Building Your Business Through Online Video

Think of about this for a second, you can shoot video with an inexpensive camera and upload it for free online for the world to see. Read that again.

Pause.

I believe we have underestimated the power of what online video can do for your business.

It is no longer just about the cat on the skateboard or the Spielberg online production.

From citizen journalism to online shows, there is an opportunity for nearly every business. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t hard work involved, of course there is (especially promoting), but the tools have never been easier to use.

For example, yesterday and earlier today I was on the front page of CNN… Read More »

Building Your Business By Saving Time:

Spend more time doing the things you love in your business and less time on annoying shenanigans.

1. Update All Of Your Social Networks With One Click.

How to save time by updating ALL of your social networks at one time (Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Fan Page, LinkedIn and many other sites): Ping.FM

Simply enter your update and press send. Quick and easy. It will send a tweet, update your status, etc.

2. Shorten Long Links To Make Them Sharable/Tweetable/Prettier

So, lets say you create a blog post and it has a really long URL. For example: blog.randomwebsite.com/2010/archives/don’t-pet-fluffy-bunnies/seriously/no-fluff.html.

Yikes! That is not very Twitter friendly (over 140 characters) and it is just long and not … Read More »

Sometimes It Is The Little Things That Build Your Business The Most

Tip: Know two people that should be introduced to each other? Send an email introduction.

It will build their business. It will build your business. The more you give and connect, the more it will come back around.

Karma in business isn’t fluffy bunny stuff, it is a business building machine.

Be a great connector be like Neil Patel at Quick Sprout or Bob Burg the co-author of The Go Giver or Ria Sharon of My Mommy Manual or Dixie Gillaspie affectionately known as Dixie Dynamite.

Try introducing someone once a week. I bet you will like it so much you will end up doing it much … Read More »

Social Media Mistakes:

When building your business smarter, faster, cheaper (or dumber, slower, more expensive) mistakes happen.
And that is more than fine.

Without mistakes, we entrepreneurs wouldn’t learn anything.

In this episode, we are discussing common mistakes made on social media sites by businesses and entrepreneurs.
Social media is no longer a buzzword and really isn’t an option for many businesses anymore. It is vital.

That being said, I get many frustrated emails from businesses and entrepreneurs not gaining traction or making real connections on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin (as well as many other smaller sites).
Here are my six:

1. Not Engaging (and I’m not talking about using this word as a fluffy-bunny filler … Read More »

Building Your Business: Questions & Answers

We are doing our very best to make RISE not only the #1 Non-Boring Resource For Building Your Business Smarter, Faster, Cheaper BUT also the most social and interactive show in the history of the world (or something like that). Today we are diving into viewer questions and you can always submit a question via email, Twitter of Facebook. You can find details on the Ask David page.

Dealing With Negabots
It is time for a few viewer questions today on RISE. The first one deals with negative people online. Yikes.
This question was submitted by two different viewers via Ask David:

“The haters/critics/accusers on Social Media –  on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, … Read More »

Building Your Business: Smarter, Faster, Cheaper

…and today we are also building it younger.

The youth market.

Those text-messaging, ADD, little crazy people.

Today we have not one but TWO bonus interviews with entrepreneurs that have this market cornered.

You will learn their secrets of how they built their businesses (and all kinds of other advice as well).

First up, is my good friend, author, blogger and “Youthologist” (cool term!) Vanessa Van Petten who was recently featured on The Real Housewives of Orange County. Vanessa has a tremendous business brain and also really understands Search Engine Optimization.

From SEO to the OC?!

You can also connect with Vanessa by checking out her great parenting website and Twitter.

Josh Shipp … Read More »

What have you done for the media lately?

Ahhh the media. Journalists. Reporters. Hosts. Producers. TV. Online TV. Magazines. Newspapers. Radio. Big Online Blogs. Small Online Blogs. Medium Online Blogs. Oh my!

But is media coverage important for entrepreneurs? You better freaking believe it.

Unless you hate:

-The possibility your business could be fully financed due to one article.
-People going to your website to buy products/services and find out more information.
-Making your grandma proud when you tell her to tune in, log on (tech savvy granny!) or read an article about you.
-Leveraging one media source to get into a bigger media source.
-Word-of-mouth marketing.
-Possibilities for new relationships and business partnerships.
-Being an expert.

Want some concrete … Read More »

Marketing Entrepreneurial? You betcha!

Chris Miller, now of Yurbuds, and I go way back. Chris was doing it all the The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis (my alma mater) and suddenly (seemingly overnight) left to join a start up called Yurtopia which makes Yurbuds.

He emailed me with an email containing more exclamation points than a 14-year-old on four Red Bulls. My interest was peaked especially since Chris saw hundreds, if not thousands, of start ups all the time due to his job, yet he choose to leave to help this one.

A few months pass….I start to hear some buzz of these really cool custom-made (yet super affordable) ear buds for your iPod. … Read More »

I get it. We entrepreneurs are busy. Between building businesses, family time, maybe a meal here or there, it can be hard to pump the breaks and pick up a book or e-reader.

In my opinion, there has never been a better opportunity to get ahead of the competition by reading especially with so many authors offering the “why” and the “how to” on pretty much everything from new media to business fundamentals.

This is a collection of books I’ve personally read and gotten a LOT out of and recommend to every entrepreneur. They are of different lengths and different styles but the commonality is they all make you think.

These authors and books leave your head spinning and in … Read More »

In This Episode Full Of Marketing Tips & Tricks For Entrepreneurs:

What do you think of when you hear the words “Search Engine Optimization” affectionately known as SEO?

For many entrepreneurs I’ve spoken with, the answers have been:

“What is SEO?”
“That is too techy for me!”
“My website has SEO.”
“I know it is important, but I don’t really understand it.”

Every entrepreneur (yes, every) needs to understand the basics of search engine optimization. It goes right along with marketing like an entrepreneur: Smarter, faster, cheaper. Why? Because of that little thing called search. Hopefully, customers are finding your website when they enter your company name; however, do they find your website if they enter key terms even if … Read More »