From time to time I’m asked what tools I use to create videos. The question behind the question is often really, “How can I use video effectively to get more traffic and sales.”

Software and tools are important, but equally important is understanding how to use video marketing to extend your online marketing for maximum benefit.

In this post, I’ll share the video marketing hardware, software, and training used to market this site and others.

My Video Marketing Toolkit

Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to connect with real people, prospects, and customers. It continues to be one of the top conversion sources of visitors to this site. Here is a list of tools I use to help product and market videos.

Video Marketing Hardware

There are three pieces of hardware I use depending on the situation.

Webcam: Sometimes I’ll record interviews that I have via Skype, or even using the Hangouts feature Google Plus for group video chats. I’ve owned an HD webcam for about 2 years that has worked very well for this purpose. It is by Logitech 720p Webcam Pro 9000. It’s currently available on Amazon here for $39.99.

Pocket HD Camera: This is great if you don’t have a lot of room but want to get decent video quality. The camera I use is a Kodak Zi8, and is the one I use for interviews. If I were to purchase a replacement I’d likely go with the Kodak Playtouch.

DSLR Camera Video Mode: Recently, I’ve been sneaking some time with my wife’s DSLR with one of those fancy lenses. What’s nice is the camera allows for HD video, and the lens creates a nice depth of field. You can get an idea what this looks like in the video on the Muvee Reveal Review (found toward the bottom of the post).

Video Marketing Software

When it comes to software, I’m going to focus on the software used to edit and render the videos, not software that promises SEO benefit through mass-distribution, etc.

Muvee Reveal X: Simplest way to create polished videos fast from photos and videos. This is something I re-discovered recently and may be the best tool available for those who want to create professional movies quickly. If you want the full scoop, see this Muvee Reveal review.

Camtasia: This product was the first video marketing product I purchased. It makes it easy to record your screen on either your PC or Mac. Useful for training or illustrating a product features, or even to record PowerPoint or other slideshow presentations. Recording slideshow presentations has become popular when used in conjunction with automated webinar software like this one (review) to sell products or services. Find more details on this review of Camtasia.

Video Marketing Training

Online marketing is a rapidly changing field. Understanding how to create videos is helpful, but knowing what to include in your videos and how to do with them to maximize your online marketing opportunity is another thing altogether. This goes beyond video marketing, but in every facet of what you are doing with your online business, learning from experts gives one the potential to leapfrog competitors just by executing a proven tip or strategy.

I’ve taken several video marketing courses, but the one I’m currently recommending to readers is the one by James Wedmore, Video Traffic Academy.

One thing James does to make it easy for customers of his course, is to download various formats of the course modules, be it ‘Cliff Notes’, MP3, Slides, or the Transcription. He also provides a whole video resource library so you can create videos that sell. See our Video Traffic Academy review here.

Creating Your Own Video Marketing Toolkit

Video marketing takes some time and work. These products are ones I’ve added to my toolkit incrementally. Don’t feel you need to have all these products in place to start marketing effectively with video, I didn’t! Commit to video marketing and strive to produce quality videos with the least amount of time and effort. Tools and training like these will help you get there.
Image Credit: Julia Manzerova

What’s great about the web, is that it affords marketers and business owners the opportunity to extend their reach in new, authentic ways. Case in point, video marketing. If you are like me, you probably aren’t a Tom Brokaw, Ellen Degeneres, Denzel Washington, or any other celebrity who is polished when the camera comes on. There’s good news for people like us, you just might be thinking about marketing with video differently than you should. Most camera friendly celebrities took a while to get where they are at. More than that.. you don’t have to be polished

Do You Avoid Video Marketing?

In fact, you don’t even have to appear on camera to have a successful marketing video.

Product Recommendation: The folks over at Video Boss – Andy Jenkins -  teaches online marketers how to sell using surprisingly simple, but powerful, video marketing strategies. The pre-sales videos (opt in required) alone teach a lot about doing it right. Learn more here. The free videos will be taken offline soon.

UPDATE: Skip the optin and see video directly with this link.

For Many It’s Time to Reconsider Video Marketing?

Do you fit on one of these categories when it comes to video marketing?

• Aren’t Aware of Video Marketing Power – You know videos are prevalent on the web, but have only used them as a “consumer”. Think it might help your business but have no idea how to start video marketing online.
• Aware but Avoid Video Marketing – Knowing it is something you should do, you are swamped with other things ignoring it up to this point.
• Aren’t Aware How Easy Video Marketing Can Be – This is where a lot of people live. They think video marketing is expensive and super-hard (myth dispelled in video #1 found here). Did you know you can make a high quality video with your PC or Mac and presentation software like Google Presentation (free with Google Docs), PowerPoint or Keynote?
• Doing Some Video Marketing – You have done some marketing with video, but it just hasn’t become more of a priority, in fact, you can’t remember if the last marketing video you made was this year or last year.
• Doing Regular Video Marketing – You have invested in some tools, and are publishing videos at regular intervals, but know you are stuck when it comes to growing your skill-set with video. You know there are things you could improve on, but don’t have the time to figure out how.

If any of these bullets describe you, I have a resource many have found helpful. Before I get to that, let’s talk a bit about the social web, video, and SEO.

The Challenge for All Online Marketers

The web is centralizing on social activity to determine personalized search results as exhibited with Google’s +1 product and Facebook’s moves to engulf the web. Main Point: the most valuable and shared content will be rewarded with better search results. Video is the most compelling medium to engage web visitors meaningfully and socially.

Now that Google’s +1 is available on YouTube Videos, it is a great time to reconsider the importance of video in your overall marketing strategy.

A Quick Word About Video Marketing and SEO

Whether Google’s +1 is successful or not, some simple truths to ponder.

1.) For some time now content of those who engage in online video marketing often always rank better than those that don’t.

2.) YouTube search is much less competitive (perhaps because so many are avoiding video marketing) than Google.com search.

3.) Social interaction will continue to grow as a ranking factor as Google figures it out, and video is probably the easiest gateway to higher interaction, and rankings.

Some Video Marketing Inspiration if You’re Short on Ideas

One of the best ways I’ve been able to get up to speed with a given technology or marketing strategy, is to find out who is using it, and learn from them.  When it comes to polished videos, with a mind for conversions (sales), and a solid understanding of SEO, I think of Andy Jenkins. (rather not opt in? Go here)

Andy teaches is the importance of having a story, of being strategic, as well as thinking through and writing out a script (when it comes to sales videos anyway).

I had never considered the importance of a video script prior to Andy.

What I found? Scripts aren’t hard, just have to slow down and think it through.

Yes Andy get’s into the technology a bit too, but having all the technology in the world without a good story/script won’t convert visitors to customers.

He currently has a free set of videos available, which contain valuable lessons without investing a dime. Even the opt in video (~ 3mins long) is a lesson itself in humor, engagement, building trust and more.

As a heads up, he is also offering a full-blown course (version 2, “Even bossier”, as he likes to say), that he’ll probably definitely offer you if you choose to stick around. In any case, I’ve found him to be professional, and he does a great job helping people learn how to up their video marketing game in a short amount of time. Watch it here. (Or skip the opt in here)

How are you using video in your marketing? What results are you experiencing? Use the comment boxes below.
Imaged Credit: Billy Rowlinson

3 Easy Ways to Upload Videos to YouTube

So you know what you want to say and are prepared to create a video, but from what? Then how to get it on the site?

1 – Uploading To YouTube from Your Web Browser

If you have a recent computer or laptop, recent being in the last 2 years, you hopefully also have a webcam.  If so, you have all you need to record a video.  Simply login to YouTube, click the upload video button,  and select the “Record from Webcam” option.  Here is what it looks like from my system:

2 – Uploading To YouTube via Email

On the same page to the right, there is another option to enable and/or give you an email address you can email videos to.  Here is another screenshot:

It’s called “Youtube direct mobile upload” however it is an email address, and can work from a PC or Mac.

3- Uploading To YouTube from Your Mobile Phone via Email

Smartphones are becoming more powerful than ever, at the time of this writing mine has a 1Ghz processor (more on that here).  With this power comes additional capability, many will allow you to record a video.  The quality might not be top notch, but good enough to put on YouTube.

Using the email address you found in #2 above, you can add a contact on your phone of “youtube channel” give it your youtube direct mobile upload email address.  This makes it easier to recall the address to send your videos to from your mobile phone.

If You Need Help Recording a Video

There may be some more information on recording videos here at some point, but for now, these are some useful resources.

• CamStudio.org
• Camtasia Studio
• Kodak Portable HD Cameras, Zi8 and the Play Sport (Zx3).

I found this video on a decent free way to record video.  The second resource in the video allows you to upload it to your video account.  Just in case you cannot see it, watch the video here.

Useful? Please consider using the sharing buttons below. This work for you, feedback? Chime in with your comments and below.
Image Credit: Rego

This is an example of using video to promote a product.  Regardless of how you feel about Google the company, or Chrome the product, this ad stands out.  Isn’t that what marketers want, to stand out?  Ask yourself what you find unique about this video.  I found myself considering,

Google Chrome Video Brings A Smile – Can Inspire

This ad educates the viewer on their product in an unconventional way.  So here is the big question, how can you be educating your prospects and customers on your products in an unconventional way?

Don’t get me wrong, being “different” just for the sake of being different, isn’t good enough.  Different with a meaningful purpose, is what I see here. Edutainment. Here’s the video (see it here if you can’t see it below):

What Do You See in This Video? Any inspiration?  Or just an anomaly you observed in the course of your day?  Chime in below with your thoughts.

Need some inspiration? As you know, I’m a big fan of list building.  I’ve been working on a landing page video project with these guys and am very impressed (look at the video on that page alone).  I’ll be sharing more in the future on this.  In the meantime, if you get to speak with Joshua, let him how you found him.

For quite some time, YouTube has been the leader when it comes to online video sharing.  Most know that, but have you looked at YouTube lately? Really, beyond the changes they made in recent months, have you seen some recent market data for online video, and just how dominate YouTube is?  In this post, I’m going to share market numbers with you, my own conversion numbers after implementing some of the strategies and techniques presented in Julie Perry and Paul Colligan’s course, YouTube Secret Weapon, a potential problem for some with this course, and lastly, a 25% (limited) discount code.

Review of YouTube Secret Weapon-Conversions Up 296%

I’m a big believer in market research.  The only thing worse than being in a market where you only hear the echo of your own voice, is being there enthusiastically.  That is why I wanted to share with you some of the market trends I’ve learned when it comes to online video, specifically YouTube.

Online Video – What are the Trends?

Information from a recent comScore press release (screenshot below):

• March 2009 video views were up 11% from February 2009
• Google Sites represent 41% of the views, or 5.9 Billion, 99% of views took place on YouTube
• Next closest market share holder is Fox Interactive at 3%
• Google Sites, average videos viewed per viewer 59.  Next highest was 10.2.

For online businesses social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are exploding but it is obvious (numbers don’t lie) that video is a great opportunity to connect further with your audience.

My Video Review (HD):

Conversion Numbers from YouTube

For marketing purposes, video is a great way to convery your message, but what does it mean in terms of traffic to your site, and targeted traffic?  While I was very pleased with what I learned from Julie and Paul in YouTube Secret Weapon I decided to hold off putting a product review together until I had some tangible evidence of my own.

While additional traffic is nice, I wanted to know if that traffic resulted in conversions.  Were people who visit this site from YouTube.com engaging further by joining and opting in for the Marketers FAQ special report?

Here is a screenshot of data from Google Analytics highlighting referral sources over a 60 day period (with non-essential information blocked out):

The left column is the source of traffic, with Google, Twitter, and YouTube circled.  The middle column is number of visits sorted by most to least.  The right column is the conversion rate for each source.  Those are the percent of visitors who chose to join the site by opting in for the special report.  YouTube out performs Google by a factor of almost 3 (296.8%). While I was hopeful for improvement, I did not expect this type of increase.

YouTube is now the #2 converting source of traffic for the site. This is a result of applying a few of the strategies learned in YouTube Secret Weapon.

Important Note: I hesitated, because I wasn’t keen on becoming a video content publisher.  However, with recent changes at YouTube, I learned that using the sites social features I could engage and get traffic without producing one video. This served as a great starting point, now I see the site as too valuable, and have made YouTube a Part of the Sites Social Marketing Strategy.

More About YouTube Secret Weapon

You might be wondering what is included in this course by Julie Perry and Paul Colligan, (alot…) I don’t want to take too much time to list everything, here are a few items:

• 2 DVDs.  Broken down in to an easy to follow list of contents (I watched on my computer).
• Bonus Webinars (multiple). Just when I thought they were done with one bonus webinar, they came with another one, these online replays deliver great value.
• Tools. They have partnered with some key providers of proven software tools to make both video distribution, and interaction with other YouTube users faster and easier.  This saved me research time and they are affordable.
• Julie is a Pro. As you’ll see on their site, she has testimonials from top online marketers who called her their YouTube Secret Weapon (clever…).  This shows through in the product.

You can get the full scoop over at the YouTube Secret Weapon site, and meet Julie in person (you guessed it, in a video).  At the moment, you will need to optin to the site to get all the details, so keep that in mind.

Potential Issue with YouTube Secret Weapon

No product is perfect, and while I had a hard time finding issues with the product, there is one that might be a problem for some.  It was recorded via webinar, and as such the audio quality isn’t top notch.  There are no lapses in audio, and no content is missing as a result of doing it this way, it is just that the audio quality is not studio grade, it is telephone grade (sounds like a phone recording). Wasn’t a big deal for me, but it might be for some. If that is important to you, you’ll see what I mean when you review the course (call me picky :-p).

Special Offer for MarketingProfessor.com Subscribers (Coupon Code)

I spoke to Julie on the phone, and am excited to announce, I was able to negotiate a special, but limited, offer.  25% savings on the course for the first 10 orders.  I thought that was kind of her, I hope you do too. If you have joined the site, you probably have a message from me in your inbox notifying you of this deal, if you missed it, here is the YouTube Secret Weapn coupon code to use (lower case):

mpdeal

Put that in the “Coupon Code” box in the order form, hit validate, and it will apply the discount (to the first 10). Here’s the YouTube Secret Weapon Page (watch video, optin).

Final Analysis on YouTube Secret Weapon

If you have read this far, you must be serious.  With the direction the market is heading with online video (especially YouTube), combined with the conversion results I’m now experiencing utilizing the strategies I learned from Julie, makes YouTube Secret Weapon an easy choice. I strongly encourage you to get a copy, learn, and implement what she teaches so you can enjoy similar results.

Talk About It: Are you using online video?  Do you have a YouTube account?  Driving any traffic to your site?  Questions or feedback on Julie’s course?  Submit your comments in the form below.
(FYI: Julie on Twitter, MarketingProfessor YouTube Channel)

Internet Video Marketing Tips- Subscribing to Youtube Channels a Double-Edged Sword

With the growth of video, YouTube has done a decent job to include new features with the growing demand for online video. One of those such features is the ability of YouTube to notify its viewers of new videos by a producer through the subscribe feature. The option to subscribe is found on every YouTube Channel, it looks like this.

Subscribing for Viewers

By subscribing to some one’s channel on Youtube, you will get updates from YouTube automatically whenever the channel is updates with a new video. This is great because you will be among the first to know when fresh content is available, and be the first to view it.

If your subscriptions provide value, this can be a great opportunity to interact with comments and ratings. Commenting will drive interest to your channel, giving you more social traction on YouTube, and with it more subscribers to your channel.
In addition, subscribing tells the channel owner that you appreciate what they are doing and that it is adding value, and, under the recent activity feed for the channel it can show that you have subscribed to the channel (if you prefer to hide that info, it is configurable in your account privacy settings).

Each of these touchpoints is an extension of your channel and your brand.

Subscribing for the Video Producers

The main benefit here is twofold:
1.) Whenever you upload new content, your subscribers are notified, driving more views of your video, and more traffic to your website. It works much like an opt-in list, they opt-in, but YouTube delivers the message.
2.) As you get more subscribers you are creating social currency, that is others who see that you have subscribers will be more interested in subscribing to your channel themselves.

Important Update: In recent testing, I find that the delivery speed to my subscribers is far from instant, in fact days (or longer) after uploading a new video, notifications drop in their YouTube inbox. Not really efficient, especially if you have time sensitive information. Not a big deal for everyone, but something to be aware of.

It’s All In The Content

As a publisher, I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I’m not real polished on camera (no additional comments here :-), what others have indicated is that the content is helpful and valuable. While I’m hopeful to improve the productions going forward, what I cannot do is deliver flat content (though it will likely happen from time to time). My point is, while it is important to engage the subscription feature as both a viewer and publisher this doesn’t make up for good content. Leverage the benefits YouTube channel subscriptions provide, and as a publisher, create valuable content, you’ll help grow your channel, and very well may help your brand.

You can visit the MarketingProfessor.com YouTube Channel here.
Your Turn: Got a YouTube Channel to Share/Subscribe to? Questions or additions for this post? Engage in the comment boxes below.

*Image credits to ST33VO

What Does Your Internet Video Marketing Channel Look Like?

Tune Your Channel So You Can Be Found

Title – Name it Well, Hint: Keywords

Description – Be Yourself

Tags – What Do Searchers In Your Market Search For?

YouTube continues to be one of the top media destinations on the web, acquired by Google back in October 2006, YouTube is the premier destination for video content online.  In the last year, Google has made significant strides to improve the service for its strong and loyal user base.  In this post I’ll share Internet video marketing tips that YouTube users and consumers alike can use to boost traffic and interest.

3 Internet Video Marketing Tips for Social Networking on YouTube

Important Note: You don’t have to upload any videos to benefit from what YouTube has to offer.  Using the social networking features, can set you apart, resulting in targeted visitors to your site.

Be Friendly

YouTube is yet another social network. With features like friending, rating, favoriting and more, as with any social network, used effectively these Internet video marketing tips can boost exposure while fitting into your social marketing strategy.

Rate

I recently used YouTube to research how to shoot HD video screen-cams.  I plugged in a few keywords, and was amazed what I found!  There were several videos on the very topic, walking me through how to do it step by step.

Make it a habit to rate any video you watch to the end. It seem the rating is anonymous and is an opportunity to give feedback to the publisher.  For the helpful video I found, I rated it 5 stars.  Remember, while some may not be video experts, they may have expertise to share so, don’t be too harsh, rate not video quality alone, but the quality of the information shared.

Favorite

For me, I knew I would need that video in the future, or need to share it with someone else at some point.  That is where favoriting comes in.  Like bookmarking, if you like a video and know you’ll refer to it in the future, favorite it by clicking on the link below the video.  This will show up in your recent activity feed, and let the producer know that you found it valuable.

Add A Friend

As with many social networks friending (in one form or another) is a core feature.  This is also available for YouTube users.  At the moment it is a bit of an innocuous button on the left hand side of a YouTube users channel page.  Once a friend request is accepted, you can now message them inside of YouTube. From one of my friend requests: “Becoming friends makes it easier to keep track of what your friends are favoriting, uploading, or rating, and makes it easier to share public or private videos.”

What Are Your Thoughts?

There is much more to YouTube than this and truthfully, these Internet video marketing tips for YouTube are designed to get you moving in the right direction, and only scrape the surface when it comes to using YouTube effectively as a part of a social marketing strategy.

Discussion: Have an account at YouTube?  What are some ways you are using YouTube for marketing?  How have you observed others using it to extend their reach?  Chime in using the comment boxes below.

*Image credits to fczuardi

Internet Video Marketing Tips… 6 Tools to Supercharge Your Video Marketing

Search The Tube: Video Search.

Have you ever wanted to see what videos are out there for a given topic to share with customers, prospects, or friends? This site makes it easy to search YouTube videos. Results pages serve up more videos per page, and you don’t have to click to get more information, as each video thumbnail includes a link to a popup player, video details, and embed codes. More results and less clicks is time saved.

Go to:

http://www.searchthetube.com

Overstream: Video Subtitles.

I’ve been using a classic small business marketing tool in videos for some time. Microsoft Powerpoint is great for several reasons, one being that communicates visually what is being said audibly, reinforcing your message. Additionally, anyone who watches without audio will also get the message. You can also achieve this “double message” effect in your small business marketing videos by using video subtitles. Do you want to reach a foreign language audience, or have a non-English video? Consider subtitles in your video marketing. Overstream gives you that ability and more with an editor to place subtitles on videos hosted on one of the top video hosting sites.

Go to:

http://www.overstream.net

Memories on the Web: Video slideshow.

Internet video marketing tip and an idea…Did you just get back from a tradeshow or a conference? Take all those photos, create a slideshow, and share with your attendees. Conclude your video with a call to action. This software is a free download, and it installs on your PC. You can insert photos, videos, and audio while introducing pan-zoom effect on pictures which you can sync up with the multiple audio tracks it supports. When it’s ready, you can “publish it to your video host with a single mouse click” (according to the site).

Go to:

http://www.codejam.com/slideshow/mow.htm

Overlay.tv: Video Links.

Video marketing is great, but what if you could give viewers the ability to click a link, right on the video? This site allows you to enhance existing videos by enabling video commenting, overlay links (to product or other web pages), as well as consumer products as an optional way to monetize your videos.

Go to:

http://www.overlay.tv

Veeple is another interesting service doing similar things.

Go to:

http://veeple.com

TubePress: Video Galleries for Blog.

Show off YouTube videos on your small business marketing blog. It’s origins are on WordPress, and on their more recently announced a version (Pro, $10) to support other PHP environments. It comes with a widget that plays videos in a popup window, as well as an entire gallery that plays them on the gallery page.

Go to:

http://tubepress.org

If you are an online entrepreneur, or a small business marketing professional serious about online marketing, video is likely part of your efforts (as well it should be). It has never been easier for small businesses to incorporate video into their marketing strategy. The 6 tools presented here as internet video marketing tips are designed to help you save time, while extending both the functionality and reach of your online marketing videos.

Talk back: Was this post useful? Have you used these tools?  Have others in mind?  The discussion begins now.  Share your thoughts below.

Image credit: angelrravelor

In fact, some numbers suggest that roughly 50% of viewers will be drawn to your site because videos are highlighted on the homepage.  Delivering your message through video marketing engages an active audience that is looking for information instead of the traditional passive advertising outlets such as radio, TV and billboards.

In one month alone (March 2008), 74% of the total U.S. Internet audience watched online video making it a powerful channel to drive to your site.  Below are seven easy tips to increase your website traffic with videos so you too can be part of the monthly 11.5 billion online videos viewed.

Include the URL
When developing your video, make sure the site name or URL is within the video.  Whether it is included at the beginning or end, the inclusion will raise awareness of the website or brand, and likely get you more website traffic.

Share!
Take advantage of the video sharing websites to increase exposure such as, YouTube, MySpaceTV, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Blinkx and Revver to name a few.  You are able to add your website link when your video is published which will add to your number of backlinks and it’s well known that link building will also increase your listing on search engine results.

Make it viral
A significant portion of viewership, over 50%, can be driven through distribution of a video by word of mouth.  Constructing a video that people want to pass on to their friends, colleagues and networks can add reach of your video to blogs, forums, wikis and beyond.

Draw attention
One of the easiest ways to increase traffic with video is to title it with a catchy name.  Craft a title that will draw interest, resulting in more website traffic.

Direct the interest
Have an icon or banner on every slide of the video that directs the user to your website, if for a specific product – then have the link go to the product page, just make sure that more information is easily accessible.  If you use a video sharing service that supports annotation, annotate the video with a URL directing them to the page with more information.

Keep it short
Make the average video duration under 3 minutes.  In a fleeting attention day and age, the quicker you can deliver the message in a dynamic and engaging way the more likely the viewer will watch the entire video which can result in more website traffic as well as a better chance of the video being passed on to others.

Specify keywords
Choose specific keywords to describe your video as opposed to general terms – that way your video can target real potential customers instead of those that are only browsing.

Technology today makes it easy for you to create videos on your own or outsource to a video production company, however you go about making your videos just remember the importance of identifying your URL, sharing your video, making it dynamic and appealing, being concise with your messaging and labeling the video so search engines are able to easily optimize the keywords.  These simple tips will help increase website traffic to your site – happy video marketing!

image credits to Patrick Boury