Affiliate Marketing Videos

I've been working with Ross of STG Limited to create a series of marketing videos that will drive web traffic to some of his affiliated sites. Although I don't totally understand the details of affiliate marketing, I think you get paid for selling product from someone else's inventory. Kind of like the "per inquiry" spots that run on late night TV. At any rate, Ross, who lives on the island of Aruba, is selecting affiliate opportunities that he thinks will generate enough cash so he can spend more time on the beach (or at least less hours at his day job). We've designed videos that are very inexpensive to produce, but hopefully will divert enough eyeballs to the affiliate websites. Here's an example (gotta love the '80s disco synth bass):

Going Thru My Second Childhood By Playing With Action Figures

We just produced a series of three video tutorials for a software product called Claymation Studio 2.0 from Honestech. It's a fun application that lets you easily create stop-motion animations using your PC and webcam. For the tutorial, I played with action figures. Then added backgrounds, dialogue, and sound effects.

This project was produced in HD format (1280x720) to take advantage of the higher-resolution videos now possible on YouTube. I also used Jing by TechSmith which allows you to do video capture of on-screen action like mousing, clicking, menus, and value selection.

Just who would win in an ultimate deathmatch - GI Joe or Gumby?

You Can Take the Day Off!

That's the promise made by Manny Backus' First Hour Trading System. Many of his subscribers make enough in the first hour of trading on Wall Street to take the rest of the day off. Some have called First Hour Trading "training wheels for day traders." The premise is straightforward - you buy a stock when Manny says buy, and you sell it when he says sell. And it all happens within one hour, each day.

I've provided a variety of multimedia services to Manny over the past couple years, including authoring educational DVDs, creating Flash tutorials, and hosting weekly webinars. This week I created a marketing video for First Hour Trading. Now that YouTube is allowing HD videos, I've started producing web videos in the 16:9 format.

Nifty-Clicking for Fun and Profit

I've been creating short video tutorials for a website called NiftyClicks.com. NiftyClicks is the creation of maverick marketing guru Andrew Lock. It offers video reviews of hundreds of web resources to help entrepreneurs get more done. Each video provides a guided tour of a web resource using screen grabs and informal narration. Frankly, a Nifty Click video is fun for me to create, and I usually end up learning about a web resource I can use. NiftyClicks.com is a membership site, but Andrew has allowed me post one of my videos here to give you a feel for the site.

Time is of the Essence

Most of our video projects are for the web, and run a couple minutes in length. If the client wants to add something to the copy, the video just runs a little longer. But for broadcast spots, 30 seconds is 30 seconds (actually 00:29:29). We've produced several TV spots for Danielle of Exigent Productions. They run in the Chicago market on the Comcast and Viamedia cable channels.

There's a couple things we can do when the copy runs a little long. First, I remove all the breaths from the narration. If that doesn't do it, I can speed up the audio a little (while digitally maintaining the pitch). Here's a spot that uses both techniques. Can I take a breath now?

But why do they always come at dinnertime?

We just finished producing a marketing video for a system that automatically places out-going telephone calls. The message in the video is that now you too can profit from telemarketing. The cost-effective video was created with still photos and "live" text composited over animated backgrounds. You can learn more about the product at www.themagicbuttonbook.com.

The Roadkill Cafe

Hungry for some possum stew or cockroach soup? Just mosey on down to the Roadkill Cafe in Elberta, Alabama. You can learn more about this epicurian oddity in a video podcast we just created for the website, RVingAndMore.com. Our favorite snowbirds, Jerry and Linda, head south with their RV every winter. They love eating at mom & pop restaurants. Linda talks to the owners and takes some photos and videos with her Flip camera. And the results are posted as video podcasts on their website. I just help out with the audio and video editing. You'll have to view the podcast to find out what's actually on the menu at the Roadkill...