But does YouTube really represent a realistic option for increasing traffic to your site? Last year I set out to test this very theory because, frankly, I was a little cynical. My own suspicions were that most of these searches were from teenage kids looking for clips of their favourite bands or stupid stunts and I doubted that YouTube could be effectively harnessed for the sake of marketers.
So I created a small number of short (2-5 minute) videos on a topic related to one of my websites and published them to see what happened.
And I must say that the results truly impressed me. People were finding my videos either in YouTube itself - or on Google which tends to rank videos highly - and then watching my videos. Over a few months, thousands of people watched them and a decent number then clicked on the link pointing to my site.
As a result I saw a marked increase in my traffic as a result of this experiment and it really turned me on to the possibilities.
So how difficult is it to harness the power of YouTube? Honestly, the answer is not very, and I'd to tell you exactly how I did it in the hope that you too can benefit from the power of online video.
Making The Video
Nothing flashy is need to make a video to market your website. Personally I used a cheap digital camera and just basically spoke into the lens. For YouTube ensure your videos don't go over 10 minutes in total length. Personally I pretty much read some of my more popular articles and tips so I was able to reuse much of my existing content rather than having to create plenty of new content.
I literally took an article that was generating traffic and then read it to camera.
Upload The Video
Sign up for a free YouTube account if you haven't already and you will find how easy it is to upload the video. All you need to do is to locate it on your computer and press the upload button.
Once the video is uploaded the final step is to name it correctly. As you are basically reusing the content of an existing article, use the article title as the title for your video and include a link back to your website in the description.
That really is pretty much all there is too it. I recommend doing a number of these videos as they can be a little hit and miss and the more you have out there the greater the difference will be to your traffic levels.
One final tip is to enable comments on your videos in your YouTube account as I have found a surprising number of people are keen to ask questions about the videos I have uploaded and this can also be a good way to lure people back to my site by explaining that the answer to their questions is at this page or that page on my site.
How To Use Youtube On Psp
And today, I'm going to show you a very powerful to do just that, without spending a dime (well, maybe a few dollars).
What am I talking about?
YouTube.
Now you should know YouTube pretty well. But allow me give you some facts:
Fact #1: YouTube went from ZERO to 4,000,000,000 MONTHLY visitors within 3 months. And it's still growing by a staggering rate each day.
Fact #2: In 2006, YouTube won Times Magazine's "Invention of the Year."
Fact #3: YouTube is in the Top 5 most valuable web properties in the world.
Fact #4: YouTube features videos from hundreds and thousands of members, and has made MANY people famous.
Fact #5: And get this-more than 75,000 new videos are uploaded every, single day (you see that right.)
Fact #6: Last but not least-YouTube serves up to two hundred MILLION clicks daily.
What does that mean to you as a marketer or an Internet entrepreneur?
Well, it only means there's a HUGE amount of traffic ready to be tapped into if you know how to use YouTube to drive more visitors to your web sites.
We'll discuss how you can use YouTube to drive massive views on your web sites in a while.
But first, "What makes a good YouTube video?"
If you notice, a lot of the videos on YouTube are made by amateurs.
They're usually not professionally filmed videos.
But that's what makes YouTube attractive, isn't it?
These videos are not really professional, and most of the time "RAW", but it's realistic.
Sometimes, they are just THAT much more interesting because they're not really perfect.
To answer our previous question, I'll reveal some of my ideas here.
You see, I'm actually in the process of developing some of my videos to be uploaded on YouTube and use them to drive traffic to my web sites (there's a 'science' to it¡K as some of my clients have proven time and again with their YouTube videos).
Here's what I learned:
YouTube Strategy #1 - Your videos should be short. These shouldn't be long movies, as people are busy and look for instant gratification most of the times. No more than 3 to 4 minutes.
YouTube Strategy #2 - Then, you'd want your web site URL at the bottom of your videos, so people can see it.
YouTube Strategy #3 - Next, this is IMPORTANT: Think of some ways to make your videos viral. See, people on YouTube are constantly on the mindset of: "If I like a video, I'll like to pass it to my friends."
So you want your videos to have some, one or ALL of these characteristics:
- Some of the videos I see pass around are usually FUNNY. Well people love to laugh. They love to make OTHER people laugh. So if your video's funny, it's got humor, people are more likely going to pass it on to their friends.
- Something really weird.
- Something really shocking.
- Something really gross.
- Something just, SHOCKING (again). People love to pass those around.
- Something really interesting.
- Curiosity is ALWAYS good.
- A demonstration is great (especially for targeted traffic). Let's say you have a product, you can show people how it works with your video. Give them a peek at what's in it for them inside.
- Something sexy (can you miss this?).
- Something personal, it could be your own story.
I mean¡K there's so much you can do!
There's an incredibly huge potential with YouTube.
I suggest you open your mind and at least look into how you just MAKE SOMETHING (again, doesn't have to be perfect) to feature on it.
Plus, a lot of these things are COMMON SENSE!
You don't have to buy any products to learn how to make videos people talk about. You see, what do you think would make a good video YOU would want to pass on to your friends?
Write them down, choose one of them and be your own producer for the first time if you haven't (trust me, it's fun too).
If you have, can you figure out how to benefit from some of the strategies mentioned above?
Go on there, make a video for traffic purposes or simply for demonstration.
Of course we're barely scratching the surface of what you can do with YouTube. If you can get a little creative, there's a LOT more you can do on this amazing place.
Both Richard Adams & Dan Lok are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Richard Adams has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Quit Smoking and Computers and The Internet. To find which cheap camcorder I recommend for online video please visit . Richard Adams's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.
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