The biggest challenge for website owners these days regarding “how to make your own video”, is coming up with powerful video content that captures the reader’s attention, creates interest and gets the reader to take action.

1. Whether you are using screen capture software, animation or a camcorder, it is important to understand the basic rules of creating powerful content. Here are five essential elements of a powerful video that will be embedded on a webpage;

2. Above all else, make sure you get the point really quickly. There is nothing more boring than video that goes on and on and never really gets to the point. I should think that you could say all you need to say in under 2 min. and the shorter the better.

3. Making sure that the content of the video reflects the content of the webpage, start with what you believe to be the biggest problem that the reader would have. Take a couple of sentences and define what you believe the problem of your target audience is that you wish to solve. Very often, if the reader does not know they have the problem then they may not have enough interest in sticking around to find out what the solution is. That’s why you need to define it for them.

4. There should be at least three powerful WIIFM (what’s in it for me) bullet points in the video. In other words, you must promise your reader the key benefits of your product, service or information. Each bullet point must have two elements; 1. How does it work, what does it do, or what will I learn “PLUS” 2. key benefits of each. For example; “You will learn how to do targeted keyword research to find the most searched and least competitive keywords for your webpages that will rank them high in a Google search engine results page.” That statement has what you will learn + key benefits of learning it.

5. Call to action. What do you want the reader to do? If you want them to sign up for a free subscription or downloadable information of any kind you have to tell them to do that. If you want them to purchase a product or register for a free consultation, then you have to tell them to do that. It may seem obvious to you what to do but not always obvious for the customer. You have to be very clear and give good direction. We call this, “Command mode.” The definition of command mode is; friendly power. The powerful and give good direction, but do it in a kind and friendly way.

6. Finally, the number one rule of video marketing is; “excellent quality audio.” You could have the most sophisticated picture on planet Earth, but if the sound quality is subpar, then your video will fail. Invest most of your financial resources in good microphones. If you are doing live video shoots, get a quality lavalier microphone. If you are doing screen capture video get a quality USB microphone for your computer.

Bonus point! While I said initially that there would only be five essential elements of powerful video content, here is bonus point number 6. Music. Make sure that if you want your videos to really stand out that you use music in the background to emphasize the mood that you want to create. There are many royalty-free music sites out there that offer music to be used in your videos. I have always found that videos with music are far more attractive and capture more interest than videos without.

There you have it; 5 powerful ways to create excellent video content and 1 bonus! I encourage you to experiment with your videos and always keep pushing the envelope of quality. Remember, when it comes to “how to make your own video” you will learn far more from trying than you ever would hiring a professional. You’ll save a ton of money and eventually your videos will look professional without the professional price tag.

Paul Tobey