Free Video Sharing Sites (page 2)

Now that you've uploaded your video, you can focus on getting the word out to the world. Since your work is on the Web, it's best to focus your efforts online as well. Options include:

• Custom Web site focused on your video
• Banner ads
• Links to blogs and message boards
• Focused keyword entries

Keywords are often overlooked as a method of driving traffic. Just remember to boil the key points of your video down to one- or two-word blurbs.

Example: You've just created a video demonstrating how to safely cut a piece of laminate flooring with dental floss and a lawn gnome. To drive traffic, you add the following keywords to your video description:

• Laminate flooring
• How-to
• Cut
• Dental floss
• Lawn gnome

This should drive the right audience to your work.

Because of free video sharing getting your videos seen online has never been simpler. Whether you just want to get your work out to the world (Google Video, YouTube) or make some money for your time (Revver), your options have never been better.

Consider this: The distance from the PC to the TV shrinks more every year. Home theaters, high Internet bandwidth and built-in monetization are set to change the way we purchase and watch videos. Who knows? Before you know it, you might be selling tickets to your next movie online and streaming it directly to the viewer's home theater. Far-fetched? So was easy-to-use streaming video across the Web, not five years ago. Time to embrace the change.

Tony Bruno has been making independent films for four years, is an occasional actor and makes his living as a professional technical writer.

Here are three rules of thumb for successful Internet videos:

• Keep It Short
  People don't like to sit through long videos on their PCs. Your running time should be four minutes or less.
• Make 'em Laugh
  A short, funny video is more likely to be seen by a corporate worker during the lunch break than a long, angst-ridden drama.
• Get Moving
  Make your video accessible to mobile video players, like the iPod or Zen Vision:M. People who can download your work are going to provide you with the best kind of marketing, word of mouth.

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