Cinemagraphs – Animate your photos
Seeking to spice up the images in your blog or site? Want to add some action to a still photo?
Maybe Cinemagraphs are for you.
Cinemagraphs are still images that contain within themselves living elements allowing a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved. Cinemagraph is a technique of blending the effects of images and videos. It was introduced by a New York fashion photographer Jamie Beck, in collaboration with motion graphics designer Kevin Burg. Since then, many other designers have created similar forms of cinemagraphs.
Check out the process in Tripwire Magazine.
Facebook’s Timeline has arrived so get creative
April 1 is April Fool’s Day but for marketers using a Facebook Page to sell their products it is the day when Facebook made the homepage the default. What this means is the option to have a “welcome page” as your default landing page for visitors has been removed.
Up until today, Facebook Page owners had the option to steer people to a welcome page splash encouraging the visitor to sign up. Now that has gone.
For those using Facebook to market online, it is time to get creative.
Take Internet guru Jonathan Budd. Up until recently, if you were browsing and found his Facebook page you would come across a welcome page and a call to “Like” and sign up. Now you will land on the homepage (see screengrab).
Jonathan Budd's Facebook Page
Facebook is keen to minimize the “hard sell” seen by some marketers on their platform. But they are also aware that there is income to be earned by allowing marketers to use their platform. This latest move is to further reinforce to idea that Facebook is a social forum on which to hang out – not a place where visitors are subject to the hard sell.
So if you have been using a “Welcome Page” as your default – you have just lost that option.
Now you have to get creative in how you lure people to “Like” the page or sign up.
Jonathan Budd, you will see, is offering a free gift.
Good Luck!
Does your spouse or partner support you?
Sitting at home struggling to make money online through Internet marketing can be a challenge. You need all the help you can get, both in terms of guidance and skills and in terms of maintaining the mindset to believe you will win out in the end.
If you are married or have a partner, the support of your “other half” can make a lot of difference. On the other hand, if all you get is criticism or doubt, this can affect your performance and your mindset.
Particularly at the beginning, when you might be spending more money on programs and guidance than you are bringing in, it can be hard to convince your spouse that all the time and effort will be worth it.
There are many examples of people who have failed because the conversation at home about “wasting your time” deals you a mental blow.
If you face this challenge, try to stick at it and not let it affect you. Easier said than done, you say!
But this is an issue that can negatively affect your success online.
Aweber debuts ‘drag and drop’ e-mail newsletter design
For Aweber e-mail newsletter users, there is a new option that makes designing and laying out your newsletter easier.
This is what Aweber has to say about the new option:
Got a vision but no HTML skills? You want the Block Editor, your what-you-see-is-what-you-get option.
Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is a busy marketer’s best friend. With the Block Editor, you just drag whatever you want to add to your email down from the menu bar.
Headlines, images, buttons, logos, paragraphs, coupons, product listings – you’ve got blocks available for all of them, so you can build a custom email structure in a few clicks.
Check out the details HERE.
Managing a small team
Not just a one-man band - teamwork can help
If your business is growing and you need to build a small team of part-timers or full-timers, it is important to keep a few principles in mind if you want your business to run well – and if you want to sleep well at night!
Communication
Firstly, you need to communicate effectively. Often in online businesses, people work remotely and so if you are the boss, you are communicating by e-mail, chat, Skype or telephone.
Try to be clear about what you want from your employee or helper. Try to make sure the person understands. In some cases, the communication is with a person in another country and from another culture. This is true if you are outsourcing work to say the Philippines or India.
Keep in mind you may need to go that extra mile to make something clear, otherwise you might receive an outcome you were not looking for.
For example, graphics can be a difficult thing to convey in words. If you are looking for somebody to design your logo, try to look around the Web for something similar to what you are looking for and send that to the graphic designer as an example, with description of how your logo should be different.
Effective communication can take up some time but it is worth it in the long run.
Engagement
What we mean by engagement is not preparation for marriage (!) but an effort to give a bit more in your communications with your employee, helper or outsourced worker. Engage them every so often to see if they are doing okay. Make clear you are concerned that they understand the work and are comfortable with it.
Show you care.
Conflict resolution
Of course, there are times when things go wrong. The website design that you ordered just doesn’t work for you. The logo you ordered is just not right. The story you commissioned is way off base.
Take care to talk the matter through and just rant and rave! Many times the reason for the problem lies at your door because you did not effectively communicate what you wanted. Try to work out a solution that encourages the person to make the changes without them feeling hard done by.
Good leadership
Good leadership consists of all the above points. Talk to your team. Show an interest. Communicate regularly. Show you care and genuinely care.
Set an example. Show that you can do the work that you are asking others to do if you feel that will help. In order to keep team members positive and committed and motivated, the team leader needs to exhibit good leadership qualities. The team looks to the leader for support and guidance so any negativity on the leader’s part can be disastrous.
Look to Hollywood!
And if you struggle with this stuff – maybe watch a few movies or documentaries on leadership and teamwork. There is a lot of inspiring Hollywood stuff out there that with a bit of imagination you can tweak to give you the mindset to run a good team.
Good luck!
101 ways to make money online
There are a myriad was to make money online. The website ClickFire.com has come up with a list of 101 ways. This covers everything from blogging to selling stuff on Ebay.
It should be noted, however, that many of the suggestions offer very limited income, if anything at all.
The key point is to focus and concentrate, not dissipate your energies on too many things.
Check out 101 Ways to Make Money Online. Worth having a look.
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