Music Tuesday: David Choi, Meklit Hadero and more

Last week on youtube.com/music, we brought you a full album of vintage psychedelic music, a playlist of space-themed videos to commemorate the New Pornographers’ new sci-fi offering, and eMusic’s Six Degrees of Beirut playlist, which traced the band’s influences. We also featured a few awesome videos we thought you should see. This week, we’re ignoring the massive bunch of new releases from everybody from Lady Antebellum and Bob Seger (!) to Blitzen Trapper, Katy B, Mogwai, Neon Indian, Laura Marling, Das Racist, The Kooks and Trombone Shorty. Instead, we’re taking music discovery to a whole new level.

Get More Into Singer-Songwriters With David ChoiDavid Choi has become one of YouTube’s biggest stars, a singer-songwriter whose reach is equalled only by his following. This week, David put out a call to the community to help him get more into singer-songwriters on YouTube. The community responded with over a thousand suggestions. He whittled the list down to his favorites, who are featured today on the homepage and youtube.com/musictuesday.



Introducing Meklit HaderoMeklit Hadero is hardly a household name, but she should be. The Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter’s jazzy, soulful style has drawn enthusiastic accolades from anybody who heard 2010’s On A Day Like This. (And we think more folks should hear it.) Hadero spent a good part of her time honing her sound at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco, a crucible for innovative musicians, and the time she put in shows. In June, she visited Google and gave a live performance, which you’ll see here, paired with her debut video for “Leaving Soon.”



Raleigh Moncrief: Lament For MorningDebate has raged among music geeks about whether “chillwave” is a genuine phenomenon or just a term cooked up to link disparate, laptop-based artists. We won’t label the work by the young Sacramento, CA-based producer Raleigh Moncrief (who recently signed to the genre-defying independent label Anticon) -- but a pop-meets-ambient vibe is certainly there. The song’s basic architecture rests on Philip Glass-style repetition before wreathing itself in respectably-sized beats -- and the result is absorbing. Perhaps equally impressive is this abstract, impressionistic video, which Moncrief directed himself.



Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Shlohmo - Just Us.”

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Remembering September 11, 10 years later

Today marks 10 years since the September 11 attacks. While YouTube did not exist in 2001, people from around the world have used the site over the last few years not only to share their stories and commemorate those lost that day, but also to reflect on the last ten years and look forward to the future.

As we shared last week, in collaboration with the New York Times, we created a dedicated YouTube channel -- youtube.com/September11 -- where we’re highlighting powerful stories from the community, archival news footage from 2001, and special New York Times content.

You can watch a New York Times portrait of J.A. Reynolds, who lost his son, Bruce, on 9/11.



Or listen to the story of two brothers -- Joe and John, a firefighter and a policeman -- who died at Ground Zero.



You can visit youtube.com/September11 to watch more reflections and upload your own. You’ll also see more of these stories on the YouTube homepage today.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Always a Family."

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This week's Trends: fire, flash and dubstep

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:

• We studied how interest in dubstep music has risen across 2011.
  
  
• We uncovered on-the-scene footage from Russia's tragic KHL plane crash.
  
  
• We revealed part 2 of our exploration of the three kinds of one-man-bands.
  
  
• We collected bystander footage of the wildfire in Texas.
  
  
• And we learned of the "flash haka" and looked at the creativity behind 10 unique flash mobs from outside the United States.

Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Back for the Future."

More about → This week's Trends: fire, flash and dubstep

Live From the Runway: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in NYC live streamed on YouTube

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is back on YouTube, and once again, it’s LIVE! Live From the Runway, presented by Maybelline New York, is your front row seat to the hottest shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Tune in every day through September 14 to see live runway shows from your favorite designers streamed right to your computer or mobile phone.



Live From the Runway will help you stay up-to-date with show schedules, backstage beauty looks, interviews, latest trends, and how-to videos. Fashion and beauty lovers can join the conversation by tweeting #LiveRunway. Recaps and archived fashion shows will also be available between live streams, so check back daily. Welcome to the front row!

Jamie Berkowitz, Lifestyle Program Manager, recently watched, “25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes! - WendysLookBook”

More about → Live From the Runway: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in NYC live streamed on YouTube

Music Tuesday: Taylor Swift, Queen and more

It’s been a big week for music at YouTube. Last week Taylor Swift joined us for a Q&A, answering questions from fans around the world and proving that under that bubbly exterior is a serious artist with some seriously interesting things to say. (And yes, she does admit that she’s written songs on paper towels.) This week, youtube.com/music pays tribute to one of rock’s great bands, and introduces some new talent.

Queen - Live At Wembley Stadium
Forty years on, Queen remains an indelible part of popular music. Is there anyone who hasn’t gone hoarse screaming “We Are The Champions” at least once in their lives, or stomped along to “We Will Rock You” at a sporting event? The band even inspired Stefani Germanotta’s stage name.

In honor of Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday this week, the band is sharing the concert film Queen - Live At Wembley Stadium in its entirety on Queen’s official channel for 48 hours. Widely considered one of the great concert films of all time, Wembley Stadium captures the band at the height of their powers, even though their greatest albums were arguably behind them. Mercury’s charisma is stunning: when he leads the stadium in an a cappella sing-along, you can only marvel at hearing tens of thousands of people willingly following his lead.



As an added bonus, a gaggle of celebrity musicians (including Katy Perry) recorded tributes to Freddie Mercury for his birthday -- and you can watch them all.

Jonti “Firework Spraying Moon”
Jonti exists in some alternative reality where the Beach Boys and Free Design share space with Madlib -- and we like the result. This Australian/South African transplant recently signed to Stones Throw Records, and his first album is slated to drop in October. You can get an early taste of his sound with his first video, which is as gleefully glitchy as his music.



Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Queen - Under Pressure.”

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A visit from Taylor Swift

Did you know Taylor Swift wanted to be a stockbroker when she was growing up? Or that she can be found reading John Adams' biography or tuning in to CSI marathons when she's not performing?

Earlier today, Taylor Swift answered questions from fans around the world during her YouTube Presents interview. Questions were submitted through Taylor Swift’s channel and the most popular were asked in today’s Q&A, including whether she sings her own songs in the shower, what beauty means in her eyes, and the funniest thing a fan has done to get her attention (it involves a chicken suit).



The four-time Grammy Award winner sat down with us and gave a candid look inside her life as one of the youngest and most successful pop stars in the world.

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Lion Cubs hugs."

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Choose the questions for the GOP candidates in the FOX News/Google Debate

Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog and the Public Sector Blog.

If you’ve been watching the 2012 Republican presidential race from the sidelines, now is your chance to get involved: Google and FOX News will present a GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida on September 22, and you can drive the conversation by submitting and voting on questions for the candidates. The Fox News/Google Debate will combine the questions you submit on YouTube with maps, facts and information to enrich and guide the discussion. You can vote thumbs up or down on the questions using Google Moderator, and many of the top-voted will be put straight to the candidates to answer. The result—an informative dialogue about the future of our country centered on the issues you care most about.

 

You can submit your questions starting today, in video or in text, at www.youtube.com/foxnews. The debate will be live streamed on YouTube as well as broadcast on the FOX News Channel at 9pm ET on Thursday, September 22. Throughout the evening, we’ll use Google’s public data and search trends on air to give greater context to the questions, and help you make a more informed decision at the polls come November 2012. We hope you’ll join us—submit your question now and let your voice be heard.

Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Ask the GOP Candidates.”

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Renting movies in Canada, eh? Check out YouTube.ca/movies

YouTube is thrilled to announce that over a thousand full-length feature films from major Hollywood studios are now available for rent in Canada at youtube.ca/movies. From local Canadian hits to the latest global blockbusters, Canada’s number one destination for video is now a one-stop shop for your next movie night.

Whether you want to rent a Canuck classics (available in Canada only) like Daydream Nation, Manufactured Landscapes, or Hobo with a Shotgun, or a blockbuster new release like The Adjustment Bureau, or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, or Limitless you can find many of your favorites available to rent now at YouTube.ca/movies.

But your experience doesn’t need to end there because there’s always more to get into on YouTube. Many movie pages feature YouTube Movie Extras -- free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube’s unique community of content creators. Over time we'll also be adding additional videos and features to YouTube Movie Extras so that you can get even more into movies on YouTube.

So get your popcorn Canada, we’ll do the rest.

The YouTube Canada Team recently watched Toronto Stories (Canada only)

P.S. If you're in the US and forgot we have movies to rent just go to www.youtube.com/movies

More about → Renting movies in Canada, eh? Check out YouTube.ca/movies

Music Tuesday: Fresh faces, Burning Man’s musical side and more

Summer’s drawing to a close, but there’s still time to discover a new summer anthem. Perhaps it’s a tune from Cults, the indie-popsters Noisey profiled last week on youtube.com/music. Or perhaps you’ll find your summer song in one of this week’s featured playlists.



Fresh Faces: August

Every month, we feature a handful of newly-signed music partners on YouTube’s homepage. This month, the pickings were so rich we couldn’t narrow it down to just four, so we chose six artists to feature, and they’re an inspiring group that spans the gamut, from a sixteen-year-old emcee from New Jersey who’s sworn off cursing to J Dilla protege and former Slum Village member Elzhi. Add a few jazzy singer-songwriters into the mix and there’s something for everyone.







Burning Man Survival Kit

The annual art festival takes place in Nevada Black Rock Desert this week. And while the event’s official focus is art -- kinetic, sculptural and frequently fire-breathing -- it’s also a premier gathering spot for fans of electronic music. Soundsystems on the “playa” vie with each other, putting on all-night raves that host cutting-edge deejays as well as some of the business’ biggest names. We’ve assembled a playlist of some sounds you might hear if you were there.







James Blake and Bon Iver: Fall Creek Boys Choir

Dubstep’s errant child and indie’s golden son have teamed up for an EP that releases later this year. They’ve dropped the first song from it on YouTube, and it’s a mysterious and spacious experiment in sound...just as we expected.







Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Pigeon John ‘The Bomb.’”

More about → Music Tuesday: Fresh faces, Burning Man’s musical side and more

Reflections on September 11 - Share Your Story

The worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil took place ten years ago next month. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 affected the lives of millions of people, not only in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, but around the world.



Working with The New York Times, we’re marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with a dedicated YouTube channel, featuring special content from the New York Times, archived news broadcasts from September 2001, and your own personal stories and tributes. We hope this channel will provide an enduring record of what took place on that day.



We’re asking you to share with us:

• Your strongest memory of that day or that time period
• How 9/11 changed you, and how you believe it changed America
• What you lost — or gained -- because of 9/11

Make a video answering any of these questions and submit it to youtube.com/September11. A selection of your videos will be featured on the The New York Times website and YouTube homepage on September 11 this year.



Through telling and sharing stories, we can all hope to make sense of an event that, for many of us, was one of the defining moments of our lives. Thank you for sharing yours.



Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics Manager, recently watched “Portraits Redrawn: Alissa Torres”

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Why a successful Email Campaign can boost your Business

A successful email campaign is very important to making any business successful. If you want to start a business, then you need to build a client base. Of course, once you have established this list, you need to know how to best utilize it. The only way you can do that is if you get word out to people about the new product or service that you will be selling through your business.


This way, when you have updates about the launch of new products, added services, price discounts and other benefits, you can simply email the customers and they can all have the information in front of them. While there are other methods of advertising, this is by far the easiest, and in the modern day, will be the most successful.

People are always checking their emails, whether it is on their computer or on their smartphones. If you can build a solid relationship with customers and make them comfortable enough to give you their email addresses, then you will have a chance to enhance your relationship to new levels. Instead of putting up flyers that people do not even notice, or advertising in newspapers and magazines that some may never read, it is better to approach the customer directly through an email campaign.

This way, for 5 minutes you will have grabbed their attention and will be able to get your point across. If you start a successful email campaign that gives information about new discounts, or about how your product or service is better than the competition, then chances are that you will increase the number of people who will come to your business.

When people read an email advertising campaign, and they like what they read, then they will tell their friends or forward the email along which is definitely a sign of a successful email campaign. Another more accurate way of measuring a campaigns success is through analytics. This allows you to see exactly how the customer interacted with your email.

Whether they ignored it, unsubscribed, clicked around or forwarded it, you will have access to this information. Based on what you find, it will allow you to use the most popular aspects of each of your email in the future. Whether it is the placement of an “order now” button or a headline, you will get valuable insight into the mind and preferences of your customer.

All in all, the best email campaigns are the ones that have a simple call to action. They do not make too many offers, and they keep it short. But the message is always clear, and is something that the customer will appreciate. This way, you can use email and the Internet to grow your business and make yourself more successful.

This is a guest post by Olivia Smith. Olivia is a health, fitness and Internet marketing blogger. She is also a contributing writer for Invesp, a site which helps clients develop new conversation optimization techniques including creating and improved landing page design.

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JasonMundayMusic is August’s On The Rise Star

Congratulations to JasonMundayMusic, who won August’s On The Rise poll after receiving the most votes from the YouTube community. Thanks to your support, Jason Munday (and his friends) will be featured on the YouTube homepage all day today.

As the self-proclaimed “nerdiest YouTube musician,” Jason’s repertoire includes songwriting, singing, producing, and sound engineering. His long history of musical projects on YouTube include hit YouTube bands Ministry of Magic and The Oceanic Six, whose songs were inspired by pop culture. Jason credits Ministry of Magic (a collaborative project with YouTube stars Luke Conard and Ryan Seiler) with opening the trio up to the potential of a YouTube music career with hits such as “Don’t Leave,” “On The Other Side,” and “This Town.” The band members have since chosen to pursue individual careers and Jason’s current solo project, Skyway Flyer, artfully combines the big arena sounds of the 80s with modern dance rock. Check out the video below for an overview of Jason’s work, past and present.



Here’s a word from Jason about his YouTube history, channels, and collaborations:

"I've been a YouTuber for several years, a musician for over a decade, and a nerd for as long as I can remember. Being a YouTube musician is now my full time job, and I'm proud to say that I've got to be one of the nerdiest! I started writing nerdy music with Luke Conard and Ryan Seiler over 4 years ago, and as Ministry of Magic, we were extremely fortunate with our online following and support. Thanks to our fans, I've been able to quit my full time job, move to Los Angeles, and pursue my dream of music and video making. I've since been able to focus so much more time and energy toward many different music projects and being out in LA amongst a vast ocean of music & film industry people, not to mention the growing YouTuber population, I've been able to network and make friends that are always looking to collaborate and even just help each other out. I always try to excel at whatever it is I'm focusing my efforts towards, and I find it fascinating to be able to look back at where I started and the place I've reached and simply look forward to where to future will take me. I'm inexpressibly grateful for all the good fortune I've had and as long as there are people enjoying what I do, I will continue to create it!”

If you’ve enjoyed monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel or look for our playlists on the browse page. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Devon Storbeck, Account Manager, recently watched “Ready For Anything" (Live!) - Skyway Flyer.”

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QR Codes - Do They Really Work?

QR Codes - Do They Really Work?
Quick Response codes began as a novelty, but as the prevalence of QR code reading technology has increased, so has the popularity of their use. There is a short history behind QR codes but that has not held back the growing popularity of these little squares of black on white patterns.


The QR code was first invented in 1994 by developers at a subsidiary of the Toyota Corporation in Japan, and they were intended to provide an alternative to the barcode that could be read at a greater speed.

However, it turned out that the primary advantage of a QR code was that it actually could carry information such as text, pictures and url links imbedded within its blocks of pattern. Initially, the QR was a software used to entertain consumers by challenging them to decipher its codes through the use of a limited number of devices. In the early days, QR codes displayed in England and Japan were for attention getting purposes only.

The introduction of QR technology to the mainstream market has been waiting for an increase in availability of code readers in common place devices. That time is now.

QR Code image containing this blog's homepage URL

QR code readers come standard in many Android, Blackberry and Nokia mobile phones as well as in the Nintendo 3 DS. This means that more and more people are starting to have immediate access to a reader via their pocket electronics. Now is the prime time to increase the distribution of QR codes to the masses. Even Facebook has recently added a QR code to every user’s home page. The technology is widespread and the code it self is becoming a familiar sight, but what can a QR code actually do beyond just looking high-tech?


As mentioned earlier, there is a wide array of information that can be contained in a QR code and an equally large array of outcomes that can be achieved when they are read. Scanning a QR code with a reader can produce different beneficial advertising results. The main advantage is that internet content can be transmitted immediately to the device. For example, contact information or product specifications and images can be immediately downloaded from a print location. To advertisers, this means website content can be added to magazine ads and public signs. These types of advertisements are common place in some countries, but American consumers are still lagging slightly in their common use of this technology.


This is a guest post by Olivia Smith. Olivia is a health, fitness and Internet marketing blogger. She writes about a variety of topics ranging from satellite internet service updates and SEO, to the latest in health products and fitness routines.

• Why a successful Email Campaign can boost your Bus...
• QR Codes - Do They Really Work?

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How to Fix a Slow Windows 7 Computer

Most people love using Windows 7. That’s because it’s by far the nicest and the most productive Microsoft operating system to date. But there can still be glitches, errors, and lags. The good thing about Windows 7 is that it has lots of tools to troubleshoot and repair a slow computer. Here is a guide to where to find them and how to use them.

1. Problem Steps Recorder

Problem Steps Recorder is a great solution to get a detailed description of the problem, so that you can either review the report yourself or send it to a tech support team. Basically, this tool records everything happening on the computer that needs troubleshooting. It records all mouse clicks and everything that is pressed on the keyboard, takes screenshots, and then saves the report as a zipped MHTML file. This file can be easily emailed and analyzed. To enable Problem Steps Recorder, click on Start, type PSR and hit Enter. Then click on Start Record. To save a report, just stop recording your computer activity.

2. Troubleshoot problems

If something in Windows 7 starts behaving in a weird way and you have no idea why, go to the Control Panel, locate the “Find and fix problems” (Troubleshooting) option and you’ll be able to access the Windows 7 troubleshooting tools. They are easy-to-use wizards and can fix common problems, clean your system, check your settings, and lots more.

3. Discover bottlenecks

Under normal circumstances, Windows 7 easily outperforms Vista and XP. Nevertheless, your computer can still seem too slow from time to time. Most likely it’s an application or a process that’s slowing you down. Windows 7 makes it really easy to find bottlenecks with the help of Resource Monitor. Just click on Start, type RESMON and hit Enter to launch the tool. When it opens, click on the CPU, Memory, Disk and Network tabs to see which processes are hogging your system and using up your bandwidth. When you find the process that’s holding you back, you’ll be able to try to fix it right from the Resource Monitor. For example, if a process is locked up, right-click on it and select Analyze to see where the problem lies.

4. Repair your computer

If something goes seriously wrong and Windows 7 fails to start, it might be possible to repair your computer without the installation CD. Just boot your PC and press F8 during startup. You should see an option called Repair Your Computer. Select it and press Enter to see the recovery options Windows 7 has to offer.
These Windows 7 tools will help you troubleshoot and fix a slow computer in a quick and easy way. To prevent your computer from slowing down, use maintenance utilities like disk cleanup and defrag to keep your PC in top shape.

Author bio:

Guest post by Liz Cornwell. Liz Cornwell is an experienced writer who currently works for Auslogics Software. Auslogics makes software to speed up and clean up your slow computer.

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Watch Anderson Cooper’s exclusive YouTube Q&A

Earlier this week, we welcomed Anderson Cooper to our New York office for a lively question-and-answer session. As he prepares to launch his new daytime talk show on September 12, Anderson has made a big splash on YouTube, posting behind-the-scenes videos from his show, and answering viewer questions directly using our Moderator platform. In the one-hour session, the “Silver Fox” (as he’s affectionately known online) answered some of your top-voted questions submitted online.

He also talked about his “YouTube moment” last week on the Ridiculist (you have to see it to believe it), and told us what it’s like to be a (shy) celebrity in New York City. You can watch the full interview here:



Anderson’s visit was part of our @YouTube Talks series, which brings authors, musicians, innovators, and other thought leaders to YouTube for talks centered on their recent work. The goal is to capture the cultural zeitgeist of the day through interviews, presentations, and intimate studio sessions --- and give you access to these minds by opening up the sessions for viewer questions.

Stay tuned for more @YouTube Talks!

Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube, recently watched "Anderson in Times Square."

More about → Watch Anderson Cooper’s exclusive YouTube Q&A

YouTube Creator Playbook tips: the first 15 seconds

This is the first of a series of posts sharing tips from the YouTube Creator Playbook, a resource full of best practices and strategies that you can start using on your channel and videos right away.

Ever notice how many of your favorite shows start with a great two-minute scene followed by the opening credits, instead of the other way around? How often has a great movie trailer caught your attention and made you want to go see the movie right away on opening night? With so many entertainment choices, all types of creators know how important it is to capture the attention of audiences early on. This same idea applies to videos on YouTube, and here’s how you can use this creative technique to attract and keep your viewers watching.

Make compelling content first...

• Start off with something that will immediately grab attention, whether it’s what you say or a stunning visual
• Make it clear what your video is about early on, so viewers aren’t confused about what they’re watching
• Tease the rest of the video so the audience is intrigued to see where you take them.

...share your channel branding later.

• A flashy intro may look cool, but it’s not the star of the video - let them see you, or your great content, first
• Make your branding compelling by making it entertaining or unique to each video

The general concept of capturing the audience’s attention upfront applies to all types of content in different ways. Find what’s right for your channel. Check out these great examples:

Toby, on CuteWinFail, addresses the audience, makes a joke, and sets up the show all on the first 15 sec.



Want to keep your branding upfront but still use this strategy? The voiceover for College Humor’s Jake and Amir packaging changes with every episode.

Need more ideas? For how-to content, such as cooking or fashion tutorials, the first few seconds of a video is a great place to present a “sneak peek” of what the finished product of the tutorial will be. This lets the viewer know what amazing thing they’ll be capable of making if they watch your video.

FoodWishes’ cooking channel does a great job of this:



You can learn more about how to structure the first 15 seconds of your videos, and lots of other tips and strategies in the YouTube Creator Playbook. These suggestions were pulled together from YouTubers like you, and we’re eager to see how you’ll apply these tips in your own creative ways.

Ryan Nugent, Audience Development Strategist, recently watched “James Blake - Limit to Your Love.”

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Turning Leads into Customers

There are many different ways to turn leads and potential customers into actual customers, but what are they? How do successful people do it? And which tips and tricks work the best? One answer to these questions is to use lead management software. Lead management software uses different marketing techniques to turn leads into valued customers but, that is just one piece of the puzzle.

Some other tips that will help you to turn leads and potential customers into actual customers are listed here:

1. Prioritize. Many agents do not do well because they fail to realize what the most important goal is. The most important goal is to get the appointment so that you can make the pitch. Before you can make a pitch and show people your great product you have to get an appointment. So first, focus on getting appointments, then focus on the pitch.




2. Create a powerful first impression. First impressions are very important. The way you present yourself and the product will determine whether or not you have leads or clients. You have to give the people what they want, spell it out in a simple, informative and fun way that will make you and your business or product more interesting.







3. Know the different kinds of leads. There are different kinds of leads, the ones who want to buy right away, the ones who want to buy in the near[ish] future and those who want to wait a while. Know each type of lead and have a game plan set up for you that maps out how you will act and deal with each different lead.




4. Do the smart stuff. Doing the smart stuff really just means that you do what you would expect someone else to do. For example, if someone came up to you and presented something, you would expect them to call back quickly. You would expect those people to listen carefully when you wanted to voice an opinion or ask a question. You would also want them to respond to what they hear you saying. One last thing that falls under doing the smart stuff is to make sure you go and do some research beforehand. Researching a client beforehand, shows that you care and that you’re trying to make it work for them.

One last tip that was somewhat touched on at the beginning is to use technology. Lead management software is a good one, but there are lots of other things you can use technology wise that will help you turn leads into clients.

This is a guest post by Madison Hewerdine. Madison is an author who specializes in lead management software and has a passion for singing.

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This week's Trends: earthquakes, hurricanes, and portals

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:

• We highlighted lots of videos and reactions from the East Coast earthquake as well as some instances of the quake caught-on-camera.
  
  
• We saw how people were documenting preparations for Hurricane Irene.
  
  
• We catalogued 10 of the most-viewed Minecraft song parodies.
  
  
• We spotted some wild human pyramids in India.
  
  
• We tracked some rising searches this week, which included Aaliyah and some airshow tragedies.
  
  
• We shared video from a flash mob arrest.
  
  
• We received video from Libya as rebels arrived in Tripoli.
  
  
• We studied how Ken Block's new hit video was taking off.
  
  
• We discovered how some fans/filmakers brought the game Portal into real life.
  
  
• And ImprovEverywhere created another hit by asking people to "Say Something Nice."

Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "El Delorean de Volver al Futuro en Cabildo y Juramento."

More about → This week's Trends: earthquakes, hurricanes, and portals

BlackBerry Launches Social Music Service

BlackBerry Launches Social Music Service
Blackberry has just launched a new music service that will let BlackBerry users share and discover new tunes with their friends through BlackBerry Messenger. It is an attempt by Research in Motion to improve its BlackBerry Messenger service to compete against Apple and Android. BlackBerry smartphones do not offer a RIM-enabled way to buy music, although audio and other files can be loaded onto the devices from a computer.


Over 5 million people use BBM, which allows BlackBerry users with data plans to pass text messages, pictures and other files to each other without incurring charges from their network carrier. Now added to this is a global music sharing service.

BBM Music is a cloud-based music service where BBM users can share music as well as find new music through a community based library. With BBM Music all BlackBerry Messenger users can build a personal music profile with up to 50 songs. You can refresh your profile by swapping out up to 25 songs each month. Up to 50 tracks from your personal profile are shared with your BBM Music Community, and each member of your community can share up to 50 songs from their profile with you. So with each friend that is added to BBM Music, you grow your music collection, since the songs from their profile become available to you. In other words if someone has 30 friends on BBM Music and each of those friends is sharing 50 tracks, the user’s total BBM Music library will have 1,550 tracks.

Users can select music from a catalog with millions of songs from leading music companies, including EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

In addition, you can also check recent updates of all users within your community. This is possible by viewing the app where you can see a visual timeline that shows the recent updates. The apps give you a chronological view of community updates, including who added new friends and which songs were added or removed. You can create multiple playlists from music in your profile as well as all of your friends’ profiles, and you can see which friend contributed each song while it plays. The apps also offers a great tracking feature where you can also comment on a friends' songs and playlists and keep track of how many friends are listening to your music.
Users have access to full tracks and can listen to music offline i.e since music can be saved to phones for offline listening it allows users to access songs even when they don’t have wireless coverage.

Your music profile is accessible with all of your friends on BBM that join BBM Music. What remains to be seen is that whether this added service is convincing enough for users to buy Blackberry smartphones as an alternative to Android or iPhone. The social music service surely makes their phones better than Android or iPhone alternatives.

This is a guest post by Catherine Jones. Catherine writes for www.toyotaplace.com. She enjoys content and writing about the social sphere.

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Today is a Fairytale: Taylor Swift takes your questions on YouTube

From "Tim McGraw" to "Sparks Fly," Taylor Swift has won over fans worldwide with her vocal talent and songwriting skills. In addition to a tremendous fan following, Swift has racked up four Grammys, six CMT Music Awards, thirteen Teen Choice Awards and even the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year award, joning the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and The Dixie Chicks. And now she takes your questions on YouTube!

Ever wonder what it’s like to become a major pop star before you’re out of high school -- on the strength of your own songs? Whether you’re cheer captain or on the bleachers, Taylor wants to hear from you and she’s agreed to be fearless in answering!



Starting today, submit written or video queries on Taylor Swift’s channel, and she’ll answer the most popular ones as part of our YouTube Presents program. You have until noon on August 31 to submit your questions and vote on the ones you’d most like to see her answer.

YouTube Presents is an ongoing program dedicated to bringing you live performances and interviews with your favorite artists. Upcoming YouTube Presents events will include artist interviews (with questions provided by the YouTube community), intimate performances at the YouTube offices, and live streams of music festivals.

Stay tuned for more YouTube Presents sessions this fall -- and watch the homepage to see Taylor’s Q&A, which we’ll post as soon as it’s uploaded.

Anna Richardson, Communications Manager, recently watched "Our Song."

More about → Today is a Fairytale: Taylor Swift takes your questions on YouTube