I get a LOT of people requesting information on an inexpensive microphone that can be used with a Kodak Zi8 camera (which has an external microphone input) or any consumer or prosumer camera that’s cheap, easy to use and gets decent results.

Here’s one that’s only $23.99 from Amazon:

Audio Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone

And in case you’re looking for an excellent deal on Kodak Zi8 replacement batteries, check this out – I found some that work for $2.55 each! (better than the $25 Kodak charges )

Maximalpower DB FUJ NP50 Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery for Kodak Zi8

I just interviewed John Carlton:

John and his team released a free, limited-time edition of the Simple Writing System Express Course that can help you create your first really good sales message. (For websites, ads, video scripts, email campaigns, etc.)

PLUS: You get personalized, one-on-one feedback from John and half-a-dozen other professional writers (all of them from John’s official coaching faculty).

They’re coaching people for free for the next few days.

This would cost you a small fortune for this kind of attention in the outside world.

There are three lessons, plus coaching which includes some great short-cuts, short videos, short lessons.

It’s only available for this week before it’s being taken down.

Check it out here:
http://www.SimpleWriterSystem.com/

Let me know what you think of the interview and John’s mini-course.

See how Harvey Mackay is using 21st Century Book Marketing, mobile marketing, Traffic Geyser and Mike Koenigs system to promote his new book, “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You”.

You’ll see how we’re using blogs, podcasting, an iPhone application, video marketing, article marketing and SEO to get more sales for his new book.

This is the behind-the-scenes stuff and a personal walkthru of the entire strategy.

You can take this and use it yourself, even if you’re not an author.

Remember two weeks ago when I said Harvey Mackay was coming to the “Digital Cafe” studios?

Here are the results:

http://www.MackayBook.com

Harvey flew in for the morning to make some videos for his new book, “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You.”

The book is outstanding (more on this soon).

If you don’t remember Harvey Mackay, he’s written six books including the #1 Bestseller, “Swim with the Sharks (Without Being Eaten Alive)” that sold over 5,000,000 copies.

We went overboard – and produced the “full meal deal” campaign for Harvey.

It’s a complete “Traffic Geyser” video marketing campaign and promotion.

There are several reasons why you want to see this:

• You’ll see EVERYTHING we teach about video marketing in one place
• The production quality is exceptional
• We used every tool in our arsenal to put this together…

So here’s what I’d like you to do:

• Check out Harvey’s lead capture page and offer http://www.MackayBook.com
• Watch the video, see the offer
• Follow the system – and see EXACTLY how a fully-integrated promotion works
• There’s a blog, videos, articles, and more
• And as soon as it’s approved, you’ll see the iPhone application too

Do yourself a favor and check this out NOW:

http://www.MackayBook.com

Oops – almost forgot.

Why is Harvey’s book so good and so relevant, even if you aren’t looking for a job?

• If you’re looking for a job, it’s filled with great tips and strategies to get your foot in the door, a first and second interview and negotiate a higher salary than you’d normally get
• If you aren’t looking for a job, this book will help you keep the one you have
• If you own a business, this book will help you hire, manage and fire better
• The book is exceptionally well-organized and well-written
• Harvey includes an AMAZING guarantee with his book you’ve got to see (and hear) in the second video

I learned a TON from the book and have already implemented a whole bunch of his ideas here at the studio.

Mike

PS – NONE of this could have happened without my extraordinary team here at Traffic Geyser and Digital Cafe studios. I’m working on a presentation for you right now that will guide you through every part of this amazing project.

PPS – You’ll see even more great things coming from Harvey and us soon…stay tuned for a walkthrough of the entire project!

I just convinced my friend, marketing expert Bob Serling to give you a free copy of a new ebook called ”10-Minute Business Success”.

http://www.10MinuteBusinessSuccess.com

Your pass code to get free access is: 1002

Bob interviewed me for the book and he gave me a pre-release copy. I’ve written on every page – and have dozens of ideas we’re implementing here at Traffic Geyser.

It features 10-minute interviews with leading experts who spell out their single best business strategy or tactic and explain how you can easily implement it.

Some of the chapters include:

> The “inner game” approach Tony Hsieh, CEO  of Zappos.com uses to keep their billion-dollar  brand growing

> Cameron Herold reveals the simple 3-step publicity  formula he used as COO at 1-800-Got-Junk? to  get over 5,200 stories written about their services

> Brian Tracy, best-selling author of 45 books on sales and marketing, reveals the sales killing mistake nearly every business makes – and how to quickly fix it

> The six words PR expert Arielle Ford relies on to land celebrity clients like Deepok Chopra, Dean Ornish, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chicken Soup for the Soul and more

> The dead simple technique John Jantsch, whose blog has been chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business and is a Harvard Business School featured marketing  site, uses to bring in a never ending flood of referrals

>  Plus “fast action” business-building advice from 15 more leading experts including (in alphabetical order): Bob Bly, John Carlton, Michel Fortin, David Garfinkel, Frank Kern, (me) Mike Koenigs, Paul Lemberg, Clayton Makepeace, Perry Marshall, Paul Myers, Joe Polish, Bob Serling, Yanik Silver, Jeff Walker, and Pamela Yellen.

> Special BONUS: As a bonus chapter, you’ll also get a terrific interview Joe Polish recently did with Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group.

You can get your free copy of this ebook by clicking here:

http://www.10MinuteBusinessSuccess.com

Your pass code to get free access is: 1002

On that page, you’ll also see a coil-bound printed edition that’s available for $39. This is strictly optional and your gift of the downloadable version is completely free.

I hope you enjoy this valuable gift. And I know it will give you the kick start you need to make your business as successful as possible. You can download it here:

http://www.10MinuteBusinessSuccess.com

Don’t forget to use the pass code: 1002

Famous Dave Anderson is the founder of Famous Dave’s BBQ located all across the country.

It started in a little town in Hayward Wisconsin and it quickly become a sensation with people driving hundreds of miles to taste his BBQ.

I first tried Famous Dave’s BBQ over 15 years ago in Minneapolis, MN (I’m a huge BBQ fan).

So, I was in Minnesota visiting my family a couple weeks ago for the holidays and decided to spend a day coaching Dave and his team on how to build a web TV show.

Below is the short episode we made just for you on how to make Famous Dave’s Wild Rice Soup.

Total equipment cost:  2 Kodak Zi8 cameras, approx $300.

Total time invested:  Just over 2 hours filming and 2 hours to edit.

This is a great example of how anyone can inexpensively…

• build a relationship
• create a bond
• make  excellent content with simple equipment that can generate tens or thousands of dollars for you!

And you can turn any skill you have into a program that’s fun, informative and profitable.  If you want, check out Famous Dave’s website.

Summary

Dollar-for-dollar, you just can’t beat Kodak’s new “Flip Killer” camera.

Kodak Zi8 camera includes an external microphone input!

The Great:

• Under $175
• External microphone input
• PC and Mac compatible
• True HD high-definition: 1080p, 720p @ 60 frames per second, 720p and WVGA video
• 5 Megapixel Camera
• Nice big LCD display
• Records in QuickTime format with the H.264 compression standard
• SD Card Slot
• Built-in USB connector
• Image Stabilization / “face tracking”
• Removable Lithium-Ion Battery
• Macro function to shoot close-ups
• HDMI cable adapter (and cable is included!)
• External power charger (included)
• External AV cable connection (cables included)
• Battery included!
• Video quality good enough to do “chromakey” – green screen!
• Blows away the competition in terms of quality
• Includes PC editing software (you don’t need it if you have a Mac)

The Not-So-Great:

• Can’t see yourself in the viewfinder
• Built-in USB connector is short
• Slow “boot up” time
• The zoom is “chunky” – not smooth
• Does not include SD card
• Battery life is 1.5 hours per charge
• Terrible audio hum if you plug a microphone into it with the power adapter connected
• Can’t use the camera as a webcam
• No light or flash

Overall Rating

4.5 out of 5

Where to Buy

• Amazon Get it in Black | Get it in Raspberry | Get it in Blue
• The Kodak Store or Any online or offline retailer

The Review

What is the number one thing I look for in a camera?

It rhymes with external microphone input.

If you don’t have one, your videos will “seem” bad.

And for some rotten reason, very few camera manufacturers except Canon put external mic inputs on cameras that cost less than $600.

This under $175 camera has one. And it works great.

Now the next thing about the Kodak Zi8 is, it is super easy to use, very flexible and it looks like a BlackBerry which is pretty cool! Here’s the great thing. The quality. It blows away the Flip. I’d say, it is easily four times better. What I also love about it, is it stores and saves in QuickTime format.

It’ll record in 1080P, 720P—that’s at 60 frames, so you can actually record sports. It has image stabilization built in.

Another super awesome feature—it has an SD card slot, so you can add a 32-gigabyte card in this thing and record about six hours of full high-definition video.

Now the other thing that I love about this camera – it records in QuickTime format!

You just basically pop out the chip, put it in your computer and you record and can do anything you want with it in terms of say, editing it, popping it into any software to edit. You can make a product with this thing and it looks great.

And in the sample video, we actually do a little ChromaKey test!

It’s small, fits in the pocket and it takes 5 megapixel photos as well.

It also has a nice removable battery. Lithium ion—lasts about an hour and a half, that’s a little bit of a drawback – I wish it lasted longer and so far, I haven’t found additional batteries at a local store.

The camera actually comes with an HDMI cable. If you don’t know what that is, it is a little port on the side so you can plug it into a high definition scree. And the quality is fantastic! The Kodak Zi8 approaches a $500.00 high definition camera in terms of quality.

There is one other thing that I love. Across the top, it has a macro switch, which means, you can get this super close and it focuses quite nicely. Great when you want to shoot stuff outdoors.

I took this thing to a U2 concert with the Black Eyed Peas. The quality was amazing and I did some split testing with a little portable Casio camera and a Flip Mino HD. The Kodak Zi8 was easily four times better quality. The image stabilization is decent. Exceptional performance and the LCD screen is very nice quality, very big!

I love being able to pop out the CD card, pop it into my computer and be able to immediately start editing.

Drawbacks

There are a few, but I can live with them…

You cannot use it as a webcam. Not that that’s a big thing these days, virtually every portable camera that you get nowadays, you cannot use as a webcam because they compress using the H264 compression standard which isn’t really “real-time”.

Next, the battery only lasts about an hour and a half. It was a real bummer when I was at the U2 concert. I was taking a lot of clips to share with my family and my friends and battery ran out before the end of the concert. Big bummer because there were some cool stuff at the end of the event and the encore was fantastic.

From the time you press the start button, it takes about 10 seconds to boot up. You have to remember that this is basically a little computer. If you think you can just turn it on, point and shoot, you’re going to be sad and lose a few seconds.

Another thing that’s a little bit annoying is when I want to move between capture modes, you move a little joystick to choose your quality and it takes a while. There is a hesitation, so I would suspect that the next generation of this camera is going to be a lot faster.

The digital zoom feature is “chunky” – what I mean is it’s slow and moves in noticeable “pops” instead of being smooth. It’s not nice to look at, but what the heck, at least it zooms in.

The camera has a built-in USB plug. That’s kind of neat and it’s connected to a little flexible cord which isn’t bad. I wish it was just a little bit longer because the camera actually gets in the way when you try to plug in other devices. If you only have two USB ports, it’s kind of hard to just squeeze stuff around on your PC.

The last thing – and my guess is the Kodak people don’t even know this.

I did an interview with a customer one day and I knew it was going to go longer than the batter would last. So I plugged in the external power connector and an external microphone. I decided that day to be smart and double check the audio quality before recording the entire 2 hour meeting.

When I played back the footage, there was a very LOUD hum – my guess is it’s caused by the power adapter not being filtered so there was 60 hz buzzing but ONLY when an external microphone was connected at the same time.

Fortunately I had two cameras with me and I just swapped batteries when it got low. But for now you’re stuck with battery power if you want to use an external microphone.

The Bottom Line

Kodak has REALLY raised the bar for the low-end, under $200 cameras.

I can’t recommend it highly enough – in my opinion nothing comes close in the price range and I love the small size and external microphone input.

I’m even going so far as to buying three of them, getting some tiny mini-tripods and taking it on the road with me to do 3-camera shoots when I do interviews. Combine these with two wireless lavaliere microphones and ambient light and it’ll look and sound as good as most any high-definition consumer camera set up and fit in a shoebox.

Go get one of these cameras NOW – they’re fantastic!

Since Jorge’s a personal friend, I brought him to my studio today to record this video interview.

In this interview, Jorge reveals …

• Why counting calories will NOT help you lose weight and keep it off
• Are ALL Sugars and Carbs bad?
• What’s the biggest roadblock and challenge people seem to have losing weight, getting and staying healthy?
• The secret formula Jorge uses to get on television, radio, newspapers, magazines to grab the attention of viewers AND the networks in less than four minutes!

Not only will you learn these great tips, but watch and witness the process we are using in this video interview that you can put into use in your own business!

Jorge is shifting his focus from traditional TV, news, and magazines to web video.

He recently did a deal and will be featured on a YouTube premium content channel and is working directly with the CEO of You Tube.

Jorge’s story is very inspiring.

I was introduced through some mutual friends from Tony Robbins.

If you don’t know Jorge, he:

• Used to be 40lbs overweight
• Is widely recognized as America’s #1 online weight loss expert
• Has 3 Consecutive New York Times Bestsellers
• Has sold over 5 million books
• Has been featured on Oprah, The View, Regis and Kelly, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Dateline NBC and CNN
• His program has been used by “A-List” stars including Angelina Jolie, Al Roker and Katie Couric
• His newest book, The Belly Fat Cure, will be in stores end of this year.
• I lost almost 12 pounds in less than two months by taking one small piece of advice from him

Jorge will also talk about a new program he just developed, “Belly Fat System Coaching“. They began taking registrations last week, completely sold out in a matter of days by using the process you will see (btw with no affiliates)

Note: The offer is pretty value packed, includes Jorge’s very first live weekend event.

To learn more about this system and see the entire process, visit www.BellyFatSystemCoaching.com

Here’s a link to Jorge’s new book,
The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week

I know you’ll enjoy seeing how he’s using video and Traffic Geyser for this project.

Best Regards,

Mike Koenigs

I’m really excited to share with you some REALLY hot new Traffic Geyser features we’ve added:

1. Automatic, hands-free transcriptions
2. New user interface
3. Submit to article sites

The transcription feature in particular is VERY powerful.

Now you can leave a message, upload any audio or video file, check a box and in a couple days, you’ll receive a HIGH QUALITY Microsoft Word document that’s nicely formatted and transcribed by a REAL PERSON!

You can turn virtually any conversation, teleseminar, webinar, interview, audio or video into a blog post, article, ebook, buyer’s guide or even a book!

In fact, that’s exactly what I’m doing right now – I’m answering questions on video, submitting them to every site Traffic Geyser supports and then having those videos transcribed for my book!

This is BY FAR the most powerful, easiest way to create content of any type – and to write a book imaginable!

By submitting your content in every format, you’re practically guaranteed to get placement for your keywords AND maintain excellent positioning.

Here’s how you’d leverage this new feature:

1. Upload any audio or video file to Traffic Geyser
   (we recommend using the 10×10x4 content creation formula – a link to a training video is on this blog post)
2. In your media manager, click the “Transcribe” checkbox
3. Now submit your media the way you normally would – to video sites, podcasts, blogs, social networking and social bookmarking sites
4. When you receive a notification that your files have been transcribed, Traffic Geyser can submit that content as an article and blog post
5. And you can also turn that transcription into an ebook, special report, white paper, buyer’s guide or book!

The applications and uses are limitless…

You owe it to yourself to try this out and see for yourself how easy it is to create true multimedia content, get the attention of Google, Yahoo, MSN/Bing and virtually EVERY social media web site on the web!

Watch this video and see for yourself how simple it can be to turn any audio or video into multimedia content hands-free!

The other two features are equally powerful – you’ll immediately notice we’ve added a brand-new user interface that makes using Traffic Geyser more intuitive and easy-to-use.

And we just added 34 article sites to submit to.

When you submit your videos, blogs, podcasts, social bookmarking and social media links, Traffic Geyser will also submit your content to dozens of article directories too!

Note: the transcription feature does incur an extra fee but it’s comparable with other quality transcription services. Details are in your account when you select your first file to be transcribed.

In case you need to REVIEW the 10×10x4 Content Creation Formula, here it is:

Liz felt that the most important thing she could do was help parents develop strong, successful, empowered children.

She believes that if they started learning the secrets at a young age, our children could have an advantage that most of us never did.

To faciliatate this she developed “Ronnie Rhino” – a lovable character that, through his own experiences, helps teach children life lessons including personal responsibility, self worth, and the value of giving.

[after watching the video, will you please rate it and post a kind comment for Elizabeth?]

I Just Like Being Me

I DO Like Vegetables

Ronnie Rhino books are easy to read, full of new friends and adventures.

I encourage you to support Elizabeth and order her books from Amazon:

Ronnie Rhino: I Do Like Vegetables! (Ronnie Rhino – A Ronnie Rhino Tale)

Ronnie Rhino: I Just Like Being Me! (Ronnie Rhino – A Ronnie Rhino Tale)

Elizabeth Parkinson, Children's Book Author of the Ronnie Rhino Series

When you do, you’ll receive some free gifts when you forward your receipt to elizabeth2223@gmail.com:

For ordering two books (one of each copy):

1. Two great bonuses from Mike Koenigs of Traffic Geyser:
   1. How To Start Writing a Book and
   2. 2) The Soulmate Kit. ()
2. One live teleseminar with Liz Parknson where she will answer the ten most commonly asked questions about raising happy, successful children.

If you order 20 books you will get all of these bonuses too:

1. A 1 hour consultation with Jimmy Davis, CEO of MYSTORYMARKETING, on learning how to position and brand yourself. ($1000 value)(MyStoryPartners@gmail.com)
2. A Free “Business In a Box” from CarbonCopyPRO.com which includes everything you need to start a business online. ($400 Value) (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)
3. One month of the VRA letter courtesy of Kip Herriage. Kip is a former Wall Street guru who quit ten years ago when he saw the impending doom. His newsletter and stock recommendations have had such high returns the last five years in a row that it is not legal for us to print them. Yeah, they are that good. ($100 value)

If you have any social network accounts like Twitter or Facebook we would love your help. Let your friends know about it and they can get all the same bonuses and these great books for their kids!

To claim your bonuses just send an email with a copy of your receipt to the appropriate emails beside each bonus.

Here’s some other good news for you if you’re an author, expert or speaker.

Elizabeth got a #2, #4 and #10 ranking for her book in 15 hours after submitting her video with Traffic Geyser. There are over 11,800,000 competing page for her keyword phrase, “Personal Development Books For Children.”

Here’s a snapshot of the current Google ranking for her book:

#2, #4 and #10 ranking for Elizabeth's video in 15 hours with Traffic Geyser with over 11,800,000 competing page for her keyword phrase, "Personal Development Books For Children"

I promised I’d share some strategies and tactics Elizabeth is using to promote her book.

Here they are:

1. BONUSES: Providing BONUS gifts to anyone who purchases her books.
2. PARTNERSHIPS: Elizabeth is working with complementary, non-competitive PARTNERS who are offering bonuses she can give away when someone buys her books. Those partners are promoting her offer to their lists because they gain exposure through the network effect that transpires.
3. PROOF: Using a tool like Traffic Geyser, Elizabeth demonstrates PROOF our system works – so we share her story of success with you and we promote her products. It’s a win-win for both of us.
4. DEMONSTRATION. She is walking through her book, demonstrating what is inside, showing the features, the benefits and why a parent should want to purchase it for a child.

I strongly encourage you to use these same features with your business.

No matter what your business is – whether it is online, offline, local or whatever, it’s easy to add bonuses, work with partners, create proof and demonstrate benefits or results with video.

Take a moment and think about how you can use these same strategies now!