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I think that any person submitting a video to an online site wants to think, and better still, know that their video will be clicked on and watched by a raving crowd of fans. OK, I may have exaggerated a little but lets be honest. Every video producer wants their video to be a winner. And for those of you who are not producers, but marketers, well, you want the same, I am sure. After all, it is marketing by video, online. Let me expand on this now for you.

When a video is submitted to an online video site (and there are as many as fifty at the time of writing), they will be indexed and listed in the search engines. However, this is where you need to get smart. You need to think carefully about the subject of your video, and research the most likely words that people will use to find that which you have. Yes, I know it’s a mouth full, but it is important to understand this, as you need to be in the mind of your potential clients. To do this, you may use any number of key word tools, and enter your core or base key word. Then research all the similar words that the tool provides, and think if they apply. It is a good idea to include these words in your video’s description, as well as in the video as audio or text or both.

The reason I say this is that the search engine algorithms are now able to also ‘listen’ to the audio on the video, and work out the words in the video, and convert it to text for their ‘responses’ to people’s searches. I know that was a technical mouth full, but in simple terms, the large search engines are better able to analyse the video content and match it better to the words people type into their search engines. It is all about matching or giving the internet searcher the information they want most, to improve the quality of their surfing experience. I am not trying to make an advertisement here, but explain why the effort is important in the early stages of making a video,to ensure you get the best results out of it. The effort here, pays off, in the longer term.

Hence, to answer the title question, to ensure your videos are clicked on, make them interesting to watch, as this helps people to make them viral, where they recommend their friends to see the video and so on. It is also important to include good key words in the description when you submit the video, as well as provide good descriptions in general. This will help your video be seen by more people, and hence, increase your customer base to your site as well.

Fortunately, it is relatively straight forward to make videos and place them online, these days. I am not sure of your specific level of experience with video in general, but I will briefly list the main pieces of equipment you need, and point you in the right direction to get your video online. Fortunately, unlike the early 1980s, where you needed a budget of around twenty thousand dollars, minimum, you can now do all of this with around a few hundred dollars, if you already have a computer, and an internet connection.

Whilst there are always better pieces of equipment to get, for a basic start, let’s look at the base requirements like a video camera. The Flip series of cameras are quite good, and when used to their full capacity, can produce amazing results, considering they are a pocket style camera, with a direct USB connection to your computer. It is a good idea to also add a basic halogen lamp to the list, with some grease proof paper, to act as a diffuser, sop the light is not directed at the subject, and is rather diffused, and reduces shadows, at least considerably. I would like to point out here, to ensure you never leave the lights unattended when on, to ensure nothing gets too hot, and accidentally starts a fire. I have seen it happen, and it is best avoided, as halogen lamps get very hot indeed.

Naturally, as I have said earlier, if you have a computer, you will be well on your way and in most cases, it will come bundled with a video editing program already installed, but you can also purchase a program for it, that is is more advanced if you wanted extra features. I have written a separate article about this. However, the basics are listed above, and naturally, you will require a connection to the internet to put your video online.

The details of the best ways to use the camera are for another article, as this is another subject in itself, but most of the Flip camera functions are relatively intuitive for people. It becomes a case of transferring the video from the flip camera to your computer, and inserting the video into your video editing program, and adding any effects of your desire.

My overall point here is that what used to be very complex, involving many separate pieces of equipment, is now available as a computer package with a few extras, quite literally costing no more than a few hundred dollars for a good set up. The rest is up to your creativity and ability to turn ideas into good visual presentations. Not a bad way to get your videos online, from the comfort of your own home.

As I am sure you realise, this question is a broad one, but I will concentrate on some key issues that help to improve the results for most people making their own videos. I feel that this involves the type of microphone used, as well as camera placement and editing software. To explain this better, consider the following situation.

Have you ever watched a video that showed a talking head, and the sound was like they were talking underwater, and sounded very far away? I know I have seen video like this where the subject was quite far from the camera and they were using the camera’s integrated microphone. In a case like this, the mic on the camera is designed for mainly atmospheric sounds, or sound from around the subject, but in order to get a really good quality recording, the mic needs to be an external type, such as a lavaliar microphone, or unit clipped to a tie, or piece of the presenter’s clothing. This will pick up the voice much better, and transmit it to the camera, if the camera has an external mic input.

In the event that your camera does not have an external input, you could record the audio from the mic directly to your computer, using its sound card input, with a free program, such as Audacity or a paid program like Sony’s Sound Forge Studio 9. It is a paid program, but it provides some excellent editing features, and the quality of the recording, if made with a good microphone, will be astounding.

This resulting clip of audio can then be imported into the clip bin of your video editing program, as well as the video from your camera, and then synchronised up. This means that you need to move the audio on the time line to start at the same time as you did in the video. It will be a little ‘difficult’ at first, but once you master this technique, you will gain excellent audio quality results.

You will also need to mute, or cut the audio from your original file from the video camera. There are more professional ways of going about this, if you have a time code video camera, but as most people may not have this, I have concentrated on the above method, as one possibility. Taking the time to compare the two results of the audio quality will confirm my reasons for taking this slightly longer road at first. When your viewer can hear you well, it creates a much better impression of your video.

For any one working on a video, in a video editing program, there is a requirement to ensure that the elements making up the video are placed in the right places, in the right sequence. The time line is a linear way of seeing each item, like video, and audio tracks, in their respective alignment to each other. In addition, when you choose to add any other element to the video, like a character generated line of text, it will appear as another element on the time line.

In this way, depending on the complexity and features of your video editing program, you will be able to add in different tracks of audio, picture in picture elements, also known as PIP inserts, and more. Whilst this may seem fairly obvious on one hand, the time line allows you to manage details like fade ins, fade outs, and is very important, particularly when editing long videos with many different scenes or clips. A clip is a piece of video and a complex video will contain, potentially, many clips and other elements.

To better illustrate this point,consider the situation where you may have an introduction, and then want to show a process or procedure, narrate over the video, and then insert your picture in the video, as well as list the points of your narration, and then add a sound track of underlying audio. Whilst this may sound complex, it is easy when done in sections, and entered on the timeline. The process works by recording each individual element, and then placing each element into the program, or importing each element into the clip bin. This will include your video of your process, as well as your mp3 saved file of your narration voice, and any other elements of your choice.

The next step is to place each item on the time line. This is done by a drag and drop process, and note that once on the time line, each item can be dragged to a precise starting position, so as to ensure each is placed where you want it in reference to other items in your video. It is important to place each item on its own line, within the time line. This means that the video is on the video section, the audio on an audio track line, and the narration, as an example, on another audio track in the line, This way, it will be easier to edit each item, as well as locate it when editing.

I realise that this may still sound complex, but I can assure you that as you start using your program of choice, it will begin to fall into place. Most programs for video editing are relatively intuitive, after a little trial and error. Once you gain the confidence of operating your chosen program, you will find you have more and more options open to you as you become more adventurous with your editing technique.

Fortunately, it is relatively straight forward to make videos and place them online, these days. I am not sure of your specific level of experience with video in general, but I will briefly list the main pieces of equipment you need, and point you in the right direction to get your video online. Fortunately, unlike the early 1980s, where you needed a budget of around twenty thousand dollars, minimum, you can now do all of this with around a few hundred dollars, if you already have a computer, and an internet connection.

Whilst there are always better pieces of equipment to get, for a basic start, let’s look at the base requirements like a video camera. The Flip series of cameras are quite good, and when used to their full capacity, can produce amazing results, considering they are a pocket style camera, with a direct USB connection to your computer. It is a good idea to also add a basic halogen lamp to the list, with some grease proof paper, to act as a diffuser, sop the light is not directed at the subject, and is rather diffused, and reduces shadows, at least considerably. I would like to point out here, to ensure you never leave the lights unattended when on, to ensure nothing gets too hot, and accidentally starts a fire. I have seen it happen, and it is best avoided, as halogen lamps get very hot indeed.

Naturally, as I have said earlier, if you have a computer, you will be well on your way and in most cases, it will come bundled with a video editing program already installed, but you can also purchase a program for it, that is is more advanced if you wanted extra features. I have written a separate article about this. However, the basics are listed above, and naturally, you will require a connection to the internet to put your video online.

The details of the best ways to use the camera are for another article, as this is another subject in itself, but most of the Flip camera functions are relatively intuitive for people. It becomes a case of transferring the video from the flip camera to your computer, and inserting the video into your video editing program, and adding any effects of your desire.

My overall point here is that what used to be very complex, involving many separate pieces of equipment, is now available as a computer package with a few extras, quite literally costing no more than a few hundred dollars for a good set up. The rest is up to your creativity and ability to turn ideas into good visual presentations. Not a bad way to get your videos online, from the comfort of your own home.

Whilst the obvious difference between the free versions and paid video editing programs is the price, it is a common question that many people ask, in all seriousness, to really understand the significant differences. I would like to assure you, in the first instance, that some things that are free, can still be quite good, and I will say that for many of the free video editor software packages at the moment. I would like to include the caveat that I have come across some disaster programs too, but no, I am not interested in bad mouthing any company or product in particular.

However, for the purposes of clarity here, the two most popular computer operating systems, namely Windows and Mac, each come with their default video editing programs, namely Windows Movie Maker, as well as Macs, iMovie. Each program will allow you to import videos and as I say, edit each one basically.

The real difference between the free, and paid versions is in the degree of control, or individual settings ability that you have. Each program’s defaults are basic, yet functional, but will lack the finer detail that the more creative producer will want to include in their work. An example of this would be the type of text fonts and styles of text overlay that may be permitted. Another example is that you may only have basic features, and not the more advanced type, like the chroma key effect.

This is an important function for someone wanting to create effects where an image is superimposed over a green or blue background, such as a weather presentation. In all cases when you see a weather presentation on the news, the moving map of the country or region is actually a graphical video over a green or blue screen, such that the reader can be seen in front of the map. This feature is typically only available on some of the paid programs, like Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio. It is not available in the free Windows Movie Maker program. However, if you are just starting out and learning, the free program is a great way to get your feet wet, as it were, and learn the basics.

Each one of the programs will have a basic set of features that are common, and it is like this in all the programs. Hence, you may as well learn and practice these features first.

It should be noted that there are numerous price bands with paid programs, varying from the few hundred dollars mark to around a thousand or so. The main difference at this point, becomes the style and type of video formats that will be supported or the CODECs, known as the encoding and decoding standards. At this point, it becomes quite technical, and for simplicity, and compatibility with most systems, it is best to stick with the basics like the wmv and avi or flv flash styles, or mov styles as used in the Mac environment. These are all available with the free and cheaper versions. This will allow the greatest compatibility with other viewers of your videos. After all, the object is for your videos to be seen by others.