The YouTube Awards were just announced, and while I was watching…er, working, I realized I talked about optimizing images but never got around to video optimization. So here goes.

  We don’t have the technology to optimize the actual video yet per se (it kind of exists, but it’s not yet developed or mainstream enough to be worth talking about, in my opinion), so the key to optimizing video is in the elements associated with and around it.

 Let’s say you’ve got a video from your client that they want put on their site. You could just upload it to the video page on their website and consider the job done. Or, you could take the time to optimize the video and drastically improve their ranking in the search results, earn them more money, get a big promotion and marry the heir to the company fortune.

OK, maybe not all that, but it’s worth taking a few minutes to optimize, alright?

Optimize the file name
Rename the video file something descriptive that includes major keywords; you should know what the video is about from the file name alone. E.g. fizzy-cola-soda-commercial-video.mov, not 557346-video.mov.

Write a keyword-rich title
Use this both in a title card on the video, to introduce what the viewer is about to see, in the text of the video page on your site, as your site’s video page title and as the title on vide sharing sites. Fizzy Cola Spring ’08 Soda Commercial would work.

Add text to the video page on your site
Write a short paragraph that tells people what they’re about to watch. This is helpful for people who want to know what they are about to see before the invest the time to watch a video, but more importantly, it gives the search engines something to crawl for keywords and establish relevance. Include the word “video,” as well as your brand keywords.

Submit to video-sharing sites
YouTube is the big one, but every search engine has their own as well. Submit to as many as you can to spread your reach and take advantage of Google’s Universal search, which returns relevant video results in standard SERPs as well as video ones.

Include optimized descriptions with submissions
Similar to the optimized text on your video page, but much shorter. Most sharing sites have a character limit, so get as much information and as many keywords in as few words as possible.

Tag the video with keywords
Video-sharing sites let you “tag” a video to identify relevant categories it belongs to (think blog post categories). Brainstorm some stuff people might search for and then expect to find your video; these are your tags. Some sites only allow one word tags, so the “fizzy cola” tag would actually be “fizzycola” without the space; entering “fizzy cola” would make 2 separate tags of “fizzy” and “cola.”

If you know how to write copy for search engines or optimize an image, video optimization won’t be much of a stretch. Apply your SEO copywriting skills and watch your clients move up in the results. Literally.

I’ve been working at Advanced Media Productions for a year and a half now, so I’ve pretty much got my family, even my 80-something Nana, to understand at least the basics of what I do. But explaining to people outside the industry what social media and SEO are can be a challenge. Often, it’s an age thing; my friends’ parents or my mother’s colleagues just don’t quite “get” it. But I’ve had to explain what a lot of the social media and social networking “stuff” is to people only a few years older than me.

I used to fear that this was a sign than in just a few hundred days I, too, would be obsolete and utterly confused by people Tweeting and poking me. But it seems that a recent turn in the media as a whole has spared me…at least for the next few months.

Everyday, TV, radio and print mediums embrace the internet a little bit more, creating their own social network profiles, featuring internet segments, investing in more interactive sites. Face it; they had to. So now, you can friend a news station, stream a radio show and get exclusive content at the online versions of traditional media outlets.

This acceptance and embracing of the internet as a respected communications medium has improved the overall quality of the web and its offerings, and has allowed the less tech-savvy of our population to ease their way in through a channel they find more comfortable. So what does this mean for us web geeks? Only good stuff, at least for now.

Sure, it may be harder to explain things to someone largely unfamiliar with the working of the internet, but if you really like what you do, shouldn’t you be happy to take the time to help someone else appreciate all the web has to offer? I’m thinking yes, since I’ve noticed people grasp what I do much more quickly than I used to expect.

This also means that finally, finally, clients (and random acquaintances) can see value in what I do. I’ve fought many uphill battles over things because clients couldn’t understand or didn’t really believe in the power of the internet. With fewer barriers to break through and a lot more faith in online advertising and marketing endeavors, the quality of the finished product goes up because client and webmaster are both on the same page.

So I don’t resent the five o’clock news trying to get in on the internet action with some three minute web-corner segment, and I don’t begrudge the radio station their special after-hours web/radio show. They’ve been around longer, so if that’s what it takes to get some recognition for the web, so be it. We won’t be hearing much from them soon anyway.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I was asked to take over our smaller pay-per-click clients, I was less than thrilled.

PPC expert. Recognizing trouble signs, writing revisions and ad variations, knowing what required immediate reaction and what could be ridden out—piece by piece, For the better part of a year I had been studying the ins and outs of running a pay-per-click account under the tutelage of David DiMartino, our resident Excel guru and account by account the various elements of a PPC campaign came together for me.

However, while I was starting to “get” it, the idea of number crunching, bid management, position placement, and ad copy writing didn’t scream “enjoyable 8-hour day” to me.

I was wrong.

I’ve come to thoroughly enjoy helping people with their accounts. And not only that, I’ve actually become pretty good at it (at least I think I have; check back to see if Dave’s posts tell a different story).

I’ve always been a slave to keeping things painfully organized (thanks, Mom, for the O.C.D.), and have found that it translates beautifully to account-proactivity. Self-help websites like PPC Hero help to solidify newly acquired knowledge and provide up-to-the-minute updates on what’s new, while tools like Google AdWords Editor (which I highly recommend you download if you’re running a PPC account of your own) are a lifesaver when it comes to user-friendly GUI for tinkering with the accounts.


As “the n00b,” I figured I could win over some readers with some free advice. I’m learning a lot as I go, but here are a few things I’ve already figured out can make a world of difference in a PPC campaign. Without further adieu I give you: Ken's Epic Tips

Patience really is a virtue
PPC campaigns need a few weeks to get to a point where you can see what they are truly capable of. Don’t give up or expect too much early on; the internet is fast, but not that fast. Gather a few months of data before making any major campaign changes or decisions.




Refrain from searching yourself on Google
 Every click costs money, so you are wasting it if you click through to your own site through one of your pay-per-click  ads. Deliberately searching for your ads interferes with the data being collected on impressions too SO if you must peek, use “Fake Google" — or Google Preview Search.




Develop an honest keyword list
Every phrase should be a product or service that you really offer, not something “sort of similar” that gets a lot of traffic. Your Quality Score will go down if you have a lot of irrelevant terms, causing you to pay more but get less. If you’re unsure, ask yourself if you would pay to have people find you by searching for that word or phrase. If the answer is no, toss it.

Google recently sent word out to some advertisers about a beta test for a new feature called "Automatic Matching."  The feature is designed to help you spend your extra ad budget should you be consistently under your daily spend:




The email announcement goes on to give an example of how the system works:


So in the tradition of Broad Match and Campaign Optimizer, Google is once again offering a service that allows you to put your Adwords campaign on autopilot while they find the best way to spend your money.  Once again, this sounds great to the small advertiser who may not have the time or expertise to manage their Adwords campaign.  Unfortunately, these are exactly the people who shouldn't be automating their PPC account.  These are the small business owners who don't have the budget to compete, and need to optimize their campaign in order to turn a profit.  All too often these advertisers throw their hands up, having spent money on PPC, seen little return, eventually giving up on the medium altogether.

It's actually frustrating to see Google implement this program.  All to often I will find myself raising campaign budgets higher then some clients would like just to keep their ads appearing for most of the day.  Now, instead of having that extra budget as a backup to maintain some visibility, Automatic Matching will eat it away on keywords I wasn't prepared to bid on?  How will information about these clicks appear on Google's reports?  Will they be providing information on exactly which keywords Automatic Matching is generating traffic with?  Or will a click for an ad that appeared for "slippers" be attributed to your keyword "shoes" as if it were broad match?  This may leave you wondering why a keyword that once performed well is suddenly in the toilet.

The easy answer is keep an eye out for such automated features regularly and make sure they get turned off.  If you're a small business working with a restrained budget, maintaining tight control of your campaign and making sure your ads stay targeted is the best way to stay successful.