Do you need ALL this stuff.  Heck no, but now that I am making some good money I’m having a lot of fun reinvesting in my business. I just bought two new desktop computers last month that run super fast because I HATE waiting a long time for videos to render.

If you are interested in adding video marketing to your VA business, this Wednesday, June 23rd, from 12-6 EST I am teaching a Video skills Workshop showing you how to market your own service business using video with all free tools. To check out what I am teaching there go to  http://www.vaclassroom.com/video-clinic 

Take Care,

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Last week I was interviewed by my friend Angela Wills, of Marketers Mojo, about how I make a living providing video services to clients and whether I felt it was worth the investment to keep upgrading Camtasia, which seems to come out with a new version ever year.

After Angela sent me her questions for the interview, which were very good by the way, I started thinking about my answers from the point of view of a VA who had already spent quite a bit of money on training. How important is it to have the latest greatest version of something? And what about this whole video thing anyhow?  Is that a service that is worthwhile to specialize in at all? If you want to know what I had to say you’ll just have to head on over to her blog and listen to the interview at http://www.marketersmojo.com/6131/michelle-schoen-2/ 

I also talk about this Thursday’s (April 29th) Free Webinar that I am delivering with my Camtasia buddy Lon Naylor. We’ll be showing some of the videos we just created with Camtasia 7 and letting you know if it is time to upgrade. To sign up for that go to http://bit.ly/learncam7

Here are the questions she asked me:

Tell us your story? How did you get involved in using Camtasia for clients?

Do you think a virtual assistant should invest in every new version of Camtasia that comes out?

Who do you think would be a good candidate to provide video services to clients? Can you describe them for me?

You and I talked about creating products with video as well. Do you see that fitting as a possibility for VAs – creating their own products?

- What is screencasting?
- Why do clients want videos? For marketing (salespages), for tutorials,
- What kind of work can a VA get with Camtasia? Video editing, Webinar recording, repurposing. Putting parts of videos together for a client.

Is Camtasia strictly for screencasting or can it be used for editing live ‘person’ videos?

What is included in your course?

The cost of Camtasia is $299 can you justify that for us?

By the way, after you listen to the interview, let me know in the comments section, if you have any thoughts or questions about providing video services to your clients . Hope you’ll enjoy listening!

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If I have to watch another screen capture video where they slowly move from check box to check box, I think I will die.

Camtasia, a very popular screen capture software, lets you speed up sections of your video…if you must show them. If you use Camtasia, look for “clip speed” in the help area or go to the “Edit” at the top of the page and find “clip speed”. Please use it to get through mundane parts of your video. Another way, which is easier, is to just cut out the portion of the video where you type everything in. Don’t be lazy and make the person watch you type…you can edit that section out.

Many people refuse to view videos because they cannot skim through the material like they can with a document. Actually, people can move the scrubber bar at the bottom of the video and jump through parts of your video, but they shouldn’t have to do this if you show the essential portions only. This can be a problem if you haven’t saved the video in a efficient enough format. If you haven’t compressed it appropriately, then your video watcher will get excessive “buffering” which will cause them to leave.

AIDA
A stands for Attention: If you must reach out and grab them by the throat, do it…their attention is necessary. Use music, a smiling human face, an attractive woman, a short but interesting intro.
I stands for Interest: Once you get their attention, you have your chance to deliver the goods. Give them what you promised to give them in as succinct a fashion as possible. You will keep their interest if you have a video loaded with good content.
D stands for Desire: If you are selling something, you will want to create desire for your product or service. Now don’t say you aren’t selling something. We are always selling, all the time. It may be an idea, a notion, a product, a service, education, or training – you get the idea.
A stands for Action: If you have created the desire, then you need to give them a way to satisfy their desire. Perhaps it is just a link to your blog so that they can get more information. Maybe it is a special offer of an article, report or eBook if they visit your site. You have to be careful here. You don’t want to go hard sell. Just make it easy for them to find what they want.

Always remember, when you are done making the video, take a critical look at it. Do I need to show this part? Can I speed this part up? Can I eliminate whole sections? Did I show my website address at the bottom third of the video through out? Show your video to a discerning individual who will give you helpful advice. Perhaps you know a person who will give an honest opinion. Perhaps a friend who knows a little bit about the subject might be better. At any rate, get some opinions.

What do you think? Are you happy with the videos you watch? Do you have suggestions for improvement? Do you prefer to read articles rather than watch videos?

Best,

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