How to make a podcast

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, February 28, 2011

There are lots of ways to create permission marketing channels for your constituents that help them learn more about what you do. Some ways include blogs, email newsletters, and social media. However, have you ever thought about a podcast?

A podcast is like a radio show that you create, publish, and maintain and that broadcasts your own content. It is free to create and free to subscribe to. A podcast can be audio or video and can be published as often as you want.

Publishing a podcast is easier than you might think. It really just takes a few ingredients:

1. Audio or video content
2. Recording equipment and software
3. A place to host it
4. A publishing system

That's really all you need. Assuming you have a theme and some content to publish, you will need a way to record it. One of the easiest ways is simply to use your smartphone (iPhone or Droid) and record your content using the built-in audio apps that come with these phones. You can make your recording, email it to yourself, and then upload it to your server. Or, if you want to get a little fancier, you can use recording software and a better mic, like the Snowball. I use GarageBand for the Mac because it comes with some great audio loops and a very easy-to-use interface. Audacity seems to be a popular choice for Windows. Each episode you record will be a file, usually an MP3 or M4A file. These files will then need to be uploaded to your podcasting system.

If you want to make a video podcast, you will need video recording equipment or at least a good camera phone but I recommend sticking with audio-only to keep it simple.

In order to publish your podcast, you need a way to syndicate it. This means you need a way to deliver the content in a way that is in the correct format for the distribution channels. Though there are many ways to distribute your podcast, the most popular method is through iTunes. In order to create a channel, your Content Management System (CMS) should have a module or plug-in that lets you configure your podcast and then store episodes in a format that iTunes can understand. You would then upload each episide after it is recorded, and the latest one will be listed.

Just about every modern CMS will have a module or plug-in that will take care of the formatting for you. At SpinWeb, we use Accrisoft Freedom and it includes a very easy-to-use Podcast module but you can also get plug-ins for Wordpress, Joomla, and others.

In order to get published in iTunes, you will need to submit your podcast to Apple. Assuming all goes well, it should appear in the iTunes store in a few days. This will allows others to subscribe to it, which means they will get the latest epiode when you publish it.

Once someone subscribes to your channel, they can then take your content with them on a smartphone or an iPod, which makes it a very convenient way to learn and consume content.

A podcast can be a great way to help others by sharing information that is specific to what you do. Some ideas include:

• Massage therapists or yoga instructors can talk through stretching excercises and wellness tips
• Marketing companies can give away promotional tips
• Technology companies can teach others how to make the most of gadgets
• News stations can communicate top stories and events on a daily basis
• Business coaches can give nuggets of advice to professionls and entrepreneurs
• Professional speakers and trainers can publish motivational episodes
• Bloggers and journalists can conduct interviews with knowledgable industry experts
• Non-profits can tell stories about how they are changing the world and helping others
• Associations can provide guidance and value to their members through educational industry broadcasts

Keep in mind that the more educational and valuable you make your podcast, the more subscribers you will get. The more subscribers you get, the more people you will have in your audience of loyal constituents. This can lead to more referrals and more business. Be sure to link to your podcast from your website in order to gain more subscribers.

Want to see how we do it? Read more about SpinWeb's podcast here or go ahead and subscribe. We make podcasts out of our most popular blog entries to make it easier for people to learn on the go.

Does your organization have valuable content that could be published as a podcast? Considering how easy it is, it may be worth considering.

5 reasons your website is not converting visitors into prospects

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, February 21, 2011

Whether you lead a business or a non-profit, your corporate website is one of your most effective sales tools. It is available 24/7 including holidays, it never takes a vacation, and it can scale to handle a lot of leads with very little overhead.

If you run a business, a lead means connecting with a prospective customer. If you run a non-profit, it can mean connecting with a prospective donor, volunteer, or sponsor.

There are a number of very specific attributes of your organization's website than can play a big part in how you are converting visitors into prospects. So why aren't they converting?

1. Your website is ugly. According to a Jakob Nielsen study, it takes website visitors less than one second to decide whether they trust your organization based on the design quality of your website. There are a number of markers of trust and credibility that visitors look for based around design, and a lack of professionalism in design tends to discourage trust.

2. Your website lacks permission marketing. Much of the time, a website visitor will not make contact with your organization on the first visit. He or she may not be ready to communicate and may simply be gathering information. If your website lacks any sort of option to subscribe to content, this could be the end of the relationship. However, if your website offers the opportunity to subscribe to an educational (not spammy) email newsletter, a podcast, a blog, or a social profile, then your website visitor has an easy way to stay connected to your organization without spending too much time and effort. This is called permission marketing.

3. Visitors can't find your phone number. Yes, it may seem surprising but many business and non-profit websites do not display a phone number. They either make it very difficult to find or sometimes even leave it off of the contact page, opting for a generic contact form and nothing else. Many people prefer to pick up the phone and talk to you. Making this difficult or impossible leaves money on the table. Side note: make sure you have a friendly receptionist. First impressions count!

4. Your website offers too many options. If visitors have too many navigation items to choose from and too many calls to action demanding attention, they will frequently get frustrated and move on. If everything is important on your website, then nothing is important.

5. Your website lacks social proof. When visitors come to your website, they need reassurance that they can trust you. They want to see proof that others have trusted you and that you have experience doing what you do. Prospects don't want to feel like it's a risky move to work with you. They want to know what you've done for others and what your customers say about you. Some great ways to demonstrate social proof include testimonials, case studies, and blog comments.

Does your website fall prey to any of these problems? Luckily, they are easily remedied. With some good decision-making and an investment in professional design and usability, your website can become much more finely-tuned for conversion.

Economic development alliance website design: 9 tips for adding value

Posted by: Michael Reynolds / President and CEO in General on Monday, February 14, 2011

At SpinWeb, we have a particular interest in helping local communities thrive and flourish using the Internet. For this reason, we love working with municipalities and agencies within, which includes economic development alliances. So what are some ways a website for an economic development alliance can serve the community?

1. Publish a user-friendly sites and buildings database. Make sure it is easy for interested businesses to research locations in your community. You want to attract new business, so be easy to work with by giving businesses the tools they need to get information fast and allow them to search on detailed attributes.

2. Invest in a high-quality image. Your website represents your community and should be attractive and modern. Economic development alliances with beautiful websites make the community look like an attractive place to live and do business.

3. Offer educational and networking events with online registration. By offering events and classes, you not only promote networking in your community, but also increase the skill level of your local work force. Be sure your web site clearly lists your calendar of events and offers online registration, which increases attendance.

4. Include social media links to make information sharing easy. Make sure that your sites and buildings, jobs, news, projects for bid, and events all include a "share" option to make it easy for site visitors to post your web site information to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks. The easier it is to distribute your content, the more likely it is to be seen.

5. Publish an online employment database. Stimulating employment in the community should be a strong objective for your website and one great way to do this is to offer an online employment database. Allow community members to post job openings on your employment database and offer candidates the ability to apply online for those jobs. This creates an easier way to connect jobs with candidates and increases the value of your site. Don't forget to include a "share" button to make it easier for site visitors to post jobs to their social networks.

6. Invest in search engine marketing to attract businesses. A great economic development alliance website is only useful when someone finds it. Be sure your community is found by creating targeted keyword campaigns that attract the right visitors to your site.

7. Promote notable local businesses via an active press room. Recognize your local businesses via your web site by publishing regular articles that feature local businesses. This keeps your web site full of fresh content which has a positive impact on your search engine rankings and helps your local businesses get more visibility.

8. Publish a video podcast featuring local businesses. A podcast is easy and inexpensive to set up and is a great way to promote members of your community. Send an intern from your local university out with a video camera once a week to a local business to do a 5-minute "spotlight". This gives local businesses a chance to get exposure when they might not otherwise be able to afford advertising. It's also a recruiting tool to help attract businesses to your community since it shows that you are committed to supporting them once they arrive.

9. Sell products online. Many businesses in your community would like to sell their products online but don't have the resources to do so. Help them out by offering to sell their products online for them via your website. Additionally, you can also sell city/community-branded merchandise online, such as clothing and other items. Build your community's brand while adding revenue!

Whether you already have a strong online presence or you are considering making a change, these tips will help add value to your online presence, attract new businesses to the community, and help local businesses grow and flourish.

Google Apps: Standard vs Business

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, February 7, 2011

As many of our clients know, Google Apps is a powerful business communication system that includes email, calendaring, documents, and more. The spam and virus filtering in Google Apps is extremely effective and rivals many solutions that are much more expensive.

It allows your organization to enjoy enterprise-class communications tools branded with your domain name. These tools are hosted in the cloud, which means there is no hardware or software to buy and maintain. Your employees simply use a web browser to access their email, schedules, and documents.

Google's enterprise tools are well-suited for organizations of all sizes. However, there are two versions to choose from: the Standard (free) version and the Business version (formerly called the "Premier" version).

I'm often asked what the difference is. After all, if you can get by with the free version, that's the obvious choice, right? Here are some of the differences in the two versions.

Google Apps Standard

This version is free and has a limit of 50 users. It includes email, calendaring, documents, and basic spam/virus filtering. It comes with 7 GB of space per user, which is fairly generous. It allows mobile access and connectivity via email programs like Outlook and Apple Mail. However, the free version does not come with support or any sort of uptime guarantee. Using the Standard version of Google Apps means that you are basically on your own when it comes to configuration and usage.

Some organizations are a good fit for this service. For example, an informal club or team might use this service because they have simple needs and don't necessarily need support or guaranteed business continuity.

Google Apps for Business

Google Apps for Business is priced at $50 per user per year and may include a setup fee if you would like assistance configuring and implementintg it. The Business version supports an unlimited number of users. In addition, each user is alloted 25 GB of space. A few other features of the Business version include Google Video for Business, Google Groups for Business, and greater security. Google Video allows your organization to store videos in a private intranet for training or support purposes. Google Groups gives your organization the ability to share knowledge and communication with a searchable subscription group that archves discussions for future reference.

The most important part of Google Apps for Business is the support and uptime guarantee. If your business relies on consistent communication services (as most do), then you will want to use the Business version. This version comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and customer support, either from Google or from a Google Apps Authorized Reseller.

Google Apps for Business includes customizable policies to filter email containing sensitive information. For example, you could block all emails that contain .exe files or any other file type that you want to exclude. Along with these option also comes email archiving and discovery tools. The calendar application also allows resource scheduling which allows your organization to set up conference rooms and equipment that can be reserved by employees when scheduling meetings.

Another nice feature of the Business version is the option to disable ads in the web interface. The Standard version displays ads in the email viewer (just like Gmail) but the Business version allows you to turn them off.

Both versions of Google Apps work very well but as you can see, there is a tradeoff between the Standard and Business versions. If you are comfortable editing your own domain records and don't have a need for enterprise reliability, the Standard version may work for you. If your organization depends on email, calendaring, or document management for daily operations, the Business version may be a better fit.

Either way, moving to Google Apps will streamline your business communications and provide your organization with powerful tools for collaboration.

How to choose a website design and development firm

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, January 31, 2011

Choosing the right firm for your next website design and development project can be a daunting task. There are so many options and everyone has a horror story about a website project that went wrong in the past. Additionally, someone in the organization inevitably has a cousin, nephew, or relative who "does websites" and can take care of your needs on the cheap. With so many options, how do you make a good decision?

Different firms provide different services and most of the time there is no one-size-fits all. For this reason, it's important to understand what your specific needs are before getting too far down the road with any particular company.

However, there are some basic things that you should be looking for as you evaluate firms.

1. A process. Before going to far, ask potential firms about their processes for planning, designing, and building websites. If they don't know what you mean or if it seems that they don't have a strong process that is systematic, you may want to reconsider. Strong businesses have repeatable systems that allow them to predictably deliver a product or service with consistency.

2. A Content Management System. A good Content Management System (CMS) is a must-have in today's environment. You should not have to rely on an IT department or an external company to make updates to your website. You and your marketing team should be able to manage your content and launch marketing campaigns easily from your own computers. Some website design and development firms will provide a CMS that they developed in-house while others will use a third-party product. Either option is fine as long as you find it easy to use and it is well-supported.

3. Phone support. It is unfortunate to see so many website design and development firms that still don't offer good phone support. Many of the clients we work with tell us that one of the most frustrating things about the previous firm they worked with was the fact that they never answered the phone or called back. If a company is serious about what they do, they will answer the phone or call you back.

4. Ongoing training. Once your website is launched, it's important to have access to training on a regular basis so you know how to use the online marketing tools at your disposal. Ask potential firms about their training programs. Look for a good mix of both in-person or phone training and self-serve online training.

5. Experience with organizations that you trust. If you cannot find very many examples of a firm's previous work, it might be cause for concern. A good website design and development firm will list previous projects online with case studies and links to each website. Make sure that the types of clients they they work with resonate with your needs.

6. Willingness to say no. If a firm seems eager to take on your project without much exploration, it might be a red flag. Most experienced firms understand that they cannot be all things to all people and so they are able to recognize when they are a good fit and when they are not. It's important that a potential firm explore the requirements of your project before saying yes. Saying no to projects that are not a good fit allows them more time and attention to say yes to projects that are the right fit.

7. A good website. This seems obvious, right? However, I still see many website design and development firms that let their own websites stagnate and convey very little information. If a potential firm does not have a well-designed website, raise an eyebrow.

There are a number of factors that go into choosing the right firm for your organization, but this will hopefully give you a baseline from which to start. What do you look for in a website design and development firm?