Thursday, June 28, 2012

YouTube is Becoming an Important Part of Your Social Media Plans



This is my first attempt at a VLOG, a Video Blog. I'm fairly satisfied with it as a beginners attempt. There are a couple of issues with the video.

Although I've worked for several hours, I cannot get the captioning to work well (when you enable it all you see is gibberish). I will continue to work on this and find out how to make it work. As soon as I get the answers, I'll share what I've learned.

Here is the link to my YouTube Channel, in case you want to subscribe.

I hope you will give me some feedback on the video and let me know if you'd like me continue posting them occasionally.

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

I've had several of you ask for the written version of my VLOG. I'm adding it below:


YouTube is an Important Part of a Complete Social Media Presence
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, and it’s owned by Google. These days, the search engine rank of a website with videos and one without is considerable. Videos carry a lot of weight with Google’s search engine algorithm. Videos are also much more likely to go viral than text-only articles. 
A lot of people go to YouTube directly to search for infomovies. This form of information is the video form of an article. Although presently there isn’t as much competition for video rankings in YouTube as there is for article rankings with Google, the Internet world is headed that direction at a breakneck speed. 
Because the competition isn’t as great, it’s going to be easier to establish a ranking now, than wait and try to catch up. Here are some things you need to consider as you lay the groundwork for a solid presence on YouTube.
    • Keywords Still Rule. It’s critical to use your main keyword first (or as early as possible) in the video’s title, description and tags. You want to also use your own name, brand or website as well, but that should come after the keyword.
    • The Title of Your Video is Critical. It’s important that the title is a good representation of the information the video contains. Although it may seem too basic to mention, you’d be amazed at the number of people who still title their files “untitled.mov” or something else generic.
    • Include Your Keywords in the Video Voiceover. We’re all becoming more proficient a SEO for articles. Voiceovers are spoken articles and must be just as carefully keyworded for SEO.
It’s important to note that Google has a speech-to-text conversion technology which can convert your infomovie’s voiceover into captions. Google uses this to improve video search technology.
    • Upload a Transcript File for Video Captioning. Uploading your own caption transcript is a much better choice than letting YouTube transcribe the audio itself. By uploading your own, you have total control over what appears in your video captions.
To upload a transcipt file, click on Edit Video in the YouTube Video Manager. Click on the Captions tab. Under the Add New Captions or Transcript header, select Transcipt File as the Type and upload your script file. 
To watch YouTube set up your file, click the CC button on the video and YouTube will display the words in exact sync with the audio.
    • Build a Valuable YouTube Channel. Start branding your YouTube Channel the same way you would a new website or blog. If you’ve already begun to experiment with videos, go back and apply the suggestions in this article.
    • Add New Videos to You Channel Regularly. This is just like blogging, regular, new content gives you much more power in the search engines. 
    • Respond to Comments on Your Videos. Again, just as with blogging, answering comments is vital. 
    • Look for Ways to Exchange Links with Other Sites. Just like blogs and websites, it’s important to prove your Channel is valuable to others. 

17 comments:

  1. Edie, I absolutely love your YouTube video! Not only is the info you share very helpful and key, but seeing you deliver your VLOG content was fun! Looking forward to more. Thanks so much for your great work to help everyone.

    Blessings,

    Barbara

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    1. Barb, thanks for the encouragement. This was way on the other side of my comfort zone! blessings, E

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  2. If it took you 15 tries, how many would it take this gal?

    Thanks for the information. You're becoming a computer nerd!

    Ginny

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    1. Ginny, I can't decide if you just insulted me or gave me a compliment! LOL! thank you for stopping by, Blessings, E

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  3. Wow, Edie, this is amazing! I had no idea there was so much to YouTube. I've simply uploaded videos and used FB and Twitter to promote them. Guess I have something else to add to my To-Do list!

    Thanks for all your hard work to share this info with us!

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  4. Edie, you rock!! I loved it!! It's so great to see your lovely face and hear your sweet voice (and not just inside my head)! I tried to comment, but being technologically inept, I don't think it went through. :P I did subscribe and shared on Twitter and FB (both of which I have thanks to you!) Maybe someday I'll venture into the world of YouTube too. You make me feel brave and daring.

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  5. This is such great info and I really appreciate how you've made it sound like something even this technologically challenged me can do. :)

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  6. Loved hearing your voice and seeing you "in person" almost.

    I learned a lot, too. Thanks!

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  7. Edie,

    Putting your written words into video form sounds challenging, although you make it look so natural.

    Seems like YouTube lets you connect even better with your audience since they can see you and feel like they know you a bit better. And the non-verbal communication coming across too.

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  8. I would really appreciate a written version of this so I can have the step beside me as I try to produce a video. This has really inspired me!

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  9. Love it, Edie! I can see the benefits to the VLOG. Thanks for the enlightenment.

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  10. Edie, this is great. I've been interested in vlogging for a while now, but had no idea how to begin. One question: How did you film this? Did you use your webcam or a separate camera device? Thank you for the help. Bless you!

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  11. Wow! Edie, you amaze me. This is a fantastic lesson. Maybe I can do this one day by following your step by step instructions. Thank you for challenging me.

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  12. It's like being in class with you. This is awesome. You should definitely do more of these. ;)

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