Indie Business Blog

Start Where You Are to Create Successful Video

Don't Be Discouraged If Everything Is Not Picture Perfect

Last week, Leesa Barnes, a guest on Indie Business Radio, posted suggestions at her blog to help readers produce video on a budget. She encouraged people not to be afraid of video and told them how to use an inexpensive Flip camera to create videos to post to blogs, websites, Myspace pages, etc.

       

Larry Lawfer, one of the commenters and the owner of Your Storys, a professional videography company, criticized Leesa. He said that, while a Flip camera is nice for "down low social media communications, using one for anything professional or corporate locks you into this low level presentation of your work."

Introducing Photoshop Express

Snap, Edit, Save and Post

You all know what a fan I am of Picnik. It's free, user friendly and you don't have to buy or download any software. If you liked that, you'll also like to know about Photoshop Express. It does everything Picnik does, and makes it easy to sort and save photos and move them from your desktop to your blog -- which is what I like to use it most for.

                     

It also has easy interfaces with Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa.

Just snap, edit, save and post. It's not as intuitive as Picnik, but when it comes to photo editing, you can't have too many free options.

How easy is that?

Show Me The Milk!!

Is Your Website Like Cereal Without Milk, Dry, Tough and Boring?

Have you ever tried eating cereal without milk? I'm not talking about the bite-sized treats that toddlers eat. I'm talking about real cereal, like granola and shredded wheat. You at least need some water or juice to help wash it down.

          

Websites are no different. They're great, but if all you have is a website, you are feeding your customers cereal without milk and I guarantee you, they are having trouble chewing and digesting what you have to offer. It's dry, tough and boring.

Make Technology Your Slave

... And Do It Now, Before It's Too Late

Yesterday, Netflix announced an agreement with LG Electronics to deliver movies directly to your high definition television set, bypassing the need to use a personal computer. This announcement is not surprising considering that it's a smart use of technology that makes it easier for Netflix to connect with its customers and make them happy.

            

But big companies like Netflix are not the only ones who can maximize their success using technology. The same high speed services and technological advances that make it possible for Netflix to be more successful make it possible for Indie Business owners to do the same. If you have not prioritized making technology your slave in 2008, get started today. Or get left behind.

When Link Love Hurts

To Link Or Not To Link, That Is The Qustion

Question: I recently launched a new website. To increase traffic, I listed my site link at a few relevant free listing sites. Now, I'm getting lots of requests for me to link back to their sites and other sites. Should I do this? Mary in Idaho

          

Answer: Not as a rule.

You all know how I feel about link love. It's like life. The more you give, the more you get. But like all things, even link love has it's limits. And just like all relationships, link love can be destroyed by incompatibility.

Where Is The Link Love?

C'mon. Link Out!

Everyone has a pet peeve or two. You know, those pesky little things that happen every day. And even though you know they shouldn't bug you, they somehow manage to drive you nuts anyway. Blogs are great places to vent about your pet peeves. So here goes. My pet peeve is online bloggers and journalists who don't show Link Love.

          

Link Love is my shorthand way of describing what bloggers and journalists do when they link out to their sources, thereby giving their readers opportunities to collect more information about the subject of an article. Do you get Link Love? Do you show Link Love? The answer to both questions should be "yes."

Dot Com or Dot Dud

Don't Stop Your Online Sales Before They Even Start

An Indie recently contacted me about joining the Indie Beauty Network. After talking with her, I realized that the business had a few significant problems, starting with their website address: BusinessName.info. Yick.

          

It's difficult indeed to launch a business with a unique brand name that is also attractive and available as a dot com. I appreciate this. However, when you find out the name you want is not available as a dot com, the next step should be to pick another name. Not add a subprime extension to the name you want and call it a day.

Yes, the other domain extensions are out there, but dot com is still the Ferrari (oooh!) of domain extensions, and probably will be for decades to come. The business owner I spoke with was unwilling to consider changing her business name even though her business had not officially launched. I predict this will cost her thousands of dollars over the course of her business. Here's why.

1. Dot com stands for commerce. That should be enough right there. If you plan to engage in online commerce, use the domain extension that stands for commerce.

2. People expect dot com. If your domain name is .info or .biz, you have to emphasize that in conversation to make sure the person you are talking to understands that your website address is not dot com. If that person forgets what you said and loses your business card too (imagine that ...), it may be difficult for them to find you on the Web.

Even if someone recalls your brand name, they are most likely to search for you online using that name with a dot com extension. And if they have to look too hard, they quickly forget all about you. And please, don't operate a for profit business using a dot org domain extension. Everyone thinks of philanthropic giving when they see dot org, and that's as it should be.

3. Search engines favor dot com. Go to any search engine and type in a name, any name. What shows up first? dot com. Even if it's not what you are looking for, dot com appears in search results far more frequently than anything else.

I don't mean to say that other domain extensions are worthless. I do mean to say they are not worth nearly as much as dot com extensions, especially if you are selling products online. If you are launching a business, why handicap yourself with a second rate domain name? I'd rather see you create wealth using a brand name you hate with a dot com extension, than to see you broke using a brand name you love with dot something else.

Well, that’s my rant for the day.

Romancing The Wi-Fi

As a full fledged Indie business owner, these days, I don't choose a coffee shop based on the food and beverages it serves. I choose it based on the following cirteria:

1. Do they offer free Wi-Fi for customers?
2. Do they have enough electrical outlets in the walls so I can compete with everyone else who needs to plug in their laptop?
3. Do they have good coffee?

Today, I saw a Wi-Fi sign in a McDonald's window. I don't like McDonald's food and their coffee is horrendous. But if I'm ever in a pinch, I'll have no problem wrapping my lips around a steaming hot cup Ronald McDonald's best.

Starbucks still charges for Wi-Fi. I predict they will wise up soon. In the meantime, I'm where I can get free Wi-Fi, an electrical outlet and a full bodied cuppa.

Wi-Fi, electrical outlets and coffee. My Indie life is reduced to this.

I'm lovin' it.

I Love Picnik!

While I run my business almost entirely online, I am surprisingly awful with computers. I am particularly terrible at using traditional software programs like PhotoShop to edit and load clear, quality images to my websites and blog without pulling out all of my hair (or what's left of it since I whacked it off earlier this month.)

Enter Kim Baron, my website designer at Fallen Muse WebWorks. Kim could probably support herself entirely on my constant need for help with online imaging, yet she graciously told me about Picnik. Now, I can do it all by myself, and so can you. And just so you know how good I am at it, I turned this

into this

in about 5 minutes by cropping the picture and then editing it so everything but Brooks' face and a little bit of the inner tube is black and white. How cute is that?! (I also chose the option to round the edges but for some reason, that feature would not save as a part of the photo.)

So here's the tip: If you are struggling to crop, resize or otherwise refine a good quality photo for your website, newsletter, blog or other online application, try Picnik. The service is in the beta testing stage which means they are getting out the kinks and eventually, we will have to pay for some of the options. But for now it's free, and Indies love FREE. It's like buddah! Check it out and let me know what you think.