Marketing Guide Secrets

Over the last several years, internet video has taken off. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo have made it super-easy for anyone to share their videos with the world and faster internet connections have made it a lot better from the viewers’ perspective. Let’s look at how you can use video to get more traffic to your website.

The first thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need a bunch of fancy, expensive equipment to make videos. They can take many forms – screen captures, slideshows or live action videos. It’s up to you and your budget exactly how you want to create them.

Screen capture videos are a great way to start without having to invest in a bunch of expensive equipment and learn to be comfortable in front of the camera.

You can even start with free software such as Cam Studio or the Jing Project, and then upgrade to a paid application like Camtasia once you earn some money to reinvest in your business.

You can create screen captures in several ways.

First, if you’re demonstrating a product or showing how to do something on the computer, you can actually show the process itself in the video. This can be much more effective than trying to explain it in writing anyway, so your visitors will often prefer it.

If you’re selling an infoproduct (or promoting one as an affiliate) you could also go through the product itself in the video, showing enough to peak the viewer’s interest without giving away all the information in it.

Another option is to create a slideshow presentation using software such as Microsoft Powerpoint or Open Office Impress, and then record yourself “presenting” it.

The only real cost you’ll have to create these types of videos is a microphone, and many computers already have them built right in.

There are a lot of video sharing sites where you can upload your videos, but the biggest of them all (by far) is YouTube.com. If you’re only going to upload the video to one or two sites, make sure YouTube is one of them.

Getting Traffic Back To Your Site

There are a couple of ways to get the people who watch your video to visit your website.

The first is to make sure you include the domain name in the video itself. You could add a watermark to the bottom of the video, mention it by name several times throughout or add a call to action at the end.

Or any combination of the three.

The other way to get traffic to your site is to include the URL in the video description. You can’t usually create anchor text links, but if you include the full URL of your site in the description, most video sites will make it clickable, and some of the viewers will visit.

Video doesn’t have to be hard, and it’s one of the fastest growing aspects of the internet. Make sure you’re using it as part of your traffic generation strategy.