Squeaks in Camtasia Videos Fixed
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Nov 24, 2008
Last week I made a Camtasia video and sent it to a client. No problem. Camtasia worked just fine. Today, I started working on the instructional videos for our new HereNextYear member site (in soft launch…more about that later) and about every 5 seconds was this annoying little squeak that sounded like a really bad turntablist in a rap band pushing the record backwards to make the annoying squeak!
After a couple of hours of researching this, I finally come to find these squeaks are as a result of the new Flash player version 9. Apparently Camtasia videos do not play well with the version 9 of Flash Player. I must’ve just randomly clicked on a Windows update or something.
Anyway, if YOU use Camtasia for recording screenshots or live demos (still the greatest recorded presentation I know of), go watch this video and then you will find the free download link that will fix the problem.
Essentially, here’s how it works….
1. Download and install the SWFMP3Fixer program
2. Unzip it (I like the free CAMUNZIP) if you don’t have an unzip program
3. Open the .exe file that is displayed once you unzip the file from a folder
4. Drag one of your video files or folders into the box as I’ve done below
5. Click the Fix Audio button
From there, your video will be fixed and you’ll need to re-upload it to your website if that’s where you are hosting it.
Pretty simple…just took me a while to find the solution online. For all you Camtasia users, hope that helps a bit.
Or, you could of course just upgrade to version 6 of Camtasia where the fix is included.
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Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies Due March 2009
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Aug 26, 2008
I finally came out of my cave Monday afternoon after finishing the required 70% complete deadline for my portion of the Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies book due in bookstores everywhere March/April 2009 (Wiley Publishing, publishers of the “For Dummies” books). John Arnold of Constant Contact (E-mail), Ian Lurie & Elizabeth Marsten of Portent Interactive (SEO, AdWords, Social Networking, blogs), and just added, Michael Becker (Mobile Marketing) from Iloop Mobile (personally can hardly wait to see what he’ll be adding about THAT very hot topic!).
It is a true honor to be sharing pages with these industry experts as we make our contributions to what I believe will be the most talked about Internet strategy book in years.
When I was asked what I would like to write about, I immediately said, “the money part of course” So, I get the first section of the book which will be covering topics like:
- Converting more visitors to paying customers
- Writing promotional copy that sells
- Shopping cart setup
- Finding and promoting affiliate products
- Starting and building your own affiliate program
- Joint venturing
- Which website type is the best for you
- Design components that sell
- Hiring helpers so you’re not doing everything yourself
More coming on this topic coming soon but I have to mention that something else has happened in the process of writing this book, which is now listed on Amazon by the way. I think I’ve had more leads for business in the past two months than the first six months of this year combined. How could that be? I haven’t been doing anything differently in my promotions than usual. Must be the book. Just by telling people about it, people are talking about it. The book isn’t even out yet and people are talking about it. We’re not even finished writing it yet and people are already talking about it. Strange but true.
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What Fonts Can I Use Besides Arial?
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Aug 5, 2008
The question “What fonts can I use besides arial on my website?” came in from one of my “Small Doses” subscribers where I offer Internet marketing and business growth tips…well, in small doses. Thanks for the question and here’s the answer. The font types you choose for the text areas of your website should be whatever font type you KNOW for certain your visitor’s computers have the capability of displaying on their screen the same as you intended when you wrote the page on your screen. Unfortunately, you never know for sure.
Said another way, stick to fonts that are considered “safe.” My favorites are Trebuchet and Verdana when I want to be “different” but stick with “arial” when I want to be professional because it’s safe.
Here’s a great resource to use when trying to identify which font is best for your site. The Installed (%) means what percentage of computers have that particular font installed on them.
Now, just because Microsoft Sans Serif is right on top of the list doesn’t mean that would be the best fit for use for your website. But, it does show why Arial Black, Verdana and Arial are so widely used–because people have come to realize that most computers have those fonts loaded.
This display also shows that Garamond might not be such a predictable choice, even though many web designers choose it.
If you must use a font that is not high on the list, that’s your opportunity to use the font in an image instead of the main text of the site. That way, any computer will still be able to see the wording the way you intended it to be seen.
Don’t go too overboard with using images to display your text, however. You need a lot of text on your pages so that search engines will be able to evaluate your content for placement.
Interesting how we have lots of choices when it comes to using fonts besides the common Arial 10-point. Then again, maybe we don’t have as many choices as we thought. Anyway, just thought you’d like to see this chart. Have a great day!
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Adding Adsense Code to Every Blog Post
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 19, 2008
I was talking with one of my website designers yesterday about my website waves blog and told him I made $2 the other day when I finally got my Adsense code installed. Now every time someone visits my Website Waves blog and clicks on the “Ads By Google” listings, I will get a few cents or maybe sometimes a little more. He kind of chuckled a bit and said something like “All that work for 2 dollars?” Well, it gets better, because if you’ve been keeping up with my blog journey diary, I only relaunched this blog a few weeks ago.
By following my Ultimate Blog Checklist, I’ll be able to calculate pretty close to how much traffic I’ll be getting to the blog by the end of this month and how much more it will increase by the end of August. And, by then the $2 a day will turn into $10/day…or at least that’s the goal. So, an additional $300 per month from Adsense is the goal. I’ll report at the end of August if I make the goal so stay tuned.
Today, though, is about exactly how I added the Adsense code. My designer kind of chuckled again as he asked, “Do you have to copy and paste Adsense code every time you make a post?” A firm “NO” was my answer. Once you have the Adsense code, you just copy and paste it into the appropriate file in your blog template.
Here, let me show you:
If you look at any page of the Website Waves blog, you will see a heading on the right column called “My Favorite Blogs.” Where I show the #1 in red is the html code that gives the heading its look and color, the way my designer designed it.
The #2 shows the code I was provided by adding the Adsense Plugin called Adsense Manager (free through WordPress of course).
3) The third step is to open the template file that contains the code for the right column (or any other column, header, footer where you would want to enter Adsense code to your blog posting.
This does require some FTP knowledge so that you can open the file on your computer, make the addition, save it, and transfer it back to your website hosting account where your blog is stored. But, that’s how it works anyway.
My designer then asked, “So, what about where you now have Adsense on every post in the middle of the post after the first main paragraph? Did you go back and manually add that code to every post?”
No again. I told my programmer what I wanted and he inserted the code for me. I think it took him about 10 minutes. I can’t even describe how he did it, some Javascript thing. But, that’s the point. I don’t NEED to know! I just need to know what I want and that the two most important places to have Adsense code on your blog are on the right column after your post summaries and also embedded with your post content. It was up to my programmer after that
So, you might snicker too at my small fortune of the measly $2 I made yesterday, but now that I have the code embedded to appear automatically on every post I make, in the two most money-making places on a blog post, even on a bad day I’m already setup to make an extra $60 per month. And, that’s if I don’t even make any more postings!
Imagine the possibilities when I have hundreds of blog posts all with Google ads appearing within those posts? I’ll keep you, well, um, “posted!”
If you don’t have Adsense code appearing on every post in your blog, stop wasting opportunity! Give your designer or programmer a call and if you don’t have one, call me at 303-743-0832 or send a contact request and we’ll get you setup.
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Scooters Free Shipping
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 18, 2008
On CNN this morning, they reported a 25% increase in production for road scooters. Not the kind the kids stand up and push with one foot, but the kind you ride. We used to call them mopeds. But, then mopeds evolved into more horsepower and a sturdier ride that boasts 75 miles per gallon!
So, “scooter” it is. Now think about this. Detroit is laying off people right and left in the car manufacturing business, right? Scooter manufacturers are ramping up staffing to meet demand. Stores are selling out before you can get from looking at the website to their storefront.
Can you see the problem coming? Sure. You get to the store only to find one or two types of scooter left for sale. “Next shipment will be coming in next week sometime.”
So, what’s the answer? Selling scooters online of course…and the secret sauce…offering free shipping! Check it out. Here’s one of the top sellers I found where you can buy a scooter online and have it shipped to you for free.
These guys are pretty smart. They even have an online chat feature. Wouldn’t you want to ask people questions before you bought a scooter? Of course. This is the only website I’ve seen selling scooters that both offers the low prices, free shipping AND online chat. Good job guys.
Visit this site just to get some ideas for layout or maybe you’re even interested in buying a scooter online as they’ve done their homework with making things easy to find. If it was my site, I would have the online chat piece up top in the right corner as a main feature. They’d double their sales in a week I’ll bet. But, that’s just me.
Tell me what you think of the scooter website. Or share your view/experience with the scooter craze happening right now. Add your comments below.
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How Can I Make Another $500 Per Month?
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 10, 2008
This morning was racquetball morning at the local rec center, another grueling 90 minutes of Marty and my friend Dave battling for survival and recognition. He wore his power-blue shirt and I had my usual glare that never gives up.
There are plenty of future blog posts I could make using racquetball as an example to relate to Website Waves topics. But, this time I wanted to respond to a question one of my clients asked me yesterday. She wanted to know how she could just make another $500 a month.
At the rec center this morning, there was a posting for janitorial help for $9/hour. For a mere 14 hours of work per week, she could have her extra $500 a month.
But I have a better idea and you won’t have to spend a dime…and I don’t even think it would take 9 hours a week to get to $500 per month.
There’s a social networking system called Ning.com. You start a new account for yourself and then once you have an account, you create a website topic. After answering a few questions, your social networking website is live. Your url will become yourtopicofchoice.ning.com so choose that name carefully chock full of keywords!
The great thing about Ning.com is that it allows you to post a forum and a blog with a whole slew of security measures to prevent people from doing certain unfavorable things in their posts. And, I haven’t found a reason yet why you would need a programmer to help, unless you really want to customize. But, first things first.
Why not spend two or three hours building a social network of your own about a topic you’re interested in and begin to monitize it? By adding a couple of affiliate program links to the left column and letting others come to your site to post experiences and questions, you would be surprised how easy it is to generate that extra $500 per month…all with a system that won’t charge you a dime.
Of course, Ning.com has upsells like applying your own domain name or allowing you to add your own Adsense code to the right column, but Ning.com is great for letting you get a feel for a social networking system and getting some monetizing going without ever charging you. Then, you can upgrade once things are paying for themselves. And, you know that’s my favorite part of the web when things pay for themselves.
Let me know your comments on whether you’ve used Ning.com or something else to get your social network going.
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Wal-Mart New Classifieds Site Mentors Us All
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 3, 2008
I learned this morning from DMNews that Wal-Mart has launched a classifieds website to “give customes another way to save money,” according to DMNews’ email quote by Wal-Mart’s spokesman Ravi Jariwala.
But, we all know what’s really going on here, don’t we? Wal-Mart is trying to get into the social networking experience that the web has to offer. And, it figures going up against Craigslist and EBay is the best vehicle.
I’m not one to disagree with that. In fact, I’m embracing it. What Wal-Mart has done is a classic case of identifying something that works in their industry and copied someone else to do things a little better for their own gain. And, that’s something all of us with websites should model after.
Here, take a look. Give the Wal-Mart Classifieds a try. You’ll never find a link to the classifieds area on the Wal-Mart home page (and I’m not sure why), so I’ve provided you with this link that goes directly to it. Search for something. Post something.
If you’ve used Craigslist before, you’ll notice a few oddities with Wal-Mart’s Classifieds.
1. It takes more time to figure out how to search than on Craigslist. So, I’m wondering what percentage of people actually find what they’re looking for if it’s a job versus Craigslist or how much actually gets sold versus EBay.
2. It takes more time to post to the right category. I never even found a category for marketing or Internet marketing.
3. Search results seem to be more limiting. I mean if I wanted to hire someone to come work with me in Aurura, I’d still like my posting to display if someone searched for Denver. And, with Craigslist, that happens as I’ve used Craigslist many times to find helpers.
But there are some things that Wall-Mart has improved upon that Craigslist seems to conveniently avoid.
1. The posting I made was immediate. Even with Craigslist you have to wait 15 or 20 minutes.
2. My posting actually showed up. Craigslist seems to hate any posting I make and I could never figure out why as much as I would eliminate obvious words that might get picked up.
3. The postings seem to have a higher-level flair to them. I’m not exactly sure what I mean by that. But, Craigslist draws a lot of frauds, y’know? And, they’re starting to get a little ‘rep.
Maybe it’s just that the Wal-Mart Classifieds are new and fresh and already highly populated with lots of things for sale and people looking for work…
Maybe it’s because they teamed up with Oodle to produce the site and probably an integrated database of some sort too so that Wal-Mart didn’t have to do any of that themselves…
Maybe I’m just glad to see yet another one of these fast-paced growing companies who refuses to reply to an email or take a phone call is getting passed up by a company that knows the customer (or in this case, the “visitor”) is still king…
But I believe that Wal-Mart’s launch of its own classifieds section is another lesson to us all to first think of an idea that will enhance our websites and then, second, find someone who already has something close to what we want and private label it with our company branding to make it our own.
Watch out Craigslist and Ebay. There’s a new social gatherer on the planet!
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How Polite is Your Website?
Posted by Marty Dickinson on May 24, 2008
I was driving home from my office yesterday when a stoplight turned red. I stopped of course and turned on my right turn signal. The light turned green and here was this guy crossing the street. And, boy, did he take his own sweet time. By the time he strolled his way across 6 lanes of traffic, I was able to make it through the light…but only as the light turned yellow.
There was no reason he was walking so slow. Maybe he just liked the power of holding up traffic. But, no one was going to get him to move any faster. It was just plain rude I thought.
How polite is your website to your visitors? Do you make them take more time than they should? Do you create your pages with your own interest in mind? Are you sympathetic to peoples’ time?
Don’t be the slacker that holds up traffic while crossing the street. Spring across to the other side! Smile as you run by! Wave to give thanks to the people you’re running in front of.
Be polite and considerate with your website and people will thank you for it.
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Boss Bailey Proves Marketing Skill Can be from Birth
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Mar 14, 2008
Boss Bailey… now, just think of that name for a moment. BOSS Bailey. The name all its own was designed to stand out and command a position. What position? Maybe the “boss” of a strict manufacturing plant. Or, maybe an upper management leader.
OR….
Maybe Boss Bailey is a formidable force on the football field!
For the Denver Broncos, we’re about to find out as Boss Bailey (Brother of Champ Bailey) will join the Denver Broncos in training camp this summer.
Boss Bailey and Champ Bailey. Did their parents have a marketing degree? I mean, these names were pre-meditated for marketing glory!
Some things related to sales and marketing you really are born with. For other things related to how to sell and market, they CAN be learned!
All you need is a place to learn them and that place is The Capital Factor. Check out The Capital Factor Blog and learn what it really takes to bring your business to the next level.
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Plan a Website Before You Build One
Posted by Marty Dickinson on May 24, 2007
Planning a web site is one of the most difficult pieces of the Internet process. Why? Because it all starts with a blank piece of paper…or a blank screen…or just an idea in your mind. Instead of actually planning for a web site, instead, most people bypass the entire planning step. Or, they’ll just turn the whole project over to a designer.
If you are thinking about launching your first website, or are revamping one that’s already existing, don’t skip the planning process. Here are five steps to apply to help you plan your website:
1. Plan a website by writing down on a piece of paper all of the things your audience (visitors to your web site) might want to know about related to your topic. If your website is for a school, for example, visitors might want to know how many people attend, classroom sizes, nearby restaurants, hours of operation, anyone famous that came out of the school. Write down every possible topic someone might want to know about related to the industry you’re presenting.
2. Plan a website by putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. Visit some websites as if you are wanting the services those sites have to offer. Are you driven to take action? What are the turn-on’s and turn-off’s?
3. Plan a website by finding what people are searching for. Use this tool: http://www.herenextyear.com/overture-keyword-search.php. Type in a general phrase like “high school” and see what comes up. These are topics that people are searching for already. Plan your website to feature content that answers peoples’ questions.
4. Plan your web site to grow. Avoid websites that cannot be expanded. Your website will always be in-process. Plan that you will always be able to add pages or products.
5. Plan your website to allow you to be in control. There are few worse feelings in business than to be confined to the power of your designer to make even small changes to your website. Plan to be in control of the process and be involved.
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