While it is true that many of the files hosted on the file sharing domain are copyright material, another function of Megaupload is providing a high traffic source for small and independent artists to host their content for free.

It is said that Megaupload creates up to 8% of the traffic on the internet. A source that big is a huge resource for the struggling and emerging artist to showcase his work. So where can those unsigned find free hosting and sharing for their work in this soon-to-be post Megaupload world? Both Mediafire and Limelinx provide similar services to Megaupload including bookmarking features and is available to all sorts of media.

Below are a few other sites that provide similar services, but with an added social twist:

www.soundcloud.com: Soundcloud is a site that encourages small artists to upload, collaborate and create together.

http://www.datpiff.com: Known as one of the premiere locations for hip-hop mixtapes, Datpiff makes itself available for anyone who wishes to distribute and expose their music for a nominal fee on the internet.

1. Mind the Medium

Understand that mobile web is a different animal than regular web. Keep it simple, stupid. Mobile web is viewed on tiny screens and navigated with stubby fingers. The typical mobile web user isn’t going to be concerned with lengthy company bios, wordy mission statements or press releases. Mobile web users want quick hard info; they want photos and products/services to be provided up front in an easy to use way. Simply put: give them the facts. Retain the familiar tones and themes of your traditional website; your mobile site’s user interface should take after your traditional site and friendly to those navigating within such a compact medium. Also be aware that many phones and tablets, particularly iPhones and iPads, do not use or allow flash; so make sure to not use it when programming your site.

2. Mobile Web is Mobile

It may seem like a no-brainer, but things like this can often be neglected at the research and development phase. Think of your end user. Where will he/she be viewing your web site? Will they be on a tablet? A smartphone? What is nearby the user when he/she is checking your page? Assessing these variables can yield some great ideas on how to create an interactive experience with your site. Mobile marketing allows you to target those nearby the location of your business. For example, if you’re a local restaurant owner and a pedestrian decides to search for “good food nearby”, you could possibly appear as a top result in whatever medium they decide to search for you in. Companies like Chili’s have succeeded in using location based coupons to attract more customers. In Chili’s case, they offered a free queso dip appetizer to anyone within 200 yards of a Chili’s or adjacent commercial location. There are a few location-based ad services that are worth researching, including Google’s Admob, Apple’s iAd service and Millennial Media.

3. Mobile Web Is Interactive

A new word being thrown around the web these days is “gamification” which is just a buzz word for the integration of game mechanics or game dynamics into a website, service, community, campaign, or application in order to drive participation and engagement. Think of gamification like a modern day version of frequent flyer miles or hotel loyalty programs. Location based services like Foursquare uses “checking in” to your local spots and offering up “mayorship” (the Foursquare user who has checked in the most at a location) as a form of gamification. Other sites like Gowalla will offer badges to gamify locations, encouraging users to visit multiple locations and rewarding those who do with online promotions. Consider promoting photo/video-uploads to your social media pages. Working interactively with your clients will tie their emotions with your company and may create an ambassador for your brand.

4. Mobile Web Is Contextually Different For Each Company, Customer, and Situation

No path is ever walked the same way twice. Apply that old adage to the way that you think about your mobile web presence. How is your client most likely to be using your mobile site? Will they be in a store, comparing your brand against another? Are they sitting at the bar on their tablet shopping online? Will they be standing on the side of the road looking for assistance? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and aspire to make a site that is easy for them to use in the situation they will be in when they view your site. It is also good to imagine which platform they are accessing your site from, a site accessed from a tablet provides more space for larger images and grants a bit more leway for entering text. Someone viewing from a phone however, may not want to wait for larger images to load or input copious text with a small virtual keypad.

5. Mobile Web Gets Your Customers Through The Door

In the end, it should be noted that like all forms of media, a mobile website is a marketing tool, and all marketing tools need a call to action. However, a call to action for the mobile web can be a bit different. Mobile web allows for two-way communication between you and your audience. Have direct conversation with your clients via the mobile web and create a personalized call to action for them. Apps like Yelp and Foursquare enables your customers to leave immediate feedback about your establishment. Remember those who laud your service and make an individual effort to show them your appreciation, either live or on the web. If you have one, remember your Foursquare mayor by name. Make incentives for those checking in on Foursquare and Yelp. Consider creating a coupon or offer on Google Places. These are the personal touches that will keep your business thriving and put your company on the forefront of the mobile web.

How are you using the mobile web? Does your company use the mobile in a unique way. We’d love to hear about it! Comment below or send us an email: daniel@mediacontour.com.

Crowdsourcing is a great way to tackle a project or problem that you may not have the talent pool or skill set to accomplish. It can also be good as a form of surveying tool to see what your target audiences or markets like and dislike. Before your company dives head first into the crowdsourcing game however, lets go over a few basic parameters on how crowdsourcing works:

Focus on Inclusion

At the heart of crowdsourcing lies inclusion. Find your core audience of those willing to take a look at your problem, this could be anyone from the ambassadors of your product to experts in the field of whatever problem you need solving. To find these people, harness your social media platforms, particularly the ones where people are talking the most about what you would like crowdsourced. Another option is to look toward crowdsourcing websites like www.crowdsourcing.org, which can provide resources and forums to get your project off the ground. Another tactic to find qualified members for your crowdsourcing project would be through your LinkedIn network and the forums that lie therein. The LinkedIn forums provide a trove of focused specialists eager to help answer questions and possibly even join in on your project if they feel a passion towards it (or find it a good resume booster). The website Open Innovators has compiled a great list of crowdsourcing sites that will help you find your desired team.

Promote Transparency

Crowdsourcing is all about sharing your project with a community, leave few secrets between you and your team. Start by creating a project brief and identifying your primary audience. Then, list your goals and desired outcomes succinctly enough that every member of your group understands your project in the same light you intended. Set parameters and guidelines for your project along with a deadline. Remember, you are the coach of your crowdsource project, so make your management available for questions and to provide feedback on your project. Make sure to stay in contact and stay on the pulse of your project. Having a transparent and straightforward attitude with your crowdsource will create a better, more actualized product.
Create Incentive

There is an inherent reward of completion built into crowdsourcing, particularly if your project was crowdsourced by those who are fans and advocate your product. It is always nice however to sweeten the pot with other incentives. Websites like www.innocentive.com offer cash rewards for those who can help companies solve their problems. Incentives do not have to be in just cash form (although in many cases, it can be the biggest motivator); it can be in product samples, discounts, swag, and about anything that is worth the work put in. Remember that most people work for an incentive, so the sweeter the reward, the better work you are likely to get. Don’t forget to show your appreciation to those who helped you finish your project either, give them credit and laud them when and where it is due.

Encourage Feedback

Once your project is completed, make sure you tell the world that your project was crowdsourced. Not only is it great PR for your company, but it is also a great way to gather more people to crowdsource your next project. If your target audience is within your crowdsource, you may consider allowing them to choose a winning campaign/project by a vote while in the research phase. Gather feedback about the project from your audience and make sure to send it back to your crowdsource so they know what went right and what they could do better on their next project. Following through in this way will keep your crowdsource pool active and happy to work with you again.

Have you ever used crowdsourcing before? How did it work for you? Let’s talk about it! We would love to hear your feedback. Comment below or send me an email at: daniel@mediacontour.com.

Daniel Clauser is the Social Media Strategist for Media Contour (http://www.mediacontour.com). Daniel is eager to connect with all and answer any questions and may be reached @mediacontour on Twitter and Facebook or via email at daniel@mediacontour.com.

Take note of the most commonly used words or phrases, these are your “keywords”.

1) Plug In Your Keywords!
The trick here is to not use them too much, Google can spot these and will consider your website spam and not post it at all; which is definitely not what you want. Be crafty and use multiple different keywords to plug into your website copy. Think of it as a game of Sudoku, but with words.

2) Write A Blog!
A blog is a great place to show your company culture, its work, and interests. It is also a page on your website that can be updated constantly, which makes it like steroids for SEO. Keep your keywords in mind when writing your articles and do a keyword search for each blog submission.

3) Have Title Tags (H1) Tags!
See how this article is written in numbered/bullet points? Do the same. Google loves numbered/bulleted content with heavy SEO keywords. Not to mention it will help you layout and format your blogs and articles.

4) Share Links!
Network on Facebook and Twitter, share links with your clients and partners. The more sites that link with your page, the higher your website will appear in Google’s listings. Possibly adding a widget to your page to add a Twitter feed to your main page will also generate links and expand your traffic and page rank much in the same way I mentioned having a blog would.

5) The “Secret Image Tag” -
Also known as an “alt tag”, this nifty little SEO trick is a quite simple one that will generate links and traffic to your site based on the Google Image Search function. These are the tags that tell what a .gif or .jpg is. By going into your websites code and finding your images (marked with a image description, likely .jpg or .gif), you can add whats called an alt tag to give the image a description. You don’t have to do any complex HTML coding. Here is an example of what your ALT tag should looks like:

<img src="images/services-pic.jpg" alt="XYZ company's website optimization services" width="100" height="78" />

It is a good idea to add alt text for every image that a visitor to your site will see. Not only will alt tags increase your images SEO on the image search, but it will also produce some SEO for your overall site; granted you used those keywords we talked about earlier, but once again, don’t overdo it with the keywords. Google will know and flog your site by dropping it into the depths of its page ranks.

Was this helpful? What other tricks or techniques would your small business like to learn about? Marketing? Design? Social Media? Whatever it is, drop me a line. daniel@mediacontour.com

Los Angeles, Calif.- Contractors looking for new solutions for managing their finances and improve profitability in this sluggish economy can find help, seminars and trusted literature at The ShinerGroup’s new website, shinergroup.com. Los Angeles web design firm, Media Contour assisted The ShinerGroup with their desire to develop a site that allowed them to provide news to their clients quickly and efficiently.

The ShinerGroup is a consulting firm that helps contractors gain financial control of their companies. Founder, Leslie Shiner explains: “We provide management consulting and coaching to help contractors better understand and improve their business practices and maximize profits. We believe training and education are instrumental to the success of those in the contracting field.”

Combining their knowledge of construction management with a passion for education, The ShinerGroup works on-site and remotely to teach contractors how to identify and eliminate inefficiencies, misconceptions, or poor practices that prevent them from making the profit their hard work should produce.

Media Contour, is an award winning full service interactive studio specializing in both traditional website design and development. Based out of Los Angeles, Media Contour provides complete solutions for web design and programming, as well as branding, graphic design, print and marketing services.

GD USA describes its annual awards as their “four decade old flagship competition, and is open to everyone in the graphic arts community – graphic design firms, advertising agencies, inhouse corporate and institutional designers, publishers and other media.” Each year, GD USA picks the top submissions and parades their work in their magazines and online publications that reaches graphic designers and small businesses across the country.

Media Contour won awards for their logo designs for Artisthead, a website designed to assist musicians with copyrighting their material and establishing their own labels and Advanced Swiss Precision, a company that manufactures small fasteners and screws for complex and intricate mechanical devices. A third award was given to the firm for their overall design on deadlines.com, a company that provides event management to small firms and their staff in order to manage their various cases deadlines and upcoming events.

“This is a great honor for us here at Media Contour,” says CEO Matt Dandurand. “We truly love what we do and hope that it shows in our work. We truly relish in this award but what really gets us going is when our clients appreciate what we have created for them.”

Media Contour has been in business since 2004 and since its inception has created dozens of websites for businesses all across America. Over the years they have also been recognized for their design prowess by the W3 Awards, The Davey Awards, and The Communicator Awards.

Hailing from West Los Angeles, Bryce steps onto the scene at Media Contour as our new Account Executive and brings with him a knack for detail and an entrepreneurial spirit. While studying Finance at The University of Arizona, Bryce co-founded designyourdorm.com which garnered major press attention from the press including Tech Crunch, The LA Times, Lifehacker, and The Washington Post. Bryce steps on board the team with experience in owning and running a website and knows the troughs and peaks of managing a successful website — an indispensable asset for our current and future clients. As a small business owner, Bryce fostered the success of his site by creating and maintaining a sterling rapport with his clients and a commitment to seeing things through to the end. On his off-time, you may find Bryce competing on the baseball field or DJing at one of your favorite clubs in West LA. Bryce may be reached online at bryce@mediacontour.com.

“Above you’ll notice that inside the bowl is some water and that water represents the content of the bowl. Your content is your experience and knowledge that you will share with your audiences. You’ll also notice that if your bowl springs even the tiniest of leaks, what happens to all your content? It leaks out – all of it.

So, what is more important that the content? The bowl – of Course! So, what does the bowl represent? Context! Your context is much more important that your content. In other words; it’s not what you teach, it’s how you teach it that is more important.” (http://www.streetsmartmarketer.com/content-versus-context.shtml)

What Mr. Tobey is trying to say is that having all the data in the world means nothing if you cannot tailor it to your audience. What is your reader looking to find out? How do they wish to apply it? What means are they capable of (or willing to) absorb the information? Below are a few ways to determine how to properly channel your expertise into a consumable piece of media for your target markets.

1: Does Your Article Satisfy Your Readers Needs?

If you own a pizza restaurant and you are writing a blog, there’s a good chance that your readers are patrons of your shop and local business people. Should you have a notably original method of how your operations are run, you should probably keep your blog aimed towards the craft of pizza-making and the local community. Your pizza place’s blog isn’t necessarily the place for you to post a blog on how a small business should do it’s taxes or maintains its pest control (regardless of your accounting/taxidermy skills). Instead, take those writings to a more appropriate blog and contribute to them. A fellow blogger will appreciate the input and common practice is to contribute back or at the very least provide a link to your site for his/her followers to click.

2: Is Your Blog Written For A General or Niche Audience?

Sticking with our pizza place example, what kind of pizza place are you? Do you sell traditional style pizza? Fancy artisan pizzas inspired by the famous chefs of Tuscany? Are you the specialty pizza place that sells vegan/gluten free pizzas? Cater to your market. Sure, you may be an expert in all things pizza, but if you sell vegan slices, chances are your reader needn’t know how to make a high quality meat-lovers pizza. However if your company sells myriad styles of pizza, this may be an article worthy of posting even if you have vegan readers. Identify the unions between what your brand provides and what your readers are into as specifically as possible. Well-focused blogging gives you the persona of an informed expert; which you are, aren’t you?

3: Where Is Your Audience Viewing Your Blog?

Where your reader is viewing your article lends itself heavily to how you should format the piece. A person reading an article not pertaining to his job will more likely prefer a shorter read than a person who is at home and has time to read a lengthy, detailed article at their own discretion. A person reading your article on their mobile phone want to read an even shorter article (just the facts). Keep in mind however, blogs should generally be bulleted and truncated in nature.

4: Is Your Blog Time Specific?

Is your blog written about a new product launch? Promoting a special sale? Are you soliciting for an event or addressing a piece of news? Articles as such should be posted relatively quickly with the facts, dates, and times posted near the top. A more lengthy overview about the events success or progress or success may be posted in a secondary post (don’t forget to embed the link on the original post!). If a blog pertains to a specific date, chances are its shelf life for a reader wont be too long, so keep it short, simple and relevant.

5: Text, Audio, or Video?

The final, and all important piece of this article is obviously a question that should be asked before creation has even begun. What format should your piece take form? Well it depends on the nature of your blog’s content. If your article is very detail-oriented and specific, text may be the best way to present a wide array of data in a shorter more consumable way. However, if we’re talking about something process-driven or has many steps-within-steps, a video is a great way to provide that content in a manageable period of time. A reader may find an audio format ideal should your blog be something that may be consumed on the go or over a period of time. Audio is particularly useful for interviews or explaining something convoluted and dense.

Where’s a couple ideas to get you started. Remember it’s context not content that will drive people to your site and your blogs. What are you doing now to optimize your blog for readers? We’d love to here from you!

How do you use context to drive readers to your blog? We’d love to hear! Leave us a comment below and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

By having a presence within his field.

You call his company, you get his cell phone. You want to talk to the head of sales, you talk to him. You want to have a meeting with the production manager, he can pencil you in some time between two other meetings. Not that he doesn’t have dozens of qualified workers handling those jobs, but rather he cannot stand the idea of someone else representing his brand other than him. I mean his name is on every box that’s shipped for crying out loud.

To call this micromanaging is as gross an understatement as saying Robin Williams has “a little stubble,” but it proves a point; my dad has a presence. He’s everywhere, and on the Internet, building your online presence is just as important.

If you’re like my dad however, you don’t have the time to be everywhere in the real world and the virtual world, but there are a few things (besides having a website) you can set up to make sure you at least have some sort of online presence and manage communication with your customers:

Email Marketing

No, this isn’t spam, nor is it junk mail. It is a means of getting your word out to all of your clients about whatever sales, promotions, news, or events you may have going on. There are many programs available to ease this process and help non tech-savvy professionals manage mailing lists, create newsletters, and configure deals tailored to particular sets of clients and build a greater online presence. Great products to try include: Constant Contact, MailChimp, and iContact.

Social Media

I know you’ve heard it before but really, you need to have a presence here. No matter what widget you sell, every company should have some sort of presence within the major social media portals. Those sites would be Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media is how you keep a more interactive contact with your customers and clients and grants you access to a makeshift focus group of your customers and clients. Your social media accounts will create a space for feedback (both good and bad) on your company, thus creating a means to measure customer sentiment, an invaluable marketing tool for any company. Other social networking sites may be relevant for your company (tumblr or flickr for pictures or slideshare for sharing PowerPoint presentations and seminars) and should be considered as needed. Social media is a great and way to lend your company a voice in the online world and further build your online presence.

Blogging

To those uninitiated, a blog is a means of posting your ideas, thoughts, photos, and whatever else you have kicking around your brain. Actually, you’re reading a blog right now! Think of it as an online bulletin board that is an arm of your website (A blog on how any Joe Schmo can add a WordPress account to their site to come soon). Blogs are a great way to show the world your company’s ethos, philosophy and lifestyle. Share your blogs across your social media platform and watch the traffic to your websites grow and have your online presence be felt. Add found and created videos from YouTube (see below) and gather even more traffic. If you’re really looking to kick up your web-traffic, look into hiring a search-engine-optimization or SEO professional to optimize your web-presence.

YouTube

The Internet is a whole lot more than texts and images anymore; it’s all that plus conversation and video. I know what your thinking: “making a video is a time-consuming, difficult process that requires hours of dedication and focus.” Well step out of your Black Maria, Thomas Edison; my $99 smartphone can create decent, watchable footage and can be edited with free software that’s as fun and as simple to use as PowerPoint (if you have a Mac, you already have iMovie and are ready to go). Make video of your company’s special work environment, or how you create a superior product. What about a video tutorial on how to troubleshoot some of your clients biggest problems? What about a video on the last work outing/event you and the crew went on? Once you’ve shot and edited your great footage, just post it on your social media sites and share it through your mailing list! Don’t have the time to make a video? What about taking a photo album and making a simple slideshow with music to showcase your work for a client? You’ve just created viral publicity. Now wasn’t that quick and easy?

Got anything else to add? What simple things do you do to help out your online presence? Leave us a post on our blog or comment on our Facebook or Twitter.