Okay, let me ask you a question. Did you ever try to do what I call a live PC screen video? For example, you’re trying to walk somebody through a process like how to buy a domain at GoDaddy. So you take them through the entire process, in real time.

All of a sudden, you click on the next link in the process and your Internet connection hangs. And there you are speaking into your Camtasia fumbling around for words to say while your PC tries to connect to the Internet. It can get to be real awkward and unprofessional in the presentation. And then of course there are those instances where you type in a password and it’s the wrong password. Yeah…that looks real professional.

Truth is, when doing a video live, things can go wrong. And trust me, they WILL go wrong. I’ve learned this from personal experience. Well, there is a way to make sure your “live” PC videos come off without a hitch and no errors or mishaps. However, in order to make this happen, you need to take what I call a long cut.

Here is the step by step process. It takes a little longer to create the video, but it’s worth the effort.

Step 1 – Take a screen print of each web page you’re discussing. This way, load time doesn’t come into play. Make sure any typing that needs to be done is already on the page.

Step 2 – Bring screen print into editor and add any arrows or other graphics that you feel are needed.

Step 3 – Import each screen print into Powerpoint, creating a new slide for each one. A simple “insert picture” will overlay the screen print onto the blank Powerpoint slide.

Step 4 – Write out the script for each slide in a Word Doc and then print it out.

Step 5 – Go through the Powerpoint presentation adding the narration. You won’t have to stumble over any words because the script is right there in front of you.

Step 6 – Import into Camtasia and produce in whatever format you want.

By doing this, you don’t have to worry about any of those annoying “live” things that might pop up.

Slow load time
Forgotten passwords
Results you didn’t expect
Expired coupons (for demonstrating GoDaddy domain buying)

And so on.

By going through the process beforehand and capturing each screen as you get to it, you virtually eliminate any problems you might run into.

Try it. You might find that you like this much better than recording live.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

At the top of the list, they’re too long. That’s right. You drone on and on and on about absolutely nothing OR you try to squeeze the whole dictionary into them. People have a limited attention span. They are only going to sit down for so long to watch an informational video. After a certain length of time, they will start to tune you out. Okay, so what’s the ideal length for a video?

Ideally, you want your videos to be between five and ten minutes long. Once you start going past the 15 minute mark, that’s when you start getting into the area of “I’m starting to lose interest in what you’re saying to me.” So the shorter the better. Remember, we’re not talking about a feature film here where millions of dollars are put into something to make it interesting even if it’s three hours long. So keep your video short.

But length is not the only reason prospects hate your videos. Another reason is because you’re boring. You put no life into your video. You drone on and on. You don’t change the expression on your face. You don’t change the pitch of your voice. You don’t move. You don’t do anything but talk in a dull monotone for an ungodly amount of time. Look if YOU’RE not interested in what you’re saying, nobody else is going to be either. Show some enthusiasm.

Another problem is you don’t script your videos. Not everybody can speak off the cuff. It takes a lot of skill and talent to be able to do that successfully. So write out what you’re going to say but for heaven sake, don’t read it. Memorize it OR use a teleprompter. And if you DO use one of those things, don’t make it obvious that you’re using one. People want to believe that you’re looking at THEM when you’re speaking and not at some piece of equipment.

Finally…get to the point. If you have something to sell, sell it. Don’t talk about your cat, dog, mother in law or whoever. Nobody cares about your yacht or your villa in France. They want to know what you have to offer them, why you think it will help them, what it will do for them and how much it costs. Do that in under five minutes and you won’t have people telling you how much they hate YOUR videos.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

Okay, let me just come right out and say it. My main YouTube business account was disabled…gone…poof and history. I don’t know for certain why it happened (I broke no TOS of the site) but I have a good idea what happened. When you make a name for yourself, you become a target. And when that happens, people go gunning for you. And yes, there are things these people can do to get many of your accounts (not just for YouTube) deleted. Question is, what can we do about this?

Well, as I am waiting for a response back from YouTube to find out EXACTLY what happened (not that I expect an answer) there are some things you can do. And I thank Roger and Frank from the Warrior Forum for reminding me of these.

For starters, it’s always a good idea to diversify. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you stand a good chance of dropping that basket and having those eggs turn into scrambled eggs very fast. So in the case of somebody like me, who has made a name for himself, it is probably a good idea to venture into other markets with a completely different name.

In case you’re wondering, there is nothing wrong with using a pen name. Many people do it. In fact, if you are reading this article at EzineArticles, they allow you to submit articles under pen names. So don’t feel like using a name that is not your own is unethical. It is not. As long as you don’t misrepresent your knowledge (claim to be a doctor when you’re not) you will be fine.

Another thing you can do is to look for other avenues to promote. YouTube is not the only video site on the Internet. There are plenty of others. Use them! Same goes for any type of site like social bookmarking, networking and so on. There is more to the Internet than Digg, Facebook and Twitter. And believe it or not, people go to these other sites.

Like it or not, there are going to be folks out there who will come gunning for you once you’ve made it. If you’re prepared for this (I was not) you can greatly minimize the damage.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

Okay, so let’s start at the beginning. First of all, what do I mean by videos without controls? What I mean is videos where the person watching has no way of stopping it, rewinding it or fast forwarding it to the end. The only thing they can do is sit and watch or close up their browser. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice and I can certainly see why this might tick off a few people. However, there is a reason for these videos.

Ignoring the copycat marketers who have no idea what they’re doing and only do it because John Doe guru is doing it, the reason why successful marketers do this comes down to one of two things. Either they’re split testing the video against one with controls to see which one converts better, or they already know and are using videos without controls exclusively.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. How could a video with no controls possibly convert better than one WITH controls? Well, there are several possible reasons why.

At the top of the list is the obvious. If the video has no controls, there is no way to stop it. So you either watch it all the way through or you don’t. But if you DO watch it all the way through, you’ve seen the entire sales message. That means, if the sales message has properly done its job, you are more likely to buy than had you been able to stop the video or fast forward it to the end to get the price and link.

However, a less obvious reason would be that the tactic itself weeds out the people who aren’t really interested in the sales message. See, people who are just casual prospects are most likely to just scan the video, maybe watch bits and pieces and then fast forward to the end to find the price. Most of these people don’t turn out to be customers. Those who actually sit through the whole video actually ARE interested. They may still not buy, but they are probably more likely TO buy.

It’s very similar to the old rotten sales page tactic that many top name copywriters use. They’ll put together an obviously ugly sales page specifically for the purpose of seeing who will actually read it, because they are truly interested, and who will just close it up because they can’t be bothered with it because of the amateur look.

It’s called pre-qualifying your prospects and it works very well IF you know what you’re doing.

And that is really the key. Because the answer to the question, should you use a video with controls or no controls, really comes down to testing. You’re not going to know until you try it out on YOUR target market. Everybody reacts differently. So there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

Just understand what you’re doing and WHY you’re doing it.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

So let’s start there…with what most people consider a quality video. The general perception is that a quality video is one that’s shot with professional equipment…maybe even shot by a professional video service. The picture quality has to look like something off of a TV or close to it. Anything less and you don’t have a quality video.

Okay, let me ask you a question. This is a hypothetical case but I think it will get the point across. John Doe is an avid golfer. He knows more about the game than quite a few pros. And he can drive a golf ball 350 yards off the tee. The guy’s got one heck of a swing. John Doe wants to make a golf video showing people how to swing like he does so that they can get more distance on their shots.

Problem is, John Doe doesn’t have any fancy video equipment. He’s got this cheap camcorder that maybe cost like $99 or something like that. The video quality, even with good lighting, is grainy at best and certainly doesn’t look anything like a professional video. But, he can get the camera setup so that it can clearly show his shot in action and the video is clear enough, along with his explanation, that almost anybody watching it can see HOW he swings that driver and more importantly, can understand HOW to do it themselves.

That, in my opinion, is a quality video. I don’t give a rat’s behind if the video itself is a little grainy. If that person can show me how to swing my driver and get an extra 100 yards or whatever out of my drives, he can keep his fancy professional cameras.

Too many people confuse glitz with quality. Somebody in a nice suit, photographed with a $10,000 setup and spouting a lot of nonsense about who knows what, to me, is not quality. It’s just a waste of my time.

Like I said, there are going to be people who don’t agree with this. But give me substance over style and in my opinion, you’ve sold me.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

Okay, tip number one is so simple and yet it is something so many people fail to do because they’re not SEO experts. When you upload your video, there is a line where you can enter in keywords that fit the topic your video is about. So many people just leave this line blank figuring that it doesn’t matter. It DOES matter. Fill those keywords in, whatever they are. Why? Because when people do a search for certain subjects, THAT is how YouTube knows whether or not YOUR video is relevant to show as part of the search results. Otherwise, your video NEVER comes up.

Tip number two is another simple one. Don’t expect YouTube to do all the work. Make sure you have a blog or a site where you can tell people about your video. Let the world know it’s there. The more views you get on your own from promotion, the more views you will get from YouTube’s end because your video will end up ranking higher when people do a search. So write articles about your video. Tweet about it. Do whatever you can to make sure people know it’s there.

Finally, and this is the BEST tip of all, to really jack up your views, what you want to do is this. Do a search for other relevant videos in your niche. Sort them according to most views. Then, what you want to do is post YOUR video as a video response to the most viewed videos. This will dramatically increase the number of views you get simply by association.

There you have it…three simple tips that will help you get the most out of the videos you upload to YouTube. By making sure you fill in the keywords, by self promoting and finally by posting video responses to the top viewed videos, you can actually end up with one of the top videos at YouTube.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

Okay, so what’s the tactic I’m talking about? It’s creating these incredibly long videos (anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes or more) with no way for the viewer of the video to either pause it or fast forward ahead. In other words, they have to sit through the whole video from start to finish. The controls are purposely taken away to achieve this.

Not only did this one person at the forum complain about this, but so did many other members as well, including myself. I’m not going to sit through a 60 minute video, especially if 10 minutes into it, I decide that I actually want the product and just want to be given the URL so I can buy it. By taking the control out of my hands, I can’t do that. Ultimately, I will shut the page down, which is the only way to stop the video.

Having said this, I’m now going to tell you something that is going to totally shock you. Are you ready?

Test this for yourself. If you find that making videos with no controls increases conversions for YOUR target market, then do them. Ultimately, that’s the bottom line.

See, the “gurus” who use these tactics certainly have been doing this long enough to test these things themselves and wouldn’t use them if they didn’t work…for THEM. That doesn’t mean that the same tactic is going to work for YOU…and that is where people make their mistakes.

Every market is going to react differently to this tactic. Plus, the video itself is going to have a lot to do with whether or not somebody is going to want to sit through the whole thing. A video of somebody sitting behind a desk and talking for 30 minutes straight is likely to bore the heck out of most people, whereas a video of some demonstration of a cool new product will probably keep most people glued.

So you need to know your market, your product and understand that certain videos are more conducive to a long sit through than others.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

It gets by most people, but the main thing about the Super Bowl commercials that makes them so unique and so fun to watch is the mystery. With so many of these, you have no idea where they’re going or even what they’re promoting until the very end of the commercial. Take the commercial for the Dodge Charger, Lat Man’s Stand. The commercial starts off with all these things that the man will do for his woman. Some of them are hysterical. Finally, he says he does all this so he can drive his Dodge Charger…Last Man’s Stand.

It’s a brilliant commercial. It not only keeps you wondering where it’s going and what the commercial is for, but it implies that the Dodge Charger is so good that it’s worth putting up with all that crap, just to be able to drive it. Now THAT is a sales pitch if I ever heard one.

How about that Snickers commercial? They’re playing football and the one player appears to be Betty White. Well, the one player starts ragging on him for playing like Betty White. Anyway, this girl comes over and gives the player a Snickers bar and Betty turns into the actual player. The tagline…”Snickers…when you’re not feeling like yourself.” The ad implies that if you eat a Snickers bar you’ll be just like your not so old self again. Oh, and the end when Abe Vigoda gets knocked to the ground and says, “That hurts” was hysterical.

In this case, you have humor that really gets the point across.

What these, and other Super Bowl commercials have in common is that they’re not the same old song. They’re fresh, unique and even a little quirky. If you want your videos to stand out and get the attention of your prospects, you can’t just stand in front of a camera with a dull look on your face and start talking about your product. That is a sure way to put everybody to sleep.

Do yourself a favor. Head on over to YouTube and watch some of the 2010 and prior Super Bowl commercials. You don’t have to have a big budget to put together a video that actually captures the interest of the person watching.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

Here is a fact. Take it for what it’s worth to you. The attention span of the average person is about as long as a New York minute. If you don’t know what that is, go to New York and see how long it takes people to start honking at you once the light turns green and you still haven’t moved. We live in a fast paced world and it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. But that still doesn’t answer the question of how long is too long for a video. Well, here’s the answer.

A video is too long when it loses the attention of the one viewing it.

Okay, if that sounds like a copout answer, it’s not. Why? Let me ask you a question. Have you ever watched a video that was a good 20 to 30 minutes and hung on every word? I know I have. Some long videos have literally had me glued to my seat. Conversely, have you ever watched a video that was under two minutes and by the first 20 seconds you just had to turn it off because you were bored stiff? I know I have…more times than I care to admit.

Now obviously these are extremes, but I have used these extremes to make a point. It isn’t the length of the video that’s the problem. It’s the content. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, people are going to get bored really fast. If you DO have something interesting to say and can keep people hanging on by using techniques such as the one I’m going to illustrate shortly, you can keep people glued for a very long time.

A great technique is to promise the viewer something that is going to be revealed but don’t do it right away. For example, let’s say I started off a video with the following line…

“I’m Steven Wagenheim. In about one minute, I am going to show you how you can take a simple 400 word article and turn it into a full blown motion picture. But first, why is this something you would even want to do?”

See what I’ve done? I’ve hooked them into the presentation by telling them right up front what they are going to learn. This keeps them hanging on until I actually get to that part.

Now, you don’t want to keep people hanging too long, BUT…if you keep introducing this tactic throughout the video, you can keep people glued to it for a very long time.

And of course, there are other tactics as well, such as changing the scenes, angles of recording and so on.

Creating videos is an art. By learning this art effectively, you can literally stop worrying about the length of your videos.

That is of course unless you plan to do the Internet marketing version of War and Peace.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

To start with, get yourself a commercial account. That is the ONLY way you can even use these videos to make money with. It is explicitly pointed out in their TOS and trust me, they are not kidding.

Okay, as for the videos themselves, for starters, you want to bring as much animation to them as you can. There is a function in the editing process where you can assign actions to each character at certain points in the video. You want to use these sparingly but you DO want to use them. They really make a big difference. Having characters that just stand there can be dull and boring. A point or a nod at critical points in the video can really have a big impact. Use them sparingly, but use them.

Another thing you want to do is change camera angles regularly. The reason for this is because you don’t want the viewer to see the same angle throughout the entire video. This also can get quite dull. Having said this, you don’t want to have too many camera angles as that can get chaotic. Three of four tops should be good enough to create a video that keeps the viewer’s attention. More than that and things can get a bit muddled.

Finally, you want to keep the speaking parts between characters short. If one character is speaking for two long a period of time, this can also get dull. However, having said that, you don’t want the parts to be too short. You don’t want the camera shots bouncing around like a ping pong ball if you’re going to focus attention on each character as they speak. A few short clips is fine, but if the whole video is like that, it can become quite annoying.

Watch a TV show. I’m serious. Take a look at the camera work and the dialogue, especially for one of those daytime TV dramas. That is the look and feel you want to go for. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be cranking out Xtranormal videos that people will actually want to watch.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to get some cool Xtranormal tips that will make your videos sizzle? Visit my blog at http://xtranormalvideotips.blogspot.com/ and become an Xtranormal expert.