“I see you everywhere!” Yup, I get that a lot! Colleagues and clients tell me all the time that I seem to be “everywhere.” They see me on YouTube, Facebook, on blogs and on Twitter. I am definitely visible! But my online visibility is no accident. My visibility strategy is simple: I leverage the power of video to increase my exposure – and you can, too!
Online video is the perfect tool to maximize your web presence because it’s highly visible and viral. You can create one video and have it spread from YouTube to Facebook to your own website and beyond. It’s the ultimate leverage resource, because you create it once and use it in many different ways, and in many different places.
Best of all, creating a video to enhance your visibility is quick, easy and inexpensive. Armed with only a webcam or an affordable Flip Video camera, you can shoot a simple video message and upload it to YouTube in minutes. All you need is a (high-speed) Internet connection and a free account on YouTube.com.
Once your video is posted on YouTube, you can send it to Facebook and MySpace with one click! Other free video hosting sites like Blip.tv give you easy sharing and cross-posting functions to add your video to your own website, or to social sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon. To really leverage your time and energy, use another free service, TubeMogul.com, to blast your video out to over a dozen sites with one click! You get the idea: One video to many sites means leverage and visibility across the web!
Keep in mind that even just posting your video to Facebook is going to give you video some mileage. As others comment on your video on Facebook, the video then appears on their Facebook page in addition to your own. That’s the “viral” in viral video!
And let’s not leave Twitter out of the video party… While you can’t post the video itself on Twitter, you can certainly promote the link to your video on Twitter. Better yet, there are several free services, such as Tweetube and Twiddeo, that will notify Twitter for you whenever you put your video on their sites.
Finally, if you want the ultimate, maxed-out, super-charged version of video visibility, be sure to get in touch with me about a free trial of Veeple.com. Veeple is the video hosting platform that I use to make my videos clickable (with live links) and interactive. Veeple’s new deal with TubeMogul means you can even blast your video from Veeple.com to a boatload of popular video sites. It’s one-stop shopping for massive video visibility! You can find more info on Veeple here: http://tinyurl.com/ltdjgv.
If you’d like more information or a quick crash course on video visibility, please feel free to visit my “Video Traffic Blast” website. There you can find out more about my step-by-step viral video process. Be sure to get your video online now! Start sharing your video on the web and soon, you too can be seen “everywhere!”
Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.
Tag: online video branding
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Ask the Online Video Guy!
Recently, Lou Bortone, a.k.a. “The Online Video Guy,” was interviewed on Blog Talk Radio about the explosive growth of online video, and how entrepreneurs can use web video to promote and grow their business. Highlights of that interview are below:
Q: Tell us in one line what you do…
Lou: I help entrepreneurs build their brands and boost their businesses using online video.
Q: Why is video branding an important concept for solopreneurs to embrace?
Lou: Video branding is important because online video is becoming such a pervasive part of business. Right now, more people are watching online video than are watching traditional television. In fact, MediaPost recently reported that in typical week, online video viewing has overtaken TV viewership of all the networks combined! In addition, time spent watching video grew over 50% in 2008. Small business owners can capitalize on this trend by getting into online video now – while it’s still easy and inexpensive.
Q: You have helped many different small businesses start and expand their visibility on the web, so what are three of the most important factors in doing this effectively using video over the Internet?
Lou: Three of the keys to success in online video are:
1. Focus on the message – Be sure that you create compelling content.
2. Keep it short – The shorter your video is, the better. Under 2-3 minutes!
3. Don’t get bogged down by technical issues. “Done is better than perfect!”
Q: One of the things that you’re known for is your strategies that give professionals unique ways to marketing and promote their business. Can you talk a little about your video branding approach?
Lou: Video is very effective as a visibility and credibility tool for a few reasons:
First, video is visible. It’s up close and personal, so it makes you more familiar to your clients and customers, and it builds a strong connection.
Second, video is viral. Video has the ability to share and spread quickly over the Internet, so it’s viral by nature. You can create one video and blast it out to many sites at once. This leverages your time and effort. Your one video can serve many purposes in many different places. I explain the entire process in my Video Traffic Blast video tutorials. (http://www.VideoTrafficBlast.com)
Finally, video gives you a global online presence, 24/7. Your video can be working for you and promoting you all over the world, even while you sleep!
Q: What is the biggest mistake business owners make when they put a video on the web and expect people to find it?
Lou: The biggest mistake people make is not sharing and spreading their video across various platforms. You can get a lot of mileage from one video if you distribute it properly. For example, look at all the ways you can leverage one YouTube video: From YouTube, you can:
• Share the video to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter
• Email a link to your video to your clients or fans
• Use the “embed” code that YouTube provides to add the video to your blog
• Share the link to your video on Ping.fm
• Blast your video out to several video hosting sites from TubeMogul.com
Q: What is the most important thing that you recommend an entrepreneur does as they develop a video branding strategy?
Lou: I advise my video coaching clients to do three things starting out:
1. Begin with the end in mind. What are your online video branding goals?
• Increase your online visibility?
• Establish credibility?
• Extend your brand?
• Increase your search engine rankings?
2. Focus on content over quality. Online viewers are pretty forgiving of web video quality. Make sure that your message is compelling and relevant – You can worry about the Hollywood effects later!
3. Get it out there! Just get it done! Your video doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s more important that you get started and get some video online. You can learn and improve as you go!
Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.