February 28, 2010 By 3 Comments

Video Marketing: How to Create a Simple Video with Windows Movie Maker

windows movie maker

Creating simple videos using Windows Movie Maker is a highly effective way to market your website and you don’t even need a video camera. A video will engage the audience much better than written content. This is because visitors can watch, listen and read instead of just reading the text version of your content. One of the greatest fears of video marketing is actually creating the video. Put those fears to rest by reading the steps outlined below to quickly and easily create a simple video.

7 steps for creating a simple video with Windows Movie Maker

1. Open Windows Movie Maker

Every PC already has Windows Movie Maker software installed. You should now see a list of movie tasks on the left side of the window. These include capture video, edit movie, fish movie and movie making tips. At the bottom of your screen. You should see a timeline displayed. You will be adding video, audio and text to this time line.

2. Import a picture

Click on the import pictures link to find a beautiful photo that will serve as the background to your video clip. Make sure the photo is not too dark because you will be placing text on top of it. You can use as many photos as you wish for your video however I’ve found that one beautiful photo works fine. It saves time and prevents viewers from being distracted by displaying multiple photos.

If you have 7 points you wish to make in your video, copy and paste the same photo 7 times into your timeline. Add the photo 2 more times for the introduction and end of your video. You should now have a total of 9 photos on the timeline.

3. Add titles to the photos on your timeline

The first photo should contain the main title of your video clip plus your contact information which should include your website address. Add the titles for the main points in the next 7 photos. The last photo should thank your visitors for watching and include your website address or a link to your products and services.

4. Import audio

Music will greatly enhance your video by appealing to your visitors auditory senses. Choose your music wisely. For example, you don’t want to have a person singing or rapping loudly in the background while your visitor is watching the video. It may appeal to a small number of people but will probably turn off most of them.

How to find your music for your video

Rip music from a CD
If you already have a music CD simply pop it into the CD player on your computer. The Windows Media Player will start automatically because it is already installed on your computer. At the top of your screen click on the “Rip” tab. This will give you a drop-down box. Click on format – MP3. The MP3 format provides the best quality music. Also select “bitrate-320Kbps for best quality.

Alternatively, you can also select your own choice of music from iTunes or other music sharing websites.

Import your audio file into Windows Movie Maker by clicking on the capture video — import audio or music link. Browse to the audio file on your computer, click import and it will appear on your screen. Drag the audio file onto your timeline, where it says audio/music.

5. Adjust your timeline

Adjust the video, audio and text on your timeline so that all plays together harmoniously. Play your video several times for optimum performance and to inform and entertain your visitors.

6. Upload your video to YouTube

Save the video first on your computer in case you wish to edit it later. Save your video clip as a .AVI file. This preserves the quality of your video. Open your YouTube account and click the upload button. While the video is uploading fill in the title and description of your video clip. Make sure you include your full website address and an attention getting headline in the title description. In the description box clearly describe what your video is about. In the tag box insert all the main keywords people would use to find your video on YouTube and in the search engines. Be sure to include these keywords in the title and description boxes as well.

7. Promote your video

YouTube provides both the website address to your video plus the embed code for inserting your video within a web page. Share your video within a post or article on your blog or website, social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and/or include a link to it in the resource box at the end of your articles. Submit these articles to the top article directories. This will result in attracting visitors to your website plus build back links and increase search engine traffic.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE report titled:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation

Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: , ,
February 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Video Marketing: Top 7 Ways to Build Your List with Videos

Building a list of subscribers online is not easy unless you’re already recognized as an expert in your field and get huge amounts of traffic to your website. Most online business owners will build their lists slowly one subscriber at a time. One of the best methods of attracting new subscribers is with video marketing.

Videos are effective because you can watch, read and listen at the same time thus it appeals to a wide audience. This is in contrast to text which just appeals to one segment of your subscribers. A good video can captivate your audience better than written content.

Top 7 ways to build your list with video

1. Giveaway

Offer a free video in exchange for signing up to your newsletter. For example create a video on “The Top 10 Ways to Promote Your Website.” When visitors submit their contact information they receive the video.

2. Sales page

Instead of spending hours writing a long sales page, create a video sales page using the same information and include pictures and sound. For example if you were selling skis, you could create an attractive video that included someone skiing down a snow covered mountain. An opt-in form could be placed within the content or as a drop down box.

3. Squeeze page

A squeeze page forces a person to enter their contact information in return for more information. For example use a video to initially attract visitors then promise they’ll receive videos containing more information after they opt in to your list.

4. Article marketing

Article directories allow a resource box at the end of the article to contain a link back to your website. Include a link directly to your video or link to the article on your website or blog containing your video.

Tip
Whenever you write a new article create a video from it as well then distribute it to multiple video sharing websites using Tube Mogul.

5. Forums and blogs

Search for forums and blogs in related niches then leave a comment, answer a question or participate in the conversation. Make sure you include a link to your video at the end your comment.

6. Video Blog

Create a blog that only contains your videos. Make sure you include your opt-in form on the blog to build your list. Alternatively include a video in your blog posts for visitors that prefer to watch rather than read your posts.

7. Social Media

Share your videos (or a link to your videos) on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and other social media sites. This helps build a community around your niche. The speed of your list will grow in proportion to the number of people that view your videos. The more places your video appears on the Net the more people will see it.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE report titled:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation

Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
February 10, 2010 By 4 Comments

How to Make a Simple Video

Why is video marketing so popular these days?
How can you quickly and easily make a simple video?
How can you use videos to drive traffic to your website?

Why is video marketing so popular these days?

Most people grow up watching television or playing video games. Some people prefer to watch and listen rather than read text on a computer screen. In order to market to a wider audience. You need to utilize multiple methods of getting your message across. This.

How to quickly and easily make a simple video

Here’s a simple video I created in Windows Movie Maker by importing one photo, a music clip and writing some headlines. It took less than one hour.

1. Ready your camera

Use a digital camera or a video camera to create your movie. You probably already have a digital camera with video capabilities. At the very least, you can also use your cell phone to shoot a short video. You don’t have to use an expensive video camera to create movies for marketing your business. Your movies don’t have to be super professional to attract an audience.

2. Create the movie

There are several ways to create a movie for your business:

  • Talking head: this is where you create a video of yourself giving a presentation.
  • Screen capture: use screen capture technology such as Camtasia to record your computer screen. You simply goes through the steps on how to do something then record it with the screen capture software.
  • Slide show: create a Power Point sideshow with Microsoft Power Point, or if you don’t have that software use OpenOffice.org. Once the sideshow is finished use Camtasia to record your slides.
  • Windows Movie Maker: This software exists on your computer. To create a simple video, simply import one photo, a music clip and create text outlining your content (see the example video above).

Save the movie in any one of these formats: WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4. The most common format is a Windows media file WMV. Save a copy of the original movie clip to your computer in case you wish to edit it later.

3. Upload to YouTube

You Tube is owned by Google and is not only the most popular video sharing website on the net but also gets the most traffic. Log in to your YouTube account, click the upload button, browse to the video you stored on your computer and upload it. It will take from a few minutes to several hours for your video to appear on the net.

4. Optimize the video for the search engines

Videos often appear in the search engines above other popular websites. To increase the chances of your video appearing in the search engine’s. You must optimize it with keywords that people are searching for. Therefore, after uploading your video edit the title and descriptions by including your main keywords. Write a title attracts the attention of your visitors plus include one or 2 of your main keywords andyour full website address. Your website address will appear as a live link in your video title. Write a description that encapsulates the essence of your video and include your main in it. Name your file using the title of your video e.g. how-to-make-a-simple-video.mov

5. Share the video

The more places your video appears the more traffic you will generate. Create a free account at TubeMogul.com to distribute it to multiple video sharing websites at the same time. Include the video on your website or blog. Write a one or 2 paragraphs to describe the contents of your video. Include your main keywords in these paragraphs. Do the same for the blog post title, links and tags.

The key to marketing your business online using videos is to do it frequently and consistently. For example make a plan to create, upload and market a simple video at least once a week.

Related Articles
Video Marketing – How to Create and Upload Videos to Increase Backlinks, Rankings and Web Traffic

Video Marketing Benefits – Top 10

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
August 8, 2009 By 1 Comment

Video Marketing – How to Create and Upload Videos to Increase Backlinks, Rankings and Web Traffic

Looking for a highly effective way to attract more visitors to your web site?

Online videos are common place now and many marketers are using them to boost their web traffic. My last article discussed the top 10 benefits of video marketing. Let’s now discuss how it can be done.

1. Create your video

Use a video camera (or digital camera if you don’t have one) to record your movie. Make sure your camera is steady so you won’t get jerky motions. Have plenty of light (natural is better) in the background so your subjects are well illuminated.

If you’re creating a slide show using Windows Movie Maker then you don’t even need a camera. Alternatively create your slides in Power point or Open Office Impress then capture screen shots with Camtasia.

2. Editing your video

Before uploading your video for public consumption, check for any errors then edit them or redo the movie until you’re satisfied with it. If using windows movie maker you can edit the movie within it. Save the file in MOV or AVI format

3. Upload your video

Create an account on You Tube or other video sharing sites then upload your video. It will take a few minutes to upload. Be sure to write a descriptive paragraph to attract lots of viewers. Include a link back to your web site. This will help boost your backlinks.

4. Distribute to multiple web sites

Not all people only visit You Tube to watch videos. There are many others which are visited also. Here is a list of the top 10 video sharing web sites:

YouTube
Metacafe
Break
Google Video
Dailymotion
Yahoo! Video
Revver
vidiLife
Stickam
ZippyVideos

Read Where to Upload Your Videos

Tip
Like article submission the key to attracting lots of traffic with videos is to do it consistently. Make a schedule to create and distribute a video once a week to begin with. Once you get faster and more comfortable with it increase your volume. You’ll see a nice boost in backlinks, rankings and web traffic.

*************************************
Attract 1000s of NEW visitors to your website with
“Effective Article Marketing Strategies”

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Maryland Web Site Design

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: , , ,
August 6, 2009 By 1 Comment

Video Marketing Benefits – Top 10


How many videos have you viewed online in the past year?

Video marketing has come of age on the internet and will increase dramatically over the next few years as technology becomes more advanced. Web capable phones such as the iPhone are becoming very popular therefore it’s time for you to start creating videos to attract more visitors and boost online sales before you fall behind.

Top 10 benefits of video marketing

1. Appeal to a larger audience

Not all your visitors prefer to receive content in text format. Many prefer to only watch a video or read, watch and listen at the same time.

2. Avoid duplicate content penalty

The problem with written content is you have to keep writing new articles to increase backlinks, search engine rankings and draw visitors back to your web site. Creating a video out of an article resolves the duplicate content issue because search engines index them differently.

3. Get more traffic

YouTube currently gets more traffic than Google. By producing lots of videos from your articles you capitalize on this opportunity. You can multiply this traffic by uploading your video to other video sharing sites. ie

Yahoo! Video
Google Video
Blip.tv
Facebook
Metacafe
Dailymotion

Read Where to upload your videos

4. Gain top search engine rankings

Currently not many marketers are using videos to get their web site ranked on the first page of the search engine results pages. If you add videos to your marketing mix you can achieve top rankings in your niche.

Example
If you enter “how to drive a car” in the Google search box several of the top search results display videos.

5. Viral marketing

If you create valuable video your visitors love, they’ll share it with there friends on myspace, twitter, facebook, etc. The viral effect of doing this will increase visitors to your web site exponentially.

6. Inexpensive

You can use the software that’s already on your computer to edit, convert and upload videos to video sharing web sites. The only major expense is the video camera however you can just use your digital camera as most include video capture capabilities.

7. Become recognized as an expert

Since there aren’t many web site owners using video to market their web sites, you can easily become recognized as an expert in your field by producing lots of videos.

8. Increase the stickiness of your web site

Most visitors scan the content of a web site spending little time on it unless they find something captivating. Video engages the senses more than text thus keeping them longer on your web site. This helps build long term relationships with your visitors (especially if you make the video personal) which leads to more sales.

9. Branding

Building your brand helps your business to become to “go to” location for information in your field. If you’re the only one in your niche using video marketing it will help brand your business.

10. Build trust

The internet is often seen as an impersonal place where it’s hard to trust anybody as there are online scammers and site owners often don’t provide contact information. A video offers your visitors a very personal touch that helps remove the fear of doing business with you.

Now go ahead and create and upload lots of videos and you’ll see these 10 benefits come into fruition.

*************************************
Attract 1000s of NEW visitors to your website with
“Effective Article Marketing Strategies”

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Maryland Web Site Design

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
July 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Keyword Research Tools for Finding Profitable Keywords

If you don’t target the right keywords when setting up Google AdWords campaigns you won’t achieve a high click through rate or get many conversions. The keywords found from your research should be tightly woven into your ads and landing pages. The key to finding profitable keywords is to build a large list using the tools mentioned below, then select non-competitive keywords that contain a high search volume.

Keyword Research Tools for Finding Profitable Keywords

Google AdWords Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Most AdWords advertisers use this tool however not many will spend time to sifting out alternative keywords with high search volume their competitors are not using. To check what keywords are being used for Google Ads, simply insert your keyword in Google. If you find a keyword with a high search volume with no ads running you may have a winner…only testing will confirm this.

Misspelled keywords

The Google AdWords tool also allows you to find misspelled keywords. Make sure there is a sufficient search volume before using them otherwise you won’t receive many clicks. Your competitors don’t often include misspelled keywords in their campaigns.

Thesaurus

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

This online tool helps you find keyword ideas you may not find with the Google AdWords tool.

WordTracker

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Use this online tool to generate up to 100 related keywords and an estimate of their daily search volume. You’ll discover keywords not found with the Google AdWords Keyword Tool or other keyword research software.

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/

Use amazon to find items related to what you are selling. You’ll often discover keywords you can incorporate into your campaigns.

Ebay Pulse

http://pulse.ebay.com/

This tool provides a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on eBay. It helps you find what products are currently selling well.

Google Trends

http://www.google.com/trends

This tool reflects what keywords people are searching for on a daily basis and shows trends based on regions, cities and languages.

Online Encyclopedias

Online encyclopedias like Britannica and Wikipedia are trusted by readers and provide a valuable resource for finding profitable keywords.

Google Cash Detective

http://www.drostdesigns.com/google-cash-detective-software-review/

This tool enables you to quickly discover keywords top advertisers are using to run profitable AdWords campaigns. You see all the keywords they are bidding on, how long the ads have been running and and what ads and landing pages they are using.

Read the Google Cash Detective Software Review

Finding unique ways to research keywords for your AdWords campaigns helps you avoid using the same keywords as your competitors. Since your way is not as common as the normal way of finding keywords, chances are you’ll have fewer competitors which will assure a better chance of getting more clicks and making more sales.

***********
Need help attracting visitors to your web site with Google AdWords?
Please visit my Search Engine Optimization Services

Filed Under: Google AdWords, Link Popularity, Video Marketing, Web Design Tagged With: ,
December 17, 2008 By 5 Comments

Joomla Video – How to Use Videos on Joomla Web Site

Recently a friend asked how to add your videos to his Joomla web site:

Here are a few ways to add videos:

1. Embed your video

Go to YouTube.com, select your video then copy and paste the embed code (top right) into your page content. The video will play on your Joomla web site using the bandwidth from YouTube.

2. Host video on your own web site

This benefits of doing this is that you don’t have to rely on YouTube (or any other video sharing site to host your videos) and you keep all the visitors on your page without getting distracted by all the other videos and ads that YouTube dishes up. You also don’t need to fear your video will disappear if YouTube closes down or withdraws its videos.

How to host videos on your own Joomla web site:

*Download the mgmedia2 component and bot for Joomla from http://www.needful.de/mgmediabot-demo/
(mgMediaBot displays various multimediafiles in your content)

*Make sure you publish mgmediabot

*Download video from youtube to computer (visit http://www.savevideodownload.com/download.php to learn how to do this)

*Upload video to your media manager and place it inside this folder: images/stories/video using Joomla Explorer component

*Add this line to your page content…

{mgmediabot2}path=images/stories/videos/videodatei.wmv|width=300|height=300{/mgmediabot2}

Replace videodatei.wmv with your own video file.
(PLEASE ensure that no html tags are in this line, this could have some funny side effects)

*Save page

*Preview page to test if video is playing correctly(check with Internet Explorer and Firefox..you may have to download a plugin to view some video files)

**Media files supported (video) rm, rv, wmv, mpg, avi, mov, mp4, flv, swf, (audio) ra, ram, wma, mp3

Notes:

For a popup link:
{mgmediabot2}images/stories/videos/videodatei.wmv|true(Click here to play)|300|300{/mgmediabot2}

Parameters:
{mgmediabot2}[1]|[2]|[3]|[4]{/mgmediabot2}
1. your media file, supported for now (video) rm, rv, wmv, mpg, avi, mov, mp4, flv, swf, (audio) ra, ram, wma, mp3, you can use absolute, relative and full URLs, if you use a subfolder for your joomla Installation and like to display the media inline you have to use only relative or full URLs
2. false for displaying inline, true(Link title) for displaying a link with “Link title” as linktext to popup
3. width of displayarea/popup
4. height of displayarea/popup

MP3: for using multiple mp3s you can enter them like this: file1.mp3;file2.mp3;….

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
November 19, 2008 By 4 Comments

Video Sharing Websites – Pros & Cons

To read the list of Pros please visit Video Sharing WebSites

Cons of Video Sharing Websites

1. Reduced quality

Although you receive free bandwidth from video sharing websites, the quality gets reduced due to compacting the file. What started off being a great looking video may appear fuzzy when uploaded to a free site.

2. Free sites can disappear anytime

There is always the possibility that anyone of these free video sites will disappear anytime. This means your video will be lost forever unless you saved a copy.

3. Lack of flexibility

Once your video clip has been uploaded you’re unable to edit it unless you have the original file.

4. Lots of competing videos

Your video will be competing with videos uploaded by other people. Even if your video gets a top listing initially it’s difficult to remain there because competing videos will knock you off that position. Visitors will get directed to your competitor’s video.

5. Exposure to the public

Many individuals mistakenly believe that their videos will only be seen by members, but that isn’t true. Any internet user, even those without an account, can view your videos on YouTube etc. In fact, it is not uncommon for video viewers to email a YouTube video link to those they know. Therefore, the views that your videos receive may be more than you ever expected or wanted.

6. Attract spam

Because your videos are exposed to public consumption, they may attract spammers that leave spammy comments or harvest the email address on your web site.

If you want to avoid all the cons of uploading your video to free video sharing web sites
I suggest purchasing a copy of VideoWebWizard.

This software enables you to quickly and easily convert your video file to a web ready format. It creates all the files necessary to add video to your web site and automatically creates a redirect URL after the video has finished playing.

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
November 17, 2008 By 4 Comments

Video Sharing Websites – Pros & Cons

Most website owners these days use written content to attract and keep visitors. If you add video your web site it can appeal to a wide range of people and keep them longer on your web page. This helps to presell your products and services.

Pros of uploading to video sharing websites:

1. Easy to upload

After creating an account you simply click the upload button, browse to the video file on your computer then save it. Within a few minutes (or sometimes hours) your video will be live.

2. Free

There is no cost to upload your video to as many video sharing websites as you like. The only cost is the time it takes to create accounts for each video sharing website, optimize your videos and upload them.

3. No bandwidth costs

Videos consume huge amounts of bandwidth. If many people view your video at the same time the bandwidth needs and costs increase dramatically. Free video sharing sites take care of all your bandwidth needs although most of them limit the length of your videos.

4. Easy to embed html code

YouTube(and others) provides the html code to embed in your web page. Simply copy the html code they provide with the upload then and paste it where the video should be displayed on the page. Make sure you save the page then upload it to your web server for testing.

Have you ever wondered how you can put VIDEO on your website?

If you want to avoid all the cons of uploading your video to free video sharing web sites I suggest purchasing a copy of videowebwizard.

1) Multiple Video Conversion – Convert multiple videos all at once

2) 14 Video Players – Choose from 14 different professional video player styles

3) 13 Video Skins – Spice up your video with any of the 13 video skins included

4) Brand Your Video – Overlay a business logo, copyright notice, or other image on top of your video

5) 10 Web Page Templates – Choose from 10 web page templates to put your video on

6) Redirect To URL – Have your viewers automatically redirected to any link (for example, an order page or affiliate link) immediately after your video ends

7) Put Video On An Existing Page – Place any output video on a web page you already have set up

Download your copy of VideoWebWizard 2.0 right now!

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: ,
November 16, 2008 By 2 Comments

Video Marketing – Research the Best Keywords Using the Google AdWords Tool – Part 2

To read Part 1 please visit: Video Marketing and Keyword Research

3. Download your keyword results

You can download your keyword results into an excel spreadsheet. This makes it easier to sort the keywords you want to use plus you can refer back to this file when conducting future keyword research.

4. Add the keywords to your video

Add your targeted keywords to the title, description and tags of your video. Make sure you include your web site URL at the beginning of your description. Use the full URL (http://www.domain.com) so it will be a live link.

5. Provide a call to action

The purpose of your video is to direct visitors to your web site where they purchase a product, service or subscribe to your opt-in page. Include your call to action at the end of the video that also displays your web site address.

6. Embed the video in your web page.

YouTube provides the code for you to display your video on a web page. Write an article on the same
topic as your video and include the video in the text. This will attract visitors to your video because many of them prefer to watch rather than read the content. Use the keywords in your article to attract search engine spiders to it.

7. Repeat your keyword research

Whenever you create a video on a new topic or a different keyword repeat the steps above. The popularity of your keywords may also change from month to month. Even if you already have completed the research for a specific keyword last month do it again next month. This will help you to keep up with search engines changes and stay ahead of your competition.

Attract 1000s of NEW visitors to your website with

“Effective Article Marketing Strategies”

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Maryland WebSite Design

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,
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