The Important Internet Marketing Tool for 2011 – Online Videos

In the last few years, we’ve told website owners to begin blogging and to connect a blog to their websites. We still believe that blogging is an important Internet marketing strategy and should be continued. Last year we told our clients to add a video to their websites. This year, we added video marketing to our corporate web marketing plans because we think that video will become even more important.

An online video is one of the most powerful social media tools, and it is readily available for every company. A video is a fast and easy way to convey trust to potential customers and spread a company’s message effectively because it can be personal, textual, and persuasive. Not only is video more popular than ever, it will also set your website apart from your competition, as you can express your unique sales message through a video.

The online video sharing community is growing exponentially, and right now, YouTube.com is the second largest search engine. In a survey published in eMarketer in October 2010, it was apparent that the majority of business people searching the web would rather watch a video before reading text on a website. More than half of all executives watch work-related videos at least once a week.

Why is video so important now?

Video conveys a message quickly, so impatient people can get your point faster as opposed to scanning pages of text.
Video offers both audio and visual effects so people can get the point much more effectively.
It is fairly inexpensive to make a video, and you have the option to post it to a free site like YouTube.com and to your own blog or website.
People love to share videos, so it is more likely that your video will become viral than an article, blog post or web page.
Search engines like Google rank websites with videos higher than those without videos.

Therefore while we still recommend frequent blog postings, in light of the increasing importance of videos on Internet search, we now recommend adding video to your Internet marketing strategy.

The best part about using videos to market your website is that it is easy! Almost everyone has a camera that shoots video or a camcorder. In addition there are flip cameras for around $100 that are incredibly easy to use. These cameras plug, via USB port, directly into your computer to upload the video, and they also have software for editing videos right on the camera. When you edit a video, you can cut out any parts that don’t look good, add text or graphics, add audio such as music or a voice over, and rearrange parts of the video. Many computers have some standard video editing software already available on them. In addition, there are several inexpensive video editing software packages available.

Once you have a video ready to go, here are the steps you can take to upload a video to YouTube:

Login to your YouTube account (or sign up for a YouTube account at YouTube.com).
Click on the Upload link and browse your computer for the video file you want to upload.
Select the video and the upload link.
Create a title for your video that aptly describes it.
Create a description for your video and add the link at the top of the description.
Create tags (keywords) separated by spaces (not commas)
Choose a category.
Click “save changes” but don’t leave the page until you see a green checkmark that indicates that the video has uploaded. It can take 5 to 10 minutes.
On the top right side click on “my videos” and locate the video you just uploaded. Click on the video. It will have a pink bar that shows that the video is still processing. This can take a few hours.

10. Meanwhile check the link (that you put in the top of the video) and make sure that it goes to your website. Also check to see if the related videos that show up are similar to the video you just uploaded. If they are, then your tags and description were done correctly.

You can even edit your video online through YouTube.com:

Login into Youtube.com/editor
Choose a video and drag it into the box below.
You can use the scissor tool to cut parts out of the video (the blue part is saved, the red part will be cut) and save the video once again.
You can also drag another video next to it so that it will play the second video after the first.
You can also add a sound track to your existing videos, however when you do, the sound already on the video is overwritten. All the music on the audio tab is proprietary free and you can easily add it to your videos.
After you are finished editing, you just publish the video, and you are also given the option to add a title, description (with a link to your website) and keyword tags.

Marketing Your Videos

On your YouTube channel, visitors can ask to be notified of forthcoming videos. This is really great, and it allows you to reach an audience of viewers quickly. Once you have your video made and posted to YouTube.com, what else can you do with it?

Post a link to your video in your blog, Facebook page, and Tweets.
Join groups on LinkedIn or Facebook where industry professionals may be having a “conversation” that your video fits into. Post a link to your video in the group.
Post your video to your Google places page.
Search for other sites where you can post a link to your video.
Embed your video on your own blog or website – YouTube shows the embed code for your video under the description, and you can paste this HTML code directly into most web pages

Using Google analytics, you should be able to see if the videos you have posted around the web are sending more traffic to your web pages.

Bio: Sue McCrossin is a principle in Boomtown Internet Group which specializes in customized Internet marketing plans. Boomtown Internet Group offers search engine optimization services, Internet marketing, Internetadvertising, and e-mail marketing, as well as web design, database design and website maintenance. Their services help small to medium sized businesses compete on the Internet. Clients range from manufacturers, to software developers and service companies. Incorporated since 1993, they are headquartered in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania. To contact Boomtown Internet Group, view their website at www. Boomtownig.com, call 888-454-3330 or e-mail Sue at Sue.Mccrossin@boomtownig.com