First, with so much content being added to the site the time has come to implement pagination. You'll notice the search results display ten per page (and can be changed for your personal preference). The additional pages are available at the bottom of each page, in typical fashion.

The other improvement to the search results involves summary counts.

A typical note at the top of the page will read like this:
"Results for ecommerce (Found 115, Displaying 52 results from unique authors)"

What exactly does that mean?

The first number is simple. It's just the total count for all content found that matches the search term(s). So, in this example there are 115 pieces of content available for the term 'e-commerce.'

But what does "52 results from unique authors" mean?

Well, to help present a concentrated search result we're displaying only the first two content pieces from any given author and then providing a link to access any additional content, if more than two. The reason for this is that in some cases an author will have eight or ten or more pieces of content that are part of a series, and displaying all of them gets to be cumbersome on an initial search result page.

We think this will help users get to helpful content related to their search much more quickly.

These site enhancements are two examples of priorities that were identified by users. So, thanks a bunch for helping us with continuous feedback about the site and please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

Send your ideas through our Feedback page.

The arc welding video is very interesting because it's posted by a video production company that is highlighting the dvd they produced for the arc welder. And the dvd is being sold through Free IQ. So, the video company is marketing their services as much as they are marketing the product that is for sale on behalf of their client. That's a pretty slick opportunity.

Check out the teaser video. It's really well done. You get a very good sense for what you'll be purchasing. And the product page has a lot of detailed information about the dvd as well as the production company.

So, as we think about the long tail of content topics, the possibilities are infinite. If more than a couple of people are interested, there is a market. The industries or professions that can benefit from video marketing are limitless. Who would have expected to see an arc welding demonstration? But it works, doesn't it?

It got us thinking about the various ways video from Free IQ could be utilized in a retail store or business lobby environment, in addition to the traditional email and web posting applications.

Loblaws, Inc, the grocer, was looking for an innovative way to express that they valued what their customers were saying, specifically regarding their President's Choice private-label product lines. The solution was a program that would leverage customer reviews by deploying the user content in stores and creating a unique branding experience around the products.

By joining a membership, club customers would have the authority to submit ratings and reviews online. Positive reviews were then posted in-store when highly rated products were scheduled to go on sale. The signage was dubbed "shelf talk." Remember, they took plain text from the web site and associated it with a point of purchase sales opportunity.

What they found was that sales for products receiving "shelf talk" increased. As the program continued to grow, the stores flourished and the website usage increased as well.

You can get more details about the case study on the the Marketing Sherpa site.

On one hand, this seems pretty fundamental. On the other hand, imagine if these ideas were converted to video. What kind of an impact would that have on a consumer? Wouldn't the Free IQ system easily enable a store owner or business person to present testimonials to already engaged consumers?

Consider these fundamental thoughts for a moment:

It's also been interesting to see the comfort level grow as the talk about Free IQ has grown from a simple "oh my goodness, look what I discovered!... to affiliate sign-up pages... to now, actual product promotion.

Here is a great example from Literary Compass. They include the references to the Free IQ content within the page, and it's a totally natural fit. There isn't any hype or pitch about Free IQ, just a marketing opportunity using Free IQ as a tool. Here is the exact reference:

The audiobook of ROMAN Reading is available at no charge from FreeIQ. You can download it as an mp3 file, or you can embed it in your blog as streaming audio.

Check out the actual page on their site.

As you load content to your account, think about how you will be sending people to it. How will you be introducing users to it? The description on the product page needs to be descriptive enough to meet expectations after a user clicks through from your invitation. And the corollary is true also: your invitation to click needs to be descriptive enough to be helpful.

All in all, this Literary Compass example is just one that points out how natural the Free IQ integration can be. Are you taking enough advantage of it yet?

Audio engineer and musician Ethan Winer has a couple of terrific videos up on Free IQ. In addition to offering instruction on setting up a listening room, he makes great use of personal video technology in sharing an innovative and entertaining cello performance.

These two diverse content offerings are a great example of how flexible the Free IQ system is and how powerful it can be in delivering a wide variety of messages. And it doesn't need to be produced in a Hollywood shop to be compelling!

Ethan's enjoyable performance and helpful instruction are a great way to enhance your leisure time as you ease into the weekend. Have a good one.

We can't say enough good things about the Firefox Browser here at Free IQ. If you're still using Internet Explorer (IE), as Mr. T would say, "I pity the fool..." GO GET IT TODAY. Don't even get us started on the Safari users!

That said, if you've got IE 7 or Firefox 2, install this handy search plugin with a quick click, and you'll be a few less milliseconds away from your favorite content at Free IQ.

Thanks to the prompting from Dan @ FreeIQtips.com, we'll have a searchbox you can place on your site (with affiliate credit) very soon.

And this week there is another impressive schedule. There are four different training events scheduled in the next two days. If the following topics are of interest to you, visit www.freeiq.com/training for information and access codes on the teleseminars and webinars.

Glenn Dietzel Wed, 5/16 , 2pm EDT
Topic will be "Video Editing, Advanced Edition"

Jeff Herring Wed, 5/16, 4pm EDT
Teaching folks how to write different types of articles, market them, and turn them into a variety of Products, all ready to put on Free IQ"

Sterling Valentine Th, 5/17, 2pm EDT
"Making Money With Online Video"
First webinar in a series

Paul Colligan Th, 5/17, 5pm EDT
A four-part webinar series
Part 2: "Free IQ for the Internet Marketer"

Remember that the most current training schedule, as well as access information, is always available at www.freeiq.com/training .