Free Webinar Wednesdays

What Lies Ahead in 2012 - Resolutions and Predictions for the New Year

Date: January 4, 2012 @ 1 pm Eastern

Wow, can you believe it says 2012 in the date above? Hard to believe that another year has passed, but it seems the older we get, the faster it goes. Hopefully all of our Free Webinar Wednesday fans enjoyed some time off over the holiday season and this week Eric and Jeff are "back in the saddle" to kick off the New Year with the first episode of 2012.

Since the popular thing to do this time of year is to create a list of resolutions (that may or may not make it to Easter), your hosts are going to jump on the bandwagon and share some of what they are hoping for over the next 12 months (and beyond). Some of what you'll hear will certainly be influenced by some of the guests that we have had on FWW in the past, yet some will be based on what (we think) lies ahead.

In addition to sharing some of their resolutions, Eric and Jeff will offer up some of their predictions for what may be coming along this year in business, technology, social media and a variety of other areas. We'd love to hear what you've got planned for the New Year, so be prepared to share some of your thoughts.

Welcome to 2012, it's going to be another great year...!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Flickr Image: Toolmantim

Taking a Stroll Down the 2011 Memory Lane

Date: Wenesday, December 21, 2011 @ 1 pm Eastern

Image via Wikipedia

For the final show of 2011, Eric and Jeff will take a "look back" at the year and review some of the shows from the past year that made the biggest impact on us. We've covered quite a bit of ground over the past 12 months and have had some great guests share some excellent information. Below are just a few of the topics that we've covered that may make the show this week.

• Online video
• Mobile marketing
• Online reviews
• Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube
• Cloud computing
• Lessons from an adventure athlete
• Apple innovation and technology
• E-mail marketing
• Inbound (content) marketing
• Time management strategies
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Plus much more...

So, join us for this year's final show and be sure to bring along your thoughts and comments on your favorite show. We have enjoyed yet another year of sharing here on Free Webinar Wednesdays and appreciate everyone's support and participation.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Leveraging the Power of Video to Grow your Business

Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 @ 1 pm Eastern

Download the Power Point Slides (Requires Power Point) -  Video Presentation

With YouTube being the #2 search engine in the world, the value of video for both personal and business use continues to grow. Sure, video is a great way to "spend some time" and disconnect from reality for a bit, but there are countless examples of businesses that have leveraged video successfully to grow their business.

This week Free Webinar Wednesdays is excited to welcome our guest, Catherine Gray, CEO and Co-Founder of Corp Shorts Video Productions. Catherine has been in the video production business for more than 20 years. She started a video production company in CA after graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in Broadcasting. After selling that company- she returned to the east coast and worked in cable television advertising in Miami, and eventually worked for Bravo and AMC Networks in New York City- before moving back to CA to start up Corp Shorts.

Corp Shorts has professional crews in over 100 cities worldwide, and specializes in creating top quality online video shorts. They offer an overall video solution that includes optimization and distribution- so as to get their clients’ great results! The webinar will discuss ways to utilize video in order to boost website traffic, conversions and how to basically  leverage it to build your business!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Producing Great Content to Establish Yourself as a Subject-Matter Expert

Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 @ 1 pm Eastern

In today's hyper-competitive business environment, everyone is looking for that extra "edge" to tip the scales in their favor when consumers are getting ready to make a buying decision. Gone are the days when you can compete on price alone and there needs to be something you can bring to the table to differentiate yourself from the competition and increase the odds that YOU will be selected as the vendor of choice.

In the mortgage industry there are a variety of options for today's homeowner, but one company has embraced a new approach to becoming the subject matter expert in "all things mortgage related" and is helping to educate consumers about the mortgage process. Located in South-West Michigan, AmeriFirst Home Mortgage has been in business for over 25 years helping people realize the dream of owning their own home. Recently, their marketing efforts have shifted with the development of Resource Library on their site, a blog, two YouTube channels (Home Mortgage and Renters Nightmare), a Facebook page, LinkedIn company page and a Twitter account.

This week we'll be joined by AmeriFirst's Dan Moyle, their Multimedia Marketing and Communications Specialist to talk about their shift from "selling" mortgages to "educating" customers in the process and what that's done for their business. The observations and results Dan will share with the FWW audience will be easily transferred to virtually any industry, so if you are looking for a way to separate yourself from your competition and be seen as a trusted advisor instead of just another vendor, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc. and WSI Internet Consulting.

Connecting With Others Using myBrainshark - Quick And Simple Online Video Presentations

Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 1 pm Eastern

Note: Sorry about the audio, as Eric sounds a bit like a "muchkin" in the recording! Enjoy... ;-)

Last week Eric and Jeff were both "out of pocket" and unable to host Free Webinar Wednesdays live. However, as you may have noticed, Eric created a quick and simple online video presentation using the site myBrainshark.com. This is a cool site that gives users the ability to create free online video presentations ans share them out instantly by embedding them on a site, sharing through social networks and a variety of other methods. By the way, thanks to those of you who watched the video and connected via LinkedIn!

Keeping the momentum of this service, Eric reached out via the social channels and got in touch with Jay Wilder, Director of Product Marketing for Brainshark, Inc. We're excited to welcome Jay to this week's FWW to go much deeper on all of the great ways myBrainshark.com can be used for online video presentations and more.

About Our Guest:

Jay Wilder manages the myBrainshark product line for individuals and small business, managing product, marketing, and engagement strategy.  He’s also a frequent contributor to the Brainshark Ideas blog.  Outside of work, Jay is an avid live music fan and guitarist.  You can follow Jay @jaywilder and @mybrainshark.

About myBrainshark:

 myBrainshark is a free and paid service for individuals that makes it easy to create, share and track online video presentations for sales, marketing, eLearning and more.

• Easily create & narrate online video presentations
• Share presentation links and embed videos
• Track & analyze presentation viewing results 

 The myBrainshark Pro Series offers advanced premium features for lead capture, enhanced privacy and security, and eLearning including testing, certification, and LMS integration.

OMG - We Have To Postpone AGAIN!!! Sorry... No FWW This Week.

Date: June 22, 2011

Well, things certainly have not slowed for Jeff and myself and this summer has been keeping both of us hopping. Granted, as business owners ourselves, it's nice to be busy and we're both thankful for everyone that has come along and asked us to help. But, when both Jeff and I are out on Wednesday afternoons, it tends to be a bit of a challenge to hold our FWW sessions.

But, as with any problem in business, we're thinking about ways to overcome future issues when both of us are going to be gone and unable to attend. If you've got some suggestions on ways that you'd overcome a similar problem, let us know in the comments section below. Until then, is one idea that we've come up with, so let us know if you think this would be a viable option.

Pre-Recorded Webinars

While one of the great things that we LOVE about FWW is the engagement and interaction of the audience. We've built our list to over 1,000 subscirbers and have 50 or more people join us live during our webinars. One option that Jeff and I have thought about would be to hold our webinar earlier in the week and record it as usual, but then post it here for you to view in lieu of our live webinar. Sure, you wouldn't be able to ask questions or interact with us, but you'd still get to hear what's on our minds as we share new ideas, explore technology and feature guests that provide great advice and tips. Don't worry, we're not planning on doing this full-time and look forward to being back with you all next week, but down the road this may be an option for us.

With over two years of weekly webinars (yes, that's over 100 shows and we've only missed ONE so far), I'd say Jeff and I are doing pretty good keeping things rolling. We are not planning on slowing down and have several great guests lined up (some new and some coming back for a repeat performance), so thanks for your understanding and support.

Enjoy This myBrainshark...

One of the other tools that you may find useful is a cool site called myBrainshark.com. This site gives you the ability to upload a presentation, record audio and do all sorts of cool stuff with it. Below is a quick presentation that I did (under 15 minutes) to give you an example of just how easy it can be. Enjoy!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

What's Cooking With Jeff and Eric - Has It Really Been Over Two Years?

Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 @ 1 pm Eastern

This week on Free Webinar Wednesdays we take a break from a "formal guest" and spend some quality time with the co-creators, Jeff Simpkins of Community Bank Consulting, Inc. and Eric Cook of WSI Internet Consulting. It's hard to believe that FWW started "way back" on March 21, 2009 when we featured Roger DeWitt on our first show talking about Podcasting for Small Businesses. Back then the audience likely was a handful of friends and family members (as is the case with any kind of "start up"). However, fast-forward to present day and FWW has grown to almost 1,000 registered participants and a growing number of people attending each week's session live.

So this week Jeff and Eric will do their best to not only "take a step back" and comment on some of the changes and evolution seen through FWW over the past couple of years, but also try and get out their crystal ball and look into the future and see what's coming down the road.

So put on your thinking caps and be prepared to participate in the conversation. We're interested in your thoughts and feedback on the past couple of years. What are some of the things that YOU have learned thanks to FWW and the guests that have been featured on the show. What topics are you interested in learning more about as FWW continues to evolve?

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Putting the YOU into YouTube: Tapping into the Biggest Promotion Platform on the Planet!

Date: March 30, 2011 @ 1 pm EDT

YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler... and the list of online video sites goes on. As video has become one of the most popular elements on the Internet, savvy marketers are understanding that video is a great way to promote a brand and market your products or services. But, what's the best way (if there is a "best" way) to do this and how do you get started?

With over 2 BILLION views per day, YouTube is the 8,000 pound gorilla of online video. 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute!  If you’re not getting a piece of that ginormous audience, you’re missing a huge opportunity to promote and brand your business.

This week on Free Webinar Wednesdays Eric and Jeff invite you to join us as we welcome OnlineVideopolis.com founder and video pro Lou Bortone to the show and discover how to tap into the massive potential of YouTube. Lou was one of the very first guests when we started FWW, but a lot has changed since then. We're looking forward to having him back on the show and learn what's new!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Update:

Lou shared with us some sites during his session that we wanted to post here. Feel free to click the links below and check 'em out! If you have other ideas, please feel free to post them in the Comments of this post. 

• Video in a Day - Lou is offering a special class to help get you familiar with creating video.
• Veeple - Paid, hosted video sharing site that gives you the ability to manipulate and create links in videos to other sites with ease.
• Easy Video Player - Video player that you can use (along with Veeple) to play your videos on your website.
• Amazon Simiple Storage Service (S3) - Amazon's "cloud" based hosing solution, where Lou stores all his videos (and you can too).
• Wine Library TV - Lou mentioned this site as a good example of how Gary has used video to promote his brand (1,000 videos and counting).

Related articles

• Top 5 YouTube Marketing Mistakes Committed by Small Businesses (mashable.com)

Saving Time with Social Media in Business

Date: September 22, 2010 @ 1 pm Eastern

Do you find yourself checking too many websites to find useful information about your professional network? Do you try to find the time to search the web for information before your next meeting or phone call?  The truth is, we all do. We believe in saving time, getting things done, and improving our relationships with our most important contacts.

Join Jeff and Eric as they speak with T.A. McCann, founder and CEO of Seattle-based Gist, Inc.

Gist keeps you better informed with less effort by giving you a full view of your professional network in one place bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts giving you the right information at the right moment to get a meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection.  Gist provides the only full view of the contacts in your professional network by creating a rich business profile for each one that includes the most news, status updates, and work details.

All contacts in one place - Gist automatically brings contact details, news and updates together in one place making it easy to find anyone, anytime – no invites to send or connections to request.

Updated with the latest news - Gist prioritizes news and updates about contacts so you always have the information you need even if you didn’t know it was out there. Stop missing important information because it gets lost in the online noise.

Delivered where you need it - Gist works the way you do – in your inbox, on a mobile device, in a browser, or CRM system.

Register Today:

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.

Want to know more about Gist right now?

Online Video Marketing for Business: Finding and Converting Sales Online

Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2010 @ 1 pm Eastern

Free Webinar Wednesdays - Video for Business Success Online from Eric Cook on Vimeo.

Video is fast becoming one of the most effective ways to engage and market to online buyers. In fact, recent studies have shown that online video grew 124% in 2009, having over 18.9 billion views. This massive growth is changing the way we think about doing business online and is opening up new opportunities that are helping businesses drive online sales growth.

Marketers and those familiar with the web see this huge opportunity and aren't waiting to take advantage of it. From video in e-mail to landing page conversion and lead generation, this week's session will talk about some of the steps necessary to integrate video into your business' online marketing efforts.

Join us this week as we feature one of Eric's WSI colleagues, Drew Himel. Located in the Sunshine state of Florida, Drew has been an Internet Marketing Consultant with WSI for three years. He has helped numerous companies create and implement successful social media campaigns, leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. He has also spoken at several conferences outlining the key benefits and uses of social media optimization.

Register Today:


If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays:


Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by Community Bank Consulting, Inc.and WSI Internet Consulting.