Modern blog platforms, like Wordpress, make it easy for anyone to write content for a website without much knowledge of HTML or CSS. You can simply use a WYSIWYG (the Visual part to HTML/CSS code) editor. It is definitely a great way for non-technical people to write and format content. Here are a few tips that will help you stylize and format your content, so that your posts really draw attention:
Image Sizing and Positioning
It’s no secret that images are an essential part of making a post interesting and visually stimulating. Patrick Winfield wrote an extensive post about finding images online.
After finding your image, it is important to resize it to fit your post. Here is an example of a guy who has some technophobia:
Resize Images offline
When using the WYSIWYG editor, you are able to upload huge resolution images and then specify the size in the browser. However, resizing the images inside a browser is almost never a good idea, for the following reasons:
- The browser still has to load those huge 2000px images before it resizes them. If you have 10 of those on one page, it will take a while for people to load the page (even though the images appear small.)
- The images will not appear in the best quality. They may look distorted or pixelated depending on the browser.
Bottom line is, try to resize your images offline using a graphic program like Photoshop, or even MS Paint.
Use tools to quickly sketch the size and positioning of your image
If you need to insert an image into existing text, sometimes you don’t know where to start with the sizing. How large should your image be? Well there are ruler tools out there that help you draw inside your browser. My favorite to use is the Web Developer Add-on for Firefox. It has many useful features in addition to the ruler tool.
Once you bring up the ruler tool, you can draw a square on top of the browser where you think the image will be positioned. The tool then displays the width and the height in pixels. This shows you exactly which size your image should be. Now you can go back to your graphics program and make it that size.
This makes the process much easier. Otherwise you would need to resize an image, insert it, resize it again, refresh the page, repeat… That process gets annoying fast.
Note the image size – 186 x 165. After we insert and align the image to the left, we get something like this:
Instead of the ruler tool, you can also take a screenshot of the page, paste it into a graphics program (such as Photoshop) and try to draw on top of it to figure out the size in a similar manner.
Use Horizontal Space to separate from the text.
Most WYSIWYG editors let you add horizontal and vertical space to the image. I usually use 5px of horizontal space to the images aligned to the left, so that there is some separation between an image and text. Similarly you can type in HTML text right into an img tag of the image. For example:
<img src=”image.jpg” hspace=”5″ />
Use Vertical Space to wrap more lines of text
You can use vertical space trick if there is one line of text that doesn’t wrap anymore. It makes the text wrap around the image + the vertical space.
I usually use this to wrap one more line of text. Otherwise it may get a bit ridiculous from visual standpoint. But this example merely shows how the technique works. The aesthetic quality is up to you.
Colors
If you are using a predefined wordpress theme, the colors will most likely come with it. However, if you want to try some different ones for your text, headings or links, here are some tips.
Use Color Picker tools to get hex value.
Each color that you see on a monitor has a hex value assigned to it, which is a 6-digit number. To get that number you can use Color tools. I use ColorZilla Add-on for Firefox. You can also take a screenshot and paste it into Photoshop, then use the color picker tool there to get the hex value of the color. Let’s say our color number is 1A2D89. Once you know that number, you can use CSS to assign that color to any attribute (heading, link, etc) you want, by adding to that attribute.
color: #1A2D89;
Usually you want to stick to the colors within your theme, so you can use the color picker tool to get the color from the images within your theme and assign them to headings, links, etc.
You can also experiment with some accent colors. Best part is if you see a color you like anywhere on the web, you can grab it by using a color picker tool.
Another useful technique is to get new colors that are in the same “family.” So let’s say your theme is all blue, but you want to add a red color that’s in the same “family”. An interesting thing to experiment with is to start with the color you have, and only change the hue of the color, without changing anything else. You can do this in Photoshop.
For example, let’s start with our theme’s blue color, which is 1A2D89. I want to change it to red. What I would do is open the Color Picker in Photoshop and paste 1A2D89 in there, which brings up the blue. Then only move the Hue marker up or down to get to red. You will see that the hex number changes. My red is 891A1A. Now I can note that number and use it in my stylesheet. Here are the results:
THIS IS MY BLUE
THIS IS MY RED
Since the saturation and brightness of the color is the same, they seem to go perfectly together.
Use CSS inside a stylesheet, unless you will never need to use it again
If you are using a wordpress-based blog or a customized blog, a CSS stylesheet already exists. If you want to change colors or font sizes for your text, headings, or links, it is easier to edit that CSS stylesheet. Applying the color and size inside each post separately every time you need to make a change, will be a total waste of time.
Sometimes people with technophobia just do not want to think about dealing with CSS code. They would rather just use WYSIWYG editor’s built in color and size tools. But here are some reasons why dealing with CSS directly will actually make your life easier.
1. If you want to change a color of a heading, you just have to do it only once in a stylesheet; as opposed to do it 20 different times in your posts.
2. If you want to change that color in the future, guess what? You will need to change it 20 more times… AND this time you will actually NEED to change it 20 times even if you smarten up, since now the heading is taking its color from the inline code, not from the stylesheet anymore. So not only do you have to do more work now, you will also screw yourself (or another developer) in the future.
To keep everything organized, my advice is limit using the WYSIWYG editor’s color and sizing tools. It will only insert the CSS code directly into your post, as opposed to the central stylesheet. It’s best to edit your styles in the stylesheet, and then use WYSIWYG list of Styles (which reads from centralized stylesheet) to assign those styles to headings, text and other formats you may need.
How to do it
If you run a wordpress blog, then go to Design -> Theme Editor and open the style.css file. This is the file that has all the styles for your theme. There are many styles available in there, but here are some that you would probably look to edit:
- body refers to the entire page. This is basically a default style for everything. Usually the default text color and size would be specified here.
- h1, h2, h3, h4 are headings. You can edit the size and color to each one separately.
- a is a link. The ‘a’ tag also has 4 versions (a:link, a:visited, a:hover, a:active) which corresponds to the 4 states a link can be in. Each one can be changed separately.
- p is a paragraph. This helps keep paragraphs styles universal
All the styles that have “#” or “.” in front of them were custom created and can be edited as well.
Word of advice: Before you start editing, save a copy of your original stylesheet as a backup. It is easy to make a mistake. If you do, you can reupload the backup, and your styles will go back to what they were before you started.
I would suggest that you don’t touch anything but colors and sizes, if you are not familiar with CSS. If you are interested in going more in depth, pick up a book on CSS or read some CSS tutorials on the web. There is plenty of information out there. Once you are confident you know what you’re doing with CSS, you can try to adjust other CSS properties to your liking.
Here are the lines dealing with colors, fonts, and sizes that you can edit.
color: #29303B; Feel free to edit that hex number using the techniques described in the color section
font-family: Garamond, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; These are the fonts being used. You can use more than one font separated by commas. If a person doesn’t have the first font installed on their computer, it will go down the list until it finds the font that is installed.
font-size: 12px; This is the font size. It can be specified in pixels (14px), points (10pt) or em (1.6em). So when you edit that number you can experiment of going higher or lower and see the results until you like something.
The example code below will specify the color, font and size of the text by default:
body {
color: #29303B;
font-family: Garamond, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
}
No for Crazy Fonts
Many bloggers want their site text to have a crazy font they spotted somewhere on the web. Please note, there are only a few standard fonts that are used on the web. A web page can only display that font if it is installed on your computer. If you go with a font outside that list, it is not guaranteed that everyone will have it, and some people will see your page in a different font. You can theoretically use non-standard fonts combining them with standard ones. However, if you do this, you better test all the fonts to make sure that your page looks good for each one of them.
Using Tables to position the content
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| This is a picture of a guy who is afraid to open a CSS stylesheet. |
There are many ways to use tables to position the content. In fact, in the early days of the web, this was the most common technique used. CSS positioning has taken over, but you have to be somewhat versed in HTML/CSS to be able to apply CSS positioning techniques. If you are a non-technical blog writer and you want to have some freedom over positioning there is nothing wrong with using tables, as long as you don’t go way overboard.
One example of where a table would be useful, is if you have an image and you want to add some caption under it and then align the image and the caption with the text. This is commonly seen in web pages.
First thing you need is make sure is that your WYSIWYG editor supports tables. Wordpress has a great plugin, TinyMCE, that adds more WYSIWYG features to your editor, including the ability to create/edit tables. You may also use a visual program like Dreamweaver (please don’t user Frontpage, as that is the worst program for HTML editing).
When using any WYSIWYG table editor, insert a table with 2 rows and 1 column. The top row will hold the image, and the bottom row will hold the description. The width of the table should be the width of the image. Leave the height blank, since that will expand depending on the content. You may also add 5 pixels of cellpadding to the table so that there is some spacing all around. Align the table to the left or right and hit insert.
Now you can insert the image in the top row. And type in the caption in the bottom row. This is a simple example, but you can use tables to position different things. For example if you have to display 4 pictures in a 2 by 2 setting, etc.
Do Not Paste From MS-Word
Some people like to type their content in MS Word and then copy/paste it into the WYSIWYG editor. This procedure is not recommended as it can cause some unpredictable behavior, depending on what formatting was used in Word.
Even though most WYSIWYG editors have the ‘Paste from Word’ button, that button tries to preserve some of the MS Word formatting, but it is not perfect. Some of the formatting may get messed up causing you to go and try to make adjustments. Even when there seems to be no problem, it may carry a lot of extra code that will become a problem in the future.
So do yourself a favor and write your blogs starting from the WYSIWYG editor. You will more than likely spend more time trying to re-edit it later if you decide on copy/paste from Word.
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Contests, especially user-generated ones, have the ability to drive significant traffic and links to a site. For example, there are many sites like Contest Hound and Contest Blogger, that share information about various available contests. Many participants connect with contest for the following reasons:
- Win a prize (monetary or material)
- Recognition
- Connect with the brand
In order for people to connect with a contest, the concept needs to be relevant to the target audience’s interests. Issue-based organizations have been extremely successful at drawing many participants and encouraging feedback, regardless of the prize. However, consumer goods struggle with contests, especially if the rewards are nominal.
Wells Fargo, the financial services company, is offering a contest that encourages users to submit a story of what they would accomplish if they had a certain amount of money. Some Day Stories is rewarding the winner with $100,000.
This contest has the potential to increase brand awareness, directly connect Wells Fargo with their consumers and dramatically spike site traffic. When people need a banking service, they will likely to go back to the site.
Between June 9 and August 25, a featured story will win the Story of the Week prize of $1,000. So start writing Today and make it yours!
The H.J. Heinz Co. had a pretty successful User-Generated Contest (UCG) last year. The Top This TV Challenge invited America to create the next Heinz ketchup commercial. The winner won $57,000. I never saw the commercial on TV, but maybe the limited its release? Heinz said it received more than 4,000 qualified entries. They currently have another contest, Take 2.
Although UGC can dramatically impact the success of a contest, participants do not always take it very seriously. Heinz received many weird and disgusting videos for how to use the product. For example, Ketchup used shampoo. Yikes! This is why one good rule in UGC is to always have someone in the company monitor the submission and make the final decisions. Imagine if all the voters chose the shampoo video? That could be disastrous to the company.
Imagine if this was the video they went with?
Heinz posted the winners’ videos which kept the conversation going long after the contest was over. This created a community, boosted engagement, and established brand loyalty. Additionally, it prompted a buzz around the brand online and sent significant referral traffic.
Do you have a bad boss? Not me 
Created by Working America, “My Bad Boss” contest encouraged people to submit stories about horrific experiences with their bosses.
We work against wrong-headed priorities favoring the rich and corporate special interests over America’s well-being.
They offered weekly prizes that related to the theme, like earplugs and a rear view mirror so you can see your boss sneaking up on you. It is an example of a creative idea and execution.
Effective contests are a great way to bring loyal customers and new people to your site. The variations in creating a contest are seemingly endless, but the end goal is the same- bring people back to the site and create awareness.
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R U a Digg n00b that gets pwned by 1337 Digg Commenters? Well RTFM so teh next time ur comment won’t be an EPIC FAIL!
On Digg, having something to say is only half the battle, knowing how to say it is the other half. This guides you to dissect the jargon, people and memes used in comments on a daily basis. Each section is broken down in detail to help you boost your Digg cred the next time that you leave a comment.
3G – Third Generation of mobile phone standards and technology
AMD – Advanced Micro Devices (mainly a CPU competitor to Intel)
API – Application Programming Interface
APOD – Astronomy Picture of the Day (link)
BS – Bullsh*t
CCTV – Closed-circuit television (UK public surveillance)
CCFL - Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (Modern light bulb that uses a fraction of the electricity of regular light bulb)
CES – Consumer Electronics Show
D&D – Dungeons and Dragons
DAB – Digital Audio Broadcasting
DDR – Dance Dance Revolution
DIY – Do It Yourself
dl – Download
DRM – Digital Rights Management (digital music copyright)
DS – Nintendo “Developers’ System†or Nintento “Dual Screen†(Portable Nintendo Video Game System) -also avail in DS lite
E3 – Electronic Entertainment Expo
EDGE – Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability)
EV – Electronic Vehicle
FCC – Federal Communications Commission (US gov’t agency)
FISA – Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
FFXIII – Final Fantasy 13 (video game)
FP - Front Page of Digg (where story ends up after becoming popular)
FTW – For The Win (way to state that something is the winner)
FWIW – For What It’s Worth
FUBAR – “F’ed” Up Beyond All Recognition
GH – Guitar Hero
GL – Good Luck
GPL – GNU Public License
GTA – Grand Theft Auto (game)
GTD – Get Things Done (action management methodology)
Gnome – GNU Network Object Model (simplistic Linux desktop environment with a focus on usability)
GOW – Gears Of War (video game)
GSM – Global System for Mobile communications (most popular standard for mobile phones in the world)
HF - High Five
HDD - Hard Disk Drive
IE – Internet Explorer
IMHO – In My Honest Opinion
IMO – In My Opinion
IRC – Internet Relay Chat
JFGI – Just F’ing Google It
KA – Kickass
KDE – K Desktop Environment (GUI desktop environment for UNIX users)
LMAO – Laughing My Ass Off
LOL – Laughing Out Loud
MMO- Massive Multiplayer Online (game)
MMORPG- Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
MPAA – Motion Picture Association of America (US agency)
MPG – Miles Per Gallon
np – No Problem
NSFW – Not Safe For Work
OC - Overclock (Over Clock)
OMG – Oh My God
OS – Operating System
PET – Polyethylene Terephthalate (the largest polymer used in the US)
ROFL – Rolling On Floor Laughing
RTFA - Read the F’ing Article
RTFM – Read The F’ing Manual 
P2P – Peer-to-Peer (file sharing)
PnP – Plug ‘n Play
PS3 – PlayStation 3 (Video Game System/Blu Ray Player from Sony)
PSP – PlayStation Portable (Portable Video Game System from Sony)
PTSD – Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
PVP - Player Versus Player (game)
RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America (US agency)
RPG- Role Playing Game
SDK – Software Development Kit
SFW – Safe For Work
SMS – Short Message System (usually referring to a text message)
STFU – Shut The F Up
UMPC – Ultra-Mobile PC
VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol
VZ – Verizon (US telephone carrier)
WoW – “World of Warcraft†(PC game)
WTF - What The F
y/o – Year old
ZOMG – same meaning as OMG, but used in a sarcastic manner
Alberto Gonzales – Former US Attorney General who served with many controversies, the biggest being the dismissal of 7 US Attorneys.
Andrew Sorcini – Number #1 Digger (username: MrBabyMan)
Alex Albrecht – Former TechTV co-host and co-host of Diggnation.
Barack Obama – Illinois Senator, 2008 US Democratic candidate.
Bill Gates – Co-founder, former CEO and chairman of Microsoft.
Jack Thompson – Florida attorney who is an activist against video games and the video game industry
John McCain – Arizona Senator, 2008 US Republican candidate.
Kevin Rose – Former TechTV co-host and co-founder of Digg.com, Revision3 and Pownce.
Linus Torvalds – Software engineer best known for initiating the development of the Linux.
Paul Allen – Co-founder of Microsoft.
Ron Paul – Republican United States Congressman who made a bid for presidency. Supporters are infamous for spamming Digg with positive Ron Paul stories and articles.
Steve Ballmer – CEO of Microsoft.
Steve Jobs – Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc.
Steve Wozniak “Woz†– Co-founder of Apple.
Tay Zonday – Internet start who became famous for the video “Chocolate Rain.â€
1337 or ‘LEET’ - Elite (way to say you are better than something/someone)
360 – Xbox360 (Microsoft Video Game System) 
4chan – An imageboard website based primarily around the posting of pictures, many times tidiculous and alarming
700 MHz Spectrum – A US frequency band previously used for analog television broadcasting separated into 5 blocks for wireless usage
Android – Google’s software platform and operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system.
BitTorrent - A content distribution protocol that enables efficient software distribution and peer-to-peer sharing of very large files.
Blogspam – When a blog copies an article or video from the original source and submits to Digg
Bury Brigade – A ‘mythical’ group of diggers who help to fight spam by burying submissions
Comic-Con – Largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world.
Diggnation – Weekly show featuring Alex Albrecht & Kevin Rose, or can refer to all diggers as a whole
Dupe – A duplicate submission of a story already submitted to Digg
EEpc – UMPC from ASU
EPIC FAIL – The FAIL of the item in question was of epic proportions.
FAIL – The item in question failed at its intent.
Frag – Kill
Jump The Shark – Something has either sold out or has become lame.
Leopard – Macintosh OS X v10.5
Linux – The most popular free Unix-type operating system
Mac Air – Ultrathin Macbook Air Notebook from Apple
MSI Wind – UMPC from MSI
nom nom nom aka oh nom – Used to describe something that is tasty 
noob – Short for newbie or someone that is a beginner
O RLY – “O, Really?†(Can be accompanied by a Snowy Owl) – Meant to be a sarcastic comment and is usually followed by a retort
Pirate Bay – The world’s largest bittorrent tracker
ROFLcon – internet culture conference
submit – short for submission (article, image or video)
teh – A typo for “the” that also stands for “the” however, it is used in the same manner that Spanish-speaking people use the word “El”
The Google – Used when describing Google, taken from George W. Bush
The Internets – Used when describing the Internet, taken from George W. Bush
Title Says It All – Used in the description when the submitter thinks that there is no description needed
PIC – Picture included in the submission
Pwned! – Owned, which means ‘dominated’
Revision3 – A San Francisco based Internet television network founded by Kevin Rose that creates, produces and distributes video shows on niche topics and produce ‘Diggnation.’
Slashdot – Digg-like technology related news site that was started in 1997
TXT – Text Message
Torrent – A ‘file’ that points to where you can download a file from using BitTorrent protocol. Multiple recipients supply different parts of the file for fast downloads.
Ubuntu – Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers.
VID – Video included in the submission
Vista – Heavily criticized Microsoft OS released in 2007
WiMax – An Intel-backed wireless standard that has great bandwidth and range capability.
WOOT aka w00t- originally meant “wow, loot” in Dungeons and Dragons, now used as a term of excitement, also an online retailer
Wordpress – The most popular blogging software
All Your Base Belong to Us aka All Your Base – A broken English phrase taken from from the opening cutscene of the European Sega Mega Drive version of Zero Wing.
“Buddy -> Guy -> Friend†Comments – Dialogue from South Park long Canadian argument
C-c-c-combo Breaker – From the video game Killer Instinct, used in comments to break an on-point streak of comments
Chocolate Rain – Music video that launched Tay Zonday into internet stardom
Don’t Tase me, Bro! – University of Florida student comments while being tasered at John Kerry forum
Flying Spaghetti Monster – The deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, “Pastafarianism”
Grape Lady – A reporter who takes a spill and lets out a screech while stomping grapes
Goatse – Disturbing move in male pornographic videos
I Like Turtles – Zombie kid who says he likes turtles on camera
LOLcatz aka I can has cheeseburger? – Stupid, Funny & Cute cat pictures with ridiculous poorly spelled captions
Miss Teen South Carolina – Beauty queen who answered a pagent question very poorly. Also source of any “The Iraq†comments
OGC – Reference to a semi-inappropriate corporate logo (link) – usually used when pictures of attractive women appear on digg
Rick Roll or Rick Roll’d – Being offered a helpful link and instead sent to a the “Never Gonna Give You Up†Risk Astley Video
Two Girls One Cup aka 2girls1cup – One of web’s most disgusting pornographic videos that has been spoofed many times, even by the likes of John Mayer
Will it Blend – Viral videos from BlendTec featuring items getting shredded in a blender.
Where The Hell Is Matt – The travels of Matt Harding who journeys across the earth
“Whoo Whoo†– Ridiculous News clip from California featuring “Bubb Rubb & Lil’ Sis†about installing Whistle Tips on car exhausts
XKCD – Popular webcomic (link)
Hope you learned a thing or two on improving your comments, if you have any additional items to add to the list feel free to leave them in the comments!
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Video Optimization and Analytics: A closer look at YouTube Insight
Jul 15, 2008 by Jake Matthews | Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Video
Have you ever wondered how videos show up in web search engine results? How do videos get hundreds of thousands to millions of views on YouTube? Who’s watching my videos? Well, with a little hard work on optimizing and networking your video content and a helpful tool called YouTube Insight, you can be on your way to working with video and optimizing it for real business results.
YouTube Insight is a handy analytics tool that displays statistics for YouTube Videos. By using Insight you’ll discover statistics such as:
- how many views your video has over specific periods of time,
- the demographic and geographic breakouts of the views and
- how people are finding the video content (web search, YouTube search, embed, etc…)
Though Insight’s data is not always 100% accurate (YouTube states this when you are working with it) and can use some further development in features and functionality, it’s a great start to gaining “insight” to this ever so important media.
YouTube released the tool in March of 2008 and there was a certain amount of mention of the release, but it warrants a closer look. YouTube’s blog post about the release mentioned:
“Today we’re releasing YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. For example, uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time.”
This tool along with a couple of pointers on optimizing your videos can really supercharge your YouTube videos.
Get started with Video Optimization:
Uploading and promoting video content can drive bottom line business results. Increased site traffic and brand impressions can be achieved from YouTube and other video websites. Video results are showing up in Google and other search engine results more and more as Universal search results are served on various queries. The more you leverage YouTube and it’s Insight program, the more key market research and data feedback can be derived. The more you optimize your video, the better results and more data input you’ll see. So how does one get started?
Open and Optimize your YouTube Account/Channel
Start by setting up a YouTube account. You’ll simply need to enter name, email, password, postal code/location, date of birth and gender. These last three datapoints are key inputs to YouTube Insight. Keep these simple tips in mind:
Account Name: Make it the name of your company or get it as close as possible to your domain name. For example, if the name of your company is Network Systems International, Inc., name the account something like NetworkSystems and you’ll end up with nice YouTube URL like www.youtube.com/user/networksystems.
Profile Information: Fill out as much of your profile information as is possible. You may even get into hobbies and interests. You may include in the profile information (in hobbies and interests) some keyword rich descriptors such as your company mission statement or core competencies. Most importantly, include a link back to your website in the website field. Viewers who are intrigued by your videos will explore further and click over to your website to see what you have available there. Suddenly you’re developing new traffic to your site!
Upload video content: A YouTube account and campaign is only going to be as successful as the input of the video content and how well optimized and networked the content is. If your videos are junk and you don’t spend time promoting them, chances are they are not going to be that popular, nor will you receive a lot of views which will in turn make your Insight data sample much smaller and not as useful for marketing insights. To maximize views on your videos, start with good content, but also optimize and network your videos. A couple of tips on optimizing video:
- Optimize the Video File name. For example if the video is saved on your hard drive as VideoXYZ123, rename your video to something descriptive and keyword rich. So for example if the video is say a “how to video†about “How to fix a flat tireâ€, make sure you name the file something along those lines, like “how to fix flat car tire car repair†This will maximize the changes that your video will be picked up by search engine spiders. More and more, Google and other search engines will include the file name in the algorithms when ranking content. So your video vs another “how to†video (that is named with something generic rather than keyword rich) may perform better and get better search traffic.
- Optimize the Title of your Video – Every video will have a title on YouTube, so use keywords that you’d want this video to be found for in search.
- Optimize your tags. When setting uploading video be sure to fill out the tags line with very descriptive keywords of your video content. Think like your target audience to capture more searches, separate keywords and mash them together – use different combinations and try various spellings. Tags are important as this will help you video to be displayed more often next to other videos with similar content and increase your views/exposure within YouTube itself.
- Identify your video with your brand. It is important to identify SOME of your video content with your brand by using logos or graphics- you may overlay your company name or domain name in your video. In some cases, this can be done in obnoxious ways, so don’t let it “obstruct” the message or usefulness of the video. You may also want to provide a certain amount of video content that has no brand labels in it, to let it live and breathe in the raw.
- Network your profile and your video – Keyword search for similar content on YouTube and interact with those that have uploaded it and commented on it. How do you interact?
- Post Video Responses. Maximize your traffic through comments. Instead of commenting in text all the time, POST A VIDEO RESPONSE. A video response allows you to post your video in the comments section of other users video comments section. This will draw a targeted, direct view of your video by someone who viewed related content. Try posting your video response to the most popular videos (with 10’s or even hundreds of thousands of views) on YouTube in your content area ; chances are you’ll get more exposure from those popular comment sections.
- Comment on other similar videos and then invite / add the person who uploaded that video to be your friend. Also, if there are other viewers who commented “awesomeâ€, go see their page to see if they have uploaded similar content as your subject area. If they have, perhaps they too would be interested in your content and you can add them as a friend as well. If anyone comments on your video, give them a thumbs up and invite them to be a friend. If they accept, be sure to go back and compliment if you see something on their profile that is of interest in your subject area.
The heart of the matter: Video Statistics and Data for Marketing information, research.
Once you’re familiar with posting videos and optimizing you can begin to dig into Insight. Think of YouTube insight as Google Analytics for Video, except it’s a bit more basic.
You can access YouTube insight from your profile page under > Performance Data & Tools > YouTube Insight. Also on this page you’ll see main datapoints.
- Views: How many times were videos accessed and watched:
- Popularity: A measure of your video’s strength as compared to other videos in a similar category.
- Discovery: HOW viewers found your videos.
- Related: Related videos in YouTube. After being played, YouTube shows yours as “related.
- YouTube Search: Keyword searches on YouTube.
- Embedded Player: An embed of your video on a website (other than YouTube).
- Google Search: Keyword searches on Google web search. For this video example, YouTube Insight shows over 25 keyword combinations for which my video has been found in Google Search. This is very exciting data and useful for keyword research and reoptimizing tags on this and other video content.
YouTube Insight indicates that one video in this account is showing up at position #6 on 1st page in Google web search for the keyword “BMW S50 Motor“. That’s productive keyword optimization and search result penetration:
- Geographic: Aside from the US, a fair amount of views have come from United Kingdom, France, and Poland. Indeed marketing your content in these countries may be of benefit to you in the future. With a handy drop down, you may view specific regions or states within countries. You can even see down the region and state level in the US.
Demographic: For this particular video, 40% of views are between ages 35-45. 88% of views are by males. For an early stage business this can help define who is the key market:
It is critical that businesses get involved in video optimization for reach, search results and branding. Video is not going away and is one of the most powerful mediums of communication in today’s day and age. By using video you can increase your brand’s reach through keyword search and social networking.
For marketers to measure video results, YouTube Insight is a decent tool to add to the analytics kit. And though it needs some more developement, it can certainly bring light to the effectiveness of videos and even empower you with new keyword, demographic and geographic information for your products and services.
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Rewind to Fundamentals: The 10 Best Ways to Find the Perfect Image for your Blog Post
Jul 8, 2008 by Patrick Winfield | Blogging, Design, Tutorial
Images are an important way to add that extra kick to your blog posts. They are often the first thing that attracts visitors to read further. But where do you find good image?
After completing your masterpiece, you begin to search endlessly around the internet for an image that depicts the core message of your post. When you finally find that perfect one, it is locked up in licenses and conditions that require a lawyer or a credit card. You are obviously frustrated and find yourself spending more time looking for another image than writing that post. Let’s explore some resources that will help you find that image!
Stock photography sites require a paid subscription and offer many choices and sometimes the best results. It can also be the most played out, overused, politically correct looking fluff out there. However, there are so many sources available, from the super expensive sites like Getty, to the middle of the road places like Shutter Stock and iStockPhoto.
Creative Commons is a tax-exempt charitable corporation that works with artists to set various licenses for their work. They search various places like Flickr, Google, Yahoo, etc. For these ‘free’ sites, you will usually need to attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. No matter which sources you use, it is important to credit the image. If possible, you should also attempt to inform the authors that you used their work and provide them with a link.
Here is an cool introductory video on the basic idea behind Creative Commons called “Wanna Work Together?“.
FreeFoto.com is another great resource that uses the Creative Commons license. You can only use images in an online setting, and must provide attribution and a link to either the photo or the site. Stock Exchange also allows you to re-use images available on the site. It offers more than 100,000 free images taken by amateur photographers around the world. Due to the overuse of the site, Stock Exchange can be a little slow.
National Parks Service Digital Image Archives has some beautiful nature images that are all free to use. The images may be used without a copyright release. Need a great shot of the Grand Canyon, a landscape or a mountain vista? This is a great resource for those types of images. I used a picture from here in the title graphic to incorporate it into my theme of the ‘wild west’ of internet imagery.
Public Libraries such as the New York Public Libraries Digital Gallery have some great images that can be used humorously or as historical points of reference. The low-resolution images available on the website are suitable for immediate printing or downloading to provide good-quality reference for a wide range of educational, creative, and research purposes.
Or maybe you need a photo of a chicken or maybe a certain crop? Check out some of the images, offered for low resolution download, on the USDA Agricultural Research Service site.
At Public-Domain-Photos.com , you have access to a collection of general images. Although this site does not offer the best variety, it is worth checking out. You don’t have to license or attribute the image to the original source. Another similar site is Pix, , it is a free ‘image repository’ project (sounds like Napster for photos to me). It allows you to download images without registering. More on the public domain front is Old Book Illustrations.com with a lot of cool woodcuts and engravings for free downloads.
Let’s move away from the web-based resources now and get a bit creative with what we have. Do you own a camera? Digital or film, doesn’t matter. Start your own library of photos! Shoot them on film and scan them in or get a digital CD when you develop them (almost every photo lab will provide this service.) If you need a photo ASAP for a post on video games correlation to obesity in children, snap a picture (with the permission of the parent) of your family member zoned out playing video games. The picture might not look like one from a stock photo site, but that may just be what will make it stand out as original and interesting.
Can you draw? Maybe not so well. How about stick figures? Think about how you can use the skills you have, even if they are primitive, to spice up or add imagery to your posts. It doesn’t have to be comparable to a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece, just get an idea across or support the main idea with your drawing. Have fun and be creative.
Still can’t find that image and you need to add something to the post to spice it up? Try pull-quotes. This is a simple way to grab a reader’s attention. By using graphical text, you can offer a bite-sized piece of relevant and thought-provoking information that will ‘pull’ them in for the rest of the ride.
To find that image that correlates with your post, search around the links provided above. You can also be creative and create your own images or photos to use in the near future. There are vast amounts of possibilities out there whether you want to spend some cash or do it on the cheap. Just remember to always read the fine print.
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