Too many people ask me about what cameras to get, what microphones, lighting options or hiring a pro …. My usual response is,

“Dude, just use your iphone.”

And there’s a moment of silence before the, “really?”

Unless you are building an extremely professional lesson stack, then my answer is simply – “yes.”

I have worked with one of the best videographers I can think of, and will continue to use his company for high-level work, but for day-to-day lessons, my iPhone rocks. This article will explain why, and also show you how you can begin building your Online Studio right now, with zero investment other than your phone bill.

Your smart phone is equipped with technology that couldn’t be matched only a few years ago, yet it’s now all in the palm of your hand.

This small, super intelligent device has some amazing video recording capability, so to get you started – there’s really no...

I had the (extremely) unique opportunity some years ago to share in a live discussion with who I believe to be the most brilliant marketing mind of our time, Mr. Jay Abraham. Following this discussion and his detailed answers to my academic questions, I went on to read everything I could, that he put to ink. Since then, there has been no looking back.

If I were asked what the one thing I took from all of my time and money invested in Abraham’s teaching, what would it be; I would immediately answer ‘the philosophy of pre-eminance’.

Pre-eminence is a massive topic, one beyond the scope of the article, but to summarize; it is the you want to be seen by everyone you deal with as the definitive expert source and the most trusted advisor within your area of expertise. You also want to be seen as someone who has taken on the role of responsibility of governance within your area of expertise and thus are recognized as the most trusted and credible source of counsel among...

One on the elements of strong online studio is building sites that load fast and are on strong servers. This is something I’ve been focussing alot of my work on lately, trying to look into the future of server speed and it’s influence on how search engines view my content.

Not only does site speed effect search results, but it also has a major influence on user experience – especially when we are trying to teach physical movement through a training portal. Think about how many times you have tried to follow along with a video only to get discouraged at the video freezing every ten seconds.

So while the variable of speed is super important, there are thousands (if not tens-of-thousands) of other variables that search algorithms use to properly direct their customers to the most accurate result for a query or position the right content in front of them, at the right time.

The more of these variables you know, the easier it is for you to create a strategy to keep your...

Having your school found on search engines can be a dark, confusing place for most school owners. They know they need to be seen there and simply think that having a website up will do the trick. This is the most common mistake I see business owners make when they step into the web with the keys to their business in hand. Let me rephrase, thinking that putting a website online will make you visible to search engines - is dead wrong.

Second mistake, hands down - without question - is thinking that building a list of likes on Facebook somehow means something to your school's performance.

So it goes something like this.

Want to know what the bozos who try to sell you expensive local SEO programs are doing?

Kudos to them for seeing an opportunity and taking it, but really... screw them. In this article, I'm going to show you how a consulting client of mine in the next state over invests quite a bit in their web use, was missing over 50% of their potential traffic. Then, I'm going to share with you how to correct this mistake for yourself and completely dominate your local searches with about an hour's worth of work.

First, let me be very clear that nothing is more valuable for your school's website than a cleanly structured framework.

There are a few simple solutions to getting this done, but one thing is for sure; if you don't know what you're doing, then leave it to a professional. Don't think you can have some high school kid run your site in exchange for free classes. That's bullshit. Period.

Imagine one of your customer telling you they want to buy a book on your martial art, learn it there and...

One of the most important ingredients to building a strong web presence is know how the sites that present your content to your target audience work. What criteria works on your site to get search engines like Google and Bing to want to show you off. This article will introduce you to the simply complex (yes, it’s simple but often time made way too complex) world of search engine optimization (SEO).

Understanding SEO is necessary. Before I say anything else, just know that you must have the key elements in place in order for your online presence to have any value. So, let’s get started.

What is SEO and why is it important to you?

More than likely you’ve heard that acronym, SEO before. If you haven’t here’s the Wikipedia definition; SEO is “the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results.”

OK, makes sense. But that leaves us with a number of questions to follow such as,

There are no secrets. It's the main theme behind 'Kung Fu Panda' and the a driving principle in the internet technology space. As you may have heard me say over and over, the internet has leveled the playing field for experts to either do their work and serve at optimized levels never available before, or it forces the charlatans to climb under the rock from whence they came.

But even still, too many trainers worry about protecting their secrets, their art or their lessons and wrongly assume they must hold on to their intellectual property for fear of it being stolen.

Daily I hear quality trainers and coaches, who could be serving at an extremely high level, posing an argument that their stuff is unlike anyone else's and they don't want it to get ripped off. So for this reason, they refuse to openly teach, share and serve.

Yes, they are all extremely well intentioned - yet their business mind still exists in the black and white world of non-disclosure agreements and whispers at the...

In this two part post series, I'm going to explore the basics of stepping out of what I call the announcement mindset and into the inbound marketing world of using your web presence to generate leads and get your site working as both a resource and a profit center for your studio. 

In Part 1, we'll do some work on the state of your current site and your paradigm of what it's job is for your business. By the end of this article, you'll have a framework to work form in order to build the elements for a lead generating page. In Part 2, we'll dig into building lead gen functionality and I'll provide you with some valuable courses for action. Basics first.

If you are considering a massive overhaul of your existing website, or...

How to set goals for your website performance that make sense.

Why Bother Setting Goals? Simple. Because nobody just wakes up successful. 

You must have a clear path to the destination you wish to arrive at, you need to know where you’re going. This isn’t a new idea. Pretty simple, right?

Setting goals to achieve your desired outcome is not new either. Nor is setting smart goals, ones that are specific to your desired outcome, make sense, are actually achievable, have purpose and meet a timeline that is specific to where you are in your life and business. Nothing new, but very rarely followed through with.

In this article, I am going to detail for you the first two priorities for how to set goals that bolt your business needs to your website and how to track performance and influence your website(s) have to student acquisition.

Before anything, let’s start with a simple acronym for discovering if your efforts and goals have alignment. Considering the...

Managing comment spam on your blog

If you have a blog on your website, or maybe you author an authority blog, then you surely remember that first comment you received from some nice person you don’t know with nice things to say about your content.

Then… another one... but the english was a bit busted

And… another one... with a link to a viagra supplier in India.

But then one of your students leaves a nice comment about something you posted among the accruing posts from the unknown. Then some fellow from Romania with a link to a site with content that you makes you want to vomit. 

In this article, I’m going to explain what’s happening and how you can prevent this all too common occurrence of “comment spam” from overwhelming your site and damaging your reputation and traction on SERPs, (search engine result pages).

Unlike to common email spam, comment spam is basically unsolicited messages from commercial or malicious origins somewhere...