Why do Video?

Video is on the cutting edge of internet marketing and for good reason; People love watching video and videos are ranking high in the search engines and are becoming a source for traffic. In my research I read ‘Optimizing Video Content’ by Andreas Roel on Clickz.com and he made a statement that really emphasizes the call to jump on the video band wagon now.

“By 2012, 62 percent of the total U.S. population and 88 percent of the U.S. online community will be watching videos on the Web, according to eMarketer”- Clickz.com, March 18^th, 2008

That is a huge chunk of people that are becoming marketing targets!

Producing a video seems daunting and like it will be tons of work. There is some truth to this line of thinking; a video can very quickly become very complicated and very costly.

At first you may think you need a high-tech camera, expensive editing software and professional actors, not to mention a script and a music score. A list like this is enough to turn the majority people away from producing videos. There is however another way to produce video in a much more timely manner and on a much smaller budget.

The Step by Step to a $20 Video

1. Download the free 30 day trial of Camtasia- This is a program that will record what is on your computer screen. There are many possibilities for this software but for this video we are going to only use it in conjunction with Microsoft’s PowerPoint.
2. Outline a slide show around your topic. For instance if your keyword was adult dyslexia you could make a slide show on the symptoms to watch for. Or maybe your keyword is bird watching, make a slide show with pictures of various birds and use text to identify them. Or perhaps your keyword is skin care; make a slide show around an effective nightly routine for women to follow. This video will be a still shot video so you will only get 1-2 pictures to portray each idea so make the points short and simple.
3. Gather your pictures for your video at Stock.xchng this is a photo sharing site that is filled with copyright free pictures you can use in your videos. Simply check the availability status (underneath the picture) and it will tell you what you need to do. Some of them ask for you to notify the photographer telling them you are using their picture. In that case send them an email telling them briefly the topic of your video and the number of the picture you are going to use.
4. Now build your PowerPoint slide show. Add the appropriate text (remember to keep the phrases short), the pictures that coincide, timings of the slide and then animations if you would like.
5. Use Camtasia to capture the slide show. (When you download Camtasia there is a tutorial on how to capture a PowerPoint slideshow)
6. Add an appropriate sound track to back up your video, because lets face it a video with out sound is just boring. Make sure to get a royalty free track so you don’t infringe on anyone’s rights. This is where the $20 comes in. A good royalty free track will cost you some money but it will add a new and necessary dimension to your video. Stock20.com (http://www.stock20.com) sells royalty free songs for only $20 where a lot of places will charge you around $80.
7. Then publish the finished video through Camtasia
8. Finally finish by submitting your video to a variety of video sharing sites

Final Video Tips

• Put your URL in the video more than once. Particularly at the end and beginning.
• Keep your phrasing short and don’t try and tackle your entire topic all in one video, pick one facet at a time.

Videos don’t have to be expensive and time consuming but there is a definite benefit to getting your message and keywords out in a variety of media. Take a few minutes to study what makes a good video and the benefits it can have. Then dive in and tackle it.