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When it comes to video, one of the biggest concerns is the quality. It’s a struggle every videographer faces; and rightfully so. The quality of the video can determine whether or not the message of your video is conveyed. If the quality is too low and your video is pixilated, jittery and full of glitches, how can your audience understand what your video is about? On the other hand, the quality of the video may be the best in the world, but if your two minute video is 50mb in file size, you’re going to lose your impatient audience that doesn’t want to wait for the video to download. What it all comes down to is the relationship between quality & file size, and finding that sweet spot in between. Simply put, it’s a game of “what can I get away with?” Let’s dig into this a bit more and get a little technical.

Compression/Format/CODEC
The first thing to decide is what format do you want to output your video in? For example, do you want to create a QuickTime (.mov) file for people to download or would you rather produce a flash video that’s embedded on a webpage? The codec [compressor/decompressor] determines the type of compression used. For example, a QuickTime file using the lossless “animation” codec will produce top notch quality but with an extremely large file size. Whereas a QuickTime file using the “H.264” codec will provide a decent level of quality with a much smaller file size since the “H.264” codec is aimed at web videos and the “animation” codec is aimed towards animation artists and high quality motion graphics. It’s important to explore all the formats and codecs that exist to discover which combination best suits your video. For the sake of this article, I’m going to deal with video designed to be played within a flash player that’s embedded on webpage.

Note: Currently there are two popular types of video formats being widely used with flash players; flash (.flv) and MPEG-4 (.mp4). For the purpose of this article, I’ll be using the MPEG-4 (.mp4) format as it provides a better compression (in my opinion.) The MPEG-4 file will be used inside a flash player that will be embedded on a webpage.

Bitrates = Quality Control
Think of the bitrate of your video as the quality control. A higher bitrate means a higher quality. Simple enough, right? Well not exactly. While bitrate determines the quality of your video, it is also dependent on the contents of your video. Videos with lots of fast motion and animated graphics require higher bitrates in order to maintain high quality whereas videos with little movement can get away with a much lower bitrate. This is due to the amount of detailed movement occurring in the video. For example, a music video containing several animated motion graphics, special effects and CGI is going to require a much higher bitrate than say a documentary containing mostly talking heads and interviews. The key is to analyze your video and experiment with the bitrate settings. Since each video is different, there really is no set rate that will work well for all videos. The same goes for audio bitrates. In my experience, unless the soundtrack contains a vast array of musicality that you want to emphasize, there’s no reason to use anything higher than 96kbps. Most of the time the videos I produce will contain a voiceover track with soft background music, and I can usually get away with using a bitrate of 64kbps without noticing a quality loss. Everything here boils down to trial and error. You’ll have to play with the settings and get a feel for the balance between quality and size. Familiarizing yourself with bitrates will save your neck in the long run (not to mention lots of time and headaches!)

Note: Most video encoding applications give users the option to use either a constant bitrate (CBR) or variable bitrate (VBR.) A constant bitrate is a set bitrate used throughout the entire video whereas a variable bitrate allows the user to set a maximum and minimum bitrate in which the application assigns to parts of the video depending on the movement and detail. While both options contain pros and cons, for the nature of this article, I’ll be dealing with constant bitrates (CBR.)

Bitrates and compression aren’t the only factors involved with determining quality. In my next blog, Part Two: Physical Dimensions and other Tricks, I’ll discuss a few other key factors that effect quality and file size.  Until then, I encourage you to experiment and play around with these settings. You’ll save yourself tons of time in the long run and make your videos look better too! Good Luck!

In the good old days, buying advertising was as simple as calling a media buyer to find out how much inventory was available.  Advertising could be purchased by length and frequency where simple pricing rates could apply.

In the online realm, a creative executive soon finds that the model is not only dissimilar, but it’s nearly non-existent.  This especially becomes apparent when considering the world of search engine optimization and social media.  Do these questions sound familiar?

How much does it cost to get my site ranked #1 on the top of Google?
Can you get my company into facebook, twitter, etc.?

If you have been asked these questions in the past, you likely go into “repeat mode” where a 10,000 ft. education overview is required to explain your consulting rates.  And even if you are lucky to have a prospect that is willing to hear your entire pitch, the whole thought of having to wait for results is not the advertising norm and will typically spawn a negative reaction…even among seasoned executives.  For those that find themselves in this situation, I suggest you may want to view social media and search engine optimization like strength training.

1.    It may look like a big job- no one said that it was going to be easy.  In contrast to purchasing advertising, disciplines like search engine optimization and social marketing take time to grow and harvest.  Everyone would love to have instantaneous results, but this is not realistic

2.    It takes continual practice- to be successful with most online media, you’ll need to continually try new things and perfect others.  No one has a magic formula for success.  If it were an exact science, it wouldn’t be marketing.

3.    Frequency is key- just like building muscles, you need to continually develop your online presence, grow your social footprint, talk to industry professionals, and keep reading.

4.    Think holistically vs. too narrow- too much of anything is typically not a good thing.  Like strength training, focusing globally is better than just doing one thing.  In addition, taking time to rest certain areas will allow you to rejuvenate and worth those areas from a new perspective.

5.    If you let things sit, they lose strength- if you’re serious about managing a certain channel, you can’t “get it to a point” and decide to drop off without incurring some consequences.  This isn’t to say that you can’t pick it back up, but as a general rule of thumb, continual maintenance is needed to keep things at status quo.

The idea that marketing promotion takes time to build strength is not a totally new idea.  The fact of the matter is that most advertising channels do not translate into instant success by merely using them.  Every advertising medium needs time to work their magic, measure results, and tweak.  Social media and search engine optimization should be treated no differently other than it will typically take more initial invested man-hours to build momentum.  Everyone wants to see results overnight, but in many cases is not possible given the medium’s characteristics.  An experienced online consultant should be able to set realistic expectations and milestones that are required to achieve your business objective.  Advice your prospects to be patient and build strength, the results are just around the corner.

An important aspect of any pay per click advertising campaign is the landing page. You’ve written a compelling ad; it’s been found by the search engines; then suddenly - CLICK - and that potential customer has arrived on your landing page.

Let’s hope you’ve done a good job to convince him/her to fill out the form or dial your phone number.  Here are some tips to help make that happen.

Deliver the Message

•    Know your audience.  What do they need?  Build a page that helps potential customers solve their problem.

•    Write copy that demands your readers keep reading; then punch out your message in a clear and concise manner. And don’t forget to incorporate your keywords.

•    Use good quality images that support your message to make an emotional appeal to the reader.

•    Make a compelling offer.  Tie it to your business objectives.  State the value of the offer.  Make sure it is noticeable on the page.

•    Design a page that is both attractive and functional.  A good functional design means that the page is uncluttered and easy to read; your message is clearly understood; and it is easy for the reader to take action (i.e., find the phone number, fill out the form, download an article or brochure).

•    Add testimonials.  Testimonials are great ways to convince the reader of the value of your product or service.  Written, audio or video testimonials will reinforce your message and give it credibility.  Again, these need to be easy to read, listen to, or play.  If you add an audio or video testimonial keep the length between 1-2 minutes.

Send Them On Home

•    Make the submittal form simple and easy to use.  In some cases you may need to gather more than the basic contact information.  This is OK, but make the process as clean and straight forward as possible.

•    Consider adding a trackable phone number.  This is a very inexpensive way to gather more leads.  Many people prefer to pick up the phone rather than send an email.  This way you’ll be able to track their calls.

•    Don’t forget to say thank-you.  You need a thank-you page that is returned to the searcher once they’ve submitted the form.  Be sure to include your search engine conversion codes so you can track your submittals.

So there you have it:

•    Lots of information,
•    Only one page,
•    Many potential customers,
•    Lots of competition,
•    Not much time,
•    A tough economy and
•    You’re in charge.

All the information you need for a perfect landing is in your control.  If Captain Sullenberger can successfully land an airplane in the Hudson River, surely you can create a landing page that drives in qualified sales leads and sends them on home!

Some examples can be found on our work portion of our website.

Originally uploaded by tmaemarketing

I thought that this was a funny depiction of how Google’s algorithm may work and is the second cartoon in our series. In reality, Google’s algorithm is very complex. At the heart of Google’s algorithm lies its Patented PageRank technology. Here is a fun fact taken directly from Google’s site http://www.google.com/corporate/tech.html:

PageRank Technology: PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

For more information on Google’s search technology, check out the WikiPedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank.

Writing for the Web can be a bit tricky. It’s different than writing for any other medium because you really want to engage the reader and get them to take action immediately, right there on the site. With the average user spending a maximum of 7-12 minutes on a site, you have very little time to catch their attention and persuade them to take action so its important to that your site is as clear and easy to use as possible. Keeping that in mind, here’s a few things you may also want to consider when you’re writing content for your Website.

1. Write for the Scanner – Keep your content short and break it up. When it comes to the Web, less content is almost always more. Don’t worry about using big words or impressing your readers with your extensive vocabulary. It’s about communicating, plain and simple. So keep your writing plain and simple. Lists, bullet points, headings and subheading breakup the content and make it easier to digest. Don’t be afraid to use graphics to draw the readers’ attention to important information or your compelling offers.

2. Write for your Target Audience – You want to write your content for your target audience, using a wring style appropriate for them and words they are likely to use, not industry jargon. It’s okay to speak directly to your reader using “you” rather than “our customers” or “clients.” It sets a more conversational tone, which is typical for the Web and it conveys a more personal message, which can also be an affective advertising strategy.

3. Write for the Searcher – An important thing Web content can do for a site is supply keywords so the site can be found in search engines. It sounds simple, but what you want to do is put the words people are searching for into your site’s copy. And unless you are one of the luck few, those words are probably not going to be your brand or company name. It may be the benefits of your product, the service you provide or the product itself. Here’s a couple of keyword generating tools that may help you identify some words your target is searching for:

Wordtracker

Google Skool

When it comes to Web copy, repetition is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s important to get those keywords into your page copy and headings a couple of times, as well as in the title and description tags.

These are some simple suggestions to help you write more effective Web copy, but when it comes down to it, content is about selling. If you want to get more out of your Website, make sure your content effectively communicates your marketing message, including competitive positioning and compelling offers, and drives your reader to take action.