A question I am often asked and need to answer since friends and family realise that I have (on and off) been on this internet marketing trail of joy, despair and frustration all rolled into one since 2002.

Today I feel more positive than I did yesterday. You see as a one man band, you are vulnerable. If you are employed and your site goes down, you phone Pat or Pete from techysupport and they send you some hieroglyphics, or the more approachable will summarily tip you from your comfy chair then type very fast. Result.  One way or t’other the problem is fixed and meanwhile you can go and have a coffee or wave an important document at someone.

A glitch like the one I had yesterday, where my hosting reseller had forgotton to pay his bill, and you can lose three, four, five hours offering prayers of wisdom to technical support teams. These keepers of the keys to knowledge are working in a large organisation. So they’re drinking coffee and waving important documents and so on. They don’t really care about your dreams of the large black car pissing the neighbours off. Anyhow internet marketing then.

The latest story goes like this. Video blogs or Vlogs are the next big thing. Or the big thing that’s happening now more like.  Release 20 of your “how tos” and on the internet and Google will realise that you have something to say and put you in the vaunted top ten of gurus on your key phrase like “how to deal with technical support teams who drink coffee and can’t be arsed dealing with customers.”  That’s it in a nutshell really. A quick browse from this link will give you more details about how all this hangs together. But there it is.

How does this fit with my background? Basically I am a PR man so I approach things from angles. Lots of them. But I hold my hands up and accept that things have changed. I also adapt my teaching to ensure my students are fitted out with these techniques.

Yeah but I can hear you say. Does it work? Yes it works. But releasing any old garbage with the right keywords but looks like it was produced in your coffee break won’t. Ask yourself, what would YOU like to see and a) do it yourself b) do it properly. PR is about reputation. Do you want to lose that on half hearted rants using your dad’s old camcorder?

Part two: The equipment needed for Vlogging. Here’s an example of what you can do with around $1000 or £1000 or 1000E worth of kit.