Talk Fusion Breaks The Mold And Takes Video Marketing To The Next Level!

If you have been following me or my marketing strategies for any amount of time, you know how much I absolutely LOVE video marketing.  I truly believe it is the absolute best way to connect with your audience, develop relationships with your readers, your prospects, and potential business partners.

Why is that?

Well, it’s been known for years…and you’ve heard it said, “A picture is worth a thousand words”.  Imagine how magnified that concept becomes when the picture, is not static, but moving, talking, smiling and interacting with the person viewing it.

Well, that’s what Talk Fusion has done for email and video marketing.  In fact,  check out the image in the top corner of this post.  That is an actual screen capture of a real video email I sent out to a business partner just last week.  Imagine my partner’s surprise when they opened the email and saw a video of me talking with them rather than a dull text message (remember the 80’s?…LOL).

I have been completely blown away by the value offered through this service.  When one of my Empowered Tribe partners contacted me to share this amazing resource, I was interested, but like most busy entrepreneurs thought my plate might just be too full (so full in fact, it looks like a platter instead of a plate…LOL).  But less than three minutes into checking this thing out, I was back with my partner, asking – where do I sign?!?!

Seriously, unbelievable.

What Is Talk Fusion?

Talk Fusion is the next social media giant!! This platform enables you to engage in relationship marketing at it’s absolute best.  I truly believe every single internet marketer and network marketer on the planet needs this!!  The product alone is a complete “no-brainer” for marketers, businesses, and even individuals who just want to step up their emails to friends and family.

Offering, video emails, video autoresponders, video blogging, video sharing, and video conferencing – Talk Fusion is on the cutting edge of social media and network marketing. In my opinion, it is the ultimate bridge between network marketing and internet marketing.  And, it’s so stinking easy to use that my second grade nieces can use it.  (They love videos as much as I do).

The product alone was enough to sale me on Talk Fusion, but when I found out it was also a network marketing opportunity I was “all in”.

Now, before you completely tune me out…let me say that I have never promoted a network marketing product or company on my blog, although I am a network marketer, with a solid and stable primary opportunity already in place.  You can look around my site and you will not find that primary opportunity promoted at all…anywhere.

But I feel so strongly that this one is so important to network and internet marketers everywhere, that I honestly felt like I would be doing a disservice to our industry to not share it with you.  Seriously. So, for that reason, I am going to be in your face with this one.  Not because I’m a pesky, aggressive, network marketer…but because I genuinely care about your success and the success of your business.

If you have any interest at all in building your business (whatever that business may be) or personal brand (whatever that brand may be) on-line, then, friends – YOU NEED TALK FUSION!!

Are you serious about taking your marketing to the next level?  Then contact me  at any of these places (or all if you are really serious):

Email: info@kristaabbott.com

Phone: 928-377-KRIS (or 928-377-5747)

Skype: destalrad

On-Line Form: Click Here, complete the form and I will contact you!

All For Your Business Success!!!

Motorola Droid

I Love My Droid

I have had about seven people ask me, just this week, how I like my Droid.  So with all the questions, and many cell phone users ready to upgrade, I thought I would share my thoughts on the Droid here.

I have the Motorola Droid.  Now this is, obviously, not the only Android smart phone on the market today.  There were a few before the Motorola and there have been a few since.  I can’t really speak to the value behind those phones, but I can speak to the awesomeness of this one.

I do have a couple of friends who have taken the HTC Incredible for a spin and they are more than happy with their phones.  One of those friends even traded in his iPhone for the Incredible and another ditched his BlackBerry Storm 2 for it.

While iPhones have the appeal of pop culture and what I like to call “the Mac Cult” I actually enjoy my Droid very much and like it better than the iPhone.  Initially I thought about getting an iPhone, and almost did, but I am pleased with the Verizon network and didn’t want to change carriers just so I could be a kool-aid drinking iphone user.  So, I waited it out hoping Verizon would get that iPhone contract they were rumored to be in negotiations for.

In the meantime, the Android phones hit the market.  Skeptical at first, I watched – and waited.  After hearing nothing but good reviews from the Motorola Droid I had to venture into the store and check it out.  I was captivated by the sleek and sexy design and the high quality, sharp images from the screen, then there was the smooth glide of the touch screen – well let’s just say it had me at hello!   (Obviously, I have a thing for gadgets…what can I say)

I like having options.  So, being able to choose between a virtual QWERTY keyboard and the slide out QWERTY was very appealing to me.  After a few attempts on the slide out board though, I found myself much more enthused by the virtual touch one.  (and had less typos too).

As far as comparisons with the iphone, they really run neck and neck in my opinion with features and specks.  You can see a full breakdown at Mashable by clicking here.  In reviewing the Mashable comparison though, it is worth pointing out that this was created back in October when the Droid first came out.  The Droid has picked up quite a few apps since then, and I have found more than I will ever use in the Droid Market, so I’m certainly not complaining about limited choices in the app department.

I’ve been very impressed with the quality of video that I’ve been able to capture with the video camera and enjoy the thrill of being able to capture a full recording and stream it live if I wanted to.  Essentially, my Droid has replaced my video camera, my still camera, my ipod, my GPS system, and my cell phone, and if I really wanted to I could replace my laptop with it (but I don’t want to) 

Of course there’s the cool features associated with smart phones of this caliber…like instant uploads to Facebook and You Tube and then there’s the Google features. Need I say more?  Having full access to all of my Google applications has been an invaluable tool as an entrepreneur.  I never feel like I am tied to the desk or the laptop to get some work done.

As far as why I picked the Droid over BlackBerry, well that’s simple.  The BlackBerry is a great gadget if staying up on your email is the most important thing.  Having used the BlackBerry previously,  I can tell you the browser function on the is not the greatest.  Personally, I need both a power browser and good reliable email access.  I found both in the Droid.

All in all, I love the Droid and would recommend it to anyone interested in a smart phone that is as good as, if not better (in my opinion – better) than the iPhone and BlackBerry.   If you are considering getting an Android phone then I say “Go for it!”  I absolutely love mine and think you will be equally as pleased.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, then you can judge for yourself.  I have included below some video demos and live comparisons for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!

To see a Motorola Droid Demo Click Here

To see an Incredible Demo Click Here

To see a video demo comparison between the iPhone and the Droid Click Here

To see a video demo comparison between the BlackBerry Storm 2 and the Droid Click Here

To Your Mobile Success!

So, do you have a smart phone of choice?  Share your thoughts below…

Enjoying The Next Level of Video Marketing

As most experienced internet marketers know, there are a multitude of marketing techniques that can be leveraged to drive traffic to your website and generate leads to your on-line business.  While I do use a variety of techniques in my business, I admit video marketing is one of my favorites.

Let’s face it.  We are a media driven society.  And, in a media driven society, video stands out.  For the first several months of using video marketing in my business, I used the same software a large majority of my colleagues use and recommend, Windows Move Maker (WMM).  This is actually a great FREE software application that comes standard with most PCs today and for the price (free) puts out a pretty decent quality video.  In fact all of my video posts prior to this one were created on WMM.

Recently, however, while trying to step up the quality of the video production for a very special project I was working on for a friend, I decided to give Camtasia a try.  And boy am I glad I did!!!

Since, video editing concepts are similar regardless of the software you are using, I didn’t anticipate a huge learning curve, but I was surprised at exactly how easy it was.  After a quick five minute tour around the navigational buttons I was off to a great start.  I found Camtasia very user friendly and the quality was way better than what I’ve ever gotten from WMM.  For the most part, I found the transition from Windows Movie Maker to Camtasia to be relatively seamless.

And…since I’ve gotten my feet wet with Camtasia, I have to say I will find it hard to go back to WMM, although I’m sure I will pay WMM a visit every now and again when I need a quick edit or two.

For now though, I will have to say goodbye Windows Movie Maker…hello Camtasia!!!

So…here it is…my FIRST Camtasia project.  The friend I completed the project for was very happy with the outcome, as was I.

Check it out…

Disclaimer:  This Video May Contain Spiritually Nourishing Content!! 

So what do you think?

What are some of your favorite marketing techniques?

Do you have a favorite video editing software that you enjoy using?

Leave some comments below and share with the community here your thoughts on video marketing, WMM, and/or Camtasia?

For Your Eternal Success!

PS.  Re-Tweets, Shares, and Comments Always appreciated!!

How to Make Sure the Foundation Your Blog is Built On Is Not Shaky Ground.

Last year, when I first started exploring the wonderful world of self-hosted WordPress blogging, I contacted my host Go-Daddy to ask some questions and get started. Their wonderful technical support agents directed me on how to install the WordPress application in my GoDaddy back office, set up my database and all of the other “behind the scenes” technical mumbo jumbo that goes along with blogging.

There was, however, ONE VERY CRITICAL piece of information, GoDaddy failed to point out to me and that is WordPress is incompatible with a Windows Platform. So, for the past 6 months (2 months of pre-launch development, and then subsequent launch and maintenance) I have earned a “frequent flyer” designation with GoDaddy technical support.

Still with multiple calls and several hours of going back and forth with technical reps and administrator support (that’s who you get to talk to when the technical reps can’t figure out what’s going on) I was experiencing problems that my other blogging friends never had to deal with.

What?!!??

Seriously, I was starting to think GoDaddy was messing with me. Even my friends were starting to make comments – like “Why does GoDaddy hate you so much?” or “What is the deal with you and GoDaddy?” Realizing of course, GoDaddy couldn’t possibly “hate” me, because well….I’m so darned adorable, that just couldn’t be it.

It wasn’t until recently when I was in the process of transitioning my radio show website to a self-hosted WordPress format and these same problems started to surface again that my blog designer convinced me that I needed to figure out what was causing all the blog drama. So, I decided to Just Ask Kim,  my techie guru friend and blog syndication partner.  After a short conversation Kim revealed the nasty little secret GoDaddy kept from me – WordPress runs much better on a Linux platform!!!

Ahhh!!!! Are you kidding me Kim?  Nope!!!  She was right on spot.  So last week, Kim Castleberry and I spent some “quality time together” working on getting all this straightened out.  We backed up my blog and database (everyone should do this on a regular basis by the way….learn how HERE) and we deleted everything, changed platforms and reloaded it all again….working into the weeeee-hours of the morning!

I am extremely happy to report, that I am writing this post from my newly transferred blog, on my new Linux platform. 

I’m all smiles.  Many of the headaches I have experienced in my blog lifetime are no longer a problem.  Now, I admit initially I was mad with GoDaddy, but after I calmed down, and forced my mind to embrace the proper perspective I was able to let all that go.

See, I learned many valuable lessons from all this blog drama.  I gained a lot of technical and troubleshooting expertise from my many conversations with GoDaddy’s technical and administrator support  as well as from the conversations this week with my personal techie, at Just Ask Kim.  And now, I can pass that knowledge along to you my friends and loyal readers, as well as  my social media coaching clients.

I don’t think GoDaddy did this to me on purpose, I think it was a simple oversight with a lot of unintended consequences.  GoDaddy does have great (and very patient) customer support.  My only recommendation to them is to make sure all their technical staff know to tell WordPress application users that they need a Linux Platform rather than Windows if they want to use syndication friendly plug-ins, and avoid problems down the road.

While WordPress will still work on a Windows platform, there are a lot of issues with plugins that will require work-arounds, time, and research to resolve.  And if you have any hair left after you’ve resolved them all, you will likely decide to do what I did…and take the plunge for the transition.  My blog was down for a whole week to get this complete.  But I am glad to say now that it is over, it is done and it’s time to move on.

Lesson learned and now maybe I can save someone else from making the same mistake and spare them the drama!!

WordPress + Linux = Peaceful Bliss

&

WordPress + Windows = Blog Drama!

Now, please help me spread the word to spare other bloggers the drama…re-tweet, bookmark, and share this post.

Much appreciated! 

All For YOUR Blogging Success!

PS.  Do you have any of your own blog drama stories?  Share them with us in the comments.  As we share our “hard knocks” with others, we can build a thriving community of knowledge sharing and help each other avoid the same problems we have walked through.

Peggy McColl is launching her brand new book, Viral Explosions – Proven Techniques to Expand, Explode, or Ignite Your Business or Brand On-Line, on Tuesday, April 13, 2010.

I have had the privilege of being one of Peggy’s students for the past several months, and I have learned things that will revolutionize my on-line marketing tactics.  Peggy is a high energy author who has used internet marketing techniques that have taken her books to Best Seller status in 24 hours or less.  This week, I get to watch her do it again with her new release, Viral Explosions.

In Viral Explosions, Peggy shares her secrets for internet marketing success and takes the reader step-by-step through her proven formula for results.

The super cool thing about buying one of Peggy’s books on her campaign day (Tuesday for this book) is that she gives an INSANE amount of FREE bonus gifts. It’s one of the most amazing demonstrations of “Go-Giver” action that I’ve ever seen.  The book is well worth the $14.95 you pay on Amazon anyway…but on top of all of that, you get a TON, and I do mean a TON of FREE bonus items.  Peggy has really OVER-DELIVERED on this…as is typical of her.

In order to get these freebies, you HAVE to buy the book on Tuesday!

Because I offered up a free bonus for Peggy to use in her campaign, I have been able to get a sneak peak at the Bonus Page for this book, and all I can say is I was COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY at how much valuable information is being GIVEN away just for buying her book. Wow!  I will DEFINITELY be sitting at my computer midnight Monday so I can grab my copy of Viral Explosions and all those FREE bonus gifts.

If you are serious about marketing on-line, you NEED this book!!!  Go HERE right now to find out more…(and to see all the crazy awesome freebies you can get your hands on).

To Your Viral Success,

PS.  In case you are wondering what my FREE bonus gift was for Peggy’s campaign…I am giving away a webinar and “over-the-shoulder” demonstration of Tribe Syndication Tactics.  You can only get access to this webinar by buying Peggy’s book.  But there’s one little catch….You HAVE to buy on Tuesday. So set yourself a reminder in your calendar and whatever you do, don’t miss picking up your copy at Amazon on Tuesday.  Again….go HERE to learn more.

What an AMAZING secret ninja trick for keyword searches and SEO optimization!!!

I had the distinct privilege, along with some other Empowered Entrepreneur students, to be on an amazing webinar last night with a Google Insider who revealed some PREH-TEE-SAH-WHEET (pretty sweet) secrets to choosing the right key words for both SEO (search engine optimization) and Google Adwords.  Now I have to say, there were so many amazing things that she shared in the two hours we were on the webinar that I had information overload about half way through.

Never-the-less, I trudged through because I wanted to glean all I could from this expert of experts , not only for my business, but to share with you to help you in yours too!  I mean, really…it’s not every day that you get to hear super secret internet ninja tricks from someone who actually worked at Google on Ad Words and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) stuff…how awesome is that?!?

So….Commercial Break Here to say a great big….THANK YOU to the amazing Jonathan Budd for giving us this experience.  (such a go-giver, that guy!).

Anyway…let me cut to the chase and share with you one of the Tips, she (secret google insider) gave to us.  It’s called the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. and it looks like this:

For SEO, all you have to do is visit the site at Keyword Tool External and follow 2 simple steps:

Step 1:  Click the radio button that says “website content” (see diagram above)

Step 2:  Enter the URL of the website you want to check Key Words on (see diagram above)

And….drum roll please…..

Your results!!

So what do you do with them once you get them?

Well, there’s several things, but I’ll list a few here to get us started.

1.  If you have certain key words you were searching for and you don’t see them, then you may want to look at revising the content on your page to be more reflective of your target key words.

2.  If you aren’t sure what key words to use or how to tag your blog post, landing page, sales page, etc.  then you can use this tool to review your already written page for you and tell you what the best key words are to boost your search engine rankings.

Now, this is also a great tool to use for checking out your page congruency with Ad Words campaigns, but we’ll save something for later. 

So…head on over to Google AdWords:  Keyword Tool and see how you rank!!

Have you used this tool for your  marketing or Search Engine Optimization strategies?

If so, what “tricks” helped you in choosing the right key words?

What are some other cool tools you use to help you manage your key word selections well?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

To Your Overwhelming Success!

How to stay active in all your social media outlets and still be productive in your business.

It seems one of the most challenging things for any entrepreneur or busy professional is the task of effectively and efficiently managing the social media platforms while still getting “real business” done.   Honestly, social media is a HUGE key in building your business and is one of the primary places “real business” occurs, but that’s another blog post for another day! 

Today, I want to focus on your social media platforms and time management.

There is so much you can do with social media to help you grow your business or get your message out, but if not managed correctly, it can be a time eating monster!!  Social media is fun, engaging, and an awesome way to build relationships, so it’s easy to spend way too many hours on  Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube, or any of the other popular social media outlets.

Recently, a friend asked me how I manage to stay connected and active with all my social media accounts on a consistent and continual basis while still getting important things done.   I shared my secret with him, and today I am going to share it with you.  Are you ready?

It’s HOOTSUITE!!!!  And…you can see it in action in my video below…

Well, there you have it.  Hootsuite is my secret tool for staying active in social media all day long without even being in front of my computer.  A few hours on the weekend to set up and schedule my tweets, facebook status updates, facebook  business page updates (aka: “fan page”), and even my linked in updates and I’m rolling in activity and driving traffic all week long!

Now I still spend some “live time” on these sites periodically throughout the week, in the evenings and on weekends when I have some spare time.  This is when I usually have my responses, and do some re-tweets, etc.  I have another amazing tool (TweetDeck) that I use for those “live social media actions”…again, that’s another post, for another day. 

So, what do you do to manage your time on social media?

Drop down below and let me and the community here, know your tips, secrets, and tricks to being active AND productive with social media.

To YOUR Social Media Success!!!

A Great New Way To Get Inspired As You Work To Build Your Business!!!

As entrepreneurs, it is important that you surround yourself with inspiration.  I keep several inspiring things around my home office.  In fact right above my computer monitor is a small plaque that simply says “DREAM”.  It is positioned in such a way that I end up looking at it several times each day.  Every time I look at it, I am reminded of my visions, my goals and “why” I am so driven to build my business.

It keeps me focused.

Well, GREAT NEWS my entrepreneurial friends!!!  Now your Mozilla Firefox Browser can help keep you inspired too!!!

Check out my video below to find out HOW…

This simple tool can be powerful in the hands of a serious entrepreneur seeking visual reminders and inspiration through their workday.  Keeping elements or reminders of your dreams, your goals, and your vision nearby and in front of you will explode your motivation and create a momentum of action, ultimately leading to your success.

Now, go out there my friends and get yourself a Firefox 3.6 Persona and Pimp that Browser for Inspiration!!!

Do you have any visual triggers that help you stay focused on your goals?

If so, we would love to hear about them.  Drop down in the comments below and share with the community here, what you do for inspiration.

To YOUR Success,

PS.  If you want to check out some more awesome ideas on how to Make Your Work Space Comfortable and Inspiring, then check out my friend Eric Goldstein’s post on this.

Finding and keeping great Tweeps, and Tweeples, while dumping the Twitter Twits…

Alas, I have discovered another FREE Twitter Tool to help you manage your twitter following!

Twitter is an incredibly powerful social media tool that can help you build relationships with new people, network with prospects or potential business partners, and grow your business on-line, all while increasing your sphere of influence.

Once you have established your twitter presence, it is important that you begin to find great people to follow and that you begin tweeting valuable content to attract followers to you.  In doing so, most twitter users (aka: “tweeples”) will choose to “follow you” back.   There are many, however, that for various reasons will choose to not return the favor or who are only out there to blast you with their affiliate links and spew spam everywhere (aka: “Twitter Twits”).

In these cases, you as the manager and CEO of your twitter world, will have to decide whether you want to continue following  or opt to “unfollow” them.

So what do you do with these tweeple?

How do you find out who they are?

How do you decide who to keep and who to dump?

I answer these and other questions in my video below.  Check it out!!!

Now, I realize, there are software tools out there can help you do this automatically, but I prefer to do it manually as long as it remains manageable time wise (and it does if you do it every few days).  The automated options will review your twitter account and automatically “unfollow” those who are not following you back…including those who may be leaders in your industry or niche that you WANT to continue following.  While faster, this just doesn’t give you the opportunity to review the profile and make an informed decision before choosing to “unfollow” a person.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Please drop down below and leave me some comments and let me know what you think…

Do you have some great Twitter stories to share?

How about some tips or tricks you’ve discovered to help you manage your following?

Have you found some successful techniques for building your business through twitter?

Oh, and before I forget….if you aren’t already following me on Twitter, you can just click here and follow, follow, follow!!!

Now, go out there and manage your Twitter account well, my friends.

To Your Tweeting Success!!

If you want to learn more about how to use Twitter to build your business on-line and using the power of syndication networks, then you may want to check out my Tribe 2.0 (affiliate link).  I have personally had amazing results using the strategies these social media entrepreneurs and masterminds teach.

PS.  Click Here to Visit Friend or Follow

RESTRICT ACCESS TO YOUR VIDEOS

When I was getting ready to launch my FREE 7 day video series on Unleashing Success to subscribers of my newsletter, I set out on a search to figure out how I could “hide” the videos on my blog page without going through the hassle of uploading them to my host server through FTP software.

In doing so, I found that uploading to public video sharing sites like YouTube, Viddler, Tangle, etc presented its own set of challenges.  I didn’t want folks who were visiting my channel on these sites to “stumble upon” my subscription based videos and be able to view them without subscribing or opting in; and I didn’t want to limit the number of people who I could share the “private” videos with.

So…off I went to find the answer!!!  And, wouldn’t you know it…my search led me to discovering an “easy as pie” solution available through Viddler called “Secret URL”s.

I was so excited about this cool find that I had to share it right away!!

So, I put together this step by step video tutorial to show you exactly how it is done.

This is WAY COOL….check it out!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is that completely awesome or what?

Now, as a “BONUS”  I prepared a PDF with the step by step instructions.  You can download it by clicking the link below:

Download Instructions for Protecting Video Content on Your Blog

If you found this video tutorial helpful, then you ABSOLUTELY MUST do TWO THINGS!!!

1.  Leave me some comments and let me know how it helped you.

2.  Share the value with your network…so Re-Tweet me and share this post with your social networks.

Helping You Succeed!