Small Business Design Resources

If you’ve never considered video marketing, you’re missing out on an entire world of opportunity. Providing videos for your customers is a great way to share information while personalizing your business at the same time. One of the difficulties of an Internet business is that you may never meet your customers in person; videos are a great way to make the personal connection that builds customer trust and loyalty. One of the easiest and best ways to use video for your small business is to take advantage of YouTube’s free services.

Why?
You can certainly host videos on your own small business website, but there are some great advantages to hosting your videos on YouTube instead. Here are a few you should consider:

• YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community, with millions of users. The site’s features make it easy for users to search and browse by topics, view their friends’ favorite videos, and subscribe to their favorite channels–all things that can attract viewers who have never before heard of your company or your website.
• Hosting your own videos takes up your server’s limited storage space and bandwidth. Bandwidth becomes particularly important if you have a terrific video that goes viral. If you host with YouTube, they will be responsible for dealing with the increased traffic load as people flock to see your video, so you won’t have to worry about overloading your own server.

How?
Registering with YouTube and creating your own channel is a simple process, and they have a pretty comprehensive help center if you get stuck. Making your videos doesn’t have to be complicated, either. You need a digital camera, but it doesn’t have to be professional quality–your video will most likely be viewed in a small 320×240 pixel window, so an expensive high-definition camcorder isn’t necessary. Depending on the type of videos you decide to make, your computer’s webcam may be all you need.

Once you have created and uploaded your videos, you can easily embed them in your website and link to them from all over the Internet. Great places to include them might be your social networking profiles, emails, forums, and other Internet video communities.

A few important tips:

• Include your business name, website, and other contact info in the video itself as well as in the description.
• Keep basic SEO principles in mind when writing your video’s title, description, and tags. Using the right keywords will help customers find you and get your video listed on related searches.
• Be an active member of the YouTube community. In addition to posting your own videos, comment on those posted by other users and add ones you like to your favorites.

• Create a video blog that you regularly update with short videos, usually under 5 minutes long. This isn’t much different than a written blog, but feels more personal and is more interesting for some website viewers. Check out my article on what blogging is for more info on why you should blog–it’s specific to written blogs, but the same principles still apply.
• Make demos of your product or services. Customers will feel more confident in the product they’re purchasing if they can see it in action, and they’ll be able to see that you know a lot about the products or services you’re providing.
• Offer tutorials or mini-lectures on topics related to your business. Just like with article marketing, these videos will provide your viewers with useful information or skills while also establishing you as an expert in your area. They’re a great opportunity for product placement, as well–for example, if you sell scrapbooking supplies, you can use your products in a how-to-scrapbook video.
• Post video answers to frequently asked questions, or even respond to general customer inquiries with video messages.
• Provide videos of customer testimonials to prove that the testimonials are authentic and show off your satisfied customers.