Video is a wonderful way to get traffic. Some marketers prefer using video and find themselves naturally drawn to it. Other marketers are very wary– probably because they think it will be too difficult to get started with. The great news is that you don’t have to be all that tech savvy to really do well with video. If you haven’t started using video yet, you’re really missing out.
Think of the companies out there that do a great job with video. There are so many wonderful video ads, viral videos, vlogs, Hangouts, and more. The fact is that some people in your audience will respond best to video. You’ll do well to cater to them, using the awesome (mainly free) tools that are out there.
The Power of YouTube
YouTube is a very powerful website. It’s even one of the most used search engines on the web. Many people go straight to YouTube to find a video that will help them do something, teach them something, or entertain them. If you’re only focusing on Google as a search engine, you’re really missing out. Having a YouTube channel can net you a ton of followers and traffic.
There’s no limit to the type of videos you can post on YouTube either. You can post talking head videos, where you’re in front of the camera teaching, talking, or entertaining. This is what many people think of when they think of vlogging. You can post screencapture videos, where you record what’s on your computer screen. You can create presentations via PowerPoint or Keynote, that you then turn into a video with your voiceover. You can also run Google Hangouts, which turn into YouTube videos when the Hangout is over (if you choose to make them available). There’s really something for everyone when it comes to making use of YouTube.
YouTube is very powerful in the search engines, especially Google. Google owns YouTube, so you can bet it gets special note. Not to mention its integration with Google+. If you optimize your video upload, you can easily rank your video in the search engines. You can get a lot of traffic right from YouTube and from Google– it’s a double whammy. In some cases, you can rank pretty much right away for videos you post. That’s powerful, and it’s way underutilized.
Write Mini Blog Posts As YouTube Descriptions
It’s so important to optimize your YouTube uploads. You should include the keyword you’re trying to rank for in your video, at minimum. But, you should also make use of the video description area. Way too many people just ignore this space, putting in a short sentence or something just to get it over with.
What people forget is that Google and other search engines can’t watch videos. They can, however, read text. If you want your video to rank well and be easily found by your target audience, you’d do well to treat the YouTube video description area as a mini blog post section.
This “blog post” doesn’t have to be long. You are still, in essence, describing the video. Don’t keyword stuff, either. Include your keyword as well as related terms. Make this an interesting little blurb that clearly spells out what your video is and who it will appeal to. This will help you rank for your ideal keyword as well as related keywords, netting you much more traffic than you would have had otherwise.
Finding Keywords That Rank Video
With all that talk about optimizing your video in the description area, you might be wondering how, exactly, you should choose which keywords to rank for. You aren’t going to be able to choose very competitive keywords and rank highly right away for them. However, I think you’ll be happily surprised to discover just how easy it is when it comes to some keywords.
There are certain keywords out there that you’ll be able to dominate with video, pretty much instantaneously. How do you find these magical keywords, you ask? You have to find the keywords that Google wants to display video results for. When you do, you’ll zoom past the other options on the SERP (search engine result page) to get prime ranking.
Take some time to browse through keywords related to what you’re targeting. Do some of the keywords’ results pages tend to show video? If so, those are the ones you need to focus on. These might be tutorial type keywords, “how to” keywords, keywords tailored to demonstration, and so on. Play around with this and see how many video keywords you can rank for your content. In certain niches, having many videos lined up for you on the front page of Google can lead to a ton of traffic and huge paydays.
As always, make sure you’re paying attention to how you title your videos and what you include in the description. You want to make it really clear to Google, and to searchers, what your video is about. Link to your website (ideally a squeeze page). Also, focus on getting people to subscribe to your channel and circle you on your Google+ page. You don’t want to lose the traffic you get, so you have to do what you can to get them in your traffic funnel.
Types of Video to Create
Hopefully, your mind is swirling with ideas about the types of videos you can create. If you’re new to video marketing, though, you might be a little intimidated. Do you really have anything important to share via video? Of course you do! Approach it the same way you would approach writing article or ebook content. What do people want to know? What are they most interested in?
If you’re stuck for ideas, try these on for size:
Top Tips: People in your niche are always looking for the best ways to do something. Create a “top 5 tips” or “top 10 best ideas” video related to your niche. If you’ve written blog posts like this, you can easily turn that content into video. You can even put your tips onto individual PowerPoint slides and simply save as a video. It’s the easiest and fastest way to repurpose your content to get more traffic.
How To: There are many websites dedicated to teaching people how to do things. Ehow.com is one example of this. You can take that concept to video, driving a lot of traffic to your site. People want to know how to do things and they commonly turn to video when they have this need. People are already out there searching for tutorials related to your niche, so you may as well be the one to present it to them.
Vlog: Do you write personal thoughts and rants or just write off the cuff on your blog sometimes? You can do the same through a Vlog. People will always be interested in learning more about you. They can become addicted to learning from you as much as they are about the topic on its own. You, or your brand, will soon become a selling point for people in your niche. Post these “vlogs” (video blogs) on YouTube as well as your blog. You’ll reach the people who prefer to read and you’ll reach the people who prefer to watch.
Product Reviews: Whether you create your own products or not, there are people in your niche who are curious about the top products out there. You can purchase these products to review. You can attract a lot of search engine traffic, because people will no doubt be looking for unbiased reviews of these products.
What other kinds of videos can you create? Take a look at what others in your niche are doing. Brainstorm your own unique ideas. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box to try new things. It’s easier than you think to get great traffic via video sites like YouTube, as long as you focus on interesting content that people are searching for. There is no denying the power of YouTube for showing up in the search results.
Creating Your Video
There are so many different ways to create your video. You’ll do well to first decide what your style’s going to be. Are you going to do talking head videos? Honestly, your Smartphone or iPad will probably do just fine for now. There are also small HD cams (the Flip camera used to be really popular) that are inexpensive and work well. As you get your feet wet, you can easily upgrade to the pricier and better quality options.
As far as screencasts go, you can choose a freebie like Jing or Screenr. Note that you’re very limited with the free versions, including whether you’re able to use your work for commercial purposes. The upgrades aren’t that expensive and can definitely be worth it as you become more serious about your video marketing. The higher end options include Camtasia for the PC and Screenflow for Mac.
You can record your screen if you’re doing a web-based tutorial. Or, you can create a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation and simply record yourself going through it. It’s really easy and stress free.
There’s absolutely no reason to be scared off when it comes to using technology to create videos. It’s so much easier than it was even a short time ago. These days, absolutely anyone can get up and running with stunning videos with little effort… and little money.
If you are scared to create your own videos, simply hire someone to do it. This, too, requires little financial output. You can even hire someone from Fiverr.com to create a video for you until you feel more comfortable. The important thing is that you don’t ignore the importance of having a video presence on the web. It’s only going to become more important that you do this in today’s fast paced and increasingly mobile age.
SEO Your YouTube Video
We’ve talked a little bit already about how to rank your YouTube video. It’s important to target “video” keywords, to include your keyword in your title, and to include your keyword and related (LSI) keywords in your description. Treat the description area like a mini blog post so you can get the attention of the search engines. If short enough, you can even paste a transcription of the video into your description.
There are some additional things you can try so your YouTube video can rank more highly. First, try putting your keyword at the start of your title. This can sometimes give it more power than it would have otherwise. Don’t just include the keyword, of course, as you want the overall title to be descriptive and enticing for people who stumble upon it. Ranking in the search engines and in YouTube’s own search engine is only part of the battle– you also have to make it interesting enough for people to pay attention to.
There are also some additional things you can try in your description to rank more highly. I can’t stress enough that Google can’t watch your video. Your description matters, and so few people (even really savvy marketers) really make proper use of it. Try to include your website link and keyword within the first sentence or two of your description.
It’s very important to optimize which page you send people to. You don’t want to send people to a generic (or even the main) page on your blog or website. Instead, your video title, video, video description, webpage URL, webpage title, and webpage content should all fulfill that promise and interest people had when they first decided to click on your video. Your follow-through traffic, and later conversions, will skyrocket.
You should also pay attention to your tags on YouTube. Use your main keyword and a few related keywords in this space. This is an easy way to spell out exactly what your video is about so YouTube takes note of it. This likely won’t have dramatic effects, but enough people leave the tags out altogether that I thought I’d mention it.
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