Today I was in a mad frenzy looking for a flash capture to send video emails to my associates for a new site I’m developing. I’m really excited about vlogs and video media and I assure you it is the way of the immediate future. People want information faster and video is an excellent way of getting it out. Unfortunately, the programs for getting things like Youtube and Vimeo content from the web are scarce. So today I asked my friends at MadMimi, a very affordable service and my personal email list management and sender of choice, if they had any ideas.

I was told that Jing was just what I needed. Jing allows you to take screenshots and make videos of whatever you see on your computer screen. You simply download the free tagger much like the stumbleupon icon, and select the tagger whenever you come across a page you want to capture. It then stores the content for you to send via email, blog, instant message or social media site. Unlike a screenshot Jing allows you to minimize and crop which section of your screen you want to capture! No more sending these images to Paint to be cropped before sending. The best part is that Jing is free. You can send video for only $14.95/YEAR! 

It’s hard keeping up with all your content. At Auto-Ping.com you can notify the search engines, blogs and rss directories that you’ve created new content. The benefits of having free faster search indexing and increased visibility is priceless. 

To Auto-Ping all you have to do is copy the html code and paste it into your new blog post or website. Once you click on the Auto Ping symbol you are directed to the Auto Ping site (a project by MyPageRank.net) where you can see your post being pinged to the major directories and search engines. Then you can refer to the previous days post or the last pinged post to copy the code again for your latest post.

You can even customize the colors to blend in nicely with your blog like mine below:

Similar Sites is a subsidiary of Similar Group where the motto is “search is good, but finding is better!” SimilarSites.com is a great SEO resource for finding those sites that are as closely related to the content of your own site. Sometimes finding similar websites isn’t so easy. At Similar Sites instead of searching by keyword which sometimes brings up spammy or link farmed results, you search by url. Then the site offers several, sometimes dozens of sites, ranked by percentage which are similar to your url. While you can find similar information on Google Webmaster or Adwords search tools, I like the user generated results of Similar Sites. The site also has a section for reviews and top sites. After viewing one of the listed sites you may rate the selection by 5 stars, helping the next person who comes along with the same query. You can even view Tweets and Facebook posts by othere users regarding the site in your query. 

Take a look at this screenshot of my query for “seomoz.org” : 

Ahhh yes, you’re in a cozy basement room with your friends. The home stereo plays the tunes of Hendrix from your favorite rock station. No one moves, no one speaks but somehow everyone is communicating. It’s because you’re all baked and wondering how the three of you that originally entered has turned into six double-headed creatures. Then it hits you. The joint was laced. What was it laced with? Who knows, but it was good. How the hell were you fooled about the contents? Your best friend said something quick and clever. He sold you on a promise of pure satisfaction. But you’re not upset. Noo, it was all harmless pleasure. That’s exactly how we successfully share information on social media sites. 

When we’re tweeting and posting we want to gain a lead, or subscriber or just a new fan. That means sharing things that aren’t always directly related to our goal. Sometimes we just want to share a video, an image or an article. But in order to get that click through we’ve got to lace our message with super quick and engaging content; content that stands out among the crowd of other messages on Facebook news feeds and tweets, but also remains relevant to your original goal. So how does one “lace” their social media message? By finding a single common thread and blowing up its connection with your desired audience. For example:

Here’s a pretty random but fun photo I wanted to share with my community (thanks Omgplace :) :

First I defined a connection with my photo, in this case, inexpensive marketing.

Second I tailored a tweet or post that was engaging and exaggerated it’s usefulness to my friends and followers.

My Tweet or Post:

“I’ve found the best and cheapest developer for hire! If you need a programmer you can check him out here.”

Lastly… I just wait for the clicks and comments. 

You know you need to give your Online Marketing Manager a raise when….

they come up with an awesomely fabulous idea for Marketing your small business by playing on the Social Media craze. That’s exactly what Christiane Peschen of Belgian furniture store, Heylen did for her customers. The catch was that the three Facebook parking spaces which are positioned so comfortably near the furniture store’s door are only reserved for Facebook fans! Neato! I love the idea and I love that it came from another innovative woman. *ROARRR* 

Beyond the fact that this is a great incentive to become a fan. This idea has reached viral capacity as bloggers all over the world are now talking about it.

Good Job Christiane….I must add you on Twitter.

Looking for someone to manage your content? Check out my site at SEOContentQueen.com

Today I got an email from Netflix and boy was it a surprise. If you’ll recall, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings put himself and the company in a huge debacle over some less than forthright practices. Unbeknownst to millions of customers, Netflix underhandedly passed off a new bill with separate charges for it’s delivery dvd service which had originally been apart of a monthly package. Needless to say people weren’t too thrilled with the surprise billing statement. I’m sure Netflix customer service reps received mp shortage of calls for that entire month following the new bill.

I’ve pasted parts of the email apology for you to read over because I think this is a great time to discuss damage control. I really enjoyed reading Reed Hasting’s letter and I find it to be a great case study for a properly constructed online business apology letter. He definitely had some professional help with this and I decided to break down the strengths of his apology letter.

1. Keep It Personal 

Reed starts his letter addressing the person it is sent to and not to “Netflix Customers” or some other all encompassing group name. This letter is personable because Reed understands that his business has hurt individuals not a nation of customers.

Reed writes:

Dear Cassady,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

2. Address the Problem  and Take Responsibility Where It is Due

Reed goes on to simply state the problem we all know about without dwelling on it too much. He goes in detail about the company’s reasoning and how much the decision, although a bit faulty, was made with the customer in mind.

“For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.”

3. Remind them of Why They Love You

If your apology letter only contains a bunch of boo-hoo “I’m sorry’s” you will only remind your customers of how upset they were about their service to begin with. You have to remind them of why they became a customer in the first place. Trust me, in times like these customers want to know why they should remain a customer.

“Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.”

4. Introduce A New Solution

What I like about Reed’s letter is that it’s solution comes in the form of almost a new product or feature. He let’s his customers know that the change will come with a gift.

“So here is what we are doing and why…..

One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow.”

5. Put Your Business Apology in a Blog or Vlog & Allow Comments

This is just really going the extra mile. Sending one letter personally via email and another in open public form allows you to get feedback via comments about how the letter was received. It also allows the media *ahem* to link back to you. Reed’s video is just the icing to the cake. While I don’t think this was necessary for his relatively small mistake, a bigger boo-boo by a larger company might need to get in front of the camera. Seeing the CEO’s face when apologizing shows great humility and earnestness.

“Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.”

Even though you may not think you have big budgets like Netflix to invest in maintaining your online business reputation, you have to keep in mind that the online ad space is one of the few places in which all businesses are equal.

Looking for someone to manage your content or campaign? Check out my business site at http://www.seocontentqueen.com