Something I want to bring to the forefront of your mind for your blog.

I made my first blog back in early 2006, but had no idea what I was doing. I had a couple thoughts on what I should and shouldn’t do, but that was about it. When confronted with making my first couple of posts, there was the “category” box and the “tags” box. I thought to myself, “Eh, both are the same thing, why do I need to post the same word twice? I’ll just throw everything in “Category” and try not to overlap on words too much.”

Big mistake.

Want to know what that most likely cost me? Search Engine traffic, targeting choice words when I “tagged” posts, interlinking between other sites, and possibly some of my audience.

I did not have this concept really nailed down until I launched this blog. I wanted to be sure and do this the “right way” and not screw up and pass over advice taught to me by my mentors.

The concept is this: Categories categorize your posts, Tags describe what your post is about.

Your blog should have a set amount of categories from the very start, while tags can be virtually unlimited. Now that doesn’t mean go all crazy on tags, but it does mean that you should choose some targeted keywords to describe your post. Imagine someone searching on Google for your post. Have it described just right, and they will hit your site every time. Have a whole bunch of words thrown in there and they won’t click on it at all, as a matter of fact, it might be buried at the last page of results.

Don’t make the mistake I did and ignore tags entirely, or you will pay for it by an entire evening of corrections made to existing content on your blog.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use tags and categories in your posts?

Nalts of YouTube & Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.tv

So you want to be a video podcaster eh?

Good News, I’m on the same path. Let me show you what I know so far. Its quite simple really…

First off, same starting steps (Name, content, etc.) apply here whether starting out on YouTube or your own website.

Second, you do not need to have the best HD camcorder on the planet to start recording. I’m using a Creative Vado that I won at an expo. Starting out, investing in a ~$100 camcorder will suffice. For editing your video, Windows Movie Maker does a decent job. I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 for my editing. (If you need good how to videos on how to do something in Movie Maker or Vegas, try a search for it on YouTube. Just add the word “tutorial” on the end of the search term and videos will pop up showing you exactly how.)

And Finally, have several role models/people you admire in this area. My role models are the two shown in the picture shown above. Kevin Nalts has been on YouTube creating short funny videos since 2006. Cali Lewis is the host of the shiny happy tech news, “GeekBrief.tv” video podcast. She has also been producing video podcasts since 2006. Why are they my role models? They understood the heart of their audience and creatively captured it from the start.

Now comes your turn, what do you want to see below this? What question’s do you have that you want seen added to this post? Post your comments below.

Did you know that Insiders get this blog post in audio format? Become an Insider and reap the benefit!

You have setup your podcast. You have a twitter account. You’re generating content on your site and on twitter. Your next question is, “How do I get more followers?”

One of the nice things about twitter is lots of eyeballs see what you write, and if you write it at just the right time, many people will become curious and click on the link (to your podcast episode of course).

I stumbled upon this secret quite by accident. I have not read any books, nor read any posts about this. I started doing this one day, and started noticing a nice influx of followers. Within a week, I gained more than 100 followers, and it is still growing. And this is purely natural traffic, no gimmicks or get-more-twitter-followers program. There is another benefit that comes out of this as well…

That secret is publicly welcoming new twitter followers.

I used to be one of those auto-DM people, and occasionally I welcomed new followers that way. I learned very quick that it was a bad option, as it started very quickly becoming another type of spam. Desiring more interaction, one day I got into a conversation with a couple friends on twitter. I started noticing new followers, and a thought occured to me. “Why don’t I publicly welcome new followers. Can’t hurt to try…”

So I did that. I welcomed a new follower, as well as viewed and commented on his website, who happened to have quite a good number of people following him. He noticed my tweet and thanked me for welcoming him. Two things happened in that moment.

1. I created a connection with that follower. He appreciated what I said and checked out my website as well.

2. I generated curiosity between both my followers and his followers. My followers were interested in what I said and wanted to see for themselves, and his followers were interested in what I said about him, thus following me in the process.

Adding up the followers of both of these guys comes to 65k followers. That is alot of people!! Alot of eyeballs saw this as well. Now when you publish a new episode and it is published to twitter, many more people will see that link.

Can you see how powerful this is?

Your homework is in your premium feed, as well as the audio version of this post. Feel free to pick it up and test it out. Tell me what you think.

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the inaugural post of the Podcast Insiders. This is the first post of many exciting, content-packed posts to come. Podcast Insiders is your how-to guide for podcasting, similar to how Blog Mastermind is for Blogging, and Internet Business Mastery Academy is for running your internet business.

Podcasting is part of the New Media Revolution that is shaking the world. Its radio, over the internet, but with a twist. You can listen to it whenever you want, wherever you are. Podcasting puts you in control. Podcasting is defined as “the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video, over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.” Think about it. You can listen to a show on your time schedule, rather than be listening at a certain time. You can listen to it how you want to, no need to have a certain device or go to one place to listen. You can listen to it wherever you are in the world, breaking the bonds of having to be in a certain place. Amazing ain’t it?

What’s more is that podcasting is so new that there are unknown niches just waiting to be developed. You can literally be broadcasting to the world and profiting from it with a hobby you do, experience you have learned, or are an expert in. Want an interesting example? Ever think of how soda/pop is made? How it complements/contrasts food you might be eating with it? Ever wanted to try a new flavor of soda/pop? TwistPopFizz is one of the only podcasts that does that, and is creating quite a buzz. That is just one of many examples.

Interested in creating your own podcast? Then join us today and become and Insider. http://podcastinsiders.com/join