How to get traffic using video

With cheap and fast broadband becoming available around the world, it is not surprising that watching videos on the internet is becoming more popular. Statistics are showing that people are spending more time on the internet than watching television, especially younger people.

Google bought the video hosting and sharing company YouTube for a massive $1.6 billion, while they had yet to build a sustainable revenue model.

I am currently working on a website for the Beijing Olympics. Since it is a one off event I need to do everything I can to promote the site before the games actually take place in August 2008. I am currently living in Beijing so I have been taking videos with my Sony Handycam. I choose to start uploading them to YouTube and created a channel focusing just on videos related to Beijing and the Olympic Games.

In just two months the channel is approaching 2000 views and a total of 25,000 views for all of my videos. It is possible to make money using Adsense with YouTube, but the program doesn't apply yet to Australians.

My main aim it to promote my site, so I have created a title clip showing the URL of the site at the start and end of the videos. It is also possible to watermark your videos. People are always looking for content to add to their sites, so they often embed your videos in their site. It is a matter of just copying and pasting some text for them and this increases views of your videos.

People can also subscribe to your channel so they get instant notification every time you post a new video.

YouTube is not the only video host. There are currently around 27 or so other video hosting sites. If you really want to promote your site with your videos, you could try posting them to all 27 sites. Some sites like Metacafe have revenue sharing options.

Get there first

When a new subway opened in Beijing, I went there on the day of opening and took some video and uploaded it to YouTube that evening. I had over a 1000 views of the video in a day.

Amateur events can be just as popular

I have had some success taking videos of different sporting events leading up to the Beijing Olympics. Not all sports are broadcast on TV, nor do they make it out of the country they are played in. Perhaps it is human nature, but people like to watch big hits, crashes and knock outs. If you can capture something like this, you will sure to have a popular video.

Video flip cameras are becoming popular as the quality of video increases, together with their portability. They also make it easy to transfer the video from the camera to your computer without having to worry about messing around with tapes and converting your videos.