Keep it short, keep it sharp

home title Posted by on Apr 3rd, 2011 | 144 comments home title
Keep it short, keep it sharp

Use video to increase your traffic

Last month the traffic to my blog increased by 250%.
Do you want to know why?
In a word… video.

Sure I did a little re-branding to my site, but the big difference was my use of online video.

The power of video is that it’s shareable. If you upload your videos to a video sharing platform such as YouTube and someone likes your video, they share it. They embed it on their own site, they Facebook it, they Tweet it and that gives you the potential of a huge audience.

And don’t forget who owns YouTube… the big G, the overlord of the web surfing kingdom, Google.

Video blogging and Public Speaking?

I’ve done a lot of Public Speaking, hence my connection with Keith Davis and EasyPublicSpeaking. I’ve taught over a dozen undergraduate classes in Public Speaking and I’ve spoken to audiences ranging from two to two thousand, but talking to a video camera is a hell of a lot different to standing and talking to a live audience.

I’ve made a few comments in my video, which should allow you Public Speaking types to strut your stuff without sounding like Richard Burton playing Hamlet or blowing up the microphone.

Videos are easy to produce… and they’re cheap

The great thing about video blogging is that you don’t have to have expensive equipment or amazing editing skills. Just like a ‘live’ speech, your focus should be on having a conversation and keeping folks entertained.

Take a look at my video and then we’ll chat about the main points that I make.
Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Main points I cover in the video

Here’s a summary of the points that I made in the video.
Try them, use them, see what works for you.

  1. Practice for your speeches and presentations – video is a great way to practice your speeches and presentation without the intimidation of a live audience.
  2. Content is important – you still have to offer or share something meaningful. People aren’t going to watch you unless they’re getting something out of it.
  3. Keep your video short – it’s the old attention span thing so keep your video short, under five minutes. Just like a good speech you have to Edit, Slash, Cut… you get the idea.
  4. Breathe life into your content – tell a story, give examples, bring life to your content, make it real.
  5. Keep it natural – don’t write everything down and try to remember it. Work from written keywords that will jog your memory and keep you going.
  6. Voice projection isn’t so important – you’re not trying to reach that guy in the back row, you’re talking to someone in their living room so you can tone it down a bit.
  7. Articulation – don’t present it as though you were an “actor” – keep it clear but conversational.
  8. Speed of delivery – you may want to pick up the speed of delivery a little – back to that short attention span thing, people want video short and sharp.
  9. No audience feedback – speech and presentation techniques such as….. pauses, don’t always work on video.
  10. Ferrets are good listeners – if you can’t speak without an audience, do what I do: use your pet ferret as an audience, they really are good listeners and they give great feedback.

There you have it folks, my whistle stop tour of the world of video. Hope you found it useful and I hope you enjoyed your trip.

Time to have your say

This isn’t an exhaustive list of video blogging tips, so please feel free to ask questions and continue the conversation in the comments.
Do you use video or are you thinking of using video on your blog.
What do you think is the key to performing well on video?
Do you have any video tips that you can share with us?
Let me have your thoughts on anything and everything in the comments below.

About Kristy – Kristy Fifelski is a speaker and public servant. She created GovGirl.com and is the Web Services Manager for the City of Reno, Nevada, USA. She serves as the West region director for the National Association of Government Webmasters. Kristy is also an experienced teacher, having the privilege of instructing classes at TMCC, NIU and the University of Phoenix. Kristy graduated with honors from Northern Illinois University with a Master’s Degree in Communication.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to:

Kristy Fifelski for her super guest post. Kristy blogs over at GovGirl.com

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  1. Matt says:
    August 16, 2011 at 23:26

    Nice tip… but for people who doesnt speak english is really hard to get big traffic…

    Reply
  2. The British Asian Blog says:
    September 5, 2011 at 12:58

    Very interesting and some really good pointers. I think for regular people or people who are new and just started off – its about trial and error with the addition of practice – practice till you perfect.

    Admittedly, the other issue one might face is that if your not good and make loads of mistakes – the reader might just walk away and never return.
    The British Asian Blog´s last great post ..British Asian Bloggers List Form now available

    Reply
  3. Anish says:
    November 14, 2011 at 10:12

    Thank you for the tips. Well, do you think it’s okay if I make a blog post on one topic and talk about the same sort of stuff in a video? Or do you think I should prepare completely separate content for videos as well as articles I publish on my blog?
    Anish´s last great post ..Zquiet Reviews from Experts & Users

    Reply
    • Kristy Fifelski says:
      November 14, 2011 at 20:28

      Hi, Anish. I really like the way it is done here and on Tom Breeze’s blog post. Post a video, but write up a little supporting commentary within your blog post to accompany the video. It also helps for SEO with a video blog, because the keywords in your text will be picked up when your webpages are indexed.
      Kristy Fifelski´s last great post ..Hack4Reno Part 3

      Reply
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