210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

What Is Your Online Shelf Life?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:10:55 -0800

Social media is beginning to play more of a role in the online marketing of your business if done correctly. Unfortunately though, too many times we get distracted by social media tools that end up becoming our main focus for our business online. Which is why one of the topics I love to speak on the most is the importance of your website, or online home base.

What's Does The Expiration Label Say?

A study done by URL shortening service bit.ly shared that on average, the shelf life for most links shared on either Twitter or Facebook is around 3 hours. That means that most content you would share on social networks will only survive around 3 hours before it loses it's power.

So, before you begin building a strategy of using a Facebook page as the hub for your business, consider the fact that if you aren't constantly updating this page every few hours, you are not getting your message, your product or service out in front of consumers. Sure, you could set up a bunch of scheduled post updates and monitor things all day long, but is that the most effective way to run your business? Personally I'm not a fan of things with such a short expiration date.

Push Versus Pull

While Social Networks have the ability to grow a huge community of followers, the only source of traffic is that social network. So, if you have 2,000 followers on Twitter, your audience is just those 2,000 people unless you get lucky enough for someone to re-tweet you. Facebook, is pretty much the same way, your content getting shared beyond your sphere is dependent on a viewer sharing it for you. So, you must keep pushing the content in hopes your sphere will also push it beyond your page to others.

While some think this may be the absolute best way to run your online presence, I prefer going with a pull process instead of pushing. What I mean, is that I prefer focusing my time and effort on creating content on my actual website that I own. That way, I can drive my Twitter followers, my Facebook Fans, LinkedIn connections, G+ Circles and other social connections to my site. But, in addition to pushing that traffic to a site, I also can pull in traffic, a new sphere of potential clients and more all through the search engines.

Take a look at this chart showing traffic sources driving visitors to my site:

As you can see in comparison to all other sources of site traffic, Google alone is sending over 68% of the traffic to my site. This traffic are visitors who are typing phrases into the search engine looking for answers and finding my site in the results. You can see Facebook, Twitter and YouTube do a good job of driving traffic to my site, but they are not anywhere near the amount of traffic that comes from search engines. This traffic is being pulled in by me writing content they find instead of me pushing something down their social streams.

To make sure it wasn't just my site that had these types of proportions of traffic, I then decided to look at the data for a few of my clients that I work with closely as their social media advisor to see what their traffic source breakdown looked like.

Take a look at the charts below that represents sources of traffic to two of my clients sites:

As you can see, both of these clients had almost the same identical percentage breakdown of traffic sources into their site. While social networks push a good amount of traffic to their site, they cannot compete with the amount that is pulled in from Google and other search engines.

Creating A Lifetime Warranty

When you focus your online marketing efforts on creating good content on your own site and not hours on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking strategies you can create content that can last a lifetime. When you begin to blog or create pages of content, you need to make sure you are answering the questions that your readers want answered. For example, a post I wrote in June 2011 on Tracking Your Images Through Google has consistently remained one of the top viewed posts on my site.

In fact, this past month it received more traffic than even the home page of my site. Other posts that I wrote on another site back when selling real estate over four years ago still to this day generate leads and make my phone ring. This work is the kinds of work that you only need to do once and you can reap the rewards from it for years to come. The beautiful part is that if I begin to notice a slip in my rankins, I simply write another post on that subject, link back to the well ranking post and it will start to climb back up.

I don't spend buckets of money each month on Google Sponsored Ad Placements, or on other Pay-Per-Click campaigns. I simply find terms applicable to my business and then generate content that helps my site to rank on page one of Google for those terms. While it may take my site a little longer to garner the results I want, the big difference between ranking organically and with PPC is that the minute I stop paying for an ad campaign (PPC), I also lose any source of traffic and leads as my site will disappear off of the first page of SERPS. If you start paying again, you come back up and the minute you stop, you drop again. Personally, I'm not a fan of my site acting like a yo-yo.

If you rank organically for a term and don't do it through shortcuts, you shouldn't ever see a sudden dip in how your site ranks on certain keywords. You may from time to time see things drop maybe one or two places. This is more than likely caused by your site sitting dormant or a change in Google's algorithm that determines how things should be ranked.

When this happens, if you simply go back, write some new content, link to the page that was ranking well and possibly give that well ranking page a slight content refresh, you should be able to climb right back up the search engine ladder. In essence what I have done is created content that can generate leads for a lifetime versus a social network in which you must continuously feed new material to reach that audience.

What Is Your Online Shelf Life?

In closing I want to leave you with this question: What is the shelf life of your online presence? Is it something you are building to last forever, or is it something that spoils faster than a loaf of bread?

Feel free to contact me if your website has been lacking and we can discuss strategies to turn it into a long time source of revenue to your business.

photo by: smplyme84

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. I have traveled the country as a social media speaker. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly. We specialize in social media training, online consulting, and the creation of your own custom WordPress site.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog to keep up to date with my latest posts of tips & tricks to enhance your experience on ActiveRain. If you would like, you can sign up to receive updates via email directly in your inbox.

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Would You Pay Snooki $6,250 To Advertise For You Online?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:29:49 -0800

I should probably start by saying I've never seen Jersey Shore, and had to honestly do a Google search the first time I heard her name to find out who she was. I quickly realized why I never watched the show after watching a 2:13 YouTube video of her "best quotes."

That being said, the other day I was flipping through websites and came across one that gives you the opportunity to purchase advertising. You can purchase the normal ad spots on a site for a month, or pay someone to send a Tweet for you. While there I wanted to see who the most expensive ad which as you probably have guessed by now, was Snooki. If I gave her $6,250 she would send out one tweet of anything I wanted.

While I thought of all the cruel and fun things I could do to friends by having someone with over 6 million followers tweet something, I then started thinking more about how this could be for business and if it would be valuable for a business to spend that kind of money.

So, I started to think about my business and would I pay $6,250 to have Snooki send one tweet for me? I tried to break it down into numbers to see if it would make sense. Here's what I came up with:

If I pay per character sent and follow their rules of using only 110 characters to leave room for re-tweets, it would cost around $56/character.
If I pay per user, that would mean I'm paying $1 per 990 users.
If I pay based on Hubspot's 2.8 hour half life, I'm paying $37.21 per minute of life of the tweet.

So I really started pondering if this was the best use of marketing dollars a company could use. Would you open up your bank account and give Snooki $6,250 for tweet about your product or service?

For me, I'll probably stick to simply building my own community the old fashioned way and use that money towards many other things.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Is Your WordPress Site Secure?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:44:28 -0800

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday to it's fullest extent by spending lot's of time with friends and family, shopping their hearts out, decorating the home and lastly resting enough to sleep off the turkey coma.

For me, my Thanksgiving holiday was spent doing much less fun things. On Thanksgiving eve I logged into one of my sites and noticed it had a few updates that needed to be installed. So, as I normally do, I clicked button to install the updates and everything went downhill from there. Because the sites were not updated in over a month due to me being out of the country with limited to no internet access, the updates did not get installed in a timely manner and it allowed for my sites to get attacked/hacked.

Since the site was on a shared server, the attacks shut down 8 of my sites and took me several days of work to get them back up & running again with the help of Sucuri to clean up the malware. (affiliate) Granted, most of the sites that got attacked were not used for much other than testing things for my clients custom WordPress sites, but some of the ones affected were rather important to my online presence.

In particular, one site I was very upset to see attacked was the new product reviews site I built, New Shiny Object. This site reviews products that you may want to purchase and with it being just a few days from the busiest time of the year for shopping, I wanted this site along with all my other ones back up & running as soon as possible.

Most of my sites had a free backup plugin installed that keeps a copy of the content on the site alone & emails it to you. But, the design customizations, installed plugins, and SEO work does not get backed up in the file it sends. Luckily for me, the most important site was able to be restored quickly & easily because of my recent change in back up services. The new service offers the ability to backup not only the content of the website, but also a full backup of everything to an Amazon S3 cloud server.

A quick download of the file and install back to the server and that site was back online. The other sites on the other hand took countless hours of work on my behalf to restore settings, plugins, themes etc. So, instead of it taking hours like my other sites, New Shiny Object was back up & running in just a few minutes.

Back in July I soft launched the WordPress backup serviceto my clients as well because of the tremendous value I saw in it. I soft launched it to make sure that I knew what I was doing, and also to really test the system and make sure everything worked the way it said it should. Well, after several months testing around 15 clients and after the events of this past weekend, I think it is time to start offering this service to more and more people.

That being said, here is what the new backup service includes:

Daily database backups to an Amazon S3 server with the 14 most recent days saved.
Full site backup (database, files, plugins, theme customizations, the works) saved on Amazon S3 servers every two weeks. (most recent 2 full backups kept minimum)
Full Restoration service of site in case of attack.
Daily email notifications that site has been backed up.
Email notifications if there is an error reported during backup.
Access to Sucuri Malware scanner inside WordPress dashboard to scan your site for malware manually.

Pricing for this is being offered as either month to month or annually. If you have more than one site you would like to have backed up, your second site is less.

Of course, this product will only work on self hosted WordPress sites or the WordPress.org versions. If you have a WordPress.com site, feel free to contact me about get you switched over.

Get Started:

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Returned & Recharged For 2013

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:25:47 -0800

Wow, the past month has flown by. My trip away was beyond amazing & life changing. Not only did I get to make an impact on lives of others during the past month, but I also got to see some of the most beautiful places I've ever been in the world. The photo to the right was one I took while in Cape Town, South Africa.

While I was gone I decided I would start my Thanksgiving early and start reflecting back on this past year and some of the things I'm thankful for from the past year. Since I had over 50 hours of time spent on airplanes over the past month, there was plenty of time for reflecting and planning for the future of the business too.

First, I looked at my goals coming into 2012 and what goals I accomplished. A big goal I had for 2012 was to increase my opportunities to travel the country as a social media speaker. In previous years, I was asked to attend maybe 5-8 conferences in a year to present. However in 2012, those numbers increased dramatically. This year I traveled to over 20 cities all around the country to share as a social media speaker. I would say this goal was definitely accomplished.

Another goal of 2012 was to help more people realize the value of WordPress for their website solution. During 2012 I was able to share with thousands how awesome WordPress can be through webinars, conferences, and company meetings. In addition, I also helped over 30 clients get their own custom WordPress site designed. Overall, the goals set for 2012 were pretty well met, or even exceeded.

What to expect in 2013?

Seeing how there are only a few weeks left in 2013, I figured while I had all that time on the plane without much else to do, it would be the perfect time to start planning ahead for the coming year and setting goals. Here's a few of them so far:

Just like in 2012, one of my top goals is to secure more opportunities to present at conferences as a social media speaker. I've already began signing agreements for conferences in 2013. If you have an event coming up or a company you would like me to come speak to, feel free to contact me to discuss presentation topics, rates, times, etc. I want 2013 to be my busiest year yet of travel.

My next big goal for 2013 is to help even more people in getting started with WordPress. To accomplish this there are several things I'm implementing. First is the public launch of a new WordPress starter package I'm offering. I soft launched this product at the beginning of October at a conference and the responses were great. This low cost option is perfect for someone getting started with wordpress. It features a basic blog setup with design and all the plugins you would need to get your site running for a one time setup fee. You will hear more on this over the next few weeks. Of course, I will still be offering the custom WordPress site option for those who want something more involved than just a basic setup.

The third goal for 2013 is to help people protect their WordPress sites from being attacked. While I was gone on my missions trip, some of my sites were attacked and hacked. I've spent the past three days over Thanksgiving getting them all restored and back running. Just like the starter WordPress sites, I soft launched a WordPress backup service using Backupbuddy that I provide to clients on a monthly basis this past year. In 2013 I plan on offering the service to everyone to help keep their sites secure and safe. One of the worst feelings in the world is having your site go down and no backup in place.

Unlike the free backups I install when building a site, this one backs up everything on the site, not just the content. That includes the plugins installed, design customizations, SEO work, etc. In addition, it saves the backup of your site to an Amazon S3 storage cloud server so everything is safe from an attack on a shared server. In my instance, I had 8 domains on the shared server and all 8 were taken down by the attack. Currently I have around a dozen clients using this service and hope to increase that number dramatically in 2013 to keep everyone protected.

The next big thing I want to get back to doing more of is webinars in 2013. When I started the company back 3 years ago, it was one of the main things we offered. We offered at least 2-3 webinars each and every month. I pay good money each month for software and don't always use it to it's fullest potential. So, be on the lookout for more webinars in 2013. Some will be free, some might cost money to attend. I also hope to do more webinars in 2013 with special guests. If you have a topic or want to do a guest webinar in 2013 with me, feel free to contact me to discuss your topic and schedule. As they become available, I will post them to my upcoming classes page.

The final goal for 2013 is to write more. During the past year I became lax on blogging on my various sites. In 2012 I created a product review site that has set dormant for months now. I hope to begin contributing more there as well as adding several guest writers there as well. I also help to take one of my personal blogs that have set dormant and turn it into a place to start sharing more of my images I've been taking. Don't worry, I also plan on adding many more tips, ideas, and helpful hints here to increase your business online.

Over the last year I've found myself really enjoying photography and want to share some of those images with others. I have not yet decided on which site I'm going to convert into more of a photo blog, but when I do, I'll let you know. One thing for sure, I hope that in 2013 I'll get back into the habit of sharing more quality content with my readers.

So that's it, that is the game plan moving into the new year. I've got a bunch on my plate, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I look forward to what the new year holds and the things that are to come!

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Blogging With WordPress Webinar Sept 14th 1PM Est

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:06:07 -0700

Almost every day I receive email from clients who want to better results from their online marketing. Normally the conversations begin with some sort of statement to me like: "I wanna get started on Facebook" to which I always respond: How's your blog doing?

To me your blog is your home base, one of the quickest and easiest ways to share information to your audience at a place that you own and can completely control. Also, Google and other search engines love the constant stream of new content which will help with your search engine rankings as well. Blogs also give you the ability to share your content quickly & easily with all of the social networks. Finally, the statistics show that businesses who blog receive 55% more online traffic than those who do not which is just another reason why you should be blogging today.

Join me Friday September 14th at 1PM Eastern for "Blogging With WordPress."

During this one hour webinar I will share with you how to get started with blogging as well as discuss with you some of the many great features that a self hosted WordPress site has.

photo by: Mykl Roventine: Out & About

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Are You Here To Comment On My Blog Or Sell Me Something?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 06:17:41 -0700

The other day a buddy of mine sent me a message on Facebook of someone who had commented on his new WordPress Blog that he is building. He found it strange that he had received a comment as the site isn't finished yet, and the content in the comment seemed a little odd. Over the past few months we have discussed me designing a Custom WordPress Site for him in the near future.

The random comment was made by a "Bruce" whose site domain entered had nothing to do with WordPress sites, Agentpress themes, SEO, or anything close. His site domain was a religious one. So when my friend asked me about it, I said, do you have the IP address? I had a hunch.

To look into things a little more, I asked him to send me the comment because it just seemed rather strange & awkward that someone would not only come & comment on a blog that isn't even built yet, but to also that the comment would randomly suggest someone to redesign his site.

Here's a screen capture of the comment:

The first thing I did was a simple IP lookup to find what I had expected. The IP address of the commenter on his post who suggested a company to do site work for him was in the same location as the company suggested. Now, I don't know for certain that the commenter & suggested company are the same, but my gut feeling is that they are since the site that was commented on was 2,300 miles away and the company mentioned to hire does have connections to my friend through various social networks.

Now maybe I'm the only one that finds this kind of tactics really below par, sneaky, and shameful. If you feel that someone should hire you because they could really benefit from your services, then simply email the site owner and tell them. I've done this before with many people. Some I've helped by giving them solutions to fix something wrong on their site, others have gone on to hire me to do work on their site instead. But, to impersonate someone else and push your services in the comment on someone's site is just wrong.

A common courtesy when commenting on someone else's site is to not try & push your services, or link to something off the current domain you are visiting. When you have a WordPress site, you gather all the information needed to check where someone is commenting from. This is just another reason why having your own Custom WordPress Site can be a great addition to your online marketing strategy.

Let's all try exhibiting a little common comment courtesy and stick to adding comments of value, not selling our products or services dishonestly.

photo by: photosteve101

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Is There Strength In Numbers? Or Social Slacktivism?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:01:35 -0700

Let me start by saying I have debated writing this post for at least the past three months. Why? Well the post has nothing to do about benefitting your business online or how to use some sort of new social media tool. In fact, let me just get it out in the first paragraph and say that this post is about me and a situation I am in now where I need your help. If that bothers you, feel free to click off this post now.

As some of you may or may not know, in October of this year my wife and I are going to accomplish something that has been a passion of both of us. Before we even got married almost six years ago we both decided we wanted to make differences in other people's lives through taking short-term missions trips to other countries. On October 22nd we will be loading a plane to head out on our first trip as a couple for one month. If you want to see all the details of our trip, you can visit the site I built specifically for it at http://sendustosouthafrica.com.

Over the past few months Katherine & I have done a lot of fundraising and have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many friends and family. To this point we have raised slightly over half of the total costs for both of us to go.

When we started raising money for our upcoming trip, I immediately thought it would not be a difficult task at all due to the large number of connections we both have online through the various social media platforms. Between the two of us, I am roughly guessing we have around 23,000+ connections. When you then multiply this by the number of friends & connections our connections have as well, the number would exponentially increase. So raising the money for the trip seemed simple and easy.

Then one day I was introduced to a new word by my friend Matthew Shadbolt called "Slacktivism." The definition of this term from the Urban Dictionary is this: "The act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem." Even after reading his masterpiece and listening to lengthy discussions in the comments, I still doubted this to be true of social media. I mean, I've heard dozens of stories of how different things have raised tons of money for a cause through social media avenues and how they had tremendous success at the same time. Yet in our case so far, probably 95% of the money raised all came through offline connections we have with friends and family members. To say it has got me down a bit would probably be an epic understatement. We now find ourselves just a mere 3 days before our deposit deadline of September 10th short of our total goal we wanted to raise.

So here's my challenge to everyone: We have three days to raise basically $5,000. Can you help me prove that social media does not suffer from slacktivism by making a monetary donation of any sort? Maybe right now you are strapped tight and don't have the extra to share. I get that & understand completely. As someone who owns his own business and has a family with two young children I truly understand. If you can't give monetarily, will you at least assist me by sharing this post with your friends on the various social networks? The more people who view this post means the more chances we have to reaching our goal by the deadline. I've heard sayings before "There's strength in numbers" and "Many hands make the load light" which I believe are both very applicable right now.

If you are like me, you have probably think a small donation wouldn't do much help, so why even bother. My type of personality can sometimes be that all or nothing type, where if I can't give the $5,000 needed, then there's no point in giving any. But, if 500 people each made a $10 donation, we would have things covered in full. Most everyone I know has the ability to spare that right now. That's the equivalent of a Frappuccino & bagel one morning at Starbucks or a #9 value meal at McDonald's.

So can you help us out? I'm placing the donation form below. If you make a donation, please let me know by either tweeting about it with the hashtag #5KFORSA. If you are not on Twitter, send me a message on Facebook or whatever other means you want. You can also assist us by sharing this post on social networks, or through a re-blog. I appreciate your help and look forward to reaching our goal!

Let me finish by saying this, if this post offended you or upset you, I apologize. I promise that this will be the only time you hear me ask for donations for this trip on this site. As I stated in my opening paragraph, I debated writing here for several months before constructing this post. I felt that as this is my most popular site of all the ones I own, it would be the most likely place to share this post. If you want to follow along as we take this upcoming trip, I hope to update this site while we are gone.

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Come Join Me In Tampa On August 6th, 2012

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:00:21 -0700

I am truly blessed to travel the country as a social media speaker and participate in some amazing conferences. One of the benefits is getting to make friends with awesome people from around the country. Some of my favorite people in the world will be joining me in Tampa, Florida on August 6th for a wonderful evening event that I would love for you to join.

During the event we will be discussing ways to make your business profit from using online marketing. There will be presentations like Mastering Facebook in 20 Minutes a Day, Becoming a Twitterqueen, Apps that make you more productive and more. I will closing the event with a presentation that will help to bring all of the different strategies, concepts, tools, and apps together and have it make sense. The title of my presentation is "Building a Successful Mousetrap."

During this session we will discuss the importance of a good website that you own instead and how you can use the power of all the social networks to drive traffic to your site and convert it into transactions.

Check out the below who some of the awesome speakers are for this event:

Mike Mueller is a former Mortgage Banker, Mortgage Broker turned “Tech Geek” who specializes in Social Media. He is a nationally recognized builder of engaging Custom Facebook Business Pages and WordPress blogs.

Mike writes AreWeConnected.com, a blog dealing with social media and technology. He publishes articles in the San Francisco Examiner and the BusinessWeek Exchange. AreWeConnected is listed in Alltop and ranked by AdAge. He has been interviewed and quoted in articles for BankRate, Scripps, the San Jose Mercury News and others, (including the front page of The Wall Street Journal for writing mortgage related Haikus).

Cyndee Haydon is a straight talking full time Realtor® with Charles Rutenberg Realty, Inc, in Clearwater Florida specializing in the "bluest backyards". She uses technology especially video to leverage the ability to connect with their ideal clients. They have successfully grown their real estate business 356% over the last 4 years. http://www.sandbarstosunsets.com/

Craig Grant, “The Real Estate Tech Guru”, is one of the TOP Technology and Marketing Instructors around delivering over 100 speaking engagements to over 5000 REALTORS each year. As his motto, “Advanced Real Estate Technology Instruction at a Pre-K Level” states his job is to make the confusing world of technology EASY and FUN for everyone! Craig was the 2011 Chairman of Education & Technology for Florida REALTORS®, Member of their GRI Task Force, member of REEA & a Top Technology & Marketing Consultant for REALTORS®. http://www.reti.ws/Craig_Grant/

Lesley Lambert offers 21 years experience in real estate, public speaking and training. Lesley has a degree in communications and was the recipient of an international award for coordinating media in real estate. In the course of her career Lesley has presented at international real estate conferences and state REALTOR associations, hosted a real estate television program, written articles for trade magazines and created marketing and PR plans for many individuals, companies and non-profits. http://www.lesleylambert.com/

Lynn Van Meter, is the CEO, Owner of Fiddlehead Marketing Advertising Public Relations, located in Spring Hill, Florida. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration, and a BA in Public Relations. In addition to developing marketing & advertising campaigns for businesses, her niche and passion is face-to-face marketing, spreading the news about businesses by shaking hands and engaging in conversation. www.fiddlehead-mktg.com

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Even With Over 900 Million Users, Facebook Is Still A Rental Space

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:06:28 -0700

Not too long ago Facebook released it's latest stats saying it now has over 900 million members. While this is a very impressive milestone, there is one thing I hear from people that makes me want to simply bang my head against my desk is a statement similar to the following one:

Websites and SEO are dead! They are now being replaced by Facebook.

Say what? Last time I checked, my site here is still alive and thriving and the number one marketing tool for generating income. I've got a fantastic Facebook page with a wonderful Facebook app that was built by my friend Mike Mueller. I update these regularly and they do help my business. But, I do not focus my energy on driving traffic to this Facebook page. Instead I try using Facebook and any other social networks that I am on to drive those readers to my WordPress site.

Why? Well, it is pretty simple. Facebook, Twitter, and any other social networks that you use are not owned by you. Even if you purchased shares in Facebook, you still don't own the space you use there and run the risk of being shut down or deleted at any moment if you do something wrong, or get accidentally caught in a glitch of the system. It's like renting a home. You may want to paint the walls in the house green, but if the landlord says no, you can't do it.

Better yet, what if Facebook changes something you don't like. Where do you send your complaint? Does your complaint get addressed in a timely manner? I don't know about you, but I've never once got someone on the phone or by email from Facebook to actually speak to me directly. I was told once that in order to get a personal account representative at Facebook you need to be advertising on their platform and spending around $10,000 per month. I'm not sure about you, but I don't have quite that type of money available.

The fact of the matter is that they are going to do whatever they want and you don't have much say. I laugh whenever they make a change to design or features. Almost instantly a new page on Facebook is created complaining about the change that picks up a few million fans hoping that if they band together they can get things changed. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, but at least misery has company.

Shift Your Home Base

Instead of focusing all your energy on building a large following on Facebook or another social network, you need to direct all that energy and time to building traffic on your website. It's the only thing out there that you in control of. If you have a custom WordPress siteand you want to add a feature to the design, you can. If you don't want a feature available anymore, you simply log in and delete it. It is your home base that you can claim ownership over and not have to worry about losing at any moment as long as you continue to pay for your domain registration and hosting plan.

This is where most of your time should be spent. Not on sites that could disappear at any moment.

Re-Focus Your Strategy

Here's where I see a lot of mistakes. We spend our time trying to drive our traffic to like us or follow us on a particular network. It might work well right now, but if you put all your efforts into driving your readers all to a Facebook page that is shut down all of a sudden, they are lost the minute the page dies. Instead, if your readers are in the habit of coming to your website and your page gets shut down, the loss is very minimal.

Maybe you are thinking that I am just being negative by all this talk of pages being shut down, so let's shift gears a moment. Unless you have a custom app on Facebook, how does someone view your products, make a purchase or even simply contact you about making a purchase? It's virtually impossible to do so. If a consumer wants to make a purchase, they would at some point need to be pushed to a website to do so.

Your website is where your products or services can be featured. It's where I can learn more about your business. It's also the one component of your online marketing that has lasting power. Blog posts I wrote four year ago still bring me business today. Facebook and Twitter status rarely live past 24 hours.

So, before you begin focusing more time and effort into building a large group on a social network, or platform that isn't your main website, realize that you are using a platform that is here today and could be gone tomorrow.

photo by: Thos003

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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What Inspires Your Blog Content?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:04:11 -0700

Coming up with ideas for blog content on a regular basis can be rather difficult for many people. It’s one of the biggest objections I hear whenever I speak on blogging. How do you think up new stuff to write about that isn’t just a repeat of something you have already done?

During this month long challenge of 21 blog posts in 21 business days, I’ve found myself at times even pondering what to write on next. But, what I have come to the conclusion is that by using one of the four options below to inspire content for your blog, you should almost always have a wealth of content available. These are the four areas I turn to when I am trying to think of something to write about:

1. Content written by others. No, I don’t mean go copy & paste something you liked that was written by someone else. That’s called plagiarism. What I mean is go out & read content written by others in your industry. You will come across posts that you like that you can then write in your own words or make it applicable to your area.

Another thing I do with these posts written by others on a rather regular basis is use it as a underlying theme to a post. I may write what I liked or didn’t like about the other person’s post. Or I may write a blog post why I agree or disagree with a concept/idea that they shared. This is a great source of content for your blog, and can also help you learn things from time to time.

2. New Products. No matter what type of business or blog you run, there is always something new coming to that industry. Either some new piece of technology comes about or you find something that you really enjoy implementing into your business. When you find these things, they can make some really great topics for blog posts. People love learning about new things and how they might be able to use it to make their job easier. I’ve written numerous posts about things I use when building a custom WordPress site for a client and have received many comments thanking me for providing help to others.

3. Past Experiences. Getting content ideas from here can be a blessing or a curse depending on what you pick to write about. In the past I have shared funny stories of working with clients, but some that share stories can end up getting into hot water by sharing things that they probably shouldn’t have. You have to always remember to use a good level of discretion when writing content for your website as it will live on the internet forever.

But, on the other hand sharing things you have experienced and had to do in the past to reach a level of success or accomplishment can make great content for your blog.

4. Your Inbox. This last area is probably my biggest secret weapon for new blog content. Every day I receive anywhere from 10-20 emails from clients of past, current, and potential regarding all types of topics. What I realized a few years ago was that if I was receiving the same question on a regular basis from those I’m connected to, how many other thousands of people were asking the same question and looking for an answer. The video tutorials alone that I have created to answer questions related to WordPress have generated well over 3,000 views.

These are the ways I come up with content for my blog. What about you? What is your inspiration for your blog topics?

photo by: jmoneyyyyyyy

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors- What Inspires Your Blog Content?

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Structuring Videos on YouTube For SEO

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:20:31 -0700

As we are well aware by now, YouTube is the world's second largest search engine with over 4 billion videos now watched each day. This means that it is an awesome way to gain exposure for your business online.

However, what most do not realize is that there are some basic principles to creating your videos that if followed will make them more popular to the search engines and increase your overall views exponentially.

At first I thought this was a theory until I recently did a video of my daughter and a new toy that she received for Christmas called a My Baby Alive. This is one of the more strange toys she has ever received as it pees & poops. I wanted to see if search engine optimization mattered or not, so I tested my theory on this video by doing a little keyword research and then implementing it into my video before uploading to YouTube.

Here's a quick tutorial on what I did:

So, if you apply some basic SEO principles to your video, I really feel you can begin to increase the number of views your videos receive. Have you ever tried applying these principles when uploading a video to YouTube?

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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The Art of Uni-Tasking

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:59:15 -0700

This past week I was in Atlanta, GA for a real estate tech conference where I got the honor of hearing my friend Matthew Shadbolt deliver a very powerful presentation on how social media is ruining us. He shared about the addictions people are forming to the instant gratification and recognition they receive on social networks like Twitter & Facebook. The mentions, likes & comments we receive release a level of oxytocin that makes us feel better. Once a person starts to receive some, it becomes even more addicting.

It gets to the point where people spend hours at a time bouncing from one social network to another trying to find another dose. Not only is the addiction a bad thing, but it has also caused more and more people to do more multitasking each and every day. No longer are we just focusing on our duties for our job, but we also splitting our time that should be spent working on a task on Facebook updates, Twitter statuses, and all other types of social networks.

While I used to believe that by multitasking I was accomplishing more. I also used to brag at how well I could do it and how I could do so many things at once. But what Matthew shared in his presentation changed my whole thinking. No longer am I going to try & multitask. Instead, I've implemented a new work into my daily routine called uni-tasking.

To me, uni-tasking means I will no longer keep my inbox, Facebook, Twitter, iMovie and several other networks/programs open at the same time and bounce from one to another. Instead, I am going to only do one at a time and shut the other networks off.

On Monday I tested this theory to see how it would work. I shut everything off but my inbox. I took the next three hours and spent just the time on email. What I noticed is that I was able to respond to everything I need and seemed to be much more focused on it while doing so. I also found I didn't miss the likes, mentions and praises that the social networks provide. I was then able to move on to another task without having to wonder if everything was finished or not. I found myself more productive than I've been in weeks and had everything done to then spend time with family.

So in closing, this uni-tasking might just be the best thing I implement into my business in a long time. If you don't believe me, give it a try and see if you receive the same results. My guess is you will be amazed at what you can accomplish by trying to just do one thing at a time.

photo by: ryantron.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Are You Over Optimizing Your Website?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:37:17 -0700

While search engine optimization plays such a crucial role in how well your business does online, one of the ever increasing issues I see from various SEO companies is the over optimization on customers websites. While there is great importance in having the SEO information done properly on your website, it is even more important that things do not go overboard. Going overboard can result in a website being either penalized greatly or possibly even banned from search results.

Also, search engine optimization is not a quick fix for any website. If your results come that quick, more than likely you are doing something in a way you shouldn't, and that will catch up to you in just a matter of time. So, be careful in who you hire to do your SEO work. Don't trust those that promise the world for just some dollars. Get involved and be a part of making your website effective. Ask specific questions as to what they are going to do to make your rank better. Don't let them just decide on some random keywords, but ask what type of traffic those keywords get each month.

Whenever I do SEO work for a client, I provide them with a spreadsheet showing them the monthly search of many of the keywords related to their business. Not only is this helpful for the initial setup, but this list is also very handy when you are trying to find topics to blog about or just know what keyword phrase to use in the post. I once had a client that by changing one word in the keyword phrase increased the popularity of searches from 180/month to 8,800/month.

Google Doesn't Like Over Optimization

When I hear someone say a site is over optimized, I immediately think either someone doesn't know what they are doing, or they are trying to use some less than honorable black/grey SEO tricks to push a site up the search engines. While this might do what they are looking for and push that website to page 1 of Google quickly, the site will inevitably be found by Google and penalized. If you remember back a few months ago, I shared about the JC Penney debacle and how when they were caught by Google, the penalties took them from #1 in the results to not even being found on the first 5+ pages.

Whenever I build a custom WordPress Site for a client, I make sure to try and follow all of these guidelines as close as possible to keep my clients from danger. Does it make the process of reaching page one results take longer? Yes, but I'd rather it take more time of them writing good quality blog posts and sharing valuable content that lasts for years than get instant results that end up being banned in just a few months. Post that I wrote over four years ago on an old blog of mine still bring business to me today.

My main site 210 Consulting ranks well in the search engines for several keywords and I've never once paid for SEO work. Instead, I've simply taken the time to write blog posts that are search engine friendly, and done the work on my own of building good quality backlinks through guest blogging, commenting on other sites, and other good SEO tactics.

If you would like more information on how to write blogs for search engines feel free to contact me and we can schedule a coaching session to get your site started in the direction of page one of the search engines to stay.

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When Promotion Turns To Prostitution

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:20:04 -0800

Ines Hegedus-Garcia - @ines @jb140 there's a fine line bet prostituting your posts & getting quality readership - @chris_smth @phxreguy @tcar @jimmymackin

This was a tweet I received this morning from my friend Ines in reply to a conversation we were having this morning on Twitter about a recent post on HubSpot about 25 Marketing Stats for 2012. The post to me seemed a little thin on content provided as it was basically just a list of statistics. That however is not the purpose of this post.

The conversation started this morning when Chris, Jimmy, Jay, & Todd were discussing the completely annoying use of a Tweet This! link on every single stat on their post. 25 orange Tweet This! links in addition to the regular Twitter plugin seemed a little obsessive to me. My thoughts on the post were that they were only concerned about me sharing it out with others on Twitter. They could care less if I learned from the post, if I commented, or did anything else.

What is interesting though is that while the post is chock full of very interesting statistics that all of those mentioned above would love and share out on Twitter, (It's what we all kinda do for a living, so interesting stats that back up our points are always valuable and helpful) the conversation turned from great stats, to poor promotion of the post by pimping it out too much.

I wish I could say this is the only example I've seen the past few days, but there are more. Just before following the conversation above I watched a video from Gary Vaynerchuk on how poorly the Oprah Winfrey Network was promoting through social media. Here's his rant:

Don't get me wrong, social media is a great tool to promote your products and services. I use is solely to build and market my business. But, it has to be done in moderation. If you try using a social network for just promoting you will get nowhere. Some may listen for a little while, but before long, you become just noise they ignore.

Crossing the Line

What is the line where you go from successful promotion to prostitution? That's a difficult question to answer. I believe it varies. Some businesses can do more promotion than others and get away with it. Others, the slightest bit can turn off your consumers. I think instead of trying to use a formula you need to just pay attention to your sphere. If people are interacting with you less, your traffic is declining, and things seem to be on a downward slope, then maybe it's time to change.

I know in my business I've tested this on numerous times and have found that the minute I seem to be doing more promotion of me, my business and not others everything slows.

The Magic Formula

So, what is the magic formula to promoting things effectively? How can I get all my stats going in the right direction? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple. Spend more time promoting others than yourself. People pay attention to those who help them more than those who try to sell them something. You can build a powerful online community by simply talking more about others good things than how great you are. In return, you are building relationships and trust with that community of followers. Then, when you promote something of your own, you are more likely to receive better results.

In order to get results from readers and your online community you have to first give something to them. If not, it comes across really clear that you are just out to pimp your own products/services/things and could care less about others.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. When do you feel promotion turns to prostitution?

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Now you really need to get into Google Plus

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:19:33 -0800

Social Search went live this morning on Google. No, not Google Plus – but GOOGLE, the mothership of the internet. They’ve been hinting that social has been influencing the Google algorithm for a while and as of today there’s no more hinting. It’s in your face. Bamm!

Here’s how a search for an Irish Pub in NY looks to me. Remember, I’m in San Francisco. You can see there’s 30 of my friends that have recommendations for me.

Google has placed that right at the top!

I didn’t know I even had 30 friends in NYC, let alone personal recommendations for me.

The truth is, they might be friends, but they might also be friends of friends. That means they might be someone you don’t recognize, don’t know and yet they just influenced your search result! Wow! They might have written a review on Yelp, or uploaded a picture to Posterous, or liked a YouTube video. Those are the rare instances. The majority of what shows up as a ‘recommendation’ in search is either a share to Google Plus or just a simple +1 by them.

That’s why, even though you don’t think you need another social network, you do need to understand what’s happening. Lucky for you, we have help!

January 16th, 2012 1PM Eastern- Understanding The New Google+ with Mike Mueller

Join us with special guest presenter Mike Mueller for an in depth look at the Google+ social network including how to drive traffic back to your website as well as the NEW Business Pages. In this webinar we’ll discuss:

What is Google+?
Step-by-step walkthrough on how to get started
Current useful Google+ applications for business
How to keep Google+ from becoming a time suck.
Understanding how to use this new Social Search to your advantage

With over 62 million users already on Google+, this is a network to definitely consider in your online marketing plan. This is a free webinar with limited seating, so sign up now! Register Here

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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As 2012 Begins, Do You Still Think Twitter Is Stupid

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:41:59 -0800

This past year I've had the honor of traveling the country as a social media speaker sharing on all types of social media topics like using Facebook for business, how to blog, video basics, and many other topics. One of the top statements that I've heard this past year while traveling is some variation of this: "Twitter is stupid, I don't get it" which normally leads into a discussion on how Twitter can be used to help your business.

Is Twitter Stupid or A Great Source of Traffic?

One of the things I usually try to point out to people is that Twitter is a great referring source of traffic to your site. During this past year, it is responsible for 22% of referring traffic. The only traffic referrer to beat it was Facebook at 33%. The bounce rates as well as time on site are very similar between the two social networks. So is Twitter stupid, or a great source of traffic? I'd have to say the latter.

Twitter Is Stupid, Only Celebrities Are There.

This is another common complaint I hear. Since you only hear of big name celebrities like Oprah or Justin Bieber on Twitter in the media, many thing that is the only people signing up and using the social network. Here's a really great visualization of Twitter adoption in the US over the past few years:

As you can see, there are many more signing up for Twitter each & every day. In fact, over 100 million users are active each month according to Mashable.

Twitter is Stupid I Don't Care What You Ate For Lunch

Why should someone care what you ate for lunch or what you did last night for fun. I get it, not everyone is going to care about everything you do. But, if you take some time listening to what others are doing, you can learn a tremendous amount of information about your sphere. And, build some of the strongest relationships with people. This past year I made a trip to Seattle to speak and while there some of my Twitter friends a meetup while I was in town. Thanks to my friends Stephanie, Dale, Linda, & Debra, & Chris, I spent a wonderful evening with a great group of friends, all that I mainly communicate with just through Twitter. So while some may not care about those types of things, I cherish the friendships I have made through Twitter over the past year. I know more about some of my friends on Twitter from the other side of the country than friends of mine that live within 5 minutes of my home.

So Is Twitter Stupid or Valuable?

I am not going to force you to use Twitter in 2012, but as for my business, I know I will be continue to integrate Twitter into my online marketing strategy. If you are not sure how to get started there, that is understandable. Here's a few great resources to get you going in the right direction:

Get More Followers- Chris Brogan
7 Way To Be Hated on Twitter- 210 Consulting
50,000 Tweets and All I Got Was Everything- Scott Stratten

If you want to connect with me on Twitter, you can find me @JB140

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With 3 Billion Views Daily, Video is No Longer an Option

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:42:45 -0800

Video, some love it, most hate it. Why? They don't like the way they look on camera, or hate their voice, or some other really bad excuse. But, with 3 billion views daily on YouTube, video is something that your business can no longer ignore. There are simple ways to incorporate video into just about any business that is out there.

As we all know, many people consume things better when they can either hear or see it instead of just reading. Hence why you always should try to include images to keep the consumers interest in your blog posts. However, when you embed a video into the blog post you increase this exponentially.

As I was scanning YouTube videos, I came across this one from a real estate firm in Australia. They do a great job explaining the importance of video in their industry:

As the saying goes, proof is in the pudding. Both the top sales person in the state & country are using video to promote their business. Also, they discuss spending $1,000 on a newspaper ad versus spending $500-$1,000 on a professional looking video. Let's look at this in detail for a moment.

The ad that you place in a newspaper runs for a limited time. Normally only once or twice making it's shelf life very short. Secondly, the reach of that ad is the audience in your city that gets a newspaper. If this was my hometown of Myrtle Beach, SC, the circulation of the paper is about 50,000 daily. So you would be paying roughly $2 per viewer if you are lucky enough to get 1% to view your ad. Since it is not interactive, you would then have to rely on the consumer going to a computer visiting your website, or picking up the phone to call you. Of course this also doesn't take into account those who are not in the market for your product right now, which would make that number dramatically less.

In comparison, if you pay a video company to design a dramatic video or create one yourself for your product/service you are offering the video can easily get thousands of views if you title & tag it properly. The other big differences between the print ad & video is that your video doesn't have a shelf life. Unless you delete the video or have your account suspended, the video can live online for eternity to be found by consumers moving forward instead of just those looking on that day. Secondly, the people viewing your video are those who are typically interested in that thing. They have done some sort of search and landed on your video. So, conversion should be much higher than the print ad.

So, if you have not started with video yet, now is the time to begin. 2012 is a year in which video will continue to remain a strong tool to implement into your online marketing strategy. To help everyone get started in the right direction, I've created a free webinar that will take place on Monday January 9th, 2012 at 1PM EST. Seating is limited, so register now!

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Is Your Website Mobile Optimized?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:34:33 -0800

According to Google, mobile traffic queries are up over 4 times those of a year ago. More and more people are surfing the web from their smart phones every day for things. There should no longer be a question of whether or not you need a mobile version of your website.

Having your website mobile optimized means that it will load quickly & easily for any mobile device. If it takes more than five seconds for the page to load, consumers are likely to leave and move on to another site. Also, the amount of data required to open a non-mobile site can turn those with limited data packages away from becoming a regular online customer of yours. If you have images inserted, they need to load properly and I shouldn't need to pinch or zoom to view the items on a page.

Google believes that mobile sites are becoming so important that they recently launched an initiative to help people determine if their site is mobile optimized. HowToGoMo.comoffers you the ability to test your site, learn more about mobile websites and even get help if needed.

Here's a quick demo on how it works:

When you finish the test you will get a brief summary and also the ability to either email or download a Full Mobile Report. Also, if your site does not do so well in the test, they have some great developers available to assist you in building a mobile optimized site for your business.

As someone who uses WordPress and also builds Custom WordPress Sites, I install a plugin called WPTouch onto all the sites I build that helps turn them into a mobile optimized version for when your site is viewed on a smartphone. It is super simple to set up and can be done in less than three minutes. It will make your site look fairly similar to the way mine did in the video demo above.

So, go try HowToGoMo.com and see how your site ranks in their results. If you need help turning your WordPress Site into a mobile optimized version, just ask!

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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AR Contest - Are you a Happy Grasshopper?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:54:25 -0800

I don't normally re-blog things, but this is a pretty cool product from some of my friend Celeste & Dan. Happy Birthday to the Happy Grasshopper team. Now, if you haven't tried out their product, I'd HIGHLY recommend giving it a try.

It is a really inexpensive awesome way to stay in contact with your customers. Remember a successful real estate business isn't all about the knowledge of the market, but also keeping your face in front of the consumer with solid relationships. This product gives you an easy way to do so. They have a 30 day free trial, so what's it gonna hurt to try.

I was impressed that Todd Clark made 17K off the trial period alone!

Via Celeste Grupman -Stay in touch with your sphere, automatically. (Happy Grasshopper):

We’re celebrating our 1st birthday at Happy Grasshopper and we'd love you to join in the celebration.

It’s hard to believe it but Happy Grasshopper is now a year old, and what an amazing journey it’s been. Last November we sent a few hundred emails for a handful of clients. Today we send millions of messages for thousands of agents and brokers.

We’re celebrating all month long and wanted to do something really special for all our friends in the ‘Rain. Why? Because you guys are awesome! So many of you were our earliest adopters and we’re a better company today because of your support.

When we launched our automated keep in touch service, you jumped in first. People like:

Susan Emo, who now credits over $50K in commission directly to Happy Grasshopper.

Todd Clark, who earned over $17K during his free trial.

Nancy Fraser, who got a listing from the her very first email.

If you haven't heard about Happy Grasshopper... we send timely, engaging messages to your database that keep you top-of-mind and generate more referrals. The best part? You don't even have to write them. Our professional writers do all the work and you just approve or edit the messages before delivery.

But don't think of Happy Grasshopper as just another newsletter service. Our messages are different from what you are used to seeing. Instead of tired templates and stale content about cleaning the gutters, our messages look just like personal emails you'd send yourself.

Does it work? Every message that Happy Grasshopper sends for you will generate a response from your database and start at least one conversation. We guarantee it!

Now is perfect time to see what you've been missing. Here’s what we’re gonna do... As part of our birthday celebration we created a contest where EVERYBODY wins. Here’s how it works:

Click here to open your Happy Grasshopper account – it is totally free for 30 days, zero obligation to continue. You must enter the code: ACTIVERAIN in the "Got a Referrer" field to get 30 days free.

Complete setup on your account (upload at least 20 contacts)

All of this should take less than 5 minutes. If you need help, we'll be standing by online or you can call us at 727-232-9117.

Once your first message has been sent, write a quick review on your blog. It doesn't have to be long...just a few sentences about how people responded to the message you sent.

Return here and leave a link to your review in the comments below.

It’s that easy! Everyone who participates will get a gift from our goodie bag, which includes flip cams, tshirts, hats, gift cards and some great mystery prizes.

If you’re already a Happy Grasshopper, click here we have a special way for you to get in on the fun.

Click here to get started now!

Stay in Touch and Get Referrals, Automatically...
Our team of writers create fun, friendly, referral building email messages. You simply approve them! No more forgetting to keep in touch or struggling with what to say. Try it now, just $9 for 90 days - Get Started Today >>

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Creating Better Videos- Audio

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:39:07 -0800

This is part three in my series on creating better videos. In our first segment we covered indoor shots and how to keep the light balanced. Then, we discussed why using a tripod is crucial to the quality of your video. For today's segment, we are going to discuss audio.

Good videos are made up of two main components. The images on the screen and the sound that accompanies it. If one of these parts is lacking or missing, the quality of your video goes down. While you may think you need to spend several hundreds of dollars on a good microphone setup, you will be surprised what you can get for under $40.

Before I show an example, let's first discuss the different types of microphones that exist. There are three main types that you may want to use:

Shotgun Microphones- These microphones are highly directional and pick mainly the audio that is just in front of them. It is used many times on movie sets with a boom stand that hangs it overhead those speaking. They can get a little more expensive, but can be effective in situations where you cannot have a microphone 6 inches from your subject. They can pick up sounds usually within 10 feet. Unfortunately though, if you are trying to interview someone in a noisy room, it can be difficult to distinguish their voice and the noise of others speaking in the room.
Handheld Microphones- Handheld microphones are like those used by news reporters. They can be wired or wireless. They provide a good sound of those close to the microphone. If you want the ambient noise of others in the room, this may not be the best option. Also, if the person using the microphone has weak arms and the microphone moves away, you may lose some of what they are speaking.
Lapel Microphones- Lapel microphones provide very good quality audio that will remain consistent as you clip it onto the persons shirt or jacket. These microphones pick up only the person wearing it so if you are trying to interview someone else, this is not the option for you. Unless of course you use an audio mixer and two of them. In the example below, I use a simple $25 Audio Technica ATR 3350 wired version. (aff link)

Here's a demo:

As you can see, adding just a simple $25 microphone changes the quality of your video immensely. No longer do you hear the wind blowing and my voice faintly. Instead my voice now is coming through crystal clear. So, if your camera allows for the use of an external microphone, then put the additional investment into your videos and see the major difference. If your camera doesn't have the option for an external microphone, have no fear! I will have a guest post coming soon that will show you how you can accomplish the same type of audio quality.

To learn more on how to create better videos, check out this presentation that I have shared as a social media speaker on Video Basics.

photo credit: Mike Mueller Areweconnected.com

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Creating Better Videos- Steadying Your Shot

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:51:19 -0800

The other day I started a series of posts on creating better videos. The series came from some recent presentations I have given as a social media speaker on using video more effectively in your online marketing strategy. The first post dealt with picking the right angles for your indoor shots. Today we are going to tackle another one of the issues I see in too many videos. The fact that you feel like you are riding a roller coaster throughout the entire video due to the shakiness. If you wonder what I am talking about, here's an example from one of my golf outings.

So how do we go about fixing this problem? Well, absolute easiest is to just use a tripod. It steadies your camera and removes all the shake. You can purchase one for anywhere from $20 for an inexpensive one to some that can cost you several thousands. Personally, I use a tripod/monopod combo from Sunpak that is around $85. (aff link) This tripod is a little taller than some of the others out there which comes in handy if you are taller or interviewing someone who is taller than 5'7".

In addition to this tripod, I also use a smaller lightweight one, but that can can be hard to use since it is so lightweight it causes some vibration when you try to do pan shots. The third tripod I carry in my bag always is a small desktop tripod. This one might get more use than any other tripod I own as it is with me all the time. It doesn't always work the best with the DSLR camera due to the cameras weight, but with the pocket cameras it is perfect.

Here is a quick demonstration video showing the importance of steadying your camera:

So what if you want to shoot a video and do not have a tripod handy? What should you do? Well, obviously you wouldn't want to just give up on shooting the video. Instead, lets think of some other ways to imitate the tripod. Here are just a few things I have done in the past when I don't have a tripod nearby to steady my video camera:

Find a steady flat surface to sit/prop the camera. I've used everything from sidewalks, desks, railings, you name it to steady the camera. I've even used my wallet before to prop a camera up & get that perfect shot.

Put your camera strap on & pull the camera tight against your neck. This will help to steady the camera more than just using your arms.

Find something to lean on. If you can find something to lean your elbows against you can use your arms as a tripod fairly well.

These are just a few ideas, there are plenty more crazy things I've done in the past to try & get the right shot. Have you ever used any of the things I mentioned in the past? Or maybe you have another idea. If you do, please share!

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Creating Better Real Estate Videos- The Indoor Shot

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:33:52 -0700

Wow! What a crazy month it has been here for me. Over the past few weeks I traveled several thousand miles to share as a social media speaker at many events around the country. One of the more popular presentations I have done recently has been on video in real estate. In that video I share several video demonstrations on various tools & tips. Things like the importance of using an external microphone, using tripods, etc.

I think these video tips are fairly important and could be useful to others, so I will be sharing these short video examples and tips over the next few weeks here on the blog. Today I am sharing tip 1 for creating better real estate video.

Getting The Right Indoor Video Shot

The biggest issue I have seen in most indoor real estate videos has to do with the camera position. Too many times I see the shot focusing on the windows of a room and shooting directly at them. While it is important to point out the lightness & brightness inside a room caused by a window when trying to sell a home, if you try to convey this the same way in your video that you do when physically in the home with a buyer you end up with all kinds of problems.

Because there is so much brightness, many ignore turning on the lights in the room to try to keep the shot from being over exposed which causes problem one. Then you have the unbalanced amount of light as you pan the room. Most cameras can not adjust fast enough as you pan so you end up with part of your shot looking fine, part completely washed out and then another segment that is so dark you may think you are in a real estate cave. Not to mention the fact that it looks like the room changes color from tans to yellows to grays to whites.

You can spend hours in the editing booth trying to adjust color and exposure in your shot causing you to want to pull your hair completely out. While this option is available, there are others that are much easier. The angle you choose to shoot your video at can fix all these issues almost instantly.

Instead of shooting your video directly into the windows with no interior lights on, move the camera to the other side of the room near your windows. Turn on the interior lights and begin your video shot there. By doing so you will see a more consistent amount of light across your shot without the white balance & exposure changing as many times as a chameleon.

Here's a quick demo video from my recent presentation on Real Estate Video Basics:

So when you shoot your next indoor real estate video, take time to think through the shot to get even steady lighting throughout.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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How Long Tail SEO Can Build Your Business Online

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:33:03 -0700

Long Tail keywords are so important to your online business and how it is found in the search engines. If your business has been struggling to be found online, this may be something you want to look into. While you may think that you need to be page one for your main business terms, what you are missing is that it is normally much more difficult to rank at the top of the rankings for these high competition keywords.

However, if you focus on long tail keywords in your site, you will find yourself having a much easier time getting to page one of Google as the competition is normally much less. So, as I shared in the video, if AppliancePartsPros.com focused only on the keyword "appliance parts" in their site SEO strategy, there is a good possibility they would not have had my business the other day. But, because they took the time and wrote content about a specific part as small and inexpensive as it may be, it brought them in a new customer.

As a new customer that had an exceptional experience, I know that if I ever need another part for a small appliance, I know where I will start my search. I also know that whenever I hear someone mention needing a small appliance part, that I will send them over to their site. My guess is that it probably took them a few hours of writing on the specific part & model number to gain page one rankings on Google for the keyword. So in terms of investment, I would say the return has been great.

So, if you are trying to figure out ways to help your business online, maybe it is time to start writing about long tail keywords and let others fight over the highly competitive ones. If you are not sure how to implement this type of strategy into your business, let's schedule a personal coaching session today to discuss this further for your business.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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Using Automatic Sync Programs to Post Across Multiple Social Networks

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:37:29 -0700

As many of you probably know, in addition to presenting at conferences as a social media speaker, that I also do a good amount of social media consulting with individuals and small businesses. As we begin discussing how to use Facebook for business, the ins and outs of Twitter, how YouTube can grow their business, and several other platforms, I almost always get asked the question of how can they automate this content so that they can write it once and have it syndicated to all platforms. I understand the thought that by using a syndicator, it will spread your message across all the platforms quickly and make life easier for you. But, what you are missing is that this is probably one of the most ineffective ways to try and build your business online.

One Size Doesn't Fit All

Each social network operates slightly different than all the others out there. For example, Twitter gives you 140 characters and you must include the @ symbol if you want to have it mention someone specifically. When this publishes over to Facebook for example, your friends see messages like this: "That was very funny @jb140 @210consulting." which makes no sense to them if they are not using Twitter. Also, the frequency you tweet is more than likely going to be more often than you would update your Facebook status. In my case, I might tweet 25-30 times a day. I don't want all 25-30 of those showing up in my Facebook stream. Also, Twitter limits the length of your update to 140 characters, so you may be abbreviating words or using online jargon to make your update. Do I really want that going over to a platform like LinkedIn in which it's main purpose is a social network for business professionals? Needless to say, updates on LinkedIn that say "Way to go, @JB140, that is a definite #fail. I prefer cheddar cheese #FTW"does not always portray the image we would want on certain networks.

Because I See It On 4 Places Doesn't Mean I'll Read

One of the reasons I am writing this post is because of a post I recently saw on Google+: The person wrote: Sync Google+ to Twitter, Itenti.ca, & Facebook. I started reading the comments below and asked why would you want to do this though? And needless to say I then saw them along with many of their other friends that I follow had already set this up. So, when I went to their Twitter account, Facebook Profile, or Google+ account I saw the exact same status update. For those of us who have connected with someone on multiple platforms, I see this becoming a problem. You can actually annoy people by putting the same stuff all over the place all the time.

Take the Time, Post Individually

If you want to say the same sort of message on all the various networks, that is perfectly fine, simply copy/paste the message across and customize it to fit the platform. For example, as I mentioned the other day for my Facebook Page, I try to ask questions more than making statements. I found this to be more beneficial. So, I take that same statement I might have just made on Twitter, paste it to my Facebook Page and alter the text to turn it into more of a question. If I want to post it to LinkedIn, I would do the same type of thing customizing it to the audience on that network. To do this literally takes you an additional 18 seconds or so and will increase your interactions immensely. I tested syndicating my content across all networks for a three month period of time and had almost no business come from it. When I changed things to manually update I almost instantly saw an increase in all aspects of traffic, interactions, and engagement from my online community. For me, I'll spend an additional 3-4 minutes doing this to see improved results. Also, not everything I share on one network is necessarily worth of being posted to 4 other platforms. So, before you set up your account to share your content across multiple platforms consider whether it is a help or a hindrance to your business. If you don't agree with me, I'd love to hear why in the comments below!

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How To Effectively Spam a Facebook Event to Your Friends

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:40:43 -0700

Over the past few days I’ve noticed more an more issues on Facebook with those I am connected to. For the longest of time things seemed to be going well. Then all of a sudden there seemed to be another mental lapse on how to use Facebook for business properly. I wrote yesterday about how to successfully tick off your fans on a Facebook Business Page. Well, this morning another common issue I have noticed on Facebook started running rampant again… people spamming you with events.

We have all had the invitations to a friends event on Facebook at sometime. I’ve heard that there are roughly 3.5 million events created on Facebook each month. If you are like me, you probably feel like you get invited to half of them. In my case though, I seem to be constantly invited to events that are nowhere near applicable to me. For example, today I was invited to an auction in San Clemente, CA. Curiosity got me, so I checked Google Maps, it’s only a mere 2,549 miles from where I live in South Carolina. No matter how amazing and awesome that house may be, the likelihood of me coming across the country to attend this event is almost zero. The same holds true for many more of the 1,300 other people invited to this event.

In fact, many wrote on the event wall complaining about being invited to an event they had no interest in attending or zero chance of traveling across the country to attend. I explain this whole situation a little better here:

So, before you invite everyone you know to your next Facebook Event, take a little bit of time to sort through those you are about to invite. Ask yourself this question: Will this person I invite be glad I sent the invitation or annoyed that I am sending them spam. If the answer is the latter, maybe you should refrain from sending it to them. Just because you invite over 1,000 doesn’t make your event more successful. Instead, inviting those who are likely to attend is a much better strategy to help you use Facebook for Business more effectively.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

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