Broadcast Your Website on YouTube

YouTube has become an amazing way to generate free traffic to your site. Just like a website, you can optimize your videos for the YouTube surfers who use the search feature.

Just as someone could type in "golfing tips" in Google.com and find your site, they can do the same with your videos on YouTube.

How?

Because you can enter a title and keywords for every video you submit and this information helps people find your video when they do a YouTube search.

More and more people use YouTube every single day and this can funnel quite a bit of traffic to your video... especially if the video is done well.

And not only can you capitalize on targeted YouTube traffic, but you can entertain your own site's audience by embedding your video into your web pages by simply copying and pasting the provided code.

Getting Your Video on YouTube

Computers and cameras are making it easier and easier to get video on the Web. It used to be you had to buy additional software just to get your video on the right format.

Now most digital camcorders come with the necessary software, or your PC or MAC may already have the software you need to make it happen. Plus YouTube accepts so many different video formats, you don't have to worry about converting the file.

Not to mention, Windows Vista has a free video editing program called "Windows Movie Maker" which is super easy to use.

You simply download your video from your camera to your PC. Then open up Windows Movie Maker to make edits to your video. You can add captions, credits, crop and more.

Since Windows Vista is a free program, there are some limitations. For example, you can't control the placement of the captions. So if you've centered yourself in the video, you'll have to deal with the fact that the captions/text may cover your face temporarily.

Also, you can't control how long the credits stay on the screen. After all, the credits are a great place to re-emphasize your website address so you want people to remember it.

But in my opinion, these are very small drawbacks. Remember you only get so much for free and you can still create a nice quality video with this software.

You can see one of my videos below I created with Windows Movie Maker and then uploaded to YouTube...

Other Video Editing Software Options?

If you would like more control over your video, you can opt to by video editing software. I used
to use Pinnacle Studio . Unfortunately my version was not compatible with Vista so I had to stop using it. I'm assuming their later versions are now compatible, so it's worth a look.

It's a big resource hog as far as computers are concerned, but a very nice video editing tool if you don't mind spending the money.

Power Director is another popular program with good reviews. I've never used them, but they seem to have large share of the video editing market.

However, if you're on a budget and you have Windows Vista, then Windows Movie Maker will do just fine for starting out.

And sorry to MAC users, I'm not familiar with options for you but I can only assume you have many more cooler options than us poor Windows users. :)

More Video Production Tips

1. Have adequate lighting.
Make sure people can actually SEE you. What are you hiding anyway? ;-)

2. Don't memorize a script...
unless you're good at delivering it where it doesn't sound like you're talking from memory. I've found if you just talk off the top of your head, it comes across much more conversational and natural.

3. Watch the time.
Your video should be as long as it needs to be, and get to the point. If you start rambling for 10 minutes about nothing, you could lose your audience before the video is finished. If your video seems long, think of ways you can summarize and condense certain points.

4. Check your backdrop.
Remember, this video is representing you and your site. If you've got a junk heap behind you, it will distract your audience. If you don't have a nice background, then just film in front of a blank wall.

5. Watch your filler words.
We don't realize how often we say "Um" and use filler words until we see ourselves on video. It's normal to need a sec to think about what to say next, so practice just being silent in those moments if you are an "Ummer." :)

The Bottom Line

No matter what method or software you use, it's definitely worth experimenting with video to help promote your site. And since YouTube is owned by Google, that can only mean good things if you make a good video and optimize the title and keywords for your audience.

Just like Google.com, YouTube can bring you a good amount of targeted visitors, and people can even subscribe to your YouTube channel so they'll be notified any time you add a new video.

And if your video is good enough, others will want to embed it into their sites. What a great, viral way to promote your site and get your name out there.

So take your time making a quality video. Once the viral effect kicks in, it can make quite an impact in your traffic levels.