You’ll want to harness the power of YouTube in your online business. Why? Because visitors tend to spend more time when they are watching video rather than simply reading a message. The longer the visit the greater the conversion rate and the result.
However, there are a few important guidelines when using YouTube videos in your marketing.
Here’s a very important WARNING!
You should NOT use music or other content in your video that does not belong to you or for which you don’t have formal permission to use in your video. There are all kinds of laws, copyrights, and restrictions about this, and it’s so tempting to just include a short clip from a CD of songs by a favorite band that you purchased.
Don’t do it!
Find royalty-free music, even if you have to pay for it. YouTube will cancel your account if it catches you doing this, and now that Google owns YouTube, they are very good at catching these types of things. And this is true for all video sharing sites – as well as for your videos you host on your own site.
This is one of the most important rules to follow. If you’re not sure how to upload videos to YouTube and then get that video to play on your site, this video will show you how.
Deb, thank you for this!
Couple of Qs
1.Can you add the video into your own post (not VIA You Tube)..just copy an paste into your own post as well?
2. I’ve heard it suggested –and it sounds right to me–that having all your Vs hosted on You Tube could be problematic, both for he reasons you indicated re the capriciousness of Google and You Tube and he fact that the You Tube hosting doesn’t look as professional.
…and i that’s the case, in yur view, what would be suitable alternatives?
Thank you!
Thanks for your questions Frank. I will let Deb know you have posted them.
Hi Frank!
Thanks for the questions. Yes, you can add any video you create on your own blog as well. You will have to host it in a second spot (not YouTube), and create a player for it if you want it embedded in a blog post – there are a few different ways to do that. You can upload the video to your webhost and then use a WordPress plugin to create a player. Or you can create an Amazon S3 account to host your videos and then embed them on your blog (you still need to create a player – so again, the WordPress plugin, or use a service like EZS3).
As for #2 – that is so true! We know so many people who had a ton of videos on YouTube and they had their account shut down for no discernible reason – and with no real way to get their account reinstated. I wouldn’t use YouTube as the hosting for any of my really important videos (such as those in our courses) – we put ours on S3, and always keep a backup copy on an external hard drive.
That said, YouTube is outstanding as far as getting traffic, so you definitely want to use YouTube! Just be sure to abide by their Terms of Service (stuff such as you own the rights to the video you are posting, you created it, you didn’t use any music that came from a CD for which there are a lot of royalties that need to be paid, etc. Do read them… they are always being updated).
I’d go ahead and put videos on other public sharing sites such as Vimeo, Viddler, etc. And, if the videos are really important to you, go with S3 to host and stream them, and then create players.
We’ll talk about a lot of these things on the webinar! I hope you can join us.
Deb
Thanks for your quick response Deb. I know Tuesday’s webinar is going to rock the house!
Thanks Deb and Kathleen. I’ve signed up for the session.
If Deb Laqua is presenting, I know it’s going to be jam-packed with great information. Heck, even in he reply to Frank she offers great advice and great info. I’ve learned so much from her and am looking forward to more.
Good for you Kathleen in getting Deb to do this education. Thanks for all you do to continue to help small business owners be more successful!
Cathy
Thanks for your comments Cathy. I totally agree that Deb is amazing and will bring so much great content to this event.
What is the best time frame to use for weekly Vlogs on youtube? Is there anything that I can do to make them more interesting?
My recommendation is to be on the webinar in order that Mynders and Deb can address your question. They will have a Q&A time for everyone.
Youtube is such a great site… When did Google buy it? I am SO behind on everything!! 🙂
Laurie
Did you know that if you DO use copyrighted music or anything in a youtube video, you have to go to a special “youtube school” to get the point off of your record? It’s like traffic school! So funny. ~Natasha