B3-CH21 – Creating Videos

Increasingly, creating videos is not merely an “option” – it’s virtually a “must.” Especially if you’re an artist.

There are estimates which state that over 60% of all web activity today is used on watching videos! Many people prefer to watch and listen than to read. Even those who love to read also like to watch!

I’m not just talking about your music videos. They’re a must of course. You in the studio, backstage, your latest release, your musings – anything. But this also applies to many of the articles you’ll be writing to fill your site with content.

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Some of your best articles can be easily converted to videos.

In fact, keep that in mind when writing. If your article makes a strong point about something, it will make that point just as well – or better – in a video. And videos can go “viral”. At least, it’s MUCH more likely for videos to be shared, as compared to articles.

Knowing this should inform your broader promotional strategy.

There are many simple ways to create videos. Most don’t require any special expertise. This is not to say that they shouldn’t be done well. It just means that practically anyone can learn how to create excellent videos at the lowest possible cost. Even for free.

One of the most ways is to convert PowerPoint slideshows to videos. If you know how to design simple slides with text, read them out, and change pages in synch with the voiceover – that’s all it takes. If this sounds a little too boring for a musician – heck, spice it up with cool graphics and sound effects! You can still create a great little video in just minutes, once you get good at it.

There are programs which automatically convert PowerPoint presentations to video and even help you upload them to YouTube and other video sites.

Slideshow videos can contain text only, pictures only, or a combination of both. They can contain background music and voiceovers or be silent. I recommend voiceovers in 99 cases out of 100. As for background music – it depends. If you know how to mix the music well so as not to distract but rather to accentuate certain things – by all means go ahead.

Videos also work well with the narrator (e.g. “you”) actually featuring on the screen. This has the added benefit of making your viewers familiar with you on a more personal level.

Live action videos, with actual clips, are also a great way to go, but require just a little bit more work to get them to work well. Your last gig featuring your screaming fans may be just the vid you always wanted to go viral. (The more fans you’re able to feature and “tag” in your video, the greater the potential for that elusive “viral” spread).

In all cases keep in mind that the “production style” of your videos must be appropriate to your audience – just like your articles.

In MOST cases (though by no means all) professionally produced videos work better than amateur jobs. By “professionally produced” I don’t necessarily mean broadcast quality, but rather attention to detail, clear, uncluttered, well-organized, good quality images, etc. In other words, with a little care, you too can create “professional” videos. The tools that exist which help you do this are simply phenomenal.

While I strongly recommend that you learn to create your own videos (and I will provide you with links to all you need to know about this), I recommend even more strongly that you outsource your video production, at least initially. You can find video outsourcers for “peanuts”.

It’s only important that you have a SCRIPT for your video before you get started on anything.

Even if you’re just planning to convert an article into a video, it still helps to have at least a basic script. For example:

1. Opening title with music intro
2. Byline, read out by narrator, with narrator in the shot
3. Zoom out narrator, zoom in first sentence of the text
4. When we get to the word “now”, make a special effect there
5. One sentence per slide with narrator in the background
6. End slide with outro graphics, music and narrator
7. Keep URL on all slides in the bottom third of the screen

Naturally, this is just one example. You can make it much more complex or much simpler. Whatever works.

Additionally, when you create your video it is NECESSARY to ALSO do this:

• Write a few alternative titles for it
• Write a lengthy description for it, using DIFFERENT sentences to what is actually in the video
• Write target keywords down, including your MAIN keyword
• Ensure that your main keyword is in the title, used at least once – or even twice!
• Ensure your main keyword is also used generously (but not over the top) within the body of your description and your additional keywords are used there too
• Transcript of your video should be linked to the video using “annotations” and/or “captions”

When you’re finally ready to upload your video to YouTube, you’ll have all you need prepared in advance. When you later promote your video to other video sites, you’ll only want to alter the titles with each upload (not strictly necessary, but often quite helpful). You MAY also decide to alter the description a little bit for each upload (this is known as “spinning”).

At this point, if you want to jump straight into creating your first videos and video campaigns, pause reading this book and check out the enclosed Video Marketing Course.

And here are some of the most useful links and additional resources for you:

• Camtasia Studio – Super easy video editor for beginners. The most popular video program online (use ScreenFlow if you’re on the Mac)
• Free alternatives for video production: iMovie (for the Mac) and Windows Movie Maker (for the PC)
• Audacity – Free program which allows you to record your voice.
• Audio Acrobat – create and broadcast on-demand audio and video
• Amazon S3 – Amazon’s cloud hosting for your videos.
• Easy Video Suite – A superb program for all your video creation and marketing needs. Great for beginners, but also very useful for most advanced users.
• Wistia – Host and create your videos then analyze their usage. Superb tool.

As always, more links will be found in the Resource section at the end of this course.

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Book 3 – Chapter 20Writing & Blogging	Course Overview	Book 3 – Chapter 22What Else Do You Need

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