Are you doing audio and video yet?

Recently I did an article on how to create amazing video & audio content for your online business. It’s a fact that we’ve come to a time when people are less attentive. They’d much rather watch or listen to something than read it.

Even I’ve fallen victim to this as I now look for audiobooks over regular books.

Being that we as online business owners and/or bloggers want as many people as possible to get a hold of our content, we need to cater to as many different personalities as possible.

With that being said, we must eventually, add video and audio marketing to our online businesses.

In this post, I want to show you problems that many face and why they shy away from video and audio marketing. I won’t leave you hanging though; Never that.

I’m going to show you what I did to counter the fears that come with this new venture and how to improve once you kick that fear to the curve.

Are You Scared? I Was Until….

The number one reason why people shy away from doing video and audio marketing is because they are afraid of what people will say. Some are worried about how they look or even how they’re voice sounds. Often people hide behind non personal videos like the ones you create by turning powerpoint slides into video.

I admit it can be tough putting yourself out there for the world to see but there is something I’ve realized. If you know what you’re talking about, people will listen.

The object is not to know everything but to know more than most people. If you’ve chosen a subject that you’re an absolute genius on, then you’re in the money.

Be aware that you will have those certain people that may disagree with you but understand that everyone is not having a great a day as you’re having. Wish them the best in life and keep on trucking.

How to overcome fear…

Fear is a major crippler of success in anything but when it comes to something you know, it makes you selfish. Yep that’s what I said. Fear doesn’t make you scary; it makes you selfish.

There are a lot of people that can benefit from your knowledge but because of fear, you’d rather keep it to yourself. I learned this from an amazing audiobook called “Confident Public Speaking: Secrets for Painless Presentations!” by Susan Leahy.

Now I’m guessing you’re wondering what does public speaking have to do with creating video and audio content. Well just so you know, when I got this book, it wasn’t for the purposes of improving my online presentations but she had the most amazing way of looking at creating presentations in general.

It went along the lines of whatever you do outside the privacy of your home is public. The internet takes that to a whole other level. She was basically saying the minute you step outside the privacy of your home, you should be ready to impress because you are in public.

After you overcome fear, work on quality

The most important part of getting started with video and audio marketing is getting started. It sounds a bit naive but it’s a fact that getting started is a big obstacle for many.

This can also be due to fear of messing up, making mistakes or not looking as good as your competition.

Everyone started somewhere. The greatest joy is looking back on your past work and seeing how far you’ve come. It’s also great when your followers are able to see your progress.

Progress can be in many forms:

• Video intros and outros
• theme music
• watermarks
• something different

You can’t expect to be perfect when you first start. Of course we want to because that’s just human nature but you’ll never be. Just clean produce some great content, keep a smile and a nice background and you should be good.

For audio, I suggest having a nice musical intro. You can get stuff like this done on Fiverr for five bucks.

How to BRING IT!!!

Now you’ve conquered your fear and pushed the selfishness to the side. You’ve started creating audio and video and added this to your blog traffic strategies but you feel there is something missing.

You know what most people are missing?

Themselves!

The most important part of creating some amazing video and audio content is to BE YOURSELF. I learned this best from a book by Gary Vaynerchuk called “Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion“.

That dude is the definition of being yourself no matter what anyone thinks.

He’s in an industry where you’re expected to be like Ben Stein from those Clear Eyes commercials. No; he brings it with his own rockstar personality that wins over his audience and has put him in a league of his own.

You have to be yourself. Think of how you are when you’re with friends and family. Look into the camera and just imagine you’re talking to them.

If you talk to me in person and we get to talking about internet marketing, I will literally talk your head off. You would see my passion because I would tell you so much. Every time I shoot a video or record some audio, I think as if I’m talking to someone right in front of me.

Some ways you can get seen or heard…

These days, there are too many ways to get your content seen or heard. I’m going to detail a few ways I know of that have worked with or see other pro using in their online businesses.

Audio

• Podcasts – you can record audio podcasts and distribute them online for followers to listen to. The most popular method is via iTunes. If you know of any others, please enlighten us.
• On site audio – If you record audio and want to allow you viewers to listen to it, there are many ways to include audio on your blog. I recently installed MP3-jPlayer because it looked to have all I need.
• Odiogo Listen button - This plugin I’m overly excited about. It reads your content to your viewers for them. Talk about making your blog futuristic.

Video

• YouTube – there are tons of videos on YouTube which is why you MUST use your #1 asset that no one can use. BE YOURSELF. See these tips on how to get more views on Youtube.
  
• Tube Mogul – blast one video out to multiple video sites.
• Facebook – Facebook doesn’t allow much marketing if any but if you have original video content and use your own music, it could pay off big.

In conclusion – Video and Audio Marketing

It’s a fact that giving people a visual of who is behind all those words (if you have a blog) is a great way to further connect with them. It’s not a requirement of course but it does help out alot with building a brand. This in return makes them more comfortable with subscribing to your list and becoming followers.

Once you get those first few videos out there, you’ll be looking in the mirror like “what was I worried about”?

I hope you found this post helpful. If you haven’t started video or audio marketing in your online business, I suggest you check out the books I mentioned. Those 2 books made me look step back and look at my online business and see that there were some things I needed to change.

Are you using video and/or audio marketing in your online business? What type of response have you gotten from it?

Thanks for reading. Please comment and share

WordPress Tutorial Video – Commentluv Plugin Tips and Tricks

What is a comment Luv plug-in?

Andy Bailey from comluv.com is the developer of the comment Luv plug-in. It is a free plug-in for WordPress websites and blogger blogs. If you register at Andy’s website you will get and fenced features added to this plug-in for free.

If you have not downloaded the CommentLuv plug-in yet, what the hell are you waiting for? Visit the CommentLuv website right now!

Watch this WordPress video tutorial to see a few tips on how to use the comment Luv plug-in in your WordPress website. You would not believe that this plug-in has so many uses.

WordPress Tutorial Video – Commentluv Plugin Tips and Tricks

You would not believe that one simple little plug-in can do so many things. I seriously recommend that every WordPress website owner blogger installs this plug-in on their website. It encourages people to comment on your website and is also fantastic for search engine optimization.

Visit the CommentLuv website right now!

If you have your own Youtube channel, sooner or later you will want to customize your channel homepage. This will brand your business or hobby as your own and separate you from the pack.

How do I make a background image for my Youtube Video channel?

My Youtube video channel background is 1598×1636 and is 214KB. Of course yours does not have to be this exact size. You can experiment by trying different sizes. It is also a JPG file. This is very easy to create from scratch. You can open Mspaint and start making your background.

How to create a new background image for Youtube in Ms paint?

1.  Open Ms Paint. Usually in the start menu under accessories.

2.  Click on File at the top. Then choose new.

3.  Then choose image from the top menu.

4.  From the drop down menu choose Attributes.

5.  Fill in the details for your Youtube background image. 1598 high x 1636 wide.

6.  Press OK.

7.  Now you have the size of your background image. Edit an play with it, adding your company name and so on.

8. Save your image background as a JPG file.

In the video tutorial below I show how to download my Youtube video Channel background image and then edit that in Photoshop. It is not as hard as you think…Just give it a go and before you know it, your Youtube channel will customized and unique looking.