theCLIKK – Today:how to film yourself (at home), a vote for Reddit, and traffic that generates leads.how to film yourself (at home), a vote for Reddit, and traffic that generates leads

Self, I’m Ready for My Closeup

Yes, for real estate, but also for video. An effective video relies on an appropriate location, whether you’re shooting a makeup tutorial (#magneticlashes4evah) or demonstrating your company’s latest product. Privacy is an important consideration … you don’t want to be distracted by external noise or self-conscious because your significant other is staring at you. (If they are, make them shoot the video!) And looks matter. Do a serious background declutter. If you have professional lights, excellent. If not, use natural light (bounce it off a white sheet or poster board if possible). Lighting change is your enemy, so keeping it consistent is key. Place your camera where it will be roughly at eye level, so you aren’t looking up (or down) at the camera.

Blurry won’t cut it, so you’ll need to ensure your camera remains focused right on your pretty face. The best way to do this is to position a stand-in (plant, lamp, Brad Pitt … whatever you have around) then focus your camera in the spot where your face will be. We won’t judge if you refer to the lamp (or Brad Pitt) as your “body double.” Mark your spot (on the floor, on the desk) with tape so that if you need to let the dog out, you can easily return to focus. And don’t forget to disable auto-focus on your camera, so that it doesn’t change things mid-shoot.

Shotgun microphones are great … IF someone is monitoring your sound and IF you don’t drift in and out of clear audio. Even turning your head can cause problems. Get yourself a lavalier mic (this is what we use but there are cheaper options if you don’t need wireless) for clarity and consistency.

Mmmm, ham…. In the world of one-person video, “understated” and “professional” can equal BORRRINNGGG. Take a tip from the theater and make your voice, gestures and facial expressions more expressive than you think they should be. Static video needs engagement and enthusiasm to avoid coming off as monotonous.

Mmmm, ham…. In the world of one-person video, “understated” and “professional” can equal BORRRINNGGG. Take a tip from the theater and make your voice, gestures and facial expressions more expressive than you think they should be. Static video needs engagement and enthusiasm to avoid coming off as monotonous.

IF YOU’RE TEMPORARILY CLOSED: We’re truly sorry to hear it, and we’re betting many of your customers feel the same way. It’s not much, but Google has added one small and relevant option to My Business accounts, which is the ability to mark your business as ‘Temporarily Closed.’ As this happens more and more, people will be turning to Google to find this information—so if this must happen, at least it’s easier now to communicate the change and help keep people safely off the streets.

NETFLIX AND CHAT:  Necessity is the mother of invention, and what do we need right now? Among other things, we need Netflix AND we need some kind of substitute for chilling with other people during said Netflix. So what’s the invention? A little Chrome extension called Netflix Party which syncs up with other users (so that you’re watching the same thing at the same time) and adds a chat sidebar like a YouTube live stream. The Verge did a quick feature on the extension if you wanna see more.

THE POLLS ARE OPEN: Reddit is launching a new post type called Reddit Polls. The new post type “is a straightforward way to engage with Reddit’s 100,000+ active communities, and understand exactly what people think about a given topic.” Here’s an example of a Reddit Poll post:

• Lead magnet (We talked lead magnets on Tuesday. Read ‘Lead Magnets’ here.)
• Landing page (We talked landing pages yesterday. Read ‘Landing Pages’ here.)
• Reliable traffic source

Today we will discuss (you guessed it) the traffic you’re going to need to generate leads. When you’re generating leads online, traffic is as critical to your campaign as water is to your body. No traffic, no leads.  

Two buckets of water traffic

Web traffic can be divided roughly into two categories:

• Paid Traffic – You cut a check, they send you clicks. Facebook Ads and Google Ads are the most obvious examples.
• Organic Traffic – You create great content, products, services, and you earn traffic from search engines (SEO) or from social sharing.

So, what kind of traffic generates leads?

Organic traffic is fabulous because traffic from Google search or a Facebook share, for example, doesn’t have a direct cost. These clicks are “free.”

But here’s the thing…

Organic traffic is like rain, while paid traffic is like a hose. You can get water from both but only one of these traffic sources has 100% certainty.

With traffic from SEO and social media marketing, you don’t know:

• where it’s going to rain,
• when it’s going to start or stop raining,
• how much rain you will get.

And so it is with organic traffic. You cannot direct a predictable amount of traffic where you want, when you want, for the length of time you want.

With paid traffic, you can direct the traffic in the same way you would direct water with a hose. Of course, as with your hose, when you turn the water on, you start paying. When you stop paying, the water stops flowing.

But remember, with a good lead magnet and landing page you should convert visitors into subscribers at 40% or greater. Assuming you have something (or somethings) they’ll want to buy, you’ll likely want to direct as much traffic to the landing page as you can. 

Organic traffic is wonderful. We love it for so many reasons. But bust out the paid traffic if you want to create a predictable stream of leads and subscribers.

Jeopardy Clue: This type of contractual provision forbids one party from pursuing other opportunities within the business domain of the other party.

In this segment, we take a stock photo we can’t believe exists and try to imagine an ad (however absurd) that could use it. Think you can top our copy? Hit Reply and share with us!

Hurry down to Perry’s Pets and save cute little Bubbles before time runs out on our liquidation sale.

‘JEOPARDY’ QUESTION: What is a non-compete clause (NCC)?

As with prenuptial agreements, we can understand why NCCs should exist—but we can also understand why they’re a prickly subject. In the best cases, they establish fair boundaries and protect trade secrets (there would be no trade secrets if competitors could just poach one another’s specialists). But in the worst cases, NCCs put people out of work who were never a competitive threat—so be sure you understand all the terms in an NCC before you sign it!