Video is important to you because it’s the fastest way to inexpensively drive targeted traffic to your website. It also allows you to build a close relationship with your prospect. It’s really the next best thing to actually having you sitting in front of your prospect. And video can instantly set you up as an expert in your niche.
You could literally begin today creating videos that could double your business in under 30 days. If you use videos in your online marketing your prospects and customers will love you. If you do not use video in your marketing then your competition will and you will inevitably lose the attention of your prospects and they will follow what your competition is doing.
Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t just create ANY video and expect to have a rush of visitors and orders come flying in. Not even close. Go to YouTube and you will see a lot of videos that have no real purpose or are created in a pathetic attempt to just sell you something, sometimes there is no real purpose and you have to wonder why the author even wasted their time with it. Your videos must have a purpose and must offer real value to the viewer.
Here are the 7 Simple Ways To Create Videos:
- Buy A Flip Video or Use Any Camcorder You May Already Have.
- Know Your Magic Bullet
- Write Out You Bullets. Never Write A Script.
- Record Your Video.
- Edit Your Video.
- Post Your Video.
- Watch Your Traffic Soar And People Buy.
The main ingredient is that you have to have a way to actually record the video right? So step one is to have either a camcorder or my personal favorite, a Flip Video Camera. I love the flip video cameras because they’re very inexpensive and can literally go with you anywhere. You can keep it in your pocket and are a little bit bigger than a credit card and the quality of the video is very good for a camera this small. The Flip Video Recorders come with built in editing software and allow you to easily upload to your PC using the built in USB plug for easy transfer.
When we talk about finding your ‘Magic Bullet’ we’re really talking about the one thing or one technique that you can show to someone and they can implement it and get the desired result that you are talking about. So for example, let’s say you are in the weight loss niche and you have a technique that you know will help someone lose 30 lbs. in 90 days…That technique is your magic bullet. This is what you want to be communicating with your prospects.
And through your video you will be delivering your content and communicating your magic bullet to your prospect. You are best to write out bullet points to talk about during your videos instead of writing a script. Scripts are fine for practice but you do not want to sound like you are reading when creating video messages for your prospects or clients. Be yourself and talk naturally. You can ask a friend or relative to video tape you and deliver your message as if you are talking only to that one person. Do this and your videos will sell themselves.
You should record your videos outside for best results but if you are doing indoor video then you must have the proper lighting. Lighting is critical in creating video and it can be inexpensive if you know how to shop. But if you have a little cash that you can invest in proper video equipment then I would suggest picking up some softboxes. Softboxes are great because they provide bright even lighting.
When it comes to editing your video you have several choices when it comes to software that you have at your disposal. Depending on your operating system here are some of the more popular applications that you can use to create fantastic videos that sell.
For Windows PC’s -
- Camtasia Studio
- Sony Vegas Pro / Movie Studio
For Mac -
- Final Cut Pro / Express
- ScreenFlow
- iMovie
I can’t go into how to use these applications to edit your videos but there are excellent free tutorials that are available that you can watch online that go into great detail on how to use each one of these software applications to edit your videos and produce some killer content that will make your prospects beg to get more. You really want to sell the dream to your prospects and leave them wanting more.
Once your video is edited and ready to be uploaded, you are going to need to do some keyword research on your topic. Keywords are important because it is what you are going to be using to direct your prospects to you and your videos so spending the time to research the right keywords is crucial. Make sure you are using your keyword in the title of your video and also creating titles that encourage the ‘Click’. Don’t just put a bunch of keywords in your title and expect people to click through. Take your time and make a title someone wants to click.
You only have a few second to hook the viewer so you really need to focus on grabbing the viewers attention and keeping it throughout the video while delivering your message. Why should your viewer watch the video all the way through? You have to leave the viewer wanting more and tell them what to do next. You have to “Tell” the viewer what they have to do next. If you want them to opt-in to your newsletter, tell them how to do that. If you want them to buy your product, tell them to buy your product. If you don’t tell them what to do, they will do nothing.
Your next step is to upload the video to a video sharing site. There are many sites that allow you to upload your video content to their networks but for the purpose of this message I am going to focus on YouTube.com. YouTube allows you to upload your videos to their site and share the content with their viewers and across the internet. You can also create a guru channel that you can use to position yourself as an expert.
Once you have created a title that is designed to sell the “Click” and have researched the keyword(s) you are going to target, you simply upload the content to the site and relax. The hard part is over. Soon you will have visitors to your video and if done correctly, you will have created raving fans that want more videos and even more content. With a clear and strong ‘Call-To-Action’ you can have a sales machine running 24/7 on autopilot. Commit to as little as one video a month and you will be well on your way to having a tribe of raving fans and people who know, like, and trust you and see YOU as the expert!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Chris!
As usual, you have provided a “content rich” post that has great, actionable value.
Because of the popularity of video these days, I’m actually focusing a great deal of my business on using video in my marketing. Except I’m having a bit of a problem that I think you can help me with…
I’ve been uploading videos to my html pages, that I make with my Flip camera so that my members can view them, but I also want to make them downloadable so that they can download them and watch them at their leisure, without having to sign on to the Internet, and use my server’s “bandwidth” which you know is not cheap
My question is how do I make the video files (or audio files) downloadable from my html or Blog pages?
If you could help I’d be extremely grateful.
Thanks,
Mike
A wonderful article. I realize video is here, in fact I can’t really believe it isn’t bigger than it is but it will be, for sure, and reading this gives me great ideas. Really makes looking at the future exciting.
Paul
Hey Chris you did it again buddy, thankyou very much for some great content and value
I would like to delve into your thoughts on whether or not you feel that putting a somewhat sub-standard video out there, atleast when it comes to finished quality, would give people an adverse effect i.e. driving subscibers away? This being ballanced against – “don’t procrastinate, work with what you’ve got” ?
On a seperate note could you give me details in layman’s terms on how to make that Follow Me on Twitter addon work please?
Kindest Regards – Graham Price.
Hey Mike,
I haven’t set up my account just yet but I’m going to be moving over to Amazon S3 myself here in the near future. Bob “The Teacher” swears by it so I am going to recommend that to you as well. It’s pennies to host your content and will save you money by hosting all your big files on their servers. So take a look at Amazon S3 when you get the chance.
Then it’s a matter of just linking directly to your content from there and if you wish to let them download any portion of it you can create an html link to that content pointing to the S3 account.
Hope that helps
Hey Paul,
Yeah, video is big and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down.
In fact, it’s huge so the quicker you adapt video into your marketing, the faster you will be able to reap the rewards of using it.
-Chris
Hey Graham,
Here is my experience with video quality. I use a Flip Video Mino and / or my Sony HDD Camcorder and both are great quality in terms of filming. When you go to produce the video for web it does tend to slightly change the quality when I’ve used the Sony but the quality of using the Flip stays the same in most cases because it’s formatted already to 640 x 480 for the web.
To answer your question though, I have to say that there are two things that stand out when it comes to making videos that sell as most important.
1. Lighting.
2. Audio.
Lighting is important because too often you see videos shot where a guy / girl is talking to the camera and you will see huge shadows that make the video look crappy. Shadows are a videos worst nightmare
The second being audio. Now audio is pretty important as well, I’ve watched videos that looked like they did a great job on the production of it and then when they began talking it was garbled and distorted audio and I couldn’t stand to listen to it so I stopped watching their video.
So the audio is important as well. You can have a ‘OK’ video with great audio and it will work just fine but if you have a great video with poor audio then the prospect will shut it off and move on to something else.
I haven’t bought mine yet but I have heard great reviews about the Snowball USB Microphone which is around $125 at Amazon. I bought a professional mic a while back and it finally broke down on me so I’ve been making due with a headset mic for my videos and it works just fine but my next purchase will most likely be the Snowball USB Microphone.
What’s happening with the Twitter button Graham? I’d be more than happy to help if I know what issues you are having.
-Chris
Thanks for the info Chris!
You’re a “Gentleman and a Scholar”
Mike
Hi Chris
I agree that video is the way to go – as I emailed you I am learning Camtasia. Hoping to get some “product” videos done soon for now I am using http://www.ronaldheadley.com/oxford as a place to learn. I have another instructional video that I should be able to get up on this site in a day or two.
Or we could built a UFO looking balloon and pretend to put a kid inside – Oh yes I guess that has already been done.
Ron
I’am glad I found out about your Website “blog” here I’ve been Wanting to Start using Video since it practically Doubles your Conversions and I’ve been Debating which Web editing Software to use Thanks to the info in Your Article I know Which one I want Thanks
Hey Ron,
Yeah that story was crazy wasn’t it. Wow. The stupid things people do to try and get a little time on the air. You’re doing great and I’m glad that you’ve got your site up and running..good job! But short of putting a kid in a balloon I would say you are doing just fine
-Chris
Hey Drew,
Welcome
I own both Mac and PC so I’ve got a LOT of choices but those are the top ones that I personally use for video. They require some learning but it is nothing that you can’t master to a great degree in no time. My buddy Lon Naylor is the Video King and I am hoping to get him guy on the phone or on a webinar and get him to spill everything he knows about creating videos that sell.
-Chris