Have any of you out there ever watched A&E’s reality hit show, Storage Wars? Here at Web Video Vision, we are excited to be working with Storage Wars’ very own Darrell “The Gambler” Sheets. Darrell chose Web Video Vision as his Internet Marketing Partner for all his personal marketing services  His choice was due to our commitment to deadlines and on our comprehensive suite of services including web, video and social media management.  He said, “Web Video  Vision can do it all and get it done on time! They are the WOW Factor”

We launched his new e-commerce site, www.darrellgambler.com,  December 1st. On it you will find all his spoils from the show as well as “The Gambler” graphic t-shirts and merchandise. We enjoyed the challenge of taking a TV personality and translating him into a web site. We now manage his online store, stock his virtual shelves, photograph his products and market his merchandise through an online series of Web Videos and social media channels.

We worked closely with Darrell to design his Website, Newsletter, Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages. Now Darrell can freely communicate with his fans while WVV monitors his social channels and keeps all of his content and video clips up-to-date and easily accessible to the public.

The next step we plan to take is to produce a series of webisodes that will feature behind the scenes stories about Darrell and the “WOW Factor” that is his life. Darrell will give his fans a peek at what happens outside of Storage Wars.

Keep your eye out for these upcoming clips along with Darrell’s constantly evolving auction item treasures. Keep in touch with Darrell and Web Video Vision via one our networks

We hear it all of the time, the website should be enough.  When your competitors are optimizing their sites for search engines, you need to.  Or you risk losing valuable traffic.

Our client, Diane Merassa, had us build her a website in 2009.  This site was built on a content management system that allowed her team to maintain the site.  For two years it worked well for her, but because of changes in the market, she needed to re-position it.

Diane came to us wanting to rank for short sale homes in Irvine.  This market is extremely competitive.  We did a complete back-end redesign of the website.  Nearly no difference is visible to the end user, but the code has been completely redone.  We did a complete Search engine optimization (SEO), along with a social media marketing campaign. Combining all of these together, Diane is seeing amazing results.

Diane now ranks for 40+ keywords on page 1 or 2 on Google.  She is on page 2 for “Irvine short sale”, and each month it is rising.  Within the first 2 months, she has already closed two additional deals that she can directly attribute to the updated website.

We’re glad to have Diane as a client, and look forward to seeing her continued success with her updated website!

Autobahn Adventures did not start out as a European driving tour company. It began as a dream; a once in a lifetime, personalized vacation for founders Mark and Tina Trewartha.

Mark and Tina are highly involved in the Porsche Club of America and when they returned home from their trip they could not stop talking about their incredible experience on the Autobahn. They wrote an article for their local Porsche Club newsletter, and the response was immediate and overwhelming.

Mark and Tina wanted to update their website in several areas.

• Create a refreshed look and feel
• Create engaging original content and create buzz through social media channels
• Optimize the website for search engines

Create a refreshed look and fee:

Problem: Mark and Tina had created and managed their own web presence for many years, but it became clear that they needed to not only keep up, but exceed the quality of their competitors.  Their website was starting to show its age, its user interface needed an update.

Solution: Web Video Vision analyzed the current autobahn adventures website, did a competitor analysis and interviewed key stakeholders about features and design aspects.

Web Video Vision came to conclude that the website would need a complete design and development redesign.

The first step was to update the website design and update the logo.

Once settled upon, the sitemap was updated to reflect a better user experience.  This allowed for easier access to the photos and information for prospective clients as well as past clients.

Create engaging original content:

Problem:  Autobahn Adventures website’s content was becoming stale.  Aside from a new itinerary for the upcoming tour, the website did not have any significant changes for well over a year.  This is not only less interesting for a viewer, but is also not helpful for ranking well in search engines.  Autobahn Adventures also had a very limited scope of reach with their social media efforts, and had little to no engagement.

Solution:  Web Video Vision setup various points throughout the site that would allow for updating of content with minimal effort.

1. Photo Gallery – There are nearly a dozen photo galleries on the site, and each is updated via FlickR.  The photo, caption and order are all updated through FlickR allowing Autobahn Adventures the ability to update any gallery on their own.
2. The Experience – within “The Experience” section of the website are many points that allow for updating.  Each section highlights a different aspect of the past trips that make the overall experience stand out.  The content many times is created by the guests themselves after a tour.  In “The Guests Experience” past guests have written articles about themselves and why they went on the tour, and what they liked about it.
3. Blog – Adding a blog to the site allowed Autobahn Adventures to post information related, but not only about their tours they host.  Highlighting key automotive news, or changes to the tours are easy with the new blog.
4. Social Networks – Web Video Vision setup and is managing the Facebook, twitter, customer lobby and YouTube social networks.  Each of these work together to help drive traffic and awareness to Autobahn Adventures.

Optimize the website for search engines:

Problem: Autobahn Adventures’ original website had no optimization efforts, and lacked a consistency that websites need for search engines to rank them well.  Their competitors had began SEO (Search Engine Optimization) campaigns, and Autobahn needed to compete.

Solution:  Autobahn Adventures website was completely redeveloped and redesigned in a search engine optimization content management system.  This system was developed from the ground up for creating websites that rank well from the start.  After optimizing each page, tagging each page and picture and adding some addition landing pages, the site is ranking especially well.   With 12 of the main keyword phrases ranking #1, Autobahn is very happy with their results.

Summary:

Combining a site redesign, complete redevelopment, site-wide search engine optimization and a social media campaign helped to propel Autobahn Adventures into top rankings on the major search engines in just a matter of weeks.

View Live Site: Autobahn Adventures

Web Video Vision created Diane Merassa’s Real Estate presence nearly 2 years ago. Back in 2009 when we originally created the site, we wanted to make sure that it was easy for her team to manage.  At the time she had no social media presence.

Over the last two years, her competition has grown considerably, the market has become more difficult and the bar has been set higher for websites and for marketing.

She came to us to:

• Refresh her website
• Add a social media component
• Optimize her site for search engines

Refresh her website:

Problem: The design of DianeMerassa.com still looked fine, it simply need some minor updates. Over the years of adding listings, there was a loss in consistency and the information could be laid out in a more intuitive way.

Resolution: We made some minor changes to the underlying system that made rendering across all browsers consistent.  We also added a tab navigation system to the listing to allow more information to be viewed with less scrolling.  The important information was moved to the top of the page and in an more user friendly typography.

Add a social Media component:

Problem: Diane had no social media presence two years ago, and only had a personal facebook page where she promoted her homes for sale.

Resolution: Web Video Vision created a YouTube, Facebook and Blog page.  Each page was custom designed to compliment Diane’s branding, and consistent messaging was used throughout.  Part of Diane’s social media strategy is to utilize YouTube videos for each of her client’s listings.  Web Video Vision created a thirty second to one minute video for each home, posts it to YouTube, tags it and also embeds it on her listing page of her website.

Optimize her site for search engines:

Problem: Diane knew that in the competitive marketplace, she needed to be found ahead of her competitors.

Resolution: She enlisted Web Video Vision to assist in getting her website quickly found on popular search engines.  Web Video Vision optimized each page and listing, and also added additional pages to help in the ranking of her website.  Web Video Vision also updated the code to be more search engine friendly.

Summary:

Overall Diane’s site may look very similar to the end user, but the subtle changes made to the user experience as well as the code and SEO updates will make the site very competitive in the real estate marketplace.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about conversations.

As I reflect on my marketing successes over the years, I realized that all of my sales happened as a
result of conversations.

Mine…and those of others who were talking about me.

I sometimes wonder if we spend too much time worried about incubators, funnels, tactics, strategies,
methodologies…at the end of the day, it seems the process is simple: First, identify someone worth
knowing. Next, find a way to initiate a conversation. This leads to a relationship. A trusted relationship
leads to sales.

So, here are 10 ways – using the social web – to initiate conversation:

1. Twitter is the easiest, simplest, and most obvious means to start a conversation. Except it doesn’t seem
obvious to about 90% of the planet. Here is a post I wrote on Intrepid to give you simple, easy-torecognize
cues to start a dialog with someone you want to know.

2. If I hear “I don’t understand Foursquare or Gowalla” once more, I am going to find a looney bin on
Foursquare…and check-in myself. If you followed the first step stated above, and identified someone
important for you to get to know, the point of using the social web is to then MONITOR them. Watch
them, listen to them, see what they are doing. If they check in on Foursquare at a cool restaurant, or at
Barnes + Noble, or at a local movie theater, it should be obvious what to do next to launch a conversation.
[Hint: ask how their meal was, what book did they buy?, what film did you see?]

3. If you read blogs, that’s great. Great learning to be had there. But if you aren’t COMMENTING on them,
you are missing out on amazing opportunities to meet and engage with people, especially the blogger
herself. So, if you tell me social media doesn’t work, AND you aren’t commenting on relevant industry
blogs, then you might as well fry burgers for a living. [by the way, if you asked my opinion on what the
most important sales task one should perform on the social web? I'd say commenting on blogs is #1, by
several lengths...]

3.5. Write and publish your own blog. Blog about things that matter to you. Blog about things that matter
to your target audience. Encourage participation. And when people comment? RESPOND! That’s the whole
bloody point. If you aren’t the number one commenter on your own blog, you deserve to be clubbed over
the head with a baseball bat.

4. Host a radio show or participatory podcast. Far and away the easiest way to meet people who matter,
people who matter to your business. So you tell me…which is easier? Cold-calling? Or inviting someone
onto your radio show… [you have one second to answer...]
I thought so.

5. My colleague Stone Payton wrote a post just last week about the power of wearing logowear. Now, we
all know I am as cool and hip as they come (hospitable comments only), and up to speed on the latest
styles. Wearing logos on your clothes isn’t very stylish. AT ALL. So why is this relevant? Because people
who wear logos on their clothes want to talk about the logos on their clothes. They are proud of it. They
have a story to tell. They want to talk about it. So, get off your ass and ask them about it.
OBVIOUS points below, but necessary to mention…

6. Got someone you want to get to know? And they have a blog? Subscribe to their RSS feed. Right now.
You will be notified when their latest post has been published. This is your cue to read the post and
comment. Easy.

7. Monitor what people are saying and posting on Facebook. Wish them happy birthday, and ask what they
are doing to celebrate. Don’t care about their family photos to Disney World? Then you are a fool, because
that’s an obvious conversation starter. Facebook gives you THOUSANDS of clues every day about how to
start conversations. Unless you aren’t reading people’s Walls, or have your head buried in the sand, there
is a long list of the things they LIKE. These are prompts for you to start conversations… [Important note:
this assumes you haven't bought into this crap about Facebook only being for friends and family. Pull head
out of fanny and join 400 million of the rest of us...]

8. If you are a business person, you are probably on LinkedIn. But most people don’t use LinkedIn to start
conversations. Got someone you want to get to know? See what groups they are active in. Are they posing
and/or answering questions? Well then, join the fray. [I mean really...if they pose a question in a group
discussion? Come on, they are ASKING YOU TO ENGAGE!]

8.5. Oh, another thing about LinkedIn. I have made the decision to NOT connect with anyone who
forwards me the GENERIC invitation message. What a waste. What a joke. And what DAMN MISSED
OPPORTUNITY to ask someone a relevant question…

9. Be sure you apply storytelling in your marketing. People love stories. People love to talk about stories.
People love to share stories with others. Question: What do you do when you are sitting around the table
drinking wine and making conversation with close friends? [answer: for those not paying attention,
TELLING STORIES!]

10. Remember sites such as YouTube and Flickr are social interactive tools too. There is a reason videos
on YouTube and photos on Flickr solicit COMMENTS. The people posting those items would love to engage
and hear feedback… Did the video resonate with you? Did the photograph mean something to you?
So, there are “ten” ways to initiate and find conversations using the social web. There are more. Lots
more. Care to share any other ideas? Please do so in the comments.

Point is, there is a ton of conversation going on already. The world is a big stage. You are requested, in
fact encouraged, to play your part. So speak up!

You may or may not have noticed that YouTube has done a complete makeover on its site. Done away with the old and created some new; from making redesigns to doing away with the 5 star ratings. I’m going to give you the details in this social media blog!

Let’s start with what YouTube has gotten rid of. Remember when you could rate videos from 1 to 5 stars? Well not anymore. We all know the “like” system for comments on Facebook (We will discuss their new “like” feature later). Well YouTube designed it similar to that but instead, they have added a thumbs down sign. They have also added this function to the comments section to allow it to display the most liked comment at the top of all comments posted. In addition to the like system they added a Bulletin future that updates your subscribers and friends with a message that you write.

Now you might have noticed that the whole design has changed. To me it just seems like things are easier to get to.

• It’s a cleaner look
• The load time is quicker
• The subscribe and channel name have been moved closer to the video
• The “next up” video is at the top right instead of going back to subscription list
• The best rated comment appears at the top of all comments

I have heard that the YouTube redesigns are not over. So keep a watch out for new changes to YouTube! While you are at it view our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe!

Now for Facebook. I don’t know about you but I’m not sure how I feel about their new “like” feature for fan pages. If you aren’t caught up yet, Facebook took away the fan a page feature where you could become a fan of a page. Now, you only “like” fan pages. It’s a small change but I think it will take me a bit to get used to.

What do you all think about the change? Let us know on our facebook fan page. Oh and be sure to “like” our page!

Blogging can be beneficial for your company because it allows you to speak to your customers on a personal level rather than like a press release. This has everything to do with web 2.0 or social media.

• Speak as if you are a human!
• Blog on something you are passionate about
• Think about what your readers want to hear
• Offer feedback

Speak as if you are a human. Your customers want to get a feel about who YOU are. They want to know that they are speaking to someone if they write a comment. When you do decide to blog, make sure its something you are passionate about. You want to be sure you can write regularly. If you aren’t passionate about it, your readers will catch on. You also want to think about what your readers want to hear. What would interest them? For instance, I like to write about what our customers can do to expand their business in the 2.0 world. Last but not least, ask for feedback. Ask your readers what they want to hear/learn about. Ask them questions and reply back.

While Google had a bad start with launching a successful social web product with Orkut and Wave, they now think they have an exciting new product – Buzz! Google Buzz is a new social site similar to Facebook and Twitter. You must have a gmail account and are automatically following those on your list. You can update your status, link, add photos and comment on those you are following.

Google has already integrated Twitter by allowing users to post on twitter automatically sending to Buzz but has failed to integrate with Facebook. However, Google Buzz can already be used on your Iphones and Androids. Although it is limited on what you can do, there are some neat features already. You can send an update and Buzz will find your location and it will pin you to that location. You can also view the real-time stream of your followers.

Will you be using Google Buzz? In a poll, Mashable asked if its readers would use it and the results were 40% yes, 21% maybe and 39% no. The question is, will you be using it? Tweet us your answer @webvideovision.

Check out a youtube video Google released on Buzz:

Linkedin, the social networking site for professionals has recently reached 50 million users. You may be one of them but are you using it correctly? Here are some tips to help you get started on Linkedin.

Linkedin is about building professional relationships so make sure you take the time to fill out your profile and include a photo. This gives people an insight to who you are and what you do.

When building up your connections, it is a good idea to:

• Use Linkedin groups. You can “meet” people with similar interests and connect with them.
• Link from your other sites, blogs and social networks. This will allow you to connect with professionals you already know.
• Create a unique URL, which should be your full name so that others can find you easily in Google search.

If you didn’t know already, Linkedin recently allowed companies to create profiles so if your company isn’t on Linkedin it may be a good idea to start a company profile and link to its employees. We can also help create a linkedin presence for you or your company! Give us a call at 714-560-0017

Already on Linkedin? Connect with us at our Linkedin pages and let us know what you think about this article.

Twitter is still fairly new in the social networking world and there are many things you should consider before setting up an account. First things first, come up with a plan! Many companies start using Twitter not knowing what to do. You should figure out a target audience that you want to engage with. Then plan out what your tweets will be to attract that audience to your twitter page.

Once you come up with a plan, your twitter “do’s” start with listening. This isn’t a one way conversation. It is social media for a reason. Make your tweets two-way. Listen and interact with the potential clients, buyers, etc. It is important to state that you do not sell, sell, sell. Sure every once in a while you can slip in links to other social networking sites, websites, or information on your company but try not to make this a habit. The key is to try to get to know the audience by tweeting with them.

Do Tweet as a person, do NOT tweet as a robot or THE company itself. Twitter does not work that way and you will find yourself conversing alone. You may say well, where are the results? Social media takes time, so make sure you stay with it! Need more advice? Tweet us @WebVideoVision or give us a call at 714-560-0017.