It’s all I got… I’ll tag people later

We’re about to start the Web Site Optimization session, the final session of this year’s Podcamp Boston here in the main ballroom.  Looks like we’re going to have about 100 people scattered throughout the room looking for power outlets.

Notes from the session:

• We’re going Game Show Mode with everyone’s individual website!  Awesome!
• Tools for assessing websites:  Validater.w3.org / websitegrader.com / compete.com / Google AdWords Keyword Searcher, Google Trends,  and Google Ad Planner / www.domaintools.com
• Use assessment tools for everything from choosing a domain to meta tagging to deciding when you want to plan marketing campaigns based around the heaviest anticipated traffic dates.  I.E. If you run a personal shopper website, holiday shopping is likely your highest traffic time of year, and searches for Personal Shoppers will probably spike between October and December.
• So far we’ve analyzed www.beyondtheoffice.com and www.toyqueen.com.  Interesting insights from the group about both.  Almost afraid to suggest this site and try to live blog the analysis… the Internet might implode on itself.
• Live blog not happening while I’m trying to manage a microphone, but some very good ideas and analysis on our site here.  Maybe some changes coming soon?

Video podcast:  a video distributed via RSS to people.

Live:  software: mogulus (livestream) or Ustream.tv

Setup of webcam and mic for live streaming… and camcorder with mic for higher res videos.  Why not 1 camera for both?  Most new camcorders don’t have firewire or USB for live streaming.

You can get light setups for about $100-200 or you can look for natural light.  Full spectrum light bulbs

A crappy live stream will be posted as well as pictures.  A better video of this session will be available online with links from Steve

tinychat will record video off computer via skype

Part 1:

Part 2:

Steve Garfield, Robert Collins, Matt Mamet , Joselin Mane, Skip Bensley

…

Steve:

Video: Instant (twitvid of twitter video), archived (blip.tv), Live

tweettree with embedded media stream

Blip to send to youtube, blogs and TVs (TiVo will put shows up)

Live:  qik to stream off cell phone… Ustream to stream on laptop with webcam, livestream for better cameras.  Better mics, higher quality videos, mic jacks, headphone jacks.

Future:  you can stream live on news stations

Bob:

Capturing the actual face to face content in video and outside of the video settings.

Sharing is caring…. be helpful, honest, collaborative, participatory, personal, playful, findable, shareable, conversational

Matt:

where should my video go?  try and put it on all sites… tubemogul, vidmetrix and blip.tv

They will give you analytics for videos

enable mrss feeds (media rss)

Joselin:  SEO

Search: universal search!  You need content for Google to search… sometimes Google is too slow, Twitter search.

Engine:  Google voice to text to search within videos and will bring up videos based off of keywords and timestamps within videos

Optimization:

length matters… marketing 1-3; sales 1-7, education/edutainment 7-45; webinar, teleseminar, repla 30-90

Meta data

keyword rich title, 64char or less, web address / phone number

keyword rich description 200char or less… tag list of 6-8 keywords max

Skip:  ROI

youtube, tubemogul, visible measures (more corporate like MTV)

Off-line marketing? Shark week aged jars with obituaries (fake) to promote Shark week on Discovery channel.  Solar powered suns with free wi-fi in Boston sponsored by Toyota Prius.

Organizing meetups?  What topic, event, reason?  Who do you reach out to?  Need a unifying reason for people to get excited.  If you charge, put up a ledger to show financials or charge minimally so you get dedicated people.

Taguchi testing… different subject lines and measure responses of open mail, click rates (BlueSky emailing).  You need good metrics to invest in.  Clicking is the more important part rather than the front-end email…  your list is never too small to test

Think of yourself as a customer service provider… care about your product and your people so that they gain your respect and following.

google.com/adwords/keywords

How do you market yourself and your blog?

We are back!

Incorrect grammar everywhere!

freelancedaily.net it is not free ($20/year for updates everyday)

angelahoy.com with information for freelance jobs esp. for tech writers (google her)

Blog as a business?  Resource for clients and people.  If you have content online and want it in print, start contacting local newspapers to start writing every 2 weeks for free as long as you get your little bubble (how you can contact me, etc) at the bottom.  You can also do this vice versa where you can link your article from the newspapers to clients.

What type of writing is more long-term in media?  Social media of short bits works well to get quick information.  There will always be text, but people would rather watch a video on it than to read a couple of paragraphs.

Nuance to take audio from video and transcribe it into an article.

How about local events? School committee meetings and town halls? Who covers these anymore?  The local papers don’t cover it because of short funds and staff.  People need to be more proactive in blogging 1-2 paragraphs on these topics.

Be sure to maintain your rights to your content… don’t try and give away those rights!

gatehouse for local reports

Everything above applies to musicians/composers as well.  Insert record label in place of publishers for books.

Publishing a blog, then selling books if you have a big following will allow you to spread your word quickly with some profits.  You need to have a following first…

The face-to-face market speaks volumes.

Maybe posting long stories but selling condensed versions…

Real name vs. Pen Name?

Podpress for wordpress will work really well

blogtalkradio, mypodcast are other places you can use

if you put a link to the *.mp3 file, it technically makes your blog a podcast

It is all about contribution and content

Production: record, edit, post, interact (web 2.0)

Audio: headset, USB mic, sound board, digital recorder, Audicity: free prog from mac/pc, Levelator: evens out sounds (run levelator before editing uncompressed audio), garageband, itunes, adobe audition

Video: Flip, MiniDV, hard drive, webcam… See Steve Garfield or HubSpot TV crew

Use 10sec pauses to help guide yourself in Levelator

Web site solutions: wordpress, drupal, blogger.com, livejournal.com, drop.io

File Hosting: dreamhost.com, godadd.com, media temple

MP3 hosting:  mypodcast.com, libysn.com, blogtalkradio.com

Contribution=Content:  passion, knowledge, finding your voice, starting is biggest hurdle, show all medias if possible

How do you define podcasting?  A publishing platform that includes media (audio, video, etc. that is serialized)

Show style:  morning radio, interview, in depth reporting, reviews, variety, live, life

Make sure your podcast is less than 10MB (for iphone users) which estimates to 20min… compression to 128, 64mono sounds really good

Litmus test: if you can’t listen to it, dont publish it

Content, time (make your show longer if people ask you to make it longer), frequency, music choices (iodapromonet.com)

Pitfalls:  permission for other people’s content, don’t ask for money, don’t expect listeners or help!  Write show notes.

HAVE FUN!

guidostein.com podcastfaq.com