e technology of the Internet has seen major advances in recent years.One such advance is the use of online videos in website promotion.Websites no longer consist of just text alone, but include pictures, animations, and videos.Videos can help you reach a wide range of customers and most importantly, keep their interest.Interested customers are more likely to purchase your service or product.

Creating a video for your website might seem like a daunting task that should be left to experts.This is not the case.Anyone can create an online video.If you can use a word processing program then you can create an online video.As long as you are willing to learn and experiment, you can achieve success in online videos.

You may wonder how to get started.What type of equipment should you buy?How much will this equipment cost?What type of software is necessary?The good news is that all these questions are easily answered.Plus, technology for video creation has become more and more user friendly in the past year.This allows more users to feel confident about producing an online video of their own.

The equipment you need depends on the format of the video you are going to create.The two major types of online video formats include:Screen Capture Video and Full Motion.Screen Capture Video consists of screen shots and is mostly used in the software world to describe software components.You will most likely be creating a video in the Full Motion format.

The Full Motion format is akin to the videos you see on television.They include people, items, products, audio and video.An example of a Full Motion format video would be one in which you demonstrate how to clean a carpet using your cleaning product.

You will need the following equipment for a Full Motion format online video:

1)A basic DIGITAL camera.

2)Firewire, This gives you a cable connection which hooks the camera to the computer.

3)“Mini DV cam" decks camera.A good one should cost $300 - $500.

4)Professional sound by using a close microphone.Close microphones are those that clip to your shirt and are sometimes called “Lavaliere" microphones.It is important to find this type of microphone to avoid excess environment noise and to yield professional sound quality.A good broadcast quality microphone is around $100.

5)Software – “Sound Forge" and “Sony Movie Studio" are great choices.

6)Tripod for camera.

You can find these items at Best Buy, Circuit City, and similar electronics stores.

Acquire this equipment, tune your creative mind, and film your online video.Also, discover an abundance of promotion ideas at http://www.promotingtips.comYour website promotion will be enhanced and the investment is well worth it!