Edmondson does an awesome job of creating videos, but he’s only one guy, too.

So, here’s what I’d like you to do:

Post your resume online. Then, come to the blog here and post a comment, letting me know where it is. I’ll happily check it out, and if I can utilize your incredible skills, I’ll contact you. Please remember to add your email address to your CV (resume).

And… Here’s a trick so you don’t get spammed…

Make your email address an image. Use screen capture software to take a picture of your email address and make the picture clickable. The spammy robots will never know.

Anyway, if you’re interested and have the skills, let me know! I need someone who knows English very well and is pretty well versed in Internet Marketing, too. So, keep that in mind. Not every project will be about that, but when the project requires IM knowledge, it’s important that you know what we need.

Looking forward to working with some of you! It’s always a blast!

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Not as many people know about Jeff Johnson as should. He says he doesn’t advertise all that much (though he seems to be everywhere), and I believe that’s true. One of my Facebook friends introduced me to his stuff, and whoo-hoo. Very, very interesting.

Then, I saw him present at JVAlert in Philly and I was fascinated. His systems are totally cool. Just really smart, common sensical information about using feeds, My Space, You Tube, etc. His SEO systems use Web 2.0 sites, and oh, yeah. I’m all over that.

So, I got access to Jeff’s videos through StomperNet (though I’m on his list and watch whatever he puts out), which was pretty sweet. I’ve been watching them one by one, and his systems are so right in tune with what I’m doing right now… so, yeah, Jeff. I’m hooked. I’m putting your stuff into action, too.

That in combo with Matt Bacak’s system should be extremely powerful. It’s just adding the extra oomph.

Stay tuned. I’ll report results. Just give me a bit of time to let this all work itself out.

Love it!

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Had a call last night with Nancy Hults. She grilled me about blogging, and I told her tons of great stuff.

I love to do calls because I can interact with people. We don’t often get to do that. We sit in our offices (actually, mine is a corner of my bedroom, which is pretty big, but still… I digress.) and we type away or code away or video away or whatever. And NOBODY is there to connect with.

Anyway, I spilled my guts–again. If you enjoyed the call I did with Erik Stafford last month, this one may be even better. I encourage you to go and listen to the replay:

The replay details…

Bridgeline: 712-432-6190

Passcode: 58643#

recording code: 114#

You won’t regret listening. If you’re interested in ways to make your blog better, in ways to make it profitable, and ways to make it search engine friendly, grab a pen and some paper and dial in.

And enjoy!

There’s a pretty cool offer at the end of the call, too. Worth $100 to you. So… check it out.

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Well… I’m not sure it’s red, but I’m thinking that Russell is kind of a Prince, so… It fits, right?

Here’s the deal: If you go to http://easyseotricks.com/corvette, you can sign up and get all the training and support you need to make some money online in his Zero to $100 Million Challenge.

Yep. Russell is taking people by the hand and showing them with video and other materials how to do it! The Corvette is totally up for grabs.

But the best part of all this is that Russell is giving a whole bunch of money to charity–$50K to be exact.

And, you have to blog about your efforts! Well… right up my alley, eh?

Plus, you get $1 for every person you invite and that signs up for the contest. Pretty cool.

So, go now: http://easyseotricks.com/corvette and get your engines started!

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If you’re an affiliate marketer or if you have your own product to sell, teleseminars are great!  They help build your list and make you more money than if you just send plain emails.

Why?

Because they “showcase” the product, the product owner, or you. People tend to trust people they know, rather than just words on a page. Right? I mean, I do much better with sales of my product (Blogging4Boomers.com) when I do a teleseminar. People automatically see that I know my stuff, and they feel comfortable asking me questions that I can summon quick and easy answers for. And they get to know me better. I LOVE teleseminars.

You should, too.

They’re very easy to set up with a great tool called “InstantTeleseminar.Com.” I just tell the software when I want to have the teleseminar, add some customized options, and BOOM! It’s ready to go. The best feature is that people can listen on the Web as well as on the telephone, which saves big charges for people in Asia and Europe. Skype is pretty awesome, but some folks don’t like to tie up their phone. That’s cool with InstantTeleseminar

Anyway, if you want to get people interested in a product, there’s no better way to do it than by having a teleseminar. Well… except live on-stage, maybe. But in lieu of that, teleseminars are awesome.

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clipped from www.searchnewz.com Why is this change going to be so different? In the past, the search engines have incrementally updated certain aspects of their algorithms to improve the quality of their SERPs, for example, eliminating the positive effect of Meta tag keyword stuffing which was being abused by spammers. Anyone who has been in the SEO industry for more than a few years probably remembers the chaos and panic when the major search engines stopped ranking websites based on this approach. This time around though, were looking at something much more significant than simply updating an algorithm to favor particular factors or discount others. We are looking at not only a completely new way for search engines to assign value to web pages, but more importantly, a new way for search engines to function.

Scary? Shouldn’t be, if you’re not using Black Hat techniques. Wall sees Google penalizing for paid linking on both sides of the equation and duplicate content becoming invisible. He also goes on to say that local search will become more important as will plain old quality, unique content.

So, is SEO dead? Wall doesn’t think so, and neither do I. Just as with any other change that Google has made, we’ll have to learn to adapt.

This shouldn’t be too tough, if you’ve been putting the good silver out, instead of the every day flatware. Serving our clients and readers well is what it will probably be all about, according to Wall.

And shouldn’t it be, after all? Who wants to search for something and find the same damned thing over and over again on the page? The more I thought about the Howie Schwartz method of just blasting things out into Web 2.0, the more I realized that it’s a huge time sink. It may work now, but I wonder how long the effects will last?  If you’re doing throw-away campaigns, I guess it works in the short-run. But…

I encourage you to read the full article to see what Wall sees as Google’s next evolution.

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I have a new system that I’m testing.

I’ve been following Matt Bacak’s plan of writing an article, turning it into a Power Point, making a video from that, writing a press release and sending that off, and on and on… If you don’t know the system, Matt sent it in an email, but I know it’s on his blog: “Slap Google Like a Ragdoll.”  I think it will be quite powerful, and well, if Matt said it works, I’m sure it does.

So, how do put yourself on the cutting edge? That’s the deal, right? You need to be on the ball with the fastest and the mostest.

Do it all. Set up a routine where you do specific tasks each day. Like

• Monday, I do the Power Point and video.
• Tuesday, I distribute it with Traffic Geyser and write a press release.
• Wednesday, I distribute the press release, and get the video or the article into Squidoo.
• Thursday, I work on some blogs.
• Friday, I do the content sites, Tumblr, Gather, Ning, and PBWiki.

And all of it gets bookmarked.

Just started the system a few weeks ago.

Let’s see how it works.

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