Search Marketing Courses

Looking to combine the power of Wordpress with the popularity of online video? Then you are luck, for Jason Schuller of WP Elements has developed two top Wordpress themes for video that you can choose from.  Below is a summary of each of them.

WPE Video Gallery Theme

Currently (April 6, 2008), the WPE Video Gallery Theme is only available as a pre-release Live Demo Version (although it’s slated to be officially released soon). From the looks of things it will be well worth the wait.

The layout of this theme is just beautiful with a nice header section where you can toggle through thumbnail pictures of the videos:

The main section of the home page is nicely laid out with a thumb-nail picture, short description and user-rating for each video. The right hand side is also nicely laid out with room for Tags, ads and more.

For those of you who prefer a gallery look, WPE Video Gallery can accommodate you:

And finally, take a look at how nicely this theme integrates text and video on the individual video post page:

There are some other nice features for this theme. When it’s ready, it looks like it will easily be the leading Wordpress theme for videos currently available.

Learn more about WPE Video Gallery Theme

VideoFlick 1.0 

VideoFlick is a good choice for the video blogger. Featuring a Video Gallery layout with thumbnail navigation, VideoFlick places your videos front and center on your blog.  VideoFlick is a simple, easy-to-use theme which will allow your visitors to easily find and watch the videos they want to see.

Watching a video is simple.  Simply click on a thumnail and the video opens up in a full screen, "ajax" window:

On the other hand, clicking on the title takes you to the post page (a page where you can write whatever you want about the video):

And as you may have noticed, VideoFlick comes in both a white and black version (although I imagine with a simple bit of CSS you can set the colors to whatever your heart desires).  VideoFlick also has two different thumbnail versions - Portrait:

and LandScape (which I imagine will look better with your own pictures):

VideoFlick currently supports a number of video formats including YouTube, Google Video, MetaCafe, DailyMotion, FLV (Flash) Video, Quicktime and Windows Media Video.

VideoFlick is DonationWare, meaning that you have to donate at least $5.00 to “purchase” the software.

Learn more about VideoFlick 1.0

Last week we discussed the differences between a profitable market and a profitable product. We pointed out that in order to succeed online you need to sell products and services that your market wants and needs. Therefore, the ability to discover those wants and needs is a crucial element in creating profitable products and services.

One source of discovering this information is your existing competition. Popular products and services have already discovered some of the information that you are looking for. And by properly analyzing those products and services you can discover that information too. Once again, we turn to Tim Knox to help us figure out how to best do this:

Tim Knox On Checking Out The Competition (02:20)

I like Tim’s advice - it’s solid and to the point. His point about determining whether or not there is existing competition is a good one. It reminds me of something my brother told me (it’s actually some companies business motto, but I don’t remember whose). You never want to be first to market, but you also don’t want to be third to market.

In other words, let someone else do the work of determining whether or not a market has potential. Then, once that has been determined, build and improve upon their product or service. On the other hand, don’t try and enter a saturated market (unless you really can add a great deal of value to the customers of that market).

It is important to combine competitive analysis with an understanding of what your customers want and/or need. If you already have a sense of what products or services your customers are interested in then it can help direct your competitive analysis - for you are now able to see if those wants or needs are being properly met.

The example of Domino’s Pizza is a case in point. The story I heard is that Tom Monaghan (the founder of Domino’s Pizza) knew that people want a hot Pizza in 30 minutes or less - guaranteed. He knew this from hearing the complaints of customers in a Pizza restaurant that he worked in. With that knowledge in mind it was easy for Tom to analyze his competition and note that no one was providing such a service.

That is the power of combining quality customer and product research with good competitive analysis. It directs your research and helps you to know what you are looking for.

Problogger just ran an article about a new service called OpenID (it’s actually a guest post by Yunching of YC’s Ramblings). The short story of OpenID is that it simplifies the log-in process in our busy internet lives (i.e., you don’t need to keep creating new accounts for each new website that you want to use).

The long story of OpenID is, well, longer. That’s why Problogger ran an article about it and that’s what these videos are for. So, go check out the Problogger article to learn how how OpenID can help you blog commenting and check out our videos to learn what OpenID is, how to use it and why you should care.

What is OpenID and How to use it

The first two videos are nice, clear demonstrations of what OpenID is and how to use it. Our first video is called OpenID Show from Simon Willison [Note: Simon has a number of posts about OpenID on his website which you may want to check out].

In this video Simon clearly explains what OpenID is and how to start using it. He also answers a number of basic questions that you may have concerning OpenID:

OpenID Show (05:45)

If you would like to actually make your website your OpenID URL (as Simon referred to in his video), then check out this article by Simon (in particular, note section 2 of the article).

Our second video is from Andrew of FlyPublishing.com.  In it he shows you how to sign-in to websites using OpenID.

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I recently signed up for a $1 trial to Jack Humphrey’s Social Power Linking course and I want to share a clever little program that he clued me in on. It’s called ClipMarks and it takes bookmarking to a whole new level.

I could try and explain what ClipMarks is and how it works, but I really think that a good video (or 2 or 3 - or maybe even 4) can explain it much better (and quicker). 

Videos about Clickmarks

To start with, let’s see how ClickMarks works:

Clipmarks - Clip it, Save it, Share it, Blog it (00:49)

Now let’s delve a bit deeper into the Clip to Blog feature:

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Have you ever wondered why people buy a particular product or service? Understanding the basic motivations which drive your customers to buy a product or service is crucial to creating the types of products or services that they want to buy. In other words - if you don’t get your customers you also won’t get their money (to put it bluntly).

A few days ago we listen to Tim Knox advice us on the importance of selling what your customers want or need. We now turn again to Tim as he offers us suggestions on how to determine what it is that they want or need:

Tim Knox On The Real Reasons People Buy (02:47)

I think the key word that can summarize this process is “psychology”. You need to get into the mind-set of your customer-base. What is it that they really want? Are they stressed out by all the work that they have to do? Do they find that they have no time? Are they under financial stress? By pinpointing their real problems you can then come up with products and services that really meet their wants or needs.

An excellent example of this is a book called The 4-hour Work Week. I heard an interview with the author of this book in which he explained that most people don’t understand why they want to be rich. It’s not the money that people are after, but rather the life-style. As such, he says, people should think about how much money they need to live the type of life they want and then organize their life in such a way as to achieve that goal.

Now, I’m not here to evaluate this book or it’s message (I myself have not read the book). What I do want to note, though, is how clever this book is. The author understands something about why people want money. This has allowed him to write an extremely popular book (the 53rd bestselling book at Amazon.com as of the writing of this post). So it is (I imagine) with many products or services. Understand the fundamental desire and motivations of your customers and you can create products and services that they will love to buy.

While surfing online today I discovered an amazing template for Wordpress. It’s called WP Remix and it really seems to include everything one could ask for in a professional Wordpress template. From a professional, well-done home page layout to a products page and more, this template was designed from the marketers point-of-view.

WP Remix packs too much of a punch to adequately describe in one blog post.  If you are looking for a high-end Wordpress theme which can turn your Wordpress blog into a powerful CMS then you should click on over to their site.  There you can see what other people have done with WP Remix (just click on the thumb nail tabs on the bottom left-hand side). and then click on the View Demo button to see what’s under the hood.

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Business can be blinding. Being constantly focused on content, traffic and profits can obscure the ultimate source of our success - the customer. In other words, people are the real key to success (in both the business and more meaningful sense of the word). That’s why social marketing is such an important force online (both for the internet as a whole and for your business in particular).

David C. Skul of Relativity Inc articulates this point well in this short video called the 5 Reasons Why Social Marketing is a Must:

5 Reasons Why Social Marketing is a Must (06:39)

David’s first point is a gem (and one that most people don’t even consider).  If people are talking about your products or services you want to know what they are saying.  That information is invaluable.   By sitting in on these conversations not only can you figure out what you are doing wrong, but also what you are doing right.   You can then use this information to create better products, services and website’s for the people you most want to please online.

Of course, you are not limited to merely listening in on your customers online conversations.  You can (and should) actively engage them (as David pointed out in his third point).  By personally addressing your customers questions and concerns you let them know that you are actually interested in them and what they want or need.  And nothing builds up trust and loyalty more than letting someone know that you actually care about them.

Another excellent point that David made is the importance of the quality of traffic (points 2 and 4).  Often times we are so focused on the quality of our traffic that we forget what we are really after - customers, loyal visitors, etc. 

Social Media sites have the ability to send people your way who are already interested in hearing what you have to offer.  Take, for example, Del.icio.us.  If I see that over 1000 other people have book marked a site I assume that there is something valuable at that site.  I enter the site pre-sold, ready to discover something of interest.

Finally, it’s nice that David placed the search engine benefits of social marketing sites last in his list.  Not that it’s the least important, but simply because it is possible to become search engine obsessed and forget all the other elements of creating a successful online business. 

Let’s face it - marketing doesn’t mean squat if you don’t have anything to market. If your product doesn’t satisfy a want or a need of your (potential) customers, then it doesn’t matter how many people visit your site - you simply will not make money!.

Tim Knox makes this very point in this short, 5 minute video:

Tim Know on Market Research & Validation (04:46)

My favorite line of this video is the one about fishing - if you want to fish in a pond, you better know what those fish want to eat. The same goes for marketing a product - if you want to make money online then you must market products that relate to peoples wants and needs.

On the other hand, my least favorite line of the video was his comment that market research is simple. I don’t like calling anything relating to business (or anything else that requires time, energy and skill) simple. It may not be as hard as other elements of creating a successful business, but like anything else it needs to be done properly. And that, by definition, means that it is not simple.

With that said, I think the suggestions he made on how to perform market research are solid ideas - although they need to be delved into and explained in more details (something I hope to do in future posts).

Also, I’d like to differentiate between finding a profitable market and finding a profitable product within that market. A profitable market means that people spend money on various different products within that market. For instance, the pet market (to use his example). People spend a lot of money on their pets - they buy houses, food, toys, clothes, books, etc. for and about their pets. This means that there is money within the market.

But that does not necessarily mean that you can make money in that market. You still need to offer a product or service which satisfies the needs and desires of that market. If you are unable to come up with such a product or service then it does not matter how much money there is in that market, for you will not see any of it.

What’s more, coming up with such a product or service can often times be extremely difficult - and may require more sophisticated research than he hinted to in his video. It usually requires in-depth understanding of the needs of the people within that market - something which you won’t get just by perusing the magazine stand (but that’s another topic for another day).

P.S. I imagine that Tim would agree with the points I made above. I think his advice is right on. I just think it’s important to have the proper mental attitude before starting a new venture - and understanding that creating a product or service is neither easy or simple is part of that attitude.

Every now and then something new and big happens on the internet, and right now may be one of those moments. Google just announced the beta program of their AdSense for Video program (also known as Google Video Advertising Solutions) - and this may mean that a whole new world of opportunities are opening up online (I’ll explain my doubts in a later post).  After all, there are about a gazillion unmonetized videos online.  If Google is able to figure out how to successfully change that reality it can make a lot of people a lot of money (although not as much as it can make Google).

Think about it for a second - imagine that you don’t have a website, aren’t pitching a product and have no presence whatsoever online.  However, you’re a creative fellow who is good with a video camera.  Google may have just created a new career for you.  Just keep churning out quality videos, upload them to YouTube, monetize them and your set.  And this is just one example. 

But before we get our hopes up, let’s first understand how Google Video Ads work.  We’ll start by looking at Google Video Ads from the advertisers perspective.  In particular, we’ll look at Google Videos Ads through Google’s AdWords program (we’ll touch on advertising through YouTube later on).

Google Video Ads vis-a-vis Google AdWords

In the following video, Google addresses a variety of questions that advertisers will want answered before committing to Google Video Ads.  Questions such as:

• Why should they get involved in online video advertising? 
• What special and/or unique benefits do Google Video Ads offer them? 
• On which sites will Google Video Ads be displayed?
• How are Google Video Ads displayed?

Google Video Ads for Advertisers(03:06)

As you can see, there are a variety of Google Video Ads formats to choose from:

1. InVideo Ads
2. Text Overlay Ads
3. Video Ad (i.e, the video itself is the ad)
4. Google Gadget Ads
5. Ads in the Web-page surround a video

I imagine that the key to succeeding with this program will be learning which types of video ads work best with your product or service as well as the ability to test and track different types of video ad formats and styles. 

In other words - success with Google Video Ads will be similar to succeeding with regular Google AdWords Ads - tracking different versions, learning how to properly target your ads, syncing your ads with your landing pages, etc. 

As time goes and people start actually using Google Video Ads we’ll be able to learn specific techniques that work (as well as ones that don’t work).  Until then, we’ll just have to use our current knowledge of AdWords as a general guideline.

Choosing a domain name is an important part of creating an online business. In general, businesses have two options – a keyword rich domain name or a branding-focused domain name. In this video Aaron Wall of SEO Book fame demonstrates the benefits of a keyword rich domain name.

Aaron provides a couple of good examples of the ranking benefits of a good name as well as other advantages (such as helping your click-through-rate and pushing your competition below the fold in the search results). He even suggests that a keyword rich domain name can help one’s pay-per-click campaign (although I’m not sure how it can help lower one’s cost-per-click).

For anyone grappling with the issue of whether to pursue a keyword rich domain name or a branding-focused one, this is an important video to watch:

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