Today I read this post on how experts should behave on Twitter and thought you’d enjoy.

Being an expert on Twitter

It is so disappointing when you believe in one tool, spend time on it to see later no one  is listening. There are two points here that we need to discuss. First like Leo mentioned, he neglected his own  blog for shining tools. This happens with most of us. Neglect our own media channels to waste time with other tools. We should pay a lot of attention to media outlets we can have more control like our blogs, podcasts, videos shows. Use other tools like Twitter and Facebook to promote our channels, not just talk there. Second, the fact that we have thousands of followers and friends does not mean they are paying attention to us. We find ourselves talking to people excited to connect and not interested in paying attention. Goldfish that cannot pay attention over 9 seconds and this is a sad thing.

So, my suggestion is: have media channels where you can control your message and take good care of them. Use other tools with a strategy behind it and as support tools to broadcast your message. Don’t waste time trying to become a popular cheerleader and don’t overvalue tools that might not be here a year from now.

This is actually very common. Here is a list of things you need to know that do not work with social media in order to avoid wasting your time: – Trying to do a million things at the same time – Fail to understand that social media is a process and will not work overnight.

- Fail to see that an advertising approach will not work. – Trying to use social media tools without a strategy. – Not automating most of your social media efforts. – Confusing marketing with social media with becoming a social butterfly. – Using social media as your only marketing effort. – Believing you can make money with no work, no investment and do it overnight. – Buying every new product promising the above. – Join or use every new tool that comes up.

Tips to maximize Facebook for business

Want more people to visit the links you post
in your Facebook updates? Be sure to include the http:// before the
www to make them clickable links

Why not make a theme for each week for your posts

On a page, add events manually, rather than letting the event app
post them.Just copy the URL
of the event, and add as a link, along with relevant copy of your
choosing on the wall of the page.

You can subscribe to any Facebook page in an RSS reader and monitor
content from afar.

Connect the Networked Blogs application
(http://networkedblogs.com/) to your Facebook account. Then add
the rss feed from you main blogs. Next, select the option in the
Networked Blogs setting to post your RSS feed to your Facebook
Page. As soon as you have 20 people follow your feed your content
is syndicated on Facebook!

Create a Welcome tab and a default setting for first time visitors
to your page so that they can learn a little more about you and what
you do.

Research shows that people watch video on Facebook for an average
of 1-minute, 45-seconds

To get the free report click here:  Facebook tips

These are facts from the video social Media Revolution

Retweets:

*Retweet serves 2 important functions
allows you to post another user’s tweet to your followers
it makes sure you give credit to the original tweeter

* 2 ways to retweet
Click the retweet button on the original tweet
add RT@ with the Twitter name to your post
DMs

*what is a Dm?

A direct message is a private Twitter message.

*2 ways to send a DM
Click on the Direct Message button on the sidebar of the user’s profile

* D+@username + message in the tweet box

Hashtags:

*Hashtags (#) help categorize tweets. You can add a hashtag to any tweet
*When someone searches for that hashtag, they will see your tweet.

Twitter Lists:

*They allow you to organize your followers into groups
*The lists that you follow show up in your sidebar
*You can create a list by clicking on the “New List” button.

Use Bit.ly to shorten urls.
#FF

#FF stands for “Follow Friday”. On Fridays you can post a tweet that suggests people to follow. This is a way to help your favorite tweeters to gain more followers.

Place the @ symbol before the username so that it will link to the user’s profile.

Adding Facebook ‘Like’ Buttons to Your Site Is Damn Easy

• By Michael Calore

I want to offer a quick look inside the technology behind Facebook’s Open Graph initiative to show how easy it is to mark up your website and let Facebook users interact with it.

This is only a part of the broad Open Graph strategy the company announced at its 2010 F8 developer conference. (Read our full coverage of the keynote).

Basically, Facebook is offering up a set of widgets — it calls them Social Plug-ins — that you can drop into any web page to make that page more “Facebooky.” There’s a Like button, a Recommendations widget that shows what other pages people’s friends are reading, an Activity Stream widget that shows a simplified version of the visitor’s personal Facebook news feed, and a Facebook Bar, a toolbar site owners can float at the bottom of the screen that serves all of these things at once.

Using the Open Graph widgets, you can incorporate some of Facebook’s key social interaction features into any page on the web.

The most important Social Plug-in, and the one we’ll no doubt see the most use of, is the Like button. Put it on your page, and if a Facebook user visits your site and clicks on it, a link to your page gets added to their activity stream. Suddenly, all of their friends can see that link, click on it and be led directly to your page. When that second person arrives, the Like button is personalized for them — it shows which of their friends have already clicked it, and when they click on it, a link to your page gets added to their stream.

There are actually two versions of the Like button, one that uses an i-frame and one that uses JavaScript.

The i-frame version

For the simple i-frame version, it’s one line of code:

You can generate your own bit of i-frame code for any URL of your choosing (and tweak the parameters) using the tool at the bottom of this page on Facebook’s developer site

The content inside the i-frame is hosted by Facebook, and Facebook can detect whether the user is logged in or not using a cookie. If the person is logged in to Facebook, the stuff in the i-frame is personalized for them. It shows a list of their friends who have also liked the page. If they’re not logged in, they’ll be prompted to log in or to join.

The JavaScript version

The slightly more complicated JavaScript version of the button utilizes two other bits of Facebook technology: the XFBML fb:like tag and Facebook’s JavaScript SDK.

You get all the same personalization features as the i-frame version, so each logged in Facebook user who visits your site sees which of their friends have clicked the “Like” button, and a link to your site gets shared across their social graph. Also like the i-frame version, you can tweak the parameters however you want.

But the JavaScript version offers some extras. In the code above, you can also see there’s a show-faces flag that will show the profile pictures of your friends who have clicked on the Like button.

The JavaScript version also gives your visitors the chance to add a comment to the link when they click on the Like button.

If a user is not logged in to Facebook when they visit your site, you can authenticate them automatically using OAuth 2.0, which Facebook now supports. Full details are here.

Tag up your page

When a user Likes your page, it does more than just pass the link around. If you’re a band, or you run a site for a movie, you can add some semantic markup to your page that tells Facebook the type of thing your page represents. That way, if I go to your movie page and “Like” your movie, Facebook can easily add a link to your movie’s website in my profile. If I keep a list of my favorite movies in my Facebook profile, a link to your public website will be added there, where it belongs.

This part is optional, but it’s recommended. Just add some Open Graph meta tags to your page so Facebook knows what you are. There are four that are required, the rest are gravy. You can claim your entity’s identity by picking the most relevant content type. The list is long — musician, sports team, blog, drink, hotel, movie, book, city, cause — so whatever your page represents, Facebook can understand it and deal with the link properly when somebody clicks your Like button.

Get used to it

Like buttons are a step up from the other sharing buttons that have been on the web for years. Unlike those for Digg and Twitter, which just display a blind count of aggregate clicks from everyone on the social network, the Facebook Like button shows you how your friends are interacting with the page you’re on.

We can certainly expect other social networks to pick up on this model and start serving up lists of your friends, and maybe even their faces, along side their own social widgets.

As if the number of icons and little doo-dads at the bottom of blog posts wasn’t distracting enough…

Nashlah started using FourSquare on its first moments. She just loves it. Even though, right now, there are a lot of professionals saying they know all about it and are super users, you should take a look at what she’s done in a small place like Salt Lake City: Nashlah on FourSquare

Most social media gurus focus on tactics and telling people how to use the tool, but they seldom talk about business strategy.

Let me show you how  businesses can benefit from Foursquare. Have in mind that the application is addicting because users will compete for mayorships and badges which is something that ends up benefiting businesses. The app promotes exploring the town and trying new things which is great in itself. It will tell you if a place is trendy by the number of check-ins, and if you accomplish some requirements that vary from business to business you may win a badge.

Why is all this important to businesses: visibility, popularity, more customer loyalty, more business.

Why do people do it? They like to compete, they have ego, it is fun and they can promote your business even though you might not be aware of it happening.

Have in mind that people want to become mayor of locations and oust previous mayors. When this happens they get posted publicly to twitter and Facebook with your business name and a link to your business’ profile page on foursquare.com. The same may happen when they arrive at your business.

Well, there are already savvy businesses using Foursquare to promote their business. A bar in San Francisco gives free drinks to the mayor of their location, and gives $2 off any performance night for those that show the phone and prove they checked in. This obviously motivates people to come back to the business and to use even more the application. In Las Vegas if you become the Mayor of the Miracle Mile Shops you’ll get your face and name on the 126-foot LED video screen. Big companies like Brave network,  Pepsi and the New York Times are also using Foursquare. AJBombers a restaurant, did a Foursquare party and increased business in 110%.

Foursquare is already working on showing banners with the promotions.

The other day we were checking in at the movies and a message popped up telling us to try a restaurant around the corner with a coupon for us to use. What a proactive way to promote businesses in nearby locations!

The application allows people to recommend the place and suggest favorite dishes. It allows businesses and people to connect, bring foot traffic to the place and recommend to others. What more can a business wish for?

Badges for your business and badges to sponsor events is another possibility. For the users the more badges they have the more fun it is.

So, to put it into perspective, here are a few things you can use Foursquare in your business for:

I always say that the gold rush today is for being found, and getting attention.

About the being found part: Google and Bing maps are showing Foursquare venues when people search locally. Foursquare pages rank on search engines which means your business name, phone number and link come up.

Foursqare has the potential to revolutionize social media and turn it into a form of currency.

Out of the over 1.4 Million venues, only about 1200 venues have special offers. Less than 1% of businesses are going after this amazing opportunity. It is free.

Remind me how much you’ve spent with advertising that didn’t work? So what are you waiting for?

Enjoy it at: http://www.BuzzBooster.TV

We are living in the age of personal branding. What most people don’t get is that this is not only related to solopreneurs, coaches and speakers, it is also related to companies.

Personal branding is when you put your unique personality, or the personality of your business in your marketing, giving you a big advantage over your competition.

Every business today needs to have a strong personality not only to stand out but also to create a following. We don’t need more of anything and we certainly do not talk about things that are not worth talking about.

Personal branding should broadcast a clear and unique message that would distinguish you from your competitors. It also mix company facts and traits with the human side.

In order to build your personal brand you need to answer a few questions:

1-     What do you do better and different than your competition? (price and quality is a given and don’t count here)

2-     Who is your ideal audience?

3-     What are the characteristics you want to be know for?

4-     Do you have interesting stories to tell?

5-     How are you going to tell these stories? Which channels, how often?

Here is where you can use and abuse from social media tools. Share ideas, educate and give them reasons to trust you, your products and services.. Remember, if people are not buying from you is either because the message is not clear, it is not good or they don’t trust you.

Remember that your prospects and clients don’t like to be interrupted, shouted of harass with sales pitches, so be careful not to confuse a good story with a sales pitch.

Your prospects will see you as you present yourself or your company. Respect your prospects. If you want them to trust you, you need to help them get to know you and demonstrate that you are someone who can help them solve their problems.

Now, if you really want numbers you might want to track:

1. How many sales are coming from your website?
2. How many people download your e-book or ethical bribe?
3. Where do you appear in the search engines with phrases that bring you buyers?
4. How many people engage with you or your company and spread your offers around?
5. How many people get exposed to your messages, offers and ideas?

Again, social media is a process that shows results over time with the added benefit that these results linger for a long time too.

1. Be consistent. This is the most important thing. It is better to have 5 videos that you post one every week than to have one long video. People will learn to expect your videos and they get frustrated if you are not consistent.
2. Post frequent. Whatever is better for you and helps you be consistent. Some people can post a daily video, others do once a week. The idea here is to post as frequently as possible.
3. Use short videos. Sometimes you have to go longer, but try to be under 5 minutes. Trim all the fat.
4. 1 story per video. Focus is king
5. Don’t be boring. Being boring is a big sin in marketing.
6. Pay a lot of attention on the title, description and tags. Titles need to entice people to click and they need to contain some keywords so people will be able to find your videos. Add your url to the description and use as many keywords as possible on the tags.
7. Uberpublish. Post your videos everywhere. YouTube is just one video sharing place, post on all of them and don’t forget to post on your blog. Use a distribution software like Myvideosubmitter to make your life easier.
8. Be part of the community. Especially on YouTube. Subscribe to people’s channels, comment on their videos.
9. Have your channel on YouTube.
10. Always have a call to action and take them to a place where they can take action.
11. On YouTube use the call to action overlay to take them to a place where they can take action. It is a great way to get YouTubers to know more about you.
12. Share your videos on the social networks that you belong to.
13. Get rid of all excuses and start posting videos today. Don’t postpone.
14. sign up for our in depth training program on how to use online videos for business

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1. Fail to set goals and expectations. Before you start using social media, you need to outline what your goals are and what is the expected end result. What do you want to get out of it? More sales, more speaking gigs, some branding, a new channel of revenue? There are a lot of people that start using tools like Twitter just because they heard they should do it, but with no clear reason to why they should.
2. Fail to have a strategy. After you have set your goals, you need a game plan. You need to have a map of which tools you are going to use and how. Going out, create an account everywhere without a plan will not bring you more business and will take away a lot of time from your day.
3. Fail to understand that strategy and tactics are two different things. When you decide to use Facebook, Twitter and online videos, you are deciding which tools you will use. This is tactic. Deciding how you are going to use them, with a purpose and a plan is strategy.
4. Fail to focus. Using social media can be entertaining and very distracting. Easy to socialize and forget why you are doing it. If you are using social media for business, your actions need to be aligned with the goal.
5. Getting drunk with social media. I know people that spend hours and hours every day inside social media environments. They fool themselves thinking they will get better results. Be really careful with this one. If you had a bar, would it be wise to drink all day long? Selling drinks could be a good business, drinking the product all day long, not so much.
6. Fail to understand that social media is just one marketing effort. Some people think that because it is free to use social media that alone will bring all the business they need. My friend, if you don’t mix different marketing approaches, you don’t invest any money in marketing and don’t have a very good follow-up strategy, you will not succeed in business. No matter how popular you might be on Facebook.
7. Fail to understand that social media is not free. Cheap, yes, free no. Every time we speak for a group we hear people saying they want to use social media because it is free. It is not. There is the time you have to spend planning and applying, the creation of content, there is the commitment you need to have with the tools and the people you create a relationship with.
8. Expect fast results. Social media is not advertising. You don’t put a message out there and get sales the next day. It is a process and you will see results after the level of trust increases.
9. See some results and nominate yourself a social media expert. You don’t want to be one more in the crowd. Just because you saw results in one campaign doesn’t mean you can duplicate that for other businesses. Besides, you will lose your focus.
10. Fail to track results. In every marketing action you do, you should have a system to track results. Can be something simple as looking at your analytics (not that simple!). Today, you need to know which half of your efforts is bringing business and then, do more of it. You cannot afford to guess.

As you can see, there is a lot more than just being able to open a free account somewhere. There is a lot of thinking first, then some learning, acquiring some skills, maybe some talking with people that really understand this environment, not just a theorist and then, some focused actions.
Businesses that avoid these traps can report amazing results. You can see amazing results too.

In case you are ready to get some in depth skills in social media, I suggest you check our new programs at: http://www.training.buzzbooster.com

Have a book trailer to promote your book and sell more.

Have videos on your site that will increase traffic and conversion.
Add video testimonials to your website- they have a lot more credibility
Have video on a squeeze page to generate more leads. This is a great option for local businesses and are proven to increase at least 30% the response rate.
Create training videos to employees, virtual assistants or for your site.
What about having you show up and walk on your website and introduce your business? Your website will be more engaging with video and audio than just plain text.
When you use online video, these things happen:
You will reach millions of people without spending a dime
You’ll rank on Google really easily with a video for your main keywords
Better branding
Become a celebrity
Double your business.
Get higher fees when you sell.
Reach millions of people without spending a lot of money.
Be perceived as the expert.
Get clients to call you.
Sell larger amounts of products.
Have your Bioclip.
Use this easy and cheap electronic marketing tool so that people around the world know your name.
Some Examples:
Gary Vainerchuck started his show WineLibrary.tv and his wine store went from 1.5 million a year to 10m.
Blendtec a blender manufacturer is the greatest example on YouTube and they sell more blenders on a weekend than they used to sell in their best month.
Our show Who pops your popcorn? Reaches thousands of people every week and generates not only more clients but more PR.
And there are many more companies that benefit from the use of online videos.
You heard it, people respond better to visual.
No one has a problem to click the play button and people love to watch video.
Why not invest in your ability to take control of your profits, increase your lifestyle and make a substantial amount of money simply because you chose to get yourself on an online video?
The cost: It is really low if you compare to any kind of media, with one big difference: There are 154 million people watching videos online. It is more than if you combine all tv and movie screens! So, start planning how you want your video to be. You can use your home camera or even your computer camera to shoot your video and there are many cheap and easy softwares to help you edit.
You don’t need to edit though. Social media is about being transparent and real. Online videos should not have a lot of production and some mistakes are ok as long as the content provides value.
Want to understand and have step by step instructions on how to use online video?
Try our modular training at: training.buzzbooster.com/onlinevideos

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A lot of thinking needs to happen before you decide how you are going to use Twitter for business. You cannot afford to make mistakes in this environment. You also want to maximize your time by working smart instead of hard, since using social media without a plan can suck up a lot of your time.

1. Set your goals for Twitter.

You don’t want to use Twitter just because the name is on the media. What do you really want out of Twitter?
Social media is a two way street, so what do you want to give your followers?
What topics would you like to talk about?
Will you use Twitter to talk to a small group of people, a private group or do you want to network and broadcast to a lot of people?

2. Just a Tweet away

It is nice if your followers perceive you as an individual that always have them on your mind. You might want to share a thought or tell them about something amazing that you just saw. Be ready to Tweet from your phone or any other mobile device.

3. Share the love

One key point to succeed in Twitter for business is to provide value, good information. Share resources, links, pictures.

4. The right time
Recommended Prime Tweet Hours: Twitter has replaced the morning email time for some. Between 7:30 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. EST Mon. – Fri. most twitter users are at work, reading tweets, tweeting, checking rss feeds and sharing information. However, this can vary when it comes to your followers and followings.
5. The right search

Using filters for your searches can save you a lot of time when you are looking for information. Use http://search.twitter.com

6. Get comfortable with applications

Applications exist to make your life easier. Twitter has many applications that you can use. My favorite is Tweetdeck. Tweetbeep is also useful. There are applications to help you automate Tweets, find targeted followers, media and influencers.

7. Save some time

Try to block 2 to 4 hours a week to spend time networking. Be careful when delegating this task. Delegating to someone that is not a decision maker can be a huge mistake. Social media is about the conversation, you do not want to give such important task to someone that is not fully committed to your company and able to keep an intelligent conversation.

I cover a lot more on how to use Twitter for business in our modular training: Twitter for business: Harnessing the power to profit in 140 characters

14% of Twitter’s visitors are Young Cosmopolitans 40 years old with household income of over $250,000 per year

30,000 non-profits are using Facebook Pages

In total Facebook has 183,771,740 worldwide users.
The U.S. only makes up 1/3 of the total Facebook population
Nearly 40% of the population of Iceland is on Facebook

Facebook has now surpassed MySpace in 31-50 age ranges
Facebook’s 50+ group is the fastest growing followed closely by the 41-45 group

Business owners are more likely to use social media marketing (90+%) than
employees working for a business (81%).

Those working for a business are twice as likely as business owners
to be committing 20+ hours a week to social media.

The only financial cost of social media marketing is the time it takes to gain success.

Men were significantly more likely to use YouTube or other video marketing than women (52.4% of all men compared to only 31.7% of women

Twitter is a website that allows registered users to post short comments up to 140 characters to their followers: other Twitter users who subscribe to your posts, or “tweets.” Posts can be made from the Twitter website, from numerous cell phone applications, and from instant messenger clients like AIM, so “tweeting” is very easy to do, from pretty much anywhere.
You can think of Twitter as instant messaging from one to many and from many to one.
At a first glance, you could think that Twitter is for people that are bored, and at the beginning, this was probably true until some people began to tweet at conferences and events.
Within months of launch, a few experimental brands saw the opportunity and jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Comcast, often a target of angry bloggers, began to answer customer service queries on Twitter. H&R Block started offering tax advice.
Simultaneously, many applications were developed to allow easy tweeting. This led to a tremendous rise in the number of users, resulting in the Twitter we know today with over 6 million users.

Are companies using Twitter?

Yes, they are and every day more com onboard, they finally realized that they can be using Twitter for outreach, customer service and engagement. Here is a short list:
• Whole Foods
• Marriott International
• Starbucks
• Urban Outfitters
• Carl’s Jr.
• GE
• Overstock.com
• American Apparel
• TJ Maxx
• Fast Company
• MTV
• Wall Street Journal
• ESPN
• Apple
• QuickBooks
• Dell
• CNN
• JetBlue
• Virgin America
• Ford
• Comcast
• Dunkin’ Donuts

What to Tweet about?

Twitter can be used in two ways. One is to convey information, the other is to spark discussions.
Ideally, a timeline should contain a good mixture of both kinds of tweets.

Here are a few options used by companies:

• Give tips on one specific topic
• Customer support.
• Feedback
• Category/sector news
• Company news that are interesting
• Current events that impact company business or that you are promoting
• Reports from the floor of events such as conferences
• Special offers to Twitter followers (discounts, promotions, contests)

Don’t forget to use your imagination. Some companies are already using Twitter to take orders and suggesting different uses for their products, others have Twitter parties for specific groups.

What not to tweet about?
Just Tweet about things that could add value.

How much time will this take?

Twitter is a qualitative, rather than quantitative, brand channel. It’s a great tool to build dialogue, engender trust, establish brand loyalty, and to raise awareness.
Try to spend 2 to 4 hours a week on Twitter.
If you think it is too much, reallocate some of your time and effort away from older techniques and try the new. You’ll have fun, learn a lot and will be able to demonstrate new expertise and innovative marketing approaches.

What is proper Twetiquette?

• Stay positive. It’s easy to get snarky, easy to scoff.
• Thank people who follow you with a Direct Message. Twitter allows you to send private messages (called “Direct Messages” or DMs) to individual users. Rather than publicly replying, send a DM saying thank you.
• If someone asks you a question, respond via DM. If your response would benefit a number of followers, reply publicly.
• If it makes sense, thank those who retweet your tweets. If you see “RT @yourname” in your Replies, it means someone has found your tweet valuable enough to share with their own followers.
• There is some debate about automatically following those who follow you. Some think it’s only fair to follow those who follow you, as a sign of mutual respect. Others only follow interesting Twitterers, regardless of whether or not they follow you.

What is the first step?
Open a Twitter account, start following some people and listen to the conversation. You will soon get the feel and the addicting bug!

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It’s an excellent interview filled with great content, so tune in on your way to work if you’re in Utah: 102.7FM & 1160AM.

Click here to listen to KSL Newsradio.

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In the information marketplace, two types of continuity programs are most common: (1)
Newsletters, and (2) Instructional. Typically continuity programs begin with a “too good
to be true” giveaway. The price of the giveaway is signing up for a free newsletter
(which is essentially a sales instrument for your other products). Each newsletter should
deliver valuable information for free, along with extensive promotion of other products
for sale. The initial giveaway builds your subscriber base; the free newsletter reinforces
the relationship and puts your products in front of friendly eyes.

Another newsletter strategy for building a continuity program is to offer the first issue
free and subsequent issues at a monthly price. Here you have the option of the “Opt In”
method or the “Opt Out” method. Using the Opt Out method, the consumer is
automatically signed up for the newsletter and payment information is obtained
immediately. The Opt In method requires the consumer to click on a button to subscribe,
at which time payment information is obtained.

Providing an on-line course of learning is another excellent way to build a continuity
program. For example, your expertise may be in beadwork, and you offer your
subscribers, several new beadwork patterns each month. Usually you giveaway the first
month, and they subscribe for monthly patterns. Or perhaps, you could offer a class
about writing for the Internet. Each week you would provide a new lesson and a new way
to make money from writing for the Internet. The possibilities are endless.

Unscrupulous marketers have given continuity programs a bad name. These marketers
use what is called a “hidden continuity” program that captures payment information
without really telling the consumer what they are buying or even that they just signed up
for a continuity program. These programs are blatantly illegal and unfortunately the stain
of these illegal programs falls on to honest marketers.

If you decide to try a continuity program it is important to be 100 percent ethical and give
your customers more than what they expect. Continuity programs are built on the
relationship you build with your customers. Give good customer service and deal
honestly with your subscribers and you will build a steady income stream.

Whatever you decide, it pays to do your homework and deliver a quality product free
from errors and guaranteed customer service. All information marketing, whether or not
you use a continuity program, is built on building a solid reputation. Reputations are hard
to build and far too easy to lose, so as always proceed with caution.

E-Books

Creating E-books is by far the quickest and easiest way to dive into the info-product
ocean and start making a profit. E-books are just like any book you have on your coffee
table or bookshelf—except that they are entirely digital. The advantages of the digital
book to consumers are: (1) there is no storage problem, (2) access to the product after
purchase is almost instant, and (3) they can reap the rewards of the information
immediately. The advantages for the creator are equally compelling. Anyone can create
an e-book in just a few days—some are even produced in a few hours. You don’t need to
be technical wizard or purchase expensive software to create an info-product.

Audio Info-Products

Today, it seems that the whole world is plugged-in. Billions of people listen to music and
books on the car radio, on MP3 players, on cell phones and on computers. As an info-
product producer you can easily tap into that profitable commercial sea. And although it
is a bit more technical than e-books, anyone can get started for as little as $15-$20 for the
purchase of a computer microphone. Audio recording software is available for free on
the internet. Audio info-products appeal to a broad cross-section of consumers who are
on the go and do not have time to read.

Video Info-Products

Video info-products are much easier to produce these days and give the consumer an
‘almost live’ experience. Again, you don’t have to be a computer wiz or a camera nut, to
produce quality video info products. Most people begin with some free software that
allows you to create downloadable videos. There are several sites on the Internet that
offer free software, one is called VideoSpin. While the learning curve is a bit longer to
produce a quality video info-product, it is well worth the effort. Successful videos
generate a lot of traffic to your website and when well-crafted can create quite the
Internet buzz—which will in turn lead to more sales and more profit.

Info-products are the ideal Internet marketing business:
? They have a broad appeal across all sections of humanity, young and old, rich
and poor, geniuses and just regular folks.
? They are easy to produce. Some can be produced in as little as a day.
? And most importantly, they allow creativity to blossom, which means that
creating and selling them is about the most fun you’ll ever have.
Don’t let the technology scare you, anyone can create info-products, even you.