Marketing your product or service with video can be a very powerful way build an online audience.  With video, you can appeal to visitors that many marketers overlook (so competition is less fierce) and appeal to a wide audience because so many people are visual/auditory in the way they consume information.

One of the masters of video marketing is Gary Vaynerchuk.  Recently, he has been making waves with his new book (Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion) where he shares the strategies and mindset on what made him successful.  If you’re not familiar with Gary, he transformed his family company from a $4 million a year wine business into a $70+ million powerhouse – largely by using online video on his site Wine Library TV.

With Wine Library TV, Gary produces a daily show consisting of his tasting, rating, and recommending various wines.

Whether you like the guy or not (his approach and demeanor are not for everyone), his accomplishments are nevertheless impressive.  Taking a look at his strategies can teach us several valuable lessons about utilizing video to the fullest online:

1. Develop an intense passion for what you do

If you have ever seen one of Gary’s business videos or interviews, then you know his foundation is built upon passion.  He is unwavering in his commitment to his topic, his show, his viewers, and his own success.  He does not take a light or nonchalant approach to what he does – he is fiercely passionate, and it shows.

2. Build a strong, close-knit community

Using Wine Library TV, he has built a very strong community of followers through his show.  From the forums he has set up to inviting visitors & viewers on the show – he has brought together people from all walks of life that all share a common passion… wine.  Gary has brought all of his followers (known as Vayniacs – yes, they have a name) together to share a common interest.

3. Challenge the status quo

The wine industry is notorious for being stuffy and uppity.  Gary threw those perceptions out the window and brought his love for wine to the everyday person.  His approach is informal and relaxed – quite the opposite from others in his field.

4. Maintain a schedule of consistency

He has been very consistent in his approach to producing video for his show.  Every weekday he sits down and creates and video – currently having created over 800 of them.

5. Truly care about your audience

Gary exudes passion for his topic and conveys the feeling that he really cares about his viewers and audience.  He comes across in such a way that you believe what he has to say and what he is saying is to your benefit.

6. Keep it real – show some personality

When doing his show, Gary takes a very informal approach that shows he’s a real guy.  He acts just like a normal, everyday guy which makes it easy for viewers to connect with.  He keeps his language informal, curses a bit,  shares his fondness of the New York Jets, and genuinely has fun – which spills over to us.

8. Leverage other marketing outlets

Gary’s approach with his marketing strategy is a wise one that has helped build his company to what it is today.  He uses Wine Library TV and his videos to drive people to buy wine through his company.  Not only does he blog, but he uses Twitter, Facebook, email, and many other marketing mediums to deliver his message and build his brand – and those efforts have paid off big time.

9. Take a unique approach

I think one of the keys to why Gary has been so successful is his unique approach to the wine industry, he’s not like every other “wine expert” out there and he openly admits it.  I find myself watching the videos on his site because I find him intriguing – I don’t even like wine.

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If you’re an affiliate marketer, you know that sometimes finding a WordPress theme for your sites can be somewhat of a challenge.  For those just starting out in affiliate marketing, you may be lost as to where you should even begin to try and find a theme.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, RichWP has released a theme for WordPress designed exclusively for affiliate marketers called (quite appropriately) – Affiliate Theme.

In addition to 3 different layout options, the theme also offers:

• Lightbox (makes your photos appear very nice)
• Easy setup with support
• Widget-ready
• Cross-browser compatible
• Design & layout flexibility
• Show prices, details, information, photos,  and more

Affiliate Theme for WordPress from RichWP

Check out the theme – RichWP Affiliate Theme

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While widely acknowledged as an excellent way to market – marketing with video online has still yet to see wide adoption.  We all talk about how great it is and what it can do for building businesses and driving visitors to websites, yet how many are actually putting this powerful marketing vehicle to use?

Video is an extremely powerful way to communicate and engage with your audience.  It opens up the doors to a huge pool of people who might not have otherwise been exposed to your message, brand, business, or website.

Understand that using video to market online does not take a team of engineers and techies to create something that is successful.  All you need is a video camera, some imagination and creativity, and you can have your first video up and running in just a couple hours (if not less).

Learning from the video marketing experts

Video marketing can be used in nearly any industry (no matter how dull or boring the topic may seem), and with great success.

Let’s take a look at some people and companies who have done an excellent job at building an audience using video to market themselves online:

Wine Library TV

Gary Vaynerchuk (creator and owner of WineLibraryTV) has grown his family wine business from $4 million in sales to $70+ million in just a few years – largely by using video.  His trademark style and enthusiasm have not only helped him build a large wine business, but have also propelled him to the forefront of social media and entrepreneurship experts.  In addition, he recently released an excellent book that I would recommend to any entrepreneur, business owner, or marketer: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

The keys to his success: Passion and enthusiasm for what he does

Mixergy

Andrew Warner of Mixergy has a history of success as an entrepreneur (his business did $30 million+ in revenue each year) and wanted to share insights by interviewing entrepreneurs from around the world.  I am a regular visitor to Andrew’s site and some of the interviews that he conducts can really help boost your business.

The key to his success: Quality and depth of content

BlendTec

This company turned what many people would consider a dull and boring product – blenders, into a viral video phenomenon.  By appealing to curiosity and showcasing what their blender can do, they have generated almost 100,000,000 views of their videos (as of this writing).

The keys to their success: Being unique and appealing to our curiosity

Parting thoughts

Video can be a very powerful tool for marketing online, and a great way to tap into a marketing channel that is often overlooked.  When using this approach you can not only learn a lot of things about reaching different people – but you can really have a fun time doing it as well.

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When browsing some sites or blogs, you may have seen a little green button that allows you to quickly and easily send out a Tweet about a particular page.  I recently integrated this cool little feature into my blog and wanted to share how easy it is to install and setup.  In under 5 minutes you can have this up and running on your blog or site as well.

While there are many different plugins that allow you to send “tweets” out about a page you’re visiting – I recommend Tweetmeme’s Twitter tweet/Retweet Button plugin appropriately called the “TweetMeme Button.”  If you use WordPress (which is what I run this site on and highly recommend) you can do this very easily through the plugin that Tweetmeme has released.

Not only does it allow visitors to retweet your content, but it feeds to TweetMeme as well (a cool little feature).

Download the plugin

The plugin is located in the WordPress plugin directory and you can find it here: TweetMeme Button.

Activate the TweetMeme Button

Once installed, you simply need to activate the plugin to have the button displayed on your page.

Adjusting the settings

After the TweetMeme Button plugin has been activated you will now see that it appears on your blog posts and pages.  From here you simply need to modify the settings to your preferences – and you’re finished!

That’s it – you’re finished

This simple and quick little addition to your site will allow your visitors to easily retweet your articles and help drive even more visitors to your site

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One of the obstacles that many people face when it comes to creating content for their website or blog – is that they don’t enjoy writing.  Even for those who enjoy writing, it doesn’t hurt to step back and take a shot at other ways to create content (and give yourself a break from writing).

Not only do writing alternatives allow us to continue to create content for our sites or blogs, but they also help you tap into channels and reach audiences that you might have normally missed or overlooked.

Alternative ways to create content – besides writing

Use video

Video can be an excellent alternative to writing when creating content.  Not only is it very simple to set up, but this particular marketing medium has enormous potential to reach a wide audience.  Whether you’re doing interviews, reviewing products, or creating unique promotional spots – video can be a great way to escape writing.

Create audio content

Audio content is often associated with podcasting (although podcasting can be video as well).  By using audio you can create content that is used for either passive or active listeners.  Audio can be a powerful way to reach customers who are auditory learners and provide you with a more comfortable medium if you prefer talking instead of writing.

Host guest posts

This is one of the easiest ways to create more content for your site as it typically requires only cleaning up or formatting the content.  With guest posts you simply post content that other authors have created and host it on your own site or blog.  Very simple to implement and can not only provide you with great, unique content – but it generates some goodwill between you and the guest post author by allowing them to expose their content to your visitors.

Promotions and contests

Contests are not only a great way to create content, but they have the ability to form a dialogue between you and your visitors.  Contests can be as powerful as excellent articles because they not only generate buzz around your site but also allow you to interact with and reward your visitors.

Create something

Whether it is a tool, product, resource, or freebie – creating something and offering it on your site can have quite an amazing impact.  If you have ever seen someone release a WordPress theme, set of web icons, or helpful guide – you may have noticed how much response that these types of things generate.

Lists and roundups

Blog carnivals are a great example of how creating lists and roundups of links can garner a lot of attention as they tend to be quite viral and spread very quickly.  The not only allow the host of the carnival to highlight others in their niche – but bring a lot of traffic in for themselves.  You can see an example on GetRichSlowly – Carnival of Personal Finance #243: Valentine’s Day Edition.

Use photos or galleries

I believe Smashing Magazine paved the way for this particular method of creating content.  By aggregating and highlighting some of the best content on the web, they have not only attracted a lot of visitors but have created a very large online brand.  Other sites that incorporate this model successfully include: Hongkiat, icanhascheezburg, and InstantShift

Putting these methods to work

Whether you incorporate these methods into your current model or you use one or two exclusively, they can be a great way to create content for those of us who don’t have the best knack for writing (or simply want to take a break).  Using these different strategies can be challenging and a great way to learn how to create content using various mediums and methods.  Give one or two a shot and you would be surprised how much fun some of these tactics can be.

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As I write this, Dosh Dosh currently has roughly 37,991 RSS subscribers to his blog.  While that in itself is quite an accomplishment, what is even more amazing is that Maki (the author of Dosh Dosh) has only written 13 blog posts in the past year.  As mentioned on his blog’s “About” page:

Dosh Dosh is a blog offering internet marketing and blogging tips, alongside social media strategies. Best consumed by bloggers, entrepreneurs, web publishers, marketers, freelancers and small business owners.

He has not only raised the bar for creating phenomenal content, but he has set the gold standard.

By creating remarkable content he has managed to amass a very large following among the target audience he is trying to reach.  Looking through the posts on his site gives us some insight into how he creates his killer content.  Many of the strategies he employs can not only be used by bloggers, but anyone trying to create content that has an impact and builds audiences.

Craft catchy, clever, and intriguing titles

Glancing over just a couple pages on his blog and you can see that Maki has blog title creation down to a science:

• How to Create Successful Product Websites that People Love
• 11 Ways to Influence People Online and Make Them Take Action
• The Most Powerful Way to Presell Any Product or Service
• Building Complementary Services: A Powerful Long-Term Social Media Marketing Strategy

As you can see, he has developed a knack for creating titles that are not only catchy – but they pull you in and make you want to read more.  Further, he composes his titles in a way that is very appealing to his audience.  Who wouldn’t click on a link titled “6 Fool-Proof Steps to Make More Money With Your Website?”

Depth and breadth of topic

When Maki writes about a certain topic on Dosh Dosh – it is not rudimentary in nature.  He takes time to really delve into a particular area and writes in a style that is almost academic in its presentation.  How he covers a topic is unmatched by others in his field and makes his writing and blog really stand out.

Quality over quantity

Nearly every single article on Dosh Dosh is what many would consider “flagship” or “pillar articles.”  They are crafted in such a way that they are ideal for other bloggers to link to – and are very thorough with the message they are trying to convey.  As described by Maki on one of his pages:

I only blog when I feel I have something substantial and meaningful to share.

He sticks to that statement and only publishes content and articles that are of the utmost highest quality.  The articles on Dosh Dosh really make you think about the topic being discussed.

Stay focused on your topic

Browsing through the articles on the site you will find that Maki only writes about topics that relate to his target audience and blog topic that he outlines on his “About” page.  He doesn’t stray or try to rehash topics – and has developed a large following as a result.

Bring a unique, personal, and believable view to the topic

While Maki himself is somewhat shrouded in mystery, he is still able to relate with his audience and bring unique perspectives to his writing. When reading his articles you feel that this guy really knows what he is talking about and since it is written with a more formal/academic approach – the blog posts tend to have a powerful impact.

Create timeless, linkable content

You will notice that many of the posts are written in a way that they are still applicable now – even though some were composed years ago.  Additionally, the articles are not hype-filled sales pages or full of superlative jargon – they are sound strategies for internet marketing and making money online.  This makes the content very linkable (even years later) as the quality and timelessness is still appealing to even brand new visitors to the site.

What we can learn from Dosh Dosh

By creating extraordinary content, Maki has developed a blog that has stood the test of time and continues to grow in readership.  By looking at the process and strategies he uses, we can all gain a better understanding of what the saying “content is king” really means.

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines cross-selling as:

“the action or practice of selling among or between established clients, markets, traders, etc.”

When put to use, cross-selling can be a powerful tool to engage your readers or customers – and persuade them to buy more of your product or read more of your content.  You are maximizing and enhancing your  visitor’s experience with your site.

Cross-selling products

If you are selling products online, then cross-selling can be a very powerful and simple way to increase your revenue.  By showing products that relate to what your visitor is looking for, you can (often) increase the number of products they buy from you.  Promoting other products that you sell that relate to what the visitor wants to buy, can have a huge impact on your revenue and profit.

For example, let’s assume that you are selling cell phones on your website.  While customers may intend on purchasing a cell phone from you – they might also be interested in buying a cell phone case, car charger, or any number of different items that you may sell.  Instead of your customer only purchasing a cell phone, they may end up buying a few accessories from you as well.

Amazon’s cross-selling strategy

Amazon.com does an excellent job at cross-selling their customers with their products.  When shopping on their site you can see how they implement the strategy very well:

Displaying items that are “Frequently Bought Together“

Displaying items that other customers bought along with the product

This not only provides a better customer experience (because you are showing visitors products that relate to their interest), but brings big returns on revenue and profit for the company.  Instead of your customer spending only $20 they may end up spending $30, $40, $50 or more – and effectively increasing your income per order/customer.

The Netflix $1 million prize

To even further reinforce how much of an impact cross-selling can have  – I want to give you one more example.

Netflix (the online movie rental company) proposed a challenge and offered a $1 million reward to anyone who could improve their movie recommendation system.  As posted on their website for the prize:

Netflix is all about connecting people to the movies they love. To help customers find those movies, we’ve developed our world-class movie recommendation system: CinematchSM. Its job is to predict whether someone will enjoy a movie based on how much they liked or disliked other movies. We use those predictions to make personal movie recommendations based on each customer’s unique tastes. And while Cinematch is doing pretty well, it can always be made better.

Netflix has an excellent understanding of the power of aligning people with the right products.  Not only does effectively promoting related products increase usage and consumption of a company’s services, but it provides for a much more loyal, enthusiastic, and satisfied customer base.

The same amount of work… for more results

By setting up a system (no matter how simple or basic it might be) to cross-sell your products, you are maximizing your marketing and revenue-producing efforts.  You have done the hard work to get them to your site and have a captive audience.  It is not unusual to see revenue and profits increase dramatically when you implement this tactic.

It’s not just for the big guys

This strategy is not just reserved for the major retailers and global brands – even the smallest or most specialized websites that sell products can implement this strategy.  To get started you don’t need complicated algorithms and teams of engineers – simply cross-linking pages on your site to related products is a great start.

If you have an online store, implementing a way to cross-sell your visitors your products can have an amazing impact on your bottom line and something every online retailer should look to implement.

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Selecting your blog’s topic (aka niche) is one of the most crucial factors that will determine your success as a blogger.  When you’re just starting out, the options for topics can seem daunting and overwhelming.  However, if you approach your niche selection methodically, you can ensure that you’re giving yourself the best chance to succeed.

Identify the reason you want to blog

Not everyone is out to blog for money (although it’s certainly a nice by-product).  Ask yourself  – “Why is it that I want to blog“:

• To become recognized in your industry?
• To make money?
• To provide yourself with a creative outlet?
• So you have a place for your thoughts and opinions?
• To boost your current business or profile?
• To share your passion about something?
• Are you writing for yourself or trying to reach other people?

There are many other reasons why you may want to pursue blogging – and keep in mind that the reasons why you want to blog are not exclusive of each other.  You can blog about your passion and make money, or you can become recognized in your industry while sharing your thought and opinions.  Understanding the reason you want to blog will make your choosing a blog topic much easier and will make your blogging more fulfilling.

You must be passionate about your topic

Whatever it is that you choose to blog about, there must be some passion for your topic.  Even the most well-intentioned blogs have failed from lack of excitement from their authors.  Thousands of blogs are created each day, while thousands more are abandoned because the blogger lost interest (or had no passion in the beginning) about their blog’s topic.

When undertaking a new blog, try to envision yourself writing about the topic in 1, 2, even 5 years down the road.  Look back on the things that have interested you for the last couple of years and try to choose something that you truly love to talk about – the things you think about or intrigue you on a regular basis.

Even as strong of a motivator that money is – if you’re not passionate, you will end up with frustration and half-finished attempts at blogging.

Potential audience size doesn’t (really) matter

I don’t subscribe to the theory that there is too large or small of a niche.  There are extremely successful (and profitable) blogs on some of the most remote topics and hugely popular blogs about some of the broadest topics.

When choosing topics that are narrower in scope, you will want to recognize the fact that your posting may be less frequent and your potential audience will be smaller.  Conversely, with larger topics or niches you will need to accept that it may take more work and effort to get noticed and to rise above the noise to be heard.

There is no right or wrong topic – just remember to keep in mind why it is that you want to blog, and choose a topic that you’re passionate about.

Actually choosing your blog topic

Finally settling down and choosing a topic might not happen in a day (it might even take a week or two).  But if you’re approaching blogging with a long-term view, then mulling it over a little bit will save you loads of frustration down the road.  This is something that you are hopefully going to be doing for many months/years to come and you want the journey to be enjoyable along the way and not something you dread doing.

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A really great (fun) overview of the current state of the internet – there’s some quite startling statistics in this video.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

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Whether you’re wanting to make money online, further your career, become famous, or simply want to have an outlet to voice your thoughts and opinions – starting a blog can be a great way to enrich your life.  There are dozens of ways you can go about setting up your first blog, but the steps that I have outlined below are what I have found to be the best and easiest way to get started blogging.

While there are some small costs in setting up a blog (about $10 per year for a domain name and $5-10 per month for hosting), investing a little money gives you more options and freedom when starting down your blogging journey.

1. Pick a Topic

You need to somewhat form an idea of what it is you want to blog about.  There are endless choices when it comes to your blog’s subject matter:

• Is it going to be personal in nature?
• Do you want to further your career and establish yourself in your industry?
• Is it for your business or company?
• Is there a hobby or passion that you want to write about?

Whatever it is, try and choose something that you truly will enjoy writing about.  You want it to be fun and not seem like it’s a chore to write – doing so will not only make your blogging more enjoyable, but can be much more fulfilling and profitable as well.

2. Choose a domain name

Once you have chosen a topic that you are going to be writing about, you want to select a domain name.  A domain name is the address for your website (in my case it is www.JeremiaFroyland.com).  This will run you about $10 per year and I recommend going through GoDaddy (the largest domain name registration company) as it will make your next steps in setting up your blog much easier as well.

3. Buy hosting for your blog

Once you have chosen a domain name you will want to set up hosting for your blog.  “Hosting” allows you to publish your blog to the internet and is the place where all of your blog’s files will be kept.  As with domain names, I recommend purchasing your hosting through GoDaddy – this will keep everything in one place and with one company.

3. Choosing your blogging software/platform

While there are dozens of choices available for setting up a blog, I use WordPress exclusively as it is (by far) the best blogging platform out there, and completely free.  WordPress has a massive user base – which means that if you ever run into any problems, there are plenty of people who are more than happy to help.

4. Installing WordPress

If you went through GoDaddy to purchase your domain and hosting, then setting up and installing WordPress is very simple.  GoDaddy outlines how to install WordPress on their website: “Installing WordPress on Your Hosting Account.”

5. Writing your first blog post

You should now have your domain name purchased, hosting set up, and WordPress installed.  Your next step is to make your first blog post.

You’re finished!

That’s as simple as it gets to getting your first blog up and running!  It’s very inexpensive and easy to get started – and my one last bit of advice is to get started today.  You have several days or weeks ahead to tweak around with themes (designs/layouts), finding readers, and tweaking your blog – but the biggest obstacle is to get started in the first place.

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