Internet marketing can mean a lot of things. For some internet marketing is practically synonymous with affiliate marketing this is the process the selling products made by other people in order to earn commission.
But internet marketing can be more than that too. Of course in a marketing can mean building a website or a blog building a massive audience for that platform andthen making money from adverts Google Adsense for instance or selling your own products.
Internet marketing might mean selling a digital product such as ane-book or an online course.
Internet marketing might mean selling something physical.
Internet marketing may mean promoting a website as the end in itself simply building a channel so that you can spread the word about something that's important to you or so that you can try to promote yourself to grow your own career.
I recently spoke to a group of creative writers and explained to them how learning the basics of marketing on the web could allow them to promote themselves and find publishers.
And of course, internet marketing might mean marketing an existing business in order to gain more customers and make more sales any small business should be interested in marketing themselves online.
The fact of the matter is internet marketing means getting the word out on the web and it means creating brilliant content and if you can do either or both of those things then you can make the web work for you.
Once you do that then pretty much anything is possible.
Literally we'll see you later in this training how the ability to work online can allow pretty much any of your wildest dreams and plans to come true.
Whether that means earning a passive income and traveling the world or whether it means growing a massive business or working on projects that you were truly passionate about and getting paid for it.
The only problem is that very few people have any idea what makes a web tick. People tell me they want to start their own business selling crafts or they tell me that they want to start blogging for fun but they have zero clue what that entails what is SEO what is marketing.
If you were sitting there smugly thinking that you already know the basics of internet marketing then time for a reality check. Because even if you know the basics of internet marketing there's a good chance that you don't have all of the advanced skills you need to really make any project into a six.
In this training then I'm going to start by outlining those basics I'm going to teach you internet marketing 101 for those of you with no prior experience. This is what makes the web tick this is your bread and butter
But from there I'm, then going to dive into the much more advanced stuff that many internet marketing gurus in reality have no idea about whatsoever. You will learn skills here that will put you head and shoulders above the competition
You will learn tools that will make you immensely employable to the point that you are never without work. And you'll be able to turn any idea or concept into a reality.
What Makes the Web Go Around
When I tell eople that our work online the reaction I very often get is bafflement. Countless people have admitted to me at one point or another that they have no idea what I do for a living in fact my grandma once made me promise to her that whatever I did was not illegal.
When I left University and started working for myself everyone expected me to fail, they all asked when are you going to get a proper job. A little offensive sure but it's understandable.
After all it's not at all obvious from an outsider's perspective how money gets made on the web. How can you earn money online while
sitting at home
How do websites earn money even if no products actually change hands?
This is the part some of you will already know but it bears repeating for those that don't. Essentially then money is made online thanks to views.
The more people view a website or an article the more opportunity there is to make money, and this is possible partly thanks to advertising and partly thanks to sales.
If you have a website that is getting several hundred thousand views per day then you all have the option of placing Google ads on it.
These are adverts that are automatically generated by Google's partners and which you will then place on your website, each time the ad is clicked Google earned some money and abortion that revenue is split with you.
While this might sound strange the reality is that those people are likely going to ahead to that other website and then spend more money.
For instance, if an insurance companies paying for clicks on your website chances are that the visitors it gains from this will buy at least some insurance and thus to earn more money than they spend in the long term.
And don't get it twisted you'll only earn a few cents per click in most cases. so you really need hundreds of thousands of views for a website to be profitable through this process alone.
If you are still struggling to get your head around this then the best comparison to make is with free papers and magazines, that you might have seen being handed outside your local train station those free magazines cost money to print and they're being given away.
But the customer in this case is not the person reading the magazine. The customer is the advertiser and the magazine has valued to the advertiser, because it has such a wide exposure the more eyeballs that see that paper or magazine the more the advertiser can potentially stand are earned by placing their adverts there. This is how a website works.
When I left University and started working for myself everyone expected me to fail, they all asked when are you going to get a proper job. A little offensive sure but it's understandable.
After all it's not at all obvious from an outsider's perspective how money gets made on the web. How can you earn money online while
sitting at home
How do websites earn money even if no products actually change hands?
This is the part some of you will already know but it bears repeating for those that don't. Essentially then money is made online thanks to views.
The more people view a website or an article the more opportunity there is to make money, and this is possible partly thanks to advertising and partly thanks to sales.
If you have a website that is getting several hundred thousand views per day then you all have the option of placing Google ads on it.
These are adverts that are automatically generated by Google's partners and which you will then place on your website, each time the ad is clicked Google earned some money and abortion that revenue is split with you.
While this might sound strange the reality is that those people are likely going to ahead to that other website and then spend more money.
For instance, if an insurance companies paying for clicks on your website chances are that the visitors it gains from this will buy at least some insurance and thus to earn more money than they spend in the long term.
And don't get it twisted you'll only earn a few cents per click in most cases. so you really need hundreds of thousands of views for a website to be profitable through this process alone.
If you are still struggling to get your head around this then the best comparison to make is with free papers and magazines, that you might have seen being handed outside your local train station those free magazines cost money to print and they're being given away.
But the customer in this case is not the person reading the magazine. The customer is the advertiser and the magazine has valued to the advertiser, because it has such a wide exposure the more eyeballs that see that paper or magazine the more the advertiser can potentially stand are earned by placing their adverts there. This is how a website works.
Better Than Google Adsense
But don't rely on Google ads to make money from a website because that puts you right at the bottom of the food chain, remember the advertisers are only willing to pay for clicks because they have more effective means of monetizing those visitors they're making more per visitor than they are paying Google.
And they're only getting a small amount of that. So right now you're really not earning huge amounts of cash compared with what you could be earning.
So, another way you might monetize your website is by selling something. For many businesses this is already built in as it were.
If your website exists to support an existing pizzeria hairdresser massage salon or anything else, then you are ultimately going to be earning money from the visitors by promoting your brand and encouraging people to visit your store in person.
You can also set up a product or service after the fact. In this case your website might promote your SEO services more on that at a moment it might promote your digital ebook that you were selling it might promote an online course or it might even promote a physical product.
This way, you are now keeping 100% of the profit. Sure you might have some overhead with printing costs and delivery but you are sharing your cash with anyone else.
And finally you might be able to sell the service. For instance if you are a good writer then you can simply create a website get lots of people to look at it and then promote your writing service at X amount for 100 words.
Likewise, for web design, photography, video editing, proofreading, the options are endless. And this is just another way you can get pretty much any job you like by having the skill and knowing how to navigate the web.
And then there's affiliate marketing means that you were selling products other than your own. These products are things that another creator is built often things like ebooks which are offering Commission.
You sign up and are given a link called an affiliate URL, you then promote this link and anyone who clicks on it will be taken to the product page via another website that intermediary website will leave a cookie on the user's computer before sending them on allowing the store to recognize that you sent them.
Now if they buy the product, you get a purchase of the purchase this is often much higher than the amount of money you would get from an advert and can range from a few percent in the case of Amazon products to a whopping 50 70 or even ninety percent.
Why would a creator be willing to give away so much of their income? we'll look at it this way they are already selling the product themselves, any sales you make will not take away from those sales.
Therefore any additional sales that their affiliates partners make will simply mean more income for them. The more generous they are with their Commission the more affiliate marketers they will be able to attract and eventually this can lead to them having a legion of marketers all promoting products in their behalf.
And in some cases, these marketers might not help them to make sales but they'll still be giving them free exposure and improving their brand awareness etc so the sellers have a lot to gain this way and so do you.
Through all these systems then a lot of money is to be made through internet marketing, if you can do all that then you can stand to earn a lot of money for yourself by promoting products services and affiliate deals.
But at the same time you'll also be highly valuable to businesses that need someone to run their marketing campaigns, and help them reach a wide audience
But good internet marketing means not only getting as many viewers on your website as possible but also making sure that those viewers are truly engaged, and that they're fans of what you do.
It's one thing to be able to reach your audience. it's a different thing to be able to persuade them.
And they're only getting a small amount of that. So right now you're really not earning huge amounts of cash compared with what you could be earning.
So, another way you might monetize your website is by selling something. For many businesses this is already built in as it were.
If your website exists to support an existing pizzeria hairdresser massage salon or anything else, then you are ultimately going to be earning money from the visitors by promoting your brand and encouraging people to visit your store in person.
You can also set up a product or service after the fact. In this case your website might promote your SEO services more on that at a moment it might promote your digital ebook that you were selling it might promote an online course or it might even promote a physical product.
This way, you are now keeping 100% of the profit. Sure you might have some overhead with printing costs and delivery but you are sharing your cash with anyone else.
And finally you might be able to sell the service. For instance if you are a good writer then you can simply create a website get lots of people to look at it and then promote your writing service at X amount for 100 words.
Likewise, for web design, photography, video editing, proofreading, the options are endless. And this is just another way you can get pretty much any job you like by having the skill and knowing how to navigate the web.
And then there's affiliate marketing means that you were selling products other than your own. These products are things that another creator is built often things like ebooks which are offering Commission.
You sign up and are given a link called an affiliate URL, you then promote this link and anyone who clicks on it will be taken to the product page via another website that intermediary website will leave a cookie on the user's computer before sending them on allowing the store to recognize that you sent them.
Now if they buy the product, you get a purchase of the purchase this is often much higher than the amount of money you would get from an advert and can range from a few percent in the case of Amazon products to a whopping 50 70 or even ninety percent.
Why would a creator be willing to give away so much of their income? we'll look at it this way they are already selling the product themselves, any sales you make will not take away from those sales.
Therefore any additional sales that their affiliates partners make will simply mean more income for them. The more generous they are with their Commission the more affiliate marketers they will be able to attract and eventually this can lead to them having a legion of marketers all promoting products in their behalf.
And in some cases, these marketers might not help them to make sales but they'll still be giving them free exposure and improving their brand awareness etc so the sellers have a lot to gain this way and so do you.
Through all these systems then a lot of money is to be made through internet marketing, if you can do all that then you can stand to earn a lot of money for yourself by promoting products services and affiliate deals.
But at the same time you'll also be highly valuable to businesses that need someone to run their marketing campaigns, and help them reach a wide audience
But good internet marketing means not only getting as many viewers on your website as possible but also making sure that those viewers are truly engaged, and that they're fans of what you do.
It's one thing to be able to reach your audience. it's a different thing to be able to persuade them.
How to Do It (Internet Marketing)
Okay, so now you know why internet marketing is a big deal, and how it can help you to make money find a job or live your dreams.
So now it's time you learn the fundamentals of how to actually get involved.
And to that end the first thing you should probably learn is SEO.
So now it's time you learn the fundamentals of how to actually get involved.
And to that end the first thing you should probably learn is SEO.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is "Search Engine Optimization". This means optimizing a website an article or both for the search engines.
The fact of the matter is that Google, pretty much runs a web if someone wants to find information if someone wants entertainment but someone wants anything on the web they will probably start by checking Google.
Then they do a search for that thing they want let's say they want to buy hat they'll probably search for: "buy hats online"
If you were at the top of those results, then you'll make lots of sales, if you aren't then you probably won't.
Thus what Google says goes. Thus, Google is king.
And thus, the world needs SEO. This is how you go about building content and designing a page in such a way that it will be guaranteed to show up at the top of a specific search and this means by dint affine the keyword or phrase that you want this is the phrase that you think people were surged when they're looking for content or information like yours.
Once you've identified that you can then begin to use that key phrase in your content.
The way Google works is by using programs called BOTS or spiders these trawl the web and automatically index pages in a massive database for Google, then when someone searches for something Google checks the database and looks for the most relevant content.
It used to be that the easiest way to come across as relevant for Google's sake was it simply lace your content with as many repetitions of the key phrase as possible, this way Google spiders could see that the content you wrote and the thing the person searched were related and this way you would show up at the top of the searches.
Once upon a time this was all it took, and once upon a time, this was incredibly easy and the more times you repeated the phrase, the better your chances of appear the top would be the only problem was that this made the web incredibly easy to manipulate and it led to people of using the system and putting out low quality content.
This led to websites writing things like "welcome to the best my hats online shop where you can buy hats online buy hats online for your mom my hats online for your dad."
Google stamp filled this kind of behavior by using algorithm updates that would penalize abuses of the system and that would favor good quality content, now Google recommends that you only include keywords using a 1 to 2% density that means that for every 100 words only one of them should be a keyword.
Likewise Google also wants to see you using LSI latent semantic indexing. That means that you should write posting content with synonyms related language and natural language around the subject.
Google also likes to seem longer content (eight hundred to eighteen hundred words), and likes to see new when relevant content and it likes to see websites that are being updated and well maintained.
Google also now looks at bounce rates meaning that it can tell how long someone has been on a web page, and if they tend to leave after the first couple of seconds then that website isn't going to perform well in searches.
Using all these newer methods, Google can now favour content that is genuinely high quality and that answers the users questions. In Google's case the customer is a user and that's who Google wants to please.
So, while you should write with SEO in mind you should also make sure that your content is great quality for the user more on this in a moment.
Other things you can do for your SEO including adding keywords in key places such as the opening paragraph in the title such as the file names the names of your images for example and the meta descriptions and other tags.
The other big cornerstone of good SEO is getting links on other websites Google views links on other sites as being referrals and so if you can get a link from a top web site then we'll do an awful lot to build trust and authority in Google's eyes got a link from the BBC then anything you post subsequently will much more easily get to the top of Google.
That said, smaller links elsewhere are also useful and note that links are how the spiders find your content in the first place.
Google again doesn't want you to manipulate the search engines or to try and trick them and someone wants to see a links profile that's natural and organic as though everyone and ones just decided to share your content because it was so brilliant and you had nothing to do with it.
This means you should have a varied range of links in terms of the quality and even the wording using links that are on relevant sites is a good idea for reaching the right SERPs industry lingo for search engine result pages and for reaching the right audience however.
Avoid trying to pay for links because this can get your site badly penalized or even deindexed by Google!.
All of this is going to help your site to get seen and if you post regularly and keep looking for popular topics then you should gradually begin to grow an audience in theory.
The fact of the matter is that Google, pretty much runs a web if someone wants to find information if someone wants entertainment but someone wants anything on the web they will probably start by checking Google.
Then they do a search for that thing they want let's say they want to buy hat they'll probably search for: "buy hats online"
If you were at the top of those results, then you'll make lots of sales, if you aren't then you probably won't.
Thus what Google says goes. Thus, Google is king.
And thus, the world needs SEO. This is how you go about building content and designing a page in such a way that it will be guaranteed to show up at the top of a specific search and this means by dint affine the keyword or phrase that you want this is the phrase that you think people were surged when they're looking for content or information like yours.
Once you've identified that you can then begin to use that key phrase in your content.
The way Google works is by using programs called BOTS or spiders these trawl the web and automatically index pages in a massive database for Google, then when someone searches for something Google checks the database and looks for the most relevant content.
It used to be that the easiest way to come across as relevant for Google's sake was it simply lace your content with as many repetitions of the key phrase as possible, this way Google spiders could see that the content you wrote and the thing the person searched were related and this way you would show up at the top of the searches.
Once upon a time this was all it took, and once upon a time, this was incredibly easy and the more times you repeated the phrase, the better your chances of appear the top would be the only problem was that this made the web incredibly easy to manipulate and it led to people of using the system and putting out low quality content.
This led to websites writing things like "welcome to the best my hats online shop where you can buy hats online buy hats online for your mom my hats online for your dad."
Google stamp filled this kind of behavior by using algorithm updates that would penalize abuses of the system and that would favor good quality content, now Google recommends that you only include keywords using a 1 to 2% density that means that for every 100 words only one of them should be a keyword.
Likewise Google also wants to see you using LSI latent semantic indexing. That means that you should write posting content with synonyms related language and natural language around the subject.
Google also likes to seem longer content (eight hundred to eighteen hundred words), and likes to see new when relevant content and it likes to see websites that are being updated and well maintained.
Google also now looks at bounce rates meaning that it can tell how long someone has been on a web page, and if they tend to leave after the first couple of seconds then that website isn't going to perform well in searches.
Using all these newer methods, Google can now favour content that is genuinely high quality and that answers the users questions. In Google's case the customer is a user and that's who Google wants to please.
So, while you should write with SEO in mind you should also make sure that your content is great quality for the user more on this in a moment.
Other things you can do for your SEO including adding keywords in key places such as the opening paragraph in the title such as the file names the names of your images for example and the meta descriptions and other tags.
The other big cornerstone of good SEO is getting links on other websites Google views links on other sites as being referrals and so if you can get a link from a top web site then we'll do an awful lot to build trust and authority in Google's eyes got a link from the BBC then anything you post subsequently will much more easily get to the top of Google.
That said, smaller links elsewhere are also useful and note that links are how the spiders find your content in the first place.
Google again doesn't want you to manipulate the search engines or to try and trick them and someone wants to see a links profile that's natural and organic as though everyone and ones just decided to share your content because it was so brilliant and you had nothing to do with it.
This means you should have a varied range of links in terms of the quality and even the wording using links that are on relevant sites is a good idea for reaching the right SERPs industry lingo for search engine result pages and for reaching the right audience however.
Avoid trying to pay for links because this can get your site badly penalized or even deindexed by Google!.
All of this is going to help your site to get seen and if you post regularly and keep looking for popular topics then you should gradually begin to grow an audience in theory.
More Marketing Strategies: SMO and More
While this is a decent strategy, though it is also very slow and certainly not guaranteed, it is not therefore it recommended that most businesses and brands rely solely on searches for their traffic.
Instead, it is also a good idea to be more proactive in your promotional activities but getting out there and reaching out to your audience
For instance, you can do this with PPC. This is pay-per-click advertising, which is a form of paid marketing where you only get charged when someone clicks on the ad we won't be going into great depth on that here but suffice to say that this is worth looking into and a skill that you should add to your bowl.
More fundamental is SMO all or Social Media Optimization. In other words, you need to get out there onto Facebook, Twitter and Instagram along with the others like Google Plus and Pinterest and you need to start marketing yourself.
That means you need to post regular content and build a following, invite people to follow you and ask them to share and like your posts so that their network see them too.
You can also seek out forums social media communities subreddits and more places where people might appreciate your content and we're your target audience is likely to be spending its time.
There are many more tricks you can use to get the word out about a brand or website - one of the most powerful and effective is something called influencer marketing this means that you look for someone in the web who is an influencer someone who has a large following already and who can help you reach that large audience.
You then message them and find some kind of trade that you can do for example you can let them pull something to your audience in exchange for posting to their audience that way you will both gain some of each other subscribers.
There's much more to internet marketing building a mailing list of your top fans it's a very good idea for instance as is guest posting and writing blog posts for other sites.
At the end of the day it comes down to strategy you want to gain the attention of real followers and at the same time you want to encourage Google to pick up your content and add it to its index.
Instead, it is also a good idea to be more proactive in your promotional activities but getting out there and reaching out to your audience
For instance, you can do this with PPC. This is pay-per-click advertising, which is a form of paid marketing where you only get charged when someone clicks on the ad we won't be going into great depth on that here but suffice to say that this is worth looking into and a skill that you should add to your bowl.
More fundamental is SMO all or Social Media Optimization. In other words, you need to get out there onto Facebook, Twitter and Instagram along with the others like Google Plus and Pinterest and you need to start marketing yourself.
That means you need to post regular content and build a following, invite people to follow you and ask them to share and like your posts so that their network see them too.
You can also seek out forums social media communities subreddits and more places where people might appreciate your content and we're your target audience is likely to be spending its time.
There are many more tricks you can use to get the word out about a brand or website - one of the most powerful and effective is something called influencer marketing this means that you look for someone in the web who is an influencer someone who has a large following already and who can help you reach that large audience.
You then message them and find some kind of trade that you can do for example you can let them pull something to your audience in exchange for posting to their audience that way you will both gain some of each other subscribers.
There's much more to internet marketing building a mailing list of your top fans it's a very good idea for instance as is guest posting and writing blog posts for other sites.
At the end of the day it comes down to strategy you want to gain the attention of real followers and at the same time you want to encourage Google to pick up your content and add it to its index.
The Power of Great Content
What all this should really teach you though is that the Internet is practically built on content and in particular it is built on written content.
That's because a person who uses Google is usually looking for information or entertainment and mostly this is delivered through the written word.
Filling your site with lots of content means that it will have a higher chance of including those crucial keywords that Google is looking for and at the same time filling your site with content will give you something you can share on social media and that will entice people to visit your site.
More than anything though adding lots of great content to your website over time is all about building long-term fans and followers think about the sites that you go to regularly and why you go there chances are that you go to them because you have learned that they create the kind of content that you enjoy reading.
And not only does this mean you keep coming back continuously creating more opportunities for the site order and the advertisers to try to sell to you but it also means you will probably come to trust the content creator you love read so many posts by them on the subject matter that they are an expert in that you'll have learned that you can rely on their knowledge.
And then guess who you go to when you want more information?.
I enjoy using my camera for a bit of amateur photography every now and then and so on my spare time i watch a guy on youtube and read his blog where he shares lots of tips and how to take better photos.
The posts are really fascinating because they show how the right change of angle, lighting or equipment can really transform a Florida what is something much more dynamic and much more engaging.
So, guess where I went when I needed new photography from my website I went to the guy who was expertise I've been reading about on a weekly basis.
This is the true power of what is known is content marketing it facilitates other forms of marketing yes but more important than that is that it allows you to build more trust and authority in your niche and to build a legion of truly loyal and engaged followers and that's why the most important skill you will learn to work well online is writing.
That's because a person who uses Google is usually looking for information or entertainment and mostly this is delivered through the written word.
Filling your site with lots of content means that it will have a higher chance of including those crucial keywords that Google is looking for and at the same time filling your site with content will give you something you can share on social media and that will entice people to visit your site.
More than anything though adding lots of great content to your website over time is all about building long-term fans and followers think about the sites that you go to regularly and why you go there chances are that you go to them because you have learned that they create the kind of content that you enjoy reading.
And not only does this mean you keep coming back continuously creating more opportunities for the site order and the advertisers to try to sell to you but it also means you will probably come to trust the content creator you love read so many posts by them on the subject matter that they are an expert in that you'll have learned that you can rely on their knowledge.
And then guess who you go to when you want more information?.
I enjoy using my camera for a bit of amateur photography every now and then and so on my spare time i watch a guy on youtube and read his blog where he shares lots of tips and how to take better photos.
The posts are really fascinating because they show how the right change of angle, lighting or equipment can really transform a Florida what is something much more dynamic and much more engaging.
So, guess where I went when I needed new photography from my website I went to the guy who was expertise I've been reading about on a weekly basis.
This is the true power of what is known is content marketing it facilitates other forms of marketing yes but more important than that is that it allows you to build more trust and authority in your niche and to build a legion of truly loyal and engaged followers and that's why the most important skill you will learn to work well online is writing.
How to Write for the Web
Good writing can be explained fairly simply a good writing means that you are communicating efficiently writing like anything else has a purpose whether that is to teach entertain or inform at any rate there is a crux that you need to convey and this is the purpose of what you've written.
A very straightforward way to judge a piece of writing then is the simply ask how well it performs that job efficient writing means that your visitors will need to invest less time into reading but will still get the most information and value possible.
This is why it is a mistake to use flowery or flamboyant language most of the time this is particularly true when writing for business where the temptation might be to use jargon or big clever terms.
I once worked with a company that was trying to sell an e-POS system but rather than focusing on conveying what that was or why it was useful for small businesses all the brand wanted to do was show off with words like cloud enabled synergy and strategy.
This was meaningless, it wasted the visitors time and a man most people would leave without reading more let alone buying on the other hand if you can quickly and effectively communicate what it is you want to say then you will find that people stick around and that very often they are eager to buy from you.
This is also true with writing design to be informative or entertaining especially in an age when everyone is in a rush and fee people have time to stick around long enough to read a whole passage of text.
This is also why it is a good idea to use the right structure and layout for your content specifically you need to break it up with lots of images you need to use lots of different paragraphs and you need clear and bold headers make your content skimmable.
So, does that mean your content is going to be forever light and fluffy?, or that it will simply be functional and personality 'less?, No,
Firstly, you can use your broader vocabulary but only where it serves a purpose. This should:
What's more, and sentence you certainly can be very deep and well researched with what you're saying and with what you're writing in fact this is incredibly important if you want your content to do well the best kind of content is content at Google calls resource posts resource posts are highly comprehensive and detailed discussions a certain topic.
These posts have a lot of value because they provide a source where an audience can learn all about one topic these are highly shareable on social media because they let someone teach another person by sharing a single link.
And if they also do very well in terms of SEO because a long, in-depth 1800 where post will have a lot of natural keywords and 'long-tail keywords' strange phrases that occasionally get typed into Google but which aren't really worth ranking for specifically.
Making sure that your content has value is very important in general in fact this is the only way that you can do this.
Another way that you can make sure your content is valuable is to give it something that is unique to give it a USP the biggest mistake I see with articles and blog posts online is to repeat a subject matter that has been done a thousand times before well adding nothing new to the table these include posts like how to get abs or top SEO mistakes this is derivative and dull.
Instead you should post something that is new and that is unique this should be something that people won't have seen before and that will really stand out to them.
For instance, how about a post that combines two unusual niches a poll said uncovers some interesting brand new scientific research that's relevant to your niche? or a post that looks back in time to some old forgotten technique.
Your content should have an emotional hook and it should offer something that your audience won't find elsewhere and won't have been read a thousand times before.
One more massive tip? Write in a narrative format wherever possible that means you should be aiming at read content that is phrased in a way that is naturally like a story think about something personal you can say about the matter or just try to give it a beginning a middle and an end.
Stories work wonders because the human brain has naturally evolved to enjoy stories we've been listening to stories for thousands of years and we can't help but to put ourselves in the story and thereby relate and emote this makes it very hard to stop listening to a story before the end and it makes it very easy for us to get caught up in a narrative and stirred by it.
Stories hold attention but they were also highly persuasive speaking of which.
A very straightforward way to judge a piece of writing then is the simply ask how well it performs that job efficient writing means that your visitors will need to invest less time into reading but will still get the most information and value possible.
This is why it is a mistake to use flowery or flamboyant language most of the time this is particularly true when writing for business where the temptation might be to use jargon or big clever terms.
I once worked with a company that was trying to sell an e-POS system but rather than focusing on conveying what that was or why it was useful for small businesses all the brand wanted to do was show off with words like cloud enabled synergy and strategy.
This was meaningless, it wasted the visitors time and a man most people would leave without reading more let alone buying on the other hand if you can quickly and effectively communicate what it is you want to say then you will find that people stick around and that very often they are eager to buy from you.
This is also true with writing design to be informative or entertaining especially in an age when everyone is in a rush and fee people have time to stick around long enough to read a whole passage of text.
This is also why it is a good idea to use the right structure and layout for your content specifically you need to break it up with lots of images you need to use lots of different paragraphs and you need clear and bold headers make your content skimmable.
So, does that mean your content is going to be forever light and fluffy?, or that it will simply be functional and personality 'less?, No,
Firstly, you can use your broader vocabulary but only where it serves a purpose. This should:
a. Provide some additional detail or subtext or subtly alter the tone of what you're saying or
b. Allow you to say more with fewer words.
What's more, and sentence you certainly can be very deep and well researched with what you're saying and with what you're writing in fact this is incredibly important if you want your content to do well the best kind of content is content at Google calls resource posts resource posts are highly comprehensive and detailed discussions a certain topic.
These posts have a lot of value because they provide a source where an audience can learn all about one topic these are highly shareable on social media because they let someone teach another person by sharing a single link.
And if they also do very well in terms of SEO because a long, in-depth 1800 where post will have a lot of natural keywords and 'long-tail keywords' strange phrases that occasionally get typed into Google but which aren't really worth ranking for specifically.
Making sure that your content has value is very important in general in fact this is the only way that you can do this.
Another way that you can make sure your content is valuable is to give it something that is unique to give it a USP the biggest mistake I see with articles and blog posts online is to repeat a subject matter that has been done a thousand times before well adding nothing new to the table these include posts like how to get abs or top SEO mistakes this is derivative and dull.
Instead you should post something that is new and that is unique this should be something that people won't have seen before and that will really stand out to them.
For instance, how about a post that combines two unusual niches a poll said uncovers some interesting brand new scientific research that's relevant to your niche? or a post that looks back in time to some old forgotten technique.
Your content should have an emotional hook and it should offer something that your audience won't find elsewhere and won't have been read a thousand times before.
One more massive tip? Write in a narrative format wherever possible that means you should be aiming at read content that is phrased in a way that is naturally like a story think about something personal you can say about the matter or just try to give it a beginning a middle and an end.
Stories work wonders because the human brain has naturally evolved to enjoy stories we've been listening to stories for thousands of years and we can't help but to put ourselves in the story and thereby relate and emote this makes it very hard to stop listening to a story before the end and it makes it very easy for us to get caught up in a narrative and stirred by it.
Stories hold attention but they were also highly persuasive speaking of which.
The Power of Persuasive Writing
If there's one kind of writing you should try to hone, it is persuasive writing.
If you find yourself being hired by brands online, then there is a good chance a lot of them will want you to write sales pitches for them.
At the same time, knowing how to write persuasively will also allow you to sell your own goods and your own services.
When I started working online I ran a small writing business I only ever posted a couple of ads Matt I got enough business from those to keep me going for years why because the ad was so well written.
The key is to understand the value proposition more fundamentally still the key is to recognize that people place orders based on their emotions and not based on logic in other words someone will buy from you because they feel emotionally compelled to do so and they didn't have time to think themselves out of it.
So, you need to make sure that your pitch is something that can get people to imagine what life would be like after they've hired you that means painting an image it will have an emotional response.
In the example of selling writing you might talk about how you can help someone to turn the brand they created into something that is as well-respected as a top brands on the web they can hire someone who would charge very little but will make their site look amateurish or they can hire you and they can enjoy achieving their business goals.
Likewise, if you are selling a fitness product, then the dream or the value proposition is to have abs, to feel confident and sexy and to meet members of the opposite sex that's why a great pitch might talk about how you went from being out of shape to being a physical specimen very happy now with your beautiful wife or husband.
Just easy motion motivates though it is also emotion that will put people off by buying in some cases more specifically people tend to get put off by risk and worry humans are actually more motivated by risk than they are by reward which is to say they normally play it safe.
That's why you need to do everything possible to ease their concerns that means offering money-back guarantees it means offering social
proof testimonials and it means offering evidence and proof that might mean your portfolio of work or it might mean showing how your promise is different from others.
Finally, you then cement the deal by getting the reader or listener to act quickly people are more likely to act on emotion when they act quickly soul if you can work them into a fever pitch by saying you have limited stock or by introducing a limited time offer then this will result in more sales.
If you find yourself being hired by brands online, then there is a good chance a lot of them will want you to write sales pitches for them.
At the same time, knowing how to write persuasively will also allow you to sell your own goods and your own services.
When I started working online I ran a small writing business I only ever posted a couple of ads Matt I got enough business from those to keep me going for years why because the ad was so well written.
The key is to understand the value proposition more fundamentally still the key is to recognize that people place orders based on their emotions and not based on logic in other words someone will buy from you because they feel emotionally compelled to do so and they didn't have time to think themselves out of it.
So, you need to make sure that your pitch is something that can get people to imagine what life would be like after they've hired you that means painting an image it will have an emotional response.
In the example of selling writing you might talk about how you can help someone to turn the brand they created into something that is as well-respected as a top brands on the web they can hire someone who would charge very little but will make their site look amateurish or they can hire you and they can enjoy achieving their business goals.
Likewise, if you are selling a fitness product, then the dream or the value proposition is to have abs, to feel confident and sexy and to meet members of the opposite sex that's why a great pitch might talk about how you went from being out of shape to being a physical specimen very happy now with your beautiful wife or husband.
Just easy motion motivates though it is also emotion that will put people off by buying in some cases more specifically people tend to get put off by risk and worry humans are actually more motivated by risk than they are by reward which is to say they normally play it safe.
That's why you need to do everything possible to ease their concerns that means offering money-back guarantees it means offering social
proof testimonials and it means offering evidence and proof that might mean your portfolio of work or it might mean showing how your promise is different from others.
Finally, you then cement the deal by getting the reader or listener to act quickly people are more likely to act on emotion when they act quickly soul if you can work them into a fever pitch by saying you have limited stock or by introducing a limited time offer then this will result in more sales.
Branding Done Right
If he learned right in this way - so that you were offering real value with a unique selling point in angle and with a 'dream' and a 'vision' then you will stand out from the crowd and 99% of the other brands online.
Why is that? Because 99% of brands online just don't care.
I've worked with a whole lot of them and so often I see the same thing time and again a client comes along to order some work and they show me.
Their website their website doesn't have a brand the name of their website is the keyword get great ABS calm they don't believe me when I tell them about the 1% LSI the keyword density and the organic looking links rather they just want that keyword repeated as often as
possible.
They ask for generic titles for their content:
- "Best Diet for Abs"
- "Tops it up exercises"
- "How to lose belly fat"
They clearly don't know about the niche they're in, they don't care and they don't have anything new to say.
And as a result, they feel they're signed with tired generic and derivative content that is stuffed with keywords and all tied together when an uninspiring brand.
Most of them don't even have a logo and the ones that do either made it themselves an MS paint or they paid the lowest amount possible to get something really cliche like a light bulb or globe with an arrow moving around it.
Then they tell people to follow them in facebook where they post repeatedly about 'check out my new ebook here'.
They have nothing interesting or new to say they've done their research they know the keywords and they know that this is a good niche to be in.
But they don't understand the niche. They have no heart. And soul they are destined for failure.
Worst of all? they have no skill.
Now take a look at the sites you already read on a daily basis. take a look at your favorite blogs and vlogs. What do they like?
Chances are that they have a clear mission statement and brand. They aren't for everyone but they have a legion of loyal fans they have a cool logo and that logo instantly communicates what their brand is all about and who should listen.
They post content that is interesting and unique they have a completely different take on the subject and they're right about the highly advanced aspects that most blogs simply don't know about or
They might rain about "Cardio Acceleration for 30% Faster Fat Loss".
Or they might write about the role of dopamine and encouraging snacking behavior
In other words, these posts are interesting and unique and they have personality the written by the brand order themselves in a way that is passionate and interesting its storytelling.
The site is beautiful and well put together. And there's video, and there's interactive elements, and the images are crisp and high definition.
In short, it has high production values and it looks like something that has had time money and love spent on it.
If you want to succeed online, 'really succeed' then that's what you need to build.
We've already seen how you can get more in line with this philosophy by writing better content. Now it's time to think about the rest the site the graphic design the video and more and in doing so you're also going to make yourself invaluable to employers and unstoppable as a brand of your own.
Why is that? Because 99% of brands online just don't care.
I've worked with a whole lot of them and so often I see the same thing time and again a client comes along to order some work and they show me.
Their website their website doesn't have a brand the name of their website is the keyword get great ABS calm they don't believe me when I tell them about the 1% LSI the keyword density and the organic looking links rather they just want that keyword repeated as often as
possible.
They ask for generic titles for their content:
- "Best Diet for Abs"
- "Tops it up exercises"
- "How to lose belly fat"
They clearly don't know about the niche they're in, they don't care and they don't have anything new to say.
And as a result, they feel they're signed with tired generic and derivative content that is stuffed with keywords and all tied together when an uninspiring brand.
Most of them don't even have a logo and the ones that do either made it themselves an MS paint or they paid the lowest amount possible to get something really cliche like a light bulb or globe with an arrow moving around it.
Then they tell people to follow them in facebook where they post repeatedly about 'check out my new ebook here'.
They have nothing interesting or new to say they've done their research they know the keywords and they know that this is a good niche to be in.
But they don't understand the niche. They have no heart. And soul they are destined for failure.
Worst of all? they have no skill.
Now take a look at the sites you already read on a daily basis. take a look at your favorite blogs and vlogs. What do they like?
Chances are that they have a clear mission statement and brand. They aren't for everyone but they have a legion of loyal fans they have a cool logo and that logo instantly communicates what their brand is all about and who should listen.
They post content that is interesting and unique they have a completely different take on the subject and they're right about the highly advanced aspects that most blogs simply don't know about or
They might rain about "Cardio Acceleration for 30% Faster Fat Loss".
Or they might write about the role of dopamine and encouraging snacking behavior
In other words, these posts are interesting and unique and they have personality the written by the brand order themselves in a way that is passionate and interesting its storytelling.
The site is beautiful and well put together. And there's video, and there's interactive elements, and the images are crisp and high definition.
In short, it has high production values and it looks like something that has had time money and love spent on it.
If you want to succeed online, 'really succeed' then that's what you need to build.
We've already seen how you can get more in line with this philosophy by writing better content. Now it's time to think about the rest the site the graphic design the video and more and in doing so you're also going to make yourself invaluable to employers and unstoppable as a brand of your own.
Building a Website
Whether you want to be an affiliate marketer, whether you want to promote your Main Street store online, or whether you want to promote yourself and become a professional singer you will at some point need to build a website.
And at this Junction, you have a few options the worst option is that you pay someone thousands of dollars to make it for you that's the right idea in terms of investing time and making the effort.
But it's the wrong idea because it means that you're spending thousands when actually this is something you can do for yourself very easily and completely for free.
If you want a website, then you can have one built in a day that is just as professional as the top sites in the world here's how it works.
And at this Junction, you have a few options the worst option is that you pay someone thousands of dollars to make it for you that's the right idea in terms of investing time and making the effort.
But it's the wrong idea because it means that you're spending thousands when actually this is something you can do for yourself very easily and completely for free.
If you want a website, then you can have one built in a day that is just as professional as the top sites in the world here's how it works.
Building a Website in a Day
1. Find Hosting
Your first step is to find hosting a web hosting means that you are finding space on a server a server meanwhile is a large and very fast computer that stays constantly connected to the web and that lives in a big server room somewhere where it is looked after by a whole lot of people.
This server has space on unlike any other computer and you were effectively buying some of that space so that your files can be uploaded and take advantage of that constant connection to the web simple.
There are lots of different providers and packages but I recommend checking out something like blue holes here you should be able to find hosting including a domain name the address that someone types in to find your files for around 10 dollars per month or even a little less.
Choose the most basic package for now (you can always scale up if need-be) and choose a URL that will be memorable and that ties in with your brand.
AVOID that practice of making your URL your keyword this is something that Google itself has said it doesn't like to see and it certainly doesn't inspire much confidence in users number two.
This server has space on unlike any other computer and you were effectively buying some of that space so that your files can be uploaded and take advantage of that constant connection to the web simple.
There are lots of different providers and packages but I recommend checking out something like blue holes here you should be able to find hosting including a domain name the address that someone types in to find your files for around 10 dollars per month or even a little less.
Choose the most basic package for now (you can always scale up if need-be) and choose a URL that will be memorable and that ties in with your brand.
AVOID that practice of making your URL your keyword this is something that Google itself has said it doesn't like to see and it certainly doesn't inspire much confidence in users number two.
2. Install WordPress
The next thing you're going to do is to install WordPress.WordPress is a CMS which stands for 'Content Management System' this is a tool that you can use to upload new polls to your website to edit existing posts and to change the design layout and more this means that you don't need to do any coding at all but the best part is that it is completely free actually that's not the best part the best part is that it is highly professional.
Far from being a 'website builder', this is the tool that is used to build a quarter of the websites on the net and that includes some of the biggest brands out there like BBC America Forbes Huffington Post Mashable you name it.
There's simply no need to pay for a limiting service like Wix!.
What's more is that WordPress will allow you to benefit from the huge community of developers meaning you can download additional features and design elements for Freight it completely changed the look layout and functionality with just a click.
And as though all this wasn't enough, you can even install WordPress itself with a single click using the majority of hosting providers!.
There's simply no reason not to use WordPress most the tools you'll encounter and want to use from e-commerce tools to SEO optimization to widgets will be designed for WordPress.
And not only that, but seeing as WordPress powers some of the biggest sites on the Internet you know that it is least possible to achieve the success with WordPress you know that it's SEO friendly for instance.
And that means that you can just concentrate on creating fantastic content and not worry about the rest! number 3.
3. Add a New Theme
The next thing you should do in fact, is to head over to a site called theme forest or one like it. Here you can browse a large selection of professional and modern looking themes and then download them to install WordPress actually has a built-in theme store and you can check there for a wide range of different free themes.Problem is, you tend to run into these free options to fair bid while browsing the web and they understandably aren't quite as slick as many of the pain ones that's why my advice is generally to pay and get something slightly more professional and slightly more polished.
Once you find the one you like, it's simply a matter of downloading it and then uploading the zip file to WordPress number four.
4. Customization
It's similarly easy to add plugins which are small apps that run on your website either behind the scenes or front and center these can include things like social media buttons to integrate your SML or they can include security features.Install a few of these and then find at a customization tools in the WP login in order to set up how you want the site to look the name that copyright notice and the rest.
That's really all you need to do to make an amazing website. And then it's a matter of adding a stellar logo.
Creating Logos and More Graphic Design
Using your new web design skills, you can now build a site for yourself or for clients. But the other part of web design is the design bit.
And in fact, this is another highly in-demand skill that it really pays to learn.
If you can learn web design, then you can create graphics that will help you sell products and you can provide another incredible service go on to sites like Fiverr upwork people per hour etc and you can expect to make a lot ofmoney selling these skills you'll never struggle for work if you can do this and offer web design and rating services.
And working on your own logo is a great place to flex your muscle and learn the ropes.
Good Logo Design
The key to good logo design will be to know your brand and what you want to communicate.The core part of any brand should be the 'mission statement' this is a statement of intent about what your brand aims to offer and achieve and how it hopes to do it it's not just about what you sell but rather it's about that extra attention to detail and what sets you apart.
A fitness site is one thing, but is this a fitness site about healthy living and good times? Or is this a fitness and herbal pumping iron I'm pushing harder?
Is it a fitness site that's about body weight fitness and cool stunts.
Apple isn't just a brand that makes computers, it's a brand that challenges norms and creates stunning products for artistic individuals that want to express themselves and that's what makes people excited about Apple watch simon Sinek stead talk on the Golden Circle consider this required watching for all businesses in fact.
You want to be more than just a company; you want to be a movement. Something people can get behind because this will make them want to read your content follow you on social media and buy your products all the more.
And the job of your logo is to communicate this perfectly.
You can do this by thinking up related imagery why not create a mood board a selection of different images that inspire you or is that a related to the message you want to put across then try combining those images in different and unique ways to see if you can come up with something unique that way.
Avoid cliche and try to be objective by surveying people to see if the and expresses your business correctly.
Then go to work making the logo.
The Tools
The tool you're going to use to create your logo is Adobe Illustrator. this is not negotiableThe reason you need Adobe Illustrator is because this is the industry standard for designers Adobe Illustrator allows you to create vector files and what these are our files at work based on instructions about geometry angles and distances vector files tell the computer where to draw lines what angles those lines should point in and how long they should be.
This means that you can zoom in at all the ratios and angles remain the same - there will be no loss of quality.
It also means that the image can be edited at any time by dragging the individual lines cutting bits off etc.
The opposite is a raster file a jpg or PNG if someone hires you to make them a logo when you make it in Photoshop and give them a JPEG or PNG file then they will likely laugh in your face.
Using illustrator is not terribly easy but if you follow some YouTube tutorials you should be able to grasp.
The basics the key is to understand that those 'lines' or water making up all your images. These can be drawn individually and are called 'paths' you can then add nodes onto those lines called anchor points and drag those around to lengthen or alter the angle.
By drawing multiple paths and having them intersect, you can then select them at the same time and choose to 'join' those lines now they become the outline of a shape and you can fill it or drag it around as a single element.
More useful is a shape tool. This lets you draw squares, polygons, eclipses and more from scratch this becomes even more powerful if you use it in conjunction with a free draw tool and with a Pathfinder window the Pathfinder allows you to do things like combine two separate shapes into a single one to cut off divide sections of a shape and more.
You can also transform your shapes using the transform option from the top menu as you might in any other draw tool.
Combine these features together with a little extra watching and you can start to create some rather complex shapes what's handy is that any wonky lines will get smoothed out for you and you'll see guidelines as you drag things to help you find center points or to lineup elements that are opposite each other on the screen.
Create something unique this way and then Chu is a great font from a site like font squirrel and you have your logo it will look much more professional than anything you would make with any other tool.
Tip
Note that one of the best ways to ensure your logo design is good is to follow the KISS rule keep it simple stupid simple design is generally better than busy design in fact and when coming up with elements for your website trying to keep in mind one more mantra.Communicate, don't decorate
This means that you shouldn't add flowery flourishes just for the sake of it any additional dialog or graphical element should be there for a purpose whether that is to lead the eye through the UX or whether it is to point issomething else important.
Photography, An Underrated Web Skill
Our aim here is to turn you into the web equivalent of a triple threat in Hollywood a triple threat is someone who can dance sing and act.Already you know the basics of marketing you can write, you can design and you can build websites that little bit of extra knowledge puts you head and shoulders above all those webmasters and marketers that just spam the web with derivative content.
The next thing to look into learning then, is photography. Photography is another skill that could help to elevate a brand to the next level online and this is in a lot of demand among publishers.
That's because photography can be used to accompany a blog post to make it look more engaging and interesting and it can also be used in
order to promote a product and make it look like something that people will be eager to buy.
Photography can really help to sell the dream as we discussed and this is particularly powerful when use on social accounts such as Instagram where it can help you make a massive impact by promoting a certain lifestyle and dream.
Learn photography and you've learned just one more skill that 99% of people who try to make a name for themselves online don't know and that makes you even more employable and gives you even more of an edge over the competition.
The Laws of Great Photography
So, what does it take to make incredible photographs?First of all, having a great camera can of course make a big difference well you shouldn't make the mistake of believing that your success entirely comes down to having the right camera this will indeed make a big difference.
You don't need to spend a fortune. A good place to start is by getting a mirrorless camera that will give you manual controls regarding focus, aperture etc the Lumix g7 is a fantastic starting camera and especially if you combine it with an extra lens such as the F 1.7 25 millimeter.
This won't set you back more than a few hundred dollars but the results will be photos that look like they were taken by a professional photographer and video that has an almost movie-like quality.
That said if you were forced to make do with a camera phone it's still possible to take great photos.
Just spend some time thinking about each shot rather than simply pointing your camera directly at whatever is the subject matter and having it the center of the frame trying to be more original and creative in your photos and ask yourself.
- What is story you're trying to tell?
- What do you want to convey through your images?
- What emotion are you trying to evoke?
- How could this shot be made more interesting?
A good starting point is to consider not just the foreground but also the middle ground and the background this can help you to create a sense of depth and when done well this should lead the eye deeper into the picture and create more of a sense of 3d this is also better for portraying scale.
Scale is something else that is important by the way photos of mountains and view is often like dull because they don't convey the height or the depth and that means that they can't portray what it really feels like to be there.
To solve this problem, look for additional elements that you can include such as pebbles and rocks in the foreground or of course a person.
Likewise, you can use things in the foreground to frame something in a more interesting manner leaves around the edge of your photo can help to frame whatever is happening in the middle ground and provide that depth as well as the feeling that you are peeking out at the action that is going on.
In these situations think about the focus to do you want to open up the aperture and focus on the foreground? that way you can blur out the background and really make the subject to focus or do you want to focus on the background more and blur out the foreground thereby making sure that the foreground while decorative isn't distracting.
Or perhaps the foreground in the background are thematically linked? that might mean a pair of shoe is throwing off on the floor while someone runs off into the sea in the background.
This works well because it tells his story rather than simply showing a static and dull image.
Upward angles tend to make something look bigger and thus more important downward angles can meanwhile have the opposite effect as you would probably expect.
Think as well about the way you set up the shot in terms of the lighting you'd be surprised how few people even consider lighting but this is a very important factor make sure that the light isn't behind the subject ideally you want a soft light that will hit the subject side on creating shadows and depths through what is known as Rembrandt lighting.
Or how about using brighter light in order to create stark contrast that might mean having shafts of light coming in through the blinds for example and creating a sense of time again it's all about the story you want to tell and your photos should inform that story.
Finally consider the background and your presentation if you're taking a photo of yourself working on the computer to demonstrate the laptop lifestyle then that can be a really great way to subtly promote a product that teaches people to work online.
But this will only work effectively as long as the background isn't filled with piles of ironing and washing remember every item tells a story so think about the story you want to tell and set the scene accordingly.
And spend some time reading you need to learn about the exposure triangle and more in order to become a truly great photographer.
Video
Everything that photos can bring to your channel video can help to bring your channel even more a video is firstly highly impactful when someone sees your video they will be instantly enraptured and have the urge to watch through to the end.We are psychologically programmed to respond to people talking on screen and to listen and we find it hard to look away.
The fact that you can end music use gesticulations and facial expressions all of this really adds to your ability to persuade and convince and this means you can use video to much more effectively sell a product or an idea.
At the same time Hill Vidya was also fantastic for elevating the status of your brand even more simply put creating videos requires skill and this is something that not everyone has any idea how it accomplished you'll probably need a fairly decent camera and you need good software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere and the knowledge of how to use it.
So, if you land on a website and the first thing you see is a glossy video with fantastic production quality, a great voiceover, brilliant camerawork, what do you think you think? that it must be made by a business that knows how to make fantastic products and that really cares to invest time money and effort into what it does.
And for these reasons, you are much more likely to trust or to buy.
Finally, video lets you take part in YouTube and vlogging and that opens up huge doors a ton of brands have been long unsuccessful through other attempts of marketing find that they are eventually successful when they start promoting themselves in YouTube.
Not only because of all the advantages in terms of engagement and persuasion but also because of the advantages in terms of reach and competition did you know that YouTube is a second largest search engine in the world behind Google so how you made great video.
Filming
For filming, fthere are a few things to consider and learn. Firstly, all of the tips regarding lighting and Composition that we covered in the last post are still very true here another tip is to learn to use a panning head this is a device that you attach to your tripod in camera and that will then allow you to slowly pan across different elements.This is ideal for showcasing products but do be of using the same shot over and over again if that is a risk you are running into then try using pens that go up and down or try assuming into the shot gradually.
In order to help with lighting, it can be a good idea to purchase a softbox or similar option for creating light artificially having more than one light source is also preferable so if you can purchase two then that's even better.
In a moment we will talk about editing and you'll see that you need specific shots for this to work properly a big tip then is to give yourself some kind of storyboard or otherwise just have a strong idea of what you want your video to look like before you begin to know what needs to be covered.
Collect 'b-roll' if appropriate. This is footage that you can play while you talk about other things it should be relevant and it should fit for a range of different sections this will not only help to keep your video dynamic and moving but it will also be incredibly useful when you need to cover up mistakes.
Don't forget the importance of sound. Don't rely on the mic built into your camera or this will severely undermine the professionalism of the rest of the product to get round this problem cheaply just buy yourself a cheap lapel mic and plug it into your smartphone you can then set that to record and tuck it away in your pocket while you deliver the audio.
Finally, set up the grid on your camera if possible and trying to make sure that when you talk on camera, your head and your eyes are in the top third of the screen.
Editing
Here is where the real magic happens.The first job in editing is to make sure that everything runs together smoothly and that you've taken all your footage and remove the stutters and stars it should all run smoothly.
If you want to hide your mistakes and make your content flow like one long video, then you can use b-roll over the portions you've had to cut otherwise you will jump from one position to another quickly.
This can also be done through dramatic effects all and is called the 'jump cut' you can use this for humor or for intentional brevity and punchiness put more in and that way it will look intentional and you can get away with more.
Otherwise, you can also try setting up more than one angle on the same shot and cutting between these as you talk to hide constant edits.
But when cutting between shots of any nature, remember again the storytelling aspect your aim is to avoid jarring the user by jumping randomly from one shot to another.
When cutting within the same 'scene' a technique often used is to 'cut on action' that means you cut during a movement and you continue the same movement in the next shot this disguises the Edit and makes a footage flow more easily.
You can like when he's trying to link shots based on the subject matter, or you can link shots based on where the user is looking.
Use these strategies and look into others like L-cuts to take your video game up a level then make sure to add a little background music you can outsource this on a site like Fiverr and add your logo and some bottom thirds and a good opener and you'll live something that looks immensely professional and can really build trust and authority.
A quick tip for those that are trying to build momentum on their own YouTube channel is to not make your videos too long this whole process can take a lot of time and if you want to make consistent uploads then you should make your workload any bigger than it has to be.
Developing Your Skills Further
Of course, if you really want to enhance your skillset, then it will pay it also learn After Effects this is the tool that can be used in conjunction with premiere in order to accomplish all kinds of awesome things from retro eighties intros to incredible video openers.This will raise your game to the point where you're creating inspiring and completely original work that many creators will boggle at.
And this just goes to show that the more skills you choose to add your repertoire the more you will grow and the more opportunities will come your way.
So, what else can you learn?
Well, I would highly recommend that you learn to program learn to program and you can rest assured that you will never be without work learning to program gives you the ability to build apps and to create far more complex websites more than that though it gives you an area of expertise that is in very high demand and that a lot of people know nothing about.
I was recently approached by a company to write content at $2 per word and the project was several thousand words long that's right they were offering thousands of dollars for a couple of articles this is a difference that comes from knowing any subject matter well.
And there are so many jobs for quarters on the web that it's unreal if you learn Java or Python then people will come hammering on your door and even if you don't choose to take them up on their offer creating an app and selling it on mobile is a fantastic form of a digital product.
This goal is for whatever your area of expertise is: develop it and turn it into something that you're really a top-level expert in one run a fitness website then go and get that personal training degree it's expensive but the qualification will make a huge difference to who listens to you and who hires you.
Likewise, pretty much any skill you have can be incredibly useful online not so high to writing or designed but great at music for instance there is a huge demand for music that people can put on their YouTube videos or they can use to market in other ways this is a gig you can sell very effectively on Fiverr.
That can also be the nature of your content wanna be a famous rock star then set up a website and a vlog put out your music and get noticed and eventually you might get contacted.
And while you're at it, you could also turn that photography skill into something you sell. Stock imagery sells for a lot on the web.
Other amazing skills to learn are 3d CAD design, manufacturing the list goes on.
So, don't just write content and call yourself a marketer. Learn these skills and become absolutely unstoppable. Then the web is yours.