Four years ago when I started working online, I never would have imagined that video would become so important. Video makes it possible for your audience to get to know you even better (because they can see and hear you). Video is also treated very well in the search engines (this may be because there is less video content than written content. Unlike articles, which need to be certain length to be effective, with video, shorter is better. Videos can also be easily recycled into audio, podcasts, blog posts, etc.
New to video? Not quite sure where to start? The good news is that you do not have to have fancy equipment or even an in depth knowledge of video editing to start adding video to your promotional tool kit. Here are some easy ways to get started with video.
1. Powerpoint/Keynote Both powerpoint and keynote (mac) give you the ability to add either music for voice over to your slide shows. You can create videos using this method that are extremely impressive if you know a little bit about how to do animations. The key with these videos is to remember to keep them short.
2. Animoto Animoto is a cool program for creating photo-montage videos to music. You don't get a lot of customization -- but you can crate something that is very attention-getting very quickly.
3. Mini - video cameras Although many people are a little nervous about putting videos of themselves on the Internet - realize that the purpose is soles for people to see that there is a real person behind the website. The best way to create a getting to know you video is to to use a small video recorder (flip cameras, Kodak z18, your digital camera or even your iPhone). The production value doesn't have to be high. People just need to get a quick snippet of who you are.
4. Jing is a free screencast service from the makers of camtasia. Once you install the program, you can very quickly and easy record screencasts of up to 5 minutes from your computer. When you are finished, the program processes your video and gives you a choice of either a code to embed the video on your website or a simple share link that you can e-mail
Now that you know some easy ways of creating videos, why not give it a try? You can submit the videos to You Tube or just put them on your website or Facebook page. Who knows you might be the next Cecile B. DeMille!
