Sunday, October 19, 2008
Stuck For Ideas? Try Fresh Creative Juice
My brother goes down to the South West for his holidays and usually brings something like Chilli Chocolate back. Next time, I'm going to ask him to bring me back some creative juice, straight from the farm where it's pressed... I think it could help with my websites!
Labels: video
Monday, April 21, 2008
Getting Into Video Content
After quite a long time prevaricating, I decided to go ahead and buy the Canon HV20 video camera. It first caught my eye last year when I returned a rubbishy Sony HDD camera, and I would have expected some new model to have come in since then to sway me, but after checking the options (I'd have used Dave Fiske's camcorder comparison site if I'd known at the time) it seems that the HV20 is still one of the best in the marketplace borne out by it still being the bestseller in its class.
So at least with a decent camcorder, I can get down to creating video content to showcase products. Personally I always have a look on YouTube to see a gadget or expensive product before I buy these days. I think one of the challenges will be to move a viewer from YouTube onto my own site where the affiliate links will be.
I'm still getting a feel for the camera, but I knocked up this little video this afternoon featuring my other recent technology purchase - the Asus Eee PC.
I hadn't realised when I made the video that the MacBook Air ad is already heavily spoofed, including others with the Eee PC although I should have guessed it would be. This is the best parody I have seen...
So at least with a decent camcorder, I can get down to creating video content to showcase products. Personally I always have a look on YouTube to see a gadget or expensive product before I buy these days. I think one of the challenges will be to move a viewer from YouTube onto my own site where the affiliate links will be.
I'm still getting a feel for the camera, but I knocked up this little video this afternoon featuring my other recent technology purchase - the Asus Eee PC.
I hadn't realised when I made the video that the MacBook Air ad is already heavily spoofed, including others with the Eee PC although I should have guessed it would be. This is the best parody I have seen...
Labels: video
Monday, October 01, 2007
Earnings Update from Video Review Post
Around the middle of August, I wrote a post which gave an example of a video review I had carried out, so I thought I would do a little update on how it worked out.
Since the review was published, I have sold 8 of the Digital Photo Frames through Amazon links. The commission for each one works out at £7 - hitting the Amazon commission cap on Electronics - which means the review has made a direct total of £56 so far.
Not an tonne of money by any stretch of the imagination, but 4 of the 8 sales came in the last 3 days, and I noticed the page now has a number of above-the-fold search engine positions for related search terms so is generating more traffic, making me confident that the content I created will carry on making money for a while yet.
Did I learn anything in doing this? Well, I guess it re-affirmed to me that making video content is fun and can make money. That video wasn't all that great and I really want to make top quality vids when I buy a new HD camera - almost certainly going to choose the Canon HV20. I decided to opt for a High Definition camera after seeing the remarkable quality even when compressed and uploaded to YouTube. If I can make a product look amazing, I think it's a fair bet that conversions will be even higher.
One thing I am still thinking about is should I go for a dedicated video review site, like Shawn Collins' WeViews.tv, or just drop video reviews into sites I have which are related to the subject matter, or some combination of both.
Since the review was published, I have sold 8 of the Digital Photo Frames through Amazon links. The commission for each one works out at £7 - hitting the Amazon commission cap on Electronics - which means the review has made a direct total of £56 so far.
Not an tonne of money by any stretch of the imagination, but 4 of the 8 sales came in the last 3 days, and I noticed the page now has a number of above-the-fold search engine positions for related search terms so is generating more traffic, making me confident that the content I created will carry on making money for a while yet.
Did I learn anything in doing this? Well, I guess it re-affirmed to me that making video content is fun and can make money. That video wasn't all that great and I really want to make top quality vids when I buy a new HD camera - almost certainly going to choose the Canon HV20. I decided to opt for a High Definition camera after seeing the remarkable quality even when compressed and uploaded to YouTube. If I can make a product look amazing, I think it's a fair bet that conversions will be even higher.
One thing I am still thinking about is should I go for a dedicated video review site, like Shawn Collins' WeViews.tv, or just drop video reviews into sites I have which are related to the subject matter, or some combination of both.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Will Your Video Reviews Create Sales for Other Affiliates, And Should You Care Anyway?
So I was in the bath contemplating how I should best exploit video content in affiliate marketing. I've done a bit of video content now and recently bought a new camcorder to try and spur me on to increased output and better quality. I haven't actually done any video reviews since I got the camera as I need to do a fresh round of emails to companies to ask for evaluation products. One merchant did contact me direct with some software to review, which is on my to do list.
Previously, like with my review of the Kodak Wireless Digital Photo Frame, I created the video, stuck it up on Youtube and then embedded it into a couple of relevant blogs. The video was branded with a URL but I kept the content purely as a showcase of the functionality and didn't mention anything about where you could buy it - that came below the embedded video in a text link.
Then I noticed later on that someone else put the video in their blog and it was becoming content that they were monetising in their own way. I was pretty relaxed about that as they linked to my site too and I was I guess flattered that someone liked the video enough to post it on their site.
But I guess this raises the issue which has no doubt been raised before: what's to stop other affiliates using your video content and then promoting their own affiliate links? As far as I can see, if you're hosting your vids with Youtube and choose to allow embedding, anyone can make use of your content to drive their own sales.
But should you even care? If the video is nicely branded, the more eyeballs you get will result in you getting more kudos and credit and people may well remember you and come back to you in future even if on that occasion someone else got the click through.
Is there a solution? Well, there already be solutions that I don't know about but I saw something cool the other day which may show the way forward. Vzaar is a new video hosting service designed to be embedded into eBay auctions. Actually it's slightly gutting because my friend had exactly the same idea and was starting work on it, but you have to say these people have done a great job. And programmatically included into each video is a Bid Now link with pricing info from eBay.
What would be great is if YouTube allowed you to associate a URL with a video and then it became clickable throughout or at then of the video, or if there was an alternative video hosting service designed for affiliates, like Vzaar is for auction sellers, which had a Buy Now button embedded in it.
Ok, the more I think of it, a dedicated affiliate-leaning video hosting service is a great idea and if I had the skills I'd think about it doing it myself. How cool would it be if an affiliate network led the way and created one? That would be real innovation and interest me more than the widgets and content units we've seen lately.
Previously, like with my review of the Kodak Wireless Digital Photo Frame, I created the video, stuck it up on Youtube and then embedded it into a couple of relevant blogs. The video was branded with a URL but I kept the content purely as a showcase of the functionality and didn't mention anything about where you could buy it - that came below the embedded video in a text link.
Then I noticed later on that someone else put the video in their blog and it was becoming content that they were monetising in their own way. I was pretty relaxed about that as they linked to my site too and I was I guess flattered that someone liked the video enough to post it on their site.
But I guess this raises the issue which has no doubt been raised before: what's to stop other affiliates using your video content and then promoting their own affiliate links? As far as I can see, if you're hosting your vids with Youtube and choose to allow embedding, anyone can make use of your content to drive their own sales.
But should you even care? If the video is nicely branded, the more eyeballs you get will result in you getting more kudos and credit and people may well remember you and come back to you in future even if on that occasion someone else got the click through.
Is there a solution? Well, there already be solutions that I don't know about but I saw something cool the other day which may show the way forward. Vzaar is a new video hosting service designed to be embedded into eBay auctions. Actually it's slightly gutting because my friend had exactly the same idea and was starting work on it, but you have to say these people have done a great job. And programmatically included into each video is a Bid Now link with pricing info from eBay.
What would be great is if YouTube allowed you to associate a URL with a video and then it became clickable throughout or at then of the video, or if there was an alternative video hosting service designed for affiliates, like Vzaar is for auction sellers, which had a Buy Now button embedded in it.
Ok, the more I think of it, a dedicated affiliate-leaning video hosting service is a great idea and if I had the skills I'd think about it doing it myself. How cool would it be if an affiliate network led the way and created one? That would be real innovation and interest me more than the widgets and content units we've seen lately.
Labels: affiliate marketing, video
Friday, August 31, 2007
New Camcorder and Video Reviews
I've done a few video blog posts before using the video function of my digital camera, but I took delivery today of my new video camera - the Sony DCR-SR32. I went for a hard disk camcorder because 30gb of storage is plenty and I can't be bothered to mess about with tapes or discs. So I'm looking forward to creating lots more video content with my new camera.
How do you get hold of kit to review?
Someone emailed me recently in response to my post about a video review I had done to ask how I got hold of the stuff to review. It's pretty simple to be honest, but here's how:
Once I've decided what I want to review, I go to the manufacturer's website and look for contact details of their press office or agency - often it will be in a third party PR agency.
Once I've identified who I need to contact, I write an email explaining why my site is a great fit and how it will benefit them to get the exposure. I have created a "media pack" pdf for one site with details of search engine positions and traffic. I put myself in their shoes and think what boxes do they want ticked before they agree to send an expensive piece of kit. I only bother writing for a site that I am proud of and I genuinely think can benefit them or their client.
They will either agree or not respond, or respond but say they don't have anything at the moment - I think they usually have a pool of loan equipment. If they respond positively, they will usually send a loan form which needs to be completed and guarantees you will look after the item and return in a set time.
I did review a low value item once (under £20) and there was no mention of returning it. And there was a gadget correspondent in a neighbouring office, when I didn't work from home, and he had a mountain of freebies he had reviewed and kept. But a freebie is a bonus and I always go into it expecting to return an item and I do so on time. After reviewing and returning an item, I follow up with an email providing a link to the review.
And that's pretty much all there is to it! But if you have any other tips, feel free to use the comments section.
How do you get hold of kit to review?
Someone emailed me recently in response to my post about a video review I had done to ask how I got hold of the stuff to review. It's pretty simple to be honest, but here's how:
Once I've decided what I want to review, I go to the manufacturer's website and look for contact details of their press office or agency - often it will be in a third party PR agency.
Once I've identified who I need to contact, I write an email explaining why my site is a great fit and how it will benefit them to get the exposure. I have created a "media pack" pdf for one site with details of search engine positions and traffic. I put myself in their shoes and think what boxes do they want ticked before they agree to send an expensive piece of kit. I only bother writing for a site that I am proud of and I genuinely think can benefit them or their client.
They will either agree or not respond, or respond but say they don't have anything at the moment - I think they usually have a pool of loan equipment. If they respond positively, they will usually send a loan form which needs to be completed and guarantees you will look after the item and return in a set time.
I did review a low value item once (under £20) and there was no mention of returning it. And there was a gadget correspondent in a neighbouring office, when I didn't work from home, and he had a mountain of freebies he had reviewed and kept. But a freebie is a bonus and I always go into it expecting to return an item and I do so on time. After reviewing and returning an item, I follow up with an email providing a link to the review.
And that's pretty much all there is to it! But if you have any other tips, feel free to use the comments section.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Example Of Using Video in Affiliate Marketing
It certainly won't be any great news to anyone interested in making money online that the use of video is increasingly prevalent, and powerful.
I first dabbled in using video to promote a product when I reviewed the Kensington Wifi Finder Plus on my website about wifi. That thing has sold plenty for me since that review - actually probably the single most popular physical product I've promoted. Now the video itself is nothing special, so I don't know how much effect the video had or whether it just sold well because it's a good fit with the site. But certainly seeing an item in video form must be a persuasive factor when deciding to buy.
So I've done a new video review. This time I've reviewed the Kodak EasyShare EX1011 Digital Picture Frame. I've seen on YouTube that "unboxing" videos of equipment are fairly popular, and also I wanted to include a demonstration of what might be the most useful function for my users - the ability to wirelessly get photos onto the frame.
So I'll now be looking forward to finding out if seeing the product on video gives any extra lift to sales.
I found making the video to be significantly easier with a cheap tripod I bought in Argos, and once I done my filming, I did the editing in a piece of software called Magix Movie Edit Pro. There's also some free movie making software in XP which I want to try out. Unfortunately my microphone died half way through production, so I finished off with some awful one I had laying about, hence bad sound quality from half way through.
When making the video, I kind of struggled with the question of whether to overcome the inevitable embarrassment and make it a personal thing and become part of the review, or to just keep it in strictly product shots. I decided to appear in it, which seemed like a good idea at the time but I don't think I can bring myself to ever watch it again :-)
Sometimes in affiliate marketing its easy to push out sites that don't really add anything - they just parrot the merchant site and info, and you hope yours gets found by some means before the merchant. By getting in on video creation, you are actually going above beyond what most merchants are currently offering and really adding value.
I first dabbled in using video to promote a product when I reviewed the Kensington Wifi Finder Plus on my website about wifi. That thing has sold plenty for me since that review - actually probably the single most popular physical product I've promoted. Now the video itself is nothing special, so I don't know how much effect the video had or whether it just sold well because it's a good fit with the site. But certainly seeing an item in video form must be a persuasive factor when deciding to buy.
So I've done a new video review. This time I've reviewed the Kodak EasyShare EX1011 Digital Picture Frame. I've seen on YouTube that "unboxing" videos of equipment are fairly popular, and also I wanted to include a demonstration of what might be the most useful function for my users - the ability to wirelessly get photos onto the frame.
So I'll now be looking forward to finding out if seeing the product on video gives any extra lift to sales.
I found making the video to be significantly easier with a cheap tripod I bought in Argos, and once I done my filming, I did the editing in a piece of software called Magix Movie Edit Pro. There's also some free movie making software in XP which I want to try out. Unfortunately my microphone died half way through production, so I finished off with some awful one I had laying about, hence bad sound quality from half way through.
When making the video, I kind of struggled with the question of whether to overcome the inevitable embarrassment and make it a personal thing and become part of the review, or to just keep it in strictly product shots. I decided to appear in it, which seemed like a good idea at the time but I don't think I can bring myself to ever watch it again :-)
Sometimes in affiliate marketing its easy to push out sites that don't really add anything - they just parrot the merchant site and info, and you hope yours gets found by some means before the merchant. By getting in on video creation, you are actually going above beyond what most merchants are currently offering and really adding value.
Labels: affiliate marketing, video
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