This is a case study of how one small business has been experiencing extraordinary success by marketing with YouTube videos.

My friend Rodney Geisler is the owner of Home Energy Doctors here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area of Texas. For the last several months, he and his team have been filming and uploading videos to YouTube and his website.

We have had a number of conversations about the success of his videos and how well they are working for him. Here are a couple of the lessons Rodney has learned:

• Videos are a great way to explain complicated services and help viewers understand the benefits of what you offer in a way that is personal to them.
  
• Home-made videos made with an inexpensive Flip Camcorder are more persuasive than overly polished, professionally filmed videos. This is based on feedback Rodney has received. He feels the home-made videos feel more real to his customers.
  
• Rodney uses his own employees and customers instead of professional actors. He wants viewers to "meet" him and his staff through the videos. He feels this begins a personal relationship and gives viewers a chance to see who will be coming into their houses.
  
• Rodney includes a number of do it yourself videos that offer tips and ideas homeowners can use without paying him. Nevertheless, a number of viewers have hired him to do the work anyway (even though they have to pay hundreds of dollars). These do-it-yourself videos help viewers understand the procedure and see the need for having it done.
  
• The videos build trust and credibility.
  
• The videos educate homeowners.
  
• The videos offer proof of his claims. (When you watch this video, look for the spider web that is blowing back and forth from the air leak. - What could prove his case better than that?)
  
• Videos offer Rodney a way to show, rather than tell, a key point in the sales process. Rodney will often just hand his I Phone to a customer and let them watch one of his videos as a way to answer a question or objection.
  
• Videos build traffic to his website. When you include your URL in the information section about your video, this creates a direct link from YouTube to your site.

I will be interviewing Rodney Geisler on my BlogTalkRadio show, The Rainmakers' Roundtable on January 5, 2010 at 9:30 am. If you would like to learn more about marketing your business with YouTube videos, be sure to tune in or listen to the podcast later.

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I've been reading about Google's new URL shortener, goo.gl with a lot of interest. As anyone who uses Twitter knows, it is just about mandatory to shorten long URLS into smaller ones in order to fit your message withing the 140 character limit.

I've been using bit.ly as my shortener of choice until now. It works very well, plus it is integrated into my Tweetdeck so the whole process happens automatically for me.

The drawback with shortened URLs has always been that Google and other search engines do not follow a shortened link back to the site it points to. In other words, sending out a shortened link does not contribute to an SEO link building strategy.

The more links you have pointing back to a website, the better it will rank when someone does a search for the keywords used in your website.

Hence my interest in Google's new shortening tool.

While I have not been able to find anything written about whether Google's spiders will follow Google's own shortened links, I have to assume it will. When Google adds on new services and offers new tools, they have always in the past contributed to its goal of delivering better search engine results.

So I will be using Google's new shortener with my own Twitter activities, if for no other reason than to add to SEO link building.

The only drawback I see with Google's new shortener is that it presently requires that you use Firefox as your browser. I switched to Google's own browser, Google Chrome, some months ago. It strikes me as odd that this new tool is not yet available on Google's own browser.

For more information about the new shortener, read this article by Muthu Muthusrinivasan, Ben D'Angelo and Devin Mullins,

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Please note: This workshop has now been rescheduled to December 19. I've changed the information below.

If your website isn't attracting visitors, is it really helping your business?

Next weekend, I will be teaching a two-hour workshop on how to get more traffic to your website - without costing a fortune. This is the first time I have ever presented this workshop.

WHO: Charles Brown -sponsored by the #1 SEO firm in Dallas, Texas: Top Page Marketing Solutions.

WHEN: Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 10am to noon.

WHERE: 1501 Norwood Rd. Suite #100, Hurst, Texas 76054 (be sure to park by the North entrance)

COST: $50

For more information or to RSVP: 817-501-6892 or charbrow@gmail.com.

• Learn how to use tools like SEO, pay-per-click advertising, Twitter and email marketing to drive buyers to your site.
  
• Get front page placement on Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing and hundreds of other search engines.
  
• People who look for your business online are proven to be much more likely to buy than any other type of prospect.
  
• Learn how geo-targeting software can help your site to be found buy local customers in zip codes of your choosing.

If you like this article:

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In my opinion, the very best permission-based, email marketing campaign I have ever seen is Marcia Yudkin's Marketing Minute.

Every Wednesday, Marcia sends out a short email newsletter that is the best of both worlds - informative AND brief. It lives up to its name because it takes about a minute to read, yet each week she shares valuable tips and insights that anyone in business can learn and benefit from.

Moreover, her strategy is something that anyone can adopt. I've never asked her, but I strongly suspect that her email list is one of her most valuable business assets that produces income for her week after week.

Yet she follows an uncomplicated game plan that could work for any business person if they simply put in the thought and effort to make it work.

Let's take a look at what she does to make her Marketing Minute so successful:

• It is strictly permission based. She doesn't spam, she doesn't cut ethical corners, and she plays by the rules of permission marketing. You must opt in to receive her newsletter and she provides a link on each email for her readers to unsubscribe if they choose.
  
  
• She over-delivers valuable content. Marcia knows who her subscribers are and why they opted in. She keeps her information relevant to her audience and focuses on the marketing problems they wish to solve. It is clear that her motive to add value is stronger than her motive to sell something. There is nothing wrong with selling, but she always gives more value than she asks from her readers.
  
  
• What she sells is also relevant. Yes, Marcia has one or more sales messages at the bottom of her newsletters, but there is a definite tie-in to the people who opted in. She avoids a big mistake I see a lot of other marketers making. They have not taken the time to understand their audience and ask what this audience wants. Their product offerings often bear no correlation to that audience's wants and needs.
  
  
• She is consistent. The Marketing Minute comes out every Wednesday morning without fail. Her subscribers expect it and this boosts her "open rate" (the number of people actually open the email). A big problem with email marketing is the fact that a lot of subscribers don't actually read the emails before deleting them.
  
  
• Perfect frequency. Based on all of my research, I am convinced that most email newsletters should come out once a week. That is not so frequently to cause people to unsubscribe in droves, but it is just often enough to keep Marcia's name and business on people's minds. I advise a lot of my clients to send out "Tip of the Week" newsletters because that conveys value in their subscribers' minds.
  
  
• Focus on benefits. Marcia has a great way of telling her readers "whats in it for them." But she is careful not to overwhelm them with too much information at one time.
  

Permission marketing is, in my opinion, the most effective marketing strategy available. It is easy to implement and it is very inexpensive. But the return on investment can be spectacular.

If you are interested in learning more about email marketing, I suggest that you do two things:

First, subscribe to Marcia Yudkin's Marketing Minute and study what she does and how she does it.

Second, give me a call at 817-501-6892. I would be more than happy to give you some guidance to help you set up an email marketing campaign for your own business.

If you like this article:

• Follow me on Twitter.
  
• Facebook me!
  
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