Where To Begin

The very first thing that you ought to do is head over to You Tube (there are other sites as well) and start looking at videos made by other users to see what this is all about.  The first thing that you will notice is that quite a few of theses videos are produced at home by private individuals using a digital movie camera with built in audio. The second thing that you will notice is that although they seem like a lot of fun to make, most of these videos are lacking in professionalism with respect to the production values, and for the most part this reflects the challenging nature of creating a broadcast quality video.  So, now you can accept that fact that all of those "over paid" television production people who you know and are jealous of, do indeed earn their money.

Making a video with video recording cameras and equipment brings up all kinds of issues like lighting, sound, camera angles, scripts, etc. that you may not be ready to deal with right away.  There is definitely a set of skills required to do this, and they take time to develop.  If you want to outsource the work, it can be expensive and time consuming.  And who knows how effective this is going to be?   By now it should be dawning on you that buying a digital video camera may not be the answer you are looking for.  Instead, look toward alternative technologies.  I am sure that you know what slide shows are and how they work.  Slide shows can be converted into video format and loaded up to You Tube just as easily as camera shot footage.

If you are not already aware by now, you should be advised that Power Point presentations can also be converted into video format and uploaded.  The advantage to you with going this route is that it is a lot easier to create a product that casts a professional image on your enterprise without having to go through numerous "takes". There is reasonably priced software that can convert your Power Point demos to video format.

And it only gets better. There are websites such as Animoto.com where you can upload your own still images to servers and the service will generate broadcast quality video clips complete with a hot music sound track for you! All you have to do is provide the images which you can make however please. A smart way to go is to paste text of your website URL over a product image on several of your "slides". Animoto bills itself as "the end of slide shows", and is free to you if you can get by with a 30 second video. If you want longer, and super professional quality videos they have a paid membership option. If you are serious about video marketing you should definitely check it out.

I want to wind up this article by exhorting you to get in the game. Go visit all of the video sharing websites including You Tube and start producing your own promotional videos. Start with video slide shows and learn how to integrate a sound track. After you get your feet wet you can then tackle filmed footage with a camera and tripod.

About The Author:

Read more: YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business

This article was written by Mark Soveign who owns and writes for Wertheim Communications LLC as well as Mooker.Com