Description
The guide opens with background on YouTube’s history and growth, then moves into keyword research techniques so a reader can figure out what topics and tags actually get videos found and viewed. From there it breaks down the ten characteristics that tend to make videos popular, things like humor, shock value, curiosity, and demonstration, and backs this up with five real case studies including the famous “Will It Blend” campaign and a real estate agent who sold a house using a simple video tour.
Practical chapters cover the equipment needed to shoot video, from camcorders and webcams to screen capture software and cell phones, along with basic editing advice using free tools like Windows Movie Maker. The guide also walks through the YouTube upload process, choosing file formats, and branding videos with a website URL through watermarks, titles, and end credits.
The later chapters focus heavily on monetization tactics: building a YouTube community through groups and channels, creating book trailers and product demos, promoting affiliate links through domain forwarding and masking, building an email list with free videos, and getting the video embedded and shared across blogs, MySpace, and other sites. A closing chapter lists alternative video hosting sites and additional marketing resources.
Overall it’s an early, tactic-heavy internet marketing manual aimed at people wanting free traffic through video before the space became saturated.
