As you have no doubt already noticed…

…Online Video is becoming a very important tool for small business owners to use to effectively market and promote their products and services!

You've heard the buzz about online video – but do you know how it can be leveraged to increase the impact of your marketing initiatives?

Online Video can be used at every stage of the customer lifecycle to acquire, engage and convert site visitors.

Now that everyone has the power and tools to create and produce videos very inexpensively, it's as important as ever to have a few rules to follow.

Here are 10 tips and tricks for using online video to
effectively market your business…

1. Keep 'em short.

Whether you're loading videos on YouTube.com or you're using own private video server to pre-sell products or services on your Web2.0 site or blog, keep them short around five minutes or so… especially if your audience includes people who don't know you.  If needed, break a long video into multiple smaller videos.

2. Post videos on your landing pages and sales pages.

You can use video sales letters to highlight the main points of your regular landing page or sales letter. You can also use videos to demonstrate what the product is or to explain a service in more detail and how easy it is to use or get involved.  You may also get your satisfied customers to give you video testimonials.

3. Choose your keywords carefully.

If you're loading your videos onto YouTube (or other public video sharing site), choose keywords that your market is currently using to find information in your niche.  You may also choose keywords that match those being used alongside other popular videos in your niche.

4. Know your purpose before you start.

Before you film, choose one purpose for your video. Is it to get subscribers? Send traffic to your landing page?  Pre-sell a product?  Describe a service?  Educate a visitor?  Whatever the reason, base your entire video around that singular goal.  Don't confuse your viewer by giving more than one option.

5. Create a call to action.

You should create at least one call to action in your video, where you tell people exactly what you want them to do and why (e.g., "Go to www.yourdomain.com to grab Part 2 of this video – but hurry, you can only get it free for a limited time!")

6. Encourage comments.

If you're posting your video on YouTube, on your Web2.0 site, or other social sites, encourage comments (even controversial ones). The more people talk about your video, the more your visitors will return to your page to see what's new in the discussion.

7. Use other social sites to jump-start the viral effect.

If you want your video to go viral, you need to advertise it. One way to do that is to link to or embed your video on your other social media site pages, like Twitter or MySpace.  Syndicating your content across various Social Media Sites is crucial for achieving viral success.

8. Blog about your video.

Another way to advertise your video is to blog about it. If you embed your video on your blog, then encourage your visitors to bookmark it using Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com, Facebook, or other similar social networking sites.  You can also get them to Re-Tweet it on Twitter.

9. Ask your JV partners to share your video with their prospects and customers.

Yet another away to advertise your video is by asking your JV partners to mention it in their newsletters, blog about it and share it with their social media contacts.

10. Put a video on a CD/DVD and give it away for free.

You can build a physical mailing list by putting your video on a CD or DVD and giving it away for free to those who give you a mailing address. Be sure to include an upsell at the end of your video.

In summary:

You can use videos to pre-sell products, demonstrate products, teach and educate your prospects, drive traffic to your sites, brand your business, and ultimately grow your mailing list.

Start applying these tips today – you'll be amazed at what video marketing can do for you.

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