‘If Only I Knew’ by Lance Wubbels is a book I found in my stocking stuffer this morning, gifted by my wonderful wife, Sarah. The byline reads, ‘Gentle Reminders to Help You Treasure the People In Your Life’.

The inscription reads…

To
Spencer Ingvalson

The precious boy

who loved his yellow bike…

and his mother dearly.

You touched so many lives

for one so young.’

Lance shares in his introduction…

“While I was writing this book, the fourteen-year-old son of a friend of mine left home on his yellow bicycle, heading for soccer practice as he has countless times before, and was hit broadside in a street crosswalk by a car. The driver, a sixteen-year-old young man, was distracted and somehow never even saw Spencer until he hit the windshield. In that tragic moment, a boy’s life vanished like a mist, leaving behind a grieving mother who obviously loved him with all her heart.

We live in an uncertain world. When we leave home in the morning, we assume we will return in the evening. When we say good-bye to loved ones, we take it for granted we will see them again. We presume they know we love them, so we seldom say the words. Unfortunately, we fail to consider the mortal reality that this may not be the case… until it’s too late. Tomorrow does not always come.

Someone once said that “life is short, so keep short accounts with God,” That is wise advice, but I’d like to add that we should also keep short accounts with every person who is in the circle of our lives. We never know when life will be dramatically changed…sometimes permanently.

Think about it. Don’t allow the regrets of “if only I knew” to be the final marker of your life. Be swift to love. Hurry to be kind. Take the time to make someone feel special. Freely give hugs and kisses, and may “I love you” be often on your lips.”

~//~

Sarah, my children and I wish you and yours a ‘Merry Christmas’ and mucho blessings of joy, health, prosperity, love and laughter for this season and 2010! May you be swift to love, hurry to be kind and may others often receive blessings from your lips.

Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open, is a raw and inspiring memoir that gripped me from beginning to end.

You can read the hundreds of 5  star customer and editorial reviews at Amazon for yourself.

I read ‘Open’ in 2 days, and brought back many wonderful memories of when I played competitive tennis as a junior.

It also conjured up feelings I’ve put away since I was a teen.

While Agassi’s father was a ‘dog on a bone’ about Andre being number 1 in the world, pushing him in every imaginable way to be better, hit harder, and being the best.

I remember wishing my parents attended more of my games and tournaments. Now, supporting my family and growing a business, I fully realize now how much my parents had to sacrifice in time, opportunity and finances to support our family and to provide as many opportunities for us 3 kids. I’m forever grateful to my parents and always encouraged with their courage, tirelessness and spirit to make it work for our family.

Remembering the feeling of hoping my parents were at more of my games, and having the freedom from a web-based business, I strive to be as present as I can at my kids’ events, cheering positively from the sidelines, filing precious moments in my memory bank.

Andre was my tennis hero growing up. When I played tennis as a junior, I remember sporting the infamous Agassi mullet, wearing denim tennis shorts and emulating his tennis game. If I had a sexy bald head, I would sport one now like Agassi today, but alas, some things aren’t meant to be

In this issue, I want to ‘open’ up to page 186 & 187, where Brad Gilbert, Andre’s coach, critiqued Andre’s game at dinner. Brad wasn’t just speaking to Andre, he was speaking directly to me…

Perry, Andre’s good friend, was tasked with finding him a new coach to replace Nick Bollettierri. Perry urged Andre to consider Brad Gilbert, a fellow player nearing the end of his career, as their new coach.

It’s March 1994, and they’re dining at an Italian restaurant right on the water, on Fisher Island, close to Key Biscayne, where they’re playing in a tournament.

Perry wants Brad’s take on Andre’s game. Honestly. Brutally honest, in fact. No holding back.

Brad obliges.

And I quote, from page 186 and 187, with the bolded text below by Brad as statements that slap me silly…

“It’s not rocket science, he says. If I were you, with your skills, your talent, your return and footwork, I’d dominate. But you’ve lost the fire you had when you were sixteen. That kid, taking the ball early, being aggressive, what the hell happened to that kid?”

Brad says my overall problem, the problem that threatens to end my career prematurely – the problem that feels like my father’s legacy – is perfectionism.

“You always try to be perfect”, he says, “and you always fall short, and it f**ks with your head. Your confidence is shot, and perfectionism is the reason. You try to hit a winner on every ball, when just being steady, consistent, meat and potatoes, would be enough to win ninety percent of the time.”

He talks a mile a minute, a constant drone, not unlike a mosquito. He builds his argument with sports metaphors, from all sports, indiscriminately. He’s an avid sports fan, and an equally avid metaphor fan.

“Quit going for the knockout”, he says.

“Stop swinging for the fences. All you have to be is solid. Singles, doubles, move the chains forward.

Stop thinking about yourself, and your own game, and remember that the guy on the other side of the net has weaknesses. Attack his weaknesses. You don’t have to be the best in the world every time you go out there. You just have to be better than one guy. Instead of you succeeding, make him fail. Better yet, let him fail.”

“It’s all about odds and percentages. you’re from Vegas, you should have an appreciation of odds and percentages. The house always wins, right? Why? Because the odds are stacked in the house’s favor. So? Be the house! Get the odds in your favor. Right now, by trying for a perfect shot with every ball, you’re stacking the odds against yourself.

You’re assuming too much risk. You don’t need to assume so much risk. F**k that. Just keep the ball moving. Back and forth. Nice and easy. Solid. Be like gravity, man, just like motherf**king gravity.”

“When you chase perfection, when you make perfection the ultimate goal, do you know what you’re doing? You’re chasing some thing that doesn’t exist. You’re making everyone around you miserable. You’re making yourself miserable.

Perfection? There’s about five times a year you wake up perfect, when you can’t lose to anybody, but it’s not those five times a year that make a tennis player. Or a human being, for that matter. It’s the other times.”

“It’s all about your head, man.

With your talent, if you’re fifty percent game-wise, but ninety-give percent head-wise, you’re going to win.

But if you’re ninety-five percent game-wise and fifty-percent head-wise, you’re going to lose, lose, lose.”

“Again since you’re from Vegas, put it this way. It takes twenty-one sets to win a slam. That’s all. You need to win just twenty-one sets. Seven matches, best of five. That’s twenty-one.

In tennis, like cards, twenty-one’s a winner. Blackjack! Focus on that number, and you won’t go wrong.

Simplify, simplify. Every time you win a set, say to yourself, That’s one down. That’s one in my pocket. At the start of a tournament, count backward from twenty-one. That’s positive thinking, see?

Of course, speaking for myself, when I’m playing blackjack, I’d rather win with sixteen, because that’s winning ugly. No need to win with twenty-one. No need to be perfect.”

Brad Gilbert’s critique of Andre’s game that night in March 1994 felt like he was speaking just to me in my living room, 2 days ago, this December 2009.

All the statements I’ve bolded above matter to me. They express what’s been going on in my head, behind closed doors, in my work, in my life.

I know it’ll be a process to unwind this modus operandi. I know I’m a work in progress. It often feels like 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

But f**k perfection. I’ll keep it simple and keep the ball moving.

Andre Agassi, if by some miracle you’re reading this, your journey, courage, fight, game, Prep Academy’s mission and your life in ‘Open’ has inspired and re-energized me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Brad Gilbert, if by some miracle you’re reading this, thanks for having the CHUTZPAH that night in March 1994 to tell Andre like it is, so the world can benefit from your insights on winning via Andre’s ‘Open’. Thank you, thank you, thank you! [UPDATED: Dec 18, 2009 Brad Gilbert sent thanks on Twitter for the shout out. The web is such a small place, isn't it?]

What about you? What’s your story? What’s been your experience with perfection? Appreciate your thoughts and opinions…

There are a large number of royalty-free stock photography websites available to choose from. Why should we use images from MorgueFile.com? Here are a few compelling reasons why:

01. Free License: MorgueFile states on their home page “Free images for your inspiration, reference and use in your creative work, be it commercial or not!” This means using MorgueFile alllows you to take back control of your royalty-free image budget, instead of spending hundreds or thousands over time at other stock photography sites.

Personally, I have an account at iStockPhoto.com and really enjoy the comprehensive collection of media available. But I’ve personally experienced spending hundreds of dollars worth of credits for a single promotional video. If you can source appropriate images from MorgueFile, it’ll save you from spending alot of money in this area.

02. Commercial Use Freedom: As you can see with the image above, you’re free to remix the image and use it for commercial purposes without attribution to the original author. This freedom in their licensing gives you control to use their royalty-free images with massive freedom.

03. Help Me, Help You: MorgueFile has made it simple for you and I to “Crop & Post” an image in a quick hurry. And I LOVE saving time! Their “Crop & Post” is a very convenient and powerful method which I’ll showcase below. Once you learn how to use this, you’ll dig it too!

According to Wikipedia, stock photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific uses. It is used to fulfill the needs of creative assignments instead of hiring a photographer.

Stock photography offers a photo buyer the ability to use an image in an unlimited number of ways for a single license fee.

“Free” in this context means “free of royalties (paying each time you use an image)”. It does not mean the image is free to use without purchasing a license or that the image is in the public domain.

But in this issue, using MorgueFile allows us to use IMAGES FOR FREE, without purchasing any license to use it. Cool huh?

Instead of viewing multiple pages of images, I prefer to filter image results per page to 144. This allows me to view many more images in one page view.

When you roll your mouse over the images, it’ll reveal itself in a mini pop-up. When you’ve decided, click the image you want to use.

I’ve chosen this image as this is the result of the tennis balls after I’ve “crushed it” on the court! <wink>

As you see in the flowchart, you can either download the image to upload to your blog, OR use MorgueFile’s “Crop & Post” feature, which I’ll showcase next.

If you prefer to keep the image on your desktop, click the green “Download” button now.

(1) Click and drag corner points to crop your image to your liking

(2) The width and height measurements will be revealed to the bottom left

(3) You can use the sliding scale to fine-tune your image scale

(4) If you want to lock the size of your image, check this “Lock size” checkbox

(5) When you’re ready, click the “Finished” button to complete

(1) This is the code to copy for your blog

(2) If you’re prefer to link to this image, copy this URL

You can use MorgueFile’s images and their “Crop and Post” feature for both your blog and html websites.

If you prefer to retain the images on your blog’s host, simple download it from MorgueFile, upload to your host and embed in your blog post.

Simple and effective, eh?

Would you use this for your blog? Appreciate your thoughts and feedback

(1) First, register for your free account. Then (2) login to your account.

Input your “Title”, “Interviewer” and “Interviewee” fields.

Next, click the “Advanced Options” link to reveal more options. In this tutorial, I’m selecting “Private” for my Privacy Options, so this video will not be showcased publicly. Add your “Description / Notes”, then click the green “Next” button.

Pro Plan Features: Watermark Logo, Pre-Roll Videos & Higher Quality Video

If you upgrade to a Pro plan, you’re offered a few more advanced options.

(1) You have a choice of opting out of using a watermark logo, or add a custom watermark logo.

(2) And you can also sport preroll videos (under 20MB, in FLV or MP4 format, sized to 256×192) that appears next to your interview recording video.

In your Pro plan, you also have the ability to increase your video quality too.

If you require your interview recordings to sport your branded watermark, preroll videos and better quality video, I recommend upgrading to the Pro plan.

Copy & Send “Invitation Link” To Your Interviewee

Copy your unique “Invitation Link” and send (via email, IM, Twitter, Facebook or pigeon mail) it to your interviewee.

I find Wetoku brilliant in this aspect, as they’ve super simplified the process to having your guest on video with a simple link and no need for any software or app downloads.

Modify Video And Audio Settings

While you’re (1) waiting on your guest to get online, you can modify your (2) video source and (3) audio source.

You will undoubtedly achieve a better quality video and audio recording if you have better quality video and audio sources. In addition, consider lighting your environment for a better end result.

Yay! Your Guest Is On…

Now that your guest is on, they can also modify their video and audio settings.

A text box to the right gives you options to text your guest in the case audio is not present or either of you would like to text private notes to each other during the interview.

When both of you are ready, click the red “Record” button.

On Air

A blue “REC” symbol to the left of your window will reveal the recording is “ON THE AIR”.

When you’re done, click the “Stop” button.

Finalize Recording Or Retake

You have a choice to finalize your recording by clicking the “Done” button. Or click “Re-do” for a retake.

Copy Embed Code

Simply highlight and copy your “Embed Code” to paste into your website or blog.

Your other option is to click the “Customize your embed player” button for more choices.

Customization Options

If you choose to modify the settings above, which I have, click the “Preview and get the embed code” button to reveal your changes.

New Embed Code Preview

When satisfied, highlight and copy the new “Embed Code” to your website or blog.

Talking Heads Unite!

Wetoku has built a gorgeous and simplified app to power your interviews. Now, there’s no excuses not to offer video interview recordings on your website/blog!

I especially like how Wetoku has provided side-by-side video windows, instead of picture-in-picture ones. Simply brilliant!

What do you think? Could you use this for your business? How do you foresee leveraging this beta video app? Appreciate your feedback

Mind-Mapping.org features an extensive mind map matrix comparing varying categories of mind map applications and services, and a breakdown of their offerings. It’s from this matrix that I’ve filtered the 3 free, easy-to-use and embedable mind map applications in this issue.

Let’s look at my favored 3 apps: Mindmeister, Bubbl and Mind42.

Mindmeister offers a wonderful mind mapping UI and experience with their web-based mind mapping application. Their Basic edition affords you to share and collaborate up to 3 mind maps. You can import mind maps from Freemind and MindManager too.

When you’re ready to embed your map to your blog, click the “Share Map” button, bottom left of the map.

When the pop up dialog appears, click the “Publish” tab, turn “ON” the publish option, and click the “Embed map” button.

The next window will reveal Settings that are modifiable, ie. frame width, height and zoom levels.

Click the “Copy to clipboard” button to copy the embed code. Now, paste it into your blog post.

Your mind map should now be published, like above. Notice that you can drag and move the above map. That’s the critical difference between embedding a mind map versus inserting an image of your mind map into your blog post.

If you would prefer to Export the mind map as an image for showcase on your blog, then click the “Export” button at the top of the map.

You’ll be directed to this dialog box.

(1) Click the drop down table to select the “Image File” option.

(2) Select your choice of image format.

(3) Click the “Export” button. Simply upload your image to your host and paste it in your blog. Click to view what your exported mind map could look like.

Bubbl.us is another free web application for mind mapping. You can collaborate with colleagues on your mind maps, embed your mind map on your blog and also export your maps as an image.

First, let’s experiment with embedding the mind map to a blog.

Click the “Menu” button to the bottom left of the map page. Select the “HTML Embed Code” button.

Copy the HTML embed code, then paste it to your blog.

Now, you see the result of a Bubbl.us mind map embedded in your blog post, as seen above.

Next, let’s experiment with exporting and inserting your mind map image to a blog post.

Click the “Menu” button, and click the “Export” button.

Select the “Image” radial button, and choose the “Image Format” you prefer. Once you’ve exported the image, insert it into your blog post.

Click to view how your Bubbl mind map image export looks in your blog post.

Next, we have Mind42.com (spelt as Mind – For – Two), another collaborative, browser-based mind map application that’s free to use.

Let’s try embedding this mind map first, shall we?

(1) Click the “Export” icon, located in the far left sidebar toolbar. A dialog box will appear with export options.

(2) You’ll see options for exporting your map to an image or other formats, but let’s leave this alone for now and come back to this in a moment.

(3) Click the “Open Publish Dialog” link to view additional publishing options.

(1) Checkbox “Publish the map” to activate the integration code. It’s your choice if you want your mindmap listed in Mind42′s public map index.

(2) Select the iFrame code and paste it into your blog post

The above embedded Mind42 mind map looks good with alignment and zoom features.

Personally, I prefer how Mindmeister lays out their embedded mind map, with a touch more discreet branding than Mind42′s.

Let’s see what the image export looks like from Mind42, shall we?

In the same export dialog box, select the export format. I’ve selected JPEG as my choice. After download, insert into your blog post.

Click to view your Mind42 mind map image export. The Mind42 mind map image export looks pretty plain jane, but then again, it was published with no snazzy customization.

Let’s begin with Google Search, a search engine service all of us use daily.

Since we’re close to the Christmas holidays, and I’ve personally promoted Christmas trees on the web several years ago, I’ll use “christmas tree” as the keyword phrase across all the services I’ll describe below.

Entering “christmas tree” as a search reveals a competitive market of 43 million search results.

(1) The sidebar column is fully occupied with 8 of the top performing Pay-Per-Click ads and your top 8 competitors for this search phrase.

“Universal Search” – according to Search Engine Watch – “also known as blended, or federated search results, pulls data from multiple databases to display on the same page. Results can include images, videos, and results from specialty databases like maps and local information, product information, or news stories.

You’ll see the impact of Universal Search in the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages) above in (2) Image Results, (3) News Results, and (4) Shopping Results. For this search phrase, Google is partial to including these Universal Search results, so how can you get your properties/media to appear here?

(6) Google reveals additional “Related Search” terms that are important to your audience. Would you consider these terms in creating departments or categories on your Christmas tree site or campaign?

Looking at the top blue bar, you’ll see a “Show options” hyperlink. Clicking on this link or the “+” symbol will reveal additional “Related Search” results.

In the left sidebar, click “Wonder Wheel” to reveal “Related Search” results in a mindmap wheel. Clicking on the hyperlinks drill deeper into other search terms to help you in your campaign. How can you use this to your benefit?

There are other filters in the left sidebar to test. Let’s try the “Related searches” hyperlink, just above “Wonder wheel”.

Here’s another format to reveal related searches for our search term, “christmas tree”. Look at all these additional results that Google has delivered on a platter for us. How can you use this to your benefit?

Google Suggest offers searches similar to the one you’re typing. Yet another method Google delivers important search phrases to consider in your campaign.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool leverages Google’s contextual targeting technology to show you what related word searches your ad could show up on.

This free tool shows you (or what Google is willing to reveal to you) related terms, competition, current month & global search volume for the phrase your type in.

When I was promoting Christmas trees in 2004, these were terms I worked with. So its not surprising to see “artificial christmas tree” and “pre lit christmas tree” phrases at the top of the search pile. Brings back memories… ok, moving on!

According to Wikipedia, “Google Trends shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages.”

(1) This is a brilliant tool as it reveals what’s trending and what topics are really hot today. How can you use this to your benefit? Maybe leverage trends to select a hot topic to dive into with affiliate marketing? Or leverage trends by blogging (or writing press releases) about it to segue your product or service offering into the news.

You can use commas to compare multiple search terms, so I’ve entered “christmas tree, artificial christmas tree” in the search to test the results. Let’s see what results we get…

You can filter your search by (1) Regions and (2) Time. Using the drop down table to filter by time, I could filter “christmas tree” search volume last year compared to this year. How can you use this to your benefit?

(3) reveals graphed results comparing both the search terms, indicated by differing colors.

(4) & (5) shows which Regions and Cities have the most number of people search for this “christmas tree” phrase in Google. And (6) reveals what language is mostly used in this search.

According to Wikipedia, Google Insights “provides insights into the search terms people have been entering into the Google search engine. Unlike Google Trends, Google Insights for Search provides a visual representation of regional interest on a map.”

You can (1) Compare your search terms, locations or time ranges. Enter your “Search Terms” in (2) and “Filter” your search results (3) by Type (Web, Image, News or Product Search), Geographic Distribution (Worldwide or by Country), Seasonality and “Categories”.

Let’s see the results of our search below…

Wordtracker has a paid and a free keyword suggestion tool, both help you generate keywords to power your marketing campaigns. Enter a starting keyword in the free service’s “Keyword” field and it’ll generate up to 100 related keywords for you.

Wordtracker generates its data from a combination of meta search engines, so to approximate what the search count might look like via Google, consider multiplying the Wordtracker search count by 4 or 5.

One of my favorite web services, Wordtracker offers a free “Keyword Question Tool” that generates the top 100 questions people are asking in your marketplace.

Enter a single or a short keyword to find the questions people are asking in your market and this tool will give you one year’s worth of search data.

How can you use this for your benefit? What can’t you do to win with this, eh? Consider using this Keyword Question tool for ideas for blog posts, articles, press releases, videos, podcasts, forum posts, how-to tutorials, information products, webinar topics, and the list goes on.

A superb service to gain competitive intel and potential joint venture opportunities is through the effective use of Technorati’s Blog Search.

Enter your topic or keyword phrase, choose your filters, select “High authority”, then click the “Refine this search” button to see the magic!

Here’s a snippet of the search results, and drilling into these high authority results can give you intel on what your competitors are blogging about, or potential JV partners to connect with.

Google News is another web service that offers current updates on news and trends. How can you leverage this tool to your benefit?

Scrolling down the page of your Google News results page, you’ll find a link to create an email alert for your topic or search phrase. Click on this link and you’ll see this next image.

Simply fill out the details to create a Google Alert and be notified via RSS feed or email of news happening as-it-happens, once a day or once a week.

Consider using Google Alerts for research on your marketplace, your competitors, news you can piggyback on with press releases, blog posts or video promotions. You could also be first to add a comment of value on another prominent blog, boosting the exposure to your site/blog with real visitors from the other site’s audience.

SpyFu offers a free and paid service to generate detailed competitive intel that saves you time. A simple search for “christmas tree” generated stats for:
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click) cost per click
- Number of clicks per day
- PPC cost per day
- How many advertisers for this keyword
- Search results and volume
- Top domains advertising for this keyword
- Top 20 text ads from the top 20 advertisers, and
- Search results for this keyword as it would appear on Google

All this data for the free part of this service. Not too shabby, eh?

Compete.com is a web analytics company that samples millions of approved consumers’ online behavior, giving us a competitive intelligence service that is comprehensive and revealing. Using their “Keyword Destination” tool, I can get a list of sites this keyword “christmas tree” refers traffic to.

Compete.com offers an array of self-service tools that give you traffic history, competitive analytics, referral and destinaton data, category data, search analytics and much more you can read for yourself here. Needless to say, this tool ROCKS!

Another of my favorite web service apps, NicheWatch gives you speedy intelligence of who the top 10 or 20 ranked websites are on Google, and what SEO (search engine optimization) factors they’re utilizing on their sites. With this intel, you can easily determine what your competitors are doing, and how to outsmart or outrank them.

eBay Pulse gives you a search feature to determine a daily snapshot of current trends and hot picks on eBay. The results showcase “Popular Searches” by the number of searches on eBay, plus the “Largest Stores” by the number of active listings. Drilling down the categories and sub-categories in your topic or marketplace will give you corresponding results of the largest stores marketing on eBay, the products they’re selling and the price point they’re selling it at. Isn’t this incredible?

In addition, typing your topic’s keywords into an eBay search will reveal additional keyword suggestions of popular phrases on eBay – a double whammy!

Shopping.com offers a “Top Searches” Consumer Demand Index that gives you the pulse of consumer demand, emerging trends and the hottest products on this portal. You can view the top 100 searches for each of these categories, updated every two weeks. Tell me this isn’t like stealing toys from Santa’s workshop in broad daylight?!

In addition, typing in your topic’s keywords will generate additional keyword suggestions from Shopping.com, another win!

Lastly, I present to you Amazon.com. Yes, you can also generate Amazon-powered keyword suggestions of their top selling categories or items, but they have a couple of features that give deep insights for your research.

Click the “Gifts & Wish Lists” link, then scroll down the page and look to the left sidebar for the “Most Popular” module.

In “Most Popular”, you’ll see “Most Wished For”, “Most Gifted” and “Top Sellers” showcased.

Clicking on any of those 3 links will expand the results, as I have chosen to show under “Top Sellers”. Clicking a sub-category, eg. Toys & Games will reveal results to the right.

These 3 categories in “Most Popular” are incredible tools for keyword research, competition intel, trending research, audience interests, product selection and much more.

In today’s issue, we’ve explored 20 free ways via web services to effectively help you research trends, your competition and generate effective keywords for your promotions.

As you can see, you do not need to use all of the services to achieve intelligence you can act on today. Just combine a few, sprinkled with some “think out of the box” creativity, and you’ll be on your way in moving your campaign forward with confidence.

Whatever you do, don’t “Search Till The Cows Come Home”! Don’t get “Analysis Paralysis”.As my favorite comedian, Russell Peters, would say in his Indian accent, “Just take it … and go!” In the same way, I’m hoping you would “Just search it … and go!” and use your research to boost your business traffic, sales and profits!

Are there any of the above 20 research methods that you will implement? Are there other web-based research services that you recommend? I’d love to get your thoughts and feedback on this topic, care to share?

The ease of publishing content and media on blogs has flooded the web with business blogs, and as a result, skyrocketed the number of competitors you have in your playing field.

It’s not an even playing field, but you have the advantage. Why is this?

For starters, business owners are advised to get a blog setup, but left without any clear direction as to the purpose and process of leveraging the impact of a blog when a visitor arrives.

Secondly, many business owners who have blogs showcase a boring and stale representation of themselves with no personality and compelling story to engage their viewers.

Along with their ignorance of “a better way” and a failure to do more than what’s required, your competition will continue to do what they’ve always done, and get the results they’ve always come to expect.

Unfortunately for your competitors (and good for you), they do not have this “10 Step Checklist” to help them navigate their blog to boosting their credibility and establish authority in their field. You do. Now, your playing field is a different landscape and the game has just changed for you.

Let’s get started…

Enter the world of your customer or prospect.

Step into their “Allen-Edmonds” or “Manolo Blahniks”…

Imagine them at their MacBooks typing in a search phrase for your industry…

Imagine your blog appearing in the top 10 Google listing for their search and CLICK! Your blog appears on their browser screen.

Now what?

Tick-tock. You have 1 second to attract and engage them. If you’re lucky, 3 seconds.

Do you have the right stuff to involve them, to disengage their Back button, and to make them feel “at home” at your web destination?

Or is it Back button, baby! Game over.

As a blogging, podcasting and videoblogging consultant, I’m frequently asked by clients to overhaul or give their websites and blogs a facelift to “put their best foot forward”. In addition, I’m regularly critiquing websites and blogs at conferences and on my web TV show (http://ShermanHu.tv).

Here are my discoveries for what makes a credible and authoritative blog, packaged into a neat 10 step checklist for you. This 10 step checklist will give you a breakthrough, a leading edge over your competitors, and a chance to attract and engage your customer for longer than a flirting second.

10 Step Checklist (the first 5 are about “form”, the second 5 have to do with “function”):

01 :: Present a Professional Blog Theme & Logo Design

02 :: Showcase an Engaging Photo

03 :: Leverage Audio & Video

04 :: Reveal Accessible Navigation

05 :: Architect Contact Information Prominently

06 :: Give Value First, Self-Promotion Second

07 :: Solicit & Engage in Conversations

08 :: Share Your Engaging Story

09 :: Provide Publications & Presentations

10 :: Exhibit Testimonials & Endorsements

Now that you know the 10 steps, let’s unpack each of them.

You’ve heard the common saying – “First impressions count” – and it applies even more so with your blog. Oftentimes, you get a 1 second chance to prove your credibility and authority, and sorry, no second chances.

If you have 1 chance to prove your credibility and authority, let’s make the most of it and WOW your web viewer with a professional blog design layout.

The good news is you don’t need to spend thousands on a design layout from a designer. If you’re using a WordPress blog, all you have to do is Google for “free wordpress themes” (or search for a WordPress theme from your blog’s Dashboard) and you’ll be served with many websites that offer design layouts (aka “themes”) that you can download, activate on your blog and immediately you have a new facelift to your blog.

Below are 4 resources of WordPress theme sites that are popular amongst users. In fact, these services bridge on using WordPress as “Content Management Systems” (CMS) and some offer a complete package of varying themes to choose from. Some of these themes also come packaged with Plugins (‘a la carte’ features to add to your blog to extend its’ functionality).

These fee-based WordPress themes offer more value and features than their free counterparts. Here are some very popular fee-based themes…

StudioPress (http://shermanlive.com/go/studiopress) (1 Theme: $60; All Themes: $200)

My personal favorite theme, and what I use at ShermanLive.com. StudioPress themes give me a professional magazine layout (vs. a bloggy layout), attractive features (ie Featured Content Gallery) and flexibility to modify creative settings via the dashboard and CSS (cascading style sheets).

Purchasing one of their professional themes gives you access to detailed theme tutorials, limited customization techniques and private forum support. Future theme updates are offered at no additional cost.

If you service clients with blog design services or want to setup multiple blogs with different themes, it makes sense to purchase the “All Themes” package.

WooThemes (http://shermanlive.com/go/woo) (Theme Package: 1 theme purchase; Club Membership: All past themes, plus new themes over the course of your membership)

WooThemes offers some of the best-looking professional themes for the WordPress platform. They are expanding into other CMS platforms and I predict they’ll do well in those arenas too. Their subscription packages offer a minimum of 2 new themes every month to give you an expanding repertoire of theme choices for your client needs or your own personal blog.

I appreciate how easy it is to style a theme with a long list of styles and options to get you up and running quickly. Their support includes theme documentation, tutorials, knowledgebase and strong technical support in their forum.

ThemeForest (http://shermanlive.com/go/themeforest) (themes range from $5 up to $40)

ThemeForest is part of the Envato Marketplace network of sites, where you can buy and sell themes and templates for popular CMS (Content Management Systems) products, including WordPress.

The themes are priced according to their complexity and quality. You can search for themes via Category, Keyword Search, Popular Files, Collections, Featured Files or even Top Authors.

Thesis (http://shermanlive.com/go/thesis) (Personal: $87; Developer: $164)

Thesis is an extremely popular and SEO-friendly theme for your WordPress blog. The option panels make customizing your font controls, design changes, layout combinations and other choices super simple to modify.

An attractive and well-designed blog theme will portray a professional image for you and your business, increasing your credibility and boosting your image of authority in your industry.

(Above) Yolande Citro (YolandeCitro.com), a real estate agent reveals her photo in the sidebar of her blog.

When I visit a website or blog, more often than not, I’ll click on the “About” page to discover who the author or personality is. I’m looking for a vibe, personality, culture, image, voice….anything.

In the above image, Yolande Citro knows that prospects need to trust and “buy into” the agent first, before allowing her to represent their home. Her color photo offers a welcoming vibe to her blog, and she receives many compliments on this photo.

John Maxwell, a renowned leadership consultant and New York Times bestselling author, shares “People will buy into the Leader first before they’ll buy into the Leader’s vision“. In the same manner, I’m looking to “buy into” the author first, before I buy into the author’s blogging.

And oftentimes, an engaging photo will give me that image. You don’t have to portray a “serious” photo – just showcase your personality that connects with your audience and industry.

In addition, showcasing your engaging photo makes you ‘real’, ‘human’, and draws your audience one step closer to you. All this makes you seem more credible too.

While we’re on this topic, embedding photos and images within your blog posts is a smart way to attract and engage your readers to focus on your content. Reading (or scanning) a block of text is boring for anyone. Break it up with photos, images, and even video.

“Face it” – you have 1 second to flirt with your web audience, so engage them with your photo.

With YouTube, Google Video and 50 plus other video sharing sites competing for your viewing time and pleasure, its very apparent that online video is here to stay. The video services and camcorders of today have made it very simple for you and I to record and publish office or home-made videos very quickly and inexpensively.

As you know, audio and video – when deployed effectively – can be powerful mediums to attract, engage and convert your viewers. Observe how your family and friends remember commercial jingles or succumb to late night TV sales messages. You can and should leverage media on your blog to connect with your customers.

With a video sharing account, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) for cool and inexpensive daylight source, a curtain backdrop, decent mic, camcorder and a good “script”, you can easily craft a short yet engaging video for your blog that helps you “break the ice” with your viewing audience, and draws them one step closer to realizing your credibility and authority in your industry.

Have you ever walked into a new mall only to be confused about the location of a store you’re looking for? I have. I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. Frustrating, isn’t it?

If you’re fortunate, you come to a Mall Directory that shows you the “You Are Here” red dot and a directory of stores categorized by type. This directory is your saving grace to getting your bearings, navigating the maze of people and hallways, and finally arriving at your destination.

In the same manner, your blog is the new mall to your visitor. They’re new to your blog and will approach with preconceived notions about where the content they’re looking for should be. Your top, side and footer navigation, along with your Search Bar is the Mall Directory – so make it easy for them to find it and locate what they want.

This is leaning towards Website Usability concepts, but I won’t bore you with it. Long story short, don’t make them think, keep it simple and give them shortcuts to your important content.

Consider a visual survey of the biggest and most popular sites on the web, eg. Amazon to see how they lay out their navigation. Or perform a visual survey of popular blogs in your industry. This will give you an idea of what your customers will have already been accustomed to seeing on other blogs.

Don’t get fancy. Remember, just because you’ve flirted with them for 3 seconds doesn’t mean they won’t leave your blog in a hurry if they’re confused about the “lay of the land”.

Keep your navigation accessible so you maintain your credibility.

Have you ever experienced a wild goose chase hunting for a website owner’s contact information? It’s not fun, is it?

Let’s re-step into your customer’s “Allen-Edmonds” or “Manolo Blahniks”…

If you were him or her, where would you prefer to see the contact information on your blog? Good. Now make it happen.

My preference is to show contact information (telephone number, email address, mailing address, link to Support Desk, live chat button etc) on the Home page of the blog or on the Contact page – first choice would be the former. This way your customer does not have to drill down the information on another page.

Back to this example of Yolande Citro’s blog, I was responsible for the blog setup and design, and I chose to create the masthead graphic to include her telephone and fax number. Why? Because in the real estate business, speaking to a client on the phone typically returns a higher conversion than any other method.

As a result, regardless of what page a client is on, they’ll see this realtor’s contact info “above the fold” (the top portion of her site) and it makes it simple for them to call her. Plus, we’ve also added her contact numbers in the right sidebar, which also appears on every page of her blog.

Whatever you choose to do, architect your contact information prominently – either in the masthead, sidebar or footer – to make it easy for your customer to contact you, which makes you look good.

You’ve been invited to a good friend’s cocktail party. Both your date and you arrive at the party looking your very best.

After you pour yourselves a couple of cocktails, you proceed to the nearest group of guests who are engaged in conversation and laughter. Flipping open your golden business card case, you begin to introduce and pitch your services to every single person in that group. Your keen observation skills detect that between awkward glances and uncomfortable shifting, all of the guests gave a valid reason to excuse themselves.

Is this your practice at parties? If not, why do you see so much of this prevail on the web? Do you see this practice on blogs?

Generally, bloggers have an etiquette of publishing conversational entries to their blogs. Unlike corporate websites that use corporate speak, effective bloggers write with a “personal voice”, effectively bridging the gap between them and their audience.

Furthermore, smart business owners “lower the free line”, offering good value-added content and resources to their readers *first* to begin a relationship and a platform of credibility and authority, before they move towards a fee-based transaction. The latter is typically smoother in process after the reader knows, likes, trusts and respects the author after consuming their blog content. These “deposits” in the customer’s “trust account” will serve your ROI very well.

When you’re writing and publishing on Twitter, Facebook or your blog, consider it a “24/7 virtual cocktail party”. You’ve been invited. You’re dressed with somewhere to go. Now how will you establish credibility and authority in your field?

Let’s return to the “cocktail party” story above, and this time, you see a guest standing in a corner of the room, speaking to himself. No one’s around him, he’s just merrily speaking to himself. Odd? Probably. But not too far off from how most bloggers communicate on their blogs – a one-way conversation.

It’s a cocktail party, people! Let’s solicit dialog, engage and be engaged in conversations – a two-way street.

Likewise, on your blog, ask for feedback, comments, thoughts, opinions, perspectives – whether in line with your thinking, or controversial, that’s alright. It’s the beginning of a two-way dialog, which serves to add life and vibrancy to your blog. This two-way dialog will spark interesting conversations and offer others reading your blog an insight into your familiarity and subject-matter-expertise on your topic, lending to your credibility and authority status in your field.

All the greatest teachers from the past to present deliver important lessons or wisdom through the power of engaging story. In this case, “your story”.

Do you know the wonderful nature of “your story”? You can’t mess it up, its yours. You know it best and you can share your story with great passion and detail.

Your story – be it business or personal – will attract and engage your blog readers to you. Oftentimes, your story will effectively “put some skin” around your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), the key element that makes you stand apart from the rest of your competition.

Take for example a chocolate blog I recently reviewed. Let’s name the blog author: Barbara Cocoa. She loves chocolate – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, any kind of chocolate is fair game.

When she takes her son traveling to different parts of the world, they’ll scour the streets and find hole-in-the-wall shops that sell chocolate that give you that “I’ve died and gone to heaven” feeling.

Her chocolate blog is a gorgeous romantic red and white, well-designed and very “delicious”. The usual critique reveals all the above points in this 10-step checklist that Barbara should add to her blog.

In the middle of the critique, she reveals her passion for chocolate and her travel habits. Voila! That’s it. I clung on to her story and “milked” it for all its worth. She needed to share it, on her blog, in text, and if possible, on video.

This is a golden credibility & authority building exercise and will draw your visitors closer to you, leading to increased transactions and profits.

Find your heart. Find your passion. Find your story.

Whether you are a print or digital media publisher, leverage it to your credibility and authority-building benefit.

Do you have reports, white papers, audio MP3s, videos, radio interviews, newspaper clippings and other sources of content you’ve created and published?

If you DO NOT, begin creating it.

If you DO, offer them on your blog as value-added intellectual property, which can be exchanged for your readers’ contact information (typically their name and email address).

These publications and presentations – online or offline – provide you with efficient sources to help you build credibility and authority in your field.

In showcasing credibility and authority on the Web, it’s not what you say about yourself that’s important, it’s what others say about you that counts. Consider it an unbiased review of your credibility or offerings.

You can shout from the mountain tops that you’re the best “_fill in the blank_ professional”, but it doesn’t hold the same powerful impact as when you have a series of honest, relatable “customer evidence”, testimonials and endorsements from customers, industry colleagues and professionals to back up your claims.

If you have these testimonials and endorsements to exhibit, don’t be shy. Publish them on your blog for display. They’ll add to the proof that you are a credible source and an authority in your field.

When you present a professional blog theme and logo design, along with your engaging photo, audio and videos, it’ll WOW your customers.

Creating your navigation to be accessible so that they can find your important content, along with your contact information when they need it, is critical.

When you’re giving value first before self-promotion, and engaging in conversations and your story, you’ll be amazed at how much reciprocity returns to you in more ways than one.

Lastly, when you offer value-added publications and presentations, along with testimonials and endorsements, you’re holding the golden ticket to showcasing your credibility and authority through your blog.

Are there any of the above 10 tips that you will implement? Are there other credibility factors that you recommend? I’d love to get your thoughts and feedback on this topic, care to share?

As of this writing, this is the home page view of Ustream.TV. As you can see, there are many sections on this page that reveal details of Live Shows, Featured Shows, Most Viewed Shows, Highest Rated Shows, Upcoming Events and much more.

Let me be your Ustream tour guide as I give you a short walkthrough of the home page and what to expect.

(1) At the top of the above image, you’ll see that Ustream.TV offers “Live, Interactive Broadcasting” with the opportunity for you to broadcast your own web TV show to a global audience for free. All it would take is your camcorder (or webcam) and an internet connection. Never has it been easier to broadcast a live interactive, one-to-many, broadcast-to-viewer and viewer-to-viewer interaction that is FREE.

(2) To the left of the home page screenshot, you’ll see a Featured Live Show in action. As you can see, there are 856 Live Shows in action at the time of this capture.

(3) In this window, you’ll see the Featured Live Show video in action, along with the scrolling text of comments from that particular show.

(4) In the grey horizontal bar, you can see the number count of viewers watching the show, along with other video features eg. Poll, Play, Pause and Menu.

(5) If you’re interested in this show, you can click the “Go to Show Room and Chat” button to view the Show’s dedicated page.

(6) To the right of the Live Show video window, you’ll see 3 tabs. This “Featured” tab lists the video shows that Ustream.TV lists as “Featured Shows”.

(7) If you click the next tab that reads “Most Viewed”, you’ll see a listing of interactive broadcasts that have the most viewed stats. Often, you will find a show repeated across all 3 tabs, which mean they’re very popular and highly rated.

(8) This next tab that reads “Highest Rated” is one that lists live broadcasts with the highest rated comments for that show. (9) My “Half Hour Huddle” show at http://ShermanHu.tv is still rated on this list, a very proud moment

Moving down the Ustream.TV home page, you’ll see 2 sections titled “Ustream Originals” and “Featured Upcoming”. These sections highlight additional Featured Shows, and what broadcasts are scheduled to go LIVE shortly.

Scrolling down the home page, you’ll see a “Recorded Recently” section that also sports 3 tabs – Featured, Most Viewed and Highest Rated. Live broadcasts that went on air and were recorded will be featured in this section.

(1) To the right of the home page, there’s a column that shows you “Upcoming Events” that will air on Ustream today, tomorrow and later on.

(2) If you need help, there’s a section that offers you advice on getting started, FAQs, forums, live chat and also a way to contact Ustream.

(1) I’d like to call your attention to the Live button at the top of the home page. If you click this button, you’ll see all the Live shows airing on Ustream at this moment. The image below shows you the detailed view.

(1) Why is this important? It’s key to study who is broadcasting on Ustream, especially Featured Shows with the most viewers and comments. Studying their topic, show details and audience type will give you insights on what’s hot and working for these Featured broadcasters that you can adopt for your own show.

(2) As an example, Chris Pirillo is a very popular “tech” broadcaster with 3 shows on schedule at Ustream.TV – one of the shows is recorded for CNN.com LIVE. In addition, he’s “Video Lifestreaming” on Ustream , whereby his camera is rolling and capturing Chris at his desk or not, 24/7. Chris has a large Ustream following of 2,500+ viewers, 8+ million views and 1,300+ comments across his 1,500+ video clips. Even when Chris Pirillo is working on projects and is not actively connecting with his audience, there are still hundreds of viewers interacting with each other on his show!

Now that I’ve give you the tour of the home page, let me give you a guided tour of my Live “Half Hour Huddle” Show page at http://ShermanHu.tv. This will give you a visual overview of what is possible with your own show. While guiding you with the setup of your own show, I’ll use my Live Show frontstage and backstage view as a case study.

This is the “Half Hour Huddle” Ustream page. “Half Hour Huddle” is a half hour Live Ustream show that airs every Monday. The show’s purpose is to simplify and demystify new media and technology so business owners can profit from it. Because of the show’s topic and reach that Ustream offers, my show attracts business owners and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

(1) At the top of the page, you’ll see a masthead graphic for the show. In a few moments, I’ll show you how to add your own masthead graphic in your Ustream dashboard.

(2) This video window is what your viewers see when you’re LIVE on the air. In this recent episode, I invited my 10 year old son to be my special guest and to help me co-host my Huddle – it was alot of fun! When I show you around backstage, you’ll see the video and audio sources you have to work with. Naturally, the better your video, audio and lighting gear is, the higher the quality your output will be. WIth that in mind, you don’t have to spend alot of money to get a decent setup in your office or home studio.

(3) If you look to the right of the window, you’ll see the “User List” in the narrow far right column. When your viewers come on the show, their names will appear in this column. If they register for a free Ustream ID and login with it, their user ID names will appear in this column. If not, their user ID names are generic Ustream numbered IDs.

(4) In the horizontal text box, your viewers will have the opportunity to interact and dialog with you and the other viewers in your show. The side benefit to this feature is that viewers who are typically shy and do not speak up in teleconferences are more apt to type in their questions in this format. In addition, you control the pace of your show and do not have to mess with muting and unmuting conference lines.

(5) This text box shows the ongoing threads of conversation and interaction between you and your viewers. Hyperlinks will appear as clickable links in this window pane.

Let’s scroll down the page a little and I’ll guide you through a few more sections before we setup your own Ustream show.

(1) This section of your Ustream page informs your viewers what your show is about, the topics (tags) you cover, and additional stats. Your viewers have the opportunity to rate your show by clicking on the stars below your Show’s Image.

(2) If you setup a regular schedule for your show, the details will appear in the Schedule section of your Ustream page. Your viewers can click the “Follow” button to follow and be notified of your show before it happens.

(3) After you “Stop Recording” each show, Ustream will encode and archive your videos in the “Video Clips” section. A tip for you: Title and describe your videos effectively will help in your findability on Google.

(4) Your viewers can add their comments, feedback and even testimonials in your “Comments” section.

In this image, you’ll see the latest comment thread for my show. At the end of my broadcasts, you’ll commonly see me encouraging and welcoming feedback from my viewers to add their comments in the Comments Box. This helps me gain insight into their “takeaways”, feedback and suggestions on what they would like to see on future shows. It’s also helpful that the more comments they share, it improves my “Highest Rated” stats.

Now it’s your turn. Set this guide beside you as you walk yourself through your own setup with the instructions below. By the end of this, you will have setup and customized your own Live Interactive Broadcast show! Let’s begin…

At the top left of the Ustream.TV home page, there’s a “Login” and “Sign Up” link. Click the “Sign Up” link.

In the New Account popup box, input your details.

(1) First, your desired login name.

(2) & (3) Next, enter your private password twice, once in the Password field, once in the Verify field.

(4) Next, enter your birthdate details. You have a choice to enter your real birthdate, or make up one if you want to preserve your privacy.

(5) Enter your email address in the next field. Use a primary email address so you can receive notifications from Ustream.

(6) Enter the text you see in the image in the Verification Text field. This is to ensure that only human visitors are registering for accounts.

(7) Checkbox this box after agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

(8) When you’re done, click the “Submit” button.

On the next page, you’re provided with a form to input your profile information.

(1) Simply enter your personal details in the fields requested of you. The only field that’s optional is the Promotion Code. Leave this field blank.

(2) When you’re done, click the “Submit” button.

These 2 sections in the next page are to import contacts from your email account and to notify your Twitter followers of your new Ustream account.

Personally, I would not recommend you notify or invite your colleagues and friends to your Ustream page at this time. My recommendation is to get your account setup to your satisfaction (eg. consistent creative with your branding) before you update your “tribe” about your new initiative.

At this point, I recommend you click the “Skip this step” link to move to the next step.

It’s time to name your show.

It makes sense to name your show so it accurately describes your show topic. However, here’s an insider tip. This show name is appended to your Ustream.TV URL.

For example, my ShermanHu.tv URL redirects to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shermanlive. And Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Wine Library TV” Ustream URL is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wine-library-tv.

Hence, I recommend keeping your Show Name short and ‘radio-friendly’ so it’s easier to share it with your audience.

One more tip for you. To preserve brand consistency along with easy word-of-mouth promotions, use a short and memorable URL rather than the longer Ustream URL. You can redirect a domain or sub-domain to your Ustream.TV URL. In my case, ShermanHu.tv redirects to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shermanlive.

As this new account sign up is only for demo purposes, I’ll name it ‘TutorialU’.

After naming your show, click the blue “Save My Show” button.

After saving your show, you’ll be directed to the backstage dashboard where you have the opportunity to customize and design your show settings.

Right now, I’d like to show you what your show page will look like without any customization.

If you’re using a tab-able browser (eg. Firefox, IE, Safari), right-click the “Go to Show URL” link and open it in a new tab.

Here’s what your show page looks like without any masthead graphic, color customization and content. There’s no magic or pizzazz with it being “plain jane”. Let’s change that, shall we?

Return to the older browser tab where you have your Show’s dashboard and let’s start customizing your show.

Let me present my “Half Hour Huddle” (ShermanHu.tv) show as a case study to show you how customized your show page can be.

In the “Info” tab, begin selecting:

(1) The Recommended Tag categories, and (2) up to 4 appropriate sub-categories. (Pay attention to this section as you’ll see it in the frontstage view in the next step)

(3) Next, input additional tags (ie. topical keywords) in this field to describe your show. Be sure to separate each tag with a space or comma. When we view the fronstage of the Show, you’ll see these tags appear.

(4) If you would prefer to use the high quality encoder that Ustream offers, check this box and follow the instructions to make it work for you. At this present time, this encoder only works for broadcasters using PCs. Mac broadcasters will have to wait for the time-being.

(5) Begin to “Describe your show” in this box. This gives your audience a sense for your show’s topic and what to expect from you. You can add HTML but not Javascript code in this description box. You can see that I’ve added a hyperlink to my Show URL so it’s clickable. Feel free to add links to your websites/blogs here. (Pay attention to this section as you’ll see it in the frontstage view in the next step)

(6) When you’re done, click the “Save Changes” button.

As you can see, the “Show Info” section reveals the “Tags” as inserted into Step #2 in the previous image. And the “About ShermanLive” section reveals the description I inserted in Step #5 in the previous image. As a result of adding the hyperlink code in the Description Box, you can see the blue hyperlinks here now.

This Design tab allows you to creatively customize your Show page. After modifying some of these settings, I’ll show you the frontstage view.

(1) If you would like to upload a background image, click the “Choose File” button and select your desired background image from your local files. Personally, I do not use this field, but I do customize the background color.

(2) If you would like to upload a header image, click the “Choose File” button and select your desired masthead graphic from your local files. Personally, I’ve uploaded a masthead that is 925px wide.

In the “Edit Stylesheet” section, you can modify the colors of the different sections on your show page.

(3) To modify your main background color, either input your “Hexadecimal Color Codes” or click the color box to select a preferred color. I’ve selected a black background for mine with the #000000 HEX code.

(4) Each content box section of your Show page has a header. This field allows you to modify the header color. I’ve selected a burgundy for my header color, #630000 HEX code.

(5) In this field, choose the background color of your content boxes. Personally, I prefer to see black text on white backgrounds, so this field gets a white background, #FFFFFF Hex code.

(6) This is the color field for the Header text in your boxes. Personally, I’ve chosen white text to stand out from the burgundy header background.

(7) When you’re ready to preview your changes, simply click the blue “Preview” button.

(8) And when complete, click the “Save Changes” button.

(1) As you can see, the wide 925px masthead is visible on the fronstage section of my show page. How’s your masthead graphic look? If it’s looking good, super! If not, feel free to return to your Dashboard and modify as need be.

(2) The header text is in white on this content box header, along with the (3) burgundy content box header.

In this “Clips” tab, you’ll begin to see an archive of your shows when you begin to record your broadcasts.

I’d like to call your attention to the “Past Clips options” and “Off Air Options”.

(1) If you choose the 2nd option, you’ll display all of your recorded clips from all your shows. This is my preferred option.

(2) With the “Off Air Options”, you have 3 choices.

Currently I’m choosing the 2nd option, where I have the last recorded episode auto-play.

Previously, I had selected the 3rd option, which is to rotate through my pictures. Except that I only had 1 image, so it acted as a static placeholder for my video show until I came on Live. The choice is entirely yours.

(3) After making your selections, click the “Save Changes” button.

In this Share tab, you have embed codes you can copy and paste to your website, blog or social media pages. You can use the URL link to paste into your Facebook, Twitter, blog or email. You can embed the video and chat into your website and blog too. However you do this, it’ll allow you to share your LIVE broadcasts on any or all of your web properties. When you go LIVE, all those video windows will also feature your broadcast and you get to be syndicated all over the place on the web.

Let’s walkthrough the “Advanced” tab for your show settings.

(1) Would you like to allow everybody to leave comments with or without your approval? Select the radial button of your choice.

(2) Let’s modify the chat display settings, shall we?

It makes sense to check the “Yes” radial button to have your chatbox display for audience interaction.

If you prefer your visitors to register for and login with their free Ustream ID before they can chat, then check this “Yes” radial button too.

If you have someone you’d like to assign as a moderator, here’s where you add their Ustream ID.

(3) There may be broadcasts you’d like to keep private and this is where you can do it. Simply check the “Yes” radial button and insert your chosen password.

(4) Ustream offers co-hosting opportunities. Here’s where you choose your co-host preferences. Personally, my choice is the 3rd option where I require permissions before I will allow co-hosting.

(5) If you’d like to see a count of the number of viewers seeing you show, then check this “Yes” radial button.

(6) When you’re done, click the “Save Changes” button.

If you have a regular show or planning one, you can click the “Add new event” button and schedule one here.

Here’s an inside look at my “Half Hour Huddle” schedule. You can add your Title, Description, Start Time and Length, Repeat schedule and Time Zone. When you’re ready, click the “Update” button.

It’s wonderful that Ustream offers a metrics feature to track your broadcast start and end times, total viewer hours, how many unique, total and average number of viewers watch your LIVE and Archived shows. You can filter your metrics by time periods too.

Check it, know your metrics, and modify your show to give your audience what they want and they’ll love you for it.

Click the orange “Broadcast Now” button and let’s get you broadcasting!

(1) Video WIndow: Here’s the local view of you on camera. This is what your viewers will see when you go LIVE.

(2) Video Source: You have a drop down table selection for your video source. In the next screenshot, we’ll show you the options you have.

(3) Audio Source: You have the same selection options here. We’ll take a closer look at the options you have for audio in a moment.

(4) Text Box: During the show, you’ll see your viewers’ comments typed into this box. In addition, you get to respond in this field and publish it into the discussion thread too.

(5) User List: When you’re on the air, you’ll see a growing list of users in this right column. When you have moderator status, you have additional privileges to moderate viewers. I’ll show you some of those privileges in a screenshot below.

(6) Feature Tabs: The horizontal tabs above the text box give you additional features to work with. We’ll look at Twitter and Overlays in a moment.

(7) & (8) These 2 green buttons help you work your magic. Clicking on these buttons help you broadcast your Live Show along with recording your show for your video archives.

(9) Info Tab: Any actions you deploy during the show will update this info tab with status updates.

(10) No. of Viewers: This shows you the total count of viewers watching your broadcast. Remember, this count includes the viewers who watch your show via windows you embed on your blog, website and social media properties too.

When you click the drop down table for Video Source, you’ll be offered a variety of video sources to use. If you’re using a webcam that’s connected and powered on, it should read in this selection. In my situation, my built-in isight webcam on my Macbook Pro reads “USB Video Class Video”.

Personally, for best video quality, I choose “DV Video” to select my prosumer camcorder that’s connected to my laptop via a firewire cable. I have a dedicated camcorder on a tripod that’s ready to be fired up and connected ot my laptop at a moment’s notice. You’ll see the vast difference in video picture quality of the previous image, compared to the USB webcam image below.

There are video drivers you can use to show video effects and to flip the camcorder view to your desktop. I won’t detail them in this guide, but you can research it for yourself. For Mac users, there’s a free video driver called CamTwist (http://www.allocinit.com/index.php?title=CamTwist). For Windows users, there’s a paid video driver called WebCamMax (http://www.webcammax.com). Both of them achieve similar results with giving you creative effects for your broadcast videos.

(1) With the “USB Video Class Video” option selected, you can see the picture quality captured by my built-in isight camera on my Macbook Pro.

(2) Video & Audio Broadcast Checkboxes: In the case you want to only broadcast audio or video, you can check or uncheck these boxes. Personally, I use this when I want to keep my video or audio private at a moment’s notice.

(3) VU Meter and Volume: You can monitor your volume and modify volume settings here.

There are 2 options I commonly use for Audio Options. Either my “Built-In Microphone” or the “Built-In Input” setting. The “Built-In Input” setting is used when I plug the cable that is connected to my mixer and professional RODE NT1-A podcast mic into my Macbook Pro. If I’m without my mic, I would then use my built-in mic on the laptop.

If you are in the market for a good and affordable podcast mic, I would recommend the RODE Podcaster mic. It’s white in color, has a very high quality sound, and even allows you to plug in a headset to itself to monitor your sound. It sells for approximately $200 on Amazon. You can go for inexpensive options too, but you get what you put into it.

One piece of advice: Your viewers will be more forgiving of your video quality if your audio and lighting is solid.

One of the privileges you get as a broadcaster is to moderate your viewers / users. But first, you have to type in:

!moderateon

into your text box. This gives you right-click functionality when you perform it on a viewer’s user id. Let’s view a few of these privileges below.

In addition, if you type in:

!topic

followed by a space, then your topic name, it’ll appear as the topic at the top of the Text box to your viewers.

If you right click on a users’ ID, you have these options:

- Send them a private message
- Ban them from your show, which means their user IDs disappear from the User ID list
- Devoice them, which means they can text chat, but none of your other users will see their messages

You can view Ustream’s help files for more information on these moderator privileges. The above 3 features are what I use most often.

Want to notify your audience of followers at Twitter that you’re broadcasting LIVE? If so, click the “Send Twitter” tab, modify the text details if needed, then click the “Send ” button. Ustream will send out a tweet to your followers, notifying them that you’re on the air.

Ustream is offering a new feature called Overlays. You can overlay a YouTube video on your video window while you’re broadcasting or overlay a line of text eg. the title of your show, an announcement or your latest product/service offering.

These 2 green buttons help you make magic. When you’re ready to bring on the thunder, click on them.

When you click on “Start Broadcasting”, the button turns to red. This means you’re broadcasting LIVE now. Clicking it again will help you to “Stop Broadcasting”.

When you click on the “Start Recording” button, it’ll turn to red. This means you’re recording your broadcast now. Clicking it again will help you to “Stop Recording”.

After you click the “Stop Recording” red button, a “Recording Preview” screen will appear. You can click the “Play” button to preview what you just recorded, click “Delete” to erase your recording, or click “Save” to begin encoding the video and archiving it. I recommend saving your recordings.

If you have setup your YouTube settings in your Dashboard and your shows are around the 30 minute mark, this Recording Preview screen will also ask you if you want Ustream to send your video to YouTube for you. This is an additional opportunity for you to distribute your recorded broadcasts to the all popular YouTube.

Once your broadcast is encoded, Ustream files your video archives in your “Video Clips” section of your show page. This gives your viewers who did not catch you LIVE to watch your archives.

And there you have it – a very simple process to utilize a live interactive video broadcast platform like Ustream.TV to enable you to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size with just a camera and an Internet connection.

If you do it well, this live interactive broadcast platform will not only be an engaging experience for your viewers, but it will also empower you to expand your exposure, credibility and attract a flood of tangible and intangible business results for you.

When you take action on this guide, please share your results with me at http://twitter.com/shermanhu – I would love to see you how you leverage this video broadcasting platform to your advantage.