Category Archives: Yahoo Video

AOL, BlipTV, google video, Making Videos, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Video Sites, Viral Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube

You Won’t Get Discovered on YouTube

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get.jpgI’d like to take a moment to dispel the biggest myth of online video. Since a few “cross over” stars have been discovered on YouTube, people have begun to think that they can too.

Folks, it’s like playing the lotto. You have the same chance winning whether you play or not.

You won’t get discovered on YouTube. You’ll be a waitress in Hollywood taking a lunch break for your 177th audition. It’s not that you’re unworthy. You have talent. You’re even quite funny!

Here’s the problem: While it’s true that YouTube dominates online-video share, it’s wayyyyyyy easier to get yourself seen on a 2nd-tier or 3rd-tier site. Sure the BoobTube gets 10 zillion viewers a day. But there are eleventy gazillion videoscompleting for mindshare, and the viewers only look at the really popular stuff. So you won’t get popular because you’re not yet popular. I’m sorry to let you down. There’s just too much crap seeking the same eyeballs.

Try submitting to the 2nd-tier sites (Google Video, Yahoo Video and AOL Video) and you’ll be surprised how much more traffic you get. Even better, get on Metacafe, Blip or Revver. The deeper you go the bigger fish you’ll be in a smaller pond.

Let me close with this little story… My friend Tony Braithwaite went to LA to become a movie star. He tried for a year, and then got wise. He came back to Philadelphia to do stage theater. He’s now a living stage legend in Philly. That’s you on a 2nd tier site, friend.

Blogs on Video, book, Future of Online Video, google video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Top 10 Ways to Get Your Viral Video Seen

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crowd.jpgIronic title because a video isn’t viral UNLESS it’s seen. But it got your attention, didn’t it? Here are some tips for ensuring your video is seen beyond 14 teenagers on YouTube.

Just like search engines are in constant flux, so is online video. So this advice has a limited shelf life:

  1. Make it good. That means it’s short, funny, topical, and short. Did I mention short? Even better, it should have a surprise ending. Example- while I like my “Killer Weed” better, the ending for “Prank the Garbage Man” inspired more viral activity (note- I serve all of my videos here on Revver because I make money if you click ads, but the 100K, 300K, and 700K views have occured on other sites).
  2. Get it on as many sites as you can. Don’t think posting it on YouTube will bring you fame. Try sites that have a decent viewership but aren’t bloated with videos (Google Video, Yahoo Video, Metacafe). Again- you want to make money so get it on Revver, but don’t stop with Revver as the traffic is higher elsewhere.
  3. Once it’s live, your viral task begins not ends. Market it!
  4. Blog about your video, or convince prominent bloggers to blog about it.
  5. Get the ball rolling by getting friends to view and rate it positively. Some good videos never make it out of the vicious cycle… they aren’t popular because they’re not popular. If it’s on YouTube, ask people to make it a favorite.
  6. Digg your video but don’t absuse Digg. Save it for really good ones and timely ones.
  7. Hitch your wagon to related stars. Find other popular and related video and leave comments about your video (don’t be spammish about this, though). YouTube allows you to leave a “video response” to other videos, and if you do that to a highly visible video you’ll get a decent percentage seeing yours.
  8. Be realistic about “conversions.” 95% of people don’t type URLs after they see a video. So don’t think a popular video that brands your website will get even 1% of people to visit your site. Unless your content rocks and you give them a specific reason to visit the site (like seeing a sequel).
  9. Choose your tags wisely. You don’t want to waste tag space on common words that are highly competitive (like “funny” or “hilarious”). Be as specific as possible. The search engines are quite kind to online-video site keywords. For instance, I’m the top listing on Google now for the word “Healies” (which I found out later is spelled Heelys).
  10. Keep trying. Quality is more important than quantity, but quantity is a close second. Don’t let a few failed attempts demoralize you. I’ve only had a few breakouts from the some 200 I’ve posted. And sometimes an old one will catch on months after I posted it.

Some good videos never make it out of the vicious cycle… they aren’t popular because they’re not popular.

AOL, BlipTV, Google, google video, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Video Sites, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Another Ranking of Top 10 Video Sites

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Here’s another ranking of top video sites (by LightReading.com). I’m reminded that it’s probably time for me to update my ranking of the top revenue-sharings sites.

I admire LightReading’s thorough review, but I’m surprised that it overlooked the fundamental differences in business models between these sites. I suppose LightReading is an infrastructure site that is looking at it from that angle, but it does get down to comparing user experience and functionality.

However how can you review online video sites and not talk about the advertising models and whether you can make money by submitting… or not?

  1. Here’s the “cheat sheet.”
  2. Here’s a deeper dive on criteria for the cheat sheet.
  3. Here are the specific reviews for LightReading’s favorites.

    Blip.tv
    VideoEgg
    Dailymotion
    YouTube
    Veoh
    Google Video
    Grouper
    Jumpcut
    AOL
    Eyespot

google video, Killer Video, Online Video, popular videos, Viral Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube

After Fame? Be a Big Fish in a Smaller Video Pond.

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fish.jpgLike lemmings to the sea, everyone’s throttling YouTube with their stuff in hope of fame. Want a little secret? It’s hard as hell to breakout on YouTube. If you want quantity of views, you’re much better off in Google Video, Yahoo Video and some of the third-tier sites.

Why? It’s the best kept viral video secret. I almost didn’t want to tell anyone. Here’s the poop.

Your views are not just a function of the traffic to the site. It has a lot to do with the total number of videos on a site. Your ability to “break out” is impacted by the ratio of: (traffic to a site/videos on a site).

YouTube may have a lot of eyeballs, but there are two problems:

  1. It’s flooded with competition. Too many videos.
  2. It’s built around focus on the most popular. So it’s very difficult to breakout.

The difference between views on YouTube vs. Google Video is especially interesting. Almost every one of my videos on Google Video has several thousands views. Most of my YouTube videos have fewer than 1000. Same content, different channel.

Blogs on Video, Online Video, Yahoo Video

Yahoo TV: “The 9″ Features Best Viral Videos and Flirts With Me

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nine.jpgLike TheDailyReel, YahooTV has a daily show called “The 9.” It’s not new but I have only just discovered recently. I want to make fun of it, but for some reason I can’t. I think I like it. I just bookmarked it on my Google homepage, which is my short-list of frequently visited sites.

 

In case you don’t know, the host (Maria Sansone) is not flirting with you. She’s flirting with me.

BlipTV, google video, Killer Video, Online Video, Revver, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Fynding Online Video Cites When You Can’t Spel

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new-spelling-bee-mylar.jpgSo here’s my way of helping people find online video sites when they can’t spell… oh, yeah, and for creating traffic for this highly profitable blog:

google video, Online Video, Revver, Video Sites, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Want to Get Rich? Develop a Tool that Allows Video Submitters to Hit All Major Sites at Once.

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Calling all tech-savvy entrepreneurs. There’s an unmet need among us online-video nerds. We spend hour submitting to multiple sites, and it’s quite time consuming and tedious. When there were dozens of search engines, website owners had the same problem. A few free/paid tools emerged that promised they could submit your URL to a variety of the top tiered search engines.

Your task for videos is more complex because each site (Google Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube, Revver, etc.) requires different information and has different field requirements. For instance, some sites allow for a set number of tabs, and some require commas while others require spaces. Passwords are also different by site. Most sites accept .mov files but some (Metacafe) require .avis. However I would think this can be done for ate least the majority of the big-tier sites… the old 80/20 rule (80 percent of the traffic belongs to the top 20 percent of the sites).

The most frustrating requirement is that some sites require the same information each time you submit. Revver, for example, asks me my web address and e-mail each time I submit a video. That gets old quick.

The market won’t absorb a huge price, but I’d easily pay a modest monthly fee to use this service- especially if I knew it would be updated as site data requirements are in constant flux.

Online Video, Yahoo Video

Who Wants to Be a SuperHero? Who Wants to Make an Online Video Mocking ‘em?

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whowantstobeasuperhero.jpgThe Yahoo Buzz index (what people are searching on Yahoo) features a very high rating for “Who Wants to Be a SuperHero?” This new show debuted last week and episode 2 appears on August 4 on SciFi. The winner of this six-week competition will walk away with their character immortalized in a new comic book developed with Stan Lee. And the winning character will also appear in an original SCI FI Channel movie!

Episode 1 featured a fake superhero trying to get the contestents to break character. Then they had a race in which a crying child was strategically placed near the finish line. Would the contestentds ditch her to finish first? One of the heros who ignored the kid was sent home.

This show has great satire potential. Amateur videographers… start your engines.

Online Video, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video

Perky Blonde Hosts YahooTV’s “The 9″

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The 9, a daily show available on Yahoo TV, identifies interesting sites or videos. Worth a look. The videos are a bit closer to “Entertainment Tonight” humor than “Jon Stewart,” but it’s still worth a glance. Maria Sansone, the host, is eye candy… but the commentary isn’t as biting as WebJunk‘s host, Patrice O’Neal (he cracks me and himself up).

9.jpg