Top Ten Tips For Marketing Your Business With Videos

By Jessica Swanson

Video Marketing is quickly becoming standard practice for many small business owners. One of the main reasons is that videos are engaging, interactive and more interesting than standard text.

Most importantly, most small business owners find that once they understand and embrace the concept of video marketing, they reach an entirely new audience of eager prospects.

Here are ten tips to ensure that you maximize the effectiveness of marketing your small business using videos.

1. Create Relevant, Unique and Informative Videos - When producing videos make sure that they embrace your marketing message and business philosophy. You should always strive to educate and inform your viewers as opposed to "selling" to them. Don't create videos that are irrelevant or have little to do with your service, product, or brand. These will just cause confusion with your audience.

2. Brand Yourself and Your Business - Videos are a fantastic way to generate brand awareness for your potential clients and customers. Make sure to use your company logo and URL in all of your videos so that you consistently spread the word about your small business.

3. Choose Your Video Thumbnail Carefully - A video thumbnail is a small picture that acts as a "cover" for your videos. Video search engines and video sharing websites use different methods to grab and display the thumbnail for your video. Make sure that the thumbnail that they display encourages viewers to watch your video.

4. Produce Short Videos - Most users prefer to watch videos that are three minutes or less. One of the most important components of video marketing is to keep your audience engaged during the entire video. Therefore, try to keep your videos short and succinct so that your viewers are engaged throughout until the end.

5. Create A Relevant Title - It's vital that your title is interesting, descriptive and relevant. Your title is one of the first things that the search engines will use to identify your video. You are more likely to be picked up in the Google search results if you include important and relevant keywords in the first three words of your title.
4.Provide A Keyword-Rich Description - Use relevant keywords in your metadata to optimize your video. If possible, you should provide a 150-word description filled with relevant keywords. This description will help the search engines find your video and move it organically to the top of the search pages.
6. Include Tags - Tag your videos with key phrases that are reflective of your content. You should select the top ten words and phrases that describe your video and then use these words as tags.
8. Upload to Video Sharing Sites - Upload your videos to portals like YouTube and other video sharing sites. In addition, provide links back to your website and other videos that you have produced.

9. Allow Embeding Code - Make sure to enable sharing and allow users to embed your video code into their own blogs and websites. This will help to create backlinks to your videos which can assist with video search optimization as well as encourage your video to go viral.

10. Encourage Ratings and Reviews - Search engines pay attention to videos that have higher ratings so encourage your viewers to rate your videos. In addition, videos which get high ratings tend to be the same videos that users often mark as favorites and share with others.

Make sure to use videos as a standard part of your marketing plan. They are an amazing way to establish your expertise, create brand awareness and bring extra exposure to your small business.

And, of course, you are able to accomplish all of this on a shoestring marketing budget!

**************************Yes! You can use this article in your ezine, blog or website as long as you add the following bio box: Jessica Swanson, "The Shoestring Marketer," has helped entrepreneurs, all over the world, explode their businesses using cutting-edge, proven, NO-COST internet marketing strategies. To receive your FREE Marketing Kit, which has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, just like you, learn the exact techniques for marketing their businesses for NO-COST, visit: http://www.ShoestringMarketingKit.com

Hindsight is 2020: The Ultimate Optical Illusionby Fran BriggsHindsight is 20/20.Not!For decades we've been conditioned to reflect upon the repercussions of catastrophic life experiences and lament, "If I only would have ... Hindsight, is 20/20."You may be aware that the term, "20/20" is an acuity index used to express the clarity or sharpness of "normal vision" - relatively speaking. This means, if you have "20/20 vision," from 20 feet away, you see what most people can see from 20 feet away. But here's the thing, the results we receive after we read the letters on the Snellen Eye Chart only measure what we see from 20 feet away at the time of the examination. Likewise, a real time, life experience can only measure what we can see during the time of actual experience.We typically experience what is commonly referred to as "hindsight" when we step back and separate ourselves from a 'lesson-learned.' Hindsight is the process of deriving meaning from what we have seen. It's an examination of the 'lesson learned' which allows us to reflect and clearly see our past. Then, with depth and perception, it autonomously leads us to processing our "now." When these two pictures are fused together, we gain optimal focus and extraordinary clarity. It allows us to shed light on a decade-old event with pristine, peripheral vision. Hindsight let's us start from the beginning, middle or end. From here, we can go fast or slow; up or down, forward or backwards. We can even pause or use a high power lens to zoom in and inspect. Hindsight rocks! It allows us to see clearly even from the 'great distance' of years! That's not "normal" vision; therefore, hindsight couldn't possibly be 20/20. You may be wondering, "Well, if hindsight isn't 20/20, then, what is it?" In truth, hindsight is at least, 40/20. Remember, 20/20 vision is what is recognized as "normal vision." From 20 feet away, you see what most people see from 20 feet away. Hindsight is closer to 40/20, which is exceptional vision. This means that from 40 feet away, you see what the rest of us can only see from 20 feet away. 40/20 hindsight vision indicates that when you step back from a life experience, your perception is amazingly sharper and loaded with much more detail so you can learn the life lesson. It was impossible to do this when you were closer and actually living the experience in real time.It's hard to imagine anything more important than learning from life's lessons. And, as you can see, it's so unsophisticated, it's misunderstood. My hope is that with the insight contained in "Hindsight is 20/20: The Ultimate Optical Illusion," you're actually looking forward to your next examination.© 2007 - 2008 by http://franbriggs.comPermission to republish is granted provided copyright is included