It seems like keeping the attention of people searching the web is getting tougher with every passing day. Considering that there are nearly a Billion websites online and millions of blog posts created daily, it’s no wonder that gaining traction on the internet is a tough endeavor.
Here are the basics:
- You have a website
- You built it on the right platform, WordPress
- You connected your social media profiles
- You make it easy for your website visitors to share with their networks
- You have your email marketing set up
- You blog often
- You setup Google Analytics
You do the basics and it seems that your efforts aren’t enough. So you think to yourself, forget this, I give up. Well I’m here to tell you that giving up is not an option. Not if you’re looking to be successful in your business endeavor.
The missing link in the vast majority of business’ is Video. You’re thinking”Really, now I have to become a Videographer? I barely have time to blog.” I know, it’s frustrating, it seems as though the internet is a moving target. Well it is.
We as a society are more connected than ever. That trend is only going to increase since newer technologies make it easy to connect to others online. So here’s the hard truth, you have to do video! It’s really not an option.
How to get started with Video Production
First thing you’re thinking is you don’t have a budget for video. Well, you most likely have the tools you need. Do you have a Smart Phone? If so then you have your video camera built in. Most modern Smart Phones can actually record up to 4k video and have amazing quality.
All you need then is a decent stand for your smart phone to keep it still. You can find plenty of cool stands on Amazon for less than $20. Your looking for a mini tripod made for phones.
Lighting is important. Natural lighting is good or just make sure you are in a well lit room with the lights overhead and in front of you.
Clean up the clutter in your area you’ll be recording. Remove anything that you don’t want to be shown in the actual video.
For a microphone you can go professional with the Blue Yeti or with a simple lapel microphone.
Video Editing Programs
Free Video Editing Programs
- Windows Movie Maker – remains one of the best free video editing applications out there and certainly the most popular one on the market.
- iMovie – iMovie for Mac lets you enjoy your videos like never before. Browse your clips easily, instantly share your favorite moments, and create Hollywood‑style trailers and beautiful movies at stunning 4K resolution. You can even start editing on iPhone or iPad, and finish on a Mac. And when you’re ready to premiere your movie on all your devices, iMovie Theater rolls out the red carpet.
Premium Video Editing Programs
- Adobe Premiere Pro – is the most popular solutions that professionals use. It is available for both Windows and Mac but does come at a price. $19.99 per month. The features are top notch but does have a learning curve.
- Final Cut Pro – is a very popular solution for Mac users. It is not available for Windows. Final Cut Pro is also feature rich and is made to work extremely well with Apple Computers. It does come with a cost of $299.99 one time fee
Where should you host your Videos?
YouTube
There are so many places you can host your videos but ultimately YouTube tends to be the best option since they allow you to be placed on the second largest search engine, yes YouTube is second only to Google Search. They also help save you space on your server by hosting the video for you and help to also save you bandwidth since their servers will bare the burden of serving the video to your future video watchers.
Alternatives to YouTube
While YouTube is the number one place people think about when asked for where to view videos online, there are other options you can choose from.
- Vimeo – Provides you with the ability to upload videos for free for non commercial purposes. There are about 30 million active users of Vimeo. If you need to upload a lot of videos then you have to upgrade to a paid option. Currently they have 3 types of paid solutions. Vimeo Plus $59.95 per year, Vimeo Pro $199 per year, Vimeo Pro Unlimited $399 per year and Vimeo Business $199 per year. Check out the links to view the different versions of Vimeo to find a solution that works best for you.
- Wistia -Is one of the most feature rich Video hosting solutions. But that feature set comes at a premium price. While they do have free options, those options are very limited if you are looking to host a lot of videos. If you are looking for the absolute best solution and price is not an issue, then Wistia is a great choice. Prices range from Free with limited use, $25 per month for 100 videos in total, $100 per month for 1,000 videos and $300 per month for unlimited videos.
- Facebook Video – You could always just upload your videos straight to Facebook from your phone. Benefit of this is everyone is on Facebook. The downfall is that inherently people use Facebook for personal purposes most and might be blinded to business type videos.
Can’t I self Host?
You could also host your videos on your own website and server, but you will have to handle all encoding of the videos in the proper formats and deal with the bandwidth and size of the videos which would end up requiring you to get a dedicated server, maybe 2 or 3 of them and potentially get a Premium CDN to help with some of the content on your site. Ultimately I don’t recommend this approach since it would cripple most shared hosting plans, VPS or small Dedicated Servers.
Final Thoughts
Creating a video for your business isn’t hard at all. You might want to have the most professionally developed video in your niche but for most small business’ that might work against you. People tend to favor videos that don’t look overly corporate. I don’t mean make crappy videos. Just don’t fall into the trap that you’re videos must be hollywood style productions.
Break out your smart phone, create your scripts, check your lighting and get started. Practice a few times so you can get the hang of it.