@BasilPuglisi

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The Business of YouTube: From Ads to Originals, Why Video is Red Hot in 2015

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YouTube at a Crossroads: Ads, Originals, and Opportunity

By mid-October 2015, YouTube is no longer just a video-sharing site. It’s a full-fledged media empire with creators, advertisers, and audiences intertwining like never before. While anticipation brews over the ad-free subscription service YouTube Red (expected before month’s end), advertisers are actively adjusting their strategies.

TrueView ads continue to dominate, offering skippable formats that respect the viewer’s time and deliver value to advertisers. Marketers are leveraging new call-to-action overlays and experimenting with mid-roll formats to boost engagement and conversions. Brands that once relied solely on banner or text ads are now producing original video content with storytelling and purpose.

YouTube Kids Expands Its Influence

Launched earlier this year, YouTube Kids is gaining traction with parents and educators seeking curated, family-friendly content. For advertisers, this presents a specialized audience: young viewers with high engagement and loyal viewing habits. But it also brings tighter scrutiny around COPPA compliance and ad transparency. Savvy brands are designing kid-safe campaigns that combine education, entertainment, and soft product placement.

Video Isn’t Just Selling—It’s Teaching

Businesses are going beyond promotion. Thought leadership, customer onboarding, and how-to series are becoming regular tools for marketers across platforms. YouTube Live, while still niche, is emerging as a way to host digital town halls or product walkthroughs.

This is the evolution from interruption to instruction. The smartest brands are realizing that content value = audience loyalty.

Creators Become Partners, Not Just Promoters

Influencers on YouTube are shifting from simple product reviewers to long-term brand collaborators. Companies are engaging creators for series-based content, branded storylines, and affiliate programs.

Rather than interrupting with ads, brands are integrating their message within trusted channels. It’s social proof, delivered visually, by someone the audience already follows.

Strategic Insight: What Do You Show, Solve, and Scale?

• What’s your story? You don’t just sell a product—you offer insight, education, or entertainment that leads to action.
• What do you solve? You eliminate confusion. Whether it’s onboarding, product use, or why your service matters—video solves with clarity.
• How do you do it? Through short-form tutorials, authentic storytelling, or influencer co-creation.
• Why do they care? Because people don’t read instructions—they search YouTube. The faster you help, the faster they trust you.

Fictional Ideas

Janelle owns a skincare company. Instead of relying only on ads, she partners with two YouTube creators: one does a daily skincare routine, the other hosts a Q&A using her products.

She also creates a YouTube series answering top skincare myths, each video under 2 minutes, embedded on her website’s FAQ page. Views grows month over month, and customer service tickets drops.

Video becomes her top-performing channel—not just for visibility but for conversion.

References

YouTube Official Blog. (2015). YouTube Red announcement and creator partnerships. https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-red-launch
Google Ads Help. (2015). About TrueView video ads. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375464
YouTube Kids Overview. (2015). https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_us/kids/
Adweek. (2015). Why Brands Are Flocking to YouTube Stars. https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/why-brands-are-flocking-youtube-stars-167000/
Think with Google. (2015). How-to content on YouTube drives buying behavior. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/how-to-content-youtube/

The Video Wars Begin: Why Smart Brands Are Doubling Down on Native Content

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Video Takes Center Stage

Across platforms, one trend is undeniable—video content is dominating digital. Facebook has recently reported a major uptick in native video uploads and views, directly challenging YouTube’s once unshakable reign. The introduction of autoplay videos in users’ news feeds, combined with improved mobile streaming, has turned Facebook into a serious player in the battle for video attention.

Short-form video is proving especially valuable for brands and small businesses alike. While long-form content still has a place, under-a-minute clips offer high engagement, low bounce rates, and shareability. These quick hits match user behavior: fast scrolling, fast consumption.

Shorter is Smarter: The Under-a-Minute Strategy

In the fight for attention, time matters. Fifteen-second clips—like those on Instagram or Vine—have become marketing gold. These videos are easy to consume, quick to produce, and ideal for storytelling on the go. Compare this to 3–5-minute explainer videos that require full-screen attention and ideal conditions to retain a viewer. Short video allows businesses to remain top-of-mind in moments, not minutes.

Platforms like Twitter now support rich video previews and inline playback. Facebook’s autoplay ensures motion catches the eye. Even YouTube is adapting by showcasing shorter ads and promoting quick content in its algorithms. Businesses that want to win in this space must pivot toward native-first, short-form video strategies.

Marketplaces for Video Content Are Growing

To support this shift, providers like Patch.com are helping businesses source and sell short-form video ads designed specifically for use on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This opens the door for businesses with limited resources to still compete with high-quality visuals and messaging that align with current user expectations.

What matters most is relevance and repetition. A 15-second tip, tutorial, or testimonial can outperform a five-minute pitch if it delivers value fast. That’s the heart of *Factics*—content built on real facts and paired with a strategy. The same way we educate at Digital Ethos using our *Teachers NOT Speakers* method, brands can turn videos into learning tools that connect, not just convert.

The Future is Native and Educational

As native video becomes the standard, smart brands aren’t just uploading—they’re integrating. Educational series, behind-the-scenes clips, and quick product demos now live directly on social channels. There’s no need to redirect users; value is delivered where they already are. This shift from “promotion” to “participation” allows audiences to learn, like, and share—without ever leaving their feed.

References

Constine, J. (2014). Facebook Is Now Averaging More Than 1 Billion Video Views Per Day. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/08/facebook-video-views/
Weissman, C. (2014). Facebook Autoplay Video: What Brands Need to Know. Mashable. https://mashable.com/archive/facebook-autoplay-video
Patel, N. (2014). How to Use Short Videos for Business Marketing. QuickSprout. https://www.quicksprout.com/short-videos-marketing/
O’Neill, M. (2014). Twitter Enhances Video Embeds, Making Richer Timelines. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/twitter-video-embed-updates/
NewPatch. (2014). Short Video Advertising Marketplace. https://newpatch.com

Google’s Pigeon Update Redefines Local SEO and Content Strategy

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A Major Shift in Local Search

Google rolls out a new algorithm update—internally dubbed Pigeon—which significantly changes how local search results are ranked. While there’s no official press release, webmasters, marketers, and SEO professionals are already seeing its impact. The update ties local search rankings more closely to traditional web ranking signals and improves distance and location parameters.

In plain terms: local SEO is no longer its own game. Your organic SEO strategy now directly affects how well you show up in local results.

The Facts Behind the Change

Initial analysis from Moz and Search Engine Land shows the update benefits directories like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and ZocDoc. These sites now appear more frequently in local results, especially in competitive industries like restaurants, medical services, and legal firms.

The local pack results—those coveted map listings—are shrinking. Some SERPs that used to show 7-packs now only show 3 or even zero local listings. Google appears to be refining how it defines “local relevance,” prioritizing domain authority, traditional SEO factors, and review signals more heavily.

Google Maps: The Hidden Driver

Pigeon’s evolution is tightly integrated with Google Maps, which now plays a more influential role in how local businesses appear in both mobile and desktop search. The update appears to give preference to geographical accuracy and proximity, aligning local listings more closely with map data.

This shift encourages businesses to optimize their Google My Business listings not just for accuracy, but for strategic positioning on the map. Businesses physically located in central or densely populated areas may now have a visibility advantage over equally qualified competitors located just a few blocks away.

Google Maps is no longer just a navigation tool—it’s now a gatekeeper to local search exposure.

Why This Matters for Your Content

This is not just a search engine tweak — it’s a content strategy wake-up call.

Many small businesses have been leaning heavily on basic citations and Google Places optimization. That’s no longer enough. If your website lacks strong on-site SEO, backlinks, and high-quality content, you’re going to lose visibility in both organic and local results.

Google is rewarding brands that educate, not just exist.

Digital Ethos Position

We’ve been saying it for over a year now: content must be built on Factics — factual relevance paired with actionable strategy. You can’t simply list your business and hope people find you. You must teach people something, earn trust, and establish digital authority.

That’s why Digital Ethos always prioritized educational publishing. Our “Teachers NOT Speakers” philosophy drives us to create content that not only informs but empowers. This update validates that approach. It’s no longer enough to be present in the search index — you need to be respected by the algorithm and the audience.

We said earlier this year that the content landscape was shifting — that saturation would lead to curation and credibility. This is it happening in real time.

Strategic Response

To thrive in this new local search ecosystem, apply these strategies immediately:
– Invest in on-site SEO: Use structured data, relevant keywords, and clean architecture.
– Leverage reputation signals: Get real reviews on platforms like Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor.
– Publish useful local content: Highlight your community, local events, or regional FAQs that align with your services.
– Claim your listings: Make sure your business info is consistent across all major directories.
– Use educational posts to answer common customer questions—Google is rewarding clarity and helpfulness.

The Domain Grab Trend: A Quick Fix or Long-Term Strategy?

With the rollout of Pigeon, there’s a noticeable surge in domain purchases that follow the “[city][service].com” pattern—like PlumberBrooklyn.com or DentistChicago.net. This tactic aims to ride the algorithm’s newfound emphasis on local relevance by using geo-targeted keywords in domain names.

Some marketers are even buying multiple domains with minor variations, hoping to manipulate Google’s local rankings by linking them back to the same business or landing pages. While this approach might offer a short-term ranking bump, it lacks sustainability. Google has a long memory—and a history of penalizing tactics that dilute trust or create thin content ecosystems.

If you’re pursuing this tactic, you better deliver real, location-specific content. The domain name might catch the algorithm’s attention, but only value will hold it.

The Takeaway

Pigeon proves that Google is pushing hard to connect useful, local content with trusted online presence. It’s forcing marketers and businesses to level up their content quality and SEO game—especially in the local space.

This is not the time to chase hacks or shortcuts. It’s the time to double down on trust, authority, and education. Those who build with value will rank with confidence.

References

Barry Schwartz. (2014, July 24). Google Pigeon Update Rolls Out: Local Search Rankings Change Dramatically. Search Engine Land. https://searchengineland.com/google-pigeon-update-rolled-out-197778
Moz. (2014). Local Search Update: What You Need to Know. https://moz.com/blog/google-pigeon-update
Google Search Central. (2014). Improving Local Search Rankings. https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091

Mobile Video Meets Content Overload: Winning Attention

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The Content Race Hits a Wall

By early 2014, it was clear: the digital content arms race had reached a tipping point. Everywhere you looked — blogs, whitepapers, videos, infographics — brands were pumping out material at a breakneck pace. But something was off. Engagement metrics began to decline. More content no longer meant more results.

The term “Content Shock”, coined by Mark Schaefer just months earlier, wasn’t just a theory anymore — it was a reality.

Content Shock in Action

Schaefer (2014) predicted that as content supply continues to grow exponentially, the finite human capacity to consume it would collapse ROI. His prediction found backing quickly:

– In 2011, the average Facebook page post had an organic reach of 16%
– By early 2014, that number had dropped below 6% for most brands (Constine, 2014)
– YouTube saw over 100 hours of video uploaded every minute (YouTube, 2014)

The firehose was on full blast — and audiences were drowning.

Strategy Shift: Rise of Mobile Video

Yet even in the noise, attention could still be earned. The shift came on mobile — and it came through video.

Google reported that 40% of YouTube traffic was now coming from mobile devices. Facebook began auto-playing muted videos in feeds, and Twitter introduced native video uploads. Audiences were tuning out blog posts but leaning into motion, visuals, and voice — all from the palm of their hand.

This wasn’t just a content format change — it was a behavioral shift.

Factics in Action: Cutting Through the Noise

This is where Factics matters — where you move from trend-chasing to data-backed tactics. Here’s how brands succeeded in 2014’s content shock environment:

1. Create Value-Dense Mobile Video – 15 to 60 seconds of purposeful content, optimized for mobile loading and square or vertical formatting
2. Repurpose Long-Form Content – Break webinars, interviews, and blogs into visual snippets and storylines
3. Publish Natively – Don’t just post links. Upload video files directly to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
4. Embed Subtitles – Silent autoplay became the norm. Closed captions helped deliver the message without sound
5. Teach, Don’t Tease – Every piece of content should leave the viewer smarter, more informed, or more capable

Factics means you’re not creating content for content’s sake. You’re building strategic education, not filler.

Teachers NOT Speakers: Educators in a Noisy Market

In a time when everyone was pushing content just to stay visible, we took a different approach. Teachers NOT Speakers was never just a slogan — it was a discipline.

I wasn’t interested in being a keynote voice. I wanted to be the one giving the room tools they could walk out and use immediately. Every conference, every post, every video was a chance to demonstrate how, not just talk about what.

And that’s why Digital Ethos stood out.

“Digital Ethos was never about volume. It was about value — helping people make sense of the overload by giving them real insight, not just more noise.”

We didn’t chase visibility. We chased usefulness.

The Takeaway

April 2014 was a turning point — not because content died, but because passive content stopped working.

Audiences began filtering harder. The winners weren’t louder — they were more intentional.

✅ Create with purpose
✅ Deliver real value
✅ Show, don’t just tell
✅ Back it up with data
✅ Teach, always

Because when attention is scarce, Factics wins.

References

Constine, J. (2014, April 3). Facebook Admits Organic Reach Is Falling Short, Urges Marketers to Buy Ads. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/facebook-zero-organic-reach/

Schaefer, M. (2014, January 6). Content Shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy. Businesses Grow. https://businessesgrow.com/2014/01/06/content-shock/

YouTube Press. (2014). Statistics. https://www.youtube.com/intl/en/press/

The End of Google Reader & the Coming Content Shock: What It Means for Your Digital Strategy

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Google just dropped a bomb on the digital community. On March 13, 2013, the company announced it will be shutting down Google Reader by July 1st. For many marketers, journalists, and SEO professionals, this is more than just the end of an RSS feed aggregator — it’s a wake-up call.

In a world where we build our strategies around tools we don’t own, the removal of a major content distribution channel isn’t just inconvenient — it’s risky.

☠️ Google Reader Is Dead. So What?

If you’re not familiar with it, Google Reader allowed users to subscribe to RSS feeds from blogs, news outlets, and more — essentially creating a custom newspaper. While its popularity has declined in recent years, many digital marketers still relied on it to track industry news, competitor updates, and trend data.

But Google’s explanation was simple: usage has declined, and we want to focus on fewer products.

Translation: If it’s not profitable and scalable, it’s gone — even if it’s part of the digital marketing foundation for thousands.

This move shook content strategists because it marked another shift away from open platforms and toward walled gardens controlled by big tech. Sound familiar?

🚨 The Warning Beyond the Shutdown: Content Shock

Not long before this news, thought leader Mark Schaefer introduced a powerful idea:

“Content Shock” — the moment when the amount of content available vastly exceeds our capacity to consume it.

Think about it. Every company is now a publisher. Every employee is a micro-influencer. Every tweet, status update, blog post, infographic, and podcast is competing for the same limited attention span.

When Google shuts down a platform like Reader, it doesn’t just kill a product — it consolidates content consumption further into platforms they control (like YouTube, Google+, and Search), amplifying the volume and the competition.

The result? Only the best content survives — and even that might not be enough.

💡 What This Means for You

If you’re a brand, blogger, publicist, or digital strategist, this should spark some serious questions:

1. Are you building audiences or borrowing them?
   Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube own the audience — you just get to rent space.

2. Are you diversifying your distribution?
   Don’t rely on one platform or method. Newsletters, downloadable assets, and yes — even your own website — need to become central again.

3. Are you prepared for the noise ahead?
   As content continues to explode, the real battle won’t be if your content gets published — it’s whether it gets seen at all.

🛠 Action Steps You Can Take Now

– Re-evaluate your content syndication tools
  Alternatives like Feedly, Flipboard, or even Pocket may offer new opportunities to reach niche readers.

– Double down on owned media
  Email lists, blogs, and branded content portals are back in fashion — not because they’re trendy, but because you own them.

– Segment and personalize
  The era of mass messaging is dying. Use data to deliver content they want, not just what you want to say.

– Quality > Quantity
  In a world of Content Shock, publishing every day might not help. Publishing something worth sharing might.

🎯 Final Thought

Google Reader’s death is symbolic. It’s a reminder that we don’t control the platforms we rely on, and it’s a warning about where digital strategy is headed. As content volume increases and human attention plateaus, the winners won’t just be the loudest voices — they’ll be the ones who built lasting relationships, offered real value, and controlled their own channels.

The question isn’t whether content marketing still works. The question is: are you adapting fast enough to keep it working for you?

Sources:
– Google Official Blog: A second spring of cleaning
– Schaefer, Mark. “Content Shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy.”
– Feedly Blog
– Mashable, The Verge, TechCrunch (March 2013 reactions to Reader shutdown)

Constant Contact: eMail Marketing [INTERNSHIP]

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Constant contact is an online marketing company that allows you to stay connected with your customers all around the world. With the world rapidly moving their marketing towards the web, constant contact is a great way to anticipate new customers. They offer their services primarily to small businesses, membership associations, and nonprofit organizations. Constant contact is known for their dependable email marketing. Their main goal is to help their customers find new customers, drive repeat business, and generate referrals.
Email marketing is basically sending email messages with a purpose of attracting new customers, or enhancing the relationships with current customers. Email marketing through constant contact is a great reliable way for your company to grow. With features that allow you to have a professional look, constant contact’s email marketing is more effective than regular email. No technical skills are required to create a professional looking email because constant contact offers over 400 templates to choose from. Creating newsletters are simple and fast so you can send them much more frequently than paper ones.
In order to effectively get your prospectors to respond, differentiate your data base and create smaller customer lists based on their shared interests. After you’ve done that, send them relevant information that pertains to them. This will get more of a chance for them to actually act upon your emails. The emails you send are easy to forward so if you target your audience and their interested, there’s no doubt they’ll click the forward button. This will get you referrals much more easily and allow your company to grow.
A cool feature constant contact’s email marketing offers is tracking and reporting. After you send an email you are able to see who read, clicked, or forwarded your email. This allows you to understand what the people you’re trying to contact are really interested about. You can then go back and tailor your content the best possible way for your targeted audience.
Besides the email templates constant contact offers, they also offer list management and free coaching. List management is a tool that allows you to organize and grow your contact list by combing multiple lists and segmenting them based on an audience with common interests. This is a much easier way to send out a mass email because the lists are already narrowed down to a targeted audience. If you’re having trouble with email marketing through constant contact, they offer free personal coaching and support at anytime. They present webinars, guides, and podcasts to go further in detail about email marketing and how it can boost your businesses customer service.
Constant contact is the new marketing success formula that helps create and grow customer relationships in today’s socially connected world. It’s an easy reliable way for your business to keep a strong communication line. If you use constant contact’s email marketing the right way, your customers will share your emails with their networks therefore making your business grow.
Sources:
http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
http://landing.constantcontact.com/goog-grow-with-email-marketing-ad?utm_id=GOO-100846&cc=GOO-100846&gclid=CPXIgL3ZybMCFQOf4AodzQMA7A
http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/what-is-email-marketing/index.jsp
http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/index.jsp
The content in this article is part of Digital Ethos’s Digital Media Education in the Higher Education Internship Program, the content was created by @KaylaMarzo, a Student at Suffolk County Community college, intern at Digital Ethos.

A look at StumbleUpon [INTERNSHIP]

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StumbleUpon is an interesting social media website that provides you with all different kinds of content. You can personalize your own Stumbleupon page to your own interests. This will give your own home page that is personalized to content and stories that you might be interested in. StumbleUpon recommends to you stories and content that interests you. Not only do they offer graphics, but they offer recipes, inspirational stories, videos, the latest fashion, and more. When you are browsing articles and other content, you are given the choice to like or dislike the content. By doing this, this allows your content to be even more narrowed down to the things you like. It’s like exploring the internet that’s specifically made for you.
To browse, simply press the “stumble” button in the top left corner of the screen. Every click is like a new adventure to come across. One click you can see the majestic beaches of Italy, and the next click could be teaching you how to make a rainbow cheesecake. Stumbleupon offers many fascinating features.  Besides liking content that interests you, there is content that can educate you. The settings in Stumble Upon are so definitive that you can change your interests at any time. If one day you’re interested in baking and the next you’re not, you can delete it and add your newest fad.
StumbleUpon gives you the option of sharing the content with your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and your LinkedIn connections. This will benefit any individual, small business or large corporation. Sharing engaging information with colleagues will lead into a conversation and allow you to exchange your ideas. Make sure the content that you are sharing is relevant. This will benefit you in the long run because it will be much simpler to communicate on a common ground. For example, if you are a toy manufacturer and you want to reach out to toy stores; you will want to share content on why the toys you generate are the best.
StumbleUpon is a great social site for those that are trying to break into the digital space, especially when you consider that social media success is often measured in terms of influence or those that can talk about more than themselves. StumbleUpon can help those new to digital content find stories and share things that complete their personal or professional interests. StumbleUpon helps provide great content that’s relevant to your individual persona and lets you share it.
With 25 million users, StumbleUpon seems to be on the right track towards popularity. They are working hard and fast to become a household name. It is a fun way to see the internet specialized just for you. It’s also a good way to open up conversations and share common interests with your peers.
Sources

The content in this article is part of Digital Ethos’s Digital Media Education in the Higher Education Internship Program, the content was created by @KaylaMarzo, a Student at Suffolk County Community college, intern at Digital Ethos.

Is Your Website Deliciously Sticky?

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What is the point of having a website?
It’s to let people know all about your business, your products, your services; it’s to give them the information they need to contact you; and it’s to give them the information they need to choose you over your competitors. It’s also supposed to convince people to browse your site and keep them coming back for more. Essentially, you want people to stick to you like glue and that is why you need a ‘sticky site’.
A sticky site is one that gives visitors want they want immediately and entices them to click internal links so that they can find out more. It also makes them want to share the stickiness with their friends, like delicious fudge.
What makes a site sticky?
There are two main factors that contribute to the stickiness of your site.
1)     Website design
2)     Content
Web design
A lot of businesses, especially small businesses, skimp on site design. One reason is that they think it’s too expensive. But the cost of losing customers through a slap-dash site far outweighs the cost of a decent looking website.
Some businesses mistake flashy for professional. They try to jam-pack their sites with too many features, to many colours and too much information from the get-go. One of the key factors of sticky site design is simplicity. Simple doesn’t have to be bland or stark; it can still be striking and bold.
In addition to being overwhelming, flashy sites can take a long time to load. Sites with a long loading time are likely to die far quicker death.
Think of your site as a map; it should direct people to where they want to go via the most direct route. In web jargon, you want a site that is intuitively navigable and usable.
Content
Content doesn’t consist only of words. Images, polls, competitions, videos – they’re all content. Search engines like words and well-tagged images and videos, so you need to choose your words (keywords) carefully. But searchers like to be engaged, which basically means that you still need to choose your words carefully.
Your content is what sets you apart from your competitors, it’s what attracts and keeps attention. It needs to be especially sticky. Once again, you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with information. Once again you want to keep it simple. Bear in mind that you want to be clear and succinct and not curt and laconic.
Every page should have a goal and the content must support that goal. Steven Bradley says that you should follow the inverted pyramid style of writing. That’s all the most important information right at the top and the lesser details trailing down.
Search and social
Jordan Kasteler (Search Engine Land) says that you need to consider the different needs of search and social users.
Search users are likely to be looking for something specific – they want certain information and they want it now so they can convert. Social users are likely to be browsers – they’re curious; the kind of people who tell salespeople that they’re ‘just looking’ in a store.
Balancing these needs needn’t be too tricky because there is a fair bit of overlap. They both want information in as simple a format as possible, but search visitors are more likely to want your services/products and purchases pages, while social users are more likely to want your blog and about us pages – but they also want to see your services and products.
Basically, if your website and your content are designed with users in mind, you have a good chance of achieving stickiness.
Sources:
http://searchengineland.com/making-your-site-sticky-for-both-search-and-social-users-134233
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/inverted-pyramid-design/
 
This guest post was written by Sandy Cosser on behalf of Elemental, a specialist web development company that balances your needs with those of your online visitors. Follow Sandy on twitter @SandyCosser

Making Money With Your Webinar- Structure Your Content in Five Easy Steps!

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So, you finally decided to try out a webinar to make money. By now, you probably have an idea as to the type of webinar that you would like to make money from. Perhaps you have a pre-recorded webinar on your computer with a teaching or sermon that you would like to share with the world. Perhaps you recorded a how to get a full body workout in only ten minutes or conducted a teaching session on how to thrive in a stagnant economy.
It’s exciting that you’ve selected your topic of interest! The ideas that you have are indeed limitless, and the webinars that you could create are now within your grasp. You want your customers to come to you so that you can answer their needs. Every business fills a need, every customer has a need waiting to be filled. How will you go about filling this need with your webinar?

Dynamics of Content

First and foremost, you’ll want to understand the dynamics of your content and how it brings life or death to your webinar. Content answers the question of how to get your webinar off the ground. It also creates a hunger for the products and services that you have to offer. I don’t just go to any place to get my pizza fix. I go to a specific place because I know that I like the content of their pizza and the way that they make it. In the same way, your attendees are coming to your webinar for the content that you have to offer and the way that you offer it.
If you haven’t already created a webinar, you’ll want to decide on the software to hold a web conference first. Once you’ve finalized the software, you can begin to put the pieces of your webinar’s content together by following these five simple steps to ensure that your content meets the mark and your subscribers leave the session happy that they purchased your webinar!

1.) Know your audience.

  • If you’re lecturing NASA scientists, you can pretty much skip the fluff and beef up the content with more analysis and scientific research findings.
  • If you’re creating a session geared for Girl Scouts, you’ll want to include more things that they can relate to.

2.) Decide on your approach.

  • Do you want the audience to sit through the entire session or do you want to include short quizzes and test sections?
  • Do you want to be more informational and provide a lot of data or conversational and more relaxed? Which approach fits your audience better? Can you customize it to fit their needs?
  • Once you know what style approach you will be using, it is much easier to create a consistent webinar that exudes professionalism. There are many, many bad webinars out there that could easily be avoided if the webinars had only been consistent in their approach from start to finish.

3.) Structure your time well.

  • If you told your audience that you would be discussing XYZ in the webinar, make sure you don’t gloss over XYZ and skip over to ZZZ. I’ve seen this happen too many times and have been completely disappointed when this happens. Not only do I feel cheated out of my time, but I feel betrayed by the bait-and-switch method that seems to run rampant.
  • If it takes ten minutes to explain a key area, do not take more than that time to explain it. You want to engage your audience and keep them at the edge of their seats wanting more!

4.) Groom your content.

  • Are some areas too wordy and others lacking in content? Take time to comb through your presentation and cut out the clutter while beefing up the lean parts.
  • Does your outline convey your actual content? We often think that we have everything perfectly compiled only to discover that a key element was never included. A scan between your actual content (webinar) and your outline will help you get that 1:1 match.
  • Do your images and illustrations match up with your topic?

5.) Is your content engaging to your audience?

  • If I am going to sit down and watch a webinar that I paid decent money for, I must be looking for specific content that will help fill my needs.
  • Have you created the content that adequately satisfies my need (ie, my need to learn how to sew from your created webinar)?

The above are a great starting point when beginning to look into creating a webinar that has lasting results. No only will you come across as more professional, but you will also service a niche group that could potentially return time and time again.

Benjamin Baker is addicted to writing! He is a research hound and fills hard to find searches. He enjoys playing his guitar and spends his free time camping and fishing. He recently discovered www.webconferenceclassroom.com and is starting his own webinar mini-series on how to fish. He is happily married and is the father of 3 growing (and busy) teenagers. He lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and kids.

Demand Studios and the Impact from Google’s Algorithm Change

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There seems to be some serious back-and-forth about the state of Demand Studios since the Google algorithm alteration. Initial impact indicated that they may have lost ground on the search driven traffic of some of their sites. Citing eHow.com as one of the locations where the change may have triggered a down-turn, Demand Studios initial statement indeed, indicated that even they knew that the new algorithm may have relatively lasting impact on their page views.

Demand Relies on SEO

Demand Media does rely heavily on search engine optimization to boost traffic to their content which is created by over 13,000 freelancers worldwide. So Google’s announcement that its change would impact almost 12 percent of search engine queries, was definitely destined to negatively affect Demands current page views by sheer numbers alone.

With sites like eHow being a large part of their company’s content, often ranking high on search engine queries before the change, and afterwards, there can be little doubt that the effect was in fact, a minor one for them. However, falling stock values are also a cause for concern for Demand. Some searches even provide Demand Studios content ranking higher than before the change.

Google Panda

Continued updates, codenamed Panda, have provided a different viewpoint altogether. Just over a week ago Google enacted the Pandora update worldwide. This time stating that two percent of Google queries in the U.S. would be affected.

Sistrix, a site that had previously released the results of impact on content farms after the first update, also released new information on the Panda change and how it has definitely affected the page views of eHow content. Although in general, the second update was not as search engine query altering as the second, or Panda update, it did land on eHow this time, even though it is rumored that it was actually one of the targets of the first update in February 2011.

Demand Demands Acknowledgement

While admitting a slight decline in search engine traffic on eHow sites due to the recent changed, Demand still insists that the Sistrix numbers are way off. Citing a predicted 2/3rds decline in eHow traffic, Demand reps responded that the numbers were greatly so grossly overstated that they must comment.

Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt shared with MediaMemo that the relationship it shared with Google was a highly valued and mutually generous one.

They stated their relationship with Google made much sense for many reasons.

  • That they help to fill gaps in Google’s content when other high quality content is not available.
  • That they are the largest suppliers of YouTube videos.
  • That they are a huge Google Adsense partner.

Stating that the current losses are projected to cause them to suffer around 10 million dollars in lost revenue, they are assured that with projected sales this year reaching around $311 million, they do not consider it a substantial, nor a 2/3rds percent loss.

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