You can produce the most compelling, interesting video online, but without a clear call to action, your video is just pure entertainment. Whether you want a viewer to buy your product, sign up for your list, or take another action, you have to tell them what you want them to do.

A call to action can take many different forms. Do you want the viewer to click on a link, click the "buy now" button, watch another video, or take some other step? Know what you want from your viewer before you even create your video so everything you do points to that desired end result.

Some people believe that if you push your message on your audience, they will resist any kind of "sell" and turn away. While you want to avoid the used car salesman approach, remember that when you have the solution to your audience's problems, you're doing them a favor by sharing it with them.

Your call to action can take many forms. Here are some examples:

• Click here to download your free report on X.
• Click here to visit X and sign up now for more information!
• Enter your name and email below to sign up for the free teleseminar now.
• Fill out the form below to request your free consultation.
• Enter your information below to apply for this special program.

The logistics of creating a call to action within in a video will vary depending on the type of video you use, the location of the video and the rules of the site where you are hosting your video. Here are some ideas:

Mention in Video - You can include a call to action within the video itself. Create the video to capture the attention of your audience, give them the information they need and then tell them what action to take next.

Text on Video - Another way to tell your viewers what move to make after the video is to add it across the screen of the video. This text can be a link to your website or an explanation of any other action you'd like them to take.

Clickable Video - By using 'Flash' software or YouTube's video tools, you can create video that, when clicked on, can link the viewer to the desired page.

Video Descriptions - You can add a call to action within your video descriptions. If you have uploaded a video to a hosting site, check the rules as to how you can link to your site and how promotional your videos and descriptions can be.

The most important part of your call to action is ensuring it fits with what your audience needs. When the call to action matches the exact needs of your audience, taking your recommended next step will be a natural next step for your viewers. 

So you're not a technical or audio/video whiz, or you're so busy with your other business management tasks that you know you need to outsource your videos if it's ever going to get done. It is possible to outsource your video successfully. But like any outsourcing you do, you need to prepare and be aware of who you are hiring.

Here's what you need to keep in mind when hiring a freelancer for your video marketing:

Know What You Need: If you don't know what you need from your assistant or your marketing, how can you expect anyone else to know? If you can describe exactly what you need from your assistant then you will have a great chance for getting just that back from them when the project is completed.

Check Their Video Portfolio: Check the abilities of the person you're considering hiring to see if their style suits your needs. Ask for references and check them!

Prepare Materials and Logins: If there are specific materials and login information your assistant will need, it will save you a lot of time if you prepare everything ahead of time. If your assistant needs to email you every time they need something, you'll hold up the process while they wait for you to respond.

Find Reference Examples: Locate a few videos with the look and feel you like and forward those to your assistant. This will help your assistant make sure they're clear about what you're looking for.

Ask For Referrals: Asking for referrals is a great way to find qualified contractors. If you see a video online that you particularly like, contact the site owner to ask who created it. You'll know what kind of quality you'll be getting when you hire this way.

Be Open to Suggestions: Your contractor is an expert, so be open to suggestions from him or her. Explain your high-level goals, and then let them do their stuff.

Having a great team member or even a full team to handle your videos can be a real load off your mind. Just remember that successful outsourcing requires a careful blend of preparation and clarity on your goals, and willingness to let go and let the experts take over. Once you hit that sweet spot, you can cross one more thing off your To-Do list.

You've heard that using video to market your business can bring incredible results. But do the benefits outweigh the effort it takes to put your video online? In a word, Yes! Shooting a video, editing and formatting it, uploading it to the internet with the right title and description takes a bit of time. But the payoff for video marketing can be tremendous. Here are seven real benefits of marketing with video:

1. Personal Connection - Especially for internet based businesses, the personal connection with your potential market is a huge selling factor. With video, your audience can truly get to know you, eye-to-eye. They get to see that you are indeed a real, live person. They start building a deeper relationship with you and feel as if they actually have met you.
2. Social proof - There's an old proverb: "Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see." On the internet it's so easy to be a fake and a fraud. People are skeptical about claims they read online, and rightfully so. But video puts a face to your words and makes you more believable and trustworthy.
3. Traffic - People are watching 2 BILLION videos per day on YouTube alone! That's a whole lot of traffic you're missing if you're not marketing yourself with video. It's free and easy to add your video to a large number of the video sites available online.
4. Emotional Influence - The classic horror movie is a great example of how the audio has an emotional effect on us. The creepy music comes in, immediately cluing you in that something bad is about to happen. Now, imagine combining that audio with powerful video cues to influence the emotions of the listener and create a much more compelling message than with just text alone.
5. Portability - Maybe even more so then articles and ebooks, video is portable. iPhones, Smartphones, iPads and all kinds of other devices allow video to be seen on the go. You can also allow people to download video easily so they can view it over and over again.
6. Demonstrations - Reviews, case studies and examples are great ways to sell products and services. It's the reason why infomercials make millions of dollars. Now there's no need for you to be as annoying as the Sham-Wow guy to make money with video; you just need to create videos that show and tell your potential customers why your product will be helpful for them.
7. Engagement - There are many reports available online to show that video boosts response and conversion rates. When someone is watching a video, you have their full attention – eyes and ears. Unlike with the written word, they're not likely skip ahead or gloss over important information. Most people will watch a video from beginning to end, allowing you to clearly create a message and call to action that engages your audience.

Overall, video is an effective marketing strategy that is only growing in popularity. Since video is here to stay, it's time to check out the options and see how quick and easy video marketing can be.

If you have a business and a website, then you've likely considered video marketing. Once you're convinced of the power of marketing, the next step is to decide how to use videos to promote your business. Here are just a few examples:

1. Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.
2. Product Demos - One of the biggest drawbacks to buying online is that you can't actually test the product. Bypass that objection and demonstrate your product on video to help increase sales.
3. Case Studies - If you're involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.
4. Product Reviews - Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you're reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.
5. Education - Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.
6. Entertainment - People love to be entertained! If you can entertain in your video and combine that with a call to action, you'll have a winning combination.
7. Webinars - If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.
8. Commercial - Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.
9. Business Overview - One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It's your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step. 

It's sad but true: There are literally billions of other videos, audios, images, and articles competing for your target market's attention. If your video is boring, nobody (except maybe your mother) is going to want to watch it. When creating a video for your business audience you must engage them or your efforts will fall completely flat.

Creating effective, engaging videos may take you time and practice, especially if you don't feel particularly at ease in front of the camera.

These tips can help you on your way to effective video marketing:

Engaging Video Tip #1: Know Your Market

Your target market has similar interests, issues and problems. By knowing, understanding and listening to your target market, you're automatically speaking in their language and appealing to their interests. That makes you engaging!

Engaging Video Tip #2: Keep Your Energy High

If someone is an energetic, charismatic speaker, they could read the phone book aloud and make it sound good. People respond to excitement, so make sure yours is high. You don't want to over-hype it, but imagine you're talking to a group of kindergarteners and have to work extra-hard to keep their attention. Our ears are trained to pick up on change, so give your voice inflection and enthusiasm, varying its pitch and loudness.

Engaging Video Tip #3: Using Effects

Our eyes are drawn to bright colors, beautiful images and motion. See how you can incorporate these elements in your intro and closing. Watch a few videos on Youtube.com to see what captures your attention, and model what works for you.

Engaging Video Tip #4: Eye Contact

One of the most important aspects of person-to-person presentation is eye contact. Talk to the camera like it's a person, a valuable potential client or a friend. Be natural, be real and be yourself. Again, this may take some practice but you'll get it. When you get good at making eye contact you will be well on your way to establishing valuable relationships with your potential audience.

Engaging Video Tip #5: Prepare

You might be one of those rare people with the gift of gab, shooting off a polished presentation with no preparation. If you are, great. If not, then you'll need to prepare to make sure you say what you want to say in your video and get your key messages across. Don't forget to include your call to action so your audience knows exactly what to do after they've finished watching the video.

Creating an engaging video takes work. However, it's well worth the effort as your video will be working for you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for many, many years to come. 

With more than a hundred e-commerce shopping carts to choose from, selecting one is really a matter of preference with careful product evaluation. But what makes one provider stand out from the rest? See the answer below.

Features

Different shopping cart providers offer similar and unique features that are useful to the consumers and beneficial for you as a merchant. While choosing which features to have may depend on the size of your business, a good shopping cart provider offer a wide range of feature options for different business needs.

Integrated Online Marketing and Promotional Tools

With a right shopping cart, you can increase traffic and increase sales virtually over night. How? Shopping carts affect the consumer's response to your website. The more useful tools it has, the more it can attract new customers and persuade existing customers to buy your products. Through integrated marketing and promotional tools like catalog and product comparison, your customers are able to make easy and wise decision on which products to buy.

Promos, sale, discounts, free shipping and coupons are powerful marketing strategies that can attract more customers. Shopping carts offer these features.

Product review is another powerful feature that can increase sales. In a study conducted by CompUSA and iPerceptions, 63% of consumers are more likely to buy from the sites with product ratings and reviews.

User-friendly Interface/Ease of Use

Cosumers are very impatient when it comes to purchasing products and services online. The last thing your customers want to do is figure out how to navigate your shopping cart. A user-friendly website is important to keep potential customers browsing. A user-friendly shopping cart is crucial if you want your customers to stay and complete the transactions.

Payment Options

Different online consumers prefer to use certain types of payment. While most would like credit cards, many are still hesitant to enter personal information online and choose other alternative modes of payment like Paypal, checks and money orders. A good shopping cart service should cover all these.

Hacker-Safe Ordering Page

Earning your customers' confidence is important in any business. That is why you have to make sure that your customers are properly protected when they enter their credit card information to your website. Wise customers often look for SSL certificate seal on a merchant's website. This seal is a guarantee that the site is hacker safe. Make sure that you have one.

Full Order Management System

A good shopping cart guides customers throughout the process of purchasing, checking out, payment and shipping. These services can be provided fully by a hosting company or are linked from different services. Payments can be through major credit cards, PayPal, money orders and checks. Shipping can be linked to major shipping carriers like UPS, DHL and FedEx.

Costumer Service/Support

One of the best ways to gauge if a particular e-commerce shopping cart provider has good customer service is by sending questions though their email address. How fast did they reply? Did you get a template reply? In business, time is money; and personal touch is a plus. Customer service should reply with a personalized message as soon as possible. Another way to test how good the customer service is is through its technical support. In running an effective e-commerce store, the availability of good documentation is important.

Not all e-commerce shopping carts are the same; and choosing one can be a bit tricky. Since this is one of the most important decisions you have to make as an online merchant, you have to make sure that you roll on the perfect shopping cart suited for your needs and the needs of your potential costumers. To successfully find the perfect one, doing some deep research is a great help.

When comparing different shopping cart vendors, consider the following:

Features vs. Business Scale

Wish list, registry, site search, real-time inventory, payment options, express checkout, product reviews, order tracking, website security, and order tracking: these are just a number of features that may be included when purchasing a shopping cart. If you are not careful enough, these features may define your choice for a shopping cart vendor. Instead of allowing yourself to be hypnotized with all these attractive options, ask yourself this question: Do I really need all these things?î

It may seem very basic that you should decide according to your needs but there are certain instances where you simply become an impulsive buyer.

Deciding whether or not such feature is important requires understanding on the needs of your business. The decision should depend on the size of your business, quantity of products you sell and budget.

Price vs. Budget

Speaking of budget, the next thing you should consider is how much you can afford. Before setting a budget, try to browse first the websites of different shopping cart vendors. This will give you an idea how much such service will cost. Take note that the prices depend on the features included in shopping carts.

Once you have set your budget, stick to it.

Ease of Use vs. Looks

Most buyers are more impatient when purchasing items online than when they buy on shops and stalls. This is quite ironic since all they need to do is to move their mouse pointer to the right direction click on the products they want to buy and wait for the shipment to come; instead of visiting a shop and spending time browsing different products and dealing with (sometimes annoying) sales representatives. But this is the fact you have to consider. Buy from a vendor with easy to use shopping cart. Looking for a vendor with user-friendly features should be easy as most shopping cart providers offer an easy to use feature. Similarly, it is a plus if the shopping cart looks good but this is really not your main priority.

If possible, you need to have a shopping cart that is easy to use and at the same time, a shopping cart that looks good and can add to the appeal of your website. But if you have to choose one, going for ease of use is a wiser option.

The key here is research. Do not settle for two or three vendors. Search as many websites as you can. Read reviews and testimonials. Read articles about shopping carts. Join forums if possible. The more websites you visit; the more information you can gather that is important when deciding what features to take, how much money to throw, and what type of e-commerce shopping cart to buy. But remember: do not purchase anything that you cannot afford and do not buy something you cannot use.

Conducting business online has gone far from its early beginnings in the 90s and went beyond the bubble burst of the dot com crash in 2002. The basic definition of e-commerce would be buying and selling through the internet. It is a business approach and like all business oriented approaches, development and improvement is inevitable. To bring your e-commerce to the next level would be the logical thing to do.

A good e-commerce strategy involves having the elements of the internet and components of marketing to work together. Some may argue that this e-commerce thing will blow out of proportion which could result to another wave of business crashes like what happened a more than five years ago.

Using the right business tools can help ensure that your online business will remain afloat. Integrating the right elements to your business strategy will reinforce your business agenda and help you reap the benefits of your business.

Now one of the tools in online business that is at your disposal is the e-commerce cart or otherwise and better known as the online shopping cart. This little business tool can transform your small business endeavor into a big online success.

An online shopping cart is a marketing tool where your customers place their shopping items and assist them in ordering the same online. It follows the concept of the real life shopping cart where you place whatever items you need and let a cashier compute the total for you. But instead of a cashier, the online shopping cart includes a component where the total of the order is computed for the customers.

There are a number of benefits of having a shopping cart integrated into your online business. The shopping cart offers a secure means for your customers to get the products they need and it offers you the same level of security to get the payment from them. It is a win-win situation which you should take full advantage of.

Without offering this level of security for online transactions, you will sure loose a lot of potential clients. By integrating a shopping cart, you will be able to expand your market base and eventually help increase your profits.

The same shopping cart technology will also help you organize your products list, will assist you in managing your business transactions and help you update your stocks and sales. The technology can even assist you in making projections which will be beneficial for you in future marketing decisions.

It can also make your life easier during tax season since sales and stock acquisitions can easily be acquired because store information is logged via the shopping cart. Indeed, acquiring a shopping cart software is a good investment and a logical move for your business.

To expand, diversify and improve your market base and services is what a good business approach should be. Whether it may be online or offline, bringing your business to a new level will bring in more benefits.

There are a number of companies that offer various kinds of e-commerce shopping carts and each can be customized to fit your needs. Do remember that this is an investment and as such is often not free. But bringing your e-commerce to the next level by means of a shopping cart will hopefully help you find the success that you dream of online. 

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