At Internet Summit 2010 I ran into my good friend Alan Fitzpatrick and his business partner, Addy Kapur. They were demonstrating their new video messaging service called MailVU and being that I’m addicted to trying out any new technology, I decided to give the service a quick run-through.

Wow… How simple. Just visit, click, record and send.

What Exactly Does MailVU Do?

Simply put, MailVU is a web-based service that connects to your web camera (or any camera that allows live streaming) then allows you to record a 10 minute video message, enter a list of recipients with a short text message, and send the message off as an email for delivery. Your recipients receive a nicely designed email message with a screenshot from the video and your text message that links them to a private web page where they can watch the video.

While that doesn’t sound like anything too special there are a few unique features. For one, the service is free and does not require an account to send messages. Also, the videos are viewable on almost any smartphone, not just a computer. So if your recipient is a Blackberry, iPhone or Android addict, no worries, they can still view your video message.

The coolest feature is the unique ability to set “self destruct” settings that will automatically delete the video message after so many views, so many days, or a combination of the two.

Trigger the ‘Mission Impossible’ opening music.

That’s right! No worries about your confidential message sitting out in the open. Just set one or both of the limits and once reached, BLAM, the video is destroyed… minus the smoke. Totally cool for you cloak and dagger types.

What Would I Use This For?

At first, I found it a little difficult to think of some potential uses for this service other than the aforementioned desire to use it as a modern version of Mission Impossible’s message delivery mechanism. But then a few ideas began to pop into my head.

For instance:

• Use it to send a video introduction of yourself as a candidate for a job position to a recruiter. (Alan has a testimonial of someone who did this with success.)
• Use it to send a pre-sales video explaining your product’s features and benefits to your prospects.
• Use it to capture a confidential message to send to a client, partner, or colleague.
• Use it to send a family announcement (such as baby news, engagement, birthday, anniversary, or any other big event.)
• Send a visual and verbal explanation of a concept, strategy, or idea that was drawn up on a whiteboard or sketchpad.
• I know you can use this as a fun tool in a social media campaign. Just let your mind dwell on that.
• My favorite, a parent recording and sending a very upset video message to their child who is still out way past their curfew.

What about you? How would you use MailVU?

Give me some ideas in the comments below!

And start recording your own message now at www.mailvu.com! Then, tell me what you think about it!

1. Coming across a “corporate” web site that looked like $5 was spent on it, said nothing about what the organization did, and just hurt to look at
2. Having a prospect or new client give me the answer, “Well, you know, we just had to get one up there,” to our question: “How did you go about building your current web site?”

Your Web Site is Your First Impression

Okay, listen, if you answered the question above the same way or you paid less than $500 for your web site, we need to talk.  That’s like saying you have an important meeting tomorrow and your plan is to rush to your nearest clothing store and buy the first suit off the rack without ever checking to see how it fits, whether the color compliments your skin tone, or if you just look like an absolute fool in Scottish plaid.  Get this, your web site represents your FIRST impression to your potential customers!

Think, before you act!  Do you need a web site, yes, absolutely!  Does that mean you should use some cheap, “build-it-yourself-overnight” tool? Unless you have a pretty decent understanding of user interface design, layout theory, copywriting techniques, and process engineering… NO!

If you need a web site, there are some simple steps you can take to pave the way for creating a successful presence, but they need you to understand what you should do and what you shouldn’t do when building your new web site.

The Do’s of Building a Web Site

Here are some simple “do’s” that you should focus on when planning and developing the web site you will use to represent your business in the digital world. Following these may not guarantee you riches and fame, but they will certainly guarantee you that there is a much greater chance of your site’s visitors turning into customers, which could lead to riches and fame.

1. Write out your story

We so quickly want to get right to saying who we are, what we do, and how to contact us that we forget that our web site visitors are people, meaning they’re social.  They want to know more about who you are and what you’re about before they want to learn what you can do for them.  You need to capture the story of who you are (the owner/founders), where you came from, and how you got started and why you did start your business.

What made you start your business?
How do you plan to change the world, even if it is just the world of a particular individual, group of people, or organization?

This will be the foundation for your entire web strategy.

2. Determine your value proposition

Listen, I know we were all told that we need to develop that perfect “sales pitch.” The idea is that anytime you see an opportunity, you’ll be immediately ready to pounce on the unsuspecting person with an 10 reasons they should buy your product now!  Truth is, people are more skeptical than ever.  They are constantly being “sold” everywhere they go, therefore, they’ve learned to filter out these pitches.  Instead, develop your “value pitch.” People react to things they view as valuable.  If you can state what makes you valuable, and they can see how that would benefit them, they’ll engage you.

What is it that you bring to an engagement that someone else – your competition – simply can’t provide?
What truly makes you different and more impactful to your customer?

This turns into the main theme of your web site, both content-wise, but also supported graphically with visuals that communicate the value.

3. Create a conversion process

The goal of any business web site should be to convert a visitor to a transaction.  You want sales, you want leads, you want someone to call you up and say “I’ll pay you a billion dollar for your awesomely developed product!”  Here’s the main question: How do they do that?

You need to have a plan and a process for how a person will engage your organization.  Sure, there’s the “Contact Us” page, but what am I contacting you for? And why would I?  If you leave it up to your visitors to figure out how to engage your organization, you’ll likely lose a lot of opportunities!

How do I as a web site visitor go about engaging your organization?
What is the “next step” now that I have learned about what you offer? Even more, what is the next step if I had just called or emailed you?

This process will become the strategy for how to drive internal activities when a new prospect engages your business.

4. Finally, Meet with a Professional Web Design Firm

Ok, YES, you COULD build your own web site using cheap or free tools that are available on the web, but after doing all the work mentioned above wouldn’t you want it to be the best it can be?  If you answered “yes”, then let a professional build it for you!  Will it cost money, YES! More than these tools, DEFINITELY, but it is an investment in your business that you cannot afford to short-change on. A professional firm will be able to either help you develop all the pieces already mentioned, or can take this information and build what will become your most powerful solution for attracting, acquiring, and managing your new customers! The web site YOU would build, would likely chase customers away!

The Don’t Do’s of Building a Web Site

Now, based upon my years of experience, I could probably list a million different things not to do when building a web site. Honestly, it would be overkill. Why? Because there are only three main “don’ts” that if you listen, and do not do, you will likely prevent the majority of the rest I could mention.

1. DO NOT rush to build your web site or use a build-it-yourself-overnight tool

Basically, you’re highly likely to produce a piece of crap site, that would translate into your visitors thinking your business is crap, and therefore thinking all you could offer is crap. Unless you are a web development professional who is now starting your own company, just don’t do this, no matter how attractive the extremely cheap $21.95 price tag is!

Get your story together, determine your value proposition, develop your conversion process, and find a professional who can take all that and knock it out of the ballpark with a winning web site!

2. DO NOT load your web site with a lot of unnecessary information, tools, or bells & whistles

This whole idea of being a “mini-Yahoo!,” forget it!  People don’t want to get stock prices, the weather, local news, and other irelevant information from your web site. So don’t try to be the “single place people would go for all their information.”  That’s what search engines are for.  Not to mention, all of those things are absolute annoyances and distractions that will likely turn your visitors off to your organization!

3. DO NO build your web site using nothing but Flash (don’t even overuse it!)

For those of you that do not know, Flash is a technology that allows you to create stunning animations on web sites (or a fully animated web site.) Flash looks cool. It can do cool things, but it is absolutely the worst platform to build a web site on.  This is because: 1) search engines cannot index them so no one knows how to find your web site, and 2) they are the most difficult web sites to manage when you need to make changes!  So just don’t do it, Okay?

There, that’s it!  Nice and simple!  Follow these simple “Do’s” and avoid the “Don’ts” and you’re on your way to building a fantastic new web site!

End Thoughts and Questions

I’m wondering if any of you have any “horror stories” of having a web site built (or building one yourself) where your end result ended up hurting your business.  Would anyone care to share?