Shooting and uploading your own video is one of the best ways to connect with, and market to, your customers and prospects.

There are a number of factors that affect how you are going to encode your video so you can publish it on the web. These include the efficiency of the encoder and, ultimately, how it looks to the end user. Two key factors play a significant role in the encoding process: source quality and frame motion, so let’s take a closer look at them.

Once you have pressed record on your camera, you have determined the source quality of your video. What you want to achieve is the best quality video possible so here are some basic guidelines to help you get great source video quality and achieve maximum quality in your final compressed video. Use a tripod to reduce camera movement.

You must get this right, because any camera movement means that the picture moves as well. This means that a high percentage of pixels in the video are changing from frame to frame. This results in worse quality at lower compression rates and although camcorders are fitted with an anti-shake device, the more you can do to keep your camera steady the better will be the result.

Even with a tripod and a high-end camera you can still produce a low-quality image if there is not enough light. Low-light or light-gain filters produce video noise on the image; this is different for each frame of video and so it is more difficult for the codec (compressor/decompressor) to compress the file and give a good quality result.

Use the best camera possible. If you have a secure, steady, camera – and the lighting is right – you will get a reasonable result from even an inexpensive camera. BUT, it is best to have one that can capture your footage in digital format, and personally my business partner Neil Travers and I prefer using miniDV to capture our footage.

When you start out you don’t always have access to professional equipment, like high end consumer camcorders, a tripod, and excellent lighting conditions. Do the best you can with what’s available and always remember: the higher the quality of your video source, and the less noise in that source, the lower the data rate required to render a good playback file. Whenever possible, always encode a file from its uncompressed form.

If you convert a pre-compressed digital video format into the FLV format, the previous encoder can introduce video noise. This can occur because the first compressor has already performed its encoding algorithm on the video and has already reduced its quality, frame size, and rate. Digital “effects” or noise can be added. This additional noise affects the FLV encoding process and may require a higher data rate to play back a good quality file.

This is another important factor to consider in your encoding formula and refers to the percentage of the pixels that change from one frame to another. There are a variety of things that can affect this, from people or objects moving, camera effects or even post-production effects.

So watch out for the following points as they can all have an impact on frame motion:

- People and objects moving can include someone walking past the lens, tree leaves blowing in the wind, cars driving by, or an extreme close-up of a face.

- You can get nearly 100% pixel change from frame to frame from camera effects like panning, zooming, and having a hand-held result in almost There is also a high percentage of pixel changes from frame to frame when you use post-production effects like dissolves, fades, wipes, or complex video effects. Clips with a lot of motion in them mean the encoder has more information to compress than with static clips like one person talking to camera.

- An interview or conversation with two people works best if it is fairly static, like our own ‘kitchencasts’ where we are seated at a table while talking.

- Encoding works by the video codec using a method of dropping frames and then encoding a series of fully uncompressed frames. Key frames, which is what these are, are used to calculate and “rebuild” the missing frames during playback.

So I hope you can see that video is a great tool to use in your marketing, and it can be simple and cost effective. Just take your time, experiment, and enjoy yourself.

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Neil Stafford is Editor and Publisher of the Internet Marketing Review the UK’s longest running PRINTED Internet Marketing Newsletter. ‘Test drive’ the Newsletter for FREE – Visit this special web page for more information: http://www.internetmarketingreview.com/2months

A squeeze page is a landing web page on the Internet that is designed to encourage users to sign up for mailing lists or take advantage of a brands products or services. It is created to follow up other marketing strategies, so it doesn t have exit links directing a user to somewhere else on the Web.

Originally, squeeze pages are text based, offering success stories and other teasers that would get a consumer to arrive at a buying decision. These days, however, it is fast becoming a trend to incorporate videos into squeeze pages to make them more compelling and effective in appealing to the audience s emotions.

Elements of a squeeze page

In essence, the same concepts are still intact. To create a video squeeze page, you need to have the following elements present:

* A compelling headline

* A rundown of what the consumer stands to gain by purchasing the product

* A call to action

The only difference is that a video serves to offer more details to the message that these elements want to convey. To create a video squeeze page, you will need an embeddable video player such as Flowplayer. Simply download the software from its website and you ll find instructions on how you can embed your clips on your squeeze page.

Crafting a headline

Just like traditional text based squeeze pages, you re going to need a catchy headline for your video squeeze page to get your visitor to stick around and hit the play button. You want to arouse the curiosity of the viewer so you need to make your headline stand out. For one, you need to use huge block fonts. Great fonts for writing headlines include Tahoma, Georgia, and Impact.

The video content

The video content s purpose is to include the second element of the traditional squeeze page. It presents the benefits that a user stands to gain by signing up for your mailing list, downloading your e book, or buying your products. The good thing about video clips is that they can make it easier for you to sum up in a few minutes a sales pitch that could take pages to write.

To maintain the consumer s attention, you want to keep the video clip short. Two to five minutes should suffice if you have a lot to say. It s also a good idea to incorporate a human side to the video presentation, taping a real individual talking directly to your audience instead of using voiceovers or slide shows.

Call to action

Of course, a video squeeze page cannot be complete without a call to action or an opt in box. Make sure to place the opt in form directly below the video. You can include a call to action on the video presentation itself and follow it up with actual text right below the clip. You just need to tell the viewer what he should do next. Don t assume that he knows what to do after viewing your video.

Author Resource : Watch your conversion rate increase exponentially by using videos to your sales page. For effective and affordable video squeeze pages, visit http://www.hotvideolandingpages.com