Please pardon the visual trauma of my website this weekend. After a few years of working exclusively with Movable Type I am finally giving up my masochistic ways and am converting to WordPress. With this new found clarity I look forward to less frequent mood swings and an end to random fits of screaming “WHY!?” while shaking my fists to the heavens.

So needless to say there will no more Movable Tye related content here in the future.

Posting videos on YouTube is an important part of any inbound marketing strategy. Search engines such as Google and Bing can’t put videos in any type of searchable context because they are delivered via Flash so it’s up to you to do some search engine optimization so people can find your clips. The search engines take several factors into account when ranking videos including the title, description, and tags.

Here are six ways you can easily search engine optimize your YouTube videos to get better ranking in the search engines and increase your viewership.

1. Use descriptive keywords in your title: Use descriptive keywords in your video’s title so people know what the video is about and help the video rank better in the search engines. The more factual and specific the title, the better.
2. Write an informative description: Write a few descriptive sentences about your video and include all relevant information related to it such as names, topics, events, etc.
3. Include a link to your website: Decide where you would like to funnel the traffic from your video to and include the URL, (including the http://), at the beginning of the video’s description so it’s always visible to the viewer even if the “more info” option is collapsed.
4. List keywords for tags: Include several relevant keywords in your tags field to help people find your video. This will also associate your video with other videos which use the same tag. When people search for that topic, your video will come up as a related video.
5. Add video annotation: Video annotations allow you to add interactive commentary to your video. Though this feature doesn’t necessarily help your video with regards to the search engines, it can be used to remind viewers to find you on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
6. Create keyword rich links: Link to your YouTube clip from your website or blog using keyword rich anchor text. This will give your clip relevance with the search engines.

With businesses still figuring out how they should be using Twitter, I thought I’d share this story of how Constant Contact is using Twitter to retain customers.

Yesterday, I realized that I had a Constant Contact e-mail sign up form on an old project I thought I had taken offline. I logged on to Constant Contact to reactivate my old account because I wanted to access the emails addresses of my subscribers. I knew I was going to have to pay the $15 for the month to use the service but what I wasn’t expecting was for them to charge me an additional $25 to reactivate my account.

Before I continue I want to make it clear that I know it was my mistake for not being more on top of my inactive web pages. I called Constant Contact and asked a rep if it was really necessary to charge me an additional $25 to get my e-mail list and the rep yes. Curious, I asked him what the charge was for and he explained that they need to charge for the storage space my information occupied. I told him I understood the logic but all they were storing for me was a mailing list with 100 or so address, not gigs worth of files or data. He wouldn’t budge. I told him that I have used their service and liked it, and have even steered a majority of my clients to them which now I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing because this new rule seemed ridiculous. He told me that was my prerogative and we hung up.

Feeling a wee bit f’d over by bureaucratic red tape, I hit my Twitter account and pecked out a mini-rant about my customer service experience. Within a half hour I received a call from another Constant Contact rep, James, who not only apologized for the previous rep’s arms-crossed approach to customer service, but gave me my list free of charge. I told him I could understand the charge to some degree, but there needed to be flexibility in the pricing structure. I would have paid a $5 reactivation fee as a slap on the wrist but $25 seemed harsh.

Constant Contact probably uses a service like TweetBeep.com (I use it religiously) which e-mails them the Tweets that mention their name. I think some people forget what customer service is all about. James not only went out of his way to help me, but he made me trust the company again because he showed me that my business and my clients’ business is important to them. More important than having both $25 and a bitter ex-client and losing a a dozen or so other clients. VERY cool.

I added TweetMeme’s Retweet function to a Movable Type blog today. Their website offers some guidance as far as adding it to websites, WordPress, TypePad, etc., but once again their is no example specifically for Movable Type. Of course the first thing that came to my mind was an article I read yesterday called What’s Happening to Movable Type which suggests MT’s downfall could be the lack of community and people willing to share what they learn. Ya think?

With some minor tweaking I got the Retweet working relatively fast. To save you some time, here’s my two minute tutorial for adding a Retweet button to your Movable Type blog.

1. Insert the code below into your Entry Summary template (right after your existing <div id=”entry-<$mt:EntryID$>” class=”entry-asset asset hentry”> code) and your Entry Detail template (right after your existing<div class=”asset-header”> code.)
   <div style=”float: right; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 7px;”>
   <script type=”text/javascript”>
   tweetmeme_url = ‘<$MTEntryPermalink$>’;
   tweetmeme_style = ‘compact’;
   tweetmeme_source = ‘enter your Twitter username here’;
   </script>
   <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js”></script>
   </div>
2. Replace the words enter your Twitter username here with your Twitter username.
3. Save your templates and publish!

What I did was use the code shown on their How to Add a TweetMeme Button to Your TypePad Blog and tweaked the margins. I am using the compact style but if you want the larger Retweet icon, you can change the style from compact to normal.

If you find this post useful, feel free to… Retweet!

Note: If you are using MT 5 Beta there isn’t a Entry Detail template anymore. Add the code to the Entry template immediately after <div class=”asset-header”>.

I’ve been looking for a Movable Type plugin that would easily allow me to make and update a blog roll for my site. In the past I would have used MT’s MultiBlog plugin, create my links as a separate blog, and trick in into displaying in the sidebar as a widget. That’s too many steps for me to take when I want quickly add a link to the blog roll.

My alternate way of making a blog roll was to create a new widget consisting of a bulleted list and manually adding my new links when needed. Though it served its purpose this seemed a bit torturous and I couldn’t see instructing a client to do it this way.

I installed the Link Roller plugin today and after a little tweaking I got it to work perfectly. The instructions did a fairly good job of walking me through the installation but left out a few things. What the Link Roller plugin does is it adds a new asset to the asset library called ‘links’. These links are the links that make up your blog roll. The instructions leave out a critical step and that is: making a new widget for the blog roll.

After you install the plugin, create a new widget for your blog roll using this code:

<div class=”widget-recent-entries widget-archives widget”>
<h3 class=”widget-header”>Link Roller</h3>
<div class=”widget-content”>
<ul class=”widget-list”>
</mt:LinksHeader>
<mt:assets type=”link”>
<li class=”widget-list-item”><a href=”<mt:assetURL />”><mt:assetLabel /></a></li>
</mt:assets>
<mt:LinksFooter>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</mt:LinksFooter>

To
add links to your new blog roll go to your dashboard and choose Create
> Link. You can find a walk through of adding and customizing links
at the Link Roller plugin page. Publish your blog and there is your new blog roll.

I wanted my blog roll links to have a bullet in front of them so I changed the above underline class from <ul class=”widget-list”> to <ul class=”widget-list-link”> so my bullets wouldn’t affect my other widget lists. I then added this style to my style sheet:

.widget-list-link li,ul {
list-style:inside;
line-height:1.3em;
list-style-image:url(http://liberationiannillo.com/images/bullet.gif);
}

The blog roll looks good. Down the road when I have more links I may want to organize them into different categories or, at the very least, alphabetize them. The documentation for the Link Roller plugin, or lack thereof, is typical for all things Movable Type. If it wasn’t for the comments left by other frustrated designers and developers that helped fill in the blanks, I’d have passed on this plugin. That’s a shame considering the time and effort that goes into making them.

Update

I just found a post called Sensible Link Management in Movable Type that connected the last few dots for the Link Roller plugin. Using the following code I am now able to sort my links using the tags which gives me the organization I was desperately craving:

<div class=”widget-linkroll widget”>
<h3 class=”widget-header”>Blog Roll</h3>
<div class=”widget-content”>
<mt:Tags type=”asset” sort_by=”name”>
<ul class=”widget-list”>
<li><h4><mt:TagName></h4></li>
</ul>
<MTSetVarBlock name=”linktag”><mt:TagName /></MTSetVarBlock>
<ul class=”widget-list”>
<mt:Assets type=”link” tag=”$linktag”>
<li><a href=”<mt:AssetURL>”><mt:AssetLabel escape=”html”>: <mt:AssetDescription></a></li>
</mt:Assets>
</ul>
</mt:Tags>
</div>
</div>

I made one slight modification which was removing : <mt:AssetDescription> because I don’t want to provide a site description beyond the name of the links in the blog roll.

Many thanks to Justin for the documentation.

I recently started an assignment that requires me to take my laptop to work and since the office isn’t too far from my apartment, I walk to and from work each day. After a few weeks I deemed my 17″ Gateway laptop too heavy to drag around with me so I started looking for something smaller in size and preferably under three pounds. After some brief window shopping I ended up buying the Acer Aspire One 10″ Notebook and I couldn’t be happier with it.

My goal was to find a small laptop that I could run my website and graphic design programs like Adobe’s Creative Suite 4, (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) along with Outlook, Word, and a few web browsers.  I have an external monitor at my office that I would be able to plug the laptop into so the small size wouldn’t interfere with my work process. I didn’t know if my wish list was even possible so I started doing some research.

Blogging has come a long way. What started off as a seemingly self-indulgent medium used by people with an endless capacity to write about themselves, has evolved into a powerful communications tool used by a wide range of people and industries. Having a blog is a great way to quickly add fresh content to your website, further establish yourself in your field, and drive more traffic to your existing website. 

Establish Your Expertise: Regularly blogging about topics related to your industry and providing readers with free, quality information they can use is an excellent way for you to voice your expertise. Blogging is a great way to further supplement the content on your main website.

Drive Traffic to Your Website:  Think of each blog post as a new door to your site in which visitors can enter. A static website won’t maintain its ranking in the search engines for very long if it’s not updated frequently. Incorporating a blog into your existing website can drive more traffic to your site because your blog posts will get picked up by search engines. (Read my earlier post SEO Tips for Bloggers for more on this topic.)

More People are Reading Blogs: A recent study shows that one in three Americans now reads a blog at least once a month, and blog readership has increased 50% over the past year. What’s even better is that people are making purchasing decisions based on what they are reading.

Expand Your Customer Service: Are you tired of spending time answering the same FAQ’s? Addressing frequently asked questions on your blog rather than by email or by phone can save you valuable time. You can Tag those posts “FAQ’s” so your readers can read only customer service related posts. 

Blogging is Inexpensive: Once your blog is set up the only cost involved is the time you are willing to spend writing. Don’t forget, your blog content can be reused in newsletters, emails, and online articles.

Get Listed in Blog Directories: You can get your blog listed for free within blog directories, (such as Best of the Web Blog Search, Bloggeries, Blogged, and Super Blog Directory), making it easier for people to find your blog, and company, by category.

Adding a blog to your website is an inexpensive way of publishing relevant content to your website to help keep it fresh and further establish your expertise. Keep your blog posts short, (500 words or less), and keep the content relevant to your business. People connect with blogs because the format is casual so don’t over think it and don’t try to constantly sell something.

Your blog should be the equivalent of a casual business conversation – keep it light, informative and leave the reader wanting to know more.

Related articles:

Blogs Will Change Your Business [Business Week]

Several times this week I have been asked about blogging, in particular, how to write a good blog post. It seems as though my inquiring bloggers are suffering from Goldilocks Syndrome – some people thought their posts were too long, others too short. Some people thought their posts were too formal, others too casual. I’ve compiled this short version of my Blogging 101 guide to break down the anatomy of a post to help you become a better blogger.

1. Get their attention with a killer title: The title of your blog post has a lot of work to do. It must capture the reader’s attention, describe your blog post, and include keywords related to the post.  Make sure your blog post title uses descriptive words, includes the subject of the post, and sounds inviting to your readers.
2. Write informative content: Like a good journalist your blog post should cover the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.  Whether you are writing about an event you attended, a new book, or a new product, give your readers as much useful information as you can. Remember, your readers probably weren’t at the event, they may not have read the book, and they may not have used that product.  Clue them in. Also, having names, dates, etc., will serve the dual purpose of using keywords in your post which will help you in the search engines.
3. Don’t sound like a legal document: This is very important – write as you speak. When was the last time you were having a casual conversation with a friend and they used phrases like “pertinent information” or “it’s imperative that…”? Unless you hang out with lawyers, most likely never. Don’t talk to your readers as if you are conversing with a colleague or utilizing your Word of the Day calendar. (See what I mean?) Use your voice, be conversational, be engaging, be you.
4. Bold important info: As I mentioned in a previous post about writing effective sales copy, the attention span of web surfer is notoriously short. (A recent study showed only 1 in 6 subjects read web pages linearly, sentence by sentence!) Bold important information so that even if your readers only skim your blog post they get the important details.
5. Include links: Use links as often as you can in your blog posts because it gives your readers additional information on what you are writing about. If you mention a person, link their name to their website. If you mention a magazine article, link to that article. Linking gives your blog post relevance in the search engines in addition to further educating your readers.
6. Edit, edit, edit: As a general rule I suggest keeping a blog post under 500 words. Setting a reasonable length to your blog posts benefits both you and your readers. First, you’re likely to blog more often if it doesn’t seem like a huge task. Second, if you write clear and to the point your post has a better chance of being read in its entirety. (When was the last time you read an entire 14 page New Yorker article online? Seriously.)

What’s the secret to writing a good blog post? Serve a purpose.

People read blogs because they are looking to be educated or entertained, sometimes both. Ideally your blog post should read as a light, informative conversation between you and your readers. Following these basic rules will help you become a better blogger and attract loyal readers.

Twitpay: A simple way to send payments via Twitter.

Twitzu: Promote your events on Twitter.

Twibs: Gives Twitter users a place to find businesses on Twitter.

Track This: This app lets you track any UPS, USPS, FedEx or DHL shipment. Updates are sent to your Twitter account direct messages whenever your package changes location.

Twittercal: Connects your Twitter acoount to you Google Calendar.

CoTweet: How business does Twitter. CoTweet lets your company manage one Twitter account while allowing several employees to contribute. Each person maintains their own identity and their activity can be monitored.

Twitter Alerts: Keeps track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything!

Twittertise: Advertise on Twitter and track the success of your campaigns.

StrawPoll: Create your own poll to get the opinions of people on Twitter.

Monitter: Lets you “monitter” what Twitter users in your area are saying about your business. Plug in the keywords you would like to search for and the surrounding area you would liked monitored.

Next to designing the perfect website, one of the biggest challenges people have with their website is writing great sales copy. When a visitor comes to your site they usually have a problem and are looking for someone to help them solve it. That problem can be networking their office or finding the perfect party planner. Either way, they need you but they just don’t know it yet. That’s where your sales copy comes in.

Your eye-catching design has their attention but now comes the hard part – retaining the short attention span of the average web surfer while making the sale.

Here are a few tips to help you write effective sales copy for your website.

Connect With Your Audience: Your website copy should sound like it was written by you and shouldn’t come across as the written equivalent of stock photography. The sales copy on your website is a conversation between you and your visitor so be your authentic self. A little polish goes a long way but don’t blind them.

Address Their Needs: Visitors come to your site because they have a problem. Here’s your chance to show them that you’ve seen their problem before and to demonstrate you have the knowledge, skill and experience to help them. Your website copy should focus on the the value of your service and how it benefits the potential client. It’s all about them.

Short Attention Span Theater: Your website copy should be half the length of your printed sales copy because the attention span of a web surfer is notoriously short. When was the last time you read an entire page of copy from beginning to end? Use descriptive headlines, bold important information, (though don’t go overboard), and keep it brief. This allows visitors to quickly skim the copy for important information and gives you more to talk about when they contact you.

Avoid Talking About Yourself: Potential clients are interested in you / your company because the service you provide makes their life easier. Your sales copy should always directly address the needs of the client. Keep the “you” factor contained to the “About Us” or “Firm Profile” page and off the home page. If you must get some ego on the home page, keep it brief. It should be supplemental, not required reading.

Seal the Deal: Your visitors have read your copy and now find themselves at the bottom of the page. Keep them engaged. Offer a relevant statistic followed by a call to action, for example: “85% of all website traffic comes from search engines. Call us today and learn how we can improve your search engine ranking.” Giving them a call to action such as requesting a quote or calling you for more information is crucial to beginning the sales process.

Writing effective website sales copy is an art. You have a lot to accomplish within a quick scan of a web page. It’s a proven fact people buy based on emotion so always keep the focus on the visitor, their needs, and clearly communicate why you are the one to help them. And keep in mind you are writing for the web, and not 5,000 printed brochures. If you don’t like what you’ve written you can always go back and tweak it for freshness and clarity. Your website sales copy will always be a work in progress.