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The unlimited potential of video products
Video publishing is one of the easiest ways to create a product for sale on the Internet, and it can be a very profitable business. Even though it’s easier to publish a book than ever before, it’s possible to create a video product in a fraction of the time required to create a book.
When you consider the amount of time it takes for a book by a new author to be accepted by a publisher, edited, manufactured, distributed, and marketed, several years can go by before authors see any revenue for all their hard work. Self-publishing is a good alternative for authors to consider, but the production and marketing costs can be very high. The creation of video products for sale on the Internet is a much easier way to generate a revenue stream.
The art of video publishing
If you’re already convinced that the creation of video products is a powerful Internet marketing tool to drive traffic and sales, here are some important questions to consider before you jump into the production process:
Are you a good communicator? Can you tell a story? Can you explain how to do something in simple terms? Do you have specialized knowledge that can be turned into a product that gives value to customers? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you have all the knowledge and experience you need to create a video product that can generate a nice revenue stream. It takes experienced authors from six months to a year to write a book, but even first-time video producers can plan, script, film, and edit a professional-quality video product in six weeks.
Who will shoot your video? If you have a webcam with a built-in microphone, you already have experience shooting home videos. If you don’t have a webcam, you can probably partner with someone who has a lot of experience.
Who will edit your video? Even a 15-minute video can take several hours to edit professionally. If you’ve been practicing with home videos, now is the time to show your skills on the Internet. If you’ve never edited before, you can find someone to look at your raw footage and teach you how to do some simple editing, which will improve the quality of the finished video product enormously. Video companies generally charge from $50 to $100 an hour, depending on the effects you want edited into your product.
Video podcasting and vlogging are tools that offer unlimited potential for increasing traffic to your web site or blog and for creating revenue streams through the sale of video products. Individual video content producers can create revenues streams from successful videos that last for years. One video publisher I checked out has produced almost 30 videos that have given the producer a monthly income between $8,000 and $10,000 dollars for over four years. This video publisher reports that most of these videos are still selling-and not one has lost money.
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If you’ve been thinking about creating video products for sale on the Internet, you’ve probably been throwing around more ideas than you know what to do with. This is an easy trap to fall into. It’s important to do some brainstorming for concepts initially, but always be sure to put a limit on your concept development stage. If you let it drag on, you’ll never get anything done.
Set deadlines for yourself even when you think you don’t have to. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re making progress toward your goal when in fact you haven’t gotten anything done.
The failure to focus on one project and carry it through to successful completion is a clear sign that you’re procrastinating. If you get a brainstorm for creating a different video product every day, but you still haven’t created a finished product to sell on the Internet, make up your mind to do something about it today.
Narrow your focus and set a day to shoot
Suppose your friends all say you’re a natural comedian. You’ve been playing around with the idea of creating a comedy routine or skit. The only way to get it done is by setting priorities, sticking to a plan, and setting deadlines.
Set a day to shoot the video. You have to do this and stick to it. Approach this as if you were doing a project for hire. When you force yourself to get things done, you’ll start to notice a big difference in the results you get. How much time you give yourself depends on how much time you can actually spend working on the project, of course. If you’re doing this at night or on the weekends, you obviously need more time than a full-time Internet marketer who is planning a promotional video for a web site. Get up one hour earlier if that’s the only way you can find time to do it. Approach it as a job for one month. Set your shoot for one month from today. Stop thinking about it and start writing a script.
People who get things done know that there is never a perfect time to start. People who wait for inspiration before they start a script never get started. As Jack London said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” You have to get something down on paper to trigger connections between ideas. My best ideas always come during the writing process-never in the “thinking about what to write” stage.
Experience has taught me to just start writing and get it all down on paper. When I have a first draft in front of me, I get inspired. I see all sorts of things I never would have seen without the stimulus of the thoughts that came seemingly out of nowhere as I was working on the first draft of my script.
So stop thinking about it and get a script on paper. Then revise, shoot it, and put it up for sale on the Internet. But get started today.
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The type of video you decide to create will largely determine the other elements that you use. Keep these four key elements in mind during the planning and production of your video products:
- Target Audience: This is the most important decision you need to make. Who are you trying to reach? You have to think about demographics: age, socioeconomic level, gender, nationality, educational level. It’s no good to jump into the planning process with vague statements like, “I want to create a video product for sale on the Internet that will appeal to everybody, everywhere.” First define your niche market, narrow your target audience, and create your video with a specific type of person in mind. When you set out to create the kind of video product that one specific person will want to buy, you increase the likelihood that a lot of people will want to buy it. Always wrap your language in images that your target audience can relate to.
- Participants: If you decide to shoot a how-to video on an area in which you have expert knowledge, you are the natural choice as host. If you decide to create a do-it-yourself video in an area where you don’t have expert knowledge, you will need to take great care when choosing a host. Once you’ve decided on a subject and a host, you will need to work together on the script. And always remember that video is not just a format-it’s a language. Never say it if you can show it. The viewers will understand much better when they see it being done, so don’t just explain things while the camera focuses on you. The rule of thumb is: Whenever you can present a visual image of something, show it instead of talking about it. Instead of explaining how to do something as you talk into the camera, always show a demonstrator (whether it’s you or another person) carrying out the action as you describe what’s happening. You’ll quickly become an expert in the use of “voice overs”-speaking off camera as the audience sees action taking place. Do-it-yourself, educational, and promotional videos should be full of voice overs.
- Length: The type of video you decide to make will determine the best length. A great promotional video can be done in as little as 3 to 4 minutes, and should rarely be longer than 7 to 8 minutes. A do-it-yourself or educational video will be from 10 to 30 minutes.
- Props: If you’re doing a how-to video, the subject matter will determine what props you’re going to need. Even if you plan to be your own host or demonstrator, make a list of all the props you’ll need. Lay out the shoot before you do it and walk through it several times with your camera operator. This will keep the shoot from turning into chaos-even experienced studio professionals work with a prop list every time they shoot.
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Lack of focus is the main cause of failure in business. This is true no matter what business you’re in. Focus acts like electricity-you can’t see it directly, but you can see how it affects companies and people when it’s running through them. To be a successful video producer and Internet marketer, you must make yourself an expert in one field or niche-the best way to do that is by sharpening your focus. Before you start to create your next video product, consider these simple tips to put the power of focus to work in your business:
- Focus increases your self-discipline. Focused people are able to distinguish between the jobs that bring them closer to their desired goals and the daily demands that only waste their time. They don’t get overwhelmed by all the urgent but unimportant jobs that demand their attention.
- Focused people know where they want to go. When you have a focus, you have a vision of what you want to achieve. Above all, focused people concentrate on reaching their goals. Focus helps you measure your results and readjust your game plan when necessary.
How to increase your focus
Post reminders for yourself. Hang your favorite motivational signs where you’ll see them when an idea for a video product seems to be going nowhere. Written reminders can help you recover your focus.
Set daily priorities. Be sure you have an action plan for every day. As you become more skilled at video production and as you learn from your mistakes, this will become second nature to you. But you will always need to do this. Always go back to your list of priorities before you jump into a new task.
Complete the video project you’re working on before you start a new one. We all want to create as many revenue streams as possible-this is a basic part of what we do as Internet marketers. But you’ll only make money by getting video products online one at a time. People who lack focus find themselves getting excited about a new idea before they have finished a project. If you have fallen into the habit of leaving projects undone, you suffer from a lack of focus.
Keep an idea book with you. When you’re working on an idea for one video product, it’s not uncommon to get a stream of ideas that could be a starting point for other great video products. Don’t let your next “great idea” cause you to lose your focus. Jot it down and keep working on the first project-stay focused on one project until it’s completed. Don’t start work on another idea until the last project is up and running on the Internet.
Stay focused on your vision. Write the vision for your video product where you can see it every day. Remembering your vision will keep you from drifting. If you get stuck, narrow your options and choose a single point to talk about. If you find yourself throwing out all types of different solutions and ideas at your viewers, you’ll only create chaos.
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What’s the secret of a great video product? As Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” It requires vision, determination, self-discipline, and a daily commitment to concentrate on the project. Getting started is usually the hardest part. Once you’ve started to make progress toward your goal of shooting a video for sale on the Internet, a fountain of energy is created around the project that will carry you through to successful completion-as long as you stay focused on your daily goals and priorities.
Many people simply never get started. If you want to create video products to sell on the Internet but don’t know how to get started, think about a story that you can share at www.cisco.com. You may have seen Cisco’s promotional campaign for the “human network.” Cisco (www.cisco.com) is the company behind development of what has become the standard for virtual communication: Internet Protocol (IP). Cisco’s new platform, TelePresence, offers network services to link partners, coworkers, and customers over a worldwide IP network.
If you’ve been thinking about how to harness the power of video for boosting your traffic and sales, the Cisco homepage is a good place to get some ideas. They are running one of the most effective promotional campaigns I’ve seen in a long time: “Welcome to a network where anyone can be famous,” says the voice over in the Cisco campaign. “Welcome to the Human Network.”
Here’s how it works. Cisco wants you to share your story-talk about how the “human network” has helped you make something extraordinary happen. Describe how network technology helped you connect with other people in new ways to make something happen that never could have happened before. Talk about how this experience changed you-what has changed in the way you live, work, or learn how to do new things? Focus on how your experience illustrates the “Power of Us”-how does it illustrate the power that is created when people are connected? How can your story benefit other people? Describe the technology that brought these benefits to your life.
When you go to the Cisco page, you’ll quickly see where to enter your story in text form. I recommend that you also script your story and shoot it with a webcam or camera phone. Inspirational videos are the one of the biggest-selling genres on the Internet. This exercise can help you get your feet wet. You never know what might happen-a motivational video may grow out of your script that creates a great video product for sale on the Internet.
Time Magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year was “You.” Business Week did a report on “The Power of Us.” Many centuries ago the Roman statesman Cicero said, “If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.” The more things change, the more they remain the same-connect with other people and you’ll never run out of ideas for great video products to sell on the Internet.