An external microphone? Sounds like a good idea …

Strangely enough, its not the video camera that will determine whether your published video is perceived of high quality, or not. There’s so much web video out there that you might even say that its a distinct advantage to have a personal quality with the “home made” feel. But throw in dodgy audio and its all too “home made”. So we’ve now established that you need a digital video camera with an external microphone jack.

Lavalier (tie-clip/lapel), shotgun and cartoid microphones

Firstly, if its just you, talking or presenting to camera, the best microphone is a Lavalier microphone, otherwise known as a tie-clip or lapel mic. This will significantly reduce or remove background noise, leaving your dull mono-tone to sound crisp and clear. Sure, you can get all fancy with a wireless set-up, but then you’re talking serious money when a wired mic suffers from less interference, delivers superb results and costs £20! I would only advise on a wireless solution, if there is a genuine reason why you can’t use a wired lavalier. When you come to buy your wired lavalier, you just need to make sure you have a long enough cable (20 metres is not too much!) and the correct jack plug. In our case, we have an Audio-technica ATR3350, which has a 20 metre cable, a 3.5mm jack plug and cost £20. Bargain.

But if you’re planning on holding any sort of conversation in your videos, you should consider either a cartoid or a shotgun microphone. A cartoid microphone picks up audio in a heart-shaped pattern (think of a reporter’s microphone), whereas a shotgun microphone picks up audio from a single direction. You probably will be well served with a reporter’s mic.

Lighting and illumination

Whether you need additional lighting or not is obviously partly dependent on what environment you’re filming in. If you’re outside, you will probably do well by utilising the sun. If you’re indoors, you’ll need to find yourself a space with a plentiful supply of natural light and/or good internal lighting. Your results should definitely be good enough, but you can get some pretty inexpensive and effective studio lighting / softboxes (try looking on eBay) which will give you added flexibility and provide a truly professional-quality feel.

Video editing software

There is a wealth of video editing software out there, so I’ll cut to the chase and say that my personal favourite is Pinnacle’s Studio 14 HD. The latest incarnation is a nice improvement on previous versions and where other software seems to try and over-complicate the process of editing and publishing, Studio 14 HD has all the features you need, but just as importantly, none of the features you don’t. A good selection of montage overlays, transitions and editing tools with simple, intuitive publishing options. You can even publish straight to YouTube. There may be many other video editing software options out there, but its absolutely intuitive, does everything you need to do. And all for £69.

One final thing to remember is that, when editing any sort of video, you’ll need to make sure your computer is up to the job. Minimum specification is recommended as 2 GHz processor, 2 Gb RAM, DirectX® 9 or 10 compatible graphics card with 64 MB.

The final thing I cannot advise on, is how you shoot your video, how you set-up the shot and how you structure your video, but one thing is certain, if your equipment is up to the task, you have all the prerequisites of a high quality video production. The rest is up to you. Action!

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Bigplanet Internet Marketing
http://www.bigplanet-multilingual-seo.com
info@bigplanet-seo.co.uk

Of course, you need a video camera There is naturally a plethora of cameras out there and with technology changing all the time, it is likely that whatever you have is already out of date. But the good news is that you don’t need to spend a small fortune.

Which camcorder is best for web video?

- Choose a digital video camera with USB input. In short, these camcorders record straight to memory, which you can then download/export in exactly the same way as you would with a digital camera. Simple, compatible with all modern PCs / laptops and fairly idiot proof. I like it! Most AVCHD (Hi Def) camcorders will have a USB input, but not all ’standard’ definition camcorders will, so check first!

- Some digital video cameras have in-built memory, some have Flash memory, some have both. If using a camcorder with Flash memory, you will need a PC/laptop with an SD card slot, or SD card reader, the latter being super-cheap, so Flash memory is not a problem.

- Older digital camcorders should have a Firewire input (DV). If using one of these type of cameras, you will need a Firewire card in your PC! To me, this is just an added complication, so given the choice, I would avoid this.

- Camcorders that record to DVD is not advised, due to the file format that they record.

External microphone jack

Which camera takes the best video? The truth is that you probably can’t go wrong, in terms of video quality. We’re talking web video here, not a Hollywood production! The one thing that will separate an amateur from a good quality production is the sound. This really is an important point!!! A camcorder’s built-in microphone will never provide good enough sound quality - NEVER. Fine if you’re taking video of your kids playing with their first train set, but shabby sound = amateur. SO YOU NEED A VIDEO CAMERA WITH AN EXTERNAL MICROPHONE JACK.

Here are two digital video cameras which fit the bill.

1. Canon Legria FS20 / FS21 / FS22 Camcorder. A ’standard definition’ digital video camera that is simple, but does everything you need. The only difference between each model is the available memory. The FS20 just uses internal memory (there is an SD card slot), whilst the other two include SD cards, in addition to the internal memory. Avoid the entry-level FS200 which has no internal memory. The FS20 is good for 3 hours video recording time (and battery life), which is truly more than enough! Expect to pay around £300.
Read a review here: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/camcorders/0,39029967,49302854,00.htm

2. Canon Vixia Legria HF20 HD SD Camcorder. A ‘High Definition’ digital video camera, similar to the above, but in High Definition (HD). HD is not really required for your web video, but it is the way forward and by capturing in HD, you can always publish at a lower resolution. It just gives you more options, both now and in the future. Expect to pay around £700.
Read a review here: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/camcorders/0,39029966,49302060-1,00.htm

In Part 2 of ‘How to create web video’, we’re going to talk about all the peripherals: Tripods; Camcorder Microphones; Lighting; Video Editing Software etc.

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Bigplanet Internet Marketing
http://www.bigplanet-multilingual-seo.com
info@bigplanet-seo.co.uk

Bigplanet Internet Marketing introduces FREE website review

Bigplanet Internet Marketing is introducing a FREE website review, to give prospective clients a technical overview of how their website is performing with the search engines.

Bigplanet’s FREE website review analyses and reports on key technical aspects of your website, to help identify any areas where your site may be underperforming. Another key aspect of the website review is a performance comparison in relation to key competitors. Areas covered include: link popularity; search engine saturation; site structure; URLs; browsers; site navigability; source code; language recognition; competitor positioning.

Is it really FREE?

Yes! Bigplanet operates with trust, integrity and in partnership. Each report is individually and carefully created, compiling information from a range of sources and report, presented in an easy-to-digest PDF format. The report will highlight short, medium and long-term points of action that will need to be taken in order to improve organic ranking. There is no obligation once you have your report, but yes, we would hope that you will be encouraged with the information you now have and confident that Bigplanet are committed to the success of your business.

The website review will identify any underlying site issues and will ensure any future optimisation work will have maximum benefit to the whole of your site. You will also get an understanding of “where we are”, both as an organisation and in relation to your competitors.

Bigplanet Internet Marketing specialises in both English and multilingual search engine optimisation, providing local solutions for global SEO campaigns. Bigplanet’s localised approach means that each market receives a tailored strategy, based on local search knowledge and behaviours.

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Bigplanet Internet Marketing
http://www.bigplanet-multilingual-seo.com
info@bigplanet-seo.co.uk

Common sense will tell you that broader search terms will attract much higher search volumes, but are naturally more difficult to target, due to the increased competition, whereas niche search phrases might be easier to target, but search volumes are often tiny. So decision made. Some broad. Some niche, right? Well, maybe… but maybe not. What if your business deals almost exclusively in niche markets?

Every market differs

One of the most important statements to make before continuing is that any decision will undoubtedly be strongly influenced by the exact nature of your business.

Take, for example, a large multi-national high-technology company, supplying specialist equipment to blue chip manufacturers, such as defence contractors, aerospace or automotive subcontractors etc. Broad search terms do exist, but they don’t accurately describe the product or service in question. Equally, it is understandable that ‘ultra-compact mesh-type nebulizer’ does not attract much traffic. Some traffic, but not much. So what’s the answer?

Search term conversion

By looking at which search terms actually convert into enquiries, you can start to investigate which type of search terms are the best to target. This seems pretty straightforward, but there are a couple of caveats.

1. The search terms that result in enquiries may just be the search terms you are successful with on Google, not the search terms that are best for your business.

2. Any resulting enquiries may differ significantly in terms of quality, when comparing broad or niche search terms.

So where to start?

The first thing to do is make sure your web stats can report on conversions. To do this, you will need to be able to identify your ‘goals’, whether it be sign up for a newsletter, download a file, make an enquiry, purchase a product or service, etc. Once you can identify your various goals, it is a fairly straightforward procedure to configure your web stats to track successful (or abandoned) goals. Incidentally, different goals will have different success rates, influenced by many factors, but that is a whole other topic in itself. All that needs to be said is that each goal is unique and cannot be directly, or easily compared with another goal (i.e. you cannot compare search terms resulting in newsletter subscriptions with those resulting in product orders). Still, analysing individual goals will allow you to objectively evaluate the search term conversion and thus, start to make an assessment of which search terms to begin to target.

Broad keywords vs. niche search terms

So now you are reporting on which search terms convert for a specific goal, you can begin to understand what search terms bring the best response and are therefore the right ones to target. Broad search terms offer the potential of higher search volumes, so you will need only a small percentage to convert to provide justification for the increased difficulty in getting to the top of Google. Whereas the search volumes of niche keywords will be small, but the conversion ratio will certainly be significantly higher. But as already mentioned, a final conclusion can only be drawn if an objective ROI can be calculated. “Enquiries” as a result of broad keywords, may be more general than those as a result of niche search terms. If no further analysis is performed, one may incorrectly conclude that a broad enquiry is identical to a niche-derived enquiry..

Summary

Now that you are tracking and reporting on search term conversion, your keyword research can continue in earnest, armed with the knowledge that niche keywords offer “X” referrers per month, with “Y” % conversion, and broad search terms offer… well, you get the picture. By researching, targeting and reporting on both your broad and niche keywords, an objective evaluation can be made, meaning you can decide how best to allocate your resources to generate the greatest return on investment.

Since every business differs, there is no ‘one size fits all’, but you will probably find that…

1. Broad search terms offer the potential of significant search engine traffic, costs/time required to attain those rankings will be higher, bounce rates will be higher, but conversion volumes should, or may appear satisfactory.

2. Niche search terms offer tiny search volumes, but bounce rates will be low, search terms will be easy (in relative terms) to target and conversion rates will be good, if not excellent.

All you need to do is get the balance right.

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

So why would Google encourage SEO?

Firstly, let me quote the very first line of Google’s corporate main page…

“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

So Google aims to organise the web (and everything else)…  and can only do this if companies properly ‘organise’ their websites. Organising a website, means correctly and systematically documenting all the website’s content in compliance with the latest web standard so that Google can correctly spider and report on your website.

Google can only do this if webmasters all follow World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) standards, completing all the necessary content (including Page Titles and Descriptions, ALT tags, Headers etc) in a consistent, methodical manner, conforming to accepted SEO practices (that aim to influence link popularity/relevancy). The theory being that then, there will be a level playing field from which advanced search engine algorithms can then display the most relevant search engine result for the keyword search.

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769

So where does this leave us now?

WC3 standards have been set (and are evolving). Google encourages good/ethical webmaster and SEO practice, i.e. discourages less ethical attempts to manipulate the search engine results. Google are actually very aware of loopholes which may allow websites to artificially improve their search engine ranking… and if you have managed to escape the radar, it is only a matter of time before the door is shut.  So beware! Sometimes, the Google updates result in minor tremors. Sometimes more serious earthquakes. But either way, Google has unethical practices in their sight. But more worringly, Google also wishes to minimise the influences of seemingly harmless SEO practices, minimising the effect of certain types of in-bound links (as a constant and classic example). In the end, Google wishes there to be a much more level playing field.

So what’s the answer?

Just follow Google guidelines, stay within the accepted boundaries? Well, the boundaries may be more clear, but there is plenty of flexibility, but its important to pay attention to detail, not only work hard but work smart. Rolling out the same SEO campaign for every client will tick the boxes, may illicit  some short-term gain, but will leave clients feeling that the SEO ladder is longer, more slippery and more expensive than initially thought. That’s not to say that the path is short and easy, but it can be at least made as productive, cost-effective and timely as possible.

The great thing is that we operate in a virtual world. In the physical world, MegaGlobalMultiCorp Inc. might have the muscle, the influence and the resources to domainate, but in the virtual world, a smart brain, smart conception and smart operation can rapidly climb the ladder to rival the big players, without spending all the big bucks.  Money will always influence, but the game is more fair… which is much more fun too!

InTuition Languages have become the newest member of the Bigplanet family, signing up for search engine optimisation in French and Italian languages. InTuition Languages are the leading and award-winning ‘homestay’ languages school, specialising in intensive, one-to-one English courses, taught in the luxury of the teacher’s home. Homestay tuition means that whilst you holiday in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Malta, Australia, the USA or Canada, you can intensively learn English and still have time to see the sights!

If you’re interested, here are some sample tutor’s homes: http://www.intuitionlang.com/lynda-host-tutor-in-edinburgh-scotland.html

InTuition Languages are accredited by the British Council, affiliated to International House and were recently awarded “Best Language School in Europe” at The Language Travel Magazine Star Awards, the Oscars of international education, seeing off competition from over 900 accredited languages schools in Europe. In addition to intensive general and business English courses, InTuition Languages also offer French courses in France and Spanish courses in Spain.

To find out more, visit www.intuitionlang.com