Driving Traffic to Your Site With YouTube

Guest post by Beth Jones

Are you using YouTube as a strategic part of your marketing plan? YouTube has had a dramatic effect on the Internet marketing landscape, making huge changes in how marketers promote their products and services. For years, internet marketing was limited to text-based websites with a photo or graphic and beautiful headers.

The new software that makes creating videos easy has generated millions of video sales pages and other graphic presentations that can go viral fast. We are captured by visual images. People love seeing videos.

Successful marketers know they have to stay current with the latest, best marketing tools if they want to continue attracting leads and increasing conversions. The hottest marketing tool right now is video. If you’re not already using video, start today.

Buy a FLIP video camera and begin recording yourself, family, friends, your vacation, your book signing, and whatever else you’re passionate about to get your important message out to the world!

Make sure you have good lighting, quality sound and video, with a good background to record your video. Natural lighting is the best, but make sure you’re not squinting in the sun. Remember if you record it in the winter and you’re wearing a turtleneck sweater in your video, someone may not be seeing your video until spring or summer and your info will appear dated – so wear clothes that don’t appear “seasonal.” Solid colored clothes are often best to wear for your recording, with fun, bright jewelry – a chunky necklace, dangly earrings, or a bright scarf. You can record several videos the same day, changing clothes in between recordings.

Keep in mind that background noises such as cars driving by, dogs barking, children running and shouting, and the sound of the dryer or a phone can be picked up in the video and can be distracting to the viewer/listener. You want sharp, crystal clear sound and good lighting so the viewers can see your smiling face. (DO smile!)

Know what you’re going to talk about; you might have a little script prepared ahead of time (so you won’t keep saying “um” and “you know”) with it taped to your computer monitor, a lamp, or a stack of books nearby where you’re recording. But you don’t want to just read from the script, with your eyes moving continually from left to right! Let your passion and enthusiasm naturally shine through in a natural way, straight from your heart to theirs, as you record your vlog.

Take advantage of marketing with YouTube. First, register for a YouTube account. If your video grabs attention, it has a chance of going viral, which means that it will move around the internet as people upload it and send it to their lists or it gets mentioned in forums, membership sites, ezines and blogs.

When posting your videos on YouTube, make them short, just three to four minutes. Don’t upload long videos. YouTube will allow you to upload longer videos, but people are busy and have short attention spans. Your intention is to create enough curiosity to make your viewers click on your website’s link at the bottom of your video. Traffic generated from your link can mean more conversions (sales, customers, clients, etc.).

Do some research first. After you decide on the topic of your video, do a Google search for that word or phrase. As you’re typing, Google will automatically give you suggestions of the top keyword searches for that word or phrase. Keywords should be included in your video title and in the description section about your video. Some people only write one or two sentences for the description. Take advantage of that section to use the keyword or keyword phrases several times to draw more traffic to your video.

For your video’s content, the most important rule is: DON’T BE BORING! Boring is unforgiveable. You want buzz! Make your videos interesting enough to have others send an email or the link to all their family, friends, and subscribers. The more people who click the link to your video, the better your ranking, the more Google loves you, and the more chance you have to make sales.

What should you do videos about? Remember you’re a marketer – the only difference is the delivery media, in this case, YouTube videos. Practical tips, instructional videos, PowerPoint presentations, your personal story about finding the solution to a problem (which can help their problem!), or sharing about your product or your live event in a natural, inviting way are good examples for video content.

Promote your video on social media. Embed your video on your blog post. Tweet the link to it and share it on your Facebook status. Share the link in your weekly ezine. People will find your video and follow your links if they are interested in what you are saying or offering.

YouTube has a couple of interesting and useful tools for you to use. One is the “Statistics and Data” section, which lists the numbers of visitors sent by other websites. Don’t forget to tag your videos, using the Google keywords in your tags. You can view other videos and see the tags popular sites use to improve your listings.

YouTube has monthly visitors that number way over several million each month. Almost 100,000 new videos are uploaded each day and your possible customers/clients generate hundreds or thousands of clicks on a daily basis. Those numbers alone should get you to start your video marketing immediately. You have an incredible opportunity to get your important message out there to the world, to be out and about for God. Get started now. Ready, set, record!

Beth Jones is a Christian speaker, writer, wife of 18 years to Ray Jones, and mom of 3 beautiful daughters. Beth loves to encourage women to fulfill God’s great purpose for their lives through daily intimacy with Jesus and through pursuing their passion. You can find out more about Beth’s products and services at www.bethjones.net and http://womensbattles.com.