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Let’s say you have a product for brick-and-mortar businesses on how to get more customers. If you take the exact same information that is in your product, but customize it for a specific niche, you can charge more AND make more sales.

For example, you customize the info for chiropractors and market it exclusively to chiropractors. Sales will actually be easier to make for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s easier to reach your audience when you are being specific. Second, chiropractors will see the info is just for them, and be far more likely to buy than if it was generic. So it’s easier to reach your audience, and easier to sell to them when you find them.

But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that you can sell your product for more money because it is geared specifically towards chiropractors. And you can do this in multiple niches: Contractors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc.

Let’s use another niche – weight loss. You have a generic product on how to lose weight, which means you are competing against every other weight loss product out there. But if you focus your product just for men over 60, or just for college women, or just for people in cold climates who can’t get outside to exercise, you’ve created more opportunities to target and sell your information. And you can continue to customize your info as many times as you can find markets. If you can reach your specific audience, you can do this.

This could be a business all on its own. You can go to any product owner and strike a deal where you take their info and customize it and then sell it. If you do, be sure you negotiate for a high percentage of the profits, since you will be doing the customizing and the work.

Or better yet simply buy rights to the information and then you can keep all the profits for yourself.

These are super easy to pull off, yet so effective you’ll be kicking yourself for not using them sooner…

LinkedIn: See Restricted LinkedIn Search Results

When you search for people on LinkedIn, you might not see the search results you’re looking for. This is because results can be restricted based on your membership level.

But there is a way around this…

The majority of LinkedIn profiles are indexed on Google.

Thus all you have to do is search Google to find what you’re looking for, like this:

Site:linkedin.com “name of person”

And let’s say you’re looking for social media managers in New York. Type this into Google:

Site:linkedin.com//pub “social media manager” New York

Now you can find the information LinkedIn is hiding from you.

Sweet!

Twitter: Send Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters

No, I don’t mean send readers to another site to see what you have to say. We’re going to keep our readers right there on Twitter by doing this:

Send out your tweet just like normal, ending it with a (…) or a cliffhanger.

For example,

“Did you know you can send out a Tweet that’s longer than 140 characters? First you tweet like usual. Then…”

Reply to your own tweet from your own stream. Seriously. Remove your @name so you don’t look like you’re talking to yourself (which would be weird!) Like this:

“…you reply to your own tweet in your Twitter stream. Remove the mention of your name and finish your tweet.”

Visitors see either tweet in your stream, click on ‘view conversation’ and see the full length tweet.

Facebook: Reduce Attack Posts and Salty Comments

The Internet can be a rowdy place, especially in social media. But if you go to the Page Moderation section of Page Settings, you’ll get some relief.

Simply enter common inflammatory words such as “unlike,” “clickbait,” “idiot” and so forth. Then when a banned word is used, the comment will be hidden from the general public.

The comment still appears to the person who left it who is none the wiser. And their friends will be able to see it as well, but no one else.

You can also hide comments from trolls after they’re posted. The troll will still see the comment, so unless he compares his account with someone else’s he’ll never know the comment is hidden.

And it’s better than deleting the comment and banning the troll, since they’ll then email you and complain you’re stepping on their freedom of speech.

YouTube: Research What Viewers Want

It can be difficult to move viewers off of YouTube and onto your website. But now you can use YouTube cards to poll your audience and find out what they really love.

Ask the right questions and you’ll discover what will make them go to your website and opt-in to your mailing list. Then simply present them with the strong call to action they need, and they’re yours.

Any Social Media Platform: Vastly Increase Your Social Media Followers

Share for Share or Shoutout for Shoutout (S4S) is basically forming mutually beneficial partnerships with other people in your niche.

You post each other’s content with a reference back to them. Sort of like emailing your list to tell them about another email marketer (also called a solo ad) only it’s done reciprocally on social media. And it costs nothing because you are doing it for each other.

But what if you’re new to the platform? If you have social clout on other platforms, you might do a cross promotion in which you promote them on your established platform and they promote you on your new platform. And the best thing about this technique is it works on any social media platform, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth.

There you have it – 5 genuine social media hacks that can make a real difference in your marketing. Pick your favorite and start using today.

I started to compile a bunch of stats to show you how popular video marketing is becoming. And then I realized – the last thing you need are more stats about how video is taking over the internet.

The fact is, if you’re not using video yet, you’re losing customers, clients and revenue.

Consumers love video. They watch video. They ENJOY video.

They even enjoy video when the video is selling something, as long as the video still entertains and informs.

So how can you use more video in your business?

And how can you make those videos perform as well as possible in getting your viewers to take action?

Here are ten tips to get you started in the right direction:

1: Make your video is about the story, not about the sale.

Anyone can slap up a sales video and put it on YouTube. “Buy my product!” But will it get views? Not likely.

Instead, tell stories and deliver value. Let’s say you’re selling a course on how to do marketing for chiropractic offices.

It’s tempting to tell the viewer why your course rocks, why it’s exactly what they need, and how it’s only available for a limited time.

But what if you make a series of short videos, with each video providing one powerful marketing tip just for chiropractors?

I guarantee those videos will be watched and shared among the chiropractic community.

You’ll establish massive credibility. And of course you can politely refer them to your website at the end of each video.

These videos won’t sell your course for you.

But what they will do is make it far easier to get the sale.

Think of it as romancing the client…

First you take them out on a date or two or three…

And THEN you close the sale.

Your success rate will be much higher than if you try to close the sale while the two of you are still strangers.

2: Make the first 10 seconds the BEST 10 seconds ever.

One stat says that 20% of viewers will click away from a video within the first 10 seconds.

Now you’ve got to ask yourself – why would they do that?

They came to watch something, yet they leave almost immediately.

There could be a few reasons:

• Your video doesn’t appear to be what they expected. If they are coming from a link that says, “Free iPad!” and your video is about growing organic veggies, you’re going to lose them. Continuity is key here.
• You have a long, boring, “Look at me!” intro. You’ve seen those intros where it’s 30 seconds of how great the company, video creator, brand or whatever is. The problem is, no one cares but the person who made the video. Lose the long intro.
• You dilly dally around. Taking the first minute of the video to finish setting up your recording equipment is a major no-no.
• You don’t start out with a bang. You want to get right to the meat of the subject by quickly introducing what’s happening and then making it happen.

Think about movies back in the 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s – they all had long boring intros filled with lots of credits and no action.

Now think about todays’ movies – from the first moment there is action; something that captures your attention and makes you want to stay tuned to find out what’s happening, why it’s happening and what’s going to happen next.

When it comes to writing fiction, teachers often tell their students to lop off the first page or two, because they’re usually full of long, boring intro stuff to set up the first scene. But when you lop that off and start with the action, BOOM – the reader is captivated.

Videos are the same way. Start with the good stuff and let it just get better from there.

3: Don’t be so serious.

Your video might be to inform and instruct, but that doesn’t mean you have to sound like a boring, stuffy college professor.

Find ways to inject fun and humor into your presentations. This doesn’t mean to inject knock-knock jokes that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Instead, find the humor in what you’re teaching or talking about. It’s always there, you just have to look for it.

Now I know that when you get in front of a camera, if you’re like most people you get nervous. And when you get nervous, you might not be able to find the humor in anything, except perhaps your own nervousness.

Three things I can tell you – if you practice beforehand in front of a friend, you’ll be surprised at the funny things that come to mind. Go ahead and try your humor on your friend and listen to their feedback. They’ll tell you which ones work and which to leave out.

Second, when you’re filming, continue to think of the camera as your friend. You’re just having a friendly conversation, regardless of whether it’s you on camera or you’re using slides.

Third, have fun. If you’re having fun then the viewer will likely have fun as well.

4: It’s good to be human.

No one really likes someone who is perfect, or even someone who comes across as perfect. That’s why it’s okay to make mistakes on camera.

If you are nervous or if you do something wrong, just acknowledge it and move on. For example, you drop something you were showing the viewer. Laugh, pick it up, make a joke about your nerves or your butterfingers or whatever, and move on.

It’s a funny thing when we admit to the audience that we’re human and we can laugh at our own foibles – the audience begins to like us more, and they root for us, too.

I even know people who purposely make a mistake or do something clumsy, just so they can get the audience on their side.

It’s a truly effective technique when done right.

5: Tell embarrassing stories about yourself.

As an extension of the last point, use yourself as an example of what not to do. Let’s say you’re teaching dating tips. You want to tell the viewers what not to do. Instead of saying, “You should never, ever do this or that because it just annoys the other person,” say this:

“I was once on a date and I made the dumbest mistake possible. What happened was…”

And then go on to tell a story about yourself doing something stupid or wrong or whatever.

Notice that now instead of lecturing the viewer, you are sharing a valuable story about how you goofed up.

This does a couple of things…

It teaches the viewer in a way they will remember, because people remember stories much better than lessons.

And it’s yet another opportunity to show just how human you are, and make the audience like you even more.

But what if you never made that mistake yourself?

It’s up to you, but I see no harm in telling the story from your point of view anyway. Again, it’s a highly effective teaching method, and everyone loves somebody who can laugh at themselves.

Just look at comedians – they are continually telling audiences about the stuff they’ve done that wasn’t too bright. And audiences love them for it.

6: Optimize your videos for search.

Here are a few tips for doing just that:

If you can, host your video to your own domain first, before uploading it to sharing sites. This has the potential to get people to link back to your own domain, which will also help your overall SEO efforts.

Enable embedding on your video to increase the likelihood of receiving inbound links.

Add your videos to your sitemap to give Google information about your video. This gives Google useful metadata that can improve Google’s ability to include your video in search results.

Use tags for the relevant keywords. Write full descriptions and add a unique title.

And remember this: If it has a box, Google needs you to fill it out in order to help you rank.

7: Educate your audience.

Some of the best videos you’ll ever make, that your prospects and clients will love, are videos that teach your viewers something useful.

Whether it’s to get a result they want, show them how to best use your product, or provide useful tips, people enjoy short ‘how to’ videos that teach them what they want to know, when they want to know it.

Which of course means you need to be found when they are looking. To do that, go back to #6 and make sure your video shows up in the appropriate SEO searches.

8: Let your customers speak for you.

Social proof is best done by your customers on your behalf. For example, you can ask customers to film themselves talking about how they use and love your product.

Case studies are an excellent way to showcase your product while teaching your audience how to achieve the result they desire.

Your customer might talk about their buying decision, what might have stopped them from buying, and why they went ahead and got the product.

Next they might talk about their results of using the product, what specific features they like, and the biggest benefits of using the product.

A good customer testimonial or case study can be worth an entire sales letter when it comes to converting new prospects into customers.

9: Add a call to action

Whatever kind of video you’re making, don’t forget to add a call to action at the end. It might be to visit your website, go to a landing page to grab a free report, check out a sales page or whatever.

Just remember that your videos should be 90-95% great content and just 5-10% sales.

10: Add a video to your landing pages to increase conversions.

Naturally you’ll want to test this out, but odds are you’ll see a nice bump in your conversions on your landing page if you add a short video.

The video should quickly introduce yourself and let them know what they’re getting when they subscribe. Make it friendly and fun for the viewer, and try to inject a little humor.

Most of all, give one very clear and immediate benefit of subscribing to your list and grabbing your free offer.

I know a marketer who never sells anything on his videos. All he does is provide helpful tips, tell silly stories about his industry and act as a helpful friend to his viewers.

And his sales are through the roof. Why? Because people love him and trust him.

Video isn’t hard. What’s difficult sometimes is relaxing enough to simply be ourselves and lend a helping hand or tip to the viewer.

Half of Facebook’s more than 2.2 BILLION active users are on Facebook in any 24-hour period. In addition, the average U.S. Facebook user spends nearly 6 hours a month browsing this social network.

In other words, if your business isn’t on Facebook yet, maybe it should be. And one of the first questions I invariably receive from newcomers concerning Facebook is, “What should I post to get people interested in my business?” Here are some ideas:

Showcase your customers. If you’ve got photos, videos or emails from happy customers using your products, go ahead and show them. Just remember, you’re not bragging about your product, you’re showing what your customers are doing with your product. Keep the difference in mind when choosing and framing content and you can’t go wrong.

Instead of showing a testimonial from Jimmy telling how great your product is, show Jimmy using or enjoying your product, or show the direct results Jimmy achieved with your product. For example, if you teach your customers how to restore classic cars, show Jimmy with before and after shots of his car.

Use humor. Don’t make yourself or your business overly serious on Facebook. Instead, use light-hearted humor whenever possible. This isn’t necessarily telling jokes – most times it’s simply taking a poke at yourself or your day, showing something in a humorous light, being witty or simply sharing that silly thing that happened to you a few minutes ago.

Post funny videos, especially if they’re relevant to your business. And don’t just grab videos from YouTube – make your own quick videos when you feel inspired.

Give them content. Facebook isn’t necessarily the place to offer long winded diatribes about anything. But it is a great place to share cool content – especially the “How-to” variety and the entertainment variety. And it doesn’t all need to originate with you – use curated content to round out your own and keep people engaged.

Let them inside. That is, show off your staff (if you have one) or your family or the inner workings of your business. Engage them by pulling back the curtain and showing what they normally wouldn’t get to see. For example, if you’re a one person business working out of your home, show them your office, your view, and your little dog that keeps you company. If your business has oodles of employees, post pictures of your in-office celebrations such as birthdays, as well as the antics that go on and so forth. By giving them a peak behind the curtain, your friends and fans feel very much included and part of the group. You’re no longer just a business, you’re part of their circle.

Ask questions. Nothing engages other people like asking them their opinion on something, even if it’s as silly as, “What’s better: Baseball or Football, and why?” Posts with questions get the conversation rolling, especially when it’s an easy question to answer. And be sure to respond to the answers you receive.

Use these Facebook “attention getters” to quickly begin bringing more people your way.

he easiest way to go full time is to BE full time. That is, quit your daytime go-to-work type job and begin working full time online. When you’re full time online you’ll discover opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by. And you’ll be able to create a lot more opportunities as well, by having the time to forge relationships with other marketers, time to work on your own social media, blog posts and products and so forth.

But the problem for many is their online business isn’t making enough money yet to enable them to leave their job. And until they leave their job, they won’t have the time to grow their business into a full-time income. It’s a catch-22 situation that holds a lot of marketers’ hostages for years.

So how can you get some extra money coming in immediately? By offering services online. When you offer a service, it’s fairly easy to get clients and get paid. You typically won’t make a fortune, but you can make enough to replace your income from your job. And then you can use your extra time to create your own products, build your own sites and so forth.

Here’s a list of services you could offer:

Being a personal assistant to another marketer. This job is doubly great, because you’ll also learn as you earn. You’ll need a good variety of skills to land a VA position, but never underestimate the power of Google, either. Anything you’re required to do but don’t know how can be found on Google and YouTube.

Freelance customer service. Many marketers don’t want to hassle with support tickets, but they can’t afford to hire someone full time, either, because their own business isn’t big enough yet. Offer to do support 1 hour per day, 5 or 6 days per week for $10-$20 per hour. Get 3 clients and you have a nice little side income. And best of all, you can do these support tasks as you have time throughout the day from the comfort of your computer or even your mobile device.

Writing. This could be anything from simple articles and emails to full blown product creation. Content is hugely important and every marketer needs more great content. If you can write in a conversational manner and do good research, you can make money freelance writing. You might even ghost write books, too.

Copywriting. This is a little trickier than simple writing, in that your job is to sell with the written or spoken word. However, it can pay quite well if you’re good, and copywriting is a skill you’ll need to hone for your own business anyway.

Proofreading and editing. If you have an eye for details, you can be a proofreader. If you’re good at taking rough copy and turning it into something coherent that flows well and makes sense, then editing is for you.

Ebook formatting. Getting a book ready for Kindle or even to make into a sharp looking PDF takes skill. Can you do it? Then there are tons of marketers who need you.

Graphic design. Are you good at Photoshop? Can you make headers, product covers, logos and so forth? Then this is a great way to make some extra money.

Website design, maintenance, security, SEO and so forth. In other words, anything and everything technical. If you’re good at the technical side of online marketing, you’ll always have work because the majority of marketers really don’t want to bother with it – they’d rather hand the work over to an expert such as yourself.

And anything else an online marketer needs…

In the course of building your own business, make a note of the many things you’re having to do. Ask yourself, “is there a market for this service? Do I enjoy performing this service?” If so, then you’ve got a skill you can sell to others to make ends meet until your own business is running full steam ahead.

Plenty of bloggers like to write about their thoughts, their day or the crazy thing that happened to them on the way to the zoo. But this type of blogging is generally more for fun than for profit. To make significant money with your blog, you’ll want to focus on keyword phrases and questions your target audience is actively searching for at this time.

When you help people solve problems through free and valuable content that is relevant to your business, you reach larger audiences and build trust. The best part is you get the opportunity to show people how your products and services can help them solve their problems and fulfill their desires and needs.

Let’s say that you’re a real estate agent. Your potential clients aren’t looking for your recipe for apple pie, the award you won last week or even the number of houses you sold this month. What they do want is their questions answered:

→ “How do you buy a house?”
→ “What credit score is needed to get financing for a house?”
→ “What is the best way to invest in real estate with 10% down?”
→ “How do I know I’m buying in a good neighborhood?”
→ “What are the easiest ways to increase the selling price of my home?”

Find out what real estate prospects want to know, and then use those exact questions for your titles. Give helpful info in the blog posts and then refer them to your squeeze page to get your lead magnet, or suggest they give you a call to further answer their questions.

These types of posts can rank high in search engines without tricks because they are exactly what searchers are looking for. And once you rank, you’ll be getting free, consistent traffic from Google.

This works in just about any and every niche you can think of and it’s an easy way to demonstrate your authority while building an audience that is super receptive to your offers and services.

Here’s how you can take this knowledge and double the impact: Use the same approach for your YouTube videos. YouTube is simply a search engine for videos, which is why ranking on YouTube is similar to ranking on Google.

Choose keyword phrases and questions that match what people are looking for on YouTube. Create videos with those titles that are packed with great info. And invite your viewers to visit your website, subscribe to your list or take the action you seek.

Using this method and being consistent will yield powerful results: Free targeted traffic, building your authority with your new viewers and readers, along with gaining a steady stream of new subscribers and customers.

People are nothing if not predictable. Let me give you an example: If you say to someone, “You’ve got a great job.” They will invariably tell you why it’s NOT great. But if you say to them, “You’ve got a lousy job.” They’ll tell you why it’s actually a very good job.

Knowing the triggers you can use to activate certain behaviors in prospects can help tremendously to increase your conversions and your bottom line.

That’s why I’ve compiled 10 slightly sneaky methods to get your audience to do your bidding – or stated another way, here are 10 methods to get the public to buy your product and share your message with the world.

People crave entertainment like they crave air, and they always need more of it. A good analogy is caffeine – in the beginning, the smallest amount of caffeine can give you a nice little buzz. But the more caffeine you use, the more you need to achieve that same buzz level.

Entertainment is no different. The movies of the 40’s weren’t fast paced enough for people of the 60’s. The music of the seventies can’t compete with the music of the 80’s. The comedy of the 90’s seems tame compared to the comedy of now. Why is that? Because entertainment is constantly having to turn up the intensity to get the same reactions from the audience. People want more and more exciting stuff, and if you can build excitement and entertainment right into your product, you’ve got a hit.

Speaking of entertainment, people LOVE controversy. Build a controversial website, blog, forum, product line, podcast, YouTube channel, etc. and watch people flock to it. You’ll get free publicity everywhere as people either promote you or flog you in social media, forums and other blogs across the net.

And as a marketer, you could capitalize on both sides at the same time if you wanted to be sneaky about it. For example, you might build two websites – one on each far, far end of the political spectrum – and let them slug it out online. Anything that has what is perceived to be a polar opposite could work, such as God-fearing vs Atheist, protecting wildlife from loggers and miners, etc.

Or build controversy into your product from the start. “How To Use Tax Loopholes So You Don’t Pay Your Fair Share Of Taxes.” Is it legal? Yes. Is it fair? No. Or how about toy guns for children? Some parents love them, many hate them, and all will have something to say about it which drives more traffic to you.

This one’s really sneaky – carry on a conversation between two people about how great a product is. This could be in a forum, posts on a blog, or even if it were to “come up” during an interview about something else. The point of course is to not appear as though it’s a promotion. Yeah, I know; pretty sneaky.

People like to follow, as in “follow the leader.” What happens when one cow walks away from the herd? If the other cows suspect this cow knows something they don’t, they’ll follow. It doesn’t matter WHAT this cow might know, only that they have information that might be of use. Is the grass greener over there? Is there a secret stash of alfalfa or a salt lick over there? Let’s follow her and see!

It might seem callous to compare people to cows, but the herd mentality applies to many species including people. If someone is seen as a leader and that leader uses ABC product, then it’s going to be easy to get the followers to use ABC product as well.

As a marketer, you can use this in one of two ways – either become a leader yourself, or get your product into the hands of leaders and make sure people find out about it.

Speaking of following, people follow the confident person. They’re attracted to confidence like bees to honey. If you don’t have confidence, get it. Depending on your niche, arrogance might work as well.

Take it away. Whatever your product is, find a way to take it away from the potential buyer. Maybe they have to qualify and not everyone can. Or there’s a limited number. Or the offer is ending soon. Or maybe they’re just plain NOT supposed to have it, so you tell them NOT to buy the book but you drop hints of just how powerful it is.

People do not like to be left out. This works well in the Internet Marketing niche, and it works even better in any non-marketing savvy niche.

People work harder to get something for nothing. Weird but true. What else explains someone who master’s a gambling system or studies racehorses just to bet? If your product promises huge returns for small effort, it will sell. Unfortunately, most products like this can’t deliver. But you can use the something-for-nothing technique in a way that is totally ethical – referrals. That is, get people to promote you through social media in exchange for something free.

Another way to ethically use something-for-nothing is to make it appear as though the very act of purchasing your product is a giant leap towards attaining their goal. You’re being honest that there is work involved, but you make the first step seem so enticing they feel they’ve practically achieved their dream simply by buying the product.

People get seduced by stories. BIG TIME. Think of the man sitting cross-legged, playing a flute while a cobra sways hypnotically to the music. This can be you hypnotizing your audience through storytelling, both written and verbal.

Entire courses have been written about using storytelling in marketing. A good story creates thoughts and images in your prospect’s head that seem to originate from the prospect, not from you. And a really great story causes the audience to feel emotions and desires that come from these thoughts and images. Bottom line, get good at storytelling and then use your skill to weave mesmerizing stories throughout your marketing.

People buy dreams, not just once, but over and over again. Why is it a camper will buy every camping gadget out there? Why will a golfer purchase every golfing book written in the past 20 years? Why do Internet marketers buy online marketing products sometimes at the rate of 3 and 4 a day?

This is why a list of actual buyers is so hot – if these people bought once, they will very likely buy again and again. You can continue to create products and promote products to this list and as long as their dream remains alive, they will continue to buy. Perhaps it’s the act of purchasing that makes them feel they are one step closer to realizing their dream. Thus 5 purchases puts them 5 steps closer, and 10 purchases put them…

You can get sneaky with this one as well. Create several somewhat similar products and then let them compete with each other. It can be surprising how many customers purchase two or more.

People actually WANT to believe. So make it real. Make it believable. Help them along. Show some negative with the positive. Did you know that testimonials are far more effective if they mention something NEGATIVE? For example: “I wasn’t crazy about the title of this course and thought it was going to be just a rehash, but it turns out it was exactly what I needed. Using this information I’ve been able to ___ and ___ and achieve ___.” Make it believable.

And remember, please use these methods only for good and never for evil.

Even if you’ve never made a video before in your life, you can do this. And once you have your videos, you can sell them, use them as lead magnets, use them as bonuses to affiliate products and so forth. You can even use them to establish your authority and credibility in your marketplace.

Here’s how you can quickly start making your own video products:

– Download the free screen capture video program called Snagit. You can download it at TechSmith or Google to find other websites that offer it.

– Decide on what kind of video or video set you’re making and the purpose of it. Is it a training? Or an info product? How about a video for a sales page, or maybe a lead generator on YouTube. It could be the video you put on your squeeze page, or the incentive you use to get people to join your list.

If you’re making a product, then keep it simple. Look at what is already selling so you’ll know ahead of time that there is a market for your new product. Look at what Kindle titles are selling, what info products are selling and so forth.

– Now that you know what you’re going to make, break it down into steps. If you’re making a product, for example, then break it down into a problem, analysis and solution. Each step will be one video of 5 minutes or less. If one of the steps takes longer than 5 minutes to explain, then break that step into two videos. Think of these as video mini-trainings.

– Create 3 to 4 PowerPoint or Keynote slides for each step, or plan a short demo for each step. If you’re using PowerPoint, then choose ‘browse by individual’ so it can be resized to any size screen. Write the steps as bullet points. Use 3 to 4 bullet points per slide.

– Open up Snagit and narrate as you make your video. The bullet points cue you as to what to say for each slide. Just talk your way through each step as though you were talking to someone there in the room.

– Once you’ve got your videos, you can either host them on your site, use a hosting service like Amazon, or place them on another site like YouTube. As you upload each video, grab the URL and paste it into a Word document in order: Step 1, Step 2 and so forth. Obviously if this is a paid product, you’ll want your videos to be hosted somewhere out of the public eye.

– Write short narrative descriptions for each video and place them above the corresponding links in your word document, to let your readers or buyers know what each video is all about. This document will act as your introduction to your product.

– Then save the document as a PDF. If you’re selling the series, you can deliver the PDF, and buyers can click the links and watch the videos.

You can even give away the first videos, and then offer to sell them access to the remaining videos. For example, on your PDF you show the first 3 video links, then you have descriptions of the rest of the videos but no links. If they buy the product, they get the links to those videos.

It’s a very simple way to make a video product, and you can do it all in less than a day.

Snagit can be used for a lot more than making products, and it’s an excellent way for new marketers to play with video and get results very, very quickly.

Google’s answer to Facebook is of course Google Plus. As an individual you might not spend any time on this social network. However, as an online marketer it’s critical to have a business presence on Google Plus because it influences how well you can rank in Google’s search results. That’s why I’ve made a list of tips to help you brand and build relationships using Google Plus.

1. Open your Google Plus profile to allow for search engine indexing. Simply mark the box that says, “Help others find my profile in search results.” You’ll find it under Search Visibility.

2. Fill out your Google Plus profile completely, since this might be the first contact someone has with your business. Also, you get 5 featured spots for photos, so use them wisely to brand your business and engage others.

3. Use keywords. In your ‘About’ section, use the keywords you want to rank highly for – especially the keywords you know your potential customers are using.

4. Add your links. In the “recommended links” area of your profile, add links to your website, blog and social profiles.

5. Add more links throughout your page. Remember, Google Plus can help you in Google search, since the two are so closely tied. Therefore you want to post links to your business in both your introduction and your contact information.

6. Manage and interact with your circles. If you’ve got more than one target audience, you’ll want to manage your circles accordingly by targeting the news and information you send to each circle.

7. Do you write a blog? Then add the +1-button widget to your posts, enabling your readers to share your content on Google Plus.

8. Use a short and snappy tagline. You’ll notice that Google Plus gives you a place for a tagline underneath your page’s business name. Make it work for you by incorporating your best keyword to help with Google search.

9. Wear your badge. Promote your Google Plus page on your website(s) by adding the Google Plus badge to your profile, in your sidebar, etc.

10. Know who your audience is. This isn’t Facebook or Twitter, so don’t assume you’re interacting with the same type of folks. Instead, take time to get to know your circles. Ask questions, make polls, find the best ways to interact and share content, etc.

11. Get others to circle you. The more you can be in other people’s circles, and the more followers you have, the better your ranking is likely to be in Google searches. (Are you beginning to see why Google Plus is important? It’s not so much the social aspect, it’s getting Google to notice and rank your website.)

12. Use video and pictures. Both work well on Google Plus, and both are far better at accessing people at the emotional level than mere words alone.

13. Don’t be afraid to suggest. To keep people on your page longer, create your own list of suggested circles in your profile’s About section.

14. Search for your business. Make it a daily habit to do a search for your business and see if people are talking about you and what they’re saying. And be sure to respond and also re-share their posts when appropriate.

15. Learn the basic formatting. You can rev up your Google Plus posts and make them stand out by learning these 3 basic formatting codes:

Bold: If you want show any word(s) in bold text format, enclose the word(s) with *.

Italic: Enclose the text with _ (underscore) to show it in italic format.

Strike through: Enclose the text with – (dash) to strike through the text.

16. Update through your smart phone. Download the Google Plus app to manage Google Plus on the go and make updates when ever you want and where ever you are.

17. Hyperlink to someone’s name. Posting about someone on Google Plus? You can hyperlink to their name by typing “=” or “@” in front of their name.

18. Think about your timing. When is your audience most likely to be on Google Plus? This is when you should be posting. Also, when someone likes or comments on a post you made, the time to reply is immediately or ASAP. The longer you wait, the less of an impact you make.