Oliver Dempsey from Tradesmen.ie got over 14,000 views of his ‘Funny Cow Video‘ on YouTube. The video wasn’t just about getting views, it was designed to help him to get votes for the 02 Ideas room sales pitch competition. He went on to win netting €5,000 worth of prizes. We were delighted to welcome him as guest speaker to this months KLCK Bloggers Network meetup in Portlaoise this month.
Oliver’s enthusiasm is viral in itself. He showed us his videos and talked us through the process of making them, how they evolved to adding sound effects and music and how they became so addictive he even made one when on holiday.
Daisy the cow is his top viewed video and he credits this to the title ‘Funny Cow Video’ the keywords he included and the power of Facebook. It was his Facebook friends that helped it go viral, sharing it with their friends who shared it again. Not only was it a funny video but it was short (1 min), amusing and included bloopers. Other videos that got lots of hits also included ‘funny’ in the title.
The big question is did this campaign bring business to Tradesmen.ie and Oliver believes it has, it has spread the word about the business, leads and even friends have found out more about his business because of the campaign.
Oliver recommends the Flip camera for making simple videos and the free Movie Maker software for windows for editing. If your on a Mac iMovie is good too. He also recommends investing in a good tripod and credits much of his success to Daniel Beere his Intern, camera man and quality controller. Working without him has been more challenging. I’m pretty sure we’re going to see some more video coming from members of KLCK in the future. I might even try and do something a bit more creative myself soon.
RSS Feeds and converting WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Our round table discussion started by talking about RSS feeds.
What is a RSS Feed?
RSS or ‘Really Simple Syndication’ often called a ‘Feed’ is, in simple terms, a link that is attached to a website that has regularly updated content (blogs etc). This link can be used to distribute content to other sites. Doing this allows sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc to automatically post your blog content when you add a new post. Users are also able to subscribe to your feed using tools like Google Reader. This means that instead of having to visit your site to check out if you have posted recently they can check their reader for updates from all the blogs they follow. It’s a great tool for both keeping up with blogs and sharing your own content.
How do you find your RSS feed?
There are lots of ways of finding an RSS feed, some sites publish a link on their sidebar or at the bottom of a page. My personal recommendation is to use Firefox to surf the web.
When you are on a site that contains an RSS feed a little symbol appears in the address bar.
If you click this it will display the RSS address rather than the web address and you can cut and paste this into any RSS reader.
WordPress.com & Blogger v WordPress.org
A common topic at KLCK is what blogging platform to use. The most common amongst our members are Blogger and WordPress however some people want to move from WordPress.com (hosted by WordPress and with limited customisation options) to WordPress.org (self hosted and fully customisable). Some members were worried about how hard this could be but luckily we had a WordPress expert in our ranks. Beatrice Whelan assured us that it wasn’t that difficult a transition. It is possible to move the whole database of blog posts over from .com to .org and although it would require a small bit of technical knowledge it is quite simple if you have the time to put into it. I found this handy article online that could help the transition.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is in Kilkenny on 14th March 2011 at 7pm. Our guest speaker is Keith Bohanna who will be talking about commenting. How to get more comments and how to comment on other blogs effectively. Keep an eye on the KLCK Bloggers Network Facebook page for more details. We’ll be announcing the venue etc. over the next few days.
Thank you
Finally a big thank you to all the people who made the Portlaoise meeting possible. The Portlaoise Enterprise Centre who opened up their facilities to us. The room was fantastic and they even provide tea and coffee, a big hit with our members! Food was provided by Laois based marketing company Aos Si, I’m still dreaming about the chocolate cake I managed to resist! and of course the members who attended. You can see our meeting blogroll here.
01 442 9410
What is Blogging & Why Should You Blog?
Many people may not think of Blogging as Social Media but I am a big believer that not only is it social it’s also the most important social media. It can become the hub of your social media campaign, feeding into your other social networks, I often tell people that if they do nothing else they must blog!
Whether your blog is part of your website, independent of your website or even if you just blog using Facebook notes blogging can have a massive impact on your entire Internet marketing.
What is a Blog?
A blog can be a website or a segment of a website that is updated by the owner on a regular basis. People who visit the website are able to comment on blog posts, making it interactive.
There are different kinds of blogs; personal blogs that can extend from an online diary to a blog written around a specific topic. Some famous personal blogs have even been turned into films, for example Julie and Julia. I also love 101 W**kers (excuse the language but that’s what it’s called) the blogger behind it has now branched out and is contributing to the Guradian bike blog. There are also political blogs, photo blogs, video blogs and of course business blogs.
Why Should A Business Blog?
Blogging has many benefits for businesses.
1. If it is part of your website it will work well for SEO (search engine optimisation). Using keywords that you want your website to be found for in your headlines and the body of your blog will push your website up the Google rankings bringing more traffic to your blog and website.
Feeding your blog to your other social networks and encouraging others to share your posts will increase the inbound links coming into your website – also good for SEO.
2. It establishes you as an expert – Blogging gives you the opportunity to showcase your passion and expertise about a topic. You can become the ‘go to’ person about your industry.
3. A resource for customers – If your customers commonly ask specific questions blogging gives you the opportunity to address them on mass. If they are asking those questions online and find the answers from you they are more likely to buy from you.
4. Spreads your message further - If you are a local business looking to expand, blogging and social media gives you the opportunity to reach beyond the local market. You can target markets further afield within Ireland or even international customers.
5. Attract press attention – more and more journalists and researchers are turning to the web to research their stories. Having an active blog about your topic of interest can mean getting more press attention and being asked to comment on specific stories within your field of expertise.
What Should You Blog About?
There are a number of topics you can blog about
1. Your business. It may seem obvious but you need to blog on topics related to your business and industry. A political blog may bring lots of traffic to your website but not the right traffic. Make posts relevant to your offering. Absolute Dental handle this really well showcasing their services with out the hard sell.
2. Your own expertise. What information do you have that you can share? – What information do you give to customers on a regular basis? Turning these into tips and hints will make great blog content.
Teamwoodcraft’s relatively new blog does this excellently.
3. Topical issues about your industry. What’s happening in the news related to your industry? Add your comment or take on relevant stories.
Always providing up to date information on financial issues Red Oak Tax Refunds blog handles this well.
4. Who are your target market and what are they interested in? When I used to sell organic food I targeted people with an interest in the environment so blogged about a range of green issues, not just organic food but local food, cycling, organic gardening etc. This was information that would draw my target market into my site.
Greenside Up Veg include both recipes and gardening tips in their blog. They offer training on growing your own veg and if you’re growing it you are probably wanting to eat it too so this works perfectly.
5. Case studies and testimonials. Do you have happy customers? If so ask them to write a short piece on their experience with you and include it as part of or as a blog post. Use case studies of work you have done or customers you have helped.
This is done really well by Buyers Brokers, the photo and language of the testimonials leaves you in no doubt that they are genuine.
6. Guest bloggers. Once your blog is established find other bloggers that might have something to share with your target market. If you sell Wedding Dresses for example is there a Wedding Car company or a venue that would like to contribute a blog post.
Garrendenny Lane have a weekly guest blogging slot, all adding value to their blog and business.
More Blogging Tips
To find out more about blogging, and blogs both business and personal join us at Bloggers International, an International panel of experts will be sharing their knowledge of Blogging both technical and creative. We can help you get started or help boost your current blogging. Sponsored by Blacknight the event takes place on 29th June 2011 at 7.30pm in The Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise, Laois, Ireland and The Chequers Inn, Chipping Norton, England. We’re also streaming online live… details to follow on the Bloggers International website.
If you’re interested in coming to this free event RSVP on Facebook, Linkedin, Via The Website (on the right hand side toolbar), leave a comment below or email wave@spiderworking.com.
If you’d like to book a place on the two way video conference for the night you can book your spot for free by clicking here.