Use Video

Unless you have been living in a cave, you have heard of You Tube. If you spend
any time online, it is hard not to have heard of it. Millions of people every day view
video clips that are stored in the YouTube library. YouTube and Google Videos take
advantage of the fact that people are now spending more time in recreational
internet surfing than in watching television. It is another example of not only how
people want to be entertained, but also that people want choices. The public has
gotten used to being able to choose the entertainment they want, and not be forced
to take what is pushed at them.

If you are creative enough, or cutting edge, or wacky enough, you could quickly be
the next hot video. The videos that have the most chance of going viral are ones
that deal with current events, especially if you can beat the major news outlets,
videos dealing with business issues, and humorous videos.

Steven Colbert was a great example of this when clips of his Comedy Central show,
The Colbert Report, were released on YouTube. Despite the objections of the
Comedy Central network, when the show was still new, Colbert allowed clips from his
show to be posted on YouTube. Within a short period of time his clips went viral,
and viewership of The Colbert Report soared.

If you decide this is a method you want to use, make sure you have a fresh idea,
and not a rehash of something that has already made the rounds. You don’t need
network quality equipment to produce a decent video. While you do want decent
quality production, the biggest key is great content.

Make your video, and at the end of the clip place a 3 – 5 second promotional slide
with the URL for your website so viewers can look for more useful information. Make
sure the landing page you send them to matches the tone of the video. If the video
you use is quirky and humorous, and the landing page is serious and all business,
your visitors will only stay for a few seconds before leaving for more entertaining
sites.

Once your video is produced, and looks the way you want it to, upload your video
onto YouTube and Google Videos. These sites offer services that allow website
owners and users of social network sites like MySpace to place video viewers on
their site. If your video goes viral, not only will potential customers be able to see
your video on the host site, but also on all of the personal sites that pick it up. The
amount of traffic that could flood to your site is huge.