We all know how video works online, but some companies have taken things a step further to make it easier for prospective and current clients to learn the ins and outs of their software. Let’s take a look at just a few of the resources out there to improve your skills – for SEO, WordPress and graphic design.

Google Webmaster Help channel on YouTube

Pick from more than a hundred great videos by the guys on the search engine team at Google. My personal favorites are those made by Google SEO leader Matt Cutts – they’re short, they’re witty and they give us insight on how to design our site to make the most of search engines.

WordPress TV

When it comes to blogging, nothing beats WordPress. But most people don’t even begin to realize the power of WordPress as a content management system. With the ability to create excellent custom templates, track traffic through Google Analytics and perform your own SEO with any number of plugins, there’s a whole lot of information to learn about WordPress.
WordPress TV provides short snippets of information – whether it’s an update from a WordCamp conference around the world or a challenge to create a specific site in a short period of time.

Adobe TV

If you’re involved in graphic design or web development, at some point in time, you’re probably going to use some Adobe software. Yes, you can jump through any number of hoops to build a site without Dreamweaver and open-source alternatives have many rivals for Photoshop. That said, for many of us, there comes a time when the maneuvering to save money on software ends up costing more money in lost time and productivity.
And let’s face it – there’s a certain amount of geeky pride involved in saying that you have CS4 Master Collection – even if you know you’ll never touch half of the applications in the suite.
When you buckle down and make the big purchase, it’s up to you to ensure that you’re using Adobe’s exceptionally powerful software to its best effect. Local user groups can help you with short seminars and tips and tricks, but when it comes to learning a program from scratch (the way the creators intended you to use it), nothing beats Adobe TV. The wide variety of videos available cover every ability level and every program. In addition, there are videos to inspire you – showing the works of others that came out of the software.

I’ll be presenting on how and why to use social media tools for marketing, as well as a case study of one company in Israel that has had great results in a business-to-business format.

PR Newswire invitation

The presenters look great! I hope to cover the basics of using social media for business:

• Corporate blogging: blog benefits, who should be blogging, what to post
• Twitter: benefits, how to use it, what makes Twitter different
• Web communities: user groups, forums, conditional knowledgebases – how to use them and what the potential benefits are
• All the rest: webinars, videos, newsletters and more

The amazing thing is that one Israeli company is already doing all of this and more – and they are doing it well. We’ll learn about their successes.

My hope is that all seminar attendees will go home with something they can implement, whether it’s one new idea or an entirely new strategy for marketing on the Web. There’s also a question and answer session after the presentations.

Look forward to seeing you there!