Video Marketing
Video is one of the most effective forms of online marketing today because it's the only thing that enables your prospect to 'look you in the eyes' and connect with you on a deeper level than article marketing or any other form of marketing can offer.
I've seen so many leaders build their entire business around video marketing. People watch their videos and drive traffic to their lead capture page and generate free leads.
First thing you will need to do is set up a youtube account and start making some videos. If your not comfortable in front of a camera, please read our section about "hypnotic videos". I promise that once you do a few videos, you will become very comfortable.
Here are the basics you will need to start making videos:
1. Web cam
2. Camcorder
3. Screen Capture Software
That's it! My first video was horrible and I didn't even have any fancy software and recorder. I had a digital camera that had a built in video recording function and I used that to create my first videos. Once you start generating more income, it is worth it to invest in other products and videos
A nice web camera will cost around $100, but if you have an iMac or Mac computer, it should have one built in. As far as screen capture software, many love Camtasia.com.
Most people that love to take videos make it a routine to take their web cam everywhere they go. A great example is Flip HD camcorder, a small iPhone sized device that takes up to 1 hour of high definition video.
( I recommend buying the HD version because everything is going HD)
Benefits: Small enough to carry with you for impromptu videos Can upload
straight to youtube No batteries 1 Hour recording time.
Follow the instructions to install the webcam and the software and you're set to go. If you like to edit your videos, add titles, text, crop out the beginning and the end of you "turning on/off" the camera...you have two free options:
1. PC = Windows Movie Maker, comes free on every Windows operating system.
2. MAC = iMovie, comes free on every Mac operating system
Both of these tools are super easy to upload a video into, crop, adjust audio settings and upload straight to YouTube.
If your wondering, 'what to make videos about?" Here are over 20 content samples that will inspire and educate your audience.
(choose a topic that your passionate about).
Feel free to take your own spin on these topics, or take them word for word!
* Who are you, your story
* Success tips on owning a business
* How to work from home effectively
* The balance of work and play
* Time Management
* Leadership
* Personal Growth
* Law of Attraction
* Ways to generate leads online/offline
* Reasons to Work From Home
* Sharing new tips and tactics regarding cool softwares like Camtasia or how to do hypnotic videos
* The power of residual income
* The Benefits of Working at Home
* Time management
Just about any topic that your comfortable talking about.
Go to youtube and type in keywords of topics that your passionate about and get ideas.
Always ask yourself, is this: Enlightening? Inspiring? Entertaining? Educational?
Once you create a video, you can place keywords on your video. You can pick on keyword or one keyword phrase, which accurately describes the video content and reflects the terms that viewers is searching for.
Here is my favorite keyword tools:
Everytime you create content online you should always be thinking of keywords. But especially when it involves blog posts, articles, and videos tht are categorized in search engines, you'll want to take extra measure to find the best performing phrases for your niche.
For example. Let's say you company name is La Bella Baskets. You will search and see the results for the top performing keywords for this company. I always stay away from the most competitive keywords because it's harder to get ranked because of their popularity
If I would create a video or article or blog, I would create the content about La Bella Baskets but using a title such as:
La Bella Baskets Consultants because we know that has almost 128 people per day that are searching that exact keyword phrase online. When we upload the video on YouTube, Yahoo Video, Metacafe etc, you will want to insert your keyword into your video title, tags and description.
Only focus on one keyword or phrase per video to optimize it the best.
Keywords ideas: Your Comany Name Scam, Your Company Name Training, Your Company Name Opportunity, Your Company Name Compensation Plan.
Now, let's get into the actual recording.
Here are 10 basis rules you will need to creating home business marketing videos
#1. Appearance: Set up the area that you intend to shoot your video - Be sure to use proper lighting and a plain background. This step is important because many people create poorly lit videos where their faces can't be seen and the backgrounds are distracting and take the focus off the person who's talking in the video.
Ask yourself these questions: Can they see your facial features? Do you have an interesting background or can you see a cluttered background? Don't be afraid to add color to your face. For men, we recommend a gel bronzer or blush. I also recommend to wear a nice solid color shirt. That was difficult for me. I looked at my closet and almost all of my shirts had designs!
#2. Sound quality. If you're using a webcam, make sure the built in microphone is loud enough to hear you. I've seen some people that do great videos but the volumne is really low. Having a great microphone is important because you want people to be able to clearly hear your marketing message. I would recommend on investing on a good microphone. You can find a low cost microphone online or at your favorite electronics store. I recommend getting a microphone that you can clip to your shirt or collar so it will be as close to your mouth as possible.
Microphones for sound quality (video & screen capture)
Inexpensive, lightweight & improves the quality of your production in your videos.
For Mac Users Headset & Microphone
Benefits: Quick Adjust Microphone Boom for Perfect Microphone Placement Noise-Canceling Microphone for Greater Speech Accuracy Adjustable Lightweight Headband for All-Day Comfort Digitally Enhanced stereo headphones Digitally Enhanced noise-canceling microphone
#3. Be natural and imagine yourself talking to a friend - If you take a conversational approach this will work better than trying to act like a salesperson and 'sell' the viewer.
#4. Don't use big words - Keeping the dialogue in your video simple will help you to get your marketing message across more clearly than using words that are complicated and leave people scratching their heads wondering what you just said.
#5. Create a script - Knowing what you're going to say and sticking with it is another way to add a professional quality to your videos. Many people neglect to do this and take the 'shoot from the hip' approach when producing their videos and they always look bad.
#6. Call to Action. Most people using video miss this key aspect. You have to give people a GOOD REASON to take your desired action after watching your video. Is it to go to your blog? Is it to go to your capture lead page and subscribe to your newsletter or receive a free gift? People always need direction.
#7. Keep it straight to the point and short. It is always best to do a video that is under 5 minutes to put on video submissions sites like YouTube or Yahoo. If you don't capture your audience attention in a few minutes, you will lose them. You want to keep their attention; while still giving them something valuable that they can take away.
#8. After you shoot your video be sure to watch it right away - Many people don't watch their own videos and it shows. If you take the time to view your work you'll find errors that can be easily corrected before you finish and upload it.
#9. Include links in your video - This is an important step for any marketing video because if a viewer is interested in your opportunity you want to give them a place to click so you don't lose that traffic.
#10. Video Submission Services - To get the most out of your marketing video you should consider using video submission services because they will help you to get more views for your video and increase your marketing exposure. (see free and paid video submission services).
Don't worry if you don't receive alot of view right away. Once you have built up your videos YouTube, I recommend expanding out into other Video Marketing Sites. here is a short list to get started.
Here is a list of the top free video submission sites:
1. YouTube. Still the undefeated and most widely used video storage and viewing website, YouTube can make your videos available to almost 50 million people around the globe. The site is very easy to use as well, especially as registrations are optional for viewers, but required to people who want to upload, comment, and access private videos.
2. Vimeo. More popular to WordPress users, Vimeo is hailed to be a more posh and artsy version of YouTube. With its sleek design, it has become a favorite by most artists who dawdle in video and film editing. However, this does not mean that you shouldn't take advantage of this site as well, especially since more and more people are now finding it more convenient to use not only technically but also because of the fact that there are less Vimeo users who are rude, unlike in YouTube.
3. MySpace. Despite the fact that My Space is now not as popular as it has been a few years back due to the fact that Facebook has already taken its place in the hearts and homes of its more than 1 million users, it is still a convenient site that aspiring bands and musicians use today.
4. Facebook Being capable of having its own video format that can be viewable without having to download the Flash player, Facebook is another great video submissions site that you should take advantage of. In addition to this charm is the fact that it has millions of users worldwide, so you can be sure that your videos will be available to a lot of people easily.
5. Media hosting sites such as Dailymotion and Photobucket to name a few. Aside from these popular and well established free video submission sites, you can also take advantage of the video features offered by other media storage sites like Dailymotion and PhotoBucket. Having a definite URL for your videos will surely make it easier to share, as well as organize, so make sure to take advantage of this as well.
More video submission sites:
http://www.vimeo.com/join
www.video.yahoo.com
http://www.google.com/
www.Veoh.com
www.odeo.com
www.mefeedia.com
www.Gofish.com
www.Flurl.com
www.Eyespot.com
www.zoopy.com
www.Viddler.com
Great Video hosting site for longer videos and still receive some SEO benefits. You can make your videos private and embed them on your page.
www.Metacafe.com Videos on this site tend to show up quickly
Paid & Free Video Submission Sites:
#1. Pixel Pipe.com (free)
Publish photos, video, audio, text and files on over 100 online destinations and counting.
#2. Tube Mogul - The free version of Traffic Geyser. If budget is tight, you might wan to try this submission site. Just note that they are very picky about the videos that are submitted.
#3. Traffic Geyser (Paid)
A simple interface that allows you to upload a video file, add important information like a simple Title, tags, description, then submit the file to a number of video sharing sites (many of those listed above). It is a little pricey at $100 a month, but if you want to get your videos out, it's worth looking into. It simply save you time adding video to each site individually.This program gives you high search engine rankings in as fast as 66 minutes. Some videos have gotten onto the first page in as fast as 24 hours.
I recommend signing up for Traffic Geyser, one of the top video sharing software sites used by the gurus. It is available in gold and platinum levels, for $97.
With Traffic Geyser, you're able to post one video to over forty social media sites, including Kooba, LiveVideo, MetaCafe, MySpace, Rever, Bidler, YahooVideo, VideoJug, and YouTube. I don't recommend signing up for the YouTube option here. Continue to upload your YouTube videos separately, as Traffic Geyser prefers that you keep your description very short (250 maximum character maximum), which will likely affect the number of views.
Your account will also take you to podcast sites, blog sites, and social bookmarking sites like Technorati, Google Bookmarks, and Delicious, which has a lot of opportunity to build backlinks with. Using Traffic Geyser, you'll want to create four accounts. Why so many separate accounts? This way you will be able to take one video and upload it on up to four different sites, and use different keywords to maximize your views. This is very time consuming, so if you can outsource it, I highly recommend it.
Once you've e signed up for your four accounts and set up your profiles, to submit a video, select "Submit Media."? You can choose the name for your template, and the name of the URL that you want to drive traffic to. Then you're going to choose how long you want to leave your content up. You're going to enter scripted keywords loaded title with 64 or fewer characters. Be sure your title is rich with keywords, which you learned in the section "How to Find Leads: Article Marketing". You'll also get an alternate name for your title, which can just be your domain name.
When creating your media description, make sure you add your website name, just like you do on YouTube. Use the same formula, but add 86 keywords. You'll need to keep this to 200 characters or less. You're going to be depending on at 40 plus different sharing sites, so sticking to this limit will prevent certain sites from rejecting your content and videos. Add your tags as well, putting commas in between, and then a space. Choose your category: business, marketing, weight loss, etc. Make sure you allow comments. Then choose your file and upload your video into your account. Once uploaded, you will be brought to the submission site, where you can select to which sites you want to submit your video.
Upon doing this, Traffic Geyser will give you your actual success rate. Not everything will upload successfully, but those that do should upload at the same time. If they're not, go back and make sure you set your profile properly. The most common problem is that for login preferences, you sometimes need to use your email address for your username. This is a really important tool to maximize views to your videos, and in turn, your website. Without this program, you're only going to be able to use YouTube, which will not grow your business as fast as you want to.
