Incorporating video into your website and social media sites is an excellent way to grab the attention of your audience. Just like most of us enjoy reading books with pictures, we also want to see and hear through a movie. With the average person watching 182 online videos each month and YouTube serving more than 1 billion videos each day it's easy to see that video is a marketing strategy that shouldn't be overlooked.

Video Topic & Content

The subject that you choose for your video really depends on your brand, audience and industry. You might decide to showcase a news-themed video about a new product launch or maybe create a how-to or information-based video for your audience. Spend some time researching what your audience would like to watch. Let their preference help to guide you as you develop your script and content. Knowing what appeals to your consumers and following suit can help you convert them into brand evangelists.

Script & Filming

Hands down, the best thing about video marketing in 2010 is that you don't need to hire an expensive agency with copywriters and art directors to put your video together. That's not to say having Don Draper and his team of Mad Men available at your beck and call is a bad thing. If you have the budget and the time it's worth exploring. For the rest of us, using a simple handheld or computer cam is more than ample in terms of equipment. Before you launch your video put together a rough script to help focus on what you want to cover. If necessary, use a tripod to keep the camera steady while recording.

Packaging Your Video

Some popular forms of video include testimonials from satisfied customers, highlight products being used in real-life situations, training videos or walk-throughs to simplify complex processes or extend existing content-like presentations. There are many possibilities when it comes to video. What's important is that you drive traffic to your video. Try to cross-promote or develop a video series that will get your audience involved and keep them coming back for more.

Video Optimization

Here's the part where we talk about search engine optimization. You can - and should - optimize your videos. Include keywords in your script, the title of your video and tagging. Word on the street is that YouTube will be launching a feature that makes the audio portion of all videos searchable. By optimizing your video scripts now you'll stand a better chance of having your audio appear in keyword searches. Don't forget to include keywords in your video title. Just be conscious of keyword overload. You still want people to know what your video is about. Use keywords in moderation.

Upload & Share

Take full advantage of all the video outlets that you have available. Host your videos on your website and include homepage teasers to let people know that you've created fresh video content. Upload your videos to all the major sites like YouTube, Vimeo and Viddler. Make your video available in multiple locations and you'll give yourself a greater opportunity to appear in user-generated searches.

Monitor, Track & Analyze

Once you've gotten past creating and uploading your video you'll want to involve yourself in its metrics. This will help you determine if it's a success or a failure. Pay attention to the number of views, comments left about your video, revenue spikes and whether the perception of your brand has benefited.

If you need a little video inspiration, check out Erik Qualmann's Socialnomics video that he put together to launch his new book. This video went viral and helped put Qualmann and his book on the map overnight.

 

Get creative, have fun and test out video with your marketing strategy.

I receive a tremendous amount of requests from clients for creative writing services. The most popular items on the writing wish list are blogs, articles and  press releases. Sounds simple, easy to accommodate, and I'm always ready to pitch in and get constructive with words when needed. The tricky part is when they decide to include SEO in their writing projects, but have very little understanding on either how SEO works or how to use it. Words Count Of course writing with keywords is important, but identifying keywords that rank well in terms of appropriateness for a topic is essential. All the density and frequency of keywords and phrases in a written piece won't mean a thing if they aren't relevant or specific to the subject matter. Researching what's best, what works and focusing on how these keywords will benefit your audience will make a big difference in rankings and searches. Link to Promote True, having optimized writing is better than having none, but equally as important is promotion. Integrating your social networking sites to your keywords and vice versa creates your own personal backlink campaign. Bringing your friends, colleagues, customers and social connections into the promotion fold will exponentially increase links and awareness of your written message. Social media is exactly what it is - social, so use it to your advantage.

More than 60% of all search engine traffic is conducted using Google. Because Google is a search engine dominator, using it as a reference point seems logical. One of the great mysteries of the universe is the classified algorithm that Google utilizes to rank indexed material on the Internet. Some aspects are open to speculation and others are a bit more obvious based on currently available data and information. Yes, Google likes keywords; and repetition demonstrates that the source may be considered an expert when key phrases are used with consistency.

What Google likes even more are links. When someone links to your article, press release or blog, it shows that you're a credible resource. Plus, Google considers the other sites that are linking back to your content to determine their relevance to the subject matter. For instance, if you've written an article on argyle socks and several prominent fashion bloggers and department stores are linking your article to their site, Google recognizes you as a trusted and relevant resource.

So when you're trying to determine how to make SEO copywriting work for you, think about studying the best words and phrases to use, as well as advertising and promoting your copywriting with backlinks. We hope to expand on this topic in the future so stay tuned for details.