I remember the dark basement and the lack of light. The flicker of the machine behind me that would make us jump day or night. The noise of things dropping, the subtle excitement of what was about to come as my grandfather prepared to show us yet another piece of magic from his home movie kingdom. The good old fashioned home movie. No sound, no zooming, no fancy fades. Just an image of my mom running and playing as a child.
Today why do we still like to watch these old movies? They were simple, straight forward and contained something special. These three simple thoughts should be a part of all we do in web video web today as well. My kids are home for the summer. Yeah for them. I have bought them a small video camera and we are creating some magic together on my days off from work. As I have preached for years, you do not have to be a Hollywood director to create compelling online video. Think about what your user wants to see and then deliver. If you do not know... ask. I would add one thing to the three points of simple, straight forward and special.... keep it steady. Tripods are a cheap way to add a higher level of expertise to your video clips. From digital side bars to capturing video at a trade show, make your site something special by adding video today. If my seven year old can do it, so can you. Looking to see some examples, go to http://www.holistichorse.com and see how they are taking video to the next level.Thursday, July 09, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
What Are You Doing With Mobile?
Many of you might say… my web site is trash, why do I need to think about mobile? I would suggest you pay attention to mobile now so that two years from now you are not saying… my mobile plan is trash why do I need to worry about (insert new technology here)?
Planning for mobile is not really very hard. Start small and give it a try. What is the one thing that makes your business or magazine unique? Perhaps it is restaurant reviews or listings of summer camps. Start with that one idea. There are two main things to look into. First, how can I get that information into a data-base. BAM! Did your brain just swell? Thus, the name of my company; Brain Swell Media. Start with a simple Excel spread sheet. Second, look to make that data available through an iPhone app to start. There are many app building companies, including mine, that can help you for less than $1,000. Google: iPhone app providers.
The key is this, start playing today so that you have some practice for tomorrow.
Ryan
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Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Planning for mobile is not really very hard. Start small and give it a try. What is the one thing that makes your business or magazine unique? Perhaps it is restaurant reviews or listings of summer camps. Start with that one idea. There are two main things to look into. First, how can I get that information into a data-base. BAM! Did your brain just swell? Thus, the name of my company; Brain Swell Media. Start with a simple Excel spread sheet. Second, look to make that data available through an iPhone app to start. There are many app building companies, including mine, that can help you for less than $1,000. Google: iPhone app providers.
The key is this, start playing today so that you have some practice for tomorrow.
Ryan
---------------
Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Twitter This...
In honor of the web site Twitter, I am going to save myself some time and make my blog shorter. Also, based on the what I read from Ad Ages Abbey Klaassen, I have reason to express my concern over the recent trend by publishers to "hop on board" the "Twitter express".
Ms Klaasseen wrote, "Over the past few weeks we've seen countless stories about the "Oprah effect" on Twitter -- TechCrunch suggested more than one million people signed up and many a blog linked to Hitwise data that suggested the talk-show doyenne's endorsement of the service led to a 43% spike in Twitter traffic. While those numbers are important, the breathless reports have not accounted for what people do after they sign up for a Twitter account. Creating a Twitter account doesn't equal becoming an uber-user, or even a casual user, of the micro-blogging site. Nielsen Online data released today suggest more than 60% of people who sign up for Twitter abandon the service." I would suggest that this research is right and that unless you have a purpose to "tweet", you may want to use the extra "tweeting" time to give your wife a kiss, donate to charity or do your job. There is a real reason to use Twitter as a magazine editor or to assign a writer to "tweet" on a regular basis. The service is an excellent way to keep your followers informed on a topic close to your magazine. For example, you are a writer that covers rock and roll. There is a national band in town. You announce the upcoming concert, share your experiences at the show and then report on the show. This is a great way to use the service. But, please spare us the details of your latest disaster at Subway or that you fell down a flight of stairs due to the rain. We'll, on second thought, the fall down the stairs might be good for a laugh.
Ryan
---------------
Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Ms Klaasseen wrote, "Over the past few weeks we've seen countless stories about the "Oprah effect" on Twitter -- TechCrunch suggested more than one million people signed up and many a blog linked to Hitwise data that suggested the talk-show doyenne's endorsement of the service led to a 43% spike in Twitter traffic. While those numbers are important, the breathless reports have not accounted for what people do after they sign up for a Twitter account. Creating a Twitter account doesn't equal becoming an uber-user, or even a casual user, of the micro-blogging site. Nielsen Online data released today suggest more than 60% of people who sign up for Twitter abandon the service." I would suggest that this research is right and that unless you have a purpose to "tweet", you may want to use the extra "tweeting" time to give your wife a kiss, donate to charity or do your job. There is a real reason to use Twitter as a magazine editor or to assign a writer to "tweet" on a regular basis. The service is an excellent way to keep your followers informed on a topic close to your magazine. For example, you are a writer that covers rock and roll. There is a national band in town. You announce the upcoming concert, share your experiences at the show and then report on the show. This is a great way to use the service. But, please spare us the details of your latest disaster at Subway or that you fell down a flight of stairs due to the rain. We'll, on second thought, the fall down the stairs might be good for a laugh.
Ryan
---------------
Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Search Engine Food, Feed the Beasts!
My youngest son can eat! I mean eat! If you put food in front of him, watch out. Only a few minutes past a meal he wants more. Just like my child you need to be sure that you are feeding the search engines at every corner. Each and every page of your Web site is important to search engines and each page must contain food in the form of key word and key phrase data. Each page of your site is important. All to often people place so much effort on their main page that they forget about the others. With that same point in mind, simply repeating the information from your main page to the remaining pages of your site is no smart either. Each word of text is food for the search engine spiders. (Spiders are automated robots that scan your site and bring back data to the search engine database,) This is why you will often search for a seemingly simple word and get back pages from some very odd Web sites. Just like my mom, they see all and no all!
Here are some things to consider when optimizing your pages for search engine spiders.
1. Focus on 10 key words or less that describe the content of your Web site or 10 key words of phrases that people will search for when trying to find your site.
2. Make sure that these key words or key phrases are in your meta data on your site.
3. Make sure that the top 5 key words or phrases from your list are in the title tag of your web page.
4. Make sure that these 10 words are also in the text of your main page. Also, it is better to have these key words in the top 20 lines of your Web page.
5. Create unique pages within your Web site that contain your key words. For example, if one of your 10 key words is “baby dolls”. Write an article that mentions baby dolls in 7-10% of the text. Place this page within your site and be sure that there is a physical link from the main page to that page on your site.
6. Remember, most search engines spiders can not get to pages that are linked from drop down menu’s in your site navigation. To solve this problem you need a site map or an XML map.
The old thought that if 10 key words are good then 20 must be better does not work! You need to focus and not try to be something to everybody. Pick your 10 and push them hard through out your Web site.
Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Here are some things to consider when optimizing your pages for search engine spiders.
1. Focus on 10 key words or less that describe the content of your Web site or 10 key words of phrases that people will search for when trying to find your site.
2. Make sure that these key words or key phrases are in your meta data on your site.
3. Make sure that the top 5 key words or phrases from your list are in the title tag of your web page.
4. Make sure that these 10 words are also in the text of your main page. Also, it is better to have these key words in the top 20 lines of your Web page.
5. Create unique pages within your Web site that contain your key words. For example, if one of your 10 key words is “baby dolls”. Write an article that mentions baby dolls in 7-10% of the text. Place this page within your site and be sure that there is a physical link from the main page to that page on your site.
6. Remember, most search engines spiders can not get to pages that are linked from drop down menu’s in your site navigation. To solve this problem you need a site map or an XML map.
The old thought that if 10 key words are good then 20 must be better does not work! You need to focus and not try to be something to everybody. Pick your 10 and push them hard through out your Web site.
Concerned that you are not doing enough to get your site noticed online? Ask for help from the internet experts at Brain Swell Media. Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Beware Your Assumptions When Designing Your Web Site
Brain Swell Media spends a great deal of time re-designing Web sites. You will note that I said RE-designing, meaning, the business has a Web site and we are fixing it or starting over from scratch. From these ventures have emerged a constant theme that might surprise you; assumptions driven by internal arrogance.
I hear on a weekly basis how a publisher has great content online but no Web traffic. Most editorial teams and publishers assume they know what the readers want online and design their sites based on these assumptions. As an outsider I often sit across the table and see the sharp stares like daggers from editors when I question their assumptions about their readers. When designing a Web site, this arrogance will often yield less than desirable results. Rupert Murdoch recently spoke about this very point when he said, “There is an arrogance that comes from pre-Web years of being the god of the written word. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product.*”
I often advise clients that when you assume you loose! When you let your assumptions drive your site design you often get a reincarnation of the magazine online with extra content. While this seems a solid approach, it is the reason that Brain Swell Media is acquiring clients at such a fast rate. Magazines are not using the power of the internet and they are not seeing success online because readers are finding other sources that offer what they “really” want online.
Categorically users want more from the Web than what can be found in the magazine. This takes planning, resources and commitment to the cause. A very important part of the planning process is to take the time to ask readers or users what they want from your Web site. There is no one better to ask this question to the reader than the editorial team. I always advise that a reader advisory board be formed and maintained. So, where to begin?
• Run an ad in your magazine or ask for volunteers via the editorial column.
• Assemble a list of 20 readers that are willing to serve as your online advisory board.
• Reward them with a t-shirt or a free subscription.
• Create a simple e-mail and begin by asking this one question to the group. If we could offer one thing on our Web site what would you like to see?
• Use this information to begin to form your offerings online.
• Use an online forum to ask questions of your readers and let them debate amongst themselves a bit too.
Do not assume that you know what your readers want online. Ask. Do not let your editorial team determine what is needed online without asking the readers. When you offer what someone “really” wants, you will soon see quick rewards online.
This is just one step in an exhaustive list of items that must be accomplished to have a successful Web site. Again, assume and you will loose online.
Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan Dohrn and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
http://www.RyanDohrn.com or http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
*Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=95397
I hear on a weekly basis how a publisher has great content online but no Web traffic. Most editorial teams and publishers assume they know what the readers want online and design their sites based on these assumptions. As an outsider I often sit across the table and see the sharp stares like daggers from editors when I question their assumptions about their readers. When designing a Web site, this arrogance will often yield less than desirable results. Rupert Murdoch recently spoke about this very point when he said, “There is an arrogance that comes from pre-Web years of being the god of the written word. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product.*”
I often advise clients that when you assume you loose! When you let your assumptions drive your site design you often get a reincarnation of the magazine online with extra content. While this seems a solid approach, it is the reason that Brain Swell Media is acquiring clients at such a fast rate. Magazines are not using the power of the internet and they are not seeing success online because readers are finding other sources that offer what they “really” want online.
Categorically users want more from the Web than what can be found in the magazine. This takes planning, resources and commitment to the cause. A very important part of the planning process is to take the time to ask readers or users what they want from your Web site. There is no one better to ask this question to the reader than the editorial team. I always advise that a reader advisory board be formed and maintained. So, where to begin?
• Run an ad in your magazine or ask for volunteers via the editorial column.
• Assemble a list of 20 readers that are willing to serve as your online advisory board.
• Reward them with a t-shirt or a free subscription.
• Create a simple e-mail and begin by asking this one question to the group. If we could offer one thing on our Web site what would you like to see?
• Use this information to begin to form your offerings online.
• Use an online forum to ask questions of your readers and let them debate amongst themselves a bit too.
Do not assume that you know what your readers want online. Ask. Do not let your editorial team determine what is needed online without asking the readers. When you offer what someone “really” wants, you will soon see quick rewards online.
This is just one step in an exhaustive list of items that must be accomplished to have a successful Web site. Again, assume and you will loose online.
Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan Dohrn and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
http://www.RyanDohrn.com or http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
*Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=95397
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