Hello readers! Sorry about the few days of no posting, I have been bogged down lately with digital graphics requests. To check out one of the tasks I took on, check out Michelle’s blog at Bloggrrl.Com (I made the sidebar graphics and header). If you need graphics for your site, feel free to e-mail me at: ben@benjamincass.com.
Now… time to stop making excuses and write great content:
If you are reading this post and don’t know what YouTube is, you might as well crawl back under the rock that you came from and stay there for eternity 
Before I uploaded my AGLOCO Viewbar Video on YouTube and wrote this post about it, I didn’t even imagine that YouTube had any effect on the blogging community. However, this mindset quickly changed after I viewed my backlinks and pageviews my blog began to receive. Nearly half of the links of “BenjaminCass.Com” on the Google Search Engine are links to my AGLOCO video, and even though some of these sites are mere “feeder” sites of YouTube, my Alexa rankings rose over 1 million spots in the week following the video’s upload! Also, I saw a tremendous increase in my blogs traffic the week after my video’s release date. Take a look at the image below to see my daily traffic log after I uploaded the video to the YouTube database:
“So, how do I get involved in the YouTube ‘feeding frenzy’?”
There are only two things required in order to join in on the fun. First, you must create a YouTube account (I would recommend selecting the “Directors” account) and second (this one’s pretty obvious), you must have a video of decent quality that the public will want to watch.
However, before you release your YouTube video to the entire world (literally!), be sure you follow this simple checklist:
- V-Blog (Video Blog) about something that you are passionate about. It definitely shows if you could care less about your area of “interest.”
- Research the topic you are discussing. Show the world that you are well-educated in the topic that you are presenting. This will make you seem much more credible.
- Shoot your video in a well lit area with little-to-none background noise. The shooting environment is extremely important to many viewers and audio is crucial to any video. (In other words, don’t shoot your video like I did mine :D… I shot within a time constraint and didn’t pay attention to lighting and other necessities. My next video will be much better )
- Try to cut out any excessive “shakyness.” Although you may think you are the next Ridley Scott (
), try to keep your camera level at all times and avoid any quick movements. - Advertise your site in the video. Be sure to say your site’s name a few times in the video, as well as place your site’s URL at either the top or bottom of the video’s viewing screen. Also, include your site’s URL in the title of the video in order to receive more backlinks. A little self-promotion never hurt anyone
- Speak clear and enunciate e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e word. Nobody likes to watch videos with a host that mumbles the entire time. Also, be sure to speak into your camera’s microphone.
- Keep it short and sweet. Don’t drag your video’s length out, it may cause disinterest in the viewer. Be to-the-point the entire video. Leave the viewer wanting more!
- Edit your video. I realize that not everyone is a filmmaker, however, put time into your work. Edit the redundant parts of your video out and add some flare to it. Windows Movie Maker comes free with any Windows OS and I’m pretty sure that Macs come with iMovie or another video editing program.
HARSH REALITY ALERT: Not everyone was born to be in front of the camera. However, if you have an interesting personality and a lively attitude, follow the steps above and you should be on your way to directing tons of traffic to your site through YouTube.
I wish everyone the best of luck! Comment on this post if you have any videos you’ve made!
–Benjamin Cass, BenjaminCass.Com, Copyright 2007
By the way, I got a free ReviewMe from CASH for COMMENTS. All I had to do was post five comments and I got a free review. You should check out his blog site!
If you liked this, PLEASE buy me a [root] beer!Popularity: 77% [?]
Hah. That’s funny. I was about to do a video this week and post it on youtube. Good job on that.