RISMEDIA, August 17, 2010—Shooting video is a lot like playing baseball. It begins with remembering the basics. Today, I’ll be focusing on three pointers concerning the content of your video…the stuff that’s good to remember when assembling your bullet points or script.

1. Keep it short. Don’t make the assumption your audience has all the time in the world to hang on your every syllable. Make every word and every second count. Tell them upfront what the video is about or consider setting the stage with an appropriate question. Remember: bore them for a split second, and the click on the keyboard sends you down the tube. Bottom line, with today’s short attention spans, keeping your video in the 60 to 90 second range is a good idea.

2. Keep it simple. Focus on communicating your most important information clearly and quickly. Avoid complicated words or jargon. Take a tip from the news networks and aim your delivery at the eighth to 10th-grade level. Avoid long sentences as well as the temptation to cram too much information into too little time. A much better idea is to approach more involved topics with a multi-part series that keeps viewers coming back for more. Quickly summarizing your main point at the conclusion of the video is often helpful.

And finally, since we’re talking about marketing, include a call for action. After all, if you give them all the information they need, there will be no reason to contact you! Provide the viewer with maximum value, but put the best cookies on a higher shelf so they’ll ask you for the ladder.

Remember, it all begins with mastering the basics. And lest we break our own rule, contact us for more information on how to maximize your online video marketing. Thanks for watching!

Stephen Schweickart is the co-founder of VScreen. For more information on this topic, visit VScreen’s blogsite at http://www.vscreen.com/blog/ ^[1].