Using Podcasts To Promote Your Website
Today, podcasts are considered as one of the more efficient marketing tools for the promotion of websites and with the help of an established PR expert, you can use a podcast to increase your business profile and attract more visitors to your website. Online browsers are interested in listening to podcasts because they can learn everything there is to know about your website without ever having to lift a finger or read a single word. Podcasts are easy and convenient, two things that internet users look for when surfing the web.
If you are unfamilar with what a podcast is, let me clarify: a podcast is actually the content that is used for podcasting, and podcasting is the modern means of distribution of multimedia files that include audio programs and music videos via the internet using RSS or Atom syndication format. Once the podcast is done, it is possible to listen to these multimedia files on mobile devices and personal computers.
Podcasts are interesting marketing tools that will generate even more traffic to your website with people getting more and more interested in listening to these informative internet messages. You can include all of the information pertaining to your company in a podcast. Just make it as interesting and informative as possible, for this attracts more people eager to listen!
Having an interesting and informative podcast, alone, does not promise an increase in traffic to your website. You will have to first list it with online directories, and with this listing, people who are interested in buying something from your company may be able to find the product details with ease.
Make sure that there are positive press releases and informative articles about your podcast on the internet. Once these press releases and articles are done with, distribute them in the directory for the sake of reference. This is important because through the reading of these press releases potential customers may develop an interest in visiting your website.
When creating a podcast, create one that is relevant to the people who may be interested in visiting your website. Creating ones with irrelevant matter will only irritate the customer and not get him/her interested in visiting your website! Podcasting from your website requires some marketing effort as well in order to gain popularity.
To establish a new podcast on your website, you are going to want to create an email list. An email list allows you to send important information and articles to subscribers. People subscribe to email lists to learn more about new businesses, websites and podcasts. With this email list, customers not only get to listen to the podcast, but also gain some information on the businesses or services that you provide. Always remember to mention directions and details on the subscribing and unsubscribing of an email to potential subscribers.
There are also some people who search for podcasts using search engines. This is why you have to make yours search engine friendly. Try to include relevant keywords so that people will be directed to the podcast upon typing these relevant keywords.
Another means of using the podcast to promote your website would be to get some commercial sponsors. Though people are generally not interested in buying a podcast, there are many people who are interested in maintaining a podcast. Once you have a single major sponsor, or two, the popularity of your website will increase. People will be of the impression that if these sponsors trust you and your website, then it will be alright for them to buy the products and services from your website as well.
Scott White is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist located in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information about nutrition and fitness, reach Scott at: http://www.seotutorialprogram.com
http://www.personalloanprogram.com
http://www.healthycookingvideos.com
Streaming Video Simplified
Streaming video, or audio, is media that is being continuously received by, and displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. These, grouped together are known as streaming media. The name refers to the delivery method of the media rather than to the actual media itself. Television and radio are streaming media but here we are talking about streaming video on the internet.
With the internet came attempts to display video but little progress was made due to the lack of technology and bandwidth. Technology has overcome these problems with more powerful computers, standard protocols and formats. More homes and computers with faster CPUs can now access broadband and we now see the expansion of video on the internet.
Businesses and websites are steadily taking advantage of this booming sector. Some sites have had video on them since the technology was available, more sites are turning to video and its advantages daily while some sites may not understand the technology and prefer to remain with the written word. Having said that it is now so easy to incorporate video into websites that there is no real reason not to.
With true streaming video the end user can start watching the file almost as soon as it begins downloading. The file is sent to the user in a, more or less, constant stream, and the user watches it as it arrives. The obvious advantage with this method is that no waiting is involved. Streaming media has additional advantages such as being able to broadcast live events and sometimes referred to as a webcast or netcast. True streaming video must be delivered from a specialized streaming server. This type of streaming video is not used by most websites.
Progressive downloading, pretty much the same as HTTP streaming, enables the video to be viewed as soon as a portion of the file has been received. This simulates true streaming video but is not of the same quality but has the advantage of being able to be hosted on a normal server. This is the simplest and cheapest way to stream video from a website. Small to medium-sized websites are more likely to use this method than the more expensive streaming servers. For this method you don’t need any special type of website or host, just a host server which recognises common video file types.
Progressive download video is downloaded from start to finish, typically delivering the entire video file to a temporary file area of the viewer’s computer. After a few seconds of downloading, the video starts playing. For this reason, most viewers can’t tell whether they’re seeing progressive or streaming video. Most of the time, the download will go faster than the playback, so the media player will easily be able to keep up. If the internet connection is slow or suffers traffic congestion, then the player pauses until it once again has a few seconds of video ready to play.
To create a progressive or HTTP streaming video all you do is the following.
1. Create a video file in a common streaming media format
2. Upload the file to your web server
3. Make a simple hyperlink to the video file, or use special HTML tags to embed the video in a web page or blog post.
When the day comes that your videos are popular then you might have bandwidth issues with your hosting provider and you may need to upgrade or move to a different host and server. Hopefully that day will soon be here.
Bruce Walls writes about using video on your website to increase traffic. You can read more at http://websitevideoguide.com
News At Your Fingertips – Online News Video
In days past, finding out what was going on in the world meant picking up the morning edition of the Globe and Mail, or watching the six o’clock news. For the news savvy today, however, it is no longer necessary to sit through an hour of news to get to the two stories you really wanted to watch. In today’s, technologically advancing, society many people are turning to online video to get their daily fix of world events.
Online news not only allows for another way to get the latest happenings, but it allows you to watch what you want, when you want. If your only interested in today stories dealing with the daily markets, you are only a few clicks away on most major news sites. Whatever your preference, the online video allows you choices. The days of sitting through the morning and evening news are quickly going by the wayside.
When it comes to broadband internet and online media, many of the industries that deal with traditional media have had issues and even been unable to cope with the changes. Many copyright infringement suits have arisen from the advent of easily available means to share media online.
When it comes to news it is slightly different. The news world has embraced the concept of online media; finding new ways to earn advertising dollars through their web pages and strategically placed ads in their online videos. Many major news networks now make their entire news series available online. Head over to Fox news and check out the lastest Fox Report, a mainstay of their television news series for years. Or maybe you prefer the television series 60 minutes; take a look at the CBS website. The entire show is split into short, easy to download sections. The advertising on their websites actually tends to be less than that in traditional television format, making for an easier viewing experience.
It is the news industries constant search for new ways to make money that has fueled much innovation in some areas of internet video. Tools like flash video and many other online formats were specifically targeted at high profile clients such as those found in the news world. New designs in content delivery that were originally designed by news sites can be found on high profile sites like YouTube or Dailymotion. Along with innovations in online video technology, some of the larger news sites have lead the development of new types of online advertising. It is hard to deny the impact that the news world has had on the delivery of media online.
It may not be too far in the future that all news is delivered in the format of online video. Live feeds from the latest newsworthy events are already being seen online first a lot of the time.
The next time your sitting through that hour of nightly news, waiting on one story, why not just jump on your pc and find what you are looking for now?
Tyler Ellison is a successful entrepreneur who encourages you to learn the fully automatic traffic system for free at http://www.youcanworkthenet.com or learn black hat internet video tricks at http://www.videoepidemic.com
Capitalising on the Web 2.0 Revolution
If you’ve been amazed at the rapid rise of internet communities such MySpace, YouTube and Squidoo then it’s likely that you’re aware of the new trend in using the internet as a platform to meet friends and build business contacts.
The term that has been coined to capture the development of social interactivity across the internet is called ‘web 2.0′, and web 2.0 portals are springing up across the planet faster than you can or I can type.
Now web 2.0 is a fundamental shift in the way that people are using the internet, and it won’t ever replace the old ‘web 1.0′ sites. That is, ’static’ websites that offer useful content but are not being updated.
However since web 2.0 sites are continually updating themselves with topical information, the Search Engines Google, Yahoo and MSN are picking up these sites as avenues of more current information.
Some examples of web 2.0 portals include Blogs (Blogger.com), Mash-ups (Google Maps), Social Networks (LinkedIn.com), Tagging (Del.icio.us) and Wiki (Wikipedia.com).
Web 2.0 communities represent a spirit of free and open communication, and are also referred to as social media technologies.
The biggest factor about web 2.0 technology is the way it is being used as social proof. For instance, visit a Blog and you can leave comments about the topic that is presented or discussed.
Alternatively, visit a community site and start to form your own social network where you can add friends to your social group, be involved in group discussions, and provide comment on topics that you know. Forums are a recognised social presence on the internet and are a common web 2.0 technology.
If you run a niche website, you don’t need to run an entire community forum to benefit from the Search Engine traffic. Web 2.0 niche portals can transform your static ‘web 1.0′ website into the new world order of web 2.0 technology.
For instance, using web 2.0 niche portals you can invite your visitors to leave comments or add a link to their website via your web 2.0 portal.
Alternatively, people can view a video wall related to your niche themed site, and may be attracted to click on the Adsense advertising around the articles around your site.
Finally, if they can’t find what they are looking for on your site, a Google Search box can assist them to look for more relevant information directly from your site.
While web 1.0 websites are being left in the dust by the Search Engines, with web 2.0 niche portals you can easily upgrade your website and start capitalising on the web 2.0 revolution.
For more information about web 2.0 niche portals and and how you can use them on your site, visit: http://www.web2nicheportals.com/
Article is copyright Bradley Smith 2007