| Content and Content Distribution is King Here I'm going to share some tips and tricks that I've picked up over the years regarding getting the most out of the Internet. I'm going to get specific but the general idea is to work web-based and accumulate content that attracts focused traffic to your website or websites and builds your brand names. I'm going to review various FREE tools you can use and share tips that will help you do so without burning too much valuable time. Attn. Business owners: In addition to using the tools I discuss here you will want to become a Sponsor of the AreaGuides.com Network. Equipment - I use an Apple computer and a Canon Powershot point-and-shoot camera. You can use a Windows PC as well. For ease-of-use you might want to get a Casio camera with the YouTube capture mode. This will allow you to upload your video clips without having to convert them first. This will save a lot of time. With either point-and-shoot camera you will be able to take still photos and video clips with the same device also saving time. Now. let's get started. Getting Your Web-Based Tools Together Step One - Go to the AreaGuides.com Network website for your area and setup a member account. For example Frederick.com is the site for Frederick County, Maryland. You will notice after you have setup the member account and are logged into the system that there will be a welcome message on the left side of the homepage and below that there will be a series of links to the various parts of the site that you can contribute content to. These include publishing your own articles, Classified ads, Announcements, adding Events to the Events Calendar and more. We'll get back to this in a few minutes so make a note of your login info. Step Two - If you don't already have one go to http://mail.google.com and setup a FREE GMail account. This GMail account will also give you access to Google Docs, Picasa (Photo Sharing) and YouTube for videos. You will also use the GMail account to setup a Blogger Blog. Step Three - Use the FREE EMail Application on this website and request your own AreaGuides GMail powered e-mail account. This will allow you to have an easy-to-remember e-mail address and plug you into various additional services like Google Sites (this is what was used to build this website and yes this is FREE too.) GMail Setup Notes and Tips: From your GMail inbox click on the "Settings" link in the upper right and then click on "Accounts". Then add another e-mail address (this includes your new AreaGuides E-Mail account). After you verify that the address you added is really yours you will be able to send e-mail out of your GMail account and use the added address as your return address. Next, you forward the e-mail from the address you added to your GMail account and you're set to send and receive mail in your new GMail account using the address or addresses you added. Then, in the same accounts setting area select the button "Reply from the same address the message was sent to" and when you reply to an e-mail the system will automatically insert the correct "reply to" address. I know this sounds a little complicated but the end result will be a powerful e-mail solution that will allow you to manage all your e-mail accounts via your GMail inbox. This is the best e-mail solution on the planet! You'll end up with an easy-to-remember AreaGuides e-mail address and all the power of GMail. If you have any problems setting this up use the Contact Form to get in touch with me and I'll walk you through it over the phone (at no charge). OK, Let's Start Posting Content! For now we will assume that you already have a website. If you don't yet have a website that you like and can easily update contact me and I'll set you up with a Google Site like this one. It's a good idea to post your content to high-traffic websites where your content will be seen. Also, you want to try and get your content out to sites where you will get focused traffic. For example if you're trying to reach people in your local area go for local sites. The AreaGuides.com Network has sites in many areas that allow you to post content free of charge. Frederick.com is the AreaGuides site for the Frederick County area. In step one above you registered to use the AreaGuides Network. So, go to the site for your area and click on the Member login link at the top left of the page and log in. After you log in you will see a welcome message at the left and below that you will see links showing the kind of content you can publish. You can add events to the Events Calendar, publish articles, post classified ads, announcements and more. Remember to include links to your website from any content you post. To make your articles really powerful you might want to embed a YouTube video and/or a Picasa slide show. If you are not sure how to do this use the Contact Form to get in touch with me and I'll get you started at no cost. After you've posted to the AreaGuides.com site for your area you can start a Blog and post to that too. I also recommend using sites like CraigsList.com to get your message out. |
Google Docs Presentation (above) YouTube Video (below)
Picasa Slide Shows (below) can be inserted in various sizes.
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Content Is King |