That’s where Creative Commons comes in. It allows you, as a content creator, to specify who can use your content, when they can use it and how they can use it.

This past weekend I was at Podcamp London and attended a session about Creative Commons. Rodd Lucier, the presenter, has created this slide show about Creative Commons and how it can be used. While Rodd is presenting from the point of view of an educator, for anyone new to the ideas of copyright and Creative Commons, this slide show (complete with audio) is a useful introduction.

I hope you enjoy this presentation, and more importantly, learn how Creative Commons can be used in your business.

Table of contents for Using Google to Market Your Business

1. Using Google to Market Your Business
2. Using Google to Market Your Business Part 2: Google Analytics
3. Using Google to Market Your Business Part 4: Google Keyword tool
4. Using Google to Market Your Business Part 3: YouTube

YouTube is now owned by Google so this is yet another way to use Google as a marketing vehicle. With over 100 million U.S. viewers of YouTube (never mind the rest of the world) as of January 2009, clearly YouTube is a way to reach a large number of people.

Why should you add YouTube videos to your marketing plan?

SEO

First, search engines are starting to rank video higher than longer articles and blog posts. If you’ve used good keywords in your title and meta tags, your video is more likely to get found by Google and other search engines. Additionally, since you can include a link to your own website, you can further increase the ranking of your site by adding videos to YouTube.

More Clicks

Our eyes naturally go to photos. If your video shows up in a search someone does on Google, the thumbnail of your video is more likely to catch their eye and get clicked than a text only result. This means more traffic for you.

Link Bait

Good videos are “link bait”. YouTube automatically includes a link for views to use to add to their website. If you provide interesting or useful content it is more likely someone will add your video to their website, increasing the number of people who see and hear your message.

You’ll be cutting edge

Even though people are moving to YouTube in droves, the majority of small businesses haven’t tried it yet. If you start using video online today, there’s a good chance you’ll be one of the first ones in your industry to do so. You’ll be seen as cutting edge or just reach people your non-YouTube competitors don’t.

Works well with other social media sites

Social media sites like Facebook are designed to work with YouTube. You can easily and quickly import your YouTube videos and get double duty. Even if someone has never used YouTube before, they can still watch your content.

The rule of seven

YouTube was made for the Rule of Seven. I’ve said it before: people like to do business with those they know, like and trust. And getting to know, like and trust you takes time – at least seven contacts with your marketing message. Video is a great way to let people get to know you: they can see your face and hear your voice. You’re no longer an anonymous entity online but a living, breathing person. If you combine that with interesting and helpful information, video can speed up the process of getting people to feel comfortable enough with you to be willing to open their wallets and purchase your products or services.

Tips for creating a good video

I’m not a videographer so I’m not going to give you tips on how to actually use a video camera. If you need help there, hire someone or find a teenager who knows what she’s doing.

However, there are some tips I can give you to get better results.

1. It doesn’t have to be perfect. While you don’t what to look completely unprofessional, if your video is too polished viewers may feel like they’re viewing a commercial. Sometimes a slightly homemade quality to the video can make your message more authentic.
2. The average YouTube viewer spends 2.5 to 3 minutes per video. Keep your video in that range and you’ll likely get more viewers.
3. Dress professionally. I know I said a homemade quality may sound authentic but that doesn’t mean I think you should create your videos in your pajamas. Unless your personal and business brand is very quirky, dress how you would if you were meeting clients. Clean up your office – if that’s where you’re shooting.
4. Provide good, useful content. People don’t want a sales pitch. The best format is to talk about a problem your customers have and give them tips on how to solve it.
5. Don’t forget a subtle sales pitch. If you’ve given useful information, end your video with a soft sell. Include your website address and some sort of call to action – what do you want the viewer to do next. An ideal call to action is send them to a place on your website where they can get more information.

If you haven’t started using video yet, now might be the time to give it a try. Go to YouTube, see how others are viewing the site, get out your video camera and give it a try.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Are you using video and YouTube to market your business? Let us know how it works by leaving a comment. Also, if you know of businesses that are doing a good job with video, leave us links to the best online videos.

The other day I came across a link to an interesting blog post that included a very startling “fact” about social media use by small businesses. It said that 65 percent of small businesses don’t use social media at all. Naturally I clicked the link to the article. It repeated the startling fact and included links to the sources for the statistic. Because I wanted to know more, I clicked the links.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the links wasn’t valid and the other link went to a study that didn’t include the statistic mentioned. In fact, the data mentioned on the study could be interpreted to mean the exact opposite of what was quoted in the blog post. It mentioned that 64 percent of small businesses use social media for answering customer questions. No mention at all of businesses not using social media.

This misrepresentation of the data left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Rather than adding this blogger to my RSS reader and quoting him in this blog, I’ll never trust what he has to say again. By fiddling with the data to create a catchy headline, he lost a reader forever.

I’m all for using surprising or startling facts in your blog posts or headlines. They make for interesting reading. Just make sure that the “facts” are true. Otherwise, you’ll lose me as a reader, customer and referrer.

Andrea J. Stenberg

However, with a little planning, it doesn’t have to be. The key is taking one piece of content or one idea and using it multiple ways. The initial concept and the initial creation of a piece of marketing content is the hardest part. Once it’s there, reusing it in other ways and on other platforms is simple and takes much less time.

Here are seven simple ways you can repurpose your blog posts to create some powerful marketing tools.

1. Link your blog with Facebook and Twitter.

This is the simplest way to repurpose blog posts and if you aren’t already doing this you are missing the boat. Import your blog into Facebook using the “Notes” feature. This can either be into your personal profile page, your business fan page or both. This way people who never visit your website will still see your content.

Tweet about it. Many blogging tools allow you to automatically send out a Tweet whenever you publish a new post. But that’s not the only way to repurpose yourself on Twitter. If you include an interesting statistic in your blog post, send a Tweet including the statistic plus a link to your blog post. If you answer a provocative question, ask the question in Twitter with a link to your blog post.

2. Edit blog posts for ezinearticles.com

Ezinearticles.com is an article directory site. “Expert” writers upload their articles about a variety of topics. Publishers of ezines, newsletters and blogs can use the content in their own publications as long as they give credit to the author, including a link to their website. Other people use the site to learn about topics they are interested in. It can be a great way to drive traffic to your website and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Depending on your writing style, you may be able to just submit your articles “as is”. In other cases, you may need to do some minor editing. Because I am a little long winded (and hopefully am giving some great value) my blog posts are often quite a bit longer than the usual articles on ezinearticles.com. As a result, I can often take a blog post and edit to create two or three articles.

3. Reuse your blog posts in print publications

Do you belong to an association that includes your target audience? Do they publish a newsletter? If so, this is the perfect place to reuse your blog posts. Newsletter editors are notoriously desperate for new content and will often be happy to know you have articles available to be published at a moment’s notice.

4. Record your blog posts

Take your best blog posts, read them aloud and record it with a digital recorder or directly onto your computer with a microphone. You can submit these recordings to places like iTunes, post them on your website or burn them onto CDs and give them out to prospects.

If you can’t read without sounding like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, get someone else to read the posts for you.

Either way, many people prefer audio as a way to consume content because they can multi-task.

5. Create a video

Use a simple digital video recorder and make a video of you reading the blog post. Even a simple “talking head” video can be effective, particularly if not a lot of people in your industry are using video. By showing your face, you give people a chance to get to know you a little more than they can from just reading your blog posts.

If you want to get a little more involved, create a slide show to go along with the material and use Windows Movie Maker to add audio to the slides.

6. Turn blog posts into a book or ebook

If you have several blog posts about a single topic, particularly if they are instructional, put them together in a printed booklet or an ebook. You can hand them out to past clients, prospects or offer them from your website. Having a book can seem like a real “value added” gift that you are giving people, plus it really shows the depth of your expertise.

7. Turn your blog post into a press release

Particularly if you are writing about something new in your industry or your personal spin on a current news topic, a blog post can easily be reformatted into a press release. Then send it to local media (newspapers, radio and television stations) as well as being published online. Even one mention in a news item can mean huge publicity for you.

These are just a few ways you can repurpose your blog posts. If you’re not using any of these idea, please make a plan to implement at least one in the next week. You’ll be glad you did.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Do you repurpose your blog content? Please leave a comment and share not only how you do it, but what results you’ve had.

I’ve spent some time using both Delicious (formerly Del.icio.us) and StumbleUpon, added plug-ins for both sites to my web browser. Since I’m starting to get the hang of all this I decided to write a blog post. However, while researching for this blog post I came across this video. Since I don’t think I could possibly say it any better, I’ve included the video here.

Tomorrow I’ll share what my social media network has to say about social bookmarking strategies.

Andrea J. Stenberg

So many people know they need to build their list but aren’t quite sure how. They think it’s some mysterious secret that top online businesses know that they don’t. But there really isn’t a secret. The key is practicing a small number of strategies consistently. Here are a few strategies to try.

Ezine Advertising

Find ezines of people with similar target markets who offer complimentary products and services. Ask if you can have a line or two in their ezine promoting your free giveaway. If the publisher is someone you already have a relationship with, you might even get the advertisement for free, particularly if you have an affiliate program or can offer a reciprocal ad.

Online Articles

Even if you already publish a blog, repurpose your posts into articles at article directories such as ezinearticles.com. In the author’s bio at the end of the article include a pitch and link for your free giveaway.

I confess I have neglected this method after only a brief try. However, so many of my mentors swear by it that I’m once again giving it a try. Experts tell me the critical mass is 25 to 50 articles. Create short (300 to 500 words) articles around the same topic and you will begin to drive massive traffic to your site.

As I write this post I can’t swear by the results based on personal experience but enough people who know have been telling me to do it that I’ll be aiming for 25 articles by mid-February.

Tell-A-Friend

Once someone has signed up for your free offer or made an online purchase, give them the opportunity to “tell-a-friend”. On your thank you page, have a tell-a-friend link that lets the subscriber pass along your info. Alex Mandossian says he gets an average of 2.4 referrals per subscriber. That’s an awful lot of traffic that doesn’t cost anything.

To add the tell-a-friend script to your site, either get your techie to do it or try a Google search for “tell-a-friend scripts”. You should be able to find something for free.

Signature Files

In every email you send, be sure your signature includes a pitch and link to your free offer. You’re sending the emails anyway, it doesn’t cost anything to include a signature and you never know what you might get. Best of all, once you set up your signature, you can forget about it. It’s automatically includes.

Business Cards

When I first heard this tip I mentally kicked myself because I just had 1000 cards printed and I wish I had thought of it. Most people have business cards with just one side printed. Why not use the back of the card to sell people on your free offer. Include a compelling headline and a URL to a page where they can subscribe.

Social Media

At the very least, include an offer for your giveaway in your bio. From time to time mention your free giveaway in your posts: Tweet about it on Twitter, refer to it when answering a question in LinkedIn Answers, mention it in your Facebook status update.

Does this work? You bet. I often find someone starts following me on Twitter, then they connect via Facebook or LinkedIn. Next thing you know, I see them on my ezine list.

Press Releases

When creating a new free giveaway as an enticement to signing up for your list, send out a press release to traditional and online media. Pitch the problem your giveaway solves and that it’s available for free. Just one mention in the press can cause a spike in traffic.

Better yet, if you are giving a radio interview, don’t forget to mention your free offer and where to get it. You won’t be stepping on toes. Radio interviewers expect you to promote yourself as part of the deal

As you can see, there are many ways to build your list. Pick a couple of the tactics mentioned here and commit to using them regularly for the next three months. Then compare the size of your list to what it is today. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Darren Rowse, author of the blog ProBlogger obviously agrees as he recently wrote a post called Two Tips on Landing Interviews for Your Blog.

Clearly Darren is referring to “email” interviews, where you email questions to the subject and they email a response. While this can be a great way to get responses from a large number of people, I’m not really in favour of email interviews. Perhaps this is my journalism background speaking but I really think the best way to conduct an interview is by talking with a person, usually by phone.

How do you do this? Send a short email introducing yourself and stating what you want the interview for and what it will be about. Give a time limit. For my book, my interviews have taken about an hour. For your blog they could be much shorter, even as brief as five or ten minutes. Suggest a couple of dates and times. This will save some back and forth emails if these dates work for your subject. If they don’t, they will likely suggest an alternate date if they are interested.

Don’t worry about rejection. Most people are flattered to be asked and I’ve rarely been turned down. In fact, the only “rejection” I had was actually someone who had to cancel and we’re still trying to reschedule.

You need to decide in advance whether you’ll record the interview. The advantage of recording is you don’t have to take detailed notes and can concentrate on what the person is saying. You also have the option of using the recording as a free giveaway or a product. The downside is some people are nervous about recordings and become inhibited.

If you do decide to record the interview, it’s easy to do using a bridge line, Skype or physical recording devices. If you are going to record you need to practice ahead of time to make sure the recording device works. Of course, you must get permission before recording. Ideally, let the subject know in advance if you are planning to record.

When it comes time to do the interview, it’s a good idea to send a reminder email the day before. Make sure you have prepared a list of questions so you get the most out of this person’s time. When you get the person on the phone, be polite and ask your questions. Be sure you really listen to their responses and be prepared to go “off script” if they say something interesting that you want to follow up on.

When you reach the time limit you specified, end the call. If you and the expert are really on a roll, they may be willing to continue, but don’t assume. Say something like, “We’ve reach the twenty minutes I promised this interview would take. Thanks for your time. I do have some more questions I’d like to ask if you don’t mind going overtime, but I understand if your schedule doesn’t allow it.”

When the call is finished, send a thank you. If you have a snail mail address, send a card rather than an email. When you post the article you write as a result of the interview, send the link to the expert with another brief note of thanks. Be sure to include a link to their website or blog.

Clearly conducting interviews is more time consuming than just using your own knowledge to write posts, but it can be very rewarding. Interviews give you fresh content, can increase your readership if you land a big name interview and they can lead to unexpected business relationships with the experts you speak with. If you’ve never done an interview, plan to give one a try in the next few weeks.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Have you landed a big interview for your blog, ezine or podcast? Tell us how you did it by leaving a comment below.

So why do prospects need to hear your message so many times before taking action? If you are doing your marketing well, you are targeting the right people; your ideal customers. You have created powerful marketing materials that use language your target audience relates to. You speak to their major problems and how you can solve them. Why don’t they jump to their feet and grab what you have to offer the first time they see your message?

1. Noise

In today’s world, people are being bombarded with messages constantly. It is truly difficult to get past all this noise and be heard.

The first few times someone sees your message its likely it won’t completely register with them. We all have marketing blinders we’ve built up over time – otherwise we’d be overwhelmed with the constant noise from businesses clamoring to be heard.

It’s no different with your prospects. They’re not sitting around waiting for you to show up. They’re busy living their lives and you may not even be a blip on their radar.

2. They don’t need you … yet

Even if you’ve closely targeted the right people, they may not need your product or service today. And if they only see your marketing message once, it’s not likely they’ll remember you tomorrow or next week or next year when they suddenly do need you. When it comes to marketing out of sight is definitely out of mind.

This is true even when your target audience is a business. When I was doing marketing research for my copywriting business, one manager told me when he needs copywriting he’s most likely to go to the one whose flyer just arrived on his desk. He doesn’t want to dig through his list of contacts to find one.

3. They’re worried about the price

In these troubled economic times, price may very well be an issue. However, objections about price are usually code for “I’m not really sure I need/want your product”. If someone really wants what you have to offer, it’s amazing how quickly they’ll figure out how to pay for it.

If a prospect sees your message and is interested but worried about money, it just means you haven’t quite convinced them of the value of your offer. The good news is you’ve gotten past the noise. If they continue to see powerful marketing messages from you, they may get closer to seeing your value and forgetting about their price concerns. That’s why you need to keep marketing.

4. The main reason: they don’t know, like and trust you

The real reason people don’t buy the first time they run across your marketing message is they don’t know you from a hole in the ground. Remember what I said about noise. It’s not just there are too many messages; there are too many messages that aren’t true.

Do you take every commercial, flyer or email marketing message at face value? Or do you have your own personal BS meter that’s shouting “yea, right” when someone makes a claim? Of course you do. I do to. If someone wants to sell to me, they need to prove they can do what they say.

This is the real truth about the Rule of Seven. It takes time for people to get to know you – remember your name, your offer, your message. Once they know you, they need time to get to like you – and your business. Over time, they’ll eventually start to trust you. Once they trust you – trust that you’re honest and provide true value – then, and only then, will they be ready to buy.

How long does this process take? Probably not in seven contacts. It really depends; it depends on the value of your offer, how badly they need it and how many charlatans they’ve run across before.

How do you use the Rule of Seven in your marketing plan?

First, never rely on only one type of marketing method. Even if you are getting stellar results today, that might change in the future. Think of internet marketing. Email used to be much more effective than it is today. That’s why the spammers got involved. Now with spam filters, it’s harder for legitimate marketing to get through.

The same may be true of other marketing methods. Some factor outside your control may change how easily you can reach your prospects. So even if you have discovered a method that is getting you all the customers you can handle, add a couple of other tools to your marketing toolbox to ensure you don’t get blindsided by unexpected changes.

The Rule of Seven is why “information marketing” is so effective. By providing free information to your prospects on a regular basis, you are building a solid relationship. Information offered in a newsletter or blog doesn’t set off alarms because it’s not a sales pitch; it’s a genuine attempt to educate and help.

Finally, simplify or automate the process as best you can. Too many entrepreneurs only market sporadically because they are “too busy” to market themselves. Then they wonder why they don’t have enough clients. Set aside regular times to engage in marketing activities, even when you’re busy. If you continue marketing even when you’re busy, you’ll have fewer slow times.

Andrea J. Stenberg

In the early days of internet marketing it was easy to get subscribers. You just put a sign-up box on your website that read “sign up for newsletter”. People signed up because it was new and they were only getting a handful of emails a day.

In 2008 however, between personal and business emails, SPAM, and newsletters, everyone is getting way too much mail. As a result, people are much less likely to give up their email address; the cost in additional email is too high.

So if the money is in your list, but people don’t want to join your list, what do you do?

Create a free offer

First, you need to create an enticing offer; something that will compel visitors to take action. Yes, newsletters still work, but you’ll likely also need to give them something extra to get them to sign up. In other words, you need to sell them on your newsletter.

Many people offer a free report, white paper or e-book to new subscribers to their newsletter. If this report has a compelling title and solves a major problem your audience has, this may be a good choice. The problem is, there are so many free reports available, many people download them with the intention of reading them but never do. The report sits on their hard drives gathering virtual dust. As a result, free reports have become less enticing an offer.

Offering a free audio or video may be a better alternative to the free report. Fewer people offer these as an enticement so they have a higher perceived value. Also, more and more people are using MP3 players to multi-task. I do it myself. I download an audio or video and listen at the gym, in the car or while doing housework. For me, an audio or video I can download is usually a more compelling offer than a report – unless I really need the information on the report.

Really sell the subscription

Once you have your freebee to entice people to sign up, you need to sell it. Spend as much time and effort writing your sales copy for your free giveaway as you would a paid product. Yes this product is free, but remember: people don’t want to give away their email address. You need to make it worth their while.

Place your sign-up box in a prominent place on your website, ideally “above the fold” – meaning viewers don’t have to scroll down to see it.

Write an eye-catching headline. Don’t write “sign up for my free …” – that just won’t cut it. Sell whatever solution your free offer provides. If you were looking to lose weight, which headline would grab your attention and make you more likely to sign up?

Sign up for our free weight loss newsletter

Or

Learn How to Lose 20 pounds in Six Weeks

Once you have your free offer and your sign-up box in place there are a number of ways to increase subscriptions. First, if you have a blog, consider adding a sign-up box at the end of your blog posts. According to the Aweber blog, they increased their subscription rate by 50 percent just by adding a sign up box at the end of their blog posts. Hey, if it works for Aweber …

Use a pop-up

Another method for increasing subscriptions is to use the pop-up. A pop-up is a screen that “pops up” whenever someone comes to your site. It grabs their attention and directs the visitor to your sign-up form.

I know many people find them annoying. As a user I do too. But, the thing is they work. And if you use them correctly, you’ll minimize the annoyance factor. If you use a service like Aweber to manage your email list, you can easily create the pop-up and set the parameters.

You can choose the delay before the pop-up appears. If it comes up immediately after a visitor comes to their site they’ll most likely turn if off and ignore it. If the visitor has been there a while they’ll be more likely to be interested in the offer. Aweber suggests conducting a split test – try different delay times and see what the results are.

You can also control how often the pop-up appears. I find pop-ups most annoying when they appear every time I visit a site, even after I’ve already signed up for the offer. Limit the number of times a pop-up appears to visitors to reduce this annoyance factor. If you’re not using Aweber but have a WordPress blog, look for the plug-in “What would Seth Godin do”. It allows you to create a pop-up that appears the first two times someone visits your site.

Also consider adding an image to the pop-up. An eye-catching photo or graphic may keep the visitor there long enough to actually read your headline.

Getting people to sign up for your newsletter has become more difficult, but is not impossible. These simple suggestions are easy to implement and should increase the rate of subscribers to your ezine.

Andrea J. Stenberg

How are you doing with your subscription rate? Have you found a tip that really helps increase subscriptions? Please share it with us by leaving a comment.