Making Your Articles Work Harder #2: Turning Articles into YouTube Videos

Once you have written some articles to submit to article directories, why stop there? You might as well make your hard work stretch as far as you can. One way of doing this is to turn your articles into YouTube videos. There are a number of ways of doing this, but I think this is the quickest and easiest way you will find and does not require any specialist knowledge of video editing software, and what's more there is no cost involved in buying software either.

The first thing you need to do is to turn your article into a format that is suitable for a video. The easiest way of doing this is to turn it into a slideshow presentation. You could use Powerpoint for this, but in this instance I recommend you download Open Office for free. The reason for this is that Open Office has a presentation application known as Impress which has a useful feature that is not available on Powerpoint.

Once you have downloaded Open Office then click on the "Presentation" icon to start. This will then guide you through the process of starting a presentation allowing you to select a template and a background. I suggest that you use a blank template, but use a colored background (but don't forget to change the color of the text to make it more visible).

Once you are past this you will see it looks pretty much like Powerpoint where, on a basic level, you can just type into the slide. Now, open up your article in Word, Notepad or whatever else you used to write it. Your task now is to translate your article into a presentation. Obviously, start with your title slide, but make sure that you put the url of your website under the title so that is the first thing that the viewer sees. What you need to do from here is to avoid making your slides too wordy otherwise people will not have chance to read them and lose interest. So, what you can do is cut and paste short sentences from your article or, summarize your content into bullet points. I think that bullet points are much more effective as they get your point across quickly and effectively. Make sure that your final slide also includes the url of your website again.

Once you have completed your presentation, making sure that you saved it of course, now comes the fancy bit! On the top left of the screen, click "File" then on the drop down choose "Wizards", then on the next drop down choose "Web Page".

Just follow the wizard through clicking "Next" when asked. What this will do is create a folder of files that you could use to upload your presentation to the internet. However, we are not going to do that. If you go into the folder you will see that it contains a number of HTML files and some image files. It is actually just the image files you want as these images contain your individual slides.

Now, head on over to YouTube. If you haven't done so already then create an account there. Once you have done this you can start creating your video. If you already have software for creating videos then you could use that, but we are going for the easy and free method that does not you to buy any software. Here is what you do:

• Click on "Upload"
• On the right hand side of the screen you will see a box which says "Create your own animation - try now"
• Click that link

Once you done this you see a number of options for services for creating your video. My personal preference is for "One True Media", but by all means experiment and see which you prefer.

Once you have clicked on the One True Media "Create Video" button you will be asked what files you want to upload. Simply select your image files that you created earlier and click upload. Once they have finished uploading then click the "Done" button.

You will then see this menu open up:

This gives a range of options for editing your video - but my recommendation is to keep it simple. You can see a "Choose Music" option here which allows you to choose from a number of pre-loaded options (overcomes any copyright issues) or you can upload your own if you prefer.

Once you are happy with your creation then simply click the "Publish to YouTube" button. Remember to add a description when prompted including a link to your site. You cannot use HTML so you have to just type in the url of your site (including the http://) and it will automatically convert to a clickable link.

Once your video is live then remember to bookmark it, Tweet about it, tell your Facebook friends, blog about it, etc. Don't forget that you can embed your video into blog posts, Squidoo lenses, HubPages Hubs, etc.

There you have it - the easiest cost-free method of converting articles into YouTube videos known to man (or woman!). The only downside to this method is there is no option of uploading your video to other video sharing sites, for that you really need to download some software to do this which usually involves spending some money.

Making Your Articles Work Harder #1 - Using Document Sharing Sites

Submitting articles to article directories is a great way to gain back links to your website, blog, Squidoo lens, etc., but once you have put time and effort into writing your article shouldn't you get as much value out of them as you can? You can submit your article to multiple directories of course, but what I want to discuss here is using document sharing sites. The best known of these are Scribd and Docstoc which are the two I use most. Docstoc also has a revenue sharing element using Adsense which is nice bonus. There are also a number of others out there that are worth trying but I only have limited experience of those.

First of all, what is a document sharing site? Well it is simply a site where you can upload a document. Usually they can take a number of formats, but PDF is the most common - you can use Word if you prefer, but your document will not look as professional and you run the risk of someone downloading your document and editing it for their own purposes.

You can convert your articles to PDF format by using Open Office which can be downloaded for free. Open Office is similar to Microsoft Office and includes a word processor very similar to Word, with the important distinction that it allows you to convert your documents into PDF at the click of a button. During this process, make sure that you include links to your site - unlike article directories you can put your links wherever you like, so you could put one in the body of the article and another in the footer. Also, you can put in affiliate links. If you want to you can spruce up your article with some pictures as well, but this is not essential.

All you have to do now is upload your document to Scribd and/or Docstoc. Simply register with the sites, click the upload button and follow the instructions.

Unlike submissions to article directories this will not help your site get found in the search engines. So why do it? Well it is simply another way of helping people find you - what you are aiming for is for people to download your document, perhaps share with others and then click on the links to visit your site. It is very quick and easy to do, so well worth the effort.

5 Golden Rules of Forum Marketing

 Forums are one of the oldest forms of social networking on the internet and are a great way for like minded people to share thoughts and ideas on particular topics. There are forums on pretty much everything you can think of - simply try typing a random topic and the word "forum" into your search engine and you will probably find several. Some are obviously more established and active than others, but however diverse social networking has become it would appear that forums are here to stay and continue to contain a wealth of useful information about a range of subjects.

Forums are also a great way for people to market a product or promote a website to a targetted group of individuals specifically looking for information. Most forums allow you to put a link into your "signature" at the bottom of each post you make, thereby exposing your link to a large group of people. However, to do this effectively requires treading a fine line between making yourself and your offer visible, or being considered a spammer, upsetting the forum community and possibly being banned. In order to help you along the way of treading this fine line, here are my golden rules which should be followed at all times:

1. Read the rules of the forum very carefully. These vary hugely with some allowing linking directly to affiliate links, some only allowing linking to your own sites and some do not allow linking at all. Read and digest the rules and make sure you stick to them.
2. Make your signature obvious, but not too obvious. If the forum allows, use a message that catches people's attention, use bold and color to make your link stand out. However, you will need to guage from the forum that you are using how obvious to make it. Have a good look around the forum and at other people's signatures and get an idea what appears to be considered acceptable.
3. Participate in the forum in a useful way. The object here is not put out lots of buying messages out there, this is counter productive and will probably get you banned. What you need to do is demonstrate your expertise in the given subject - start new threads, reply to existing threads. Demonstrate that you can be helpful to other members. As you gain respect and visibility in the forum they are more likely to click on your link and, if it points to a product, buy from you.
4. Post often, but don't try to dominate the forum. Overdoing it will irritate existing members and will just suggest you are trying to take over.
5. Don't spam other members. Don't PM other members with messages of "come visit my site" or "buy my product", because they probably won't and you only end up irritating people.

Follow these rules to the letter and become a regular participant in the forum and you should see regular clicks through to your link.

Extra Cash Challenge is Now a Do Follow Blog

I have been aware for a little while that Blogger defaults to the "no follow" format for backlinks and comments, so I have decided to do something about this. Following the instructions on Tips 4 Blogspot, I have managed to remove the no follow, so this is now a do follow blog.

So, if you have a blog or website, your comments here will assist your ranking with Google and other search engines. Go ahead - get yourself a free backlink. I will still be moderating comments though, so you still need to say something of worth about the post you are commenting or the blog in general. A certain amount of self-promotion is just fine (we all need to do it), but blatant spam is not!

What is the Point of Traffic Exchanges?

If you have a blog or a website then you will know that actually getting people to visit can be a constant obsession. After all if no-one visits, then what's the point? This is particularly the case when your site is new when it can be quite frustrating after your hard work in putting together your blog/website only to find that hardly anyone ever visits! So when traffic exchanges promise to provide you with a flood of targeted traffic to your site it can be tempting to believe that they will solve your traffic issues for you.


What is a Traffic Exchange?

Traffic exchanges come in various forms, some come in the form of a banner exchange, i.e. you display a banner for someone else's site on the proviso that another site participating in the program displays yours. Most traffic exchanges, however, depend on a model of accumulating credits or rating through you visiting other sites participating in the program.

And therein lies the problem - all people participating in the program have their own site to promote, so that when they visit their site, they will do so primarily with the intention to gain credits so that their site can gain greater exposure rather than actually spend much time looking at your site.


Entrecard

Entrecard is a traffic exchange exclusively for blogs. Some committed Entrecarders might not be too keen on referring to it as a traffic exchange, but that essentially is what it is. How it works is that once you have registered with Entrecard you place a widget on the sidebar of your blog where other Entrecard bloggers can "buy" an ad from you with credits. Likewise you can buy an ad for your blog on other blogs. You earn credits when someone buys an ad from you (their ad will be on your widget for 24 hours) or through visiting another Entrecard blog and "dropping" on it (i.e. clicking on their Entrecard widget.

I have participated in Entrecard for a little while now and it has generated some traffic for me, although it has to be said, the bounce rate from Entrecard generated visits is very high. I personally find it useful for finding other blogs related to mine which I have learned from.


Link Referral

Link Referral is another traffic exchange, but this caters for all websites, including referral pages, Squidoo lenses, HubPages, etc. The premise with Link Referral is that the higher your site's ranking the more likely other people will find your site and pay it is visit. You earn ranking by visiting other sites registered with Link Referral (up to 30 per day), reviewing them (up to 5 per day) and favouring them (1 per day). The review feature does at least mean that people stay long enough at your site to write a reasonably sensible review. The problem I find with this though is that you can't really expect to receive constructive criticism as it would appear that most people only feel inclined to write positive reviews, presumably because they believe that a negative review would only result in a negative review being left on their site in return. This might be good for the ego, but it does not provide an accurate indication of the quality of the site. There are some pretty poor sites on Link Referral that still receive positive reviews.

Again, Link Referral has provided me with some traffic during those periods when I have been active with it, but the bounce rate is very high.


Is it Worth Participating in Traffic Exchanges?

The answer to that question depends on what you are looking for. Traffic exchanges will provide you with quantity, but not quality of traffic. So you are unlikely to gain any visitors that generate any money, if that is what you are looking for. Personally, I think that they are worth participating in to some extent, provided you are realistic about what they will provide you with. I think they are useful in giving your traffic a bit of kick start and help to get your website or blog noticed, but they are certainly not a substitute for good quality content and patient link building so that people will ultimately find you through search engines. This, unfortunately, takes time and patience.

Ditching Blogrush Widget

Due to the fact that the Blogrush widget that I placed on my sidebar has not been working and that I have had no response whatsoever to the e-mails that I have sent, I have decided to remove it from the Blog. I had hoped that it would bring some additional traffic, but if they can't be bothered to reply to e-mails then it will just have to go as it using up valuable space!

Most Searched Keywords

Now that I am thinking more about traffic to Extra Cash Review, I was thinking that perhaps I would have been better coming up with a site focussed on the most searched keywords on Google. Today's top 5 are:

1. Kendal Sheppard
2. Michelle Obama the view
3. Subaru brat
4. Boeing tanker
5. Gao tanker

All I need to do now is combine these elements into one website and the traffic will come! Could be a challenge. There are some intreguing ones further down the list such as at No. 53 "How to kill with a knife" and No. 54 "Why is this night different from all other nights"! And then there is No. 59 "Left tibia"! What does it all mean?!