Because I’d like as many people to track conversions and improve their business as possible, I created a brief screen cast video of how you can use bit.ly to create custom, trackable links to use in your e-mails. It covers:

• The process of creating your e-mail then inserting your links
• How to get the URL you want to create
• How to convert that URL into a trackable bit.ly URL
• How to insert that URL into your e-mail
• What it looks like once people begin to click on that special “short url” link

Those two sentences above may seem simple and may not mean much to you know, but that’s because you’re reading ahead of the curve, because I am writing ahead of the curve. Yes, it’s also because I am killing time as I am waiting for the DNS of a new website to propagate, but those two sentences are never the less true.

Propagate, for those who don’t know meaningless internet lingo, is not similar to Watergate or Stargate. It’s just technical lingo for “I’m waiting for the internet to figure out that yourdomainname.com is now located on a different server.”

The irony of it all is that it took me way longer than was reasonably necessary to figure any of this out myself. The whole process is about as user friendly chopsticks to a 3 year old. I have to simply assume that none of this was even designed for a business owner. It took me a good 2 minutes just to figure out how to create a vanity URL for a page (I figured it out only after I googled it. I never found it via Facebook) – and I’m a techie for a living.

All that said, I’ve got a good set of notes on all this which I will be converting into some quality posts soon. Also, if you’re a bit miffed about the fact that I am talking about Facebook so much, it’s because I’ve been thinking about it a lot in preparation for Talk’s Facebook 101 webinar, which I am hosting.

Photo by Anirudh Koul

I wish I saw bands using online video more. I think bands should start live streaming their practices and jam sessions. It breaks down the walls and lets their fans in the door. Or charge for live stream access to certain “private” jam sessions. Bands are already experimenting with live streaming concerts, but that’s not intimate. That’s you and 1,000 other people who are actually there. I’m talking about making you feel like you are there, because the only other people who actually are is the band.

Bands, or anyone, live streaming is important because online video is going to be exploding. It’s already growing fast and we’ll be seeing even more live streaming. This makes me totally excited because it means that a new medium is going to be opening up that puts the power of publishing into even more people’s hands – like when blogging first happened. Yes, people can already create videos. But we’re talking ease of creation, we’re talking disruptive technology. It’s being pushed past hurdles.

So if you’re a band, jump on the bandwagon (oh yeah, I went there) early and start doing some unique stuff with live streaming. Throw a Facebook Live Event box into the mix, while you’re at it. Believe me, you’ll be doing it soon anyway.

This video is a result of countless meetings with clients at Talk, individuals personally, and panels/lectures I’ve given. It’s the first step for businesses/people who need to have an online presence. It answers the “what do I write about?” question. Cliff notes from the video:

1. Your content is the pulse of your online presence. If it sucks, you suck.
2. Stop asking the “what” of what you will write about, share, post, etc.
3. The what comes from taking what you’re already doing offline and transforming that into content online.

If you’re reading this through a feed reader and can’t see the video, please click here.

1) I am starting a brief series on how to make your online presence better, starting with getting over the hurdle of constantly creating awesome content.

2) Will also be sharing some of the application of #1 for an organization here in Wilmington as well as a report on its success.

3) We’ve been busy over at Talk, doing all sorts of things like churning out some websites, as well as putting a bunch of our past webinars on search engine optimization, blogging, personal branding, and more online to watch for free.

4) If we’re not connected already, I’d love to link up with you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or even e-mail. Ping me, I don’t really care about what, I just love getting to know the people who are into all this stuff too, or who are at least trying to get into it!

If you’re reading this through a feed reader and can’t see the video, please click here.

1. The more time you spend in front of the camera, the more comfortable you will be
2. Good lighting is very important. Not that it has to be showy, but even buying a cheap gooseneck floor lamp or a tree floor lamp from Walmart to help flesh out your lighting will help.
3. An interesting background is always a plus.
4. Talk slow. This one I have a particular issue with because I talk fast normally anyway. But talking slow is important as it helps thoughts sink in.

This list could also be called “4 things you may see in Nathan’s next video”! Does anyone else have any good tips or things they have learned from their own foray into producing some form of online video?

First video blog post. Hope you all enjoy it! More are on the way! Feel free to leave any feedback, as well.

For a while I thought Twitter would be a great place to harness online payments tied to social networking. However, after a number of recent posts, some of which did highlight the monetization of Twitter in a positive light, others had a very negative outlook (frankly, with more merit). Does that mean that Twitter is hopeless for this ecommerce type transactions? Not at all.

What I did notice, however, is that eyes should really be turned to Facebook. I make this assumption based on the fact that the CTO of TipJoy, a company based on being able to make small payments across Twitter, turned down potential acquisitions to go work for Facebook. Specifically, he will most likely be working on a Facebook Payments type system.

Facebook has an audience of some 220 million people, stability, and has shown given its recent acquisitions, large API updates, and new features, that it’s still hungry and in the game. As such, I’ll probably be considering more Facebook applications then Twitter (it seems like twitter is losing a lot of its free marketing steam).