I have been dying to write on the creative process for a while now, and a recent post by Graham Smith put me over the edge finally (quite literally over the edge…sorry about the preachy-purge-of-a-comment, Graham! I’ll try to proselytize in my own spaces from now on…)

I say of myself that I am an Idea Junkie. I am in love with new thoughts of all sorts, but especially if they are creative thoughts. I regularly express my creativity in music, photography, videography, motion graphics, graphics design, web design and entrepreneurial pursuits. (The last one might not seem purely creative, but in my experience, it has been the same kind of thrill and frustration I have had in any other highly creative and worthwhile pursuit.)

So for the balance of this post, and through the means of a list of questions, I will lay out the path I want to explore in this series of posts about Creative Process.

1. What constitutes creativity? Is it a uniquely human process?
2. Are there “Creatives” and “Non-Creatives”, or is everyone inherently creative?
3. Are there hard creative limits or only self-imposed limitations?
4. How do we grow creatively? What holds us back or keeps us in a rut?
5. Can creativity be a community-centered experience, or is it only an individual pursuit?

I hope this will be a fun and inspiring little jaunt, examining the fertile recesses of our own grey matter, and challenging the notions about ourselves, which we may have internalized without even realizing it.

The overwhelming reason we recommend and use WordPress almost exclusively is this: the community of plugins developers is nothing short of amazing! We regularly support and donate to those that show a commitment to keeping updated, clean code available.  We test new ones all the time, and really like the new crop of social media integration plugins we are seeing. But those aren’t for everyone’s corporate site.

Over the years, we have locked in on a “go-to” set of old faithfuls. Almost without fail, these plugins are installed before the first pixel is altered or the first word penned.  So without further delay, here’s our list of 10 WordPress plugins we cannot live without (feel free to ad your links to other indispensables in the comments below):

1. All-In-One SEO Pack Does what is says…says what it does. Finer-tuned adjustments of keywords and page titles.
2. Ad Rotator Widget A highly flexible little bit of code, perfect for callouts and, well, ads, of course.
3. FormBuilder Essential for sites that need multiple, different, customized forms, and a simple interface for managing and assigning them to pages. Go ahead…get carried away!
4. PodPress The quintessential plugin for managing a podcast on WordPress. It’s the little extras that have always wowed us with this one, and the incredible work put into it by Dan Kuykendall!
5. Google XML Sitemaps Some say it helps, others say don’t bother. But every time we install it on an established blog, we see positive jumps. That’s reason enough for us!
6. Maintenance Mode Making changes under the hood? Switch over to a maintenance page with the click of a button. Stylable, customizable, clean, simple functionality. Surprised this one hasn’t been baked into the core code already. Just remember to turn it off when you are done.
7. Subscribe2 Yes, it’s admittedly pretty Web 1.0, but we still have people who prefer to sign up for email notices. Who are we to stand in the way of those standing in the way of progress, right?
8. WP Email Also old-school, but clients always ask for this functionality, and the potential for abuse has never materialized for us. Anyone disagree?
9. WP Print The super-fast and easy way to get a stylesheet up and running for print-versions of your posts.
10. Akismet (of course!) If you don’t know what this one does, it’s because you’ve been so buried in spam email for YEARS that you haven’t been able to come up for air. Pity.
11. BONUS: ThinkDesign Blog’s Test Post Pack A no mess, no fuss way to make sure yo are styling all your elements correctly, without forgetting anything. Sure beats the manual method of creating a bunch of posts, ages and comments with various kinds of content!

These fine coders are all worthy of your accolades and donations. Because of them, web sites actually DO things.

(TIP for designers: I created a directory on my computer that contains all of these plugins, so copying them up to a new WP instalation is super-quick. They are all outdated versions, of course, but with WP v2.7, I can click and upgrade them all very quickly before activating them.)

If you are like me, then you regularly look for ways of throwing yourself in front of oncoming web traffic. Building quality links back to your site, link baiting, audio/video content strategies… they all play a role in the numbers game. But what can you do to shift the needle today? Here are five proven, immediate and simple things you can act on today to create new link streams.

1. Twitter. If you are still declining to participate in the conversational opportunities that take place every day in 140 characters or less, you are missing out. We regularly get new sales leads and build valuable networks with other talented creatives and entrepreneurs. All at a cost of 30 minutes a day.
2. Create valuable comments. A bright, well placed thought in a blog post comment section (which accompanies your name and web site URL) can be a big booster of not only traffic, but perceived expertise.  You don’t have to spend hours crafting your message in this format. It is said that brevity is the soul of wit. Lucky you, eh?
3. Create accounts in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and any other social networking site halfway related to your market. Then use the services 30 minutes a week or so. Add people to your friends lists, see what others are saying, and participate by adding value where you can. Have fun with it, and know that all the while you are leaving bread crumbs for others to follow back to you.
4. Put the word out. Start adding your various social network IDs to emails, web site profiles, etc, as a way to invite people to connect with you online. You will be amazed how many other people are already using these sites, and just how enthusiastic they can be about connecting there.
5. Blog today. Some say that blogging is experiencing a dip lately.  But nothing is stopping Google from indexing good, relevant content every day, wherever it finds it. If you have content you know people need, get it out there today!  Write two good paragraphs, and hit the publish button.

A recent study from emarketer.com says it all: Online product videos sell more products, reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts, lower the rate of returned merchandise and raise sales.

The report goes on to say that online retailers rank implementing web video production at the top of their list this year.

Proof that the audiovideoweb continues to dominate the user experience, and those businesses who are employing video marketing strategies are reaping better-than-market-average rewards.

The title probably says it all, but let me unpack the “why” behind the question.

Internet 101 time… The reason people get online is to find things. In a word, content. Whether it’s Google or YouTube or blogs or traditional media outlets, the web serves up content. Content is KING.

So. We all consume it. But how many of us produce or provide it?

Being a content provider is really about adding value. Participating in the information economy is the first step toward proving your expertise in your market. It’s also the most viral way of telling others about what you know and what you do.

Where are you on this ladder? Have you added a blog comment or a review lately? Have you started blogging or podcasting yet?

The ones at the top of this ladder know something you might not know yet: Content isn’t as hard to produce as you think, and the rewards are often quite large.

In economic down times, businesses have more and more to do to generate the same levels of revenue, with fewer and fewer resources allocated to those tasks. It’s no secret that marketing activities are usually one of the last areas to be affected, because marketing is (correctly) viewed as the one activity that can still have a bottom-line impact.

But not just any run-of-the-mill marketing activities. After all, marketing dollars have to be stretched too. The holy grail of recession marketing is figuring out how to separate the most expensive, least profitable prospects from the prospects who are eager and willing to do business today, perhaps even at a premium. So how does this happen?

Stand up and be the expert in your market.

It is generally accepted that recognized experts make more than others for the same basic work. It is also generally true that experts stay busier, with fewer recession-related dips in business.  With such compelling reasons to demonstrate your expertise, what steps can you take today to begin doing just that?  Here’s our list:

1. Start Podcasting. A simple, sustainable, 5-minute podcast production every week with one central point that touches on your area of expertise; that seminal item that you get paid to know or do for your clients. Use the podcast as a teaser to demonstrate the many solid reasons your prospects should be calling you today.
2. Release regular Video Tutorials that address the most painful problems your prospects face. If done artfully, the unspoken conclusion of these short, pointed video productions is that you are capable of providing the solution they desperately need.
3. Create a Blog. If you do either or both of the items above, then you will be using a blog to do it, anyway.  A blog post twice a week builds a record of authority, both for human visitors and (perhaps even more importantly) for Google.
4. Get your best customers to go on the record by testifying to the value of your expertise. A written testimonial, or better yet, a video testimonial can be a compelling badge of expertise.
5. Begin Publicly Speaking. Anywhere. Anytime. In front of any audience with your market’s focus. This is a long-play strategy, however.  If you signed up today to speak for a group, it might be 5-6 months before the actual engagement.

Expertise is currency. And those that can demonstrate it to their market stand to reap rewards far greater than money alone.

There is a lot to consider when planning your web video strategy. SEO, text vs. visual information presentation, the engagement object level, your market demographic, production quality, and more, all bearing on the success or failure of the effort. But don’t let this scare you. All of these factors need to be considered for a successful web page copy strategy too.

In our experience, here are a few tips for getting the most our of your web video strategy.

• Keep it short and free of too much visual filler. I regularly read blog post comments about the intolerance people feel toward long, meaningless stretches of content that isn’t relevant to them. “Short” is a relative term, by the way. A 30-second video on the intricacies of the impact of government involvement in free market dynamics is too short.  Keeping  the content only as long as it needs to be is a good rule of thumb, whether the medium is text or video. Complex, information-dense subjects can still be kept brief, as highlighted by this video we recently produced for a client:

• Be considerate. Provide player controls in a Flash player. YouTube has a good player, albeit not the best quality picture in the video space.  At the very minimum, use a Flash player with a clearly identifiable play/pause control, and a scrubbable timeline (to be able to scan through lengthy content). A volume control is less of a concern if you are being considerate with your volume levels during production and editing. Full-screen toggle control is nice but not essential at all.
• Take time to visually conceive the video before production begins. Is there a clear story or thought progression?  What is the best way to visually convey the ideas being expressed? If the content is candid, captured in the wild, and less than 90 seconds, it should contain one main point and get right to it.
• Do a DIY or How-To video. How-To Videos are wildly successful, and can quite easily get you and your brand on the radar in your market.  Think about what content you could freely offer your customers.  Think of the video content as bait without a hard hook; free without strings, yet clearly demonstrating expertise and brand value.
• Include a full transcript of videos that contain audio dialogue or narration. Post it on the page in close proximity to the video, so that Google can see and index it, and visitors can scan it to see if the video is worth their time. If the video has no spoken word component, compose a detailed paragraph or two that hightlights the value of the content a viewer could expect to see if they click “play”.
• Know your customer profile. Are they entertainment seekers? Busy people with little patience for fluff or filler? Engaged community members? Info seekers on a mission? Answering this question will greatly inform your choice of video style and length.
• Get the production right. More and more, web video is being seen as a primary informational source, and in some cases, is preferable to text only.  Production values count more these days, whereas just two years ago, they didn’t.  Just don’t confuse quality production with over-slick, fluff content that is meaningless to a viewer.  30 second animated logo sequences rarely have a determinative impact on customers.

Web video productions, used well and in conjunction with other informational mediums, can be a great and profitable way to relate relevant and valuable information to customers and prospective clients.