Video is a spectacular way to market on the Internet, especially now that so many Internet users have broadband access. More users are able to view and download video. Video sharing websites are more popular than ever.
YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world, and other video sharing sites are growing in popularity, too – including niche specific sites, like those for Internet marketing. As a result of the gain in popularity of video sharing sites, more marketers are turning to video as a way to promote their products and services.
Almost any type of product or service can be promoted through video, but it’s important to do it properly. People generally don’t visit video sites to view commercials. There might be exceptions for people who want to watch classic commercials, funny commercials, or extremely popular commercials.
But for the most part, people don’t want to watch commercials. They come to be entertained or to learn something. If you want your videos to be viewed a lot, you need to either be extremely funny, exciting, controversial or educational.
If your free videos offer a ton of quality content, they have a good chance of going viral and making you a lot of money. Video is so powerful – not only because of the sheer number of people who view video sharing sites every day, but because it can be much more persuasive than the written word.
Some people respond better to writing, but others respond better to video. Video can really help you to get your point across to people who don’t read well, or people who really hate to read.
Many marketers feel they don’t look good on camera, or don’t have the budget to produce quality videos.
That’s one big reason behind the popularity of Camtasia. Camtasia is a great program that allows you to make videos by taking video screenshots of your computer. You can select a portion of your screen to be shown, and then you can make your video by simply moving from through your online presentation.
You can also use a microphone to record your voice explaining the process as you go through it.
Camtasia is very easy to use, making it extremely popular for people who aren’t very good with technical things.
Most people are able to make their first video with Camtasia within an hour of opening the software! This makes it perfect for almost any marketer. If you’re promoting an eBook about Squidoo, then your video could be a short tutorial about one aspect of how to use the site – like adding images to a Squidoo lens or setting up your own Group own Squidoo.
You can do this with nearly any kind of product. If your product is a dog training DVD, you can post a couple of samples. Show how to teach a dog to sit, and another showing how to teach a dog to heel.
If your product is about how to make money with eBooks, you could have a couple of sample videos on how to get affiliates, or how to get more traffic to your minisite, making sure you show proof of your results within the video production.
Even if you don’t want to post your videos to the video sharing sites, you can post them on your own site or blog. You can even put video on your sales page for higher conversions. Video can be an important selling tool, but it’s also effective as the primary media you use to create your product, too.
Getting Video Traffic to Work for You
Video marketing has only grown into a formidable powerhouse of traffic since it blossomed onto the marketing scene. Some people know what they’re doing with it – and others struggle and give up before they succeed.
There are many tools and ideas that can help you get traction with your videos. First you need to make sure you have a good idea for a video. Sometimes that means putting yourself on video – and other times it means recording a screen.
The key idea to have people enjoy the video, or gain important information from it – so you don’t want to be pausing for long periods while you try to think of what to do in the video. Flying by the seat of your pants isn’t a good idea – have a plan mapped out.
Make sure that your video setting is aesthetically pleasing to your viewer. There are a lot of poorly lit videos where the person has a mess in the background. If you’re going for professionalism, then create a professional scene. It doesn’t have to look like a news studio, but tidy up a bit.
Make sure your audio is pleasing to the ear. The first thing you want to do ass far as sound is concerned is eliminate outside noise. You don’t want family members yelling in the background or your voice to have to compete with the television or radio. If you’re talking, then you want people to hear what you have to say.
If you’re intimidated by putting yourself on video, then take time to get yourself together so that you’ll feel confident and at ease on camera. Don’t worry about the occasional trolls who leave negative comments – they do it to everyone so you have to just ignore them.
Keep your video to an acceptable timeframe. It’s best to split up the video into a series than to make one long, on-going video. A good timeframe is 3-5 minutes if you want it to go viral.
Don’t make your video spammy. The best way to get it shared and ranked high on video sites (and Google) is to make it useful. Nobody likes to watch a commercial unless it has a blatant humorous effect.
Once you’ve finished your video creation using a good quality camera that doesn’t create a grainy scene, you can use a variety of video tools to enhance your creation or even blast it out to dozens of video sites on your behalf.