You Tube/Video hints and tips

[schampio]

I have been spending a lot of time recently working and promoting videos online. I have also noticed that there are quite a few questions here in the forum regarding videos, technology and processes.

I was just wondering if it would be useful if I posted regular tips here in the forum and if so what type of information is needed?

Kind regards

 

[sweetpromotions]

Hi there,

I always think that posting information that will help people with their business is away good news. Do people not think?

I have also been looking into promoting my business using YouTube Videos.

 

[Online Business Video]

Good idea, and I'll chip in too where I can.


Paul

 

[sweetpromotions]

Good idea, and I'll chip in too where I can.


Paul

Hi Guys,

If you want to write an article on how to promote a video and do a case study, I have a video would love to know how to promote the proper way

 

[Online Business Video]

... no probs.when you're ready to share your video, we'll see what we can do.

Paul

 

[Emcar Vending]

Here's one tip, the only one I know.

Make sure the first thing in the details section of your video is a link to your site. It needs to be the full link including http:// to make it clickable. If you don't use http:// it will only show as text.

 

[Online Business Video]

:|Everyone is talking about it but guys.........where are the ideas and tips??????

Fair enough , although I was waiting for supremestressballs to tell us about his (her) specific video so that I could start with that.... if someone posted "how do I improve my search rankings" for example, there's already a plethora of generic guidance on here and elsewhere. - Like website SEO generally, a web video needs to be promoted to be effective and to get seen. Although it's slightly different with promoting a video online - there's still tips and tricks which can 'help' and optimising (specifically) business video is crucial if any company wants their video to produce a ROI.

I think the first thing that any company needs to decide is what their video is for and where they want it seen? By that I mean, is it a straight forward sales message, is it educational or a 'how to' instructional type - is it designed purely to raise brand awareness , to convert sales or, to drive traffic directly to a company website. Or all of the above. Then, a company can make an informed decision about where & how it's promoted.
Emcar vending included a good initial tip, but it does work on the presumtion (as I read it) that You tube should be used. Yes it's free and it's the second largest search engine after the big G etc, but there are drawbacks. Is it the best place to host your video to promote your business? Yes it works for some, yet the sheer volumes of video on there can make it difficult to get seen. Youtube for instance, can be a video graveyard for small business videos - with poor viewing figures, and of course, there's the distraction element...very easy to get sidetracked by other video content -maybe even by a competitors video!

At my company for instance, we take the view that people go to Youtube etc primarily for entertainment, (research perhaps too), but for commercial decision making, i.e in actual buying mode, or to really hone in on what they're after - they visit Google etc. I doubt many would argue with that.
So if you've invested a lot of time and perhaps money in a new business video , the only important consideration in my view, is will it drive more traffic to your website , engage customers in a better way & produce more business/ add to the bottom line. If it doesn't, (and to put it bluntly), it's simply a wishfull vanity project that won't really benefit a business at all.

Notwithstanding the benefits of having video content on a website, which are numerous, I believe that the only good business video is the video that gets seen, be it on a website directly or via a search engine. And of course, you won't get much of the first, if the second doesn't produce.

So to sum up: how you promote your business video depends what you want it to achieve for you. Only then really, can you can decide how to promote it.

There you go. More soon!

Paul

 

[Emcar Vending]

I agree with you that the video has to be visible. I'm relatively new to video promotion, and am bimbling in the dark to an extent. I have noticed that Youtube videos feature well in Google searches. Part of the description for the video is also displayed.

This led me to believe that putting useful videos on Youtube could get them seen even if they are for business, not entertainment.

Your web address will show in the description even if not clickable. if the video and description are engaging enough to get a click from Google, it's just one more click to your site.

 

[Online Business Video]

I agree with you that the video has to be visible. I'm relatively new to video promotion, and am bimbling in the dark to an extent. I have noticed that Youtube videos feature well in Google searches. Part of the description for the video is also displayed.

This led me to believe that putting useful videos on Youtube could get them seen even if they are for business, not entertainment.

Your web address will show in the description even if not clickable. if the video and description are engaging enough to get a click from Google, it's just one more click to your site.

That's true, some do. Most don't. There are simply too many vids on Youtube to include, so it's a bit of a lottery for most people to find themselves in Google's blended searches.
And of course, as you say, the click through takes the visitor to Youtube, so essentially your video is driving traffic to Youtube! Then they have to click again... (but only if the video poster has correctly formatted their link as you referred to in your earlier post!).
Of course, ignorance is bliss here - you'll never know how many customers you've may have lost to rival company's videos, people getting distracted by other videos, pop up link ads, associated banner adverts etc etc.
Much better to have traffic directly to your site I think.
But as I said before, YT is free and it suits some. Depends what you want to achieve from a business video.

Paul

 

[DomainsRegistrar]

Videos like this http://video214.com/play/EDdb7RiL4141G9f0i1hT1w/s/dark we produce for our clients to assist in their search marketing.
The main thing I think is, yes of course the quality but also to be relevantly titled.

 

[sweetpromotions]

Name is Doug (male) and sorry about that the delay in getting my video here for tips and advice and to write about how it should be done

video214.com/play/CswA0pbQCg8pY7IO0f1uwQ/s/dark

Look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions, as I think it will need some work!

 

[trishmullen]

I have many videos, mainly 'how to' type ones up there at You Tube. Before making a video have some kind of idea what it is you want it to be about. Is it a 'how to' - i.e. if you're a plumber you may want to make a short video about 'replacing a tap washer' or something. Not only are you showing someone how to do something but it's a great opportunity for you to get your business out there. So how do you do that?

First thing is to go to the Google Keyword Tool - you want to know the kind of search terms people would be putting in the search engine to find out how to 'fix a washer'

I did a quick search and include the image here"

Your main aim is to try and get your video on the first page of you Tube when people type in a specific search term. That is why 'keyword research' should not be rushed as it is crucial to your success. The alternative is you could pay for advertising but being Scottish, I'm all about getting things for FREE

in the You Tube description box, the very first thing before you talk about what the video is about is to include the link straight back to your website. Therefore your You Tube description will look like something like this - http://yourwebsite.com - have you struggled to fix a dripping tap, fed up paying expensive bills for what should be an easy job????? etc, etc

This video should then be embedded in your website and that's where you should send people to view your video. It's up there at You Tube to host for you but the main aim always, should be to get people back to your site. If you have control over your website, it is really easy to install a video in there but if not then your web developer could do it for you. If you have a WordPress site, and want help in doing this just give me a shout.

Back to You Tube; you then include tags in your video and there is a space to do this called 'Tags' - these are the search terms you think (know because you've used the Google keyword tool!!!) and you include them. These tags (keywords) are what will get your video ranking high in You Tube.

I put another video up today and within 8 hours, it has number 2 slot in You Tube. It only has 2 views so far so early days, but it's using the keywords that got it up there!

Hope this helps and I'm a great believer in paying forward; if you know how to do something, teach others......you may not see an immediate benefit but your website is up there at You Tube (owned by Google) and you are getting a great backlink back to your site which again, is loved by the search engines and will boost your own website rankings.

All the best,

Trish

PS - here's someone who's done just that - I have no connection with this video, or the link or anything, it's here to add some value to this thread only - The search term I used in Google was 'how to replace a tap washer'

 

[Online Business Video]

Morning all, some great tips from Trish there on how to optimise a video for Youtube and I agree with most of what she says. Got there before me! I don't have a lot more to add apart from perhaps including some more description about a video after the link domain.

Of course, the example at the end of Trish's post is a case in point of what I was highlighting before - yes the video ranks well in google and yes it has a lot of views, however, as with any 'advertising based' free video sites such as these, such as videojug / youtube as Trish has highlighted, there is a 'price' to pay.
-one has to sit through the initial video advert before getting to the video content that you're after (how many visitors will click elsewhere without even watching the actual tap leak video).
-there are numerous rival videos to the right which viewers can click on.
-many other ads to distract a viewers attention.
I could go on.
So there's 2 options here for video presentation. Taking Trish's plumbing as an example, would it be more profitable for a plumbing business to have a successful generic worldwide video on fixing leaky taps complete with rival videos and splash adverts everywhere or, a highly
targeted video, directly linking to their own website (straight from Google) which is well placed for that plumber's relevant keyword search terms? Well you decide. I suppose it's horses for courses. At my company for instance, we give the customer the choice. The first option is obviously free, the second can cost from a little as £20 per month. Which solution will generate more real enquiries and be more profitable to the plumber's bottom line? Food for thought....

Hi Doug & Domainsregistrar, just looked at your videos. (They're both hosted on exactly the same site which is uncanny... are you two related??) I never criticise other peoples work , but here's my take - I'm sure others may have opinions too. Firstly, I'm not a great fan of these animoto style videos myself, I tend to glaze over after about 10 seconds and click elswhere. To my mind, they all seem the same and don't really add any extra value to my search experience - and don't really persuade me to take a further related action. But , as I'm in the video business, it may just be because I'm just jaded as I've seen so many! But for what they are and the budget they cost, I'm sure they work for some.
Domainsregistrar, your video seems fine, you've got some text in there too and it gets the message across well enough. I don't think it is a great sales message myself, but if that's not what you're after then that's fine. Doug, I think you at least need to put in some text to tell viewers at least about the options for your products. But most importantly of all you need a call to action!!! There isn't one. Tell viewers what to do, how to contact you, special promotion price...whatever, but make it work for you to produce enquiries / sales.

One other point re both your videos (and here's another top video tip to start the day). Always try to add a voiceover/narration , pro if possible, (at my comp we do this of course!). Why? well contrary to what some posters have said elswhere, Youtube and ergo Google can see inside video content to a degree. Want proof? Check out many vids on Youtube -you'll notice a cc option on the transport bar at the bottom of the video. This is where you can transcibe the audio narration into text. (Doesn't always return great results as some of the transcription can be a bit 'off', but I'm informed the technology is improving all the time). And why is this important I hear you ask? Well Youtube can use this data to it help to rank the relevancy and content of your video. Good eh!

Paul

 

[DomainsRegistrar]

Thank you, for that. As correctly stated this is not a sales video. We produce them to assist with general web presense and SEO.

 

[hdwedj32]

This is a good thread.

I put the first web video presenter driven site on the web in 2008 and as soon as the site was live the next thing I did was get the You Tube channel set up.

The site ranks top of Google for the search term Leeds Computer Repairs and the videos fill up the video search page in Google.

If your competitors are not doing video then get in quick, once you have that top position secured it's quite hard to get dislodged.

Get your You Tube channel name secured and embed your videos in your website.

Facebook has You Tube channel integration as well allowing your videos to be displayed on your Facebook page.

But, as Trish rightly points out don't forget ultimately you want people on your website.

 

[trishmullen]

After just one day, my video for the keyword term 'how to change your login in wordpress' is still sitting at Nr 2 in You Tube.

I just checked there on Google and out of over 23,000,000 results I am on the first page. Video is definitely the way forward guys if you want your website to be up there. You need to optimize it though for the keywords and if you want a hand doing that, I am happy to show you how to do it.

Just as an add-on, here's a useful website if you want to check how you're ranking for particular keywords

What Page of Search Am I On?

Happy Videoing,

Trish

 

[trishmullen]

As the recent add-on from YouTube, the CC you will see at the bottom of your videos intrigued me, I did a bit more investigating and found that the words I spoke in the video bore little relation to how YouTube automated transcription service heard them!!! Paul made reference to this in his earlier thread.

I found these 2 videos here that tell you how to overcome this and as it all helps towards the overall SEO of your video, you might want to take the time to do this.

Using the CC facility on YouTube to your advantage.

Trish

 

[Newcott]

Just to add to some of the advice on here that no one every considers in corp. videos on YouTube.

Do a pre and post roll section (If your only doing one make sure its a Post Roll!)

Simple reason for this is you want to do everything you possibly can to keep people on YOUR videos - not clicking on someone elses.

If you look at mine for example, every video we do has approx 20-30 second post roll, with a video design in-keeping with the main video. On the video file itself will have a subscribe graphic & two videos playing (these will either be behind the scenes or the last two videos I want to promote) Once they are in YouTube a simple annotation is placed over the top.

This is simple so anyone who's watched our videos will then get an option to subscribe or watch our previous work.

Most important tip is make sure your videos don't duck

 

[Online Business Video]

...yes Trish. The results can be 'variable' to say the least, that's why I mentioned in my earlier thread that it's best, wherever possible, to have pro voiceover/ narration. I didn't mean necessarily employing the services of a shakespearean thespian at £500 per hour by the way, rather the quality of the recording itself....something that can rarely be achieved using a cheap home set up.
Of course, if a smaller business is producing loads of instructional videos for example, cost would dictate that getting each one done professionally may be financially prohibitive -but if a business wants a one off high impact presentation to promote themselves, then it's certainly worth having done.
Had a quick look at the link you posted too - it provides a solution, but does look a bit complicated?? But at least there's an option to correct things.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Hi Newcott,

Simple reason for this is you want to do everything you possibly can to keep people on YOUR videos - not clicking on someone elses.

Most important tip is make sure your videos don't duck


Agree with your 1st point totally. That's why I mentioned earlier about private hosting away from Youtube and the like... it's something that a business should consider -the last thing any business wants to do is to drive a potential customer into the hands of a competitor- but as I said before, YT is free, so that means it's a solution for many.
Take a look at M&S - Debenhams for example, even the BBC. Despite the exposure that youtube can give them , they choose to provide their video content to their customers on alternative methods of delivery - for the many & varied reasons that this thread has highlighted. Small business can take advantage of this too nowadays, the pricing is affordable and the technology is there.

BTW , what do you mean by 'make sure your videos don't duck' ?? :|

Paul

 

[Newcott]

Opps - Duck should of been Suck.

It depends on what you want to get out of your videos - if its sent to exisiting clients then private hosting could work. However your increase your discoverability a billion fold if done well on YouTube.

As for M&S, Debenhams & BBC - they all have very active YT accounts

 

[Online Business Video]

Opps - Duck should of been Suck.

It depends on what you want to get out of your videos - if its sent to exisiting clients then private hosting could work. However your increase your discoverability a billion fold if done well on YouTube.

As for M&S, Debenhams & BBC - they all have very active YT accounts

...don't agree with that completely. As I mentioned earlier , there's business videos out there which have vv poor views and have been on YT for months , even years. These are not producing much , if any, ROI for their owners. So , private hosting, targetted for their market may have worked better than YT. Or do both.

(Agreed, but not on their own sites).

Paul

 

[Newcott]

If you have poor videos on YT it's likly to one or all
1) Your video is rubbish (being honest it is)
2) Your video has no reason for anyone else to pass around (i.e. its a boring corp video)
3) Nobody is interested in watching it.

If a video is doing poorly its becuase it sucks, not because of its potential.

Private hosting will only limit your discoverability if you ask me.

This is one of the best corp video's I've seen. A lot will say its not a style that works for our business ect.. but the best bit of advice to take away from it is to have some fun with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
(NSFW Language)

 

[sweetpromotions]

Hi Online Busines Video,

Thank you for posting feedback about my video. I will certainly look at getting some of those points done.

Cheers,

 

[trishmullen]

Online Business Video & other professional video makers; - what do you think of this new concept, I notice it's still in Beta so some of you may want to sign up and test it......for us mere mortals

It's called PowToon and looks great.

Trish

 

[Online Business Video]

Hi Trish, yes, these seem to be popular. Although , with any DIY type production it remains to be seen how effective it is. Can't tell from the site yet their pricing structure but I'm sure it will be competitive.
One thing that a stack em' high, sell 'em cheap product like this can't replicate though is a good voiceover/narration, which is vital IMHO. Imagine the presentation without one and it loses it's impact straight away.
There is another service out there, which for the life of me I can't remember, but they offer a computer generated voiceover too, but it's a bit hit and miss.
These services are cropping up all the time and businesses who don't have a video on their site are really missing a trick.

Paul

 

[Online Business Video]

If you have poor videos on YT it's likly to one or all
1) Your video is rubbish (being honest it is)
2) Your video has no reason for anyone else to pass around (i.e. its a boring corp video)
3) Nobody is interested in watching it.

If a video is doing poorly its becuase it sucks, not because of its potential.

Private hosting will only limit your discoverability if you ask me.

This is one of the best corp video's I've seen. A lot will say its not a style that works for our business ect.. but the best bit of advice to take away from it is to have some fun with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
(NSFW Language)

I agree, the DSC is great, but not everyone has that budget, imagination, time etc etc. And I'm sure this was seeded too, as most word of mouth 'overnight viral sensations' inevitably are these days.
See the videos earlier in this thread - they may not be Spielberg productions, but they fulfill a need I'm sure. I doubt that they will ever become particularly prolific on YT, but to suggest they are rubbish because they won't get shared is a bit harsh?? Hopefully they do what they are mean't to do and benefit those businesses.
Re private hosting, I suppose it depends whether a business wants its video seen on Youtube or maybe to a more targetted audience on Google?

Paul

 

[jennythomas764]

you tube is a good way of promoting videos, songs... lots of people have interest in music. so that's the best option for promoting our business video..and also get the latest songs from there...

 

[Newcott]

I agree, the DSC is great, but not everyone has that budget, imagination, time etc etc. And I'm sure this was seeded too, as most word of mouth 'overnight viral sensations' inevitably are these days.
See the videos earlier in this thread - they may not be Spielberg productions, but they fulfill a need I'm sure. I doubt that they will ever become particularly prolific on YT, but to suggest they are rubbish because they won't get shared is a bit harsh?? Hopefully they do what they are mean't to do and benefit those businesses.
Re private hosting, I suppose it depends whether a business wants its video seen on Youtube or maybe to a more targetted audience on Google?

Paul

It did well from hitting the front page of Reddit when it first went up then reposted from there.

TBH this type of production wouldn't cost that much at all, certainly would gain a ROI from it. It's a 1 camera shoot with decent sound & lighting, shot probably in half a day making use of what you have. You could easily find a crew on £1,000 to make this being massivly honest.

I'm by no means saying anyones on here is rubbish, it was an option of "OR" and basicly it could be any of the other two reasons. Simple fact means a rubbish video won't get views. Sharing is a major factor that goes into YouTube's process of suggesting videos on search teams much like the big G.

 

[Online Business Video]

It did well from hitting the front page of Reddit when it first went up then reposted from there.

TBH this type of production wouldn't cost that much at all, certainly would gain a ROI from it. It's a 1 camera shoot with decent sound & lighting, shot probably in half a day making use of what you have. You could easily find a crew on £1,000 to make this being massivly honest.

I'm by no means saying anyones on here is rubbish, it was an option of "OR" and basicly it could be any of the other two reasons. Simple fact means a rubbish video won't get views. Sharing is a major factor that goes into YouTube's process of suggesting videos on search teams much like the big G.

Apologies if it it came across like that - I'm sure you weren't ... maybe I should have phrased it better.:redface:
- £1,000 is still a lot of money to many businesses these days, but I take your point, it's well worth it if you get the ROI , as these guys have done, and then some!

Paul

 

[Deleted member 50487]

Hey guys

the best way I find promoting video on YouTube is have a social syndication system set up.

Also another great method is to build authority with your account by commenting, liking, subscribing and obviously adding more videos.

You then need use social syndication so your video gets posted around the entire social network and web 2.0 websites either manually or automatically with systems.


This takes a little process to set up, but its important if you are using youtube as a main marketing stragegy.


Regards


Jay

 

[Newcott]

Apologies if it it came across like that - I'm sure you weren't ... maybe I should have phrased it better.:redface:
- £1,000 is still a lot of money to many businesses these days, but I take your point, it's well worth it if you get the ROI , as these guys have done, and then some!

Paul

No worries - and like wise. Just pointing out the facts not meant as a put donw.

Maybe so but I've known people to blow alot more on worse videos, I suppose DSC works well becuase of its homemade feel & comedy aspect but it gets the point across to a point where soon as I make it to LA I'll be signing up! They do have the bonus of B2C as well so can be a bit more creative.

I guess the orginal apoint is very basic production level can go along long way on online videos.

 

[Jose Jimenez]

This is one of the best corp video's I've seen. A lot will say its not a style that works for our business ect.. but the best bit of advice to take away from it is to have some fun with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
(NSFW Language)

I've seen that vid before. Very entertaining and shareable. On the same theme the King of Shaves did a brilliant video which coincided with the launch (I think of) of the King's Speech film or when they won all the Oscars. It was topical as well as clever and probably didnt cost an arm and a leg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZYGoutH34

I've also seen loads of business videos which are doing poorly and many are because they aren't optimised and especially keyword wise. Many have a title which has nothing to do with what people are searching for. If you dont put any keywords which people are searching than its highly unlikely they will be found. I know of one company producing great videos and Im sure they spent a fair bit doing them but the views are still very low as they should be doing more so they are found organically. It goes without saying that the videos should also be promoted via social networks, email newsletters, etc.

With regard to the plumbing leaking tap video being not being watched because there is an advert is unlikely imo or probably only a very small percentage. I have never stopped watching a video because of an advert. I just click on the button to skip when it becomes available.