Let Your Website Do The Work!

How An Ezine Turns Your Website Into A Working Website

Last night I participated in the ezine Queen's, Ali Brown, final teleseminar on ezine (email newsletter)publishing.  She made a great point I wanted to emphasize.  An ezine is a great tool to capture your website visitors information.  This simple item on your website turns your current website into a working website.  Not many people are going to email you or contact you through your website unless you offer them something of value.  So offering an email newsletter plus another free offer turns your website into a client attracting machine. 

I am a true example of this! I have recently added two team members to my company due to increase in demand.  I never have to worry where my next client will come from thanks to this simple marketing tool.  I don't mean to brag here.  My business before my ezine was not as client attractive as it is now.  I had no way to follow up with my customers or potential customers.  Now, I have a follow-up method that works for me 24/7. 

Also, since I have started publishing my ezine I have been invited to be a guest on radio shows and several webinars and teleseminars. Would have this happened without my ezine?  Possibly, but not likely. 

So what are you waiting for? Start an email newsletter today and make sure you have your sign-up box on every page of your website.

Feature Article: 5 Easy Ways To Use Video To Attract More Clients

As a former NBC television producer I would like to share with you some easy ways to add video to your website or email newsletter.  But don’t worry you don’t need experience in a television station control room.  Thanks to the YouTube and other video sharing websites adding video to your website is a lot easier than you think.

1)  Create a Photo Montage- Do you have photos of your products, workshops, clients, or yourself?  Then you can easily create a video for your website.  If you are using Windows XP you already have the tool to do this without buying any additional software. Windows Movie Maker has drag and drop features to make creating and editing your movie easier. It allows you to import photos and create a photo montage with background music and fancy video transitions.  You can then use this same tool to upload your video to a video sharing website.  Don’t worry MAC users, newer MACs come with a video editing tool called IMovie. But if you don’t have this software already it is available to purchase.

2)  Video Testimonials- If you work with your clients one on one or provide workshops, why not collect video testimonials from them.  All you need is a simple video camera and tripod and you’re ready to go.  You don’t need a special microphone or videographer, because the camera microphone will do just fine. But if you would feel more comfortable you could hire an aspiring movie director from your local community college. Your clients will love being on camera and feel honored you asked them.  Then use the same video editing software to get just the right clips and upload them to your website or youtube.  New clients will be so impressed!

3)  Webcam video of you- Do you have a webcam? If not they cost around $50 and are very easy to use. You can use your webcam to record a special video message discussing your free newsletter and the upload the video to your website.  I recommend a service called Instant Video Generator that makes this whole process so easy.

4)  Video clip of a recent media interview- Were you recently interviewed on television? If so as long as you receive permission you can display this video clip on your website.  If you can’t use the clip directly on your website you can always link to their website, but be careful to check the link frequently to make sure that it is still active.  Having a video clip from a media outlet gives you instant credibility with potential clients.

5)  Video of your product in action- Website visitors thinking about purchasing a product love to see how it works or people using it.  Create a home movie of your product in action.  For example, if you’re a wedding planner what about a home movie clip of your latest wedding? Or if you sell purses you could create a video of people wearing your purses.

Now before adding any audio/visual elements to your website please keep in mind these tips.  Don’t overwhelm your website visitor.  Limit you’re elements to one or two per page and only use only one element that plays automatically. Also, you don’t need the most expensive camera, microphone, editing software, or webcamera to get started.  Below are my top recommendations for the technology you will need to get started.

Video Camera

Aiptek ICAM 2.4 Digital Camcorder with 1GB Memory Card & Tripod $104.97
Pure Digital - Flip Video Camcorder $149.99

Web Camera

Logitech - QuickCam Communicate STX Web Camera $39.99

Video Editing

Windows Movie Maker, Free
Apple IMovie, Free

Making Videos Web Ready

Best Biz Website Solutions- We can take any video and convert into a flash video file to upload to your website easily
YouTube
InstantVideoGenerator

If you loved these ideas of how to add video to your website, but don’t want to mess with the technology.  Best Biz Website Solutions can help you create and add videos to your website.  For more information on how we can help send us an email at info@BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com.

Jennifer Haubein publishes “SiteNotes” a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you’re ready to get insider tips website developers don’t want you to know, and start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at http://www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.

Easy Tool To Create Videos

Videos are hot on the web! I will share with you one of my favorite tools which helps you easily create and upload videos to You Tube.  It's called Flip Video and I don't have one yet, but I'm about to run out and pick one up.  I actually already have a pretty nice video camera, but Flip Video makes it very easy to upload videos to You Tube and the picture quality is amazing for such a small camera.

Maybe it's because I was a television news producer at the young age of 16, but I have always had a passion for video.  But I needed a camera that was compact and had great picture quality.  This new camera was featured on Oprah and meets the requirements. I can't wait to share my new videos with you soon! I have lots of ideas and tips I want to share with you.

Here's to your on line success,

Jennifer Haubein

Best Biz Blogging Webinar

A blog is a great way to get the attention of the press and quickly become the expert in your field.

Here are some benefits of blogging:

* More traffic to your website
* Build your email newsletter list
* Attract more clients easily
* Instantly build your credibility
* Gain the attention of the press

It's not too late to sign-up for my special event.

"Best Biz Blogging Webinar" February 26, 2008 at 8:00 pm EST/ 7:00 CST/5:00 PST

Click the link below to register:
http://tinyurl.com/384ptm

Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works.  If you're ready to start making more money on-line, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

It's amazing how easy stores make it for men to find great Valentine's Day gifts.  At my local grocery store they had a tent you could drive up to for your Valentine's needs.  Also, once you walked in the front entrance they had everything you would need from flowers to candy and they took your money right there! I thought to myself how very smart of these grocery stores they really know how to market.

What about your business and especially your website?

Can your customers find your contact information easily? 

How easy is your on-line store to navigate?

The easier you make it the more they will buy from you and come back to you in the future. We love the "easy" button!

Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works.  If you're ready to start making more money on-line, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html

Blogging- Is it For Your Small Business? Part II

A blog is a conversation between your customers- It’s important to allow people to post comments on your blog. If you don’t you’re losing out an important dialogue and information that could help you reach your target market better. The best way to accept comments is require approval first. For example, if someone posts a comment to your blog you will receive an email and can approve or deny the comment. This protects you from spammers and most blog platforms allow this to be set up fairly easily.

Will a blog help my business? Yes, but you need to make your blog stand out from the crowd just like your website. Here are just a few ways a blog can help your business: A blog can build your status as an expert, attract new clients, and get media coverage. What business wouldn’t love to have more publicity! Search engines and the media love blogs, because it’s always fresh content. Not only is it fresh, but a blog contains tips, surveys, and case studies.

How will my blog help my search engine rankings? Blogs attract links easier than websites. Search engines love links and content pages, so your blog will probably attract a better ranking than your website. Now this does not mean you only need a blog and not a website. You really need both to successfully get your company information out. You do want to make sure to tie both your website and blog together. Make sure your blog contains a link to your website and your newsletter subscriber box.

Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works.  If you're ready to start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html

Blogging for Business- Is It For Your Business?

What’s all this buzz about blogs? Should you be jumping on the bandwagon? The simple answer is yes a blog is very good for your business, but you can start with baby steps.

What is a blog? A blog is an online journal published for the public to read, it is usually updated frequently. It is similar to a website except it contains short organized posts arranged by date.

What if I don’t have a blog yet? If you don’t have a blog yet, you don’t have to run out and set one up right now. Start getting acquainted with blogging by posting on other people’s blogs. Find some blogs on the topics you are interested in and respond to their posts by creating comments. A good place to search for other blogs is http://technorati.com/. When you post a comment usually you can add a link to your website, which is great for search engine optimization. Once you feel comfortable posting and are ready to take it to the next level you can begin your own blog.

How often should I post? When you are first getting started try posting once a month. Once you get the hang of blogging try to up your postings to once a week. It’s important to post often because people and search engines like fresh content. If you give them what they want, they’ll come back for more.

What to post? If you are already publishing an email newsletter/ezine, then you’re off to a great start. Take your articles you are writing for the newsletter and split them up into two posts. When you’re writing for a blog there is no need to write long articles. Just quick simple tips, reviews, or survey results are the best content for your blog. Remember you’re not only writing for the public, you’re also writing for the press. Reporters love blogs, because they can easily get story ideas. Make sure to include a call to action within every post that contains a link back to your website. This is a very helpful in getting your main website ranked higher in search engines.

Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works.  If you're ready to start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.