Recently, Lou Bortone, a.k.a. “The Online Video Guy,” was interviewed on Blog Talk Radio about the explosive growth of online video, and how entrepreneurs can use web video to promote and grow their business. Highlights of that interview are below:

Q: Tell us in one line what you do…

Lou: I help entrepreneurs build their brands and boost their businesses using online video.

Q: Why is video branding an important concept for solopreneurs to embrace?

Lou: Video branding is important because online video is becoming such a pervasive part of business. Right now, more people are watching online video than are watching traditional television. In fact, MediaPost recently reported that in typical week, online video viewing has overtaken TV viewership of all the networks combined! In addition, time spent watching video grew over 50% in 2008. Small business owners can capitalize on this trend by getting into online video now – while it’s still easy and inexpensive.

Q: You have helped many different small businesses start and expand their visibility on the web, so what are three of the most important factors in doing this effectively using video over the Internet?

Lou: Three of the keys to success in online video are:

1. Focus on the message – Be sure that you create compelling content.
2. Keep it short – The shorter your video is, the better. Under 2-3 minutes!
3. Don’t get bogged down by technical issues. “Done is better than perfect!”

Q: One of the things that you’re known for is your strategies that give professionals unique ways to marketing and promote their business. Can you talk a little about your video branding approach?

Lou: Video is very effective as a visibility and credibility tool for a few reasons:
First, video is visible. It’s up close and personal, so it makes you more familiar to your clients and customers, and it builds a strong connection.

Second, video is viral. Video has the ability to share and spread quickly over the Internet, so it’s viral by nature. You can create one video and blast it out to many sites at once. This leverages your time and effort. Your one video can serve many purposes in many different places. I explain the entire process in my Video Traffic Blast video tutorials. (http://www.VideoTrafficBlast.com)

Finally, video gives you a global online presence, 24/7. Your video can be working for you and promoting you all over the world, even while you sleep!

Q: What is the biggest mistake business owners make when they put a video on the web and expect people to find it?

Lou: The biggest mistake people make is not sharing and spreading their video across various platforms. You can get a lot of mileage from one video if you distribute it properly. For example, look at all the ways you can leverage one YouTube video: From YouTube, you can:

• Share the video to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter
• Email a link to your video to your clients or fans
• Use the “embed” code that YouTube provides to add the video to your blog
• Share the link to your video on Ping.fm
• Blast your video out to several video hosting sites from TubeMogul.com

Q: What is the most important thing that you recommend an entrepreneur does as they develop a video branding strategy?

Lou: I advise my video coaching clients to do three things starting out:

1. Begin with the end in mind. What are your online video branding goals?

• Increase your online visibility?
• Establish credibility?
• Extend your brand?
• Increase your search engine rankings?

2. Focus on content over quality. Online viewers are pretty forgiving of web video quality. Make sure that your message is compelling and relevant – You can worry about the Hollywood effects later!

3. Get it out there! Just get it done! Your video doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s more important that you get started and get some video online. You can learn and improve as you go!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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