YouTube has become an amazing way to generate free traffic to your site. Just like a website, you can optimize your videos for the YouTube surfers who use the search feature. Just as someone could type in "imtiaztips" in Google.com and find your site, they can do the same with your videos on YouTube.
Because you can enter a title and keywords for every video you submit and this information helps people find your video when they do a YouTube search. More and more people use YouTube every single day and this can funnel quite a bit of traffic to your video, especially if the video is done well. And not only can you capitalize on targeted YouTube traffic, but you can entertain your own site's audience by embedding your video into your web pages by simply copying and pasting the provided code.
Getting Your Video on YouTube
Computers and cameras are making it easier and easier to get video on the Web. It used to be you had to buy additional software just to get your video on the right format. Now most digital camcorders come with the necessary software, or your PC or MAC may already have the software you need to make it happen. Plus YouTube accepts so many different video formats, you don't have to worry about converting the file. Not to mention, Windows Vista has a free video editing program called "Windows Movie Maker" which is super easy to use.
You simply download your video from your camera to your PC. Then open up Windows Movie Maker to make edits to your video. You can add captions, credits, crop and more. Since Windows Vista is a free program, there are some limitations. For example, you can't control the placement of the captions. So if you've centered yourself in the video, you'll have to deal with the fact that the captions/text may cover your face temporarily.
Also, you can't control how long the credits stay on the screen. After all, the credits are a great place to re-emphasize your website address so you want people to remember it. But in my opinion, these are very small drawbacks. Remember you only get so much for free and you can still create a nice quality video with this software. You can see one of my videos below I created with Windows Movie Maker and then uploaded to YouTube...
Video Production Tips
1. Have adequate lighting. - Make sure people can actually SEE you. What are you hiding anyway.
2. Don't memorize a script. - unless you're good at delivering it where it doesn't sound like you're talking from memory. I've found if you just talk off the top of your head, it comes across much more conversational and natural.
3. Watch the time. - Your video should be as long as it needs to be, and get to the point. If you start rambling for 10 minutes about nothing, you could lose your audience before the video is finished. If your video seems long, think of ways you can summarize and condense certain points.
4. Check your backdrop. - Remember, this video is representing you and your site. If you've got a junk heap behind you, it will distract your audience. If you don't have a nice background, then just film in front of a blank wall.
5. Watch your filler words. - We don't realize how often we say "Um" and use filler words until we see ourselves on video. It's normal to need a sec to think about what to say next, so practice just being silent in those moments.
No matter what method or software you use, it's definitely worth experimenting with video to help promote your site. And since YouTube is owned by Google, that can only mean good things if you make a good video and optimize the title and keywords for your audience. Just like Google.com, YouTube can bring you a good amount of targeted visitors, and people can even subscribe to your YouTube channel so they'll be notified any time you add a new video. And if your video is good enough, others will want to embed it into their sites. What a great, viral way to promote your site and get your name out there. So take your time making a quality video. Once the viral effect kicks in, it can make quite an impact in your traffic levels.
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Sunday, November 30, 2008
Creating RSS Feeds for Your Website
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) or it's sometimes referred to as Rich Site Summary. It's an XML-based content format for distributing news, headlines, articles etc. Many news sites such as CNN.com and USAToday.com now provide their headlines in RSS format for web surfers.
So if you have a free RSS reader like BlogExpress you can get the headlines from these sites without even having to visit their homepage. You can also do the same for your website by publishing your own RSS news feeds.
Advantages of Creating RSS Feeds
For webmasters this is an excellent way to bring repeat traffic to your site. Every time a web surfer opens their RSS reader to get the headlines for all the sites they monitor, they will also see your site's updates. Instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return at a later date, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh in their minds.
So when they open their reader to check the headlines for Yahoo, CNN or any other feeds they subscribe to, they will also get the latest updates from you.
Export Your RSS Feed
About these feeds is that other people can use them as content on their site. So if you have a feed that is of particular interest to another webmaster, they can post your content on their site. This is another great traffic opportunity!
First you need to build your feeds :
I use www.feedforall.com. They have an easy-to-use feed builder that lets you create and manage all your feeds in one place. Then once you've created your feed you have to upload the XML file to your web server. FeedForAll.com will automatically convert your feed into the XML format so you don't need to worry about additional formatting or coding.
The URL will be
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Imtiaztips-WebmasterArticlesWebsiteDesignDevelopmentTutorial.
This is the link to your RSS/XML feed, and the one you'll be advertising so people can subscribe.
So any time you add a new article to your feed, that XML file is updated.
FeedForAll also has a built-in upload feature so you can upload the XML file right to your web server with their software, assuming your web host has FTP access.
Another way to create it: You can create a free blog at Blogger.com and the feed URL is automatically generated for you. This is the easiest way to go. So every time you post to your blog, the feed is updated instantly.
For example, imtiaztips blog. The URL to the actual RSS feed is: http://imtiaztips.blogspot.com/atom.xml
So that's what people with RSS readers will add to their software in order to subscribe to that feed. Now any time I make a new post to my blog, their RSS reader is updated with the new content.
Announcing Your Feeds on Your Website
Now that your feed has been uploaded to your website, you need to tell your visitors how to subscribe to it. First, you'll want to get one of the RSS or XML buttons to add to your site. This lets people know you have feeds available. Go here to select a button.
Once you are displaying the button on your site be sure to add the XML link to it so a person can retrieve the link to the feed. For example, here's my feed .
If you click the button notice it opens my XML feed. Of course, you don't want your visitors to link to your feed this way. You want them to put this link into their RSS reader so they can subscribe to it and it will display like a regular news feed.
So what you would do is instruct them to right-click the button and "Copy Shortcut" (for IE users) or "Copy Link Location" (for Firefox users)
Have them open their RSS reader and start a "New Subscription". Now they can paste the XML link into their reader they are subscribed. It's that easy!
Now every time they open their reader and refresh their news items, they'll get the latest and greatest from your website.
So if you have a free RSS reader like BlogExpress you can get the headlines from these sites without even having to visit their homepage. You can also do the same for your website by publishing your own RSS news feeds.
Advantages of Creating RSS Feeds
For webmasters this is an excellent way to bring repeat traffic to your site. Every time a web surfer opens their RSS reader to get the headlines for all the sites they monitor, they will also see your site's updates. Instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return at a later date, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh in their minds.
So when they open their reader to check the headlines for Yahoo, CNN or any other feeds they subscribe to, they will also get the latest updates from you.
Export Your RSS Feed
About these feeds is that other people can use them as content on their site. So if you have a feed that is of particular interest to another webmaster, they can post your content on their site. This is another great traffic opportunity!
First you need to build your feeds :
I use www.feedforall.com. They have an easy-to-use feed builder that lets you create and manage all your feeds in one place. Then once you've created your feed you have to upload the XML file to your web server. FeedForAll.com will automatically convert your feed into the XML format so you don't need to worry about additional formatting or coding.
The URL will be
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Imtiaztips-WebmasterArticlesWebsiteDesignDevelopmentTutorial.
This is the link to your RSS/XML feed, and the one you'll be advertising so people can subscribe.
So any time you add a new article to your feed, that XML file is updated.
FeedForAll also has a built-in upload feature so you can upload the XML file right to your web server with their software, assuming your web host has FTP access.
Another way to create it: You can create a free blog at Blogger.com and the feed URL is automatically generated for you. This is the easiest way to go. So every time you post to your blog, the feed is updated instantly.
For example, imtiaztips blog. The URL to the actual RSS feed is: http://imtiaztips.blogspot.com/atom.xml
So that's what people with RSS readers will add to their software in order to subscribe to that feed. Now any time I make a new post to my blog, their RSS reader is updated with the new content.
Announcing Your Feeds on Your Website
Now that your feed has been uploaded to your website, you need to tell your visitors how to subscribe to it. First, you'll want to get one of the RSS or XML buttons to add to your site. This lets people know you have feeds available. Go here to select a button.
Once you are displaying the button on your site be sure to add the XML link to it so a person can retrieve the link to the feed. For example, here's my feed .
If you click the button notice it opens my XML feed. Of course, you don't want your visitors to link to your feed this way. You want them to put this link into their RSS reader so they can subscribe to it and it will display like a regular news feed.
So what you would do is instruct them to right-click the button and "Copy Shortcut" (for IE users) or "Copy Link Location" (for Firefox users)
Have them open their RSS reader and start a "New Subscription". Now they can paste the XML link into their reader they are subscribed. It's that easy!
Now every time they open their reader and refresh their news items, they'll get the latest and greatest from your website.
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