Human body is amazing, isn't it?
It's perfect.
Everything has its place.
Every part has its function.
It makes us who we are; on the outside anyway.
Sure we don't have to have all our body parts to function, live, and breathe.
However, we do need most of them to position ourselves as best as we can in the society we live in.
Whether we like it or not, our appearance has a profound effect on how people react to us.
Imagine I had an eye missing; would you look at me the same way?
Hold on; I have an idea…
What do you think?
(Arrgh…I just wasted 20 minutes of my day trying to figure out how to patch up my eye; this image better go viral!)
This was a very round-about way to get to the main point for the post:
In video marketing, the better your video comes together, the better desired reaction you'll get from your audience.
Quick note before we go on: I never said your videos have to be perfect.
As a matter of fact, that's precisely why many of you haven't even touched video production.
You think your videos need to be perfect to work – a non-existing concept that becomes a perfect excuse to hold yourself back.
Take the video I'll be talking about in this post.
It's fun, entertaining, has a great call to action, and a few blunders I wish weren't there.
It didn't stop me from publishing it though.
It has all the body parts it needs to achieve my conversion goals, and that makes it a perfectly profitable video.
I am going to drop the “human body” analogy now (it's getting on my nerves) and simply show you what makes up a great video that works.
The Video
Here's my most recent video I posted on YouTube.
It's a great example for this study, even though Ms. Ileane and I disagree on the subject (feel free to ask her in the comments why).
Either way, very kind of her to let me use it in this post anyway.
Why I wanted to use this specific video in this post:
1. It tells a story.
It's anything but your typical cut-and-dry boring video that quickly gets buried in YouTube archives.
2. It's very visual.
This is the first time I tried this format for a video.
If you look at it closely, it's very similar to a Slideshare presentation.
As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I designed it to be: a PDF presentation that can be submitted to Slideshare, various PDF directories, and, with an audio voice-over or just music playing in the background, can be easily turned into a video.
It's all a part of my new content leverage system.
3. It's effective.
It gives value AND it delivers conversions.
Now let's take this video apart to see what makes it work.
By the way, if you need a little help remembering all the pieces, I created a handy-dandy mind map to download and refer to – no opt-in whatsoever; just download it and follow me along as I take you through the anatomy of a perfect video.
Part 1.  Introduction & Branding
You want your viewers to know who you are.
If it sounds obvious, it's because it is.
Yet, most video marketers forget to actually do it.
In this particular video, these are the main branding elements:
1. Video intro.
Video intro is a quick branding clip that opens a video.
To make one for your business, you basically have three choices:
- Make the video yourself.
- Use a site like Splasheo.com: about $40 for a basic customization.
- Outsource it on Fiverr.com – that's what I did to make the intro you see in this video. $5 can go a long way on Fiverr!
2. Topic introduction
This is where you tell your viewers:
- what your video is about;
- why they should watch it;
- (possibly) how long the video is.
3. Branding throughout
I made sure to add my Traffic Generation Café logo to every non-image slide.
Quick tip:Â always add your branding to the top left corner of your video.
If your video is monetized through ads or you use a custom player like Viewbix, there are usually too many icons placed at the bottom and to the right side of the video.
Top left corner is your best bet if you want your branding to be actually seen by your viewers.
Part 2.  Give Value
You are not making this video to sell something; rather to teach something.
If you do everything else right, “selling” will come naturally.
Selling is a by-product of good marketing.
My  video wasn't about Tweet Adder. It was about generating traffic from Twitter and presenting the exact steps I've taken to produce incredible results for my own blog.
Part 3. Â A Perfectly Profitable Video Has Multiple Calls to Action
Even though my video was about delivering valuable content to my viewers, I wasn't afraid to ask for the sale either.
And neither should you.
After all, we are in business to make money, NOT become sweatshop bloggers.
The ultimate goal of your video should be to get your viewers to DO something.
Whether it's:
- Click on your affiliate link;
- Subscribe to your list;
- Or even as simple as “Come to my blog!“…
…they won't do it, unless you specifically tell them to.
Also, it's important that you add your call to action (CTA)Â more than once.
In my Tweet Adder video I did it twice (actually, three times to be precise):
- Twice in the middle of the video (I simply surrounded one of the image slides with my CTA slide – I didn't give any call to action, just paused for a second there);
- At the end of the video.
As long as you provide value in the video, plus choose an appropriate offer to go with it, your viewers won't mind seeing it.
Examples of CTAs
Not that I am great with it, but the following calls to action seemed to have worked well in my videos.
1. From the video above:
2. Another affiliate call to action (from this video on how to install WordPress):
Affiliate link tip:Â since you can't currently add active clickable links to your videos, make sure you create a memorable link for each and every video you make.
For instance, in this video I used Bit.ly URL shortner since most viewers will be familiar with it already; then added a simple customized extension.
3. Opt-In call to action
Most of the videos I make are educational and are not meant to sell anything at all.
It doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a CTA in those videos.
The following video outro was made to drive YouTube traffic to my email building opt-in page:
If you are turning green with video outro envy, take it easy; I told you $5 go a long way on Fiverr.com.
If you don't have $5, you are not off the hook.
Put together a slide with your blog logo or anything else that will make your viewers remember you and stick it at the end of your videos – ANY videos, whatever the topic.
Just like I did with this entirely unrelated clip from one of my favorite movies Moonstruck:
As you can see – the sky is the limit as to what you can do to use videos to brand your business, drive traffic, and increase sales.
Last point on calls to action:
Don't forget to add your CTA in the description of the video; preferably at the very beginning.
And you got it: do it more than once!
Part 4.  Recap with a Conclusion
Always sum up what your viewers just saw and most importantly how they'll BENEFIT if they actually apply what they've just learned.
Part 5.  Advise
This is a powerful psychological factor that many successful marketers use in their sales material:
Make it their decision!
Advise them of what they might want to do at this point, as in:
- “if you want to…”
- “I would…”
… but leave the final decision up to them – after all, it's their decision to make, isn't it?
Part 6.  Another Call to Action
Just in case you already forgot:
Your call to action should be the last thing you leave your viewers with.
Part 7.  Linger
Drag your call to action a bit at the end.
Give your views a chance to digest and make a decision.
Encourage them to take action by saying something like:
Click on the link below to get it / read it right now.
Another great reason to do it is YouTube's related videos.
You know how YouTube loves to pop them up on a viewers' screen the second your video is over?
If the person is considering your offer, but gets distracted by those videos too quickly, you might've just lost your chance to get them to act.
How long should you linger?
Up to you, of course.
In my example video, I dragged for about 10 seconds at the end. Seems natural.
Marketing Takeaway
There's a recipe to every successful video.
You just saw mine.
If I were you, I'd take it as a base, make the necessary adjustments for your specific business and niche, and apply it to all your future videos.
Start by downloading my Anatomy to a Perfect Video mind map here and let me know your progress.
Have fun storming the castle!
Hey Ana,
(To be honest) Don`t know why but am a bit afraid of creating videos, may be I doubt about failing. I like Ileane`s videos, and today I got a chance to look at adriennesmith.net videos and it was inspiring.
And your post gave me an idea on how to make it more professional. Thanks for that.
~@Khajamoin1
You know if you really afraid from camera like I do. We can start making slideshow on powerpoint and then we can convert it to video!
Yes you`re right am about to do that, missed to add it.
~@khajamoin1
My first few videos absolutely sucked (just check out my YouTube channel.)
I published them anyway, and they still drove traffic.
Then I learned that slide-presentation type videos convert much better than on-camera videos – bingo!
I don’t like being on-camera, but I can certainly come up with a mean PP slide show. 🙂
I think you should definitely go that way.
Ya, I will!
Yesterday I read your post on Slideshare, going to try with those tips!
~@Khajamoin1
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Making videos is a great way to put forth an interesting character in front of your audience. And by putting in a little creative, one can as well make a viral video like the one about a toy robot going into space.
Personally, I am more inclined toward animated videos, which are cheap and don’t need a pretty face.
I haven’t tried animated videos yet, but they are on my list.
Hi Ana how are you?
I loved your video breakdown and the analogy used at the start. I’d have to agree, I also think many bloggers don’t entertain video marketing because they believe the quality and production has to be perfect, especially when there is so much competion out there these days, and making your video stand out could be a challenge.
But I also think that many people don’t feel confident enough to put their voice over a tutorial video perhaps or even stand in front of a video camera for long enough.
I know when I was starting to do videos I was afraid of what people might think of the quality of my videos and what they might think of me, my appearance and the way I talked and sounded like to others. So yeah I believe a combination of pursuing for perfection in your production and fear of what others might think can really put video craetion off for many people.
But if you can look beyond that than there is a lot that can be gained from video marketing, and I’ve certainly picked a few awesome ideas and resources from your tips here so thank you.
WE are the only ones who are stopping ourselves, Fabrizio.
For instance, I am from Russia and my accent shows it. I am a bit self-conscious about it.
However, I decided that I am going to get over it and my readers got to like my accent; even miss it when I choose to do just music (which, of course, is always an option).
Good to see you!
Great twitter formula. You are a real guru of blogging and marketing. As for the video, well, the majority of bloggers simply afraid or feel uncomfortable to talk for video and moreover to show themselves explaining something. I’m from that category for sure!
Time to step out of the shadows?
video are a cool and reliable way for getting free traffic thanks for sharing
I enjoyed the article and I have just been to fiverr.com myself and ordered an intro to make things look a little better when I make video blogs, so thanks a lot for that advice!
We have to leverage our time and Fiverr is the perfect tool for it!
Great post with lots of good tips. I am finding it hard to see any huge boost in my traffic. I feel like I have hit a plateau that just won’t go away..anyone out there know the best way to get through that?
Nice tutorial, I have been doing videos in Flash and Adobe After Effects for a long time and I do simple videos in PowerPoint as well and always put call to action in them, Most of affiliate earnings come through videos. Viral Video making is an art in itself.
The simplest things sometimes work the best, Usman.
Ana, a great post as always. Video is definitely the way to go. I have noticed it is much, much easier to rank a YouTube video in the search engines than a webpage and they can convert rather well.
A while back a “video expert” tried telling me that adding an intro to my videos was not a good idea because many people are too impatient and want the info they are looking for right away. Hence they will click out of the video during the intro and look for another video.
I suppose there could be some truth to that if the intro is too long but in my opinion, if done properly, an intro like yours (which by the way is a perfect match for your site) makes the video more professional.
I still use intros for my videos but I try to keep them under 15 seconds and even shorter if possible.
SHORT is definitely the key, Justin, and glad you like mine.
This will definitely make all the difference in the world, Sapna; hope you do try to go the slideshare route.
hey Anna, there’s an online presentation you guys should check: Slides that Rock, I heard this from Codrut Turcanu just this past week…
I think branding your links within your presentation and having multiple calls 2 action is one of the most overlooked aspect of video marketing… great tips you shared, congrats!
My question would be: what free tools are available that affiliate marketers and bloggers on a shoe string could use in order to convert their power point presentation into a YouTube format supported file (avi, mpeg, etc.)?
I actually do know of SlidesThatRock and used much of their advice in my video, John.
As far as free resources are concerned, to be quite honest I don’t know of any good ones.
Jing used to have an almost free version, but they did away with it.
I just noticed a couple of days ago that PowerPoint has a function to record an audio to go with your slides, but I don’t think it includes screen capture.
To be quite honest with you, if you want to make video work for you, investing $100 or whatever it is in a good screencasting software is money very well spent.
These tips are Indeed very Important as I was trying to make a Perfect video for my Blog’s YouTube channel.
I have been trying to make a Perfectr Intro video which generally grabs attention of the viewers which helps to increase YouTube channel views and hence more subscribers. But making a Perfect Intro video is not that easy.
Thank You
It doesn’t have to be so complicated, Ravi.
Ana, I just found out you are one of the best at creating videos in the blogging industry.
What a fine job you are doing with creating videos!
I have created about three videos so far and it has been fun.
The only down side to video creation is the time it needs to create video.
It can be much.
Anyways, congratulations on your results and thanks for writing this sick article 🙂
I am? Well, thank you, Samuel; will have to add it to my resume. 🙂
It gets easier as you make more and more videos.
Like the title. It grab my attention 🙂
I believe audio visual marketing are taking a great leap this year. Thus it is important to know exactly how others can take a profit from it.
The teory seems to be as easy as creating a landing page. Yet the result might be vary for every blogger. All in all you have describe the important things on making video as part of smart marketing. Thanks for your sharing here Ana.
The results always vary by niche, authority, creativity, etc. – one size never fits all, right?
I found this very interesting, especially as someone who primarily does search engine optimization and affiliate marketing through writing, not video. But video as you’ve shown can be an extremely effective medium! Thanks for this step-by-step breakdown of what it’ll take to pull it off!
-Jacob
I think we have to make sure to include all potential audiences, Jacob, and some of your best traffic might not like to read, but would rather watch videos. Imagine that.
I do know where you come from though; I prefer writing myself and that’s how I prefer to consume content as well.
Hey Ana,
I have just started working on videos after much reluctance. It isn’t hard doing videos of playing the piano, but that is because I’ve been playing for 11 years. I think being knowledgeable eases the nerves a bit. That encourages me to continue to learn but also not to wait until everything is just perfect.
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
After a few videos, you’ll feel right at home making them, Dakota.
I really got inspired by this blog post, many people think that creating a video is waste of time rather they prefer to create a blog post, but they don’t know one video can make you earn more than 100 blog posts…
Pretty knowledgeable post Ana! You surely have loads of ways up in your sleeves. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge among us!
Hi Ana, I’ve heard a lot of people recommend using TweetAdder but I feel like I’m a bot a talking to friends. But on the contrary, traffic is also another thing I need for my blog. This is really annoyed and confused me. And the technique you used in the very first video is really amazing.
Thank You – Ferb
When it comes down to TweetAdder, Ferb, or Twitter in general I should say, my philosophy is always “bring them back to my blog as quickly as I can”.
I use whatever I can to reach as many as I can and then convert them into readers on my blog.
There’s no way I could ever achieve similar results doing it by hand.
Keep in mind though that I am not at all against quality interaction; on the contrary.
I never use TweetAdder on my main account @AnaTrafficCafe – it’s reserved for quality and I try to keep the noise down as little as possible.
Creating a good video is a very good way to attract more viewers to your content. I think that the ideal combination for a good blog post should be an introductory part in the form of text, and some video that contains useful information
Video marketing is a great idea but to be honest I have not tried this yet and I find it hard to do it. But one of these days, I am going to get up and get started. I think this content leverage system is a great idea. Splasheo seems interesting.
Tomorrow is today, Shalu. 🙂
A blueprint is never the exact recipe, Carl. I agree, one size doesn’t fit all here, but will most likely fit most. It comes down to each person’s creativity to make it work.
Video is pretty much the only medium we haven’t cracked in terms of getting consistent results in search engines. Still trying various different things.
The key is to give it all you’ve got; not just dabble in it a little bit.
Excellent post Ana,
“It didn’t stop me from publishing it though.”
Yeah editing can make video blogging a huge pain so it’s cool to know they don’t need to be perfect to publish.
Also, I’ll need to look into getting a pro tool for twitter I haven’t been using anything so far, maybe it’s time to take things up a notch.
I know of a good tool to use when you are ready, Darnell. 😉
Hi Ana…Glad that you elaborated every single aspect of video promotion..This has been an alien subject for me…Now the clouds of ignorance has lifted…In my personal opinion, video ads have a negative impact on the whole video..Especially because the video we are creating itself is apparently advertising for our sites..People viewing the video will be instantly turned off it they find too much promotion..I guess that is the basic rule of video marketing..Thanks for sharing this useful info..Cheers
Video ads work great in cute kitten videos, but not business videos, that’s for sure, Joe.
Hi Ana.. interesting post. We’ve just started exploring the possibility of using podcasts and videos as part of our offering – especially on our revenue generating landing pages. You give some good tips.. you’re 100% right about the call-to-action stage – if that’s not enticing and does not follow on smoothly from the benefits part of the video, you will lose the customer.
We also found that if people spend a long time watching the video before coming to the sales pitch, they are more likely to buy (it’s as though they feel like they would have wasted their time if they don’t complete the transaction!) We’ve split tested this for a number of product videos and the results were surprisingly consistent!
Interesting findings, Wonkie; thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot for this, a lot of great ideas here. I know for a lot of people making video is very scary thing to do so I thought I would add my thoughts on this. Regardless of your voice or appearance you can make videos that leave a good impression. When I first started recording videos and podcasts I hated the sound of my voice. One thing that has truly helped me is repetition. The more I do it, the more comfortable I become doing it.
Even if you are not ready to release a video yet, record a couple. Listen to it and analyze what you you could have done better. The more you do it the better you will get and the more confident you will get. The biggest thing I have learned is to make sure you bring a lot of energy and high quality content.
If you present you high quality content or sales pitch with great energy people will not care about your voice. Drink some coffee, listen to you favorite music, and truly pump yourself up before recording your video. Practice it ahead of time and really be ready to go when you hit the record button. The great thing about recording is that you also have the ability to edit, so you don’t have to nail everything in one take. You also don’t have to be in the video, use images, slides, text, etc.
As a final note, everything you put out will never be perfect. If you want everything to be perfect you will never release a video. Do your best and put it out there, worst case scenario your video wont get a lot of views. If you don’t put it out there will be no views.
Didn’t mean to ramble on this long but I have been there before so I thought this might be helpful to others.
Great thoughts, William. I’d go easy on enthusiasm though; too much and it might sounds too pitchy and informercially.
Hi. I totally suck at creating videos. I know what I have to do generally but I hate the technical process.
i have made a video that was a review
and my voice on that video is bad (i think)
but i’m just upload it
and after few views come (15 i think ) that video get me sales
if i’m waiting to upload to make it perfect maybe i am not gonna upload video
so i just doing it
the only thing i don’t know about video thing is how can i set the right thumbnail that encourage people to watch my video
thanks to your great post
Ana Hoffman thank for a wonderful post!
Seriously I liked the video and the way you included CTA three times. (Y)
Ana I just like to take a suggestion from you. I realized & came to know that from many experts including Ileane that Podcasts and video blogging has become more important today then ever.
Now I have launched new blog, I have planned to start podcasting and video blogging after few months. But I am not sure that should I completely forgo article writing or should use right mix of all three? Moreover Kindly suggest me right length of videos and any other important thing in the perspective.
Thanks Ana
This is an amazing post – for both newbie Internet marketers and more experienced content marketers who are looking for more avenues to reach their audience. I’m so intimidated by the whole video production process. Certainly the best way to conquer it is to jump in and give it a shot. Your post will help a lot when I quit stalling. haha
Thanks for sharing.
great article anna..,
you have a very nice and decent writing style, it includes the perfect coice of words and effective and efficient use of images.
i love the way you write.., you always inspire me, thanks for that 🙂
Animoto (I think that’s how it’s spelled) is a good site to make videos on. Basically makes a slideshow video kinda thing and I believe there’s music included too and it’s free. Just a quick suggestion
Very nice tutorial. I appreciate your help. My blogs content is mainly video. I am not very good at it, but I just jumped in anyway. Some times I laugh when I watch my first few videos. Editing my videos is my main problem. I like your idea about using fiver. I think I am going to check them out. Thanks again. Nice job.
Profitable video nice post, thanks for sharing it. Video should be tell a story with a great manner. So its tough to create such type of videos.