But doesn’t that outsourcing money cut into my profit?

Yes it does! For one site. The idea is to sell more sites in the same amount of time. Even if your profit margin is less per site, your actual total profit is more. Here’s a basic example:

• You typically sell one site with 10 articles for $200 that takes you 10 hours to build.
  5 of those hours are writing articles. 5 hours doing everything else.
• You decide to outsource by hiring a writer that writes 10 articles for $50.
  With your extra 5 hours (that you used to spend on writing articles), you can build a second site.
• Now, within 10 hours, you built 2 sites instead of 1 and sold for $400 ($200 each).
• Subtract the $100 you spent on articles ($50 per site)
  Your profit is less per site, but total profit in the same amount of time is more.
  In the 10 hours, your profit was $300 instead of $200.

Obviously, there’s variables to consider, and you’ll want to calculate your net profits with all the costs and expenses added in, but that is the basic idea of selling volume and using outsourcing to help make you more money.

Where Do I Find Talented Freelancers For Outsourcing?

I’m only going to list a few well-known ones that I’ve either had experience with myself or have had solid recommendations for, but these are definitely enough to get you started.

Digital Point Forums
ScriptLance
eLance
GetAFreelancer
oDesk (I haven’t used, but John Cow just posted a review, and I’m planning on testing it out).

One important tip I have for you is to put your new freelancers on a trial. Let’s say you want to outsource 30 articles, but you don’t know any reputable writers.  Hire 6 different writers to do 5 each for you. Choose the best ones for your next project. Do the same thing again for your next batch until you have a few solid, reliable writers that you can count on.

The unfortunate part of outsourcing is that there is a high percentage of a chance that you will run into a few freelancers that don’t produce the quality you expected (unless you already have reputable sources). The good part is, it doesn’t take that long to weed them out and if you treat the good ones well,  it’ll be easy to build solid relationships that will last.

Don’t Forget! Subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you can stay up to date on Flippin’ Fridays!

Cheers!

Jay

According to psychologists, what’s on your desk can say a lot about you as a person. I was researching keywords this morning, and came across a few pretty cool articles about determining how to determine your personality traits by analyzing what you have on your desk.

One of these articles stuck out a little more than the others because of the way it categorized and named each type of desk. There was basically 5 choices and mine seems to land somewhere in the middle of a two of them. Here’s the 5 basic types that the article listed:

1. The ‘Artistic Temperament’ Desk
   This desk is often cluttered but in an interesting way with piles of books, photos, artwork, or other creative things of interest stacked throughout. Typically, this desk will also have a mad amount of post it notes as deadline and contact reminders, etc.
2. The ‘Self Expression’ Desk
   This desk is more of a personalized extension of the person with cartoon pin ups, a joke calendar, a mouspad that has a picture of the family cat on it….you get the idea.
3. The ‘Control Freak’ Desk
   You can probably guess what this desk looks like. It looks better than it did on display in the catalogue. If the pen holder has moved an inch to the left, there will be Hell to pay!
4. The ‘Trophy’ Desk
   This desk isn’t so much cluttered as it is “full”, containing items that the person is proud of such as souveniers, collectibles, and maybe even an actual trophy (i.e.; from last year’s bowling tournament).
5. The ‘Show Off’ Desk
   This desk is luxurious. It was imported from Italy and there had to be an extension built on the house in order to make room for it. It may even be for someone who doesn’t work at a desk, but needed to ’show off”.

Unfortunately, the “control freak” desk was pretty close to my set up which disturbed me and made me rethink my entire workstation. Who wants to be a control freak?  However, after analyzing myself and my desk in detail, I came to the conclusion that I may also have a hint of the “artistic temperment” desk as well, which I could probably live with.

Check out the article for more details on each type of desk and see if your desk matches your personality!
Also, if you’re looking for more interesting (and wacky!) desk personalities, check out the What’s On Your Desk Flickr group.

What the article doesn’t mention is anything about “the inside of your desk“. Even though the top of my desk is extremely organized,  I would classify the drawers of my desk as “the chaotic drawers“.  So, maybe I’ll do a little research and write an article titled “What Do Your Desk Drawers Say About You?“.

What’s On Your Desk?

Watch the video above to see proof of what happened between SuiteJ and Bryan Clark, and why I don’t have a review of the Blog Flipping Blueprint for you today!

It’s hard to believe what happened, but Bryan Clark isn’t going to stop me from offering my Flippin’ Family something valuable today!

Let’s Flip Your First Site Together And

Get 100% Of Your Money Back Fast!

My Help! Your Money!

UPDATE: ONLY 2 EXTRA VALUE PACKAGES LEFT!

Most of you know of me and my sales record already. You know I’m more than capable of creating a website that’s worth over $150 in the marketplace.

However, it would defeat the purpose of you joining a website flipping membership site if you didn’t plan to learn how to do everythig on your own. So, I’m not going to actually build and flip a site for you, but I am going to offer support as well as an extra value package to sell with your site that is worth $150+ on it’s own!

By adding an extra value package to your first website flip, you’ll still be learning the ropes, but you have me on your side to make sure you do everything right and get that money back fast!

How fast? Well, when you’re ready, I am. Depending on your level of experience, you may want to gain a little knowledge before we begin, but we can do it whenever you like. The idea is to get your money back asap though, so the quicker the better!

See The Extra Value Details Below
Limited To First 5 That Sign Up!

UPDATE: ONLY 2 EXTRA VALUE PACKAGES LEFT!

The Extra Value Package:

I will add EXTRA VALUE to your first website flip that will ensure you get at least your membership fee back!

Ultmately, it’s like getting the membership free because it’s a one-time fee to join, and I’m providing you a package that’s worth over $150 on it’s own in the marketplace! Even if you were to hire cheap design resources, you won’t find this package/quality for under $150.

• Wordpress Theme: I’ll help you choose the best one for the niche you choose (using a kickass theme is a huge advantage and I have many at my disposal)
• Logo Design: Based on the method used in my fast and easy logo design tutorial, I will create a logo for your website’s header.
• Ebook Cover Design: Bryan has a load of PLR ebooks inside the membership. We’ll use one to add value but I will redesign the cover to match your site for that extra push!
• Sales Letter Header / Footer Design: The PLR Ebook will have a sales page but I’ll brand it to match the ebook and your website.
• 3 Banner Advertisement Designs: I’ll design a 468×60, 125 x125 and a 120×60 banner ad for the site.

Extras With The Extra Value Package??

Yup! I’m going to give you a little extra with the extra cause I’m making sure you flip that site for $150+.

• Wanna Chat? I’ll set aside at least 1 hour of a Skype or phone conversation dedicated to your website flip.
• Never written a sales page? I’ll look over your sales page with you when your first flip is ready to go live and offer any advice that I can. I can share several experiences with you that are unique to only my sales.
• Nervous about the site transfer? Don’t worry! After the sale, I’ll be here for you to answer any questions and walk you through if needed.

Limited To First 5 That Sign Up!
Get In Now While You Can!

UPDATE: ONLY 2 EXTRA VALUE PACKAGES LEFT!

Important: Please read this text file and go over the details/terms of this bonus. It’s nothing “major”.

You like to make fun of the Big Head? Why stop now? Subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you can stay up to date!

Cheers!
Jay

]]> http://suitej.com/flippin-fridays/suitej-vs-bryan-clark-why-the-blog-flipping-blueprint-review-didnt-happen/feed/ http://suitej.com/business/dont-buy-bryan-clarks-blog-flipping-blueprint-today/ http://suitej.com/business/dont-buy-bryan-clarks-blog-flipping-blueprint-today/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:35:02 +0000 Jay http://suitej.com/?p=1333 As some of you already know, Bryan Clark (a.k.a. the website flipping crackhead) launched a website flipping membership today. I’m not going to go into details right now, but if any of you are considering signing up to the membership today, please don’t! At least wait until my weekly website flipping post this Friday.

Why Should You Wait?

Listen, I give away website flipping information weekly for FREE!  For many of you, I’ve extended that information via Skype conversations that has helped to make your website flips successful. Again, for FREE! Why? because I genuinely want to see you guys succeed.

So, to make sure you don’t get excited and get in over your head with an impulse buy, please do me (and yourself!) a big favor and wait until my post on Friday before you decide whether or not to purchase Bryan Clark’s Blog Flipping Blueprint membership.

I will have information to offer that you NEED to have before you make this purchase.

DON’T PURCHASE BLOG FLIPPING BLUEPRINT BEFORE YOU SEE MY POST THIS FLIPPIN’ FRIDAY!

Trust me, you won’t be sorry you waited.

Subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you get the info as soon as it’s posted!

Cheers!
Jay

You guys like quality content a lot more than easy contests that give away coffee money

When I break down the stats and compare content to contests, not only does it show that I have I received way more traffic to my best content,  but I’ve also received more subscribers on (or following) the days that I posted those articles.

Each of the following 3 articles had over 7 times the amount of traffic to them in September compared to my contest pages:

Create A Nice Logo Fast With No Design Skills
5 Simple Steps To Get Started Website Flipping This Weekend
Using Google Analytics To Find Hidden Gems In Keywords

But wait! That’s not the only important statistic!

Google Analytics also shows you the amount of time your visitors spent on the site and each of the individual pages. On this site, people who are landing on the articles when they arrive end up spending over double the amount of time on my site than those who are arriving here by landing on the contest page!

How To Find These Stats

• From the Google Analytics Dashboard, click “Content” from the left menu.
• Now choose Top Content from the sub-menu.  Pay attention to number of visits, time spent on page, and bounce rate. (Compare! Analyze!)

Here’s how to see a graphic of just the average daily “time spent on site”.

• From the Google Analytics Dashboard, click “Visitors” from the left menu.
• Now choose Visitor Trending from the sub-menu.
• Now choose Time On Site from the sub-menu

This also can be very important info! For instance, if you see 3 days that skyrocket above the others for the average time spent on site, take a peek at what you posted on those days, (also, if you had any type of major traffic boost, etc.).
I had 2 days that were off the charts when compared to the rest and it was directly related to the articles themselves. So, obviously, it’d be in my best interest to write more articles like those while I weave in different stuff. Then, analyze again next month. Rinse. Repeat.

Is It Worth It To have Contests?

If you only took the statistics into consideration when answering this question for my site, the answer would be no. Judging by the stats, my blog would have been better off with more quality content instead of wacky contests.

However, as with everything in Internet Marketing, there are always many variables to consider. Here’s some questions that are unanswered so far for me personally:

Were my contests too small?
Let’s face it, a $37 contest isn’t going to hit the blogoshere like a meteor. However, all you had to do was subscribe for a chance to win. I see some really big contests that have killer prizes and get a lot of attention, but you typically have a lot more work to do in order to increase you chances to win those.
I’d love to see the stats on them.

Was there simply not enough promotion?
My blog is new and it’s not my number one priority, so the contests didn’t really get too much promotion.
Obviously that affects things. However, there’s been no promotion for my best articles either, and they’re getting 7 times the amount of traffic with people sticking around afterwards.

My Questions To You:

How many contests have you had on your blog?

Honestly, how effective do you think they were for you? Did you analyze the statistics, or did you simply judge by daily traffic totals and new subscribers?

Did you lose subscribers? Do you ever check the actual emails in your email subscriptions? Do you notice any emails like “mycontestemail@gmail.com”? That’s a good sign that it’s not a loyal reader and someone who surfs the web joining contests wherever they can.
If you’ve had a really big contest before and receive a substantial amount of new subscribers for the contest, did you lose them after the contest was over?

Let me know your experiences with your contests and statistics.

Cheers!
Jay

Don’t Forget! Subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you can stay up to date!

Last week I had outlined 5 easy steps on how flipping your first website could be accomplished over the weekend. I know there’s quite a few of you who have been wanting to flip your first website, so hopefully those steps lit a fire under your buttocks and you followed through. If you did, let me know! If not, that’s fine too. I understand that for some of you,  website flipping is too easy.

Why wouldn’t you do something that’s easy?

The mentality most of us have when we see something that seems too good to be true, especially online, is to attack it instead of embrace it. This stems from the fear that we will be duped, scammed, humiliated, and ridiculed.

It’s not your fault. Most of us have this type of built-in skepticism when looking for ways to make money online. I approach anything new in a similar fashion, but I never knock it ’til I try it.

As a follow up to last week’s simple steps to you first flip, here’s a list of why website flipping might be too easy for you.

There’s Too Much Free, Step By Step Information
You might be the type that prefers to just keep hunting down the latest and greatest step by step ebook, report, guide, or stone tablet. If there’s this much free step by step information out there, imagine the secrets that must be bottled up somewhere in that website flipping guru’s laboratory! You might as well wait until he unleashes it for $199 and then you can conquer the website flipping world - unless of course another product is set to launch shortly after that one that’s worth waiting for.

There Are Too Many Excellent Wordpress Themes Available
You already use Wordpress and have installed themes before so it’s not a challenge to get a brand new blog running on a new domain. Plus, have you seen he amount of themes available? These website flipping guys even claim that using premium themes on their site flips drastically increase value a large percentage of the time. Buying something relatively cheap or creating something free to add extra value to a website flip just sounds fishy to you.

The Perfect Niches To Sell Are Chosen For You
Finding niches and keywords is hard! If you haven’t done it yet, you might have read about it and there’s lots of tips and tricks to learn that’s for sure! However, when you are planning to flip a website, it’s too easy to choose a niche. All you have to do is go to SitePoint marketplace and use the search function to view the completed auctions. What niches are selling most often and for the most money? Bingo! There’s your niche! You just found out what buyers want within the actual marketplace that you will be listing your website before you build it. You’re right, that is pretty easy! 

Most Sites Sell Between 24-48 Hours
Typically, sites sell fast, and often within 1-2 days. You can have your site sold and transferred within a day sometimes. You’re worried about selling on SitePoint for your first time, but that’s been made easier for you as well. It’s like the Easy Gods are mad at you.

You Won’t Have To Buy And Read 8 More Products This Weekend
Sometimes you will unknowingly develop a psychological association to information with a price tag as being better information. You buy more and read more on the same techniques without ever trying the basics. Why? because it’s harder, and it’s more expensive, so it must be worth more! It’s too easy to read 5 simple steps and make a little extra cash.

The point I’m trying to make this week is one that can be applied to most money making ideas online and not just website flipping. In fact, it can be applied to other areas of your life. If something appears to be too easy or too good to be true, give it a shot before you make up your mind. Don’t sabotage yourself by looking for ways to make it hard.

If you have any questions about website flipping or selling on SitePoint, feel free to hit me up!

Subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you can get more stuff that’s way too easy!

Cheers!
Jay

I’ve been starting to pay more attention to what’s going on here though and one thing I have been focusing on is sorting through the organic keyword search results that have recently led many strangers here to witness my big head.

Sorting through the keywords is a regular routine for me on niche content sites and I’m going to show you how to find  hidden gems within your Google Analytics keywords list and capitalize on them.

Start Exploring For Gems

[ View Your Entire List Of Keywords ]
Log into your Google Analytics account (choose a date range if you don’t want the default).

• Go to Traffic Sources on the left menu. Now, go to Search Engines and the main area will show you a list of all the search engines that are sending you traffic.
• Click on Google and you will see a keyword list of all the keywords used to find your site via Google.
• Scroll down to the bottom right of the page and choose 500 from the dropdown so it shows you the maximum amount of keywords per page. This way, there’s a good chance you won’t have to scroll through pages to find the gems because they are probably within the top 500. If not, then just do the following for each of the consecutive pages.

[ Find Potential Gems And Rank 'Em ]
Ultimately, what you’re looking for here is keywords with low competition that are already sending visitors - ones that you can boost to a higher ranking in Google with ease.

• The first thing to do is to click the header of the Visits column. This will toggle your keywords list and put them in order by number of visits. From my experience, there’s usually gems hidden in the range of 5-25 monthly visits (although this isn’t written in stone).
• You want to make a list of potential keywords that are closely related to your site’s niche and have a good chance of converting to sales. This might seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning since you will often see multiple results that have nothing to do with your site at all.
• Judge how hard you think it will be to outrank the sites above you in the results by using SEO For Firefox, SEO Quake, or whatever your favorite tool is to get a quick rundown of the sites’ statistics.

Take each keyword and see where your site ranks in Google when you search for the term. What you’re looking for is medium results with the potential to boost into a higher rank with a little effort.

Once You’ve Found Them, Exploit Them!

[ On Page Optimization ]
This applies to both the page that you’re already ranking for, as well as any new pages you create to target the keyword(s) you found.

• Use the full keyword in your title.
• Use the full keyword naturally in your article about 3-5% (3 times in a 300 word article).
• Bold your keyword as least once in the article. The effect of this has been debated in several places, but I will usually do it.
• Add an image to the article using exact keyword as the image name as well as the alt, title tags.

[ Off Page Optimization ]

• If it’s a new article, be sure to include a link to this new page from the page of your site that is already (originally) ranking for the keyword. Use the exact keyword as the anchor text.
• Write an article based on the keyword all the principles of “on page optimization”.  Submit to an article directory such as EzineArticles.com. Now submit unique revisions of  that articleto several more article directories.
• Build a Squidoo page, a Hub, A MySpace account, and whatever other platforms you can whip something up on to generate more backlinks, using the exact keyword as the titles and anchor text on these pages.
• Use Social Marker to give your site’s page and all these other creations a traffic boost within minutes of your time.

How’s This Different From Regular Keyword Research?

• You’re already ranked for the ones you find in Google Analytics and therefore getting ranked higher is easier and faster.
• You will often rank for great long tail keywords that you didn’t target on purpose.
• You will often come across misspellings and other abnormalities that you hadn’t thought of.
• You might gain a unique perspective into the minds of the visitors by the way they phrase their keywords to find you.
• You might see keywords that led someone there that’s not actually related to your niche. Research that keyword! You might have just found a gem in a “different niche”!

Give it a shot and see how many you find that you can capitalize on!

Also, let me know if you have any other tips using Google Analytics keywords for research.

Cheers!

Jay

If you happened to sleep in last Sunday morning, you really missed out on more than you think! You see, it was a time-sensitive contest, and I had a PDF Download available for those who showed up on time. However, I hadn’t  announced that there would be a PDF Download, or even really promoted the contest beyond my own blog posts.

Read the comments to see what everyone said about the PDF that I had offered that day.

Now you know not to sleep! Subscribe now either by RSS feed or via email cause you need to stay updated to get the goods. There will be cool stuff coming, but my subscribers will always have the best chance of winning something.

On To The Winners:

[ NUMBER ONE ]: Joe @ ImWithJoe.com
I was giivng away one of ebook cover designs to the very first comment on the post. The contest was posted at 7:37 am and Joe comment at 7:42am. So, basically it took him about 15 seconds to wolf down his breakfast sammich and then 4:45 to download my PDF and comment.

[ NUMBER TWO ]: Freddie @ FreddieTaylor.com
In case you haven’t noticed, I like to laugh and make take thing slightly whenever possible. If you’re going to be making money online and self-employed, then you can’t take yourself too seriously. If you do, you might as well get a 9-5 because your days will be just as boring. Have fun! Freddie cracked me up by commenting on my PDF being shaped like a letter J. I had put everything I had into that PDF for you guys, but I didn’t go that far! It was good, but not magic! Cheers Freddie! Hot me up!

[ NUMBER THREE ]: Elijah @ TheAtHomeCouple.com
My PDF download had a lot to do with the letter J and the number 37. Elijah obviously hadn’t slept at all Saturday night and was still tipsy and drinkin’ scotch at 7:37 Sunday morning. His commetn was not only creative using the letter J and the number 37, but it also cracked me up, so he’s gettin’ the hook up too!

Hit me up to chat about your eBook cover designs!

Cheers to all you guys and thanks for coming over!
I’m so glad everyone liked the PDF Download. That’s major motivation to give you guys more!

To everyone else, make sure you subscribe to my feed so that you don’t miss out on the next Sunday Morning Sacrifice! You never know what you’re going to get!

Cheers!

Jay

For some reason, people who haven’t even tried to create and sell a basic site are not using this information, yet they are seeking more “advanced tips”.

Now, let me explain the rationale behind today’s post. I’m aware that many of you guys who come to this site have already popped your cherry and flipped a website by now. However, some of you are still waiting, and continue to search the Internet high and low for the latest website flipping tips and tricks.

Here’s my advice to you. STOP SEARCHING FOR MAGIC BEANS! Build a site this weekend that you can flip next week!

The Secret That You’re Looking For Is “Take Action”!

The biggest step to overcome is actually taking action. There you go! I just UNLEASHED the secret you were looking for!  Now, get your hands dirty this weekend and flip a new website!  Even if you make $25, you will have gained experience that’s worth much more and your second flip will be better (and more valuable) because of it.

Don’t Use This Excuse:

The worst excuse I see from people on website flipping forums and blogs is that they don’t want to “waste their time in case their site sells for a small amount of money“! Yet, they have no problem spending hours reading and commenting about how “website flipping is not worth it“. Unless you’re getting paid to make excuses, then you’re contradicting yourself.

All the time you spent on long-winded comments about why you haven’t started flipping websites yet could’ve been used to create 10 or more unique articles on a new site to flip!

Yes, Getting Started Is Simple

These 5 steps that outline how to flip a new site are going to seem very basic. Do you know why? Because creating and selling a new website isn’t complex! Yes, there are advanced techniques used in many different areas such as traffic, revenue, sales copy, etc., but don’t put the cart before the horse. Just do a basic flip and then worry about bigger and better afterwards.

You can’t be a pro (and make good money) at something before you’ve even tried the basics. Every skill requires practice and that includes flipping websites.

Here’s 5 Simple Steps To Create A New Site To Flip:

If you get motivated, then check out more advanced tips throughout Flippin Fridays posts that will help increase your chances of higher profits on this site. Yes, it will take more of your time though.

Most of you are either bloggers or have websites, hosting, and know how to install Wordpress, so these steps don’t include those nitty gritty details.

[ONE]: Keyword Research
Most of you have experience with this one already. Since you’re creating a brand new site to sell fast, it’s a good idea to take a look on SitePoint in the Start Up Websites section to see what niches have been selling well lately. You will increase your chances of a good sale if you choose a niche that’s hot in the marketplace right now.

All you need is the free wordtracker tool. Find keywords with high daily searches and low competition. Use those stats in your sales page too!

[TWO]: Buy A Domain
Try your best to get a .com, especially since you’re selling a new site that probably won’t have much (if any) traffic when you sell.

If possible, choose a domain that is one of the keywords that you’ve chosen. For instance, let’s say you chose the niche “stain removal” and one keyword that gets high seraches and had low competition was “stain removal tips”. Try to get StainRemovalTips.com. This will help you get indexed fast, plus the buyer will like it. Don’t try to get creative with a name like “TheStainerOuter.com” or anything like that. Use the keywords exactly.

[THREE]: Choose A Wordpress Theme
Ok guys, you know I love the Woo Theme Clan, but since this is your first website flip to get you started, I’m going to suggest that you find a free theme until you’re churning out sites and can afford the premium themes (which often will add value to your site flip).

Here’s a search result link on Smashing Magazine that gives you more than enough choices:

[FOUR]: Write Some Content Based On Your Keywords
Write at least 10 unique, keyword rich articles based on the research that you did in step number one.
Try to add nice large photos that are relevant to the niche and each article.

Depending on the niche, you can often find 10 good ones for free at stock.xchng

[FIVE]: Sell On Sitepoint
Since this is a brand new site that you’re selling almost as soon as it’s built, it will go in the Start Up Websites section. This will cost $10. I’d recommend getting the bold and the highlight features for total of another $6. It’s a small price to pay to stand out amongst the other new sites in the same niche that didn’t add those options.

I’ve already posted quite a few tips on selling that will help you gain confidence in your sale:

Earn A Solid Reputation As A Website Flipper To Ensure Repeat Business

Set Your Goals And Calculate Your Net Profits (especially if you plan to sell regularly)

Avoid Being Scammed By Fraudulent Buyers

Feeling Motivated Now?

You see how easy it is? Those are basic steps and explanations, but the point I’m getting at here is that it IS simple on the big scheme of things.

You CAN sell a site with that basic outline for anywhere from $80-$200 or more. I see it on a regular basis. Search the marketplace and you will see it yourself.

Now that you’re fired up, how about spending an extra couple of hours adding more value to your site to increase your chances of a sale?

Don’t forget to subscribe to the rss feed or via email so you can stay up to date!

Cheers!

Jay

]]> http://suitej.com/flippin-fridays/5-simple-steps-to-get-started-website-flipping-this-weekend/feed/ http://suitej.com/blogging/5-tips-on-how-not-to-prepare-for-your-first-ever-video-post/ http://suitej.com/blogging/5-tips-on-how-not-to-prepare-for-your-first-ever-video-post/#comments Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:09:28 +0000 Jay http://suitej.com/?p=1148 This is it guys, you get to see the biggest head in marketing move and make sounds from the comfort of your living room!

On Sunday, right before I was about to shut down for the night and get some sleep,  I decided to click record in iMovie and let you know a little something about me.  The following morning, I had wondered what the Hell I was thinking, and found it hard to follow my own one-way conversation. So, for those of you who are thinking of doing their first video post, I am providing a short list of how NOT to prepare for your first ever video post (and of course, I provided an example!):

[ ONE ]: Record The Video At The End Of A Long Day
If you’ve been on the computer since early morning and spent at least 10 or 11 hours straight staring at the monitor in full concentration, the perfect time to fire up the webcam is at the very end of that work session. You’ll recognize the moment that I’m referring to the next time that you begin to feel a pain in the very back of your eyes where you didn’t even know there could be pain.

[ TWO ]: Avoid Making Notes Or Thinking About The Post Content Beforehand
You know the screen that you’ll be staring at the whole time you’re recording the video?  Don not use it to your advantage. Leave it blank, showing only your desktop wallpaper, without any notes or reminders of why you’re even making the video. Think on the spot! It only makes sense to combine this with number 1 above.

[ THREE ]: Mumble And Use Your Scatterbrain Tendencies To Their Fullest Potential
This will come a bit easier for you if you followed tips 1 and 2, since you will have to be taking deep breaths throughout the recording session just to keep yourself from tipping over.  Take your time getting the point across, even if it’s a very simple message that you’re trying to convey. Also, prior to stumbling on your own thoughts repeatedly, set up the visitor by telling them that you’re about to explain your information “quickly”.  This will catch them off guard and keep them viewing for at least another 37 seconds until they realize that the only thing quick about the video is the urge to turn it off.

[ FOUR ]: Choose A Video Service Randomly
Once your video is finished, you’ll need to upload it. Just choose any service you might have heard of. YouTube? Sure! Vimeo!? Why not!?
Now you can be surprised by the crappy quality when it’s been uploaded, since you have no experience with the service and have no idea of what settings to use when you export your video. Your visitors will love that, especially when added to the hot and spicy features of number 1, 2, and 3 above.

[ FIVE ]: Hide The Video Way Below The Fold
If you’ve followed through tips 1-4, then you are obligated to include a written post  of some value to accompany the video. The best part about this, is that your first ever video, which nobody is expecting from you, will be pushed way beyond the first fold and near the bottom of the page.  As for what to write, add some valuable tips, a little humor and maybe even a bit of self-deprecation so that your visitors may pity you enough to come back or even subscribe! Ok, they won’t subscribe, but they might just pop back  over on a rainy afternoon.

As promised, here’s my first ever video post and my personal result of the 5 tips I have provided for you:

Oh….first, the big question: Did I call out another blogger at the end of my first ever video post? Of course I did!

WAHM Tara! Where’s your video? You’re the one that started it!

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Cheers!

Jay