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Why use YouTube?
At the time of writing, it’s official –
YouTube is the second most popular
search engine in the world after
Google. And just to repeat what I said
earlier, it really is used as a search
engine in its own right!
There are now over 1 billion viewers of
YouTube across the globe, and it just
keeps growing. Over 4 billion YouTube
videos are viewed each day and in
2012, YouTube had well over a trillion
views! A leading internet research company,
Comscore, found that visitors typically
spend 7 1/2 times longer watching
YouTube videos than their nearest
competitor, Yahoo and with nearly 3
times more viewers! In fact, they found
that 99% of all searchers on Google
looking for videos went straight to
YouTube.
Which site do YOU think of first if you
want to watch a video (non-
pornographic, I mean!)? Yes, YouTube!
And the viewers are yours for the taking.
In fact, try it now. Go to Google and type
in “how to” [fill in the blank, e.g. make
pancakes] followed by the word
“video”. How may YouTube results do
you see in the top 5 results? In fact, take
out the word “video” - chances are there
will still be a scattering of YouTube
results on page one!
Videos appeal to the masses and provide
a tremendous ‘instant fix’, particularly
so now, with literacy and concentration
levels at an all-time low; couple this
with a need to get to information quickly,
people will always turn to videos over
text!
And just by following the simple
strategies outlined in this book and
you’ll be ranking in no time for whatever
particular niche you are in.
What also makes YouTube so powerful
is what I call its ‘stickiness’: there are
very few sites that people will linger on
outside of YouTube, and this is all down
to its video content. Visitors may spend
hours sitting in this one single site. So
you can see why Google returns
YouTube results at the top of its rankings
for just about any search phrase!
Combine this with the self-ranking as
well as self-searching capabilities of
YouTube I mentioned earlier, then you
can see why I firmly believe that this is
really where you need to start seriously
thinking about concentrating your
marketing efforts.
There’s an old adage that goes something
like, ‘if it sounds too good to be true,
then it probably is’. Sorry to disappoint
you all but this expression simply does
not apply to YouTube marketing and I
can’t see this changing, at least for the
foreseeable future!
Here is where you need to start
concentrating your efforts. Make a good
set of videos and use the tactics in this
book and you’ll be seeing the fruits of
your labors for many years to come.
What will I need?
First of all, don’t be scared.
Unless you’re planning on doing a big
stage production, then you won’t need
expensive cameras, lighting, green
screens, etc. to make videos that will
attract thousands of viewers.
If you’re planning on putting yourself on
camera then you can use anything from a
home movie camera to a mobile phone
or a tablet. If you do want to go down
this route, then there’s plenty of good
software you can use, such as iMovie,
VideoEdit or ReelDirector.
The videos I tend to make are simply
‘how-to’ instructional tutorials, so I’ll be
focusing on the ‘screencast’ video
techniques, where you’re basically
filming your own computer screen.
(If you’re interested in the exact
equipment I use then see the Appendix at
the back of the book, where I’ll also
give you a link to my own scripting
document on my website that I use for
producing my own scripts). If you are
new to this, then a detailed script is
highly recommended. This document
also includes an ‘action’ column, which
is a cue for you to do something during
this part of your speech.
I’m assuming you all have your own
ways of capturing your videos. For the
screencasting technique I simply use:
★A microphone;
★Camtasia Studio screencast
software (but I have also used the
free CamStudio software in
conjunction with Windows Movie
Maker, which still produces very
effective results).
…and that’s it!
The point is, it’s really not about the
lighting or the 3D stereo sound (unless
that’s what you’re promoting!). It’s
really all about the quality of the content
in the videos themselves and that you are
providing something of value to your
viewers. In fact, many of the most
popular videos currently on YouTube
were simply taken on a mobile phone!
Whichever method you use, be natural,
keep it engaging and make sure that what
you’re producing is what people want to
watch!
Chapter 1 –
that get noticed
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