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[Progress] #AndyTalks

Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 021 - Does AdWords favour "tinkering"

Does Google favour people who "tinker" with their AdWords accounts?

 

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As adults, we've been trained to be perfectionists at school and at work. It stops us starting, and it stops us shipping.
This is something I just did myself the last few months as well. Getting over myself. As an INFJ I tend to be a huge perfectionist and that's what was getting in my way. It puts a lot of stress and pressure on yourself and other people. And really sometimes you do just have to let go of trying to control every aspect of what you do. And also allow yourself and others to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the experience.

I can't say how many times I've done this to myself since I've been in Fastlane even more so, then I was in college. And I should've already learned this from there, because I wanted straight A's every time, and it was the first lesson in 2008 that life isn't perfect and straight A's. And after I graduated also I found out, no one cares how smart you are, or that you are a perfectionist. lol Really it's just a battle with ourselves thinking somehow if we're perfect enough we will find self-worth through performance.

I can't tell you how much I've done this, and I think right now I just feel more relaxed now after taking a break and re-evaluating things, because it doesn't matter how much I reach perfectionism, it's just not going to be perfect. lol So, in my idealistic mind I've resolved, the ideal in my head about this world, and business doesn't exist. And I think it's a great lesson to learn and accept their is no perfection. We can reach for it, challenge ourselves, but it can become a block trying to do everything perfect all the time.

Sometimes you do have to change and just let go of trying to control everything all the time, because you're not in control of anything but your part. In business all you can do is adjust and adapt, and learn through trial and error.
 

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Exactly! Thanks for the story @Veloce Grey

1) Give yourself permission to suck.

Or in other words: "Get over yourself!"

As adults, we've been trained to be perfectionists at school and at work. It stops us starting, and it stops us shipping.

There it is - one of the foundations of how we're trained to be drones in other peoples businesses.
If you get something right, you get a pat on the back and the chance at a better education leading to being paid slightly more in slowlane metrics...
If you get it wrong - oh Geez, you better sit quietly in the back in case someone finds out!!!

Fail fast, fail often, fail better.
 
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Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 022 - Simple explanations

Chris asked how I explain things simply, and Mattie asked how to not ramble when writing.

I can definitely ramble, but hopefully this ramble will help budding copywriters or entrepreneurs.

I dropped the video here.
 

Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

I'm still here, chipping away. Getting a bit better at delivering my lines. Getting a bit better at staying on topic.

I'm well "over myself" now - not that I was in my way too much anyway.

I'm not even using the lapel mic I bought. I'll save that for videos I'm not doing via Snapchat - which is none at the moment. So you really don't need anything other than your smartphone to start doing videos.

I've developed a habit of doing videos daily. I'm pleased to have found a way that's frictionless, fun and easy. My phone is always on me, and there's an endless supply of content I can create based on work or conversations I have throughout each day.

Because I'm doing videos so regularly, I'm slowly building a bank of content on dropbox (that I can't quite edit and promote how I want yet!). I'm posting the unedited, longer, daily Snapchat "stories" in here.

The Snapchat app is great. I'd love there to be something similar that just allows me to create videos on the fly, without even anyone following. I'll go looking for something.

I've posted my first ever LinkedIn post as a link to the "You don't need to be an expert video". I've had a couple of comments from people I know who I've not spoken to in years. I've also had a few likes. I do need to work on "selling the click" (see below).



Things to work out:

1) How to edit these Snapchat files so I can pull out sections and have them as their own standalone videos. The Q&A video where I answer a few questions springs to mind. It would be nice to have short videos (that maybe aren't titled AndyTalks anymore?) that are short and punchy and on one topic.

2) Portrait or Landscape? I'm trying to do mobile first, and I think people look at their mobile in portrait. Snapchat is portrait so I'm sticking with that for the moment.

3) Sell the click better. I've not got enticing thumbnails, and the videos start a bit slow. I'll get better at this as I start pushing more videos to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. (Maybe Instagram too?) I'll get my head round video marketing, YouTube SEO, etc, soon.

4) Get transcriptions and subtitles created. Each sentence is quite clear now compared to my earliest videos. So getting the written version will help those who prefer to read, the hard of hearing, and help with YouTube SEO etc.

5) Putting the videos up on my blog. I'm well behind now, so maybe I'll outsource this to a VA or something.



Things I'm going to do soon:

1) Jump on Periscope with my flip chart and start rambling. Do some of my AdWords presentations (online sales funnel stuff really), and then take questions. I wonder if I'd go over an hour? Knowing me... I think I could.

2) Get setup on Blab as a few people want to chat/shoot the breeze and then record it. I'd be interested to see how they came out.

3) In-person, local, workshops.

4) Non Snapchat, landscape videos. Short, sharp, on point. Load to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. (Maybe I'm spending too much time with the Snapchat app? Maybe it's helped me learn to deliver lines, and get over the silly urge I had to do it all in one take?)
 

Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 023 - Is it worth being Google AdWords certified?

Yes!!! I managed to cut out a part of a Snapchat story mp4 file.

(This clip is taken from AndyTalks 019... I'm not sure if I'm cheating there by claiming to have done 23 talks to date!)


I've dropped it into this thread.
 
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Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 024 - Moving towards video marketing

I made a good bit of progress today.

I worked out how to edit a Snapchat story, and create a short clip from the day's videos (see 023 above!).

In this video I talk about the things I like and don't like about Snapchat, and what I'm going to do next, and I get a bit of it done in the evening.

I also come up with a great line I should keep in mind as a business owner.

 

Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

I'm doing my first online interview this evening on blab.im.

It's with a Larry who's been a tradesman for over 15 years, and who had subcontractors working for him for a while. He's moved out of that now and is helping other tradesmen with their marketing. I'm his guest and I'll chat about how AdWords paid search can help tradesmen and small business owners.

It'll probably take an hour.

My goal is to add value, and to learn how to do these things. We'll record it and make it available in it's entirety, and maybe cut out discrete sections for reuse as smaller videos/audios.

I'm looking forward to it, and will have to prep today so I don't ramble too much!

Here's the link if you want to join: https://blab.im/bsodiw
 

Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

Just finished an hour of waffling about AdWords.

I do these calls all the time, and finally I'll have one recorded.

It was so much fun too.



You can find a link to it here:


Larry, who was the host, should have the recording later and I'll drop a more permanent link in here when it's done.

Blab is so easy to use, and a great little platform. I watched a great one this morning about branding. There's some interesting conversations going on.



Notes on the video:

Doh... I have a lovely mic sat on the desk, but used my wireless headphones because I thought I might stand up and use the flip chart. I didn't in the end, so could have had better sound quality. I'll do that next time.

I'm definitely talking slower and more clearly now-a-days. I think all the time on Snapchat has been helping. :)
 
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Great video's and podcast you are sharing here on the forum.

Would you still advise bidding on your brand name when the first result in google is to your website and result 2, 3 and 4 all directed to sites affiliated with you like facebook, a forum you are active on as business and ebay?

Thanks for sharing your expertise!
 

Andy Black

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Great video's and podcast you are sharing here on the forum.

Would you still advise bidding on your brand name when the first result in google is to your website and result 2, 3 and 4 all directed to sites affiliated with you like facebook, a forum you are active on as business and ebay?

Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Thanks for watching @Ikke

I'd advise testing it for sure! :)

You might own the first 4 organic listings, but are there ads showing above you?

Is anyone stealing your branded traffic?

Will you spot anyone stealing your branded traffic in future?

Do you have the optimal copy for the listing?

Is your top organic listing sending people to the page that best converts them?


How do you know? Have you split-test it to see if you can improve it?

etc...
 
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Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 025 - People over complicate reporting

 

Andy Black

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[HASHTAG]#AndyTalks[/HASHTAG] 026 - Are you a man amongst boys?

I just dropped this video into it's own thread.
  1. I think it's useful in it's own right.

  2. I'm observing how it goes down.

That thread is here.
 
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Andy Black

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I've been conversing with @Mike Kavanagh in his thread here:


I thought I'd copy some of what I've written there into this thread:


I've been trying to find out whether video suits me and helps me communicate better, quicker, and more often.

Can I incorporate daily video taking into my life so that it's frictionless and can become a habit?

Can it slip like sand between the rocks and pebbles of my day, to be done without adding any additional workload to my day?

I go for walks regularly, or walk down to my local for lunch or to meet someone. I would be thinking things over in my head on those walks anyway. Can I record those thoughts while I walk?

Can I publish them simply across multiple platforms easily so that my content can help more people, and help people more?

I don't need accountability to get stuff done.

I don't need external input to be motivated.

I keep chipping away. Relentlessly.

I stop when I observe I don't want to do something anymore. I know that something isn't biting me if i don't get obbsessive about it.

I have to be careful what I start because I can get completely obsessive compulsive about it. I have the handbrake on until I'm sure going headfirst into it is actually what I want to do.


I also know that the way to improve at anything is to practice / do it every. single. day.

I also know (and had this confirmed by personality profiling) that I often don't know what's going to come out of my mouth next.

I often don't know where my conversation will end up. Sometimes I do know the destination I'm aiming for, but don't know how I'll get there.

So I have to just start. I have to "Go on the B of Bang."

And see where it takes me.

It looks like I'm vlogging, but that's not what I'm intending.

I'm finding my feet, my voice, and my cadence.

I'm learning by doing.

It's the only way I learn to be honest - jump off the cliff and make the plane on the way down.:)


...


I don't know who my audience is really. I know people are following, and I'm just being me. I get feedback about things they like, and that helps me to dial it in.

The totally amazing and surprising thing about using Snapchat to record videos is that you're editing as you go along. You can only do a max 10 second video clip, and you instantly watch it to approve it or redo it. It so lends itself to speaking in bite-sized sentences, and editing on the fly.

For me, it's helped me learn to speak in a distinct sentence, and to be clearer in my thinking and speaking.

It's easy to tidy up written content by going back and editing, or rearranging. It's harder to do with video, but Snapchat encourages you to do it as you go along. It's amazing and I'd highly recommend it.


...


I don't mind not getting results. I just keep moving.

In this thread the feedback has (inevitably) died off a bit from when I started.

That's not slowed me down in the slightest though. I only need a whiff of positive feedback and I can keep going.

I'm going faster now, and will keep upping my cadence. I know I'm heading in an interesting direction.

Paul Graham mentioned in one of his essays (here) that

Empirically, the way to do really big things seems to be to start with deceptively small things. Want to dominate microcomputer software? Start by writing a Basic interpreter for a machine with a few thousand users. Want to make the universal web site? Start by building a site for Harvard undergrads to stalk one another.

and

I think the way to use these big ideas is not to try to identify a precise point in the future and then ask yourself how to get from here to there, like the popular image of a visionary. You'll be better off if you operate like Columbus and just head in a general westerly direction. Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken. Start with something you know works, and when you expand, expand westward.



Echoing that, fellow forum member @RogueInnovation posted something that resonated a while back about business.

He said "Get started. Keep going." in this post here.

He also mentioned that getting started is harder than you think. He didn't say why, but I'd guess it's because we're always getting in our own way and second guessing ourselves.

Unlike kids... (as per [HASHTAG]#AndyTalks[/HASHTAG] 026).​
 

Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 027 - Ask good questions

 

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Great work Andy.

2) Portrait or Landscape? I'm trying to do mobile first, and I think people look at their mobile in portrait. Snapchat is portrait so I'm sticking with that for the moment.

Landscape, definitely. See the number one rule in the wistia reference you shared (which is great, thank you):

1) Nice little tutorial on creating videos with an iPhone:
 
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Andy Black

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Great work Andy.



Landscape, definitely. See the number one rule in the wistia reference you shared (which is great, thank you):

Thanks @Mr.B


I'm sticking to portrait at the moment when on Snapchat.

I tried doing landscape on Snapchat, but when uploaded to YouTube it still saw it as portrait and had the video showing sideways.

I could probably find a technical solution, but if it adds another step in my process then it's a step backwards.

...

This year, I'm concentrating on "Mobile First. Video First."

"Go where the puck's going, not where it's been."

We'll see where that takes me.

...



Some more of my reasoning:


...

Snapchat videos are portrait because it's people talking to their phone.

Same as if we were "Facetiming" each other.

And there's a reason for portrait when it's of a person up close - it's more up close and personal.

...

I will do landscape videos when on Periscope or straight to my camera-roll when I'm going to have my flip-chart in view.

These will be good to promote on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (I've not used Instagram at all yet so don't know what's native).

...

I've only just realised I can ramble on Snapchat vlog style and meander slowly to my point.

This plays to a strength I have that a personality profile confirmed - that I often don't know what I'm going to say next!

I have to just start and see where logic and my brain takes me.

THEN I can get it transcribed and pull out a succinct version of whatever message I came up with when I let it just happen.

Then I can do as short a landscape version as I can to promote on other platforms.

...starting straight into the meat and hitting with a conclusion.

No rambling, only one point, and one focused shot directly between the eyes.

So I'm finding a process that works specifically for me, that plays to my strengths, and that I can make a daily habit - for the rest of my life?

...

I think platforms (and advice) will start changing when more people and businesses realise so many people are now taking photos and videos in portrait rather than landscape.

We do landscape because our viewing devices have typically been landscape (tv screens).

But more and more time is spent viewing on a mobile, and our natural way to hold a mobile is portrait.

...

My content is mostly my thoughts, and me delivering them.

If portrait really puts someone off, then I'd rather they didn't follow.

I'd rather have a hard-core following and answer questions they have, than a larger following who are less interested.

I'd like to find out what that smaller audience has in common, then try to find more of them.

I'm aware that sheer numbers helps as well, but I'm not at that stage and happy to keep it small and tight.






Thanks for teasing all this thinking out of me. :)
 

Andy Black

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Great writings or are they musings?
Keep up the good work.
Thanks @Michael Moore

I had to Google what "musings" meant...

"A period of reflection or thought."

Yep, that sounds about right.

My wife would probably put a different label on my "musings" though, and you know how direct these Irish ladies can be. ;)
 
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#AndyTalks 028 - You can go slower than you think

A ramble along my favourite canal again.

I talk about:
  • Vlogging and legacy (@Mike Kavanagh really got me thinking in his thread ... thanks Mike).
  • Riding motor bikes too fast.
  • How changing my goal to "being smooth" helped.
  • How someone advised me recently that you can go slower than you think.

Here's the thread I dropped this video into:
 
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Mike Kavanagh

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Thanks for the chat earlier, it really got me thinking.
Our chat reminded me of the legacy that I have to live up to.

The next 48 hours will be interesting.

It's all about what we're leaving after we're gone that matters most.
 

Andy Black

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Damit... I should be in bed.

Anyway, someone mentioned this site to get videos transcribed. I didn't realise they also did the captions/subtitles. Very interesting...


EDIT: I've just paid €8.15 via Paypal to get the latest video (028) transcribed. It should be a 24 hour turnaround. I'll update this thread when I get the transcription.


4MEV1Si.png
 
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Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

Wow... the transcription was done and in my inbox at 01:30am, so less than 2 hours after I painlessly paid for it.

Here's what ended up in my inbox:

qp2lu0s.png





I've included the raw transcription below without me editing it.

It's pretty damn good, and I only need to do some minor editing. Given I only created the video yesterday, this is still very fresh in my memory so I should be able to do it without watching the video again.

There's 1,337 words, from a video that was just over 8 minutes long. That's a pretty big blog post!

I'm going to post this on my blog, with the video before it.

I'm also going to make this part of my daily routine, so that I'm posting a video and a transcription to my blog - EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I'll work out how to get the edited transcription into my YouTube videos as subtitles/captions or whatever they're called.

I'll do this going forward, and then go back and do all the videos I've missed. By that stage, I'll have a repeatable process that I'm bored with, that I'll document, and that I'll be able to outsource.


EDIT: I've edited the transcription (maybe spent too long on it? Is it's purpose is to get SEO love, not to be read?), and uploaded to my blog here:



TRANSCRIPTION

The Fastlane Forum talked about the power he sees in video logging. Gary Vaynerchuk does an excellent video logging series, called the DaliyVee. I certainly didn't set off doing these Snapchat stories to do a vlogging series myself. I've been using Snapchat, because I think it's a brilliant app for being able to create little snippets of video that I can then post here, there and everywhere to help people with online marketing, or business stuff. I have coffees with business owners, and I have these conversations, so I should record them and make more them.


By the way, after awhile you realize a lot of these conversations your having, some of the common, recurring themes are more mindset stuff than marketing, how-to stuff to do with AdWords, or websites, or stuff like that. Anyway, I've been saving these Snapchats stories every evening to my camera role and uploading them to Dropbox, publishing some of them on YouTube. My original plan, still my plan is to build up a bank of content. Shout out to Joshua who recommended I do that. Get a bank of content that's built up, from which I can extract little videos, and then also, I've got a lot of B-roll. Interesting for me to go back through some of those days, like last week, or the week before, and try to find little bits to pull out of, and then watch and listen to the things I was doing that day, struggling with, or something I'd overcome.


It's quite an interesting thing, this vlogging potentially. Maybe my kids when they get older, they can follow along to see what daddy was up to. Wow, maybe it goes as far forward as grandchildren looking at these vlogs. That would be amazing wouldn't it? This is making me think of legacy stuff, longer term, really long term now ... Like in the film Superman, where he throws that thing out into the ice, and then his dad's there talking to him, and he's never met his dad, or wasn't old enough, or wasn't ready for those lessons, or those messages. I'm getting a bit morbid now aren't I? It reminds me of that saying, "When you're ready, the teacher appears." It actually just means that teacher was there all along, you just weren't ready to hear it.


It's the same as somebody just trying to get started in business, and trying to come up with an idea, find some opportunity. It's the sort of mindset that where you think opportunity only knocks once, and when it does, I have to grab it with both hands. Actually, opportunity is around. If you're listening for it, it's like a drum roll on your door. It's a drum roll. It always cracks me up when they do that. Ahh ducks, so funny.


Shout out to Liam actually, when last week I was talking about my cash going out quick, because I've got subcontractors, and how some of my clients are on thirty day terms, so my cash flow is a bit screwed up at the minute. Liam snapped me back and said, he knows that feeling. He's been there before, and he also said, "You can go slower than you think." Well, that's great advice. It was pretty timely for me as well, just to slow it down, don't get too far ahead of myself. Sometimes you make much better progress when you're not in a rush, and are just nice and calm.


I remember that in my teens, when I was doing sprint training. The man I trained with, he was a 10.6 hundred meter runner. I was an 11.6 hundred meter runner. There's nothing I could do. The harder I tried to keep up with him, the slower I'll go, because I'd be working against myself. I use to race around the countryside on a motorbike, scrapping my knees, sliders, here, there and everywhere. Actually had to change vehicles from a sports bike to a different style of bike just to slow me down, and then, I really enjoyed it. I saw, "Wow, there's a castle. I never saw that before." I was always haring it past. The guys I hung around with at the time, we were all a bit nuts. We were all talking about getting your knee down all the time.


After a couple of little accidents, my broken collarbone, et cetera, I remember meeting up with another guy, an older guy, John and he says, "Andy, are you smooth? Are you smooth?" Smooth? What was he on about? What he meant was, effortless. Did anyone even notice you coming past? Do you do a tricky run through the countryside and never touch your brakes? Well, I didn't use my brakes in the countryside. I didn't use my brakes. On a road rider, engine braking is the way to go. I'll talk about that another time. For John, the ultimate compliment for a bike rider would be to go through town, and never put your foot down. Look far enough ahead to see the red light, to see the traffic, to know where to position yourself, and trickle up to the lights, have them go green just as you're pulling up. Whew, off again. Smooth. Smooth.


I remember doing that going through town on my big BMW GS, with these sports bikes, [Vrrrrroom 00:05:46] but they passed me. I used to be like that. I would exhaust, attention seeking, look at me, yeah. They would all pull up to the lights, and I'd bimble up and take off just as it went green, and I'd be ahead of them, and then they'd go, [neh, neh, neh, neh, neh 00:06:06] all the way through town. They would barreling up to these lights and all it meant was, they waited at the red light longer than me. Personally, I kind of worked out. I liked being on a motorbike for riding it, not for sitting at traffic lights. What's the point of getting there early and waiting for 30 seconds?


Changed my goals. Instead of trying to get my knee down, I was trying to be smooth. I was trying to never to put my foot down. I was trying to go as slow as I could, and enjoy it. How slow could I go, without stopping? Oh wow, that was a good game. I think it's a good game in business as well. What were you young guns, you can all rush off. I'll meet you at the traffic light. I'll beat you anyway. You go fast, you just do that, you can come a [inaudible 00:06:55] mind ... In situations, you didn't see coming as well, and too fast for yourself ... It's about Dennis Bergkamp when he was playing for Arsenal, being a man amongst boys, because time slowed down when he got the ball.


Enough rambling. My hands are cold holding the phone. I'm not going to do this with gloves. That would be a bit bizarre. I'm going to get myself a coffee now.


That's a lot of school uniforms to iron. Damn it. I've got a quick question. I know I can ramble. Oh my goodness, I do know that. Is that helping you? Maybe things would be better if I did a Q & A? If you sent me questions and I answered questions, and rambled, but I had a purpose for it? Let me know. Does mine, just sort of rambling, amusing, does that help you, are you interested in it anyway, and do you have any specific questions? I'll be using Periscope and Facebook Live soon enough to go deep into AdWords and online marketing, and I want to keep adding value on Snapchat. I don't have many followers, so I can answer questions you've got for me. Later on, I might not be able to, so make the most of it now. Ask me questions. Also, let me know, am I rambling too much?

 
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Andy Black

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#AndyTalks029 - It's New Year every week!

(This is my vlog from Mon 11-Apr-16)

Today I'm pumped because it's Monday morning, and I've started the week on the right foot.

I spend the morning preparing for a call with my AdWords contractor, and then having the call.

One client tells me they've paid two invoices - last night. I'm downing tools for that one for the minute.

I talk about getting a transcription of 028 on rev.com too.





Now I have this video up on YouTube, I'll be getting it transcribed too (to put on my blog post for this video).

www.jerrybanfield.com has a great "video first" content creation strategy. Go to his "blog" section and you'll see he creates a video a day (playing online shooter games). He's so good at talking now that he publishes the video on YouTube, gets it transcribed to put with the blog post (and get some Google love), AND he then puts the audio out on iTunes.

Very smart.
 

Andy Black

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[HASHTAG]#AndyTalks[/HASHTAG] 030 - Segment your AdWords data!

A late night Skype call last night doesn't stop me getting excited to go on a course today.

I have to do some reports before I head off, but I'll give an AdWords tip first.


I dropped the video and transcription into this thread:
 
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YoungPadawan

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#AndyTalks 004 - Problem Solving



Observations from this video:

1) It's a bit longer than I thought/hoped.

2) I did pencil drawings first so I could just go over them with the pen. You can't see the pencil drawings, which is good. :)

3) I didn't manage any videos last week because I made the mistake of starting client work first thing in the morning, and then my day ran away from me. Today I had to do client work, but I was determined to shoot a video straight after lunch. I can do the rest of the client work tonight when the house is asleep (I can't shoot a video in the kitchen when everyone's asleep upstairs).

4) You almost can't tell I'm in the kitchen!

Things to note for next video:

1) Ooops. This one crept over 10 minutes. I'll see if I can be quicker next time.

2) I still need to sort that exposure thing. It goes light then dark every now and then.

3) I'm not quite standing right because the leg of the flip-chart is in the way. I was concious of knocking it over. I'll sort that for next time.​


What do you think?



EDIT: I posted a different version of this video made a couple of years ago here.
Your videos are always awesome @Andy Black. Keep em coming! :)
 
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Andy Black

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