Each of your slides needs to convey your message in 3 seconds or less.

Keeping the number of objects on your slides as simple and highly visible as possible is recommended. Simplicity really does rule here. Therefore, it is important to only provide the most essential part of your message in your presentation.

Minimizing your text on each slide will make it easier for you to present your message and for your audience to understand. Always remember the K.I.S.S. principle.

You also want to remember the perfect number that was discussed last month. Yes, it is the number three. So, keep your bullet points limited to three per slide.

However, professional presentation designers recommend that you limit the use of bullet points, simply because as people can read bullet points faster than you can say them. They claim that once your viewers have read your bullet points, they will tend to zone out and not be listening to you.

If you’ve noticed, many slide presentations that you have seen in the past have had lots of bullet points on each of their slides. But, don’t you do that.

Practice your presentation so that you will remember what you are talking about so that your audience will be less likely to zone out during your presentation.

Limiting your use of bullet points and keeping them REALLY short can be very effective.

Same goes for your sub-titles or slide headlines. When writing the headlines for EACH slide, you should aim to tell the main point of EACH slide within as few words as possible.

Your headlines need to be precise and unforgettable, and make a strong enough of an impression that your viewers can pretty much recite your headlines when telling others about what you presented to them.

So, be sure to not sell yourself short when creating headlines about your product, service… or even an idea. You should be confident enough to use such words as “remarkable” rather than “good”.

Do NOT alienate your listeners by trying to sound “professional” with your presentation. Use your own everyday language, and explain your presentation the very same way you would explain it to a close friend… simple and to the point.

If you stick to being REAL with your audience, they will appreciate you much more… though I do recommend skipping from ever using the “f-bomb”, like bestselling author, speaker and internet personality Gary Vaynerchuck is said to use during his talks.

When you are passionate about what you have to offer in your presentation, be sure to include some enthusiasm by using words that will express that for you. The following are some examples.

• Isolated
• Confident
• Helpless
• Amazing
• Stunned
• Excited
• Frustrating
• Dynamic
• Confusing
• Breakthrough

These are known to “wake up” your audience when used to add your enthusiasm to your presentation.

When providing numbers in your presentation, be sure they are related, precise and relevant. And, instead of simply saying a cell phone has 30GB of storage, you could say something like what Newsroom did back in 2003 when introducing the third generation iPod.

Apple® today introduced its third generation iPods, which hold up to 7,500 songs in a stunning enclosure that is lighter and thinner than two CDs.

Source:
https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2003/04/28Apple-Introduces-New-iPods/

Hold Your Audience Spellbound

A great way to increase the retention of your audience and make your presentation memorable is to add a touch of curiosity. Leaving your viewers hanging in suspense helps to create a very powerful emotional connection to your story.

For example, can YOU tell your story in six words?

Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Source:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123289019

That story makes me think something awful must have happened to that baby, as I am sure it did the same to your thinking. So, Hemingway was quite successful at creating suspense in all of those six words.

This is the type of curiosity that your presentations should use if you want your viewers to listen to your every word as you walking them through your story.

In the npr.org article noted in their quote above, they provide several other great examples, should you need to read more examples for inspiration.

The slideshow offered below is a great example in both its title that creates curiosity, and it will help you to avoid 5 shocking design mistakes to avoid.

Summary of Tips

1. Don’t simply read your slides or you will put your viewers to sleep for sure, simply because your audience can read your slides for themselves. If you cannot present your presentation any other way, then simply hand the presentation over to them to watch and sit with them. But… if you do that, you are telling everyone present that you don’t know what you are talking about.
    
   Instead, put what you want your audience to hear in notes and practice so that YOU won’t really even need your slide presentation at all. The slides should only serve as a visual reminder of what you are telling your viewers, and it should simply complement and improve your story. Using your slides like THIS will make your presentation stand out from others.
2. If you find a need to present several different thoughts during your presentation, be sure to use ONE idea per slide in order to give it the necessary attention EACH thought should be given.
    
   When too many ideas are shared on one slide, you will soon discover that they well become merged as one. This would only serve to confuse your viewers when they try to recall what you were telling them.
3. Rounding your numbers is another tip that has been brought forward by professional presentation designers. They say it will make your presentation cleaner when viewed. So, instead of showing or stating a number, such as “10,005,609”, it would be better to show “10M+”.
4. Triple check the spelling and grammar used on your slides, if necessary, as this can make a BIG impact on the success of your presentation.
5. Don’t be afraid to use quotes when and where necessary, as they could serve to add importance or even credibility to your presentation. Plus, they are a great way to break up text within a presentation.
   
   • Keep your chosen quotes short as you want to minimize your text.
   • Always verify a quote and the source of the quote.
   • Look for unique quotes that have been used seldom.
   • Never over use quotes, as that would serve the opposite effect you are trying to create by using them in the first place.

Here’s an example of a slide using a quote.

Tools you may find helpful when adding your content are as follows.

UsingEnglish.com – this site claims to specialise in English as a second language, and they say they have a large collection of tools and resources for all who need to use them.

Plain English Campaign – claim to offer a number of different services to help you with your communicating, from editing services to training. The also offer free guides from their website.

Worditout.com – this site offer users a tool for generating what are called Word Clouds that are created from text that you provide.

WikiQuote – is a collection of quotes that you can use if/when necessary.

BrainyQuote.com – is a website that can help you find that perfect quote for your next presentation.

CopyBlogger.com – Can teach you even more on how to create great writing. This is a great website if you want to learn how to do more with your writing.

Next month be watching for Part 4, on Ways to Enhance Your Killer Slide Presentation.

Hopefully, you will feel comfortable enough now to start planning your slide presentation. If you need practice, you could always volunteer to do a speech in April 2021 for a local group that you admire or that you are a part of.

Once you have the complete five-part series as part of your arsenal, you will be able to create your very own killer slide presentation for your business… or, even your boss.

If you have any question regarding adding killer content to your slide presentation, I look forward to reading your comment once you post it below. Once I have responded to your question, you will receive an email notification.

SOURCE

Slides Made Easy 2nd Edition (my affiliate link) by Adam Noar

Credit for Header: Image by Dmitry Abramov from Pixabay

The post Adding Killer Content to Your Slide Presentation first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

Some presentations that I have seen are slides heavy with text because the person conducting the presentation is afraid that they will forget what they are wanting to say. Thus, when reading your slides word for work, you simply put your listeners to sleep out of boredom.

Your audience can read your slide faster than you can read the wording, so there really isn’t a reason for your being there if that is all you are doing. People already know how to read.

These are slides you will be creating, not documents.

For slides, you can use pictures. They really can be worth a thousand words, and pictures will always beat text.

“Why?”, you ask.

Searches related to 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed in the brain at 60,000 times the speed of text. ~ Google

And, for those doubting-Thomas’ reading this, I did do a search for a study for visuals over text for learning and DID find one to share with you here. As humans we remember images far better than we do text.

You’re right, just because something is in print, especially on Google, does NOT make it true… which is why I presented you with the case study linked above.

However, if you would prefer to do a deeper study into this topic, I present you with Dr. John Medina’s Brain Rules.

WE REMEMBER
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see AND hear
70% of what we discuss with others
80% of what we personally experience
95% of what we teach others.
~ Edgar Dale

For a good example of this, if you were to compare the size of Australia to the United States and you write down the square miles (or square kilometres for those of you who prefer metric), which do you think would be quicker to understand and remember… a visual like the one below… or text detailing the sizes of each of these countries?

Creating a Consistent Theme

Be sure to select a theme for your presentation that will set the mood and tone that you want your audience to experience, and be sure to stick with your theme consistently throughout your presentation. Inconsistency makes a presentation far too difficult to understand.

Examples of constancy are:

• Background colour – use ONE colour for all of your slides.
• Font – use no more than TWO different fonts.
• Images – find images that feel similar in overall appearance.

All the elements on your slides need to create a unified look in your chosen theme. So, if something does not fit your theme, exclude it, even if you deem it the greatest image ever found. If it does not fit your theme do NOT use it.

When reviewing other’s presentations in NoteandPoint and SlideShare NOTE how the most attractive presentations use the same background colour for their entire presentation, as well as their use of fonts and images… they are unified, correct?

   

What is the Perfect Number?

Why THREE is, of course.

Did you know that three is the smallest number we humans need in order to create a pattern?

It is the prefect combination of briefness and beat or tempo. The following Latin phrase says it all: “omne trium perfectum” or “everything of three is perfect”.

For examples of three in our every day lives:

• Three Blind Mice
• Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens
• Three Musketeers

Bet you can name at least two more examples like those above.

It is obvious that when in groups of threes, things are more fun, interesting and easier to remember than other numbers.

So, knowing this, here is how you can use the rule of three on your slides.

• Use no more than 3 bullet points or items per slide. Text can be larger and easier to read too.
• Use only three colours that match in tone, per slide to keep a proper visual balance.
• Use pictures in sets of three, provides visual balance and interest.

American entrepreneur Tim Ferriss and well-known public speaker has a rule of three. Try Google searching Tim sometime and you will see links in your search results like the following:

• 3 Rules of Marketing and Branding
• 3 Golden Rules to Adopting Healthy Habits
• 3 things you should do every day to be successful

The following advice can be found on Tim Ferriss’ blog:

1. Keep your introduction in your presentation to about 2 minutes, which should state what your presentation is all about and why your listeners should care.
2. Have no more than 3 main segments in your presentation. Each one should be no more than 10 minutes each. Make sure that your main message along with any sub-messages are all backed up with relevant facts.
3. The close of your presentation should take about 2 minutes, and should include your Call to Action. Be sure to specify exactly what you want your listeners to do or what decision you want them to make.

Tim states that in his introductions, he prefers to start with his story and then he will introduce his 3 concepts that help his listeners understand whatever his topic is about.

Then, in his 10-minute segments, he uses what he calls PEP or point-example-point or his preference of EPE which is example-point-example format. PEP meaning that you would illustrate your idea and then provide an example or better still… a case study, then repeat your idea.

Understanding the Power of Contrast

A great way to convey your message on slides, you can use contrast.

Contrast is created when you can see a visual difference between two or more objects on a slide. Used properly, you can gain the focus of your audience when using contrast to get your message across to them quickly.

Example shown in the image below.

There are other ways of attaining contrast in your presentation including size, shape, shade and nearness.

Be sure to use contrast that shows a significant difference rather than a subtle difference, as subtle differences would or could cause your audience confusion. You want to leave NO room for confusion.

For visual examples, see images below.

Directing Your Audience’s Attention

Most viewers will see the words “Live Your Dreams” in the image below. This is because those words are larger and bolder than the remaining words.

Your viewers need to be directed to the area you want the to see, immediately upon seeing the slide. If you do not accomplish this you will lose your audience because they can become confused or even overwhelmed.

Once again, there are different ways to direct the attention to your message. Some of these methods are: size, colour, angle, and animation.

Place Objects on Slides with Intention

When starting to design you slides, you need to remember that each slide is your canvas and it is where you will be telling your story. Therefore, you need to always place objects on EACH of your slides with meaning, in order to make sure your message is clear, concise and constant throughout your presentation.

Most viewers consider objects that are close to each other as being related, so make sure EVERYTHING is aligned properly. Apparently, the golden rule with aliment is that you do not want to have any of your objects on your slide look though they were placed randomly.

Randomly placed objects tend to make a presentation look though it was NOT created by a professional. So, be sure to use the align and distribute tools in PowerPoint.

The Secret About Whitespace

Whitespace is simply the blank space between text and images.

Some people think they need to fill up a slide with as much text and graphics as they possibly can. A well-designed presentation does the exact opposite.

The less clutter you have on your slides, the more powerful your message will be to your audience.

Using whitespace strategically will have your audience paying attention to what it is that you are saying to them.

There is a gridlines tool in PowerPoint that you can use to help you maintain a strong slide layout. See image below to note where to find your Gridlines tool.

You can even use gridlines to identify the center of your slide and position your objects just right, simply by slowly dragging objects near to each other, as shown in the image below.

Always remove repeated excessive clutter from your slides, such as logos, banners, page numbers and even legal disclaimers. You only need your logos, banners and disclaimers on either your first slide or your last slide.

The space on EACH of your slides is “prime real estate” so use it wisely, if you want your viewers to remember your message.

To constantly repeat a logo would be construed as pushing your presentation though a commercial, and no one likes to be “sold” something.

Do Not Use PowerPoint’s Templates

When telling your unique story to your viewers, your presentation needs to be every bit as unique and consistent as your story. The templates included with PowerPoint are very plain, and you do not want to bore your audience.

Using a PowerPoint template screams out that you did not put any effort into creating your presentation for your viewers. Thinking that will only have your audience literally zoning out during your presentation.

Always create your own templates from scratch.

If your creativity is a little rusty and you are pushed for time, you could always purchase a slide template from an online source such as GraphicRiver.net, which also provides the logo templates and more.

OR… you could consult CreativeMarket for their slide templates for both PowerPoint and Keynotes.

Be Sure of Your Screen Ratio

Before you begin your layout, you will need to know for certain where your presentation will take place; Either in a boardroom or a tradeshow booth, for example.

Will the projector screen be square or will you be using a widescreen monitor?

If a widescreen monitor will be used, then your best ratio would be 16:9, as this way your PowerPoint presentation will fill the entire screen.

However, the ratio used for the older TV monitors which is still in use in some conference rooms, is traditionally 4:3 ratio.

As of PowerPoint 2013, this software uses the 16:9 ratio by default.

Knowing if you will be converting your PowerPoint presentation into a video in the future, the 16:9 ratio is now the preferred setting, as there will be no unwanted borders created around your video.

Slides Need to Change Seamlessly

In PowerPoint this is known as transitioning.

Placing images partially off your slide is known as bleeding, because the image is “bleeding” off the edge of the slide.

By setting your images to bleed off of your slide, this could create a stronger emotional appeal for that image.

Bleeding images can also create a great way to change or transition one slide to the next, as shown in the images of the 2 slides below.

   

Next month, I will present Part 3, Adding Killer Content to Your Slide Presentation.

Once again, should you have any question regarding how to structure your killer slide presentation, I hope you will leave me a comment below, and I will respond in a timely manner.

SOURCE

Slides Made Easy 2nd Edition (my affiliate link) by Adam Noar

Credit for Header: image by Needpix.com

Credit for Runners, Athletes, and fruit graphics all images by Pixabay.com

The post Structure Your Killer Slide Presentation first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

As I am sure you are already aware, a presentation can either make or break your business ideas once presented. If you want yours to help accelerate your growth in the corporate world, then these are tricks you want to learn.

In fairness, PowerPoint has made it into many course curricula nowadays, though the training is basic at best. For a better understanding of design, then you really do need to develop those skills. So, if you want to create a memorable presentation, please keep reading.

This post was created to speak to the working professionals, business leaders and entrepreneurs who are looking to communicate better through the impact of design. So, please do reference this information and keep practicing the principles shared here until you have them down cold.

Preparing Your Slides

When you start planning your presentation, ask yourself “Why should your audience care?” Always remember that your presentation is not about your service, product or information. It is about your audience, and what is in it for them.

• Who is your audience?
• What do they do?
• How can you solve their problem?
• What action do you want them to take?
• What potential concerns will your audience have?
• How can you overcome those concerns?

Once you have the answers to those questions, now information needs to be gathered together and clearly stated so that you can start to create your story.

Know how you want your story to end, before you begin. In other words: “What is it that you want your presentation to achieve?” and “What’s your message to the world?”

Yes, facts and data are necessary, and they truly are a vital part of your presentation, but you need to remember that it is your story that you want to move your audience emotionally to make them want to take the action you want them to make.

So, even if you have the most exciting data in your niche, if you don’t present it in a form of a well-written story, then your audience will most likely simply tune out, and your message will be lost.

As one PowerPoint designer once said, if you want to tell a great story, you need to have a system for collecting and interlacing your ideas. So, be sure to create an outline of the story you want to share. This helps you add a more personal narrative for your audience, like a film or theatre director uses to get you to understand their vision.

Simply plan out exactly what the story you want to tell and stick with it.

Some people may prefer to tinker with a few PowerPoint slide before starting an outline of your story, while others many prefer hand sketching a few ideas on paper. Don’t be afraid to find what works best for you.

1. Figure out who is your audience and how to solve their problem.
2. Research and put together an outline in writing. Write down anything and everything that comes to your mind. Perfection is NOT needed at this point in your project. Some people find software like MindMeister helpful in organizing your thoughts into a final outline.

3. Once you have your outline completed, you can begin putting your presentation template together. This will include a relevant colour scheme, custom fonts, and maybe even a few relevant images to start your creativity flowing.
4. Now that your template is all set up, you can put placeholders for the slides with temporary headlines that you can fine tune later on.
5. Then you can start to actually build out each of your slides in detail, working from your outline.

During the steps for creating your presentation, be sure you are in a more relaxed and good mood, and NOT under pressure. If you have to, simply change the environment you are working in so that you can unlock your creativity and design that killer presentation.

Some people find it easier to work from home, so that you have fewer or no distractions, you are more apt to be comfortable, no boss looking over your shoulder, lighting might be more pleasing, and you may even have a larger monitor on your home computer. I do!

Taking plenty of breaks during your design phase will help keep your creativity fresh. During breaks, you may find a creative solution will simply “pop into your mind”.

Your Call to Action

When you want your audience to take an action then you need to influence and convince them to take that action.

1. Identify a problem that needs to be solved.
2. Offer a solution to that problem.
3. Show how your audience will benefit by using your solution.
4. Provide your Call to Action by telling your audience what you want them to do.

Here is an example of how I might tell a story if I were to make a presentation about Website Development:

Great presentations do NOT get slapped together in a few hours.

To help you get those creative juices going, you should look through other’s projects for inspiration, and pay special attention to their use of color and layout.

For examples to help get you started with ideas, NoteandPoint is one website you can look through for ideas and SlideShare is another.

 

More Tools You May Find Helpful

Evernote’s Penultimate – is a simple sketch pad and handwriting APP for iPad users. Apparently, it makes you feel like you are actually writing on paper. You may want to consider using this APP for sketching out your presentation ideas for your outline.

Evernote – is a powerful tool you can use to capture your ideas in notes, audio and images. They claim that you can plan, keep notes, and manage your presentation ideas from any device – even offline.

SpiderScribe – is a popular online mind mapping tool. You could use this for mapping out your outline before you actually start your presentation. Their basic service is said to be free, though if/when you want more features you will need to upgrade.

Bubbl.us – is a tool you could use for organizing your ideas visually in a way that makes sense. They claim that their editor is designed to help you stay on task and find your ideas quickly.

Micro – is a collaborative online whiteboard platform designed for remote and distributed teams. You could use this for brainstorming by yourself or with others.

GoMoodBoard – is a simple and fast way to build a visual board for group collaboration. Simply drag and drop any piece of inspiration that fits your intended “mood” into their interface and let GoMoodBoard take care of the rest. No Account needed.

Mix – formerly StumbleUpon, provides you with a means of finding inspiration for your presentation design by providing you with a wide variety of topics. Simply choose a topic you are interested in and then you can start to find ideas.

Commonly Used PowerPoint Tools

You may find that there are only a few tools that you use constantly, so make sure all of those tools are easily accessible on your toolbar, and that you know where they are and how to access them.

If you use Keynote, there are equivalent tools for all of the following too.

Format Painter – you will use this image to copy the formatting of one object to another.

Remove unwanted backgrounds in your images. Click to watch the video below.

Group and Ungroup – You will use this tool to group and ungroup objects, as I’ve shown in my screen print below, one of the methods of finding these, when you right mouse on selected images.

Bring to Front and Back – you will use these tools to order objects when creating them, in order to bring objects to the front and back. See these tools on the dropdown list in the screen print above, or from the toolbar, as show in the screen prints below.

OR

Flip – You will use this tool to flip or rotate your images. Click to watch the video below.

Combining and Merging Shapes – You will use this tool to group shapes and cut out parts of shapes. Click to watch the video below.

Add Connectors to PowerPoint Shapes – Using edit points you can also modify a shape if you needed to.

Next month, I will show you how to Structure Your Slide Presentation.

Hope you have found this post helpful at getting you started preparing your killer slide presentation. If you have any questions regarding preparing a slide presentation, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Once I have responded to your comment, you will be notified by email.

SOURCE

Slides Made Easy 2nd Edition (my affiliate link) by Adam Noar

Credit for Header: image by creazilla

The post Tips and Tricks for Preparing Your Killer Slide Presentation first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

Author Neil Godin calls himself “the turnaround guy” and has trademarked this as his own. This eBook claims to provide you with 10 fast-acting, no-cost and low-cost ways to survive the current crisis, and achieve a rapid and robust recovery.

The advertising claims this eBook provides you with:

• ideas that will fast-track your sales now,
• ways to use online marketing to get customers coming to you,
• methods to avoid prospective customers who stop returning your calls and/or emails,
• ramp up and generate more sales in less time, as well as
• build an informal lead machine group.

Plus, claims are made that you will learn of key ways to manage, inspire and enhance your team member’s performance, as well as your own, if you are all forced to work from home.

This eBook is said to contain 40 pages and is in PDF format. Bulk sales of this eBook are being encouraged, and you are asked to use their specified service email address to request them.

This review will cover the following:

• What is The Business Owners Survival Guide?
• How The Business Owners Survival Guide Actually Works
• Is The Business Owners Survival Guide for Real?

What is The Business Owners Survival Guide?

Product Name: The Business Owners Survival Guide

Website: https://neilgodin.com/sales/

Price: $20 US funds (regular $47 US funds)

Recommended: YES (please, read this review BEFORE considering buying!)

Rating:

Author Neil Godin doesn’t say anything on the sales page regarding this eBook. The only thing mentioned is what is on the cover of his eBook, which is “Ten fast-acting, no-cost and low-cost ways to survive the current crisis and achieve a rapid and robust recovery”, and that is all.

How The Business Owners Survival Guide Actually Works

Author Neil Godin’s eBook is indeed 40 PDF pages in length.

The chapter titles go as follows:

Introduction – page 1

Recovery planning starts with ‘changing your mind’ – page 2

Part 1: Action steps to consider now, as you navigate recovery – page 3-6

Part 2: Tips on managing temporarily (or permanently) home-based staff – page 7-9

Part 3: Our top tips on how to work from home effectively – page 10-12

Ten fast-acting, no-cost and low-cost keys to surviving the current crisis – and achieving a rapid and robust recovery – page 13-38

Part 5: Your call to action – page 39

An invitation from the author – page 40

A lot of the advice offered at the start of this book is advice that many of us have been saying to local businesses all along, when they tell us that they want to “stand out” from their competitors online. Though I do have to admit that Godin does put his advice into tinier pieces that may make it easier for more business owners to understand easier.

The examples and math provided in Godin’s examples may be just the recipe that finally delivers the important message that many of us have been saying for years now.

One of Godin’s key points that I love the most is the following: “When your competitors hear about your guarantee – and gossip about how you are giving away the store – then you know you’re on the right track – and (bonus) no one will copy you!” …and, he is SO right!

And… this is true whether we are in the middle of a pandemic or not.

But hold on now folks… Godin provides even MORE helpful advice that you may have NEVER heard before. Wow, some of these I will be sure to use for my OWN local business.

Is The Business Owners Survival Guide for Real?

You better believe that The Business Owners Survival Guide is for real. Wow, this eBook has provided me with several ideas to use when offering advice to my small business clients that I help with their online presence, as well as my own local business services.

This is exactly why I recommend The Business Owners Survival Guide.

And if you would like to get a copy of this eBook for yourself, I do hope you will give serious consideration for purchasing your copy using my affiliate link here: https://www.eparrs.com/the-business-owners-survival-guide.

This being a Clickbank product, and you need to know that when you see their seal on any product that you purchase, you are guaranteed your money back in full if you are not completely satisfied within a given period of time, which is usually 30-days.

I do hope that you found this review helpful in making your decision as to whether to purchase this eBook or not. Personally, I will be recommending my client’s read his eBook and follow his advice; pandemic aside, Godin provides his readers with EXCELLENT advice.

Should you have any questions regarding is The Business Owners Survival Guide for real, or you simply wish to add to the conversation on this topic, I do hope you will leave me a comment below. Once I respond to your comment, you will be notified by email.

Happy Reading,

The post Is The Business Owners Survival Guide for Real? first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

Why would a YouTube video not capture the attention of someone searching for a local business, you ask?

Good question, and the following is what was discovered by the agency discussed with you in last month’s post.

First, you need to check your YouTube click through rate from your YouTube Analytics.

Most YouTube account holders asking the question above may be suffering from the same issue that was discovered… it is the thumbnail image used.

Yes, plain and simple.

Your videos need an attention getting thumbnail in order to gain click throughs.

This agency that I mentioned, tested this theory out on a client’s YouTube videos by only creating thumbnails for the videos they have been able to rank for their client’s chosen keywords.

They used big bold font and kept the wording simple, being sure to add the client’s business phone number so that searchers wouldn’t even need to click on the video in order to see an easy way to contact the business.

The agency suggested that adding a BIG phone number to a thumbnail like they did… in big bold font, would work for any business.

The thumbnails created were simple and easily added to EACH YouTube video.

How to add a thumbnail to your video using the YouTube Studio app

It was also suggested that if you own an eCommerce or review website that you add only relevant information in your thumbnails, such as key things about your business, product or review.

After they had changed all of the thumbnails for their client’s previously ranked videos, their client received 5 new telephone calls, which turned into 5 new clients in two days. Now, they recommend that you use customized thumbnails for all of your videos that you want to gain attention to.

They found that customizing thumbnails truly gains more clicks when you provide relevant information and by keeping your thumbnails uncluttered.

By creating great thumbnails, you could gain even more traffic to your video.

You could try using software that you can buy access to, such as Thumbnail Blaster (my affiliate link) which will provide you with several different thumbnail templates across multiple niches, in which you can choose from.

You don’t have to install anything, and you do not need to have any technical skills either. Their templates provide you with drag and drop ease for whatever you want added, you can resize, change your text and even your type of fonts used.

The thumbnail templates come in ANY size you want to create 16:9, 4:5, 4:4, etc. Simply click on the Publish button and Thumbnail Blaster (my affiliate link) will update your existing YouTube video thumbnail that will get you more views and more clicks.

You will also have the option to simply download your thumbnails as jpg files if you prefer.

Plus, this software comes with a 100% Unconditional 30-day Money Back GUARANTEE. They state that they are THIS confident in this working for you that they will take all of the risk out of their offer for you.

Some Examples of Great Video Thumbnails

Mind you, the actual thumbnails do NOT contain the time stamp that appears in the bottom, right-hand corners in my chosen examples above.

7 Vital Steps to Make Your YouTube Videos Stand Out

1.) Keeping your message brief, simple and in BOLD font is vital to gaining the attention from viewers.

2.) Never put important information in the bottom, right-hand corner of your thumbnails, as this is where YouTube’s logo will appear, hiding any text or tiny image you may have used in that corner.

3.) Using human faces tend to work best, according to the agency that I have receive this advice from. Viewers want a human being to connect to when seeking local businesses.

4.) Using big, bold text makes it easier for viewers who use mobile devices to be able to see and read. Given that more and more mobile devices are searching for local businesses, this too can be VITAL to getting your videos clicked on.

5.) Making sure that any text used is relevant, and as centered as possible in the viewer’s eye so that they know what you are selling or the service you are providing.

6.) Using high contrast images should make your human image stand out, as well as your topic popping out from your thumbnail.

Your thumbnails need to make your videos stand out from your competitions who may also be appearing in search results for your chosen keywords.

7.) The size this agency recommends making your YouTube video thumbnails is 1200 x 720 pixels (16:9 ratio), in high resolution jpg or png format, and to make sure to use high contrast images.

In searching for local businesses near me for great thumbnails that offered the proper contrast mentioned, I could find NOTHING.

So many local businesses within southern Ontario (as well as many American local business owners) really do have a LOT of easy ways to rank in local SERPs, if you really do want more paying clients.

And the best part about this technique is that you can apply it to ANY product or service that you are providing, be it a:

• Local business,
• Affiliate marketing,
• Video products,
• eCommerce products,
• eBooks,

…any business can use this technique.

Just imagine getting double the traffic or double the clients simply by changing existing thumbnails in your videos. Providing you already have videos on YouTube already, of course.

Unbelievable, right?

Here’s a FREE method for you to be able to create customized thumbnails for your videos, using Canva.

How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail FREE in Canva

Improve Your YouTube Video Rank

Now, how about software that can help you RANK your YouTube videos.

This is where Video Marketing Blaster (my affiliate link) can help you get your videos ranking high on YouTube.

This software is apparently able to reverse engineer the YouTube and Google ranking system, and rank hundreds of videos with the click of 3 buttons.

They claim that your competitors won’t stand a chance against your business when you have this tool in your arsenal.

While they fuss and fumble around trying to figure out which single keyword to target, you will be able to target ten or more of highly targeted traffic keywords. You COULD totally dominate YOUR niche!

A Quick Tour of Video Marketing Blaster

Now that you are armed with all the BEST options and technique to get MORE clicks, will you leave your videos suffering from a lack of ranking… or… will you get creating quality, customized thumbnails for your YouTube videos?

Should you have any questions on how you can make your YouTube video stand out in SERPs, please do leave me a comment below.

If you’ve used any other freebie in creating great, customized thumbnails for your YouTube videos, I would love to hear about it in a comment below.

Not to worry, your comment will NOT be ignored.

You will receive word once I have responded to your comment, of this I can assure you. So, be watching your email.

Credit for Header: Photo 32659216 © Hin255 – Dreamstime.com

The post Make Your YouTube Videos Stand Out in SERPs first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

The Times They Are A-Chagin’

Those same agencies say that now the best way to rank on the first page of Google is by using YouTube video. Why they stated this they say that it is pretty simple, “Google considers YouTube to be its younger brother.”

They went on to claim that Google is always going to favour video over another website.

Later on in this post, I will share with you what one agency told me to do in order to rank on Google page one even without one single video… so be sure to continue reading this post.

The first thing I was told to do while using Google Chrome is to go incognito, or if when using Firefox, choose new private window… then go to Google and type in the main keywords that I want to rank for.

For my example here, I’ll use local plumber.

Let’s say that I live in Cobourg (Ontario, Canada) and that I am a plumber.

Now, if I were a person living in Cobourg and I am looking for a local plumber, most likely I would use “Cobourg plumber” or “plumber Cobourg” as my search words, so I will use that as the main keyword that as an owner of a plumbing business that I would be targeting.

Scrolling down the page of Google search results… if my plumbing website is not showing up on Google page one, or the site has slid down toward the bottom of Google’s page one results, then what you would need to do next is, go back inside the Google textbox, and add a space after the last keyword, and then copy the words that Google suggests to you.

Because these are the keywords that people actually use in searching.

In the screen print above, I would copy all 3 of the keywords to use.

The marketing agency that taught me this claims that it is super important to target areas near your city or in the city if you are in a big city like, let’s say, Toronto.

Now, with the 3 keywords I have found to use for my (pretend) plumbing business located in Cobourg, I will create 3 videos, each targeting each one of the 3 keywords, and get them ranking on the first page of Google.

Remember that I promised to share with you how you could rank on Google page one even without a video? Well, I will share this tip with you now.

You will need to have a gmail account so that you can sign into YouTube, as you are going to create a Live Stream that you can use later or never use.

Here is what you need to do.

Go to YouTube.com… click on the video icon, and select Go live.

Once the next page loads, then simply click on Don’t Allow option on the prompt asking you to allow the use of your camera and microphone. Then click on Stream Now Classic from the left-hand sidebar.

Once there, you need to add your Title and Description. In your title, be sure to include the main keywords at least twice.

In the case of my Example, I would then type in “plumber Cobourg, Ontario” (without the quotation marks, of course) and then add a dash and type in “are you looking for a plumber in Cobourg, Ontario?” (again, without the quotation marks)… so that my Live Stream title would then look as follows:

So now you can see that the title before the dash and after the dash are NOT the same but similar.

This is the pattern that was suggested for me to use, for all my events AND videos.

If you had enough room in your title, you could even add the telephone number of your business or your domain name. Though the agency that shared this method with me recommends adding the website to the description of the video only.

Be sure to have the description for your Live Stream (of video) already prepared BEFORE you do this in order to have it written properly, with all of the necessary inclusions.

Here is what was shown to me:

In your description on the first 3 lines, be sure to show:

1. the telephone number, if it is a local business,
2. be sure to include the website URL or sales page/squeeze page (wherever you want your visitor to click and go on your website), and then
3. enter a phrase that is super related to the keywords you are targeting. So, do make sure you use the main keywords in that phrase.

My Plumbing Example Would Use

Telephone: 905-555-1414
Website: https://domainNameHere.com
A plumber Cobourg, Ontario waiting to serve you. Call now!

Next, they recommend entering about 200 to 300 characters of sentences related to the product that you are promoting, or the local business. Always make sure to include the main keyword at lease 4 times in the description.

The keywords do NOT need to be identical but rather variations of the main keywords need to be included in your description.

This is why it will be easier for you to prepare your description BEFORE attempting this task.

Once your Description is in place… toggle the Schedule for later to ON, and then click on the down arrow to the right of today’s date (as shown in the screen print below).

Then simply pick a date, let’s say, one year from now… by clicking on the greater-than symbol beside the name of the month, on the drop-down monthly calendar that appears. I have selected one year into the future… from the day I am writing this (though the year is not displayed, it IS set for 2021).

Like I said previously, you are never going to stream live. You are simply going to rank the Live event, and get clicks from the live event without any videos.

All you have to do now is scroll down and click on the Create Stream button.

Then on the next screen… you need to click on the Done button.

For obvious reasons, I did NOT make my example into a Live Steam event as this is ONLY and example so that you better understand the steps described here.

Then you could repeat this process for absolutely every one of those keywords that you want to rank for.

In my example, I would need to make a unique title and description for all 3 keywords. You may have 10 keywords that you could use when you actually try this.

Within one hour of the agency publishing their test case for me to see, and when using a New Private Window or Incognito… they tested EACH and EVERY keyword they used following this process, in order to get their customer’s site rank to improve on Google’s page one.

Of the 12 keywords, their client’s Live Events were ranking HIGH on Google page one… four of which ranked number 1 on Google’s page one.

Personally, I don’t see this technique of using fake Live Stream as being professional. But rather a bit more what I deem to be leaning toward being Black Hat behaviour. However, this technique is one of 3 TIPS that I learned of and have decided to share with you here.

PLUS, don’t forget that you CAN use this method for REAL videos that you create and host on your YouTube channel. Then I would use this method in a heartbeat!

To use or not to use fake Live Stream is totally up to yourself. Though you will need to be prepared, as I am certain if too much of this happens that Google will put a stop to this method. As I truly believe this to be abusive of Live Streaming.

After a few days, this agency asked their client if they received more calls for their local business. To their surprise, the answer was “No”. They were so disappointed, given this method that they were sure would work.

After much brainstorming, they discovered why this didn’t work.

It was simply because the videos did not grab the searcher’s attention.

Next month, I will be sharing how this agency was able to grab the searcher’s attention and GOT more clicks for their client’s local business.

Should you have any question regarding how to rank my business on Google page one even without any videos, please leave me a comment below. All comments are responded to in a timely manner.

Credit for Header: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

The post How to Rank My Business on Google Page One – Even Without Any Videos! first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

When clicking on their link provided in their “Learn More” link, I became so overwhelmed with SO much information that was provided, and simply scanning their page I did not see anything that pertain to this issue. So, I decided to guess what the issue might be.

The file size of the original MP4 video was all of 1.31 MB, and for a 1-minute video, I didn’t think it was a problem but… I decide that it was best to investigate by searching for an answer.

After several tries searching the internet, I came across ONE post that offered a PAID fix. And well, that just didn’t sit well with me. Given all the goodies out there on the internet today that are free. Surely to goodness, my favourite video converter site could fix this for me.

Because I use video.online-convert.com so much for all my conversions, I have now added their site to my Firefox browser.

After clicking on their Video converter icon (image to the right), my browser was taken to their website where, from the left-hand sidebar (image shown below), I ended up choosing Webservice converter, as initially I hadn’t notice that option was even available.

Once I clicked on Webservice converter, another list of selections was provided to me (image shown below). From that list, I choose Convert For Facebook, which in hindsight doesn’t make sense (but this video came from a Facebook post, so now you know my thinking)… but stick with me here.

The video I simply dragged ‘n dropped and it was converted in mere minutes, and I immediately tried to upload it again to Twitter. And, this time Twitter took allowed this to be shared without issue.

Now, this converted file is 3.46 MB in size, but alas, Twitter was much happier with it. Go figure… ‘cause I cannot, but it worked.

That’s when In decided that I should share this information. You know, for those of you who have run into the same issue and are in need of a quick, inexpensive fix.

While writing this post, I realized that I SHOULD have selected to Convert For Twitter. So that is what I did while writing this… and VOILA!

The converted file for Twitter was all of 15.925 KB in size. That’s when I decided that I had better try uploading it to see if Twitter would be happy with it.

At first, Twitter sat there doing nothing, not even showing progress while processing… notta’. So I refreshed my Twitter and tried uploading the 3.46 MB file again. Yup, that too sat for a short while but finally DID upload.

I then uploaded an image… a cute one, but I wanted to be able to separate the two different converted files to see for myself if Twitter would accept the BOTH this time… or not, so I could share the outcome with you here.

Then I tried uploading the 15.925 KB video file, and this time I simply waited, and Twitter FINALLY uploaded it.

It is my guess that this evening’s efforts were taking longer than “normal” due to so many of us at home now during the COVID-19 quarantine. The servers are most likely a tad overtaxed.

Below are the two different files sizes shared this evening on Twitter only moments apart (clicking each of the images will show you the actual tweets).

AND

Can YOU see the difference? I can’t.

However, I do recommend that you convert your videos for Twitter when wanting to share videos on Twitter, and you get this error prompt.

Hope you found this post helpful.

Would really appreciate your leaving a comment below, and sharing this with your friends will help me spread the word for this Twitter video upload error fix, so that others will know how simple this is to correct… and, at NO cost.

The post Twitter Video Upload Error [FIX] - Your Video File Could Not Be Processed first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

This is why it is so important for local businesses to make sure to localize your content in order to maximize its value.

As an example of what I am saying, at the time of writing this, I am sitting in my office at my desk, located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

When I go to Google and type in “dentist”, well… pictures are worth a thousand words, so check out the image below from my results.

All of my Google search results clearly show Oshawa as the destination of any of the dentists I might be interested in attending. And, these are pages, websites, and title tags that specifically mention Oshawa dentist.

Google knows where I am located, so understand that this is happening no matter where the searcher is located at the time of their search.

So, if you type in “dentist” (without the quotation marks, of course) then you will get the results from where you are at, whether you are located right here in Oshawa, in Winnipeg, Manitoba; New York, NY, USA; or even in Australia.

Search results in Google are being localized.

So, you need to check to see if your website is appearing in search results for the areas you want to have your site appear in searches. Because if your website is not, then you need to do something about it.

If you want your business to rank locally you must build out a page for EACH city or area that you want your website to rank in, along with every service you are offering in those areas.

Examples:

Whitby

yourbusiness.com/whitby/service1/
yourbusiness.com/whitby/service2/
yourbusiness.com/whitby/service3/

Oshawa

yourbusiness.com/oshawa/service1/
yourbusiness.com/oshawa/service2/
yourbusiness.com/oshawa/service3/

Bowmanville

yourbusiness.com/bowmanville/service1/
yourbusiness.com/bowmanville/service2/
yourbusiness.com/bowmanville/service3/

And, if you want your business to rank in different cities within other provinces, then you would need to add anther level of information in order to include the province you wish to rank in also.

Examples:

Winnipeg, Manitoba

yourbusiness.com/manitoba/winnipeg/service1/
yourbusiness.com/manitoba/winnipeg/service2/
yourbusiness.com/manitoba/winnipeg/service2/

Toronto, Ontario

yourbusiness.com/ontario/toronto/service1/
yourbusiness.com/ontario/toronto/service2/
yourbusiness.com/ontario/toronto/service3/

Yes, this means more pages for your website but only when it is appropriate. However, this is how you can take advantage of having your business website listed in search results for all of the different areas you service with your business.

This means that you do not have to have your business located in those areas, but you do need to have landing pages created for every single area you want your business listed in, if you want your website to rank in those areas in Google’s search results.

Publishing blog content is another vital tool that you can use that will increase your authority. Here is where you can create content (or have created for you) using terms that would attract your perfect audience, but that are not competitive keywords.

That along with a few great backlinks (done right, of course) and you will find your site ranking well for the areas you want to appear in search results.

Easy Wins Analysis

These are keywords that your website is close to the top in ranking for but not in the top 3 positions on Google’s page 1 results. Easy wins are also known as pre-traffic rankings.

According to the graph shown above, the click through rate (CTR) for pages appearing on Google’s page 1, position 1 will receive about 31.73% CTR, whereas if your website appears in positions less then page 1, position 1, the percentage of CTRs drop drastically and accordingly.

The aim is to improve any posts you have ranking in positions 4 through to 10, on Google’s page 1 search results. It is much easier to rank higher for a keyword your site is already ranking well for.

Building quality backlinks such as ‘white hat’ guest posts made on sites with domain authority of DA10+ and DA50+, as well as foundational links (natural text links), month after month for six months to your identified target pages will have those pages ranking higher in no time at all.

Instead of simply sitting on a hidden gold mine, you can use SEO tools that can help to identify these pages, and then figure out what you need to do in order to improve your website’s rank.

Sometimes simply building assorted links over time can dramatically improve your website rank, and can even reverse losing traffic, when done correctly.

Summary

So, if you are in a niche that is difficult to advertise for then SEO can be a very powerful tool.

Create those local landing pages if you want your website listed in other areas that you provide your business in, as discussed above. You CAN do this even if you don’t have the physical locations, in order to capture more searches.

Creating relevant blog content and quality back linking on a consistent basis can definitely have your website up front and noticed in no time at all.

This method has been tested in major cities in the United States and it is working wonders.

Adding relevant content for low competitive keywords is ALWAYS recommended to anyone who wishes to have their website rank higher in search results AND gain authority too.

SEO (search engine optimization) doesn’t have to be complicated, sometimes you just need to take action. And, depending on your area in Canada, your website could see better search results quicker by following the advice shared with you here.

ADDITIONAL INFO: With the COVID-19 pandemic causing so many local businesses to have to close their physical doors temporarily, Google is offering advice on How to pause your business online in Google Search.

Many local business websites are experiencing temporary drops in ranking, some seeing upwards of a 20% drop or worse due to the “essential needs” sites flourishing during these unprecedented times.

Thus, you need to understand that your Google Analytics data will be skewed during these times. DO NOT PANIC. You will get through this.

During these times, many local businesses are pulling their advertising. With the reduction in their advertising, those selling advertising spaces may be reducing their advertising costs in hopes of keeping their regular customers.

This is why you might give serious consider for increasing your ads, especially with local TV stations like Peterborough’s CHEX TV. Why not request your demo today?

Even the best marketers with the most effective websites will tell you that they seldom convert more than 5% of their website visitors into paying customers when their website was their ONLY means of marketing.

Source: The HOTH webinar

The post SEO, What’s Working Now Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic? first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

One of my previously recorded videos had to have a few frames removed, while a second video had to have an audio file merged with the video file in order to add the audio portion.

During my first effort in searching for a video editor software, reading through other’s reviews, it looked like ApowerEdit was the best option. So, I downloaded and installed it, and then discovered that if I wanted to use it, I had to pay for it.

On the 6^th of January 2020, I needed to pay $80.81 Canadian funds ($59, 95 US funds), which seemed fairly reasonable at that time.

However, I was a few weeks getting to use this software as other issues took my immediate attention away from these videos.

Later, upon trying to create the necessary edit in the one video, the output was so pathetically low-quality that I could not use it. I then realized that ApowerEdit video editing software was not what it was professed to be.

Not only was the video output too small in overall size, but the video was also blurry when viewed.

My task got put on hold once again, especially knowing I would need to find yet another video editing software.

On 15^th of March 2020, after seeking yet another review done on video editing software, I purchased yet another software. This time the one I chose was called VSDC Video Editing Pro, and thankfully it only cost me $27.70 Canadian funds ($19.99 US funds).

But once again, the video output was far of too low a quality to even contemplate using.

The video that needed editing was created back in 2017, using a PowerPoint slideshow that was created in PowerPoint 2007, with a WAV file embedded in the Transitions under Sounds.

Back then, I used WonderShare PPT2 Video Pro to turn the PowerPoint file I had created into a high-quality video, and it worked perfectly.

And back then, I created two videos using this method and BOTH videos were of exceptional quality. I am only disappointed that WonderShare PPT2 Video Pro is no longer available for Windows 10, and the developer has discontinued their software.

Am guessing their discontinuance of such awesome software could be due to Microsoft’s claim that you can now automatically create a video from your PowerPoint slideshows.

Huh… not so for me!

When adding a WAV file to the Transitions > Sound option in my Windows 10 version of PowerPoint 365 and exporting it as a video, PowerPoint refused to include the audio file, no matter what I tried in order to have the audio included in my video exported.

Tried adding the audio as an MP3 file to, thinking perhaps that was the problem, but alas that didn’t matter, as the audio file STILL was not included in the exported video from PowerPoint 365.

Even tried Microsoft’s instructions provided here for inserting music in the background, and my audio file played PERFECTLY during the slideshow… well, until the end.

And yes, even though I made sure to UNSELECT loop until stopped as directed in their video instructions, my WAV file looped all through the credits that I intended to be displayed WITHOUT audio.

So, neither of Microsoft’s instructions worked for me.

Though, PowerPoint 365 DID create a HD video of the slideshow. Armed with this great HD video and my audio file… this made it necessary for me to use a video editor software in order to merge the two files properly.

Don’t misunderstand me. I Google searched for several hours, and even watched not only Microsoft’s instructions on adding audio to my PowerPoint created video, but NOTHING worked for me.

After being told by the Microsoft experts that they could not help me with this problem, I decided to think about this issue overnight, and then see if I could come up with a better query for Google, all in hope of finding a superior video editing software to use.

My projects HAD to be completed really soon, so I was now pushing myself for an answer.

Weeeeeeeeh!

I finally figured out a better query, which was: HD video editor software (HD meaning high definition) …and that is when I FINALLY found a great review on several video editors… one of which was Shotcut.

Plus, I discovered that Shotcut is FREE to download AND use… YIPEEE!

After spending over $100 Canadian funds in hope of a resolution, I finally found a software that was not only FREE to use, it even comes with a whole mess of tutorials too.

Need I say that within minutes of downloading, installing and taking a quick viewing of their very first tutorial video, I was able to add my WAV file to my PowerPoint HD video, and Shotcut created a high definition video for me, WITH audio… and I was able to then upload it to my YouTube Channel in a very short period of time.

That’s when I decided to try editing the other video, and found that Shotcut was soooo easy to work with that I was able to precisely edit out not only the frames but also the audio, to the point that no one would ever even know those other frames ever existed.

Suffice it to say that I recommend Shotcut and will be shouting my recommendation all over social media as my way of thanking the developers of Shotcut for making my life a lot easier and not even charging me for doing so.

Thank YOU Shotcut!

If you found this post helpful, I do hope you will share it with others. Should you like to chat about Shotcut video editor software, feel free to leave me a comment below.

UPDATE: 24 March 2020

Today, I sent my PowerPoint slideshow with the audio WAV file to my IT fella, making sure that the WAV file was inserted in Sounds under Transitions, and had him test to see if using his version of PowerPoint on his Windows 10 computer that has NEVER had Windows 7 installed on it (one person suggested that might have been the issue), and his output was EXACTLY the same as mine… no audio was included in the video his PowerPoint created, yet he could play the audio in his PowerPoint slideshow.

He even tried inserting the WAV file and exporting the video that way, but the timing of the audio was too far off of the slides and he stopped and deleted that file too. I told him that my slideshow kept looping the audio through the credits at the end of the file, even though I had NOT check marked loop until stopped.

Am beginning to think this is a failure with Microsoft’s PowerPoint, but thanks to Shotcut, we now have a fix.

UPDATE: 28 March 2020

This announcement is for ALL TEACHERS… The online classroom designed for teaching, tutoring & training website stated the following: “To assist teachers, schools & organizations experiencing closures due to the coronavirus we have extended our free plan.”

PLEASE UNDERSTAND: This is NOT a recommendation, just another option you can consider using. I found this site searching for better methods for teachers to use in order to provide a wider range of options to you.

The post Best Video Editor Software 2020 – And, it’s FREE! PowerPoint + Audio File Finally in One Video first appeared on Ontario Website Designer.

Step #1 – People

In order for you to find people who are asking for help:

1. What niche do you want to enter?
    
   To answer this question, simply go to Amazon’s book section, go to the niche you want to enter, and make sure there are books available there.

   This way you will know if someone is actually paying for information on the niche you want to focus on. So, if they come across one of your free articles that makes them excited and want to purchase whatever you are selling to solve their problem, you could end up with a customer.

2. What are people already buying to get the help they seek?
    
   In Amazon, simply check out the best-selling books in your chosen niche, find those that are solving problems, make note of the best 10 books that are based around the problem you want to solve for your website visitors, buy those books and study ALL of their content and find out how they became to be listed among the best-sellers. And then create your content from what you have learned.
3. What can you create?
    
   Take a piece of paper and on the left of that paper, write down the 10 titles of the books you bought, and think of better titles. Now, put those 10 better titles that you came up with to the write of those titles. Now you have 10 pieces of content for your website!

   You could even simply use the table of contents from the books that you can view their table of contents.

Step #2 – Product

This is where you will find the type of product that will solve your visitor’s problem. The type of product that you will be providing them with could be as simple as a guide, a report, an eBook, a video tutorial, or articles on how to do something.

The secret here is to pick one type of product and stick with that for your entire website. You do NOT want to mix and try and match a variety of articles, guides, reports, eBooks, video tutorials, or whatever. Simply stick with one product.

Once you know the type of product you are going to give people, all you have to do next is find (or create) the product. For written content, you need to have at least 1500 to 2000 words, making the first 500 words the teaser.

If it is video content, then make it 3 to 5 minutes in length, making the first 20 seconds a teaser.

To understand what a teaser is, it is information provided with the intent to arouse a reader’s / viewer’s curiosity and get them to continue reading / watching your content.

If you are using WordPress to create your website, you would simply look for a plugin known as a Content Locker.

Step #3 – Process

This is where you will help people by providing a product that will solve their problem using a process. And, this is usually where people get scared off, because you think you have to be tech savvy in creating an online business.

That used to be but with the training I will be sharing with you here, that is no longer the case. This process is now easier than ever before.

Step #4 – Profit

This is where you are going to get paid to help people who are looking for helping. The best place to do this is using a platform called Quora, which currently gets over 5 hundred million people per month coming on to their website. All of which are posting questions, asking for help on just about every topic that you can imagine.

Some say it is best to not waste your time on social media any more but to use Quora instead.

Having purchased many of these “make money online” gimmicks, I can tell you personally that I have been and continue to review the types of courses these marketing gurus come out with because I want to see if these new things that people are claiming are better than others, really are. And, trust me when I tell you that nothing is better than the training platform that I can share here with you.

So, whenever you find some others trying to sell you a shiny new course, save your time and money and take a peek at the training course shared here. It’s free to join, and I am showing you how to do it right now. And, you have NOT had to pay so much as a penny to get this information… and it just works!

You can start right now absolutely free and to top THAT off, the first level of 10 lessons are free to access for 7 whole days. This way, you will gain an insight as to the quality of training that is provided to all members.

Did YOU know that…

Writing a quality article helps more than running ads on Facebook newsfeeds.

After writing and published an article that is jam-packed with fresh, quality content, simply go over to Quora, and type in your keywords into their search bar and hit your keyboard Enter key.

Now, from the left-hand sidebar, simply click on Questions to see all of the questions that people have asked about using the keywords you have just searched.

Then, be sure to click on “All Time” so that you will see every question that has ever been posted on Quora, about your search phrase.

Then simply click on any one of these questions… like the second one shown in the screen print above: “How do I make money online?”

It doesn’t get any easier than this.

These people are out there asking questions on things you can really give helpful answers to that then serve to build up your reputation with them to where they are going to want more, which is to eventually make them want to visit your website.

Providing detailed answers to the questions posted on Quora, you could even provide a link to one of your posts where they could learn in detail whatever it is that they are asking you about. So, check out some of the great answers that others are writing so that you get a better sense of what to say BEFORE you actually provide a link to your post.

Be sure to offer more assistance if you can by simply stating something like: “If you would like a much more detailed answer that is specific to YOUR question, let me know and I will be happy to help you.” Especially when someone’s question was this vague… that way this person will not only click on your link but they are going to send you a message probably giving you some more information where you can actually be able to help them.

Check just below the question that was published on Quora, and you will see that there are 2.7K people following this question.

This means then when answering this question, 2.7k people who also may want to know how to make money online, are going to get a notification from Quora as a push notification on their browser, to let all of them know that there is a new answer to the question they are following, on how to make money online.

This is the most untapped source of hyper-targeted traffic that I have ever seen in many years now.

When even half of those followers check out your answer, and if your answer is good enough, they are going to click on your link, and they are going to be messaging you. This is how easily you can get targeted traffic to your website.

This gets even better…

Sometimes (depending on the type of question asked) Google will even provide the Quora questions answered in the Google search results, as number one of their organic listings. When this happens, your answers will be seen by thousands of more people.

This is a PROVEN method of receiving targeted traffic that brings many marketers thousands of dollars in earnings every day.

5 Marketing Strategies Attract Customers by Dominating Social Media

First, you need to ask yourself 5 questions… and they are as follows.

1. What are the questions that are being asked by my potential client’s before they make a decision to buy my product or service? In other words, buyer intent types of questions.
    
   Example Questions (for my niche) Might Be:
   a.) What will it cost me to have someone create my website for me?
   b.) Do I need to provide all of the pictures or do they provide them?
   c.) Who looks after the hosting?
   d.) What all do I need to know to have someone create my website for me?
2. What problems or frustrations are my potential client’s dealing with that my product or service can solve for them?
    
   Example Problems Might Be:
   a.) I’ve run out of leads and I don’t have potential clients to talk to.
   b.) My Facebook ads keep getting shut down.
   c.) Nothing seems to be working.

   NEVER talk about your product or service. Instead, talk about your prospects problem and how YOU can solve it.

   A Good Example Might Be: Do you struggle with acne? Here’s 3 things that you can do to get rid of your acne quickly.

   AND NOT

   Here’s my skin cream and it is amazing, and here’s all that it contains, it’s organic… etc.

   MORAL: You need to always prove to your potential clients that you care about them first and foremost.

3. Has anyone that you know of ever suffered something terrible happening because they did NOT have your product or service?
    
   People on social media respond well to stories.

   So, if you know of anyone who has experienced a terrible side effect from using your competition’s product simply because they used the wrong dosage… or if someone has experienced a terrible thing happening to them because they use your competitor’s service due to a lack of proper instructions…

   Example: If you are an insurance agent, and let’s say that you know of a story were someone had a car accident while their son was driving the family sedan, and they discovered after the fact that he was not covered under the parent’s vehicle insurance. That their original agent did not explain their policy properly, nor did they cover them the way they thought they were.

   That’s the type of story that gets attention on social media, and it could serve to make those who read such a story doubt their own insurance coverage.

   Then, your call to action for this story might be; “if you want me to show you 3 things in your policy contact me now and get my free guide.”

4. Has anyone ever received great results from using your product or service?
    
   Here is where you can find a good story or testimonies where someone has received incredible results with your product or service.

   Example: Let’s say you are a website designer. Then, you could talk about how their website went from being nonexistent in internet searches before you came along and handled their website needs that brought their site to be ranked on Google page one for their business.

   MORAL: Your potential clients do not want to hear about your product or service. They want to know what you can do for them.

5. What tips could you provide to anyone using your product or service?
    
   Let’s say you feel that your product or service doesn’t solve a problem for your potential clients. Then here is where you can provide helpful tips on how to save, use, or prevent something from happening by using your product or service.

   Example for a clothing store: Here are 3 things women should never dress like on a first date.

   Example for cooking business: What foods you should NEVER put together EVER.

When writing content keep these 5 questions in mind because you only want to be sure to attract those people who are most apt to buy your product or service from you.

 
Source:

This last bit of information on dominating social media came from information shared by Tyson Zahner. You can visit Tyson’s website at successwithtyson.com to learn more.

Tyson’s course is only for those of you who are serious about increasing your targeted leads, and he even provides buyers with a 30-day guarantee. You will soon see for yourself that his course is well worth the low cost (yes, US funds).

For those of you with a registered business, Tyson’s course: 3 Simple Steps to Attract 100 High Quality Leads in 30 Days, is a tax write off… making it an investment that you will be glad you made.

As further proof to you of my sincerity in presenting you this information here, please understand this: Tyson’s offer discussed here is NOT an affiliate link. Meaning that I do NOT in any way receive payment should you visit Tyson’s website and eventually sign up for his training. The reason I am providing you with this information is simply because I believe in his training… it works.

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