By Herb Firestone
Marketing Coordinator

To make it as easy as humanly possible to post a YouTube video on a WordPress blog post, all you have to do is download and unzip the Smart YouTube plugin.

Next simply upload the plug-in to your WordPress blog’s plugin folder and activate it exactly the same as you would any other WordPress plugin.

Then hit the Add You Tube button inside your blog’s admin and paste the YouTube url into the window that opens. This is not the embed code. It’s only the URL of the video, so it’s as simple as that.

Even if, for some reason, you don’t know how to unzip a file or upload one to your WordPress plugin directory, those instructions are readily available by searching on Google. On the other hand, however, the only place to find the Smart YouTube plugin, is in the WordPress Plugin Directory itself. The main purpose of the plugin is to enable you to easily upload YouTube videos into your blog posts.

As an added benefit, the video will be shown in full in your RSS feed.

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By Herb Firestone
Marketing Coordinator

Today’s videos both present the same message, namely, in order to create a viral video, you need strategic marketing.

The first is a CNN interview with Stanford University student Dan Ackerman Greenberg, who at age 22. already owns three Internet businesses.

Dan Ackerman Greenberg Talks Viral Videos on CNN

The second is a parody of the CNN interview video remixed by a how to video sharing site called 5 Minutes.

Exclusive! Leaked! How to make Viral Videos!

At any rate, hidden away somewhere within are nine strategies for creating viral videos:

Rule #1: Keep it short, 15 to 30 seconds and don’t make an outright ad, because viewers will never share ads. Make it easy to remix so that other YouTube users are able to remix it, add their own personal touches and re-upload it as their own – which is exactly what was done in the parody version below.

Rule #2: Attempt to get your video to the YouTube daily most viewed list by promoting it on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and influential blogs.

Rule #3: Optimize the title and make it catchy.

Rule #4: Manipulate the thumbnail. Otherwise YouTube automatically creates the thumbnail from exactly the halfway point of the video.

Rule #5: Engage viewers to make comments. Speaking of comments, please feel free to make one on this post.

Rule #6: Release all videos simultaneously as opposed to one after the other.

Rule #7: Optimize your video tags and descriptions.

Rule #8: Measure effectiveness with metrics and traffic.

Rule #9: Summarize. (Please see 1-8 above)

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Author: Henry Adaso
Internet Copywriter

So now that you know why you should start building links today, are you ready for some tips? If you’re an expert in the field of search engine optimization, you may already know most of these. For the rest of us, here are 5 characteristics of a quality link.

Informative - No reader will fault you for linking off to an article or website that adds value to their experience. But linking to a sub-par site is an easy way to lose readership.

Credible - Quality inbound links come from credible sites. Elevate your own credibility by offering only fair, objective, and accurate information to readers. If you establish yourself as a trusted source, inbound links will be less difficult to obtain.

Descriptive - Explain what the link has to offer. Why should a reader click on the link? Don’t use phrases like “click here” when crosslinking. Use a creative signal phrase instead.

Brief and Useful - Writing links in blocks of sentences or paragraphs is bad SEO practice. Keep it brief and user-friendly or it will look like you forgot to close a tag.

Groundbreaking - Be the first to report a breaking news story in your niche and others will be happy to credit you for the gesture.

In summary, a quality link is brief, useful, descriptive, and enhances user experience. If you’re new to SEO, you may first want to get acquainted with linking, inbound & outbound links.

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