You can now port your existing mobile telephone number to Google Voice. If you love all of the features available on Google Voice, this may be something you should look into. It will cost $20 and you will have to cancel your existing phone service and then re-apply once your number has been ported to Google. You will actually have a new mobile telephone number. However, you still give out your old number.

People [...]]]>

You can now port your existing mobile telephone number to Google Voice. If you love all of the features available on Google Voice, this may be something you should look into. It will cost $20 and you will have to cancel your existing phone service and then re-apply once your number has been ported to Google. You will actually have a new mobile telephone number. However, you still give out your old number.

People call your mobile number and it rings your new number and you get all of the features of Google Voice. Sound confusing? Just watch the video.

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It’s been one heck of a week. I became a Grandfather on Monday morning. His name is Carter and as hard as I try to be a badass tough guy sometimes, this little booger melted my heart the moment I laid my eyes on him and I instantly fell in love with this little guy. He’s why I haven’t been too busy on Blogger Lens lately.

Back to business now. I implemented something [...]]]>

It’s been one heck of a week. I became a Grandfather on Monday morning. His name is Carter and as hard as I try to be a badass tough guy sometimes, this little booger melted my heart the moment I laid my eyes on him and I instantly fell in love with this little guy. He’s why I haven’t been too busy on Blogger Lens lately.

Back to business now. I implemented something new on my hyperlocal site this week, MonroeScoop.com, that I think is pretty cool and should add a lot as far as multi-media goes. It is something that I think you should consider doing on your hyperlocal blog also. Through the use of Google Voice, I added 2 telephone interviews in the body of my articles. You can check out my earlier Google Voice Review. Google Voice gives you a very easy option to record your telephone conversations by simply hitting the number 4 on your keypad. To stop the recording, press the number 4 again. The recording will be stored on your Google Voice page and you can simply hit the play button to listen. Very, very cool in my opinion.

At this point your work is not over. When you record with Google Voice, you will hear a prompt that your recording is started and ended. You do not want your listeners to hear this if you place in one of your articles. You have to do a little editing at this point. As of now, Google does not give you a way to embed the recording through the use of a widget, you have to get it there yourself. Here is what I do.

• I play the recording on my computer (Mac) and I record the internal audio as it’s playing. I record as a QuickTime movie. Those files are .mov
• I then go in and trim the ends of the recording and take out what I do not want to be there. If you have QuickTime Pro, you will have the ability to do this. If not, you can purchase QuickTime Pro from the Apple website for around $30. You can also do this with Garage Band.
• Next, I covert the recording into an “aif” file from my QuickTime menu.
• Next, I import the recording into iTunes.
• Next step. Convert the “aif” file into an .mp3. (easy to do).
• Upload the .mp3 file to your web host
• Embed the recording into your article using the PodPress WordPress Widget.

If that seems a little hard and a lot of trouble, it isn’t. Those steps only take a few moments. If you are using a Mac (you should be) it’s a breeze. Do it once and you can do it with your eyes closed from then on. If you are using a Windows PC, I cannot instruct you on how to do it. I’m sure it can be done however.

Here are the benefits as I see them.
#1. I can drink beer while I’m doing a telephone interview and no one knows what I’m doing.
#2. I can scratch myself if necessary.
#3. I can pick my nose and can’t be seen. I do not have to leave my house.
#4. Save gas. I don’t have to drive anywhere.
#5. I can…well, you get the idea.

Here is an example of how I used this on my own site. I placed a headshot photo of the person I spoke with. Yesterday I spoke with the Marketing Director of our local shopping mall and I also spoke with the Executive Director of our local Red Cross. Getting these type interviews are very easy once you have gained the trust of these people in your community. I’ll talk about trust in another article but it’s important that as you build your hyperlocal blog, you determine your mission and you gain the trust of the leaders in your community if you want to invite them to be part of your website. I doubt that many folks in your community would be willing to display themselves publicly unless you have built the trust with them.

Here are the 2 telephone interviews:
[display_podcast]

You can visit my site to view these also. Monroe Scoop.

I can tell you right now what Allyn Hane will say about this feature. He will tell me to use it for paid interviews and articles from local merchants. What if a local car dealer or store was having a blowout sale and needed the extra publicity that you could provide? An article and a telephone interview could land a few extra $$ in your account. What do you think? Who would like to hear me interview Allyn Hane by telephone and play it here?

I hope this helps and gives you some additional ideas to use on your hyperlocal blog. Be as creative with your site as possible. There are no rules. No idea is stupid unless you figure out it doesn’t work. If you have some more ideas regarding this, please share them with the readers, I’d love to hear them.

2009 Hyperlocal Blog

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How many of you have heard of Google Voice? I heard about it months and months ago and I signed up to receive it when it rolled out. I had not given it anymore thought until last week when I received an e-mail from Google telling me I was accepted and to go and select my new phone number. “Woo Hoo” I thought, but I didn’t know why I was excited. The [...]]]>

Google Voice Review

How many of you have heard of Google Voice? I heard about it months and months ago and I signed up to receive it when it rolled out. I had not given it anymore thought until last week when I received an e-mail from Google telling me I was accepted and to go and select my new phone number. “Woo Hoo” I thought, but I didn’t know why I was excited. The more I have messed with it over the last week, the more I get excited about the possibilities.

The Google Voice e-mail I received, sent me to my Google Account and it directed me to select a phone number that I desired from quite a long list of available telephone numbers in my area. All of the numbers that were listed, were in my own area code. I went through and selected a number that looked easy to remember. I won’t reveal my new number here yet because I’m not sure who I want to have it yet until I have it all figured out.

Once I selected my new number, I was instructed to select a phone number that I wanted my Google number to forward to. I selected my mobile number of course. We have not had a land line at my house in over 3 years. How it works, is that anyone you give your Google number to, when they call it, it will actually forward to whatever number you set up. What I like about this is I don’t have to give my real number to anyone that I don’t want to have it.

Here’s what happens when you call my Google Voice number. You will receive a prompt from Google the first time you call me and they will ask for your name. Google records your name and then my phone will ring. When I answer, it tells me that I have a call from Joe and I hear Joe as he spoke his name. I’m asked if I want to accept the call or send it to voice mail. How cool is that? it’s like I have my own private secretary and I can screen my calls. The number that comes in to my cell phone is always a 605 area code which I now recognize as a Google Voice call.

Folks, it gets better if you are a Geek. I love this stuff. Let’s say that I let your call go to voice mail. When you leave me a voice mail and hang up, I receive a text message on my phone telling me I have a new voicemail and also a transcribed text message of your voice mail. I don’t even have to go listen to your message. In addition, I receive an e-mail telling me I have a new voicemail and it will list the phone number it came from. Now even better, it gives me a link where I can just play your voicemail from my computer in my Google Voice account. The voicemail recording as well as the transcribed text is in my account and I can refer to it there.

I have not tried out all of the features yet but another thing it will do is record your telephone calls. This could be a very good feature, especially for someone like me who suffers from CRS. Can’t Remember $hit. If you have called me on my Google number all I have to do is press the 4 on my keypad and it will record our conversation until I press 4 again. The caller on the other end will hear that the conversation is being recorded so they will know. If you didn’t want them to know, just cough real loud for a couple of seconds when you press 4 and they will probably never hear the fact that they are being recorded. Now I didn’t just say that. The recorded voicemail will be stored in your Google Voice account and you can listen to the recording immediately. I think it will be a wonderful tool for bloggers who may want to do telephone interviews. The recording quality is excellent.

Just below is what I’m really excited about. The ability to place a Google Voice Widget on this blog that will allow you, the reader, to make voice comments about this blog or a particular article. I think that will give a new dimension to your blog and the interaction with your readers whether it be a hyperlocal blog or any kind of blog. It’s very simple if you would like to make an audio comment. It’s free. Your name and number will not be published. All that I will see is your phone number. To place the call, you must type in a name of some sort.

I would really love for you to help me with this experiment. This is a first for me and if anyone else on the internet is doing it, I’m not aware of it. If you will leave me an audio comment and if you don’t mind, I’ll publish your audio comment here in this article. I think it will be fun.

Make sure you have your phone with you

Click the Google “Call Me” graphic below. Type a name (fake if you want). Enter your phone number. Click the connect button. Your phone will ring. When you answer, you will hear it ring and then you will hear my greeting. After my greeting, just leave whatever message for me that you would like to. If you think I’m a big goober, that’s ok, tell me I am. If you are planning to name your next son after me, tell me and I’ll leave him in my will when I die. Say whatever you want to say. Hang up.

What I will do, is embed your voice message in a player here at the bottom of the article. Come back later to listen to your message and any others I receive.

Sign up today for your own Google Voice Number.

I found this video review on YouTube that you might be interested. The video is pretty informative but a little long and a little boring, but if you watch the videos I make you are already used to that!!

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Copyright 2009 BloggerLens.com Hyperlocal Blogs & Citizen Journalism

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