With the advent of broadband Internet access and the proliferation of free video hosting sites like YouTube, Blip.tv, Revver, and Veoh.com, today anyone with a camcorder and an Internet connection can produce a video. and share it with the world. Web video production can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Some benefits include:
o Free or low-cost advertising and exposure for your business
o Instant access to a global audience on the Web, 24/7
o The ability to use the HTML code from your video hosting site to add the video to your own website
Here are 4 simple steps to get your video on the web:
1. Produce a short video
“Short” is the key word here, for several reasons: First, online viewers have a much shorter attention span when watching video on the Web. Second, longer videos mean larger file sizes. Most free video hosting sites have a 100MB limit; some even less. For great do-it-yourself online video tools, visit Serious Magic and check out their inexpensive “Vlog It” software. Techsmith’s Camtasia Studio software can also meet your simple video production needs.
2. Cast your video for online viewing
Once you have your video, it still needs to be encoded and compressed to make it “internet friendly”. Video files can be huge, but compression software reduces the size of the video file so it plays better on the Web. Remember to save or export your file at a supported size online, which is 320 X 240 resolution; and compress it to be less than 20 MB, if possible. Be sure to save your video file in a format that most video sites accept, such as a Quicktime movie (.mov), Windows movie (.wmv), or Flash file (.flv). QuickTime Pro (for Windows or Mac) is ideal for compressing your video and transferring it to the file format of your choice (Windows, Flash, MPEG).
3. Upload to various free video hosting sites
Now comes the fun part: you can upload your video and share it with the world! Most popular video sites have relatively easy upload instructions: First, you’ll need to create an account for each site. Video hosting sites usually have a two or three step process that allows you to browse your video file on your computer; add a title and description; and then click “upload” to post your video file. Most sites will also give you options to add a thumbnail photo, select your genre or category, or in some cases sign up for a revenue share. I suggest you go beyond the obvious sites like YouTube and Yahoo, and upload your video to some of the newer, more feature-rich sites like Veoh, Revver, iFilm, and Stickam. Visit individual sites for easy upload instructions.
4. Promote and share your new “online TV channel”
Once you’ve uploaded your video, video hosting sites provide the option to “share” your video by giving you a link/URL that you can email to your contacts. Most sites also include a great feature that allows you to copy the HTML code and “embed” the video into your own website or blog. Just cut and paste the provided code into your own site. Finally, use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to offer “subscriptions” to your videos online.
Follow these four steps and you can have your own video featured on numerous video websites and on your own home page too!
Sidebar: Beyond YouTube…: Everyone has their own favorite video site, from Bolt.com to Lulu.tv, there are dozens of video hosting sites. I find the most “user friendly” sites are Blip.tv, VideoEgg and Veoh. For a more business-oriented video hosting site, check out Brightcove.com.
