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Video Marketing: How To Promote Your Business Online With Video

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Video Marketing: How To Promote Your Business Online With Video

Video is one of the most powerful ways to promote your business online. With billions of videos being viewed on dozens of websites each day, a business which takes advantage of this medium is setting themselves up for success.

The following article will help guide businesses through various ways to can create videos, distribute them on the web and promote businesses.

Step 1: Invest in proper video equipment

Before running off and buying a video camera worth thousands of dollars, consider the following: the majority of all videos viewed on the web are shot on low quality web cams. This push of amateur video shows that people not only enjoy creating videos but billions are watching them every single day.

Video cameras are relatively cheap and can be bought under 0. It’s best to aim for an HD video camera which will give businesses the best bang for their buck as the web continues to transition to high definition video.

Besides the video camera, the only other items that would be required to begin creating videos to promote a business is a microphone and video editing software.

A simple computer microphone will suffice but the extra money to invest toward a wireless microphone is always the better choice.

Likewise, there are many free video editing software packages available on the web and even bundled within most operating systems these days. If professional quality is the goal, however, it would be worthwhile to invest in video editing software packages such as Sony Vegas, Final Cut Pro or Adobe Audition.

Other than these three items, a business should now have all the essential items they need to begin creating videos for the web to promote their business.

Step 2: Plan out the video content

The most crucial part of creating great videos to promote a business comes down to the content. In the end, web users don’t want to watch overly promotional videos where businesses talk about themselves all day – they want videos with value, something they can learn from, be entertained or learn more about a product or service.

The three best types of videos on the web are:

How-To’s

Reviews

Product/Service Overviews

In essence, people generally want to not only be entertained but to learn more about the products and services that the business offers. To capture this peak of interest, each product or service should have its own video.

One additional tip when creating promotional videos for businesses is to ask the current customers what they’d like to see.

Many customers will provide ample feedback on what additional information they would like to learn through videos. Use this opportunity to research what drives people to buy products and then craft the videos to these specifications.

Step 3: Promote the videos

Once the videos have been created it’s time to put them on the web. Because of the high demand for high definition, videos should be rendered out in the best quality video and sound.

After the video has been finalized, it’s time to upload it to the web. The three best places to upload promotional business videos are:

Youtube

Vimeo

Internal video (hosted on the business website)

Without a doubt, Youtube is hands down the best location for business videos. With billions of videos watched every day, Youtube commands the lion share of the market. Additionally, Youtube comes with many great features for promoting videos through advertising and placement.

One excellent side benefit for Youtube is the rapid indexing of videos. Where a keyword for an advertising campaign could costs dollars on a click, a well search engine optimized video (through titles, description and tagging) can reach the front page of search engines such as Google – this is free traffic!

There are also services such as TubeMogul which help distribute the video across the web, absolutely free,

The one thing every business should do with their video is to always include a link back to the website within the description box. If a link cannot be added, be sure to brand each video with the businesses logo and website url.

Why video rocks for promoting businesses

Video creates passion and passion sells. Video is great for triggering emotional responses in its viewers. Unlike text, a picture can convey many emotions and triggers which compel the viewer to click through and visit the website.

With enough time and effort creating a video for each product or service, free traffic will pour into the website. Not only will a business benefit from traffic but they will be able to build an authority within their market through great content.

Video is the next big thing for promoting businesses online – don’t miss out on this opportunity!

Written by Murlu
Hey! I’m a full time web designer/product developer, freelance writer and blogger – let me know how I can help you in your own online career.

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Technorati Tags: business, marketing, online, Promote, Video

Filed Under: Internet Marketing Tagged With: business, marketing, online, Promote, Video

Create Online Videos: How to Record Your First Youtube Video With Free Software

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Create Online Videos: How to Record Your First Youtube Video With Free Software

Whether you are a blogger, an affiliate marketer, or run an online business, you can no longer ignore the importance of online videos. Thousands of videos are being uploaded to YouTube and other video-sharing websites daily. YouTube gets millions of hits daily and is the second most popular online search engine.

You can use videos to attract visitors to your blog, build traffic, and boost sales of your products and services. You can upload video descriptions and reviews of your products to stand out from your competition and increase your online sales. If you wish to develop a competitive edge, you have to learn to create your own videos.

Creating your own videos has now become very simple. You can create professional-looking videos even if you do not have any technical expertise or expensive equipment. The only hardware you require is your computer, a web camera and a microphone. You don’t need any expensive software either. You can record and edit your videos using Windows Movie Maker, which comes free with Windows XP and later versions. Movie Maker is so easy to use that someone with basic computer knowledge can quickly learn to use it to make their own videos.

If you are recording your first video, follow the 12 steps given below to record your first video.

1. Connect your web camera to the USB port of your computer, turn it on and ensure that it is working properly. (Make sure you install the web camera software first.)

2. Next, connect your microphone to another USB port of your computer.

3. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click on Windows Movie Maker to open it (Figure 1).

4. Click Capture from videodevice option, which will open the Video Capture Wizard. (“Capture from video device” means to record audio, video, or still images as digital data in a computer file.)

5. Select your web camera and microphone and select the Microphone option in the Audio Input Source box.

Next, adjust the volume of your microphone by moving the Input levelslider.

(If the sound of your video is not loud enough, you can raise the input level and if it is too loud, you can set it to a lower level.)

Finally, click on the Configure button, which will take you to the Configure Video Capture Device dialog box.

6. Click on the Video Settings button, which will display the Properties dialog box.

Change Output Size using the drop down menu to 640 x 480 (pixels).

Next, set Frame Rate to 30.00 (frames per second), which is the highest possible setting.

Click on Apply and OK, which will close the Properties dialog box.

Finally, click on Close, to close the Configure Video Capture Device dialog box and return to the Video Capture Wizard window.

7. Click on the Next button.

In this window, enter a file name and then choose a location for your video using the Browse button. (For example, you can enter Video1 as the file nameand save it to My Videos.)

Click on the Next button.

8. In this window, you can change the settings of your video, which will determine the quality and size of your video file.

Select Other Settings and in the drop-down menu, select Video for LAN (1.0 Mbps), which is preferable if you want to upload your video to YouTube.

Once you do this, the setting details of your video will be summarized as follows:

File type: Windows Media Video (WMV)

Bit rate: 1.0 Mbps

(A higher bit rate results in higher-quality video with smoother motion.

However, when the bit rate increases, so does the video file size.)

Display size: 640 x 480 pixels

(The first number indicates the width of the video and the second number the height.)

Frames per second: 30

(A higher number or frames per second makes the motion of objects or persons in your video appear smoother.)

Video file size: Each minute of video with this setting will consume 7 MB

(Estimated amount of disk space consumed by each minute of your video.)

9. Click on the Next button, which opens the Capture Video window, where you can start recording your video.

This window has Start Capture and Stop Capture buttons.

To the right of these buttons, there is a Preview monitor, where you can watch your video while you are recording it.

At the bottom of this window, there are three additional options.

a. Create clip when wizard finishes (select this option)

This option specifies whether the captured video is divided into clips when it is saved and imported into Windows Movie Maker. Creating clips separates captured video into manageable sizes. If you don’t select this option, the video appears as one large clip when you finish capturing.

b. Mute speakers (do not select this option)

This option specifies that you want to mute the speakers that are connected to the audio card on your computer.

c.Capture time limit (select this option and set a time limit)

If this box is selected, capturing stops automatically at the specified time limit. Time is displayed in the form of hours:minutes(h:mm). So, if you want to set a maximum time limit of five minutes, type 0:05 in the box.

10. Click on the Start Capture button.

This is when you actually start recording your first video.

After you finish, click on the Stop Capture button to stop the recording.

The Capture Video window gives details of the length of your video, the size of your video file and the estimated disk space available on your computer hard disk during the recording.

11. Finally, click the Finish button, which will take you to a new window.

12. Here, you will see your video file being imported into a collection area, where you can edit it later. Windows Movie Maker also saves your video file in the location that you specified earlier (Video1.wmv in My Videos).

Click this file and confirm that it is playing properly.

Congratulations, you have successfully recorded your first video! Don’t worry if it’s not prefect. You can record it again and again using the same procedure until you are satisfied. Alternatively, you can remove those mistakes later when you edit your video in Movie Maker. The more you practice, the easier it will become. Once you are satisfied with the quality of your video, you can upload it to YouTube and embed it in your blog or website, if you wish.

Additional notes:

If your computer has Windows Vista instead of Windows XP, you will find that the Capture from video device option is missing in the Windows Movie Maker program. Don’t worry, you can download a free software program called AMCap (amcap.en.softonic.com) and use it to record your video. Once you have recorded it, you can edit your video in Windows Movie Maker.

Another option to record your video is to use your web camera software.

A third option is to use Avidemux (avidemux.sourceforge.net), a free open-source program that works with Windows as well as on Linux and Macintosh computers.

Written by R. K. Shetty
I am a writer, editor and blogger.

How Web Video Marketing Grows Your at Home Business

June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

How Web Video Marketing Grows Your at Home Business

Instead of presenting your web content in text and images, you make your voice heard with videos. Internet marketing is cheaper than TV commercials. Saving you thousands of dollars. Also internet users can view your video many times. The cost of promoting your video on search engines is not much compared to the traffic it will generate.

Web video marketingstarted with small entrepreneurs way back in early 1990.Today we have seen big players providing platforms for internet video hosting. There is no doubt that the pioneers of internet marketing reaped thousands if not millions of dollars back then. Unlike the early days, there are hundreds of websites which offer free video hosting. Some of these sites pay you a sum of money if your video is generating a lot of views.

Starters will find free hosting attractive. Especially for web video marketing which costs a lot of money. The major costs come from the size of bandwidth and space needed for video hosting. Videos take a lot of space and time to load. That is why millions of web masters flock to sites like YouTube. The hosting is free. Web masters will spend time promoting their videos instead of worrying about server costs.

Some established businesses prefer to go for paid hosting. Paid web video marketing and hosting brings quick results.Yes, if you really want to be ahead of the pack, you have to pay. Entrepreneurs must be careful when going for paid services. The internet is full of hype and scams. You may find that some of these paid services are useless and not different from free services. If you subscribe for a good hosting service, chances are you will also get free marketing tools and favours.

Resources for web video marketing can be found on web master sites like SitePoint and SEO Black Hat. You will also find thousands of sites and forums where valuable marketing tips are shared. There is a lot of open source software like video makers, video editors, html editors and video uploaders.Depending on which site you join, you can also get digital information and eBooks on internet marketing.

Branding your product is also important in web video marketing. It has been proved that branding improves sales. A small entrepreneur may broadcast a good video, but people may quickly forget about it if it’s not branded. When people associate a product with a brand, it is easy for them to type that name in search engines.Facebook provides business people and companies a special page for displaying their brand. These pages attract a lot of visitors who want to be updated when a new product is released. These visitors are loyal to the brand. Members of the brand group range from a few thousand to millions depending on the popularity of the brand or owner.

If you still don’t know about social marketing, your web video marketing plan will hit a wall. A clever online marketer should know that it is no longer an option to advertise on social networks. Social networks attract a large portion of web surfers. Indeed, Facebook and MySpace have a population larger than EBay. It is easy to sell on EBay but difficult to sell on social networks like Facebook.A lot of experimenting is being done to tap this market. A web marketer who penetrates this market is likely to find gold.

Written by dtrance
Entrepreneur,QS Technician,Application Developer,Marketing Coordinator, Editorial Administrator

What is the most expensive to be produced video game ever created?

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Question by John C: What is the most expensive to be produced video game ever created?
They talk about how much movies cost to make, how much revenue they brought in, and what there net profits were all the time.

I wonder what the most amount of money ever spent on making a video game was, and which video game it was.

Note, I am talking about the game itself – the software and everything that went into a particular one (not counting marketing/advertising/packaging) – just the production of the game. And I am not talking about game consoles or hardware. Just the game.

Best answer:

Answer by grievous_cis
I believe the game was Steel Battalion it cost around $ 80 buck’s that’s alot for a game!

Add your own answer in the comments!

Technorati Tags: created, Ever, Expensive, game, Video