How To Create Popular Online Video Content For Internet Marketing

This week I reached out to someone who I consider to be an online video expert, Andy Havard, for a guest post on a marketing topic that matters!  Everywhere I look, online video seems to be exploding - so I wanted to learn more. A special thank you to Andy for sharing these great online video marketing tips.

When you consider YouTube is receiving over 2 billion video views a day from thousands upon thousands of registered users (and even more from unregistered users) it’s imperative to make your online video content stand out from the competition. The following post explores how Internet video marketers can ensure their online video content is as good as possible in order to win over large audiences and generate higher levels of traffic and conversion. 

1. Keep Your Online Videos Simple.
Simplicity is key to a successful online video. Using creative effects and animations may seem like a good idea, but such distracting on-screen material can take viewers attention away from the true message of the video. The power of simple one-on-one video can be just as effective and actually more accessible to an audience than any online video that’s been taken straight out of a cinematic blockbuster. Not only is it advisable to keep your on-screen content simple, but your message should be kept simple too. Addressing one point per video is far more powerful than trying to address three or four. If you have a lot to say in your online video think about creating separate episodes to successfully target each subject clearly for your audience. 

2. Keep Your Online Videos Short.
When creating and editing online video always think ‘short and sweet’. It’s common in video productions to struggle to cut down content as you may feel every second is worthwhile, but your audience might not feel the same. Be as cut-throat as you can in keeping your videos between the 2 to 5 minute mark. If your content is more than 5 minutes then think about creating more than one video to express each point to its maximum potential. Creating a few episodes is much more beneficial than trying to shove all of your content into 10 rushed minutes of footage. 

3. Keep Your Online Videos Current.  Never promote old news. If your online videos are out of date, there’s not much you can do for them. This is why you need to make your videos current and topical at all times. If news about new developments, productions, services or technologies in your niche crop up in your field create a short online video production to discuss it. Online users will always be searching for information on new developments. If users are interested in your particular niche then a topical video could be very useful to such users, which in turn could generate a great deal of popularity for your brand or business. 

4. Make Your Online Video Content Informative.
It’s not always possible to create a video when industry news breaks, but your online videos can be informative and educational in other ways. Creating ‘how to’ guides, instructional videos and tutorials are a great way of being a useful asset to Internet users. By establishing your business or brand as a knowledgeable online entity you can begin to enjoy a great deal of trust from your audience, which is an exceptional trait to among potential clients and customers. 

5. Make Your Online Video Content Entertaining.
Entertaining an audience is perhaps the most powerful thing any online video can do. Internet marketers are all too familiar with the idea of viral video and always seek to reach similar degrees of success. Making your online videos entertaining is one of the best ways to achieve such goals. An online video that is funny, inspirational, innovative or interactive can be very entertaining to an online viewer. It’s not an easy feat creating a universally entertaining online video, but mastering it could generate more traffic and leads than you ever thought possible. 

By taking into account these five tips when you next think about creating online video as part of your Internet marketing strategy you can aim to make your content as popular as possible. It’s not easy to create outstanding content, but following these tips will help to ensure your online videos are giving your competition a good run for their money.

Guest Blogger: Andy Havard

Andy Havard is a Marketing Executive at Skeleton Productions, a UK based online video production company.

For more free marketing advice, visit the marketing experts at http://www.MarketingScoop.com.

#1 Rankings For Your Website Or Blog!

This week I read an amazing article by Ryan Woolley via Search Engine Watch which really hit the mark. Being nuts about search engine optimization and getting my websites and blogs ranked in the top organic positions has always been an obsession for me.



And lately, there's been a lot of conflicting information about SEO and what factors have been given additional weight from the latest Google algorithm changes.



That being said its very difficult to separate fact from fiction when so called "experts" profess the impact of Google's seemingly daily, weekly, and monthly changes. The reason I've decided to mention Ryan and this week's article is because it really drives home what we knew all along - that sound SEO principals are still the driver of top search engine placements.



Achieving top search engine placements requires an effective recipe that delivers consistent results. This secret recipe is one that might need a few tweaks here and there but consistently performs. The recipe consists of good keyword research, on page optimization, off page optimization, and measurement.



In the diagram presented in this post, you see the factors that are essential for off page optimization which is largely comprised of building inbound links to your website or blog. Whether you focus on forum posting, guest blog posts or commenting, the goal is to attract and develop inbound links to your web properties from high authority sites and pages. I know the recipe is fairly simple but finding the ingredients can be a real challenge. This is why individuals and companies that do a good job of SEO are so widely regarded and sought after by those seeking top placements.



One of the most important aspects of off page optimization is not just where you are getting links from buy how they appear on third party sites. In addition to the sources of inbound links noted in the fantastic article by Ryan is the need to pay attention to the format of your links. Always make sure to include your keywords in the link text of the link. By embedding your keywords, you give Google and other major search engines a clear understanding of what terms your site should be associated with.



By starting with on page optimization and building a consistent inbound link development program, you can dramatically improve your search engine ranking. Add the proper link formatting, using anchor text, and you're sure to get the results you're looking for.



Do you have some valuable link building ideas you'd like to share? Be sure to Like, Retweet, and +1, this post as well as comment to share your ideas.

For more free marketing advice, visit the marketing experts at http://www.MarketingScoop.com.

How To Make Sure Your Email List Gets Results!

A good email marketing campaign starts with your ability to get clean, active email addresses into your database. Email addresses with syntax or spelling errors can cause hard bounces, which in turn can harm your sending IP’s reputation. These factors all results in the poor delivery of your campaigns and ultimately a loss in revenue.

To ensure that you are only putting properly formatted email addresses in your database, create a few rules behind the email entry field on your website. First, have double entry fields for email addresses and do not allow the second entry field to be pasted into. Upon submitting, your web service should check that both addresses are identical. This should help reduce the number of misspellings in your database.

Next, have the web service also check for common syntax errors in the email address itself. Examples of this are:

• Are there any spaces in the email address?

• Is there an @ [at] sign?

• Is there at least one . [period]?

• Are there at least six characters present? [x@x.xx]

Any of these errors will cause an email to fail upon sending, so have the web service prompt users to correct their entry before proceeding. Effective email marketing requires that users enter correct information. Creating rules for data entry is essential for success.

Once you have a process in place to handle syntax errors, you also need to consider misspellings and typos. Since there are millions of possible errors, it would be incredibly difficult to build a service to handle these. Thankfully, companies like FreshAddress have developed a real time solution for exactly that. Their REACT (Real-time Email Address Correction Technology) software checks the email address that was entered in real time against a list of common misspellings and suggests alternative. Although on the expensive side, this service, and others like it, can greatly reduce the number of bad incoming addresses and save your deliverability.

If you’ve been emailing for a while, you’ve probably accumulated a large number of invalid email addresses. These are most likely caused from soft or hard bounces, and are probably just taking up space on your servers. Chances are that a large percentage of these addresses can be recovered simply by making a small change to the address. Do some research and find a list hygiene service or company to help with this type of project. Again, this could be a costly undertaking, but the number of recovered email addresses could be well worth it. Most companies will do a low cost or free test on a small segment of data so you can try it before committing.

For the hygiene process, you’ll collect all of your invalid email addresses and send them to the vendor of choice. They will then compare it to several other lists of blacklisted and retired domains, known complainers and – most importantly – check for misspelled domains. Once they’re finished, you’ll get a list of corrected addresses or a list with a code of what the address was flagged for. Then you should make any changes to the addresses that are needed and reload into your database.

It’s important to flag all corrected addresses so you can keep an eye on unsubscribes and complaints. Remember, it’s likely these customers haven’t been receiving your emails at all, so you should probably send them some form of welcome message to ease them into your email stream. If your budget allows, perform list hygiene at least once a quarter to keep your email list fresh and active.

Another way to keep your email list active is to use an engagement list. Start by filtering out inactive email addresses – those who haven’t opened, clicked or converted in a timeframe that’s relevant to your business. Send to the remaining customers in your email list for most of your mailings. If you are uncomfortable only mailing a portion of your list, include the inactives from time to time and start a reactivation campaign to re-engage them.

Any or all of these solutions will help keep your email list clean and active. A low number of hard bounces will ensure your IP’s sending reputation and your marketing efforts will benefit from the solid delivery. Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to engage your prospects and customers. Keep your email list clean and see your results improve.

For more free marketing advice, visit the marketing experts at http://www.MarketingScoop.com.