I’m not a big fan of showing the presenter’s video during a webinar – it’s usually unnecessary, distracting to the audience and difficult to get right. But sometimes you do need it – for example, with a video conference call. Check out this humorous video that highlights some of the things you need to keep in mind when working with video:
Expert Gold Radio: The Technology Leadership Challenge
1 April 2013 by Leave a Comment
Expert Gold Radio brings you monthly ideas, information, interviews and insights into leveraging your leadership – through better communication, on-line learning and Internet marketing.
Listen to the episode here:
The Technology Leadership Challenge – with Donna Hanson
It’s one thing to have the latest and greatest technology, but another altogether to make sure it’s being used to make yourself and your teams more productive, more effective, and even happier! Donna Hanson, who is an expert in exactly this area, talks about the leadership challenges of integrating technology into an organisation.
Out of Office: Online Meetings Etiquette
Whether you’re meeting with clients, colleagues or even competitors, some of those meetings might take place online, so you need to know how to run a good online meeting. It’s not easy, and some of the skills are different from physical meetings.
Get the book “Out of Office” here.
Content Marketing Workshops in Sydney
If you’d like to know more about content marketing and how to use it in your business, come to my two one-day workshops in Sydney in May.
The first one puts your content marketing platform in place, with blogging, special reports, article writing, and social media. Then, on the following day, we look at making your ideas more visual - through slide shows, PowerPoint, video, infographics, and animation. Come to one or both sessions – whatever suits you needs.
Find out more here:
Get Permission When Using Other People’s Material
9 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
Everything that somebody publishes to the Internet is covered by copyright automatically, whether or not it says so explicitly. Some copyright holders do make their material available for sharing, and in different ways. Here’s a list of the most common types of permission.
Be very careful when copying something you find online. It’s usually easy to do it, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to do so! And it’s becoming easier than ever for copyright holders to track down where their material is being used.
When you’re scouring the Internet for material, you’ll find different phrases describing how you’re allowed to use that material. Here’s a list of the most common types of permission.
- Public domain: The material is freely available for you to use in any way you like – including changing it and selling it.
- Free: As it says, you don’t have to pay! Unlike public domain material, though, you don’t automatically have permission to change it. And the copyright owner might add other restrictions (e.g. Some free e-books can only be given away, while others can only be included in paid product bundles). Be sure the owner does have the right to offer it free, though. Some Web sites offer, say, a collection of clip art with the notice that they “believe these are free for you to use”. That’s not good enough, and could get you in legal hot water in the future!
- Royalty free: This means you only pay once for buying the licence, but don’t pay each time you use it (unlike, say, a radio station that pays a royalty every time they play an artist’s song).
- Reprint licence: This is just the name given to the copyright owner’s wording that spells out your rights in using the material. Generally, if you’ve “got a reprint licence” for something, it means you’ve got the right to pass it on freely – but possibly under certain conditions.
- Creative Commons licence: This refers to a special group of licences, which make it easy for copyright holders to make their material available for reuse under certain conditions. The least restrictive Creative Commons licence allows you to use something without any restriction except giving credit. But other versions of the licence do add more restrictions (for example, not to be used in commercial projects), so read them carefully.
- Resale licence: This usually means you don’t have the right to copy the product, but you can re-sell it on the owner’s behalf, and keep a share of the sale income.
- Private label rights: This usually means you have the right to take the content and re-publish it under your own brand. This most often applies to some e-books, where the author gives you the original Microsoft Word document, so you can edit it in any way you like.
- Master reprint licence: This means you’ve not only got permission to pass on the material, you’ve also got permission to pass on the licence. For example, if you’re involved in network marketing, you might want a master reprint licence to an e-book, so you can not only pass it on to your downline, but they can pass it on to their downline in turn.
These various terms might have your head spinning. But in practice, it’s just a matter of carefully reading the copyright owner’s wording.
Expert Gold Radio: Authority Marketing
4 December 2012 by Leave a Comment
Expert Gold Radio brings you monthly ideas, information, interviews and insights into the world of Internet marketing and e-learning.
Listen to the episode here:
What Do You Really Want In 2013?
I share a simple but powerful goal-setting process, which I use myself every year, and something I have shared with clients, colleagues and friends. It doesn’t replace any of the other goal-setting processes you might be using, but it’s a useful framework to take stock of where you are, and identify where you’d like to be in 2013.
Authority Marketing – with Rachel Staggs
Rachel Staggs, from SRS Coaching and Consulting, is a business consultant for financial advisers, and helps clients with one area they often need help with: marketing. In this interview, we talk about online marketing and offline marketing for experts and business owners, and how to position yourself as an authority.
Find out more about Rachel Staggs here.
Your Internet Marketing Plan for 2013
The world of marketing has changed in nine ways, and you need to adapt to stay in touch with these things: you, reputation, tribes, value, what they need, niches, experiences, frames and connection. In this coaching segment – based on the ideas in my book “Fast, Flat and Free” – I ask you 27 questions to help you create your own Internet marketing plan for next year.
Expert Gold Radio: Positioning
1 November 2012 by Leave a Comment
Expert Gold Radio brings you monthly ideas, information, interviews and insights into the world of Internet marketing and e-learning.
Listen to the episode here:
The Positioning Matrix – with Matt Church
The Positioning Matrix is an elegant tool for creating a flexible way of positioning yourself in many situations – at a networking event, on social media platforms, in writing sales copy, on your Web site, and more.
Find out more about Matt Church here.
Positioning Yourself with a Welcome Video
You can use the Positioning Matrix for many things, including a script for a short welcome video to use on the home page of your Web site. In this extract from the audio book version of “Fast, Flat and Free”, I explain how to do that.
Get the book “Fast, Flat and Free” here.
Book Review: How to Be THAT Guy, by Scott Ginsberg
This is the best book I’ve ever read about personal branding. Ginsberg himself uses a bold gimmick to stand out from the crowd (if you don’t know: He always wears a name tag), but this book has ideas for everybody, even if (like me) that sort of extroverted stunt isn’t your style. This book isn’t about your gimmick, it’s about finding your uniqueness and then making it shine – in the way that works best for you.
5 Tips to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy
If your social media strategy is floundering, and you’re not getting a return on the time, money and effort you invested in it, don’t try harder and put more effort into it. Instead, revamp it altogether.
Book Review: Produce, Publish, Publicize, by Sabrina Sumsion
26 October 2012 by Leave a Comment
This is a comprehensive book about writing and publishing your own book.
Obviously, there are many books on this subject, but I particularly like this one because Sumsion goes into the publishing process – especially print publishing – in depth.
She starts by grouping authors into three categories: best-seller hopefuls, make-a-buck authors, and writers for posterity (Most experts and thought leaders fall into the middle category, although they probably won’t like the term “make a buck”!) Throughout the book, she breaks down her advice into specific points for each of these categories, which is very useful for readers.
The book is in three parts: writing, publishing and publicity. The first section is the shortest, but that doesn’t matter because there are plenty of other resources about how to write well.
The other two sections are longer, and very valuable because they do offer advice and insights you won’t easily find elsewhere. For example, in the publishing section, Sumsion talks about how to find an agent, how to work with distributors, and how to avoid publishing scams. Similarly, the publicity section is not just about promoting the book yourself (although that is covered in detail); it’s also about working with a publicist.
All in all, this is an excellent book if you’re interested in getting published.
Great Questions for Interviewing Experts
22 October 2012 by Leave a Comment
An easy way to create new products is by interviewing other people, in an area that’s of interest to your market but doesn’t compete directly with you. Many people struggle with asking the right questions, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here’s one simple structure you can use for every interview you do.
First, prepare the questions ahead of time, and share them with your guest. This means that:
- You can choose questions that tie in with your area of expertise
- The expert can suggest questions that are most important in their experience
- The expert can consider the questions and prepare more relevant answers
- Your interview will flow more smoothly.
When you make your list of questions, follow this broad formula: Who, Why, What, How, What If, Contact.
Who
These questions introduce the expert to the listeners, and establish the expert’s credibility – for example:
- How did you get started in this area?
- What sort of clients do you typically deal with?
- How long have you been working with these issues?
Why
These questions motivate the listeners to keep listening by describing the problem and the benefits of solving it – for example:
- In your experience, why are most people so bad at [customer service, time management, etc.]?
- The latest research shows that most employees are still unhappy with their jobs, even in the best companies. Why are most companies getting it wrong?
- Why is it important to use a formal strategic planning process?
What
These questions give an overview of the solution – for example:
- What is the single most important principle in [goal setting, leadership, etc.]?
- What are the keys to success in [whatever]?
How
Now you get into the details by asking the expert to describe the solution in more depth – for example:
- So let’s go through each of those steps in detail…
- What simple things can somebody do right away to address this issue?
- If you’re not sure what to do next, how do you get started?
- What are the typical things that could get in the way of implementing this process?
What If
These questions help the listeners to project the solution into the future – for example:
- What sort of results can a typical organisation expect if they put your seven-step process into practice?
- What companies are already doing this well?
- How quickly can we expect results?
- What should we be looking for to measure the success of this process?
Contact
Finally, you give the expert some exposure by asking how they can serve the listeners – for example:
- Can you describe a particularly difficult client who used this process successfully?
- What sort of businesses do you work with?
- If listeners would like to get more help with this process, what services do you offer them?
- How can they get in touch with you?
Although this sequence might look artificial at first, you will find that it’s a natural progression that makes your interview flow easily.
The Why/What/How/What-If sequence is also based on research in learning styles, and has been designed to appeal to different types of learners.
Book Review: Writing at Work – A Quick and Easy Guide to Grammar and Effective Business Writing, by Ellis Morgan
12 October 2012 by Leave a Comment
This is a handy reference guide for writers, covering aspects of grammar and writing style. It’s short and to the point, with the material organised in alphabetical order for easy reference.
This is not a formal style guide, but it does provide helpful hints and tips on improving your style. It includes help for some of the most common errors in grammar (such as “more vs fewer”, “I vs me”, and “may, might and can”) with clear examples and guidelines.
Expert Gold Radio: The Publishing Revolution
1 October 2012 by Leave a Comment
Expert Gold Radio brings you monthly ideas, information, interviews and insights into the world of Internet marketing and e-learning.
Listen to the episode here:
The Publishing Revolution – with Dan Poynter
Dan Poynter is a world-recognised expert on non-fiction publishing. In this interview, he talks about recent changes to the publishing world, e-books vs printed books, the power of being a published author, and more.
Find out more about Dan Poynter here.
Online Collaboration For Authors
Chris and I used a number of different online collaboration tools in writing our book. In this conversation, we talk about them, including: outsourcing for transcribing and ghostwriting, working on a shared manuscript, incorporating comments from reviewers, and more.
Simple Steps to Success When Creating an Interview Product
29 August 2012 by Leave a Comment
One of the easiest ways to create an audio product is to interview an expert. You’ve invited the expert, prepared the set of questions, and now it’s time for the interview itself! Whether you’re doing it in person (with them sitting across from you) or remotely (via telephone, Skype or video), here are some tips for making sure it works effectively.
This can be a bit daunting at first – both for you and the expert being interviewed – but you will get better the more often you do it.
Before the interview
Well before the interview, explain to your guest the purpose of the interview and the typical listener. Prepare a list of questions, and send it to the guest, so they can make suggestions and corrections. Be sure you know their name, organization name, job title, and anything else they would like you to use to introduce them. If they have an unusual name, check the pronunciation carefully. You should have already agreed on the time, date, technology and venue. But contact your guest a day or two before the interview, confirming the time and date, and asking whether they have any final questions about the process.
Test your recording equipment, matching the interview environment as closely as possible. For example, if you’re using a hand-held recorder with two lapel microphones, test the recorder batteries and both microphones. Print two copies of the questions, one for yourself and one for the guest (in case they forget).
Set up the environment
Have a glass of water, list of questions and a pen handy. If you’re meeting face to face, make sure the guest has the same. Take your telephones off the hook, and close any doors and windows. Connect the recording equipment, including your microphones, as soon as possible, even before you’re ready to start the formal recording. This gives you a chance to check your seating positions, length of microphone cords, and so on. Start recording as a sound check.
Explain to the guest how the process will work – in particular:
- Instruct them to ignore the microphone and recording equipment; just act as if it is a normal conversation.
- Explain that it will be edited later, so they can stop if they get stuck and start their response again.
- Explain that you will keep track of time.
Review the list of questions briefly, and ask whether they would like any last-minute changes. Then stop the recording and listen to it. Ensure that both parties are recorded, the recording is clear, and they are both speaking at a similar volume.
Conduct the interview
When you’re ready, conduct the interview, broadly following the question list.
Some things to keep in mind:
- In a face-to-face interview, when the guest is giving a long answer, nod and maintain eye contact, but don’t interject, even with “uh huh” or “yes”.
- If they make a detailed point, it might be worth summarising it at the end, and asking them to confirm that your summary is correct.
- If they get too theoretical (which can sometimes happen because they are experts), bring this back to reality with a question like, “So if you were to apply that to [a particular situation], how would that work?”
- Listen for jargon and other language that the listener might not understand, and ask the guest to clarify it.
- If either of you starts going off on an irrelevant tangent, just stop the conversation and re-start it. It’s not necessary to stop the recording, because you will edit this out later.
- Keep an eye on the time, and make sure that you cover all the essential points.
Wrap up
When the interview is complete, stop the recording. Ask the guest whether there is anything important that was not said. If so, start the recording again and record that point. Check that you introduced the guest properly, and remembered to ask for their contact information at the end of the program. If you didn’t, re-record those sections now.
Keep in mind that it’s better to do all the recording in a single session than to try reproducing the exact same environment to record any material later. So if you did miss anything, simply record it now – even if it needs to be moved later during editing.
