My News

You can personalize your view of Digg with their ‘My News’ feature. You can select profiles to follow, and you’ll see the latest submissions listed under the ‘My News’ tab. Picking up on Twitter language, you choose to ‘follow’ the profiles, as you can see here:

So when you click on the ‘My News’ tab you see a personalized Digg:

This can help you stay up-to-date on the latest postings in your niche, and it means that you don’t have to fight for the front page. When users log into Digg, ‘My News’ is their homepage, which means your followers will see your stories

Now instead of trying to convince your customers and contacts to ‘Digg’ each individual video or article, you can just ask them to follow you on Digg, as they would on Twitter or ‘friend’ you on Facebook. Then your content gets listed and they can easily click on a link back to your site.

Digg It, and Who Dugg It

Digg has also made it clearer and easier to add content. The ‘Digg it’ button is bigger, and the title and any images are immediately imported. All you have to do is write a description and select a topic. The site will also let you know if the content you’re Digg-ing has already been submitted, and ask you if you want to Digg it.

While you can’t see who submitted content anymore, you can see which of your friends did Digg it.

Take a moment and check out the new Digg, then let us know what you think!

The publishing platform is just over two years old, free to use (you can pay for upgrades) and shocking simple. You send an email, Posterous does all the work.

Blog by Email

It’s a hands-free site – you just email your first post to post@posterous.com and they set up a site for you, send you a confirmation email and you register – selecting and perfecting your domain name and choosing your privacy settings and linking your new site to your Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr accounts, as well as your Blogger, Tumblr, LiveJournal, Typepad, WordPress, or Xanga accounts.

That way you can immediately inform your friends and contacts about your new Posterous site, and also set up Autopost.

Posterous offers Autopost as a way for you to update your social media sites and pages as a group. Just send the photo, message, or post to Posterous, and they’ll upload the photos where you tell them to, update your status, and post your latest blog entry.

Media Matters

Anytime you want to add something new to your site (or social media pages) just email. Posterous can handle photos (jpg, png and gif) audio (mp3) video (avi, mpg) and media links. If you take a picture with your camera on your smart phone, you can email it to Posterous and they’ll post it up – resized to web-friendly size. They’ll also create a sleek image gallery if you post more than one picture.
They’ll drop any mp3 files into a music player so your users can check out the tunes, and they’ll embed the video for you into a flash player – unless it’s viewed via an iPhone in which case they set it to play without flash.

They’ll turn URLs into links, but if it’s a YouTube link, they’ll embed the video. They’ll also embed players automatically for Google Video, Hulu, Funny or Die, Fliggo, Blip.tv, and Brightcove (who we just talked about) among others.

Easy Does It

Posterous makes it literally as easy as sending an email to set up a site and share information, media and start marketing. But like any new tool, you should take your time with it to read the instructions, the user tips and see how best it can serve you.

We’ll share some ideas on how to use Posterous to your advantage over the coming week, so you can get a sense of how you can really use the platform to launch yourself and your products.

We heard many of you weren’t able to make it or the room was full. We know that we have customers all over the world and one time can’t be convenient for everyone. So if you missed it, there is still time to catch the replay.

It will be up for a very LIMITED time. So go watch it as soon as you can!

You Need Content Compatibility

Our first suggested tool is a website. Encoding.com is a service that takes your video in whatever format you made it, and makes it compatible to whatever browser, mobile phone, or media program you’d like. Encoding.com also can host your videos, streaming them through HTTP streaming, which is designed to enhance play on iPads and iPhones.

It isn’t free service, but you can test it out for free for 30 days. And there are a variety of plans, from their Max monthly plan, if you’re a video marketing manic, to their Basic plan, for just $19.

Flash Quality Without the Hassle

Our second tool involves HTML5. HTML5 is coding that enables the video to play directly through the browser, so there’s no plugin or player necessary. This makes your video more accessible, and immediately watchable.
The drawback has been that using HTML5 meant using Flash, which was hard for search engine spiderbots to read, and wasn’t always compatible with older computers. mDialog offers a solution.

mDialog is a video publishing platform that can encode and serve video in HTML5, as well as provide you with some great ad features. The videos can play anywhere, from a mobile device to a PC, it doesn’t matter. You can also insert a roll ad into your video whenever you want to, you control the timing. There’s also demographic targeting available for you if you arrange for video ads through mDialog. The encoding and streaming of the videos is done through cloud computing, and it’s handled by the company so you don’t have to concern yourself with the technical aspects.

Platform for Your Performance

Brightcove is an online video platform that also handles HTML5, as well as compatibility issues, the mobile market and even offers video tracking capability and ad space. Your videos will reside in a cloud, and you can categorize them, set a playlist (which you can change up) and Brightcove handles playing them, no matter who is watching them from whatever type of device. And you can integrate the data Brightcove tracks with Google Analytics, so all your information about drop-offs and player interaction is in one place.

Deciding to go with one of these three video options will cost you, but if you want to make videos a larger part of your site or your marketing plan, getting the technical support, compatibility, and even ad support and space from one of these platforms is a smart use of your money.

Enabling your readers to click through to the product or your site, while reading about the item, is a great way to make conversions easier. The point of article marketing is to reach out to a larger audience, introduce them to your products or services. So if the readers can see your products with just one click, it’s instant gratification for them. Successful articles can lead to successful sales.

In order to get readers to follow the link to your website, your article needs to have the right stuff. Anyone can bullet information, but if your article isn’t appealing, helpful, or understandable, why would readers want to see more of what you have to offer?

These three characteristics are crucial to setting the right tone for your article.

Be Affable

Your article should entice the reader. It’s more than just titling your piece well. If your first few sentences don’t strike the right note, the reader will click away from your article.

Make sure that in the first two or three sentences, you’ve stated the problem your article addresses and the solution you offer, and that you’ve done so without the hard sell. The reader needs to feel like you understand his situation, are familiar with the concerns, and are not pushy.
Check out this article on Squidoo; the author keeps the introduction short, and lays out clearly and concisely how he can help the reader.

Be Helpful

People look to articles to be informative and useful. That means your piece needs to meet the needs of the readers. Be clear about the issue you are addressing, and have practical, applicable advice.

Check out this article on trademark infringement; the author defines infringement immediately, and then breaks down the issue with explanations and examples.

Make it Understandable

The article is your chance to display your expertise, but you need to share it in a way the reader can understand. Using industry lingo is fine, but be sure to include definitions, as you are reaching out to a broader audience.

It’s about more than just word choice. Being understandable also means that you write clearly, and explain your advice and any processes.

Check out this article on insurance; the author is careful to define any industry terms, give examples, and explain how all the piece come together.

When you write your articles, think of how you would talk to a customer. This will help you strike the right tone for your pieces.