Greatson Media

Now that just about everybody is a believer in Web video, it’s time to figure out just how to use it effectively as a marketing communication tool. Oh sure, there are a few diehard holdouts filling their sites with thousands of words of densely congealed text in a vain attempt to attract ‘Mr. GoodSearch;’ and let’s all encourage them to continue, especially our competitors, because as they stick to yesterday’s marketing tactics, we can capture market share by communicating, using techniques that actually lead to more audience engagement, more memory retention, and more sales leads.

Even if you’re still a bit unsure of the benefits Web video brings to your marketing efforts, think of the commitment Google has invested in YouTube and then you’ll know where the biggest search opportunities exist. So let’s all agree, video is where it’s at, but hold on just a second, let’s call it compelling content presentation, or more precisely, properly conceived, professionally produced, attention-to-post video that delivers a meaningful memorable message in a manner that is less advertising and more content, less pitch and more experience.

Can you do this yourself? Doubtful, but maybe, so before you run out and blow the petty cash on the latest HD video camera, proper lighting equipment, editing and motion graphic software, how to DVDs like ‘You Can Be The Next Ridley Scott’, a computer and hard drive powerful enough to handle HD file sizes and software processing, custom photography, signature music and sound effects; and before you ask your accounts payable person or spouse to shoot you in your office with a backdrop of photos featuring last year’s office picnic and the broken office chair you’ve been meaning to replace; ask yourself, is this really how to go about marketing my company? I mean maybe your
appearance is camera friendly, maybe you have the right voice that fits your message, maybe you understand body language, maybe you have acting experience, maybe you know how to write a script and maybe… well you get the idea? And we haven’t even talked about content and concept. There is a place for amateurism, it’s just not in business.

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As if IT admins weren’t busy enough securing end-users’ computers, servers, and the network, they now need to come up with ways to protect end-users’ phones. Not only are malicious hackers devising ways to eavesdrop on targets’ private phone conversations, but new research shows that many of the free apps available for the popular iPhone and Android platforms are capable of gathering sensitive user data.

Mobile security firm Lookout analyzed some 300,000 applications for the iPhone and Android and discovered a relatively small — though not negligible — portion of them are capable of determining a user’s location, as well as his or her full contact information, pictures, text messages, and Internet and search histories.

That sort of data could be used for relatively harmless activities, such as marketing, but it also could find its way into the hands of cyber criminals and be used for nefarious deeds.

Broken down between the iPhone and Android platforms, Lookout found:

• 28 percent of the apps in the iPhone App Store are free, whereas 64 percent of the available apps for Android are free
• 29 percent of free applications on Android have the capability to access a user’s location, compared with 33 percent of free applications on the iPhone
• Nearly twice as many free applications have the capability to access user’s contact data on iPhone (14 percent) compared to Android (8 percent)
• 47 percent of free Android apps include code from third parties for mobile advertising and analytics purposes, compared to 23 percent on iPhone

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Link building can be time consuming, frustrating and often confusing. However, link building is a huge part of SEO and necessary for your site to reach top ranks in the search engine results pages. Aren’t familiar with link building? No problem. Read on to learn why link building is important and how you can build links to your site, improve your link popularity and raise your search engine page rank.

Why is increasing links important? When other sites link to your site it directs visitors to it and also shows Google and other search engines that you are a legitimate site that’s worthy of some attention. However, the sites that link to you must be relevant to your site. The other site’s topic must be related to yours otherwise Google will see it as dishonest, black hat SEO or spam.

When you have a significant number of relevant links that lead back to your site, you build your online reputation which in turn, will improve your page rank on the search results pages. Increasing your page rank will allow potential customers to see you, rather than your competition, when they search for certain keywords that are relevant to your business. This will help grow your business and boost your profit. However, the question remains, how do you get relevant sites to link to you? Here are a few things you can do to urge others to link to you.

Create and Maintain a Blog

A blog is a way to write about industry news, engage readers about your business and speak to your customers and potential customers in a conversational tone. When you write a blog, link keywords back to your business’s Web site. The more blog posts you write, the more relevant links are going back to your site. Also when you post great content on your blog, others will come across it and want to link back to what you wrote. Link to other relevant blogs and comment on them to urge those blog owners to view your blog. This increases the chance that they will link back to you. Readmore…