SSMHS Blog

This is part of the point I was making with High Profile Article Marketing before I retired that product.

You see, gone are the days when you’re an expert online just because you claim to be. Even if you, you have to prove it somehow. You’ll need either:

1. Social Proof
2. Applied Proof, or,
3. The “Proof” of Popularity

Get the trifecta (that’s all three of these winning horses in that order), and you’ll never be broke again.

How do you achieve such a thing? The exclusive content angle can take you through all three of these if you’re diligent.

First, write a list of all the online and offline publications in your industry. The online ones will probably be easier to get into.

Second, go find out more about all the editors. Follow them for a while and find out what they read.

Third, see if you can get into publications they read, or, failing that, get widely syndicated on a topic they read about.

Fourth, give it a week or so and see if they come to you. It’s most awesome when an editor asks for your work.

Fifth, if after a week you aren’t noticed, well hey, folks are busy. Think of some way that you can give to this editor and help them with their mission. Then, ask how they most like to accept submissions – having been an editor of poetry and business resources, I can’t tell you how many submissions get rejected for being in the improper format. They may be good but if they’re too hard to re-format, they get trashed and often, a less impressive article goes in its place.

Exclusive, time-sensitive, well-written work gets the most exposure.

Sixth, follow up.

This does not mean harass.

This means, after at least a week, maybe even up to a month has passed, if your work hasn’t been accepted or published, find out how your work was received, and if there is anything you need to work on.

If you did get published, bravo. Can you get on their staff or write another piece? Do it!

Writing benchmark, high quality work for a wider audience will first gives social proof of your expertise – you can’t be a chump with no clue if you’re writing for About.com, right?

If you include tips, it provided applied proof – you tried my free tips and they worked, didn’t they? Now you have a basis upon which to invite them behind the curtain.

When that publication gets read by thousands or tens of thousands more people than you do? Popularity proof. I don’t like this one as much, because I’m of the mind that is everyone is jumping off a bridge, they should be doing it because I did it first. I’m a skeptical follower, and prefer to investigate, then lead the crowd.

However, the reality is that most people are waiting for someone to follow into battle. Often, it’s with good reason. The thought and action leaders take all the bruises and scrapes, and find out what the safe path through the wilderness is. Sometimes it’s smart to be the one following.

Easy enough, yes? Good. Remember that “publications” has a wider definition online. If you can be a guest blogger, or have the following to create a publication, they count too.

Are you interested in making your own videos to upload to YouTube and to share with the rest of the internet community?  If you are and if this is your first time trying to do so, you may be wondering how you can go about making your own videos.  Although the process of making a YouTube video may seem like a complicated one, it isn’t necessarily.  Even those with a low amount of computer knowledge are able to successfully make their own videos, many of which later end up on YouTube.

The first step in making a YouTube video is to get a video recording device.  Video recording devices come in a number of different formats.  For instance, it is possible to use cell phones, webcams, or traditional camcorders.  If you are interested in using your cell phone to help you make a YouTube video, you will need to make sure that your cell phone has video recording capabilities.  You will find that most new, modern cell phones do.  For the best quality videos, you want to use traditional camcorders, particularly digital ones, but webcams are also nice low-cost alternatives.

Once you have a video recording device in your possession, you can start to make your own videos.  Popular videos on YouTube include video blogs, comedy skits, how-to videos, or travel videos.  You can make just about whatever type of video you want, whether it is one that is staged or just recording spur of the moment activities or conversations. When making a YouTube video, it is important to remember that YouTube doesn’t limit the number of videos you can submit, but all videos must be ten minutes or less, if you have a traditional YouTube membership account.  Therefore, if you want to have videos be longer than ten minutes, you either need to upgrade your account or make your videos in different segments.

When making your YouTube video, you will want to make sure that the quality is good.  For this, it is a good idea to speak directly into the camera or else use raised voices.  This will help to ensure that those watching your videos on YouTube can actually understand what you are saying.  It is also advised that you make sure the lighting is good.  The best time to make movies is during the day.  If you want to make your movies at night, whether they take place inside or outdoors, you will want to make sure that you have the appropriate amount of lighting.  Nothing is worse that watching a video that is hard to see.

Although there are a number of steps, like the ones mentioned above, which you can take to ensure that your YouTube videos are quality ones, there is a way that you can fix problems later on. You can do this with movie editing software.  Moving editing software allows you to preview and edit your videos, should you wish to do so before uploading them to YouTube.  If you have a relatively new computer, you should be able to find movie editing software already on your computer.  If you are unable to find movie editing software, you should be able to get free software programs or even purchase deluxe software programs online or from one of your local media stores. 

The decision as to whether or not you want to edit your videos, before sharing them on YouTube, is yours to make, but it is advised that you at least look into doing so, especially if your computer already has a movie editing program.  You will want to watch your movies and see if there is anything that you would like to edit, change, or remove.  If so, the time to do it is before you post your video on the YouTube website.  Editing your YouTube videos or at least previewing them first is likely to improve their quality, which, in turn, will help to improve the exposure that your YouTube videos get.  Many YouTube members share videos that they find interesting with those that they know and your videos may be one of them.

Do you enjoy uploading videos that you made to the YouTube website?  If so, you may be pleased with all of the traffic that you get.  YouTube is known to get thousands of visitors a day.  For you, this means that your YouTube videos may be watched by thousands of people or more!  As much traffic as YouTube brings you and your videos, you may be looking for more.  If you are, you will want to examine other ways to market your YouTube videos.  Just a few of the many marketing approaches that you can take are outlined below. 

Perhaps, the easiest way to market your YouTube videos is to let friends, family members, or coworkers know that you have videos available for viewing on YouTube.  For the best chance of success, you are advised to email the direct links for your YouTube videos to those that you know.  If you just happen to mention having your videos on YouTube to a friend in passing, let them know what your videos are about or what your YouTube screen name is.  YouTube allows site visitors to browse through all of their videos or search for something in particular, like one of your videos. 

Another one of the many ways that you can market your YouTube video is by having any of your videos appear on any websites or blogs that you have.  What is nice about YouTube is that you can easily get a few HTML codes.  Those codes will enable you or any other internet users to post a YouTube video online.  It is not uncommon for bloggers to insert a YouTube video in their blog, by using generated HTML codes.  It is advised that you post your own YouTube videos on your own websites, but if you know of anyone else who has a blog, you may want to think about giving them the needed HTML codes to have your YouTube video appear on their blog.  In most cases, you will find that even strangers are willing to do so, as long as your YouTube video is connected, in one way or another, to their blog or website.
 
You can also market your YouTube videos on online message boards.  Online message board marketing can be done two different ways.  For instance, there are a large number of online message boards that let you discuss of share anything, in general, with other board members. You may want to think about posting links to some of your YouTube videos, especially if you think the other members would enjoy watching them.  If you belong to an online message board or forum that allows you to have a signature, you will want to look into doing so.  Your signature will always appear at the end of each of your messages; therefore, the more active you are online, the more exposure your YouTube videos are likely to get. 
 
Now that you know a few ways that you can go about marketing your YouTube videos to other internet users, you may be wondering exactly why you should.  As it was mentioned above, YouTube, alone, is likely to generate thousands of viewers for your videos.  If you are looking for more views, whether just to increase your online popularity or to help you get new clients, if you connect your YouTube videos to your business somehow, you will want to take the time to market your YouTube videos.  What is nice is that you have a number of different methods available, including the three mentioned above, and most are free.  In fact, marketing your YouTube videos to other internet users isn’t only free, but it is easy to.  Many marketing tactics will only take up a few minutes of your time, if even that.
 
The decision as to whether or not you want further market your YouTube videos is yours to make. If you find yourself unsatisfied or unhappy with your current YouTube viewer ship, you may want to think about doing a little bit of your own marketing.