This seven-minute demo video outlines the exact system that will be taught to help you scale up your income opportunities by learning how you can take this proven online video marketing system and apply it to virtually any type of client.

The cool thing about this system is that it is structured so you can provide top-notch online video marketing services to your clients without handling any of the time-consuming video editing and production work.

Believe me, there is massive interest in online video amongst the business community, yet many end up avoiding it due to an unclear understanding of how to integrate an online video strategy into their marketing game plan. This is where you can come in and use the system that is discussed in the course to “WOW” your clients and increase your retainer packages!

Click here to check out this seven-minute video.

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to play a bigger game with your clients and offer a valuable service in the hottest marketing medium on the web!

I have friends that are huge blog followers.  They love to read, but don’t like to listen.

Then there are the video watchers.  Watchers prefer the video tutorials, video blog posts, and entertainment value of video.  From a business standpoint, what a great medium for building rapport with your audience!  Not only will watchers learn about your area of expertise, but they get to see AND hear you while learning.

Understanding these preferences is a must to your Content Marketing.

What do I mean by Content Marketing?   For me, content marketing is using the many methods of digital media – eBooks, audio, video and blogs – in your marketing mix.   I don’t mean creating new content from scratch everytime you want touch for your audience with marketing.  My point is to re-purpose your content into other medium.

For instance, say you wrote a special report or eBook on a subject in your area of expertise.  You could use your eBook as a script and record an audio version of it.   That audio could become an audio book, or be separated in to audio posts for your blog, or become a 5-part audio series you offer as a product on your website.   Because these files are digital, you can post them in several different places – like your blog, your social nets, your eNewsletter – to gain even more exposure.

This month, I published an eBook titled, “4 Steps to EASY Content Marketing” which is available at my website.   I wanted to share some of my expertise so that entrepreneurs would understand content marketing and how easy it is to re-purpose your content.  I’d love to send you a free copy.  Simply sign up for my mailing list.

Do you love downloading eBooks?   Or, downloading audio or video to your iPod and then hitting the treadmill?  Or, do you keep it simple and read a few blogs everyday?  I’d love to hear about your preferences if you comment below.

If you have an online business, you have much to gain from creating a YouTube channel and launching a video marketing campaign. Once a YouTube channel has been created, the following steps should be followed in order to improve your brand awareness and visibility not only in video-sharing communities but also among search engine users:

Select a Topic That Makes Sense To You

Choosing a topic for video marketing doesn’t need to be a difficult task.  Your video marketing could be focused on a better or unconventional way to use a product for best results or simply demonstrate the your expertise.  It could also include testimonials from loyal customers or even be made just for pure entertainment. When it comes to selecting video marketing topics, entrepreneurs are only limited by their creativity.

Furthermore, online entrepreneurs and marketers need not limit themselves to developing just one video. In most cases, publishing a video marketing series works best and increases the potential of a brand to gain loyal viewership.

Record Your Video

Upon selecting a topic and planning out important communication points, you are ready to record!   The technology used for this is not as important as the concept of the video as there are folks who have shot videos with mobile phone cameras have seen the same success as those who have recorded in HD or other more sophisticated devices.

Recorded videos should be focused, direct to the point, and kept below 2 minutes. Upon recording, simple editing software can be used to fix the transition between scenes, remove unnecessary takes, and finalize the video for public viewing.

Implement Video Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tactics

When a video is ready for the public, it should be uploaded to your YouTube channel and optimized for proper video SEO.  To do this, you should include pertinent keywords when entering the title, description, and tags.   Furthermore, a link to your website should be added towards the end of the video and in its description. Doing so does not only generate backlinks for a site but also directs viewers to a place where they can learn more about the brand featured in the video.

Generate More Video Views

Apart from making a video available in a YouTube channel, look for other videos with related content and post your videos as replies. Doing so increases the potential of views and enhances a video’s relevance to certain keywords.  More views and backlinks can also be generated by promoting videos on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Once a video has gained enough views and backlinks, it starts appearing in Google search results for targeted keywords and phrases.

Video marketing is a bit more difficult to pursue than other content marketing strategies like article writing or audio marketing.  However, the results you can gain from this strategy makes it worthwhile.  With the assistance of an internet marketing team (like WilsonVA!), a proper video marketing campaign can easily improve the online brand awareness, visibility, and SEO for your business.

photo credit: Andres Rueda

Videos are great departure from standard text content because they are dynamic and are capable of keeping the attention of Internet surfers with short attention spans.  Remember that some folks like to listen to, some like to see, and some like to read information, so it’s important to add in multimedia to your marketing mix.

Videos can be informational, illustrate a process or they might just be pure entertainment. With sites like YouTube.com, video is exploding in popularity. YouTube allows you to reach their millions of visitors. Plus, the site allows others to publish your videos with simple copy and paste code.

Here are 5 great ideas for creating videos for your business:

1. Create a ‘Welcome to My Website’ video – When visiting a website for the first time, it’s great to be welcomed by the owner.  You can build instant rapport, and give prospective clients an overview of your services and a quick tour of the site.

2. How-to information – Creating a how-to video demonstrates your expertise, and again, gives people a taste of the services you offer.

3. Live action video – Create a live action video to spice up your sales/landing page.   The theme of a recent joint venture was “launching” and having your products “take-off,” so it was no surprise that we drove to a local airport and used it as a backdrop for our introductory video.

4. Slide shows – Have the slide deck from a recent presentation?  Add audio to the slides to create a video presentation.  By adding a link to the video in your email signature, you gain more exposure to your presentation.

5. Screen-share videos – Create tutorial videos for your team.  It’ll save you time.

The videos you create for your business should be posted to your YouTube channel.  YouTube is the 3rd largest search engine, so take advantage of it.  Consider these tips when posting videos on YouTube:

•    Create a profile that has your business information in it, including your website’s URL.
•    Make it short. Generally speaking, the shorter the video is the better. People have short attention spans and you want your marketing message to get out there before they lose interest. This advice will apply to most of your video marketing.
•    Take advantage of YouTube’s promotional tools. YouTube gives you the ability to publicize your videos using email and bulletins. You can even customize messages that go along with them.
•    Display your URL/logo on your videos. Make sure the URL is to the left of the screen as YouTube put their logo on the right.
•    Become active in the community. You can leave comments on other videos. You can also set up a group or join one that’s frequented by your target market. If you create a group, center it around your target market’s interests, needs or desires.

If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, consider searching YouTube channels for competitors’ videos. Find out what’s popular and has the most subscribers. Do further research and sort your results by time to see what videos are being viewed and when. Study those videos and determine how you can add value to your own.

Other video sharing sites include:

BigThink.com
Blinkx.com
Blip.tv
Break.com
Google Video
Hulu.com
Kewego.com
MSN Video
Ovi Share
PhotoBucket.com
Revver.com
UStream.com
Viddler.com
Vimeo.com
Yahoo Video

Do you have more ideas for creating videos for a business?  If so, I would love to see your comments below:

Tip #1: turn text into audio.  For example, say your EProduct is an eBook.  Consider using the eBook text as a script and create an audio recording of the content.  The simplest way I know to do this is by using an AudioAcrobat account.  Within my account there is a special phone number that I can call, pick a record option, and a few moments later, there is an MP3 file waiting for me.  AudioAcrobat stores and hosts the link to the audio file.  (I simply drop that link into my blog post or my confirmation email when someone has bought a new product.)  Voila!  An audio product.  Again, some folks are auditory and would prefer an audio product.   If you create audio products on a consistent basis, then you can create a  podcast (using an RSS feed, folks can subscribe to your podcast, and each time you post a new recording, they are notified).

Tip #2: turn the audio into a video.  So, you’ve created the audio file – great job!  A logical next step would be to add visuals to the audio script you recorded.  One example is a screencast, which matches screenshots with the audio you’ve created.  These are typically used for training purposes.  I’ve helped clients create screencasts by using a tool called Camtasia, but I’ve seen other folks use a f*ree service called Screenr (available at Screenr.com.  It is a Twitter-based tool.)   So, this step may seem a bit intimidating, but relying on your Virtual Assistant may be the cost-effective way to creating a quick video product. ;-)

Tip #3: Consider an affiliate program.  I’ll give more details about affiliate programs in a later post, but basically, you pay a small commission to other folks who help sell your product or event by creating an affiliate link for them to post.

Tip #4: Once you have built your EProduct empire, Another option is to create a membership site.  In its simplest terms, a membership site is a website where members enter a secure password to access your exclusive Products and content.  For instance, when I took some training from one of our VA training providers, I was invited to join their special Club.  Membership in the club is $10 per month and for that $10, I get special discounts for upcoming training, I have access to tons of resource material to use in my business, I’m invited to exclusive mastermind discussions.  Imagine what the VA Training Provider is getting for barely any extra work – $10 a month from many, many of their past happy customers.

My point is to demonstrate the ease by which one can repurpose their content, get it launched and make more income.  What other ideas do you have for repurposing?  I’d love to hear your comments below…

I have been following blogging industry leader, Denise Wakeman for some time.   She teaches folks about blogging and online visibility, and building better business blogs.   Denise, founder of The Blog Squad, outlined “14 Attention-Getting Tactics for Launching a Business Blog,” in her recent post on the Social Media Examiner blog.  I was not surprised to read that 6 of her 14 suggestions included easy-to-implement ideas using audio and video.  Here they are:

* Host a live-streaming video event

* Create a video to promote your blog

* Repurpose your content

* Feature experts (Interview them via teleconference or webinar)

* Host a webinar

* Host an online radio show

Thanks, Denise, for an insightful post!  As usual, her content on blogging is of great value.  I suggest you follow Denise!

Have you thought about using a different medium for getting your message to your target market?  What challenges are you facing in trying new marketing tactics?  Please feel free to comment below:

What do I mean by Multimedia?   Think audio and video.  With audio there are several options like audio recording a blog post, creating a podcast, or creating a teleseminar series.  Add in video with options like video blog posts, webinars, maybe even live-streaming an event.  Sound challenging?  It doesn’t have to be.  I can consult with you to teach you the ropes, or manage the tasks start to finish – you choose.

When you expand your marketing with multimedia, your message reaches more folks.  How?  Syndicating your posts, podcasts, audios and videos via social networks and the many sharing sites on the Internet, you’re touching a wider audience.

Future blog posts will include tips and tricks for producing your own multimedia – some video posts and some audio – to demonstrate the ease with which you can add multimedia to your marketing mix.  If you have a specific question you’d like me to answer in a future blog post, please post a comment below, or email me at carla@wilsonva.com.

Here is a quick audio version of this blog post: (It took just less than 10 minutes start to finish to record, edit, and publish the audio to my site)

Knowing my penchant for helping folks use video in their business, Steph asked me to crate a video for her recent contest entry. This contest is called Real Women of Philadelphia and is sponsored by PaulaDeen.com and Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

In any case, check out Steph’s video below. As expected the recipe is quick and easy, uses just a few utensils, and is terribly addicting.

Isn’t Steph just a natural?

I would love your feedback.