‘This is Pure Bliss!’ – E-Wealth Report
Alan R. Bechtold has released the latest issue of E-Wealth Report. This featured article is titled “This is Pure Bliss!”. [E-Wealth Report]
Alan Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter.
This is Pure Bliss!
I’m not sure how they did it, but Ustream.tv is pulling off something I would have told you was economically unfeasible just a few years ago.
This cool online service provides anyone the ability to broadcast live video on the web, with nothing more than a high-speed Internet connection and a webcam – for free.
I’ve been involved in online video since 2001, when I broadcast high-end homes being built around the country, so contractors and viewers could watch the progress. Broadband Internet access had to be installed at the site where the home was being built and people needed broadband Internet to watch the videos we were broadcasting.
In those days, there weren’t cable modems. DSL was the only way to go affordably and it could cost more than $100 a month to get … IF it was available (we had more than one lengthy conversation with telephone installers who couldn’t understand why anyone would want high-speed Internet access installed on a plot of land with no house).
And the audience with high-speed access to watch the videos was dismally small.
Unfortunately, contractors failed to see the benefits (which amounted to literally tens of thousand of dollars in savings per job). With few viewers, the idea folded.
Slide the scale up about four years and, there I was again, launching my Saturday Success Seminar Series.
I’d just discovered Macromedia’s Breeze platform for broadcasting live video on the Web, complete with live chat, sharable whiteboard for drawing – even file downloads and sharing anything on the desktop over the video stream.
I set about mimicing the experience you would get at a live seminar, spreading it over four Saturdays so no one had to sit and stare at a monitor for three days in a row. This way, I could fit in incredible presentations by the biggest names in the business without the attendees having to travel to participate.
The speakers didn’t have to travel either – I actually brought Ted Nicholas into one of the series, broadcasting live from his chalet in Switzerland!
The broadband audience was getting respectably large by this time, so I figured there was a much larger potential audience to tap. But, it was still expensive using the systemm to broadcast.
To broadcast live video through the service I employed at that time, you had to be able to estimate the number of people you wanted to accomodate in your vido “room,” and pre-purchase that many “seats” for the month. This was a lot more like what’s required when planning a live physical seminar than I liked lining up a guraranteed room block, etc), but I figured it was well worth it, since folks wouldn’t have to travel.
I booked 250 seats for the first webinar. Then 200 for the next. Then 150. There was a very excited core audience, but I couldn’t seem to easily expand beyond it. I simply couldn’t sell enough seats to make it worth the time, effort and initial expense, so I closed the doors on this ahead-of-its-time event.
Now Ustream makes it easy AND free to broadcast to the entire world, since much of the world now enjoys high-speed Internet and it’s also free to view any videos currently broadcasting on Ustream.tv.
Yes, you have to make your show interesting enough to appeal to people with a broad assortment of shows they can watch at any given time. But the price makes this one drawback easy to swallow.
The trick is to get your show listed in Ustream’s “picks” for the day. This pulls your show out out of the hundreds and sometimes thousands of other shows that are being broadcast at any given time and focuses the massive traffic visiting Ustream.tv on a regular basis down to just about a dozen selections, including yours.
How do you get listed in this coveted position? It’s easier than you might think. Ustream.tv is still fairly new. You don’t have to get more than 100-200 viewers on your live Ustream show to get their attention and convince them to feature you.
Remember – being featured gets you even more viewers. Often many times more than what you had.
I use Twitter to notify my followers I’m doing a show. I also send out emails to all of my lists. I even tested a classified ad in USA Today that didn’t seem to help much, but I’m always testing new ways to get more people on with me live.
I’ve done two shows so far. My first show netted up to 72 viewers at one point. My second only 48 – but Rich Sheffren announced the day of my second show that he would be broadcasting 24 hours straight to promote a new report he’s releasing.
I suspect he pulled a lot of my audience away.
But that doesn’t really bother me. Ustream.tv also allows you to RECORD your live shows, so visitors coming in later can watch at their leisure. Both of my my shows have already had more viwers for the recordings than were watching live and, ultimately, the goal here is EXPOSURE to viewers.
I definitely do want to hit the mark and make the front page of Ustream, because then I’ll pull in a bunch of THEIR traffic to my show. I know I will soon.
But, ultimately, viewers are viewers, and viewers are what make exposure happen.
As for making your show stand out – it’s really pretty simple. I go overboard because I love playing with video, editing it and putting together clips. This is why I designed my show around video clips that I play, popping on live in between to chat with the viewers and announce the next clip.
Most Ustream shows are simple talking-head affairs with a single person sitting at a webcam talking to the audience.
There’s nothing wrong in that, so long as you’re entertaining and/or informative.
Ustream works with any webcam or camcorder capable of connecting to your computer. I recommend using a camcorder as it’ll give you better quality video, but good webcams are amazing these days and even more amazingly cheap. Either will do.
Ustream’s technical side is extremely simple. There isn’t much to learn. You hook up a webcam or your camcorder, set up your show and go. There isn’t much documentation about how to use the system – you just need to roll up your sleeves and follow the buttons and functions logically.
Definitely do a couple of test feeds with a friend or two watching first.
If you’re not “wired” for video, keep in mind audio is almost as powerful for building rapport with prospects and clients alike. Blogtalkradio.com is very similar to Ustream – but the service enables you to easily conduct live audio podcasts on the Web that get rated very highly quickly on the search engines … again, free of charge.
You’ve just gotta LOVE the Web!
By the way – my show is called Breakfast With Alan. It’s broadcast live at 7:00 p.m. eastern U.S. time, because I’m making the point that breakfast can be whenever you want it to be, when you follow what I show you and build your own business.
I’m known as the “Master of Fun Money,” so I gotta do what I can to make it as much fun as possible. You can always pick your own angle – but just offer solid information, CONNECT with the viewers or listeners by being yourself (i.e. REAL), and you’ll build a fan base … even if you start out with just a few viewers.
Each live show you record is saved and available for new viewers to go back to and review, so you’re building a body of work by just keeping it up.
You’ll build viewership, too.
My gift to you this week is huge. First – there’s my new show, Breakfast With Alan. If you haven’t seen it yet, click the link below to go there and watch the first two episodes now (the second episode will play automatically when you get there):
Click HERE To Watch Breakfast With Alan NOW!
Then – go to the following address, to sign up for my notification list for the show. I’ll keep you posted on new clips I’m working on, new stories I’m developing, and upcoming show dates and special events.
Click HERE To Register for the Breakfast With Alan Notification List NOW!
After you fill out the notification list form, you’ll either receive a confirmation E-mail, to verify you’re a real person with a real email address, or you’ll be taken directly to the “Thank You” page (if you’ve already signed up for one of my other lists and the system recognizes you).
This is where you’ll see, partway down the page, a very special offer.
This is my phenomenal Ticket To Wealth Gold program. It’s been running two years now and I’ve just completely revamped it into something more powerful than ever.
First – there’s a monthly printed newsletter containing tips and info I ONLY reveal to my subscribers. It used to be 12 pages monthly. Begginning this month it’s expanding to 16.
Second – there will be WEEKLY live Ustream/teleseminar sessions where you can access me for one full hour and ask questions that I’ll answer, time permitting. Each session will be archived and made available to you, to download and review any time you wish. I used to conduct one live call a month, record it and ship it out to all the subscribers on CD. Now I’m giving you four times as much info and direct access!
For a limited time, you can give Ticket to Wealth a try for one full month, free. You just pay a tiny $4.97 shipping and handling charge.
If you do – I’ll also give you online access to EVERY PAST ISSUE of my Ticket to Wealth Toolkit newsletter published so far (24 issues), plus online access to downloadable mp3s of every call I recorded over the past two years (24 recordings).
All told, this is a $1,606.83 total value – but you can grab it all for only $4.97, for a VERY limited time.
I’m limiting the number of new subscribers I’ll allow to sign up for this offer, so hurry. Grab this while I’m still conscious and haven’t realized how crazy it is to offer this so cheaply.
It’s defintely NOT cheap information!
I will warn you, because I like to be up-front about things: the only reason I can offer you this at such a low cost is you’ll be agreeing to continue paying me $27.95 per month, automatically, after your first 30 days of membership have passed. You can cancel any time and never owe anything more – even if you cancel on day 29.
And, although I believe strongly that you’ll want to stay in the program, you still get all the goodies for just giving it a try, even if you don’t like what you see and cancel.
Fair enough?
See you next week (or on Internet TV, whichever comes first!).
– Alan R. Bechtold
President/CEO
BBS Press Service, Inc.
Author, “Will Work for Fun: 3 Simple Steps for Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash”
Co-Producer and Star, “The FUNdamental You.”
*IMNewswatch would like to thank Alan Bechtold for granting permission to reprint the latest article.
Comments are closed.
