How To Generate Web Site Traffic With Videos

No one can deny the rapid growth of videos online. Increasingly these short clips are used by internet marketers to lead new traffic to their websites or blogs, to advertise their products and to increase sales. While many marketers have jumped into videos with both feet, those with less technical abilities are often confused as to how and why videos might be used. They are hesitant to take the time to learn how to produce their own videos and distribute them when they aren't sure how videos can be used for their benefit.

How can you use videos? How can you find a way to fit video promotions into the plans for your site or product? What can adding video to your business plan do for you?

1. Videos are a source of free website traffic. Posting simple videos about your product, writing service, etc, you can refer to your site in the video as well as displaying the url of your site at the beginning and end of the video as active links.

2. Videos are great for pre-selling. Use them to create interest and explain why your product is useful or fun to use. Talk about the problem your product solves using examples from real people.

3. Increase sales of your product. Are people using your product successfully? Great! Telling about those successes can increase your sales drastically. Make a video review by discussing your product with a satisfied customer.

4. Use videos to provide information. Instead of pages of written instructions of how to use your product, make a video composed of screen shots that leads the user step by step through the setup process and one that shows how to use the product to its maximum capability. Buyers hate to wade through page after page of instructions - draw them a picture.

5. Grow your email lists using videos by adding video to your squeeze page. This will be an ad for your product or service that gives just enough information to make the viewer want to know more. Learning more is easy - they just enter their email address in the form below the video on that page and are enrolled in your autoresponder sequence. Use a video ad submitted to various video sites to lead viewers to that video squeeze page.

Except for informational/training videos perhaps, keep your videos short, interesting and to the point to get the most benefit from them.

Perhaps no method of promoting websites and products has exploded as quickly as video marketing.. It's easy to attribute the rapid rise of video popularity to sites like YouTube - but the ease of adding a video to YouTube is only part of the story.

Videos work! No page of printed text can compare with the experience of the personal interaction of a video. The person on the videos is talking straight to you. His speech, his appearance, and the info he's giving - combine to present him as a "real" person.

The most valuable skill for a marketer who is making videos to promote his site or product isn't technical ability - it's the ability to speak directly to an audience, to explain yourself and your product without appearing to be too slick or practiced. Finding that balance of personality and presentation takes practice and testing.

Video promotion is no longer in its infancy, but only now are marketers realizing the power of this promotional tool. If you've spent any time on YouTube (and who hasn't?) you've seen the wide range of video possibilities. Slapstick comedy, rambling opinions, and cute pet antics - these led the way. Marketers quickly noticed that the most entertaining of these videos were mentioned and linked on forums, blogs and sites, in emails sent to mailing lists, etc. This is free advertising multiplies views to the popular videos often causing the people filmed to become minor celebrities.

Applying video to internet marketing promotions was a logical step. Leading marketers advise using videos to "go viral" with your site/product promotions while those new to videos found the viral aspect wasn't easy to achieve. "Viral" has a mind of its own and depends on the audience to identify what will be popular and what won't.

To create effective videos you need either a performance so unexpected that it grabs the imagination of your audience - or you need a story board that has a plan to build interest through your production.

How many watched Paul Potts of UK Pop Idol fame last year? A bit overweight, awkward and with bad teeth, this British laborer answered questions in a soft voice and then began his performance. The pure operatic tenor that followed sent chills up the spine of those listening. The surprise factor of that video made it one of the most viewed videos on YouTube for a time.

Most of us don't have a talent that will awe our audience so we have to rely on what we say to catch and keep the viewer's attention. As few of us have the ability to simply sit in front of a camera and "wing it" while also covering the important points of our promotion, it's best to create an outline or story board, of the facts you want to convey.

Creating a full script isn't necessary and may easily yield a boring video that no one wants to watch. Best to memorize the high points you want to present and the order you will talk about them. Remember videos can be redone and edited - there is no reason to be nervous when facing your own camera!

Creating a how to video might be the most logical way for a video newbie to begin as there are defined steps and the video may be of the process you are describing rather than you talking to a camera.

Submitting videos to YouTube is commonplace yet there are other sites you can submit to as well. Some smaller video sites cater to a spefic niche and can be great traffic generators for search engine positioning. You will need to register to each video site you plan to use, so you will be setting up numerous accounts.

An easy way to streamline the setup of these accounts is to use one unique username and password for all. Some of them require a number to be included with alphabetic characters in passwords, so include a couple number in the password you will use. There is little security risk with this type of site so using the same username and password for all the accounts will speed the signup process and you'll need to write down or remember only one set of registration data.

You will be using email to submit your videos, to confirm your submission and for communications you get about the videos.

Best practice is to set up two new email accounts. One will be used only to submit your videos and confirm the submissions while the other is designated for any communications you received about the videos.

With the email accounts in place you are ready to set up your account registrations with the various video sites. The more accounts you set up and sites you submit your videos to, the better your chances of high search engine ranking. These accounts must be registered only once and can be used again and again as you submit more videos.

After filling all the requested information, you will be sent a confirmation email. Once you've click the "confirm" link in that communication, your account is ready to go.

You are ready to submit your video by following the instructions of each video site. Before starting, you will need a title, a description, the URL for your site, blog or promotional page and tags. Type these onto a notepad and use them for each submission of that video. In your description, use your keyword phrases and end the description with the url that is your destination. This is the url for the site or sales pages that you want video viewers to go to.

Most submission sites will ask you if you want to allow comments for your video. This is a personal choice but you should realize that allowing comments increases your email load.

We've all seen them - videos of people who jumped in front of a camera to star in their own film presentation. There are those who can talk to a camera, get their points across and entertain at the same time. There are others who can capture attention even with a stupid stunt.

Most of us require a bit more planning to create an effective video ad and a few of us would be better served to use images in our videos and stay behind the camera at all times. A few reasons are obvious. If you are quite overweight, appearing in a video advertising a weight loss product clearly may not be too effective. If you are sixteen you might have a credibility problem presenting your ebook about "family budgets".

Of course you should avoid glaring discrepancies such as the ones above - but you do need to exercise both control and common sense in how you present yourself online. This has become a more critical element as videos have begun to grow in popularity - and competition.

When appearing in your own production find a balance between posing for your own photo shoot as a model and appearing as an unshaven guy lounging at home. Your aim is to appeal to your audience as someone they will identify with. As your audience may be a large and varied one the best path is to avoid extremes.

In general:

1. Dressing in Sunday best and reading a prepared script can turn your presentation into a boring lecture.

2. Slouching in a torn t-shirt with uncombed hair in the midst of a cluttered background doesn't scream "successful"

Identify your target market and dress in a way that person would see as "like me". Unless you are advertising fitness equipment, keep your shirt on. If you are promoting a serious product, keep the cleavage to a minimum.

Pay attention to your speech patterns. "umm", "ah" and "like" are not adjectives and profanity is guaranteed to offend some viewers. Practice your video-speak to focus your viewers on the features of your product rather than on stumbling speech patterns. If you have nervous habits of sniffing, snorting or coughing - work through them before turning on the camera.

A few things to avoid when promoting with video:

inside jokes or comments to a person off camera (makes your viewer feel left out)

suggestive remarks

use of trite phrases ("deja vu all over again" didn't make sense the first time)

inserting your personal opinions either for or against religion or political figures

Finally, pay close attention to the pacing of your speech. If you appear bored, what does that say about your product? Too much forced excitement in a loud voice can be grating to someone watching in the quiet of his home.

Give your video ad a chance to shine by avoiding extremes in appearance and speech and keeping tightly focused on your goal for this film.

Remember that you may be the actor in your video - but your product is the star.

A good video promotion is nothing but an advertisement. It's short, interesting and covers the major points of your product. You are providing a solution for a problem, answering a question, or giving information about a popular topic. The goal of your short video is simple - to create enough interest that the viewer will click on the link to your site or sales page.

The first step is to choose a title and plan what you will use as the opening statement or feature of your film. The title is crucial as that is what will grab the viewer's attention. Viewers are drawn to titles that indicate they can benefit from listening to what you have to say. It's crucial that the title match the content of the video - and the best way to start is by researching keyword phrases for the topic.

The first few seconds of the actual video will determine whether the visitor is further drawn into your ad or blows you off by clicking out of the video immediately. Don't dawdle around at the beginning of your presentation - present the problem immediately and in a way that lets the viewer know that YOU have the best solution.

An excellent way to present the problem in the first sentence is to ask a question:

Does your dog escape by climbing the fence?

Hint at the solution:

Keeping Rover in his own backyard is easier than you think. In this case you might also remind the viewer of the

dangers to a pet who has escaped.

Now hit on some "reality" aspects of the problem by briefly mentioning some "common" solutions offered by others in a "well, you could try this" sort of way:

expensive customized fences

electric shock

barbed wire

keeping the dog tied up

Expand on the problem and discount the other solutions:

discomfort of the dog

potential injury

Present your solution as the "best way".

Protect your pet by stopping fence climbing easily, inexpensively and humanely.

Hit your product hard:

Use short, powerful sentences to describe "fast" "efficient" "attractive" "no tools required" "everything you need..."

Now tell the viewer what to do. If you've done a good job executing the video to this point - viewers with this problem are ready to go where you send them. Send them off to your sales pages with instructions to "get RoverStop now" or to your opt in page for "more info about RoverStop".

Use one last call to action on your closing video page - "Go to RoverStop Now"

Of course, there are finer points to all the video components listed above that will increase your views and your results. The basics don't change - but there are methods that make them even more powerful.