Video of the Lake in front of my house

I took this video with my Blackberry (not great quality, but enough to get the job done quickly) and then converted it to WMV with the http://CommercialCreationCenter.com/. Now you can see the lake I view out of my office window. You'll see my little house on the right side of the lake. I was sitting on the side of the lake near the bridge to the little island.

I had been so busy with that (now defunct) government contract job that I haven't done much audio/video for myself. But it's so beautiful here that I wanted to share with you how blessed I am with the view out of my window. Even when life gets hard, I have learned to enjoy the little things, and the view from my office window is just gorgeous.

I hope you enjoy it and can live vicariously through me if you are stuck in a cubicle without a window - I remember what agony that was years ago!!!

Have a FANTASTIC, prosperous, and very blessed day!

Penny Haynes

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Shoppers Research Products Via Online Video - Most Likely During Work Hours

RECORD numbers of shoppers have spent a RECORD amount of time researching products online & viewing product videos (http://tinyurl.com/ccc-shoppers). Can you guess when they're probably doing that research? It's most likely during work hours (http://tinyurl.com/ccc-viewers)!



Offline businesses just haven't "gotten" the fact that their potential clients are researching their prospective purchases on the internet before they come in to buy (if they don't buy it online). Once they do their research, they are likely to spend $150 more in the store than if they had not done any research. Baby Boomers may still purchase offline, but they are researching online FIRST.

According to SellPoint, a provider of online product tours for businesses, they have seen a 40% increase in the number of shoppers viewing their Product Tours. Now, that doesn't surprise me, since when I want to purchase a gadget, I first go to http://www.cnet.com to read the reviews and watch the video demonstrations.

Now, combine this information with the Nielsen Online October 2008 Video Census that states that most people are watching online video from 9 - 5, during work hours. (Doesn't this ring true? How many times have you been at your desk watching something you shouldn't be watching, and have to Alt-Tab quickly to avoid being caught?)

So what does that mean for businesses? One huge indication would be that people prefer to spend their time watching video, not reading text. Therefore, if you want to reach more people with your message, video is a very good bet. For the best of both worlds, offer both text and video, so the search engines can pick up your content as well.

The other lesson to be learned is that if you are going to sell a product or a service, people want to learn more about it from the comfort of their home (or, more appropriately, their office). This means that it would benefit you to CREATE online video demonstrations to accompany your product descriptions and images. It doesn't have to be professionally produced - just practical and informative, as if you were standing next to them giving them a personal tour of their prospective purchase.

What do you think about adding video to your product and service descriptions? Do you think it would make a difference to your clientele? Why or why not? Leave me your comments and we'll discuss it.

Getting Over Self Consciousness When Marketing With Audio And Video

Lou Bortone of TheOnlineVideoGuy.com and I discussed Flip Camera & video tips on the Marketing With Audio And Video show tonight (12/15/08) at 9pm EST. You can listen to the entire audio at http://tinyurl.com/mwavshow, but for now, I'll share a short video excerpt about how LouTube came to be, and how you can get over your self consciousness and perfectionism in video.

For those of you paying attention, I am trying to listen to my own advice and make my videos better than they were a week ago. Note my use of additional screen shots and clip art to make the point clearer, and also to break up the monotony of slides only.

The next videos will talk about Lou's fabulous Bob The Builder video, ideas on scripting, and of course information about the Flip and comparing it to a web cam. Stay tuned for more LouTube on Marketing With Audio And Video! Join us every 9pm EST at TalkShoe. Call in at 724-444-7444, Call ID: 29763#, and press 1# (if you are not registered at TalkShoe).

See the full-sized video at Blip.tv (always the best video quality of all of the social media sites): http://www.blip.tv/file/1581160.