You don’t sell a million bucks worth of stuff in a week by using anything less than the most effective means available…

And the really big guys & gals use video.

We all know these are big ticket items pushing the latest, greatest, bright shiny object and I typically don’t promote or endorse them directly but I DO study the launch process and the VIDEOS!

The latest one is from Mike Keonigs who definitely knows a bunch about video marketing and, I have to tell ya…

This one is hands down the BEST series I’ve seen so far!

It’s really quite stunning…and I highly recommend that you watch and study them too.

HERE to opt-in and be sure to watch these awesome samples!

Here’s what I’ve taken away from them so far and what I’ll be ripping off and showing YOU how to do:

First, Mike uses a technique that I’ve been working on for some time now…

It’s a tactic for delivering visual imagery that focuses the narration using nothing more that text and it’s called typography video.

Now, this whole series, I can promise you, was custom made by a highly skilled video animator using high end video or animation software…

But there are some tricks we can do in PowerPoint to use the same concept.

Tell ya what…if this technique is something you folks would like a template for and a tutorial on how to use it, let me know by leaving a comment and I’ll get that done.

The second thing that struck me about the videos is that I looked at the page code (ya, I do stuff like that)…and I noticed…It’s a YouTube video!

I thought, that’s kinda weird…it’s a YouTube video but there’s no YouTube watermark…no player controls…

It doesn’t have any links that wisk the viewer away to YouTube…How did they do that?

So, I started looking into it and I figured it out. It’s not really that new, but it uses an embedding feature YouTube started introducing last year that uses an Iframe instead of regular embed code.

If you want to play around with it yourself, I created a page and a player image you can swipe.

Click HERE to go check it out and download my Sample Page and player graphic for free

After you watch the short clip, you can click the link to download my source file and player graphic…to your hard drive and…unzip it.

Follow the directions in the video above.

This particular page is designed for a wide-screen HD format so that makes the best choice.

There ya go!

I’ll cover all this in more detail soon but I love this new feature!

I’ll also be testing it on WordPress blogs so stay tuned.

Go watch these videos!

And I’ll keep you posted on how, once again… I’ll be rippin’ off the big boys!

Leave your comments, questions, below and I’ll talk to you soon.

Lon

They all appear to be sooo…ummm…scamy?

Here are a couple of apps I’m currently evaluating that look like they may have some useful potential to help jack up all the powerful social community aspects of YouTube in a logical, controllable, and more ethical way.

The first is an app called TubeFool from Alex Goad and Mark Dulisse that they first came out with as part of their Dominating Video Course and the feedback from it has been that TubeFool was the single biggest hit of all the content in their very decent training program.

They are re-launching that program on Feb. 1st, 2011 again and giving away this interesting tool as part of their launch.

There will be the typical launch sales funnel deals…several upsells  offered etc. but this tool is the sweet “gift” and they have a $77 special offer in the funnel (I think it will be the second upsell offer?) for a VERY interesting tool called Google Video Sitemaps. I’ll be picking that up to evaluate shortly…

I’ve signed up for the Launch Process as usual and, as always, I recommend that video marketers follow all of these well done video launches to pick up ideas!

Jump in HERE:

TubeFool and Dominating Video Re-Launch

The other YouTube community building thing is called Tube Toolbox. I just got an eval copy and will be checking it out also.

Again, the developers claim that, when used properly, the software and the functions it performs within the YouTube TOS and won’t do anything stupid like get you banned!

Get a trial copy at:

Tube Toolbox

I haven’t gotten all the way through with checking it out because I’m creating new YouTube accounts for each for tracking & testing…so, I can’t make “must have” recommendations yet but I wanted to post what I’m working on to see if others are checking them out and get some discussion started.

YouTube will be a MUCH bigger part of my marketing work (along with Facebook) in 2011 so stay tuned for updates, tips, and tutorials…

If you’ve used any of these tools and have comments, let’s hear ‘em!

Lon

Columbus Dispatch discovered a homeless man along Ohio’s I-71 claiming to have “the God-given gift of voice.” His name is Ted Williams, and he’s an ex-radio announcer according to the note he scrawled on a piece of cardboard that he uses to solicit change from drivers. And wow, does Williams ever deliver for a dollar. Williams tells the Dispatch about his struggles, but thankfully “alcohol and drugs and a few other things” haven’t diminished Williams’ velvety vocal cords, and he says he’s two years clean now.

Man…I would LOVE to have this guy as a voice-over talent for my videos!

This video has gone viral INSTANTLY with over 4 million views in about a day. I’m simply amazed and inspired by this awesome New Year’s story.

Enjoy, share, and comment please!

Lon

Continuing with our guest blogging series, today we are going to talk about two WordPress plugins that can enhance your site for showcasing your videos, graphics and media.

WordPress plugins not only enhance your site’s functionality, they can also enhance your ability to build relationships online. There are thousands upon thousands of plugins to choose from in the WordPress directory.

Take care as you don’t want to use too many plugins as they can slow down your site and in some cases even interfere with your blog being displayed properly.

EmbedIt Plugin

If you have ever tried to pop audio or video code into the html section of your video post, only to find that your video either doesn’t show up or that it disappears after one viewing, you will want to know about the EmbedIt plugin for WordPress.

This is a simple plugin that allows you to embed any audio or video code into a post or a page. What you do is paste the code into the “custom field” section, down the page below your post. In the “Custom” field, assign (type in)any key from HTML1 through HTML9 to your audio or video code.

Then scroll back up to your post and type in the corresponding key (example – , into your post in the location where you want your video to be displayed. You can post up to nine audios and/or videos per page or post. Just take care to assign each audio or video its own code, placing each code snippet into a different custom field.

If you want your video to be centered, simply enter “

” (without the quotes) before the audio or video code and “” (without the quotes) at the end of the video code. Have fun with this plugin and enjoy the ease with which you can now add audio and video to your blog.

To download the plugin – visit the following site. Scroll down and provide them with an email address where you’d like them to send the download link to the plugin. They will not add you to a list and they don’t send out any email aside from this. Enjoy!

http://www.matteoionescu.com/wordpress/embed-html/

J Query Colorbox

One way to strengthen relationships and keep people on your site longer is to set up a light box for your images that share more about who you are, what your interests are and what services you are offering to others.

I’ve been researching light box plugins for close to a year, this one is “my new best friend” and is “stupid simple”. Simply install and activate the plugin. When uploading images, leave the url to the image intact. Then, when someone clicks on any of your images, they will pop out in a gorgeous light box.

What Colorbox Offers:

• A beautiful light box experience for individual photos
• A slideshow of any images displayed on a specific post or page

· 10 themes to chose from

· Works out-of-the-box with WordPress galleries

· Images are grouped as galleries when linked in the same post or page. Groups can be displayed in an automatic slideshow.

For a live example, visit this post and click on the image:
http://powerfulplugins.com/jquery-colorbox-lightbox-plugin

Powerful Plugins

I am a raving fan of WordPress and of WordPress plugins and love discovering new and amazing powerful plugins. Do you have a favorite WordPress plugin that you use and highly recommend? Are you looking for a WordPress plugin to accomplish a specific task? Share your comments below and let’s learn from one another.

Please note that as part of the Blog Tour, there is a Commenting and Tweeting contest. You get points for each comment and each tweet about this post – using the hashtag – #blogworldtour . Visit the Blog Tour site (link below) for full contest details.

Thanks again Lon for having me as a Guest Blogger on your site!

All the best,
Dvorah

D’vorah Lansky
Relationship Marketing Wizard | Author | Speaker | Educator
www.BlogWorldTour.com/blog

Tags are keywords that describe videos. For example, a surfing video might be tagged with “surfing,” “water,” and “waves.” Users who enjoy watching surfing videos can then search for any of those terms and that video will show up in their search results. Tags help you label videos you upload so that other people can find them more easily but the problem is that YouTube only allows single tag words and NOT keyword “phrases”.

Here are some Top Tagging Tips:

1. Research other videos in your niche that have lots of views.

What tags are they using? Checking these can give you some ideas…but more importantly:

“What combinations of tags do they use that users may be entering in to get specific results?”

Think of these combinations as keyword phrases used in Adwords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

So for a surfing promotion, if you went surfing in Waikiki in your video, you could include “surfing” and “Waikiki” in your tags. Users who search for “surfing Waikiki” find your video more easily than users who search for “surfing” or “Waikiki.”

2. Use your Tags in your Description text.

Including them in the text likely makes your video appear more “relevant” and more desirable for YouTube to return as a search result.

3. Do Keyword Research to find good tags.

Another great tactic is to do good ‘ole keyword research for what your market is searching for. AdWords ads can provide valuable info in this area. Why? Because, if someone is spending money to advertise for specific keywords & phrases then you can bet it’s because those words are getting searched…and are profitable.

People search YouTube the same way they search Google.

Here are my favorite tools for keyword research:
PPC Web Spy
This new tool from keyword legend Brad Callen integrates with Firefox and provides outstanding data with the click of a button. I totally LOVE this tool! Oh…and it’s yours – FREE!

Get it here: PPC Web Spy

SEO for Firefox

Another Must Have tool I use is called SEO for Firefox from SEO Tools. Their motto is: “Learn. Rank. Dominate”

Soooo appropriate! This thing has a laundry list of features as long as your arm and I use it on a daily basis to see check trends, PR rankings, backlinks, find potential partners…tons of stuff!

Enjoy and don’ t forge

t to do your homework!

They will also still have the free version that has become very popular for capturing screen shots as well as video but now, for $15 a year, you can snag up to 1290×720 screens encoded in H.264 or MPEG-4 format.

The really cool thing about this is that the new HQ features of YouTube take advantage of these settings.

Here’s a sample video using the HD 16:9 aspect ration that YouTube now likes:

[youtube]http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1lsbA8RhiI[/youtube]

This was created and rendered in Camtasia version 6 but the result is the same.

Capture your video in Jing and shoot it directly up to YouTube, Vimeo, or FaceBook. If you want to put the YouTube video on your web page, don’t forget to add “&fmt=18″ (without the quotes) to the end of the URL to display it in HQ.

With the Pro version, the Jing branding at the beginning and end of the videos? Gone!

And if you want…edit your capture in Camtasia Studio. There is also a Mac version.

So now there is no excuse (like the 300 bones for Camtasia Studio!) NOT to start making killer screencasts.

Of course, to learn how to do THAT, head over to Screencastprofits.com

Image via CrunchBase

Google announced on Wednesday that it would begin selling space on YouTube search-results pages to advertisers.

This new feature will allow anyone who has a video on YouTube to promote it on a search results page. Sound familiar? Advertises will be able to bid on keywords and the promoted videos will show up on the right hand side of the YouTube search results page along with a thumbnail image of the video.

Sound familiar?

And just like Adwords, you get charged when a viewer clicks the link, you can set a max. amount per day, and the results are based on highest bidder and relevance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTffb8OF8_U[/youtube]

We’ve been waiting for this kind of monetization model and Google has been going down the road of figuring out how to profit from the incredible asset that is YouTube.

Last month, it added “click to buy” icons to ads that took viewers from YouTube videos to iTunes or Amazon.com

Apparently, they are still figuring it all out since CEO Eric Schmidt said in a conference call in July:

I personally do not believe that the perfect ad product for YouTube has been invented yet…

And Tracy Chan, a Google product manager, at the press conference introducing the feature pointed out that:

There’s the assumption that on YouTube, it’s 17-year-old boys watching dogs’ skateboarding videos…

Well, that might be the “perception” among big companies looking at this model but it doesn’t bother me! I’ll take a few of the eyeballs searching for…let’s see…how about: “17 year old boys racking their nuts on skateboards”

To keep up to date with the Camtasia strategies I’ll be using to cash in on this and all the latest video marketing methods be sure to join ScreencastProfits!

So what you say? Well, yes, there are lots of videos with obviously viral views and we’d all sure like to have a few!

This guy (fungun1970) has pulled this off by basically tricking people into watching at least some of his video by taking a brilliant Title:

“full version tina fey as sara palin saturday night live”

And using Tags:
“tina fey sara palin saturday night live hillary clinton amy poller”

Certainly, a VERY popular bit of content, right? WRONG!

I will only waste 29 seconds of your time for you to find out why…I would risk the copyright infringement but I’d be curious to see what kind of clicks he’s getting to his MySpace page!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV4r7SDab4I&feature=related[/youtube]

For a more honest approach to better videos, check out ScreencastProfits.com

The first of these include Amazon, iTunes, EMI Music and Electronic Arts.

According to analysts Piper Jaffray Research, the site could generate $200 million in sales in 2009.

But for all of us, it means that this is the first step towards throwing other products into the mix. Like products and services that we offer! Screencast marketers may soon be able to use video promotions (which Camtasia videos are perfect for) that include the ability for a viewer to click a Buy-Now kind of function.

According the the Official Google Blog:

This is just the beginning of building a broad, viable e-commerce platform for users and partners on YouTube. Our vision is to help partners across all industries — from music, to film, to print, to TV — offer useful and relevant products to a large, yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos.

Lots of open questions on the User Interface and how all this will work, look, and be received but certainly a step that we can all be interested in!

NOTE TO OLD-SCHOOL VIACOM: Hey! Instead of suing to the tune of making only the lawyers rich, how about, oh I don’t know…profiting by advertising?? Duh…