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Hi, my name is Andrew Biss. Welcome to the (now retired) SellToCamera blog.
I created this blog for business professionals with presentation experience who want to make the move to web video.
Well, why might you want to do that?
I think that with social media, with the new types of ways of doing marketing and selling on the web, it is important that you show your face; that you say hello to people and don’t try to hide behind a corporate About Us page (as many people do).
It’s very different speaking to a real group of people sitting in front of you where you can interact, to doing this type of selling direct to camera. That is why I called this website SellToCamera. Because, it is a skill that we have to practice, and that we have to learn.
I hope that you will come and follow me on SellToCamera.com.
I will be bringing concrete recommendations, tip and tricks, on how you can make these types of videos easily, quickly and without spending a lot of money. I will help you to get your videos up and running quickly, without wasting a lot of time checking out all the different options, trying to do a lot of DIY stuff.
This is something that can be done very easily if you know what you are doing. There is a lot of information out there, but it takes a lot of time and effort to filter through it. That’s what I will do for you; give you the quick answers that enable you to get videos up and running very quickly.
I look forward to seeing you again on SellToCamera.com. If you have not already, please subscribe to the RSS feed and/or follow me on Twitter.
I look forward to seeing you again, next time.
What lead you to start this blog?
I am convinced that success in our increasingly visual business world means knowing how to get your message across on video.
Although I have 30 years presenting experience, selling to camera is new to me.
I therefore launched the SellToCamera blog in September 2009 to share what I discover, and to help business professionals like us learn to present on video.
What sorts of topics will you cover?
Typical questions that come up when a company starts to think about adding video to their website:
- How professional do we need to make our videos for our business context?
- Can we produce videos ourselves or do we need to outsource this?
- How quickly will we need to replace videos that become stale?
- Is it necessary to create a portfolio of videos for different subjects?
- How do we get visitors to watch the videos?
- Are multiple versions of videos required for multi-lingual businesses?
Please see 9 important questions from a business professional thinking about creating web video for a first taste of SellToCamera’s answers to these questions.
Why the emphasis on selling?
I felt that the name SellToCamera was a good fit for a blog about sharing practical and cost-effective tips on how to sell directly to the camera; learning how to get our message across in our videos and motivating our audience to take action.
We are not trying to sell our product or service directly in a short presentation delivered by video; rather, we need to sell taking action — that vital next step.
If we can reach this goal in a 2 minute presentation on video, then we are streets ahead of our competition (many of who are publishing boring 40-minute screencasts with clip art and sound effects!)
Is this a business-only blog?
SellToCamera is for business professionals presenting on video in a business context. I focus on the Microsoft Windows platform for tools and techniques; Windows is the platform most business professionals have available to them today. On occasion I will also link to some of the great tools available on the Apple Mac.
We can, and do, create videos for pleasure, of course, but that brings in techniques already covered by other blogs and forums. Even though SellToCamera is about video for business, I hope I will be entertaining; nobody says business cannot be fun!
I have no experience with video, is this blog for me?
Yes! Although I have 30 years experience giving business presentations, I am also starting from scratch giving presentations delivered by video!
By doing the background research I aim to save everyone from having to repeat this. Sharing what I learn, you can get up to speed more quickly, creating effective presentations on video to help you be successful in your specific business context.
I hope that we can create a community for business professionals who are all getting started with presenting on video; sharing pragmatic tips and working together to create and improve our video presentations.
What about the experts?
If you are already an expert in this field then you might find some of the tips and posts on this blog fairly basic. We all have to start somewhere, and we have a lot to learn!
Beginners focus on getting started and learning, not the fine details and jargon. That can come later once we have the basic skills.
I am sure you have a lot to tips and techniques to share; your fellow business professionals will appreciate your help. We look forward to hearing from you.
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