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Bestselling Books on Podcasts

Leili McKinley — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:13:52 +0000

As a broadcast medium, Podcasting is a wonderful way to share information through digital media files in an audio or video format. If you’re thinking about podcasting, but you aren’t quite sure just where to begin, you might want to read up on the subject. There are quite a few podcasting books available that do a great job on explaining a podcast from start to finish. Here’s a run down on some of the bestsellers that are worth the investment.

Podcasting Bible by Mitch Ratcliffe

Veteran technology writer, Ratcliffe, chose an appropriate name for his publication when he picked the word ‘bible’. It contains 570 pages that are packed with podcast suggestions and details. The book is well-organized into seven sections that focus on specific podcast segments, such as production, equipment, distribution and media integration. In order to learn all the ins and outs of podcasting, this book is highly recommended.

Business Podcasting Bible: Wherever My Market Is…I Am by Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian

Using your podcast to enhance your business and connect with your audience requires a bit of know how. Fortunately, this book lessens the learning curve through case study models. Reviewing how other businesses use this media gives podcast newbies a chance to borrow ideas and tailor them to fit their needs. A solid book with excellent examples.

Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio and Video Podcasting by Michael Geoghegan and Dan Klass

The authors of this book have been referred to as pioneers in the field of podcasting. They’ve been around podcasting since the beginning and offer a wealth of insight for people that are just getting their feet wet. The book covers a range of topics that help teach readers about setting-up a podcast and marketing a podcast, as well as how to format a podcast. A fantastic book that educates readers on all things podcast-based.

Podcasting Hacks: Tips and Tools for Blogging Out Loud by Jack Herrington

Having the right hardware and software can make or break a podcast. Additionally, knowing how to search and subscribe to podcasts is also key, especially when you’re ready to produce your own. Whether you’re interested in recording telephone interviews via podcast or concerned about preparing guests for interviews, this book has it all.

One honorable mention that shouldn’t be overlooked is Podcasting for Dummies from the Dummies Series.

Technorati Tags: blogging, podcast, Social Media, video podcast

To Self Publish or Not To Self Publish? What you should ask to know the right answer for you.

Leili McKinley — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:18:21 +0000

Self-publishing scams abound right now. How do you know who is legitimate? Who has the best deal for the author? Here is a podcast to help you decide if you should self-publish or not, and if you do, how to find the right company to work with.

In my interview with Shelley Lieber, we cover what is happening right now in the self publishing industry and how to figure out who has the best deal for today’s authors. We also uncover what the top questions are that you need to ask every self publishing house before you sign anything! It’s your money and your time, so spend it wisely.

Shelley Lieber is author of 4Ps to Publishing Success. She is also known as The Wordy Woman, a title she has earned by becoming a sought after publishing coach.

7 Best Twitter Blogs and Apps: How To Use Them to Boost Your Online Branding

Leili McKinley — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:20:13 +0000

Twitter is an important web tool for online brand management, where reputation is everything. The short term and long term benefits should not be over looked, especially in a tough economy. There are many useful twitter blogs and twitter apps that help you use Twitter to streamline your online brand management. Here are a list of Twitter blogs and Twitter apps that you can effectively use to boost the brand of your online business during this recession:

FAVRD – Who’s Your Twitter Favorite?

What’s That? FAVRD is a website (read twitter blog) that aggregates Twitter posts based on the number of times they have been marked as favorites by Twitterers. Usually, the Twitter posts that find a place on FAVRD are funny, insightful or entertaining. Being one of the most popular twitter blogs on the Internet, FAVRD lays down a set of rules regarding what it considers filtered posts on Twitter.

How Does That Help Me? This massively popular Twitter tool helps you find the most filtered and favorite posts people tweet about. Hence, you can use this Twitter app as a platform for social media networking by writing interesting, insightful and thought-provoking tweets about your business activities. But, make sure your overall approach towards FAVRD should be interactive rather than promotional. FAVRD is no place for “web-strategy, social-media, and online-marketing webcocks” as mentioned in its guidelines.

TwiTip – Make Your Tweets Count

What’s That? TwiTip is a popular Twitter blog owned by Darren Rowse, the guy behind the famous blog – ProBlogger. With short, crisp and highly informative posts, Darren shares his thoughts and ideas on how to use Twitter efficiently and productively. The best part of TwiTip is that it allows you to contribute your innovative thoughts and ideas you have on how to better use and improve the experience on using Twitter.

How Does That Help Me? If Tweeting helps you manage your online brand image, TwiTip tells how you can do it the best way. While everybody is leveraging Twitter to nurture their online brand identity, few know how to make the right move. With many useful Twitter tips, you can surely find out ways to optimize your social media campaigns.

Tweetstats – Follow Your Own Tweets

What’s That? If you wish if there was anything like Google Analytics to help you keep tabs on your tweet counts, Tweetstats is the answer to your prayer. To say Tweetstats is a Twitter application is an understatement – it is a supercool twitter tool that graphs your tweeting habits blow by blow. With Tweetstats, you can figure out the number of Tweets per hour or month, Tweet timeline and even your reply statistics.

How Does That Help Me? Since Tweeting is one of the most effective ways of social networking and brand building online, it pays to know how your fellow Twitterers are using Twitter. With feature like Twitter Trending Stats which shows the Top 100 Trends that are currently on Twitter, Tweetstats can be an effective tool for niche marketing.

TwitterSweet – What’s Up On Twitter?

What’s That? TwitterSweet is unofficial and independent tweeter blog that offers wealth of information including news, features, tips and highlights that can be very helpful for regular Twitterers. Created by Joe Grossberg, the founder of Joegrossberg.com, TwitterSweet aims at offering interesting news, features and tips on Twitter that can help you enhance your tweeting experience.

How Does That Help Me: What is the easiest and most private way to send direct message to someone on Twitter? Answers to questions like this can be found on TwitterSweet, which means you can stay updated on all the latest APIs and other similar news about Twitter.

Twittown – Join Hands with the Twitter Community

What’s That? If you have been looking for a Twitter community where you can talk about, share your ideas and meet like-minded people sharing similar hobbies and interests, Twittown is your ultimate destination. This is Twitter blog brings together all the Twitter fans who may be in different professions, but share a common passion, i.e tweeting. Twittown allows its community members to read news on the blogs, chat in the forums, apart from offering many useful Twitter tools and applications which are relevant to the Twitter communities.

How Does That Help Me? Twittown covers a wide range of social networks and their applications, widget platforms and mobile platforms such as iphone, blackberry and android. If you are a frequent traveler who tweets extensively and is tuned in to Twitter updates, Twittown can help you remain updated. Besides, there is no better way to foster your online network than using this wonderful twitter blog.

Twitter Blog – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

What’s That? This is the official Twitter blog. It should be the first place you visit when you want to learn how to use Twitter effectively. It brings you a lot of news, stats and apps that are vital for a great experience on Twitter. Besides, this is the best place to get familiar with the Twitter lingo. Being the official Twitter blog, you need to visit this blog to update your TQ (Twitter Quotient).

How Does That Help Me? As the official Twitter blog, Twitter offers the most authentic and latest updates that are necessary for its users. Whether you’re new to Twitter or not, Twitter blog always offers you something new that helps you monetize Twitter.

Twitterholic – When Madness Counts

What’s That? Twitterholic offers ranking of the top twitterers in a list, which is updated quite frequently. Hence, you can find the most popular twitter users. It shows all the vital statistics of top twitterholics such as the location, number of followers, friends, updates, the date of joining and even the URL of twitterers.

How Does That Help Me? When you show up in the top 100 Twitterholics list, you increase your opportunity of being found easily. Although, it takes a ton of tweets and followers on Twitter everyday to access the “top one hundred”, you should make your tweets interesting, relevant and readable.

Technorati Tags: Social Media, social media marketing, Twitter, twitter strategy

Creating Brand Evangelists

Leili McKinley — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:27:21 +0000

Customers now judge a company on experiential interaction, not just the simple benefits of a product or service. It’s not just an extension of the brand. The experience is the brand.

Dell Computers has been thrashed many times for subpar customer service. If you promise one benefit and deliver another, your brand loses value. If you project one set of values, and act on another, your brand is lost.

The experience leaves the customer confused. Unable to align with a set of values promised, the customer feels betrayed. The customer loses faith in the brand.

On the other hand, fostering the faithful with positive brand interaction produces evangelists.

The “evangelizing moment” of a customer is when they touch the soul of the company. They become “branded” aligning with the meaning of the company’s true purpose. Think of Apple providing Seekers (those in search of new adventure or experience) the ability to “Think Different”. It connects to the Seekers core value – to be unique and nonconforming.

That connection between the core values – the soul of the company and the soul of the customer – is why they evangelize. They have found a temple of core value at which to worship. It’s mythic. It’s epic. The brand becomes icon because it connects to the subconscious yearnings of the customer, imprinting on the brain. The pictured emotional experience becomes a conduit through which the customer can again be touched by those core values.

Those pictures and emotions then become language in the brain of the customer. And it’s the language of evangelism.

Technorati Tags: Brand Evangelism, Brand Evangelists, Branding, Concious Branding