Video for business: Computer repair

This post is the ninth in a 10-part series aimed at providing some ideas for various businesses and professionals looking to get into video podcasting – either daily, weekly, monthly or just whenever.

Computers, PC or Mac, tend to give you trouble from time to time. So, who do you call if you can’t solve your problem by yourself? A pro, of course. How can a computer repair pro stand out? With a video podcast, of course.

Consumers need a quick way to determine that a particular “geek” can actually fix their computer’s issue, quickly, without keeping them offline for too long.

Here are five ideas for video podcasts for computer repair businesses to put on their websites and iTunes:

1. A series of videos showing computer owners how to do simple maintenance on their operating systems, hard drives, software, etc… so they won’t have problems pop up in the future.
2. Define a common computer problem and show people step-by-step how to fix it themselves. They’ll remember you gave them this freebie when something out of their control happens the next time.
3. This ties in to #2, but you could solicit computer questions from viewers/customers and then show how you would diagnose and fix the problem for them. Questions also could be basic, like how big of a hard drive do I need to store videos, photos, etc…?
4. Compare software for anti-virus protection, etc…
5. Highlight some websites that offer comparisons of computers and customer reviews.

Computers aren’t going anywhere. People will need to get them fixed from time to time.

Video podcasts allow the tech-savvy repair business to demonstrate expertise, trust and credibility. During my last go around with my Dell, I tried looking for a low-cost repair shop in my area to support a fellow small business, but I was astonished to find very little on their websites that would make me want to call them. So, I didn’t. If those sites would have had some video, they would have won my business.