Adding Video Content (on the cheap!)

By Mitch Keeler

youtube-content So you’ve had your web site for a while and now you want to add some dynamic video content to it? Well you could go download specific scripts, try to get them running, toss money at them and pull all your hair out. There is an easier and cheaper route to go though.

There are a number of video sharing services you could use. Here are a few:

You can find more in list form via this article on Wikipedia. As you can see you should have more than a few to pick from. The most popular would be YouTube, but services like Revver are getting interesting because they also include various ways of making money from your videos.

With video production, try grabbing your video camera (or even your digital camera may work) and record a short video of yourself talking about the topic of your choice. From there, sign up for a web site like YouTube and upload the video. It might take a while to convert it from the format it was in to a format that can be played on the Web. This way though you don’t have to worry about using too many server resources or having the right embed code to play. All of these video sharing services do a good job at making it nice and simple for you.

Getting in a little deeper, you can really get fancy with some of the desktop video editing programs out there. If anything I would suggest slapping your domain name on the video somewhere. That way, just in case somebody stumbles upon it via YouTube, they now know where to get more of you and what you do. Oh yeah, that is the best part of it all – this cheap form of content creation also becomes a great marketing tool too.

So now the question is, how have you gotten this unique form of content creation working to your advantage?

  • http://www.web-hosting-newsletter.com/2008/04/28/april-2008/ April 2008 | web-hosting-newsletter.com

    [...] Adding Video Content (on the cheap!) [...]

  • http://www.UncleVinnys.com Vince

    GREAT to have that list of sites! Thanks. There are problems though: many of the sites compress the video to such an extreme degree that the quality suffers. I have found Blip.tv a bit better for quality. Another problem is the host website adding their branding and advertisements (usually in a small box) at the bottom of the embedded video post. One thing the video posting sites are great for is browser compatibility. Have you ever tried to post a video on your own web page, and it works in some broswers but not others? That is a very common headache. The hosting sites let you reference the video from your home page and it will play on all browsers. My personal favorite, though, it to convert the video to flash format, then let it play with a flash player. Over 98% of browsers have a flash player, so video in that format generally works without browser problems, and without video hosting advertisements.

  • Frank

    I am all for doing things cheaply!

  • http://www.tsomclothing.com John from TSOM

    I have found the Vimeo.com is one of the best especially if you are looking for a higher quality video. I’ve seen some killer HD Videos on that site. I am currently filming one to try it out!

  • http://blog.lunarpages.com Mitch Keeler

    Thanks for the suggestion John!

  • http://www.brightcircleinc.com/blog/ Scott Whitney

    Posting video on Youtube is a great idea from a marketing standpoint. But knowing your audience is extremely important. Anything blatantly commercial will be tuned out, that’s why it’s important to use entertainment as a guise in your message. Case in point, the Blendtec blender campaign that asks the probing question, “Will it Blend?”. Another example is the SEO Rapper. They do an extremely clever job in rapping about the vital techniques used in Search Engine Optimization work. Provide the entertainment with a little education and a website address…and they will come! Having an understanding of what methods to use and which ones not to use will have a great determining factor on how successful your online video will be.

  • MJAK

    I love this article but Scott’s right. Know your audience first, market second. Thanks Mitch for the great insight as always.

  • http://www.gomotherrucker.com Rob V.

    I utilize both youtube and converting to flash on my website. The benifit of letting Youtube host your video file is that it saves you bandwidth but with lunarpages really not a factor huh? Love the Lunarpages accout!

  • geoff daum

    Yep – I would agree with that.. Thanks for the line.

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