Here are the ones I use and recommend:

Webcams

Webcams are excellent, good-value devices for recording video via your PC or Mac. Most PCs nowadays have basic webcams built-in.

For example, this means you can login directly to YouTube and create videos using the 'Quick Capture' option

Logitech Pro 9000

If you want to record higher quality video via a webcam, however, you need to use a more sophisticated device. The most widely recommended 'professional' webcam I've seen recommended and used personally is the Logitech Pro 9000 (£50). This webcam records video at a resolution of 2MB so the quality of your 'talking head' video will be much higher than most basic laptop webcams.

Mobile Video

Webcams are fine if you're sat in front of your computer, but obviously that format has some limitations. You can't exactly record outside, for example, or when you're networking at events.

The new kid on the block, however, for recording videos is undoubtedly the new generation of high quality mobile video recording devices. While many mobile phones can now record video, the quality is still generally poor, plus its generally not that easy to take the video that you've recorded on the phone and do something useful with it – like upload it to YouTube and put it on your website.

There are now a number of different mobile video cameras, but there is undoubtedly only one major player…

Flip Video Cameras

The Flip camera is probably the hottest gadget of the last 12 months (after the iphone). You know when something is a phenomenon when people refer to it to describe a category of product.

'Flip' video cameras are mobile-phone sized devices that are really simple to use. There are only a few buttons to press… record / stop /playback / delete is about all. Simplicity and ease-of-use is paramount, and much like the iphone, the combination of simplicity and quality output has created some raving fans – including me…

Its called 'flip' because when you've recorded a video and you want to upload it to your PC or Mac, you simply 'flip' open a little USB connector that simply connects to your computer.

What's more, when you attach the Flip Video to your computer, the camera automatically starts up its own software that quickly and easily allows you to upload your videos to YouTube, or download them to your machine and edit them if you prefer.

There are three types of Flip Video, the Ultra (£80), the Mino (now reduced to £95) and the Mino HD (£170). The main difference between the first two and the last is that the Mino HD records video in amazing High Definition. You can now even watch videos on YouTube in HD mode, and the quality is amazing.

The non-HD Ultra, however, despite being half the price can still produce more than impressive results, and for just £80 its a great. If you're on a budget, however, the new reduced price Mino (non-HD version) is probably the best deal, as its a smaller, sleeker version of the original Ultra.

I personally use the Mino HD, however, and if you'd like to see examples of my videos check out my YouTube Channel and or my blog.

There are other brands of 'flip' video from manufacturers like Kodak ZX1 (£136). However, from the reviews I've read the quality of these don't quite match the original Flip Videos – hence I'd recommend sticking with the original Flip brand itself.

The lesson is this… creating video content has never been as simple or as cost-effective… and creating video products or even your own TV channel is now within reach of anyone. Are you going to take advantage of this opportunity for your internet business?

Wendy has successfully used a variety of methods to help build trust and rapport with potential clients, as well as to firmly establish her expertise as a coach in the areas of career change, time management and self-confidence.

During the call Wendy talks about her strategy of using free reports and ebooks to give away in return for building a list of names and email addresses of potential coaching clients.

This has led to her current project, the launch of her first ever published book, called "Discover Yourself On The Yellow Brick Road – 7 Core Principles of Career Success".

Interestingly, Wendy is employing cutting-edge tactics to help ensure her book on its launch day has the best chance of going straight into the Amazon Top 100 sellers list. Wendy reveals the details of some of the best ways you can effectively motivate people to buy your product within a short period of time and create maximum publicity and impact for your launch.

Wendy is also making great use of the free social media tools available to any coach or business owner who would like to promote their product or service. These social media (or web 2.0) tools, include Facebook, Twitter and the use of blogging – and the impact they can have on the success of your business is considerable.

So enjoy this interview, and if you have any questions about how you can use the internet to market your product or service, feel free to contact me for a free consultation.

Interview with Wendy Dashwood-Quick

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had a great conversation with Sports Success Consultant Jonathan Griffin this week, after he contacted me and asked to take me up on my free 30m telephone consultation call offer.

Before Jonathan saw me speak at the recent Coaches and Consultants Superconference, he was pretty-well confused about web sites. He wasn't sure what his website should look like, nor more importantly how to get one created without spending thousands and thousands with predatory web design companies…

After watching my presentation about just how straightforward it can be to set up a proper-looking, 'normal' website using inexpensive easy-to-use blogging software like Wordpress, he immediately took action. Within a few days he'd registered his own domain – www.jonathangriffin.co.uk – got his own low-cost hosting account, installed a copy of Wordpress and instantly his website was live!

Although Wordpress is designed primarily as blogging software, its also immensely flexible and can easily be used as a 'content management system' i.e. a means to create and edit basic pages on your website. For example, I used Wordpress to create a website for a local Osteopath client of mine, even though it doesn't have a blog at all. But now at least the Clinic owner and all the practitioners can edit and update their pages themselves without having to pay the web designer they had to previously.

During our call, I was able to give Jon some further pointers about where to find the best Wordpress themes, what some of the key plugins are you need to allow you to track your website visitor statistics, easily embed videos onto your pages, and ensure that all your pages are naturally optimized to rank well in Google search engines.

We also discussed the vital importance of building an email list via an opt-in page and again, I gave Jon some useful resources to use to kick-start his new coaching business.

So, if you're a coach or consultant who currently either don't have a website at all, or have one that your not happy with and would like to change or at least take control of, then you too need to contact me and request a *free* 30m telephone consultation.

Because my time is limited, however, so are the number of spots available, and these will be filled strictly on a first-come first-serve basis. So, don't delay, and I look forward to also getting you 'unstuck' with your website soon.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to talk to a group of about 40 Coaches at the Coaching and Consultants Superconference in London.

Although it was the first time I'd spoken in public to such a group, the subject of my presentation was one that has long been dear to my heart. That is… helping coaches and small business owners (or 'solopreneurs' as they say stateside) to create websites that are simple-to-use, yet immensely powerful business marketing machines.

I started the presentation by asking the audience where they were at currently in using the web. Although it wasn't a surprise, I was still amazed that about 40% of the audience admitted that they still didn't have any kind of website at all. As a service provider in today's economy, how much longer do you think you can survive without at least some kind of professional-looking brochure website?

I asked the audience to contribute some of the greatest problems and pains they're currently experiencing with their websites. There was no shortage of suggestions and they covered the full spectrum including:

• How to get traffic
• How to easily edit their website and therefore feel in control
• How to use email marketing effectively
• How to create squeeze pages that will help build targeted lists of followers
• How to easily add audio and video files to a website

and more besides…

I then started to tell my story of being a naive new business-owner some three years ago, in partnership with my wife, and how we made bad decision after bad decision, wasting thousands of pounds on a website that became out-of-date in a few months and had to be written-off completely.

Fortunately, I subsequently discovered the power, ease-of-use and flexibility of blogs, and Wordpress in particular, from which point I never looked back. Soon I had the full functionality of a multi-page 'company brochure'-type website.

Our new site not only reflected the professional nature of our business – an Italian delicatessen in Bath – but my wife and I soon discovered the marketing muscle you will develop by regularly publishing high-quality articles to your very own blog.

My wife Licia's story is an amazing one. In short, thanks to the recipes, stories and photos that she'd published on our blog/website, she was invited to be a guest-expert by the top UK national food magazine 'Olive'.

Not long after she was invited to appear on a high-profile National UK TV show called 'Cooking The Books'. On this TV Show Licia was the 'expert' who had to judge the winner out of the two celebrity chefs that were competing to create the best dish during the program!

The point here is this. That if you publish quality information to a blog about your subject of expertise – whatever that may be – then you will…

• Build a following of people who interested in and like you.
• Become a recognized expert inyour niche – similar to being a published author.
• Increase your core knowledge and expertise thanks to the reflections you are making on your work in public. You will also become better at explaining and teaching these concepts to other people.

All three happened to my wife, but are also entirely relevant if you are a coach or consultant wanting to become better-known and achieve greater authority in your niche. And if you don't have a niche, well, that's the place to start…

In addition to creating easy-to edit brochure websites and the power of blogging, I went on to discuss putting audio and video on your website, creating squeeze pages, writing sales letters and how email marketing is one of the most important tools you need to drive traffic to your website and build your audience of loyal followers.

There was even time for a public demonstration of my new product – the Coaches Squeeze Page Creator…

Look out soon for a forthcoming free report based on this presentation that will detail the "7 Killer Website
Strategies To Kick-Start Your Coaching Business In 60 Days Or Less!"

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Sunday I'll be speaking to an audience of Coaches and Entrepreneurs at the Coaches Top Gun Superconference in London. As you can imagine I'm very excited at the prospect of being able to talk for over an hour about a subject very dear to my heart – namely the use of technology to build the businesses of Coaches, Therapists and other similar 'Solopreneurs'.

I don't quite know what to expect. But I also can't wait…

There'll even be a live blog update during the session – using my trusty Flip Video. So… watch this space!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure to interview Paul Bailey and Gina Baksa from www.ActionPodcast.com, about the huge impact that blogging and podcasting has had on their coaching careers.

www.ActionPodcast.com

Paul and Gina are two of a group of four life coaches that regularly contribute to the blog and podcast at ActionPodcast.com. Although they only started their new podcast in December 2008, they've just celebrated their 5000th download this week, some four months or so later. Furthermore, their audience is actually growing at the fantastic rate of 100% every 2/3 weeks!

During our interview they revealed just how the use of technology has helped transform their businesses as coaches, both in the way they are able to attract new clients, as well as actually carry out their coaching sessions in a relxed and flexible way – to the benefit of both coach and client.

Paul also shares some great tips for any coach who is interested in starting either their own blog or podcast, and Gina talks about how easy it was for someone with a non-technical background to be able to publish her own articles on her blog site – all absolutely free!

Towards the end of the call Gina and Paul actually reveal how blogging and podcasting has changed their perspective on many things, even going so far as to say that the experience has 'changed their lives'.

If you'd like to learn more about Paul and Gina's experiences, this podcast episode contains the full 30-minute interview with them both – so enjoy!

If you'd like to check out the ActionPodcast.com blog and podcast you can do so at www.actionpodcast.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks  to my brand new Flip Mino HD video camera this brief clip was filmed on location in London yesterday, while I was attending an event for 30+ internet marketers interested in building their business both online and offline.

I manage pretty-well to resist gadgets that aren't genuinely useful, but this is one tool that has already become essential for my need to create and share easy-to-produce, valuable content for this blog and elsewhere.

If you're a coach or consultant then just think how this could apply to you. You could interview other people, or get other people to interview you about your subject of expertise, ready to share with the world and immediately increase your perceived authority and status.

The software that comes with the camera makes it incredibly easy to both edit and add captions to your movie, then upload it instantly to YouTube.

Embed the video onto your blog and there you have it. High, quality engaging content that will only help build trust and rapport with your audience.

So, coaches everywhere… what are you waiting for?

Click here to view the embedded video.

My thanks to social media expert Dwayne Kerr for revealing the one strategy any coach can employ to grow their business and get more clients by using the power of online social networking.

Find your coaching niche if you want more clients

Do you find it difficult to get clients that are willing to pay you what you're worth for the advice and help you can offer?

Then you need to read this article from start to finish…

Recently I received a message from a coach wanting advice about how to develop her website to promote her coaching services. She wanted to know what I suggest she should do next.

So, what was my answer?

To forget about websites until you have chosen your niche!

You see, coaches who do not focus on helping specific people with specific problems will always struggle to find clients. Nobody wants coaching, they only want solutions to their problems.

So the most important thing to do if you're a generic coach or life coach is to decide on your very own area of  specialism!

You know you have a niche when you can answer the question 'who is the person' and 'what is their problem' I will help them solve? For example, helping mothers lose weight, or helping career women deal with stress at work. Niches are very specific.

When you have a niche it is much easier to find your ideal client. Plus, when you become a 'specialist' in one area, people are much more interested in having you help them. People always prefer specialists to generalists. They want to be reassured that this person is an expert in helping them with their specific problem.

So if you don't yet know your niche, this is really where you need to make your first decision. Just what is your niche going to be? Only once you know your focus should you start learning about how to sell your services via websites etc.

How to find your coaching niche… and a special offer

The good news is that there is an opportunity coming very soon to help you take a huge shortcut in finding your niche and learning how to market your coaching services. It is the Coaches and Consultants Top Gun Superconference on April 25/26/27 in London.

I will be speaking at this event about how to create simple, easy-to-edit websites that will bring you clients and earn you money. However, there will also be a dozen or so other speakers from all around the world including Jairek Robbins – Tony's son – who will be giving phenomenal advice about all the areas of developing a hugely successful coaching business.

Not only is the ticket price heavily reduced, but if you know of another coach who would benefit from attending then you can take them with you for free as your guest, effectively halving the ticket price for you both! Plus, if you really feel that the event hasn't massively helped you, Dan Bradbury will even give you 100% of your money back. So really you have nothing to lose!

Just come along to the event and meet all the very successful coaches who'll be there in person. Discover the secrets to their success… and lay the foundations of your own.

Special Bonus

Because I know how valuable this event will be, I'm even prepared to offer a highly valuable bonus of my very own to anyone who signs up via my affiliate link.

If you sign-up via this link then I will give you a 1:1 private consultation at the event, worth £147, absolutely free! Just contact me via this website and let me know that you've placed your order and you'd like to reserve your consultation.

As I'll be speaking at the event my time will be limited so I can only offer this bonus to the first 5 people who sign up and get in touch.

Reserve your limited-availability free consultation now!