If a picture’s worth 1,000 words, what’s a moving picture worth? Blog World 2009 speaker Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.tv posed that question at the convention yesterday, and it really made me think…

The answer depends on the quality of the video, right?

I’m on a mission to improve the quality of my videos (not just for the blog, but for home/travel videos too), so I sought out the sessions on video yesterday and took copious notes.

Tip 1: Write a script

When it comes to video, material trumps production quality, but watch any random 10 videos on YouTube, and what do most of them have in common? According to Sara and Lee O’Donnell, the couple behind Average Betty, the most popular short-form food entertainment web series online, most of them weren’t made with a script.

It doesn’t have to be fancy — even a few notes scribbled on index cards — but working from an outline or script can really make your videos stand out.

Tip 2: Choosing the right camcorder

“Buy a camera with the biggest lens, best glass and best sensor you can afford,” says Cali. Of course, that’s more for professional setups. Serious home movie makers and beginning web videographers might take a look at the Kodak Zi8 (about $180). Not only does it shoot in 1080p high definition video, but it’s image stabilized (less shaky in your hands) and has an external microphone jack (more on that later), too.

If you’re willing to spend more, both Cali and the O’Donnells mentioned the $550 Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder. It can do everything the Kodak Zi8 can do, does it better and does more.

For help choosing a camcorder, check out camcorderinfo.com.

Tip 3: Use an external microphone

Poor audio can ruin even the highest quality videos, and the microphones built into most small camcorders just aren’t very good. They struggle to capture clear voices more than a few feet away from them, and they tend to pick up too much background noise outside.

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Good mornin’, ladies. How’s it going? Are you glad it’s Saturday? It’s just after 8 a.m. here on my last day in Las Vegas. I’m taking it easy and blogging to you from bed in the hotel, whee! I thought I’d skip the morning keynote at Blog World to tell you about the convention yesterday and share what I learned about a topic that interests a lot of bloggers, monetization, aka Blogging for Benjamins.

Now, most of the 70+ million blogs out there aren’t run as businesses. They’re small personal endeavors or not-for-profit initiatives, but I think some of these tips can be applied to those kinds of blogs as well. For example, if you’re blogging about a local church or charity, consider the tip on using YouTube to drive donations, or the tip on placing your most important messages “above the fold.”

I have A LOT more information from the convention (tips on using video, Twitter, Facebook and more), but some of it will have to wait until I get back home to share.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Tip 1: Maintain a regular posting schedule

There are a couple of different reasons for this one, and the first one has to do with Google. Posting on a regular schedule — say once per day or week — actually trains the Google bot (that’s really what they call it), the program that scours the web looking for new content to include in the Google search listings.

The second reason to maintain a regular posting schedule has to do with people. We come to expect and appreciate things that follow a recognizable pattern.

Tip 2: If it’s your business, don’t be shy

Be considerate, but don’t be shy. It’s never easy to talk about money, particularly in a public place (like on a blog), but if you’re hoping to earn more money online, don’t be ashamed to let your readers know.

Tip 3: Diversify revenue streams

The most widespread and common way to earn money from a blog is by placing ads. Google Adsense is the industry standard because of how quick, easy and effective it is. I’m running them here on MBB (below the masthead at the top and in the right sidebar).

But look for additional revenue streams if you’re serious about earning a stable income with your blog. You wouldn’t want a policy change at Google HQ to suddenly cut your earnings in half.

Things to consider: writing and selling a book (or an e-book), incorporating more than one ad network (Kontera is one that was mentioned a lot yesterday), creating a product to sell, joining affiliate programs (Amazon.com, Clickbank, Commission Junction) or creating a paid membership site.

Tip 4: Placing ads above the fold

I’ve always struggled with this one… The experts suggest placing all of your ads right up near the top of the page where visitors will see them as soon as they open the page. The problem with that is it’s kinda annoying to open a webpage and see nothing but ads, right?

My suggestion: Try to balance ad placement “above the fold” (which basically means at/near the top of the page) with a dash of common sense and design appreciation.

The World’s Littlest Showgirl…

Tip 5: Affiliate programs

I mentioned some of these in Tip 3, but the experts yesterday all agreed that affiliate programs can be great ways to earn money from your blog, particularly if you blog about a topic tied to something people actually buy (beauty products, books, clothes, shoes, food, baby products, household supplies, etc.).

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What’s a blog?

Because I blog and I know that some of you do, too, I wanted to share what I’ve been learning about here at the Blog World and New Media Expo 2009 (new media as in Twitter, Facebook and YouTube).

The first question I get a lot when I tell people I blog is, “What’s that [blogs]? Like a website?”

Yup, you got it. The word’s just a contraction of the term “Web log.” They come in countless shapes and sizes but usually contain regular entries (articles/journal entries) of commentary, descriptions of events or fancy stuff like graphics or video. Most (but not all) of them display content in reverse-chronological order.

I came to Blog World 1) because it’s held here in Vegas , 2) because I spend a big chunk of my life blogging, 3) because I’d like to be able to express myself in new and more creative ways, 4) because blogging is more fun for me when I know that it’s also fun for my readers and 5) because I’d like to grow the blog’s traffic and find out about income opportunities/blogging for a living.

I’ll report more specific tips than the ones in this post as the Expo progresses, but one of my favorite sessions so far has been Stimulating Conversations with Women in the Social Mediasphere, with Aliza Sherman, author of The Everything Blogging Book.

Aliza and some of the speakers talked about the differences between how men and women tend to communicate and how those differences are reflected in blogs and social media (speaking very generally, women tend to appreciate building relationships more than most men do).

That blogs are about community and interaction are growing themes. The social aspects of the web have taken the internet by storm. Specifically, what can bloggers do to tap into an increasingly social internet?

They can focus on building authentic relationships with readers, which I read to mean being honest, respectful, useful, and speaking with people vs. talking at them.

But what if you want to start a blog in a highly competitive niche (like beauty)? Is it too late to start?

No, none of the experts thought so, but competition can impact the size of your audience. It may be harder to reach thousands of readers/day (if that’s even your goal), but it’s still possible.

When you want to blog

Figure out what you want out of blogging or Twitter or Facebook (but not necessarily the day you start). If you’ve never blogged before, take it slowly, remembering that you’re putting yourself out there in front of the entire planet (only share what you’re comfortable sharing with the world). Eventually, though, the experts agree, know your goals and objectives. It’ll help you get where you’re trying to go.

I started MBB back in 2007 not really knowing what I was doing or what my goals were. Within six months, though, I’d decided that I wanted to blog daily, to grow my audience and to earn some blog rent from it if possible.

While fun, blogging can also be hard work.

It depends on your goals, but since 2007, 2,100 posts later, I’ve read through my camera’s manual at least 10 times (to learn how to take vibrant, sharp pics), have spent thousands of dollars on camera equipment and computers (I recommend Macs), have completed dozens of Photoshop tutorials and have spent thousands of hours writing more than 1 million words online. All of that’s just to restate the obvious, “Know what you’re getting into and why you want to do it.”

Other quick tips from yesterday’s event:

1. Keep an editorial calendar — I’m a firm believer in ‘em. Mine helps me plan what I’m going to blog about. I also use it to jot down the release dates of makeup collections to help me remember.
2. Are you speaking with your readers or talking at them? — Remember that there’s a real live human being on the other side of that connection, someone who doesn’t like to be talked at.


Absolutely love Problogger.net

3. Build relationships — The experts seem to agree that success in blogging (unless your goal is to use your blog as a journal) comes down to building relationships with people and doing something that both you and your readers find rewarding.

Growing your audience

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OMG! Okay, this isn’t exactly a beauty or a blogging trick, but it still blows me away.

Have you heard of Skype? It’s a free chat platform, among other things. People use it to audio/text/video chat with each other across time and space, LOL!

As if that’s not cool enough already, there’s a powerful feature sort of buried in the preferences that changes it from a chat program into a home surveillance tool/pet monitor!

It requires Skype (of course) and two different free accounts. They’re easy to create, just requiring a different email address for each one.

You’ll need two computers/laptops, each one with a webcam, speakers and a microphone (some webcams include mics).

Before leaving home for your trip, open the Skype program and log in with one of the two Skype accounts you created.

Check the boxes in the Skype preferences beside “Automatically receive video from” and “Start my video automatically.”

Leave your computer powered on while you’re gone (it needs to be turned on so you can connect to it remotely). You may also have to disable the power management settings on your computer to prevent it from shutting down after a period of inactivity (saves power but means you can’t connect to it while you’re away).

Now, from the road, you just log into Skype with your Account B, place a call to your Account A, and KAPOW! — instant pet monitor. Skype at home answers the call automatically.

I just checked on Tabs from Las Vegas using this trick, and it worked like a charm! With the computer speakers turned on, he heard my voice and meowed his reply. I feel better knowing what he’s up to while I’m gone… You never know with that cat.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

“Ahh-CHEW!”
[sniffle, sniffle]

How do you feel about jasmine? I love it. It’s one of my very favorite scents, but the International Fragrance Association is limiting the amount of it allowed in perfumes and other aromatic beauty products (some do tend to have a lot) to reduce the number of products causing rashes and other bad reactions.

It’s not that jasmine’s particularly hard to tolerate — no more than most plant-based ingredients — but according to the FDA, almost all cosmetics and beauty products are apt to cause reactions in at least a small percentage of the population. We’re all different, as the story goes, and one girl’s soothing scent may be another girl’s poison ivy!

In one FDA survey, 25% of people reported a skin reaction to one or more beauty products.

It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the FDA has very limited authority over cosmetics. Unfortunately, the beauty biz is still very buyer beware.

Types of skin reactions

Most reactions are mild — what’s commonly referred to as irritant contact dermatitis. Typically it’s a burning, stinging or itching sensation accompanied by redness right where the product’s been applied. Dry or injured skin can react worse, too, having lost some of its natural barrier against irritants.

As bad as irritant dermatitis sounds, some of us have a worse variety termed allergic contact dermatitis — true allergies to specific ingredients. Symptoms can include severe redness, swelling, itching or even blisters on the skin, yikes! The worst culprits? Usually fragrances and preservatives. source

TIP: Some products will say “unscented” on the label when they really aren’t. It’s not uncommon for products to contain fragrance cocktails to mask unappealing or artificial scents. Straight up, if you’re on the market for something that’s really unscented, look for the words, “fragrance-free” or “without perfume.”

While almost any ingredient can cause an allergic reaction in at least some people, many of the worst offenders are preservatives.

They slow the growth of bacteria and crop up in most beauty products that contain water, but parabens, imidazolidinyl urea, Quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, phenoxyethanol, methylchloroisothiazolinone and formaldehyde have also been linked to skin allergies.

So what’s a girl to do?

How to avoid a bad beauty skin reaction

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