UPDATE: ALL FIXED / ALL GOOD - IF YOU FIND ANYTHING ELSE WONKY, PLEASE CONTACT TECH SUPPORT

Yes, we lost some recordings from the Webinars for digital access online. It’s been a series of unfortunate events but we’re near the other side.

Today we’re re-ripping all of the DVDs to replace the content back online. Once that’s done and put online, we’ll put the players around the files as well so you can either stream or direct download. It’s a slow process (processing for streaming, etc.) but we should be done by the end of the weekend.

We’ll also keep everyone updated with the process via the Twitter feed.

Now, yes, the online access has always been just a “bonus” but we still feed bad and want to make it up to you. On Thursday the 9th at 4p Pacific, Paul is going to host a very special edition of the YouTube Secret Weapon Insiders Webinar Series that will cover, in detail, the eMarketingVids Project and what you can learn from it. Although we promised we’d start charging for the Insider Webinar Series from this point on – there will be no cost to YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0 customers – it’s our way of saying thanks for understanding.

Thanks for understanding.

Paul and Julie.

YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0.

Our September 2010 YouTube Secret Weapon Insider Webinar is on September 20 at 5p Pacific / 8p Eastern. You can purchase access here.

Obviously, these things are best live – and you get a chance to get your questions answered – but it will be recorded and anyone who purchases a ticket will get the recording from the event.

All customers of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0 get FREE access to the event so (if you haven’t already), consider purchasing and saving yourself the $47.

Topics we’ll be covering at the Insider Webinar are covered on the sales page.

You have to love it when someone does local marketing on YouTube right. A search for Portland Portrait Photographer on Google brings up way too many choices. That same search on YouTube brings up only a few choices, the best of which is the video embedded below.

Just by using a smart keyword strategy in the positioning of his video (and Portland Photos YouTube Channel), he (currently) is #2 in YouTube for his term (above others with thousands of views). He’ll hit #1 quickly, I’d imagine.

Obviously he needs to fill out his channel and not ignore a Google Local listing (where he can include his videos) but he’s pointed in the right direction.

If this is possible for a Portland Portrait Photographer with an Animoto account, it’s possible for you.

If you can’t see the video in your reader, link directly to the Portland Portrait Photographer video at YouTube.

The “Ninja Move” YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0 Insider Webinar recording is now online and available to EVERYONE who purchased YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0.

All customers should have received email with access directions and a password. If you haven’t received one at this point, you’ll need to contact us at support.

Yes, if you purchase YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0, you get the recording of this amazing Webinar for free.

Co-creators of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0, Julie Perry and Paul Colligan, are contributing authors to the latest book from Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur Press:

“Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars“

This book, compiled by online marketing legend, Mitch Meyerson, gives readers an unmatched advantage into the world of social media — the priceless secrets, strategies, tactics and insights of more than 20 of today’s social media elite. Handpicked to cover almost every aspect of social media marketing, this book’s distinguished team of contributing social media experts open their playbooks and teach readers how to create effective social media campaigns that reach out to millions.

Julie Perry’s chapter, “YouTube: Leveraging the Power of Google to Get Your Video Content to Millions” (read an excerpt from her chapter here), just so happens to be on mastering YouTube (go figure!) and it includes many of the tips and tricks she lays out in Julie & Paul’s YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0 5-part DVD course — now updated with webinars featuring the latest YouTube updates since August 2010! (Get your copy now!)

Paul Colligan’s chapter, “Podcasting: Leveraging the Power of Apple to Get Your Content to Millions ” (hmmm, sounds like these two business partners conferred a bit during the writing stage) discusses how to outsmart your competition with the power of podcasting and features many of the strategies he outlines in his popular Podcast Secrets 3.0 course.

Julie and Paul are featured alongside other well-known social media authorities such as: Gary Vaynerchuk (@GaryVee), Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan), Mari Smith (@MariSmith), Denise Wakeman (@DeniseWakeman), Brian Clark (@copyblogger), Michael Stelzner (@Michael_Stelzner), Deborah Cole Micek (@CoachDeb), Joel Comm (@joelcomm), Barbara Rozgonyi (@wiredprworks) and Chris Garrett (@chrisgarrett).

• Contributions from 20+ top social media marketers
• The biggest mistakes people make with social media and how to fix them
• Actionable plans for all areas including social networks, blogs, web TV and mobile marketing
• Real-world case studies, best practices and proven techniques from the experts
• Detailed list of resources

Grab your copy of Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars today and get eight audio and video bonuses at www.SocialMediaMarketingSuperstars.com. Also look for the full page ad in Entrepreneur Magazine — on the stands now!

We’ve placed it all on the line and put YouTube Secret Weapon up at Bearhug for customer support, recommendations, reviews and more.

Got a question or something to say about YouTube Secret Weapon? Say it at Bearhug. Results should be fascinating.

VidCon 2010 was amazing, on a number of levels. I’ll try to hit some of the highlights here but, … wow … I’m more serious / bullish on YouTube than ever before. Let me give you some highlights:

• The excitement of YouTube’s announcing support for 4k video overshadowed the important 3 point outline that came from the presentation where it was launched. In short, YouTube wants to be 1) the best place for your content while providing 2) the best ways to make your content fun and interactive while enabling people the chance to 3) view your content wherever you are. Lofty goals, yes, but I think these guys can pull it off. Oh, yes, and did I mention, they want you as a partner. Yes, our goal here is for you to see us as your YouTube Secret Weapon but, dear friends, MAKE YOUTUBE YOUR SECRET WEAPON.
• All my writing and teaching of all the places YouTube is available was made so much more elegant in the statement that our future is “not going to be a device centric world.” Your content everywhere (#3) above is the only choice for any content provider looking to take the Internet seriously.
• YouTube is monetizing over a billion videos a week. Read that sentence again. Nuff said?
• In a bit of very strategic insight, it was also said that more than half of all YouTube views come from subscriptions. One YouTube employee went as far as saying that subscriptions are “the currency of YouTube.”
• In one more bit of hackerlike information, twas told that channel numbers are not as much of an influence on the YouTube ranking algorithm as people think it is. Take that for what it is worth.
• I met the guys from Orabrush (one of the sponsors of the event). Oh, man, does their YouTube story sum things up perfectly. I include it here, how else, but as a YouTube Embed

  
  

Expect more on the topics of both VidCon and what we learned there. I’ll be there for next year’s event and recommend you do the same.

A reported at Techmeme, YouTube is rolling out their HTML5 version of their mobile site, rendering their apps obsolete and nailing another nail into Flash’s coffin.

We’re able to see it here and we agree with Techmeme. This is where YouTube needs to go and it looks like a million bucks

Now, we need to be honest. Everyone else in this “space” looks at YouTube to see where they should go as well.

By YouTube doing this, it should go without saying that we’ll be seeing more of the same from other video players online.

Flash simply does not have much time left – and YouTube today perhaps pulled the plug.

This year’s VidCon event looks to be tremendous.  We’ll be there, reporting from the event, and will share with out whatever YouTube VidCon goodness comes our way.

If you know nothing about the event, take a look a VidCon2010 for more information. You might want to consider attending yourself.

According to YouTube’s Channel Re-Design Beta Blog, TODAY, September 30th, is the day YouTube will officially begin switching all user channels over to channel design 2.0. If you are still using the old version, be ready to accept change, because while not all channels will switch over instantly, YouTube says the full migration will be complete within the next two weeks. YouTube partners will be the last to “get the swap” (ouch! sounds like it hurts) and that occurs on October 14th.

YouTube Secret Weapon customers, clients, and blog readers may recall that this official, site-wide conversion was to have taken place back on July 15th, but it was postponed. SO, while the YouTube channel redesign team  slowly whittled away at the remaining items on their to-do list, I went off and enjoyed the rest of my summer.
(And by that I mean I took a break from the blog, and Paul and I halted development of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0; however, it was not a YouTube-less summer for me. I continued coaching private clients one-on-one, some of whom I will showcase in future case studies. Yeah, I learned a bunch of killer new YouTube marketing tricks.)

While I’m not 100% in love with the new channel design layout, I have been figuring out ways to make the most out it. I promise to blog about some of the beneficial features in the future. In the meantime, I want to say something to those of you who have used (or hope to use) custom background images on your channel...

Customized YouTube Channel Backgrounds

With this official switch to the new design layout, any background images or custom color scheme settings you used on your previous YouTube channel will be lost or not work properly.

Actually, let me take a step back a moment and say: If you have not customized your YouTube channel, you definitely want to reconsider. It is wise to keep your branding consistent across all of your online properties. By making good use of a custom background image, you can modify your channel to look like an extension of your existing site(s) and/or profiles.

At the very least, you’ll want to choose a suitable color-scheme. But with the  wealth of branding elements you can have put into a custom channel background image, it’s the way to go.

So with the new official design switch on the horizon, I went out and found a fantastic graphic designer to customize some new channel background images for both my YouTube Secret Weapon partner, Paul Colligan, as well as for one of my current clients, Mike Fry. (I also have one being created for the official YouTube Secret Weapon channel. Coming soon.)

FIRST, check out these absolutely STELLAR YouTube channel background designs by Kurt Austin of Catalyst Digital:

1. Fancy Fortune Cookies’ YouTube Channel – For my client Mike Fry’s custom fortune cookie company by the same name. WARNING: Do not view on an empty stomach!

http://youtube.com/user/fancyfortunecookies

Note that this channel is currently being used to feature videos sent in for a contest promotion that Fancy Fortune Cookies is running. This is a great way for you to think about using YouTube to promote your company, products, or services. Think about it: Mike hasn’t created any videos, but he has dozens being created about his product! That’s a lot of content.

The parts I especially like about this background image are the call-out arrows used to gain more channel subscribers (and who doesn’t want those?).

The one on the top-left, practically the first thing the eye catches:

And here’s a close up of the area just beneath the fold, heading the new profile information section:

What a difference a custom background image made for Fancy Fortune Cookies’ YouTube Channel, huh? (And yeah, those cookies are covered in white chocolate, and one has sprinkles!)  Okay…where was I? Oh yeah, next example:

2. Paul Colligan’s New Media Training YouTube Channel Designer Kurt also designed this special custom background for my YouTube Secret Weapon partner and New Media expert, Paul Colligan. This color scheme and message are consistent with Paul’s branding:

http://youtube.com/user/colligan

Since the above image won’t let you see the lower half of Paul’s channel, check out what the actual image from the designer’s site looks like:

3. Secrets of Goal Setting YouTube Channel This design is also for my client Mike Fry. Note that this channel will not be developed until later this year. For now though, it’s got the branding in place:

http://youtube.com/user/secretsofgoalsetting

Here’s that image straight from the designer’s site:

So those are three examples that I’ve had Kurt do thus far. And the YouTube Secret Weapon channel is still in the works (mainly because Paul and I are working on a logo for the 2.0 version — on it’s way soon).

Now for some cool news…

Get Your Own Customized Channel Background Design — At a Discount

The good news is that Kurt Austin at Catalyst Digital has decided to offer a special discount to any of my YouTube Secret Weapon customers, clients, and/or blog readers. You can have a custom channel background designed by Kurt — specially catered to you and your online brand, products, or services — all by mentioning you read about him from my blog.

And for a limited time (which all depends on how quickly orders come in ) Kurt is offering a 50% off discount off of his regular $200 rate.

That means you can have your own customized YouTube
channel background designed for only $100!

Now there are plenty of free channel background layout design sites out there, but none of these are going to offer you something customized. They will all be generic, and likely also being used by other channels around YouTube.

To be unique, and to get your logo, name, product name, business name, even your website or blog domain onto your background…and to keep the color scheme and images consistent with your existing online branding, unless you are a whiz at Photoshop, you are going to have to hire a designer to do this for you.

So here again is the full deal:

• 50% off! A custom YouTube channel background for only $100 by mentioning this blog. (Normally $200.)
• Three (3) rounds of revisions, based on your feedback. Any revisions beyond that will entail a small fee.
• Contact Kurt Austin at ka.design(at)catalystdigital.com or check out his work at Catalyst Digital’s portfolio page.

And I’ll be back soon with more on the upcoming release of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0.

Have fun with the new look of your YouTube channel!

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