Virtual Coach » 9 Soul-Searingly Wondrous (yet Amazingly Effective) Steps To Add Video To Your Optin Page Part II

9 Soul-Searingly Wondrous (yet Amazingly Effective) Steps To Add Video To Your Optin Page Part II

December 2, 2009 Barbara One comment

Hey all,

Thanks for swinging by my blog! This past week has been utterly mind-numbing in a soul-searingly beautiful way – my Vertical Learning Curve is now bending over backwards so I’m defying gravity as well!

But I digress.

In my last post:

6 Brilliant Squeeze Page Resources You’ll Want To Explore Part 1

I talked about, well, 6 Brilliant Squeeze Page Resources You’ll Want To Explore.

Having just spent the last week teaching myself how to add video (that DOESN’T have any recordings of me in it) to my optins, I decided to continue in this vein by sharing with you what I learned meself. And here it is!

Ready? Okay, here we go!

Step 1.) Internalize the following – Making a video is NOT scary. It really is NOT.

I have been shunning video now since, oh, hmmmm, the Dark Ages simply because I’m ‘way more comfortable with READING. I truly do NOT like to watch videos; I can read far quicker than videos can educate and for me, time IS money.

But! I’m not important whatsoever…my customers ARE. And if they’re expecting video, video is what I shall deliver!

So I forced myself to throw off any life-jacket and boldly leap into the scary waters of (gasp!) making a video.

And you know what? It’s not difficult at all.

Sooo…step 1 is to simply give yourself permission to LEARN and then TRY. It’s okay if you mess up by reciting the whole darned thing and then hearing Honorable Daughter 1 say, "Ummm, Mom, it would have helped if you had pressed ‘RECORD’" (and yes, that really did happen).

Step 2.) Write out your script.

I knew what I wanted to convey, so I sat down and wrote out the entire script in MS Word. The resulting document of dazzlement ended up being 4 pages long (and 8 minutes in spoken length).

Be sure to tweak the words! You have to recite it outloud to yourself and your spouse and your children and the store clerk to make certain you really do communicate the BENEFITS your optin is going to offer. Trust me, I know this…my kids now parade through my house singing, Hey there everyone, I’m Barbara Ling!

Kids. Gotta love em.

Next, move to

Step 3.) Break your script down into slides

Once you have your script done, go thru it once again and this time, break the paragraphs down into individual slides. Here’s an example of mine:

Slide 1
Hey there, I’m Barbara Ling, the author of Income Fitness and I want to share with you some of my favorite Income Fitness tips for free!

Slide 2
First, a bit of background – I’ve been making a very comfortable living online now since 1997 (that’s 12 years) and started building sites back when Mosaic was released, 16 years ago, in 1993. Since then, I have been quietly gathering up really neat tips and tricks that make my life much easier when I’m running my business and making money online. Oh yes, and I also run the Virtual Coach Income Fitness forums too (one of the friendliest most supportive communities online)

Today, I’d like to show you one nifty neat Income Fitness idea…and how you can take it and run with it this very moment. But before I do that, let me first invite you to enjoy our

Slide 3
Free cyber brekkies! You see, every morning one of our community members makes a great virtual cyber breakfast. After all, being profitable online is hard work…and a filling breakfast starts the day off right.

Okay now, ready to get some great ideas? ….Okay, let me ask you now…is your site naked?….

Having those Slide 1s and Slide 2s etc. really helps you build a logical sequence of thoughts and ideas.

Next, pounce upon

Step 4.) Design Your Powerpoint Slides

Based upon your script, the next step is to design your powerpoint slides. That’s a whole ‘nother thing in itself! Here are some cool resources for that:

Once that’s done, barrel your way into:

Step 5.) Record Your Script

Fire up the free audio recorder Audacity and record your script. Here’s a good tip – break down the recordings into Slide1-2, Slide3-4, etc.etc.etc. That way, you won’t have to re-record the whole blasted thing if you make a mistake in the last 3 seconds of your presentation. And yes, it took me 20 minutes of trying to do it all in one shot to realize that myself!

My kids…they were amused.

Save each chunk as a MP3. Once you have your MP3 files, it’s time to:

Step 6.) Bring up Windows Movie Maker

Open Windows Movie Maker and drap/drop all the audio files to the platform in order. Then play it and see how it sounds. Once you’re satisfied, keep that window open and:

Step 7.) Fire up Camtasia or Camstudio

I use the free software Camstudio to make my videos. It’s very simple to use. Here’s two resources for you:

Get the Powerpoint slideshow ready to rock by clicking on Slideshow | From the Beginning (I also made sure to start it in a smaller window). Make certain your Windows MovieMaker audio collection does NOT overlap it!

Then….use Camstudio to draw the screen over the powerpoint, hit the Record button, QUICKLY start the audio file playing and then ACTIVATE the slideshow window (but make certain the cursor doesn’t fall within the recording field!)

You’re now effectively recording the slideshow.

At the right times (this is where the script reeeally comes in handy), hit the spacebar to advance your slideshow as you hear the audio cues from your spoken script.

If you’re lucky, you’ll complete this task in only 28 takes or so. I kept on discovering ways to make it flow better, communicate more effectively, etc., so I enjoyed tons of re-takes.

When you’re done, save the avi file and then: