Online advertising is exploding. With it has come new technology that turns blogs into the best platform to run an online business. The video stream has been described as a savvy use of a cheap toy for online marketing. In fact, some of the most profitable videos on the Internet today were made on webcams or digital cameras.

The two main purposes of a marketing video are to create awareness of a product or service, or to educate visitors.

The video ad is a virtual commercial that is viewed on a website, or sent through RSS feed to other websites through services like Adbrite and Google. These are short commercials. However, because they are made for a computer screen, a professional can make the video for less than $5,000.00. And, a determined do-it-yourself director can make one for under $400.00.

A web video is created to educate visitors and lead them through your web site's presentation. It increases sales by educating visitors. This overcomes the main reason why visitors leave a website.

A visitor's failure to understand instructions, or their refusal to read instructions, is the number one reason for lack of sales. Video forces visitors to pay attention to instructions and stops them from leaving the page.

There are dozens of video companies who will make expensive videos for a web site and then offer hosting. At first this appears to be an easy and effective way to introduce video to your website. Unfortunately, the cost is almost never justified. It is better to make a homemade video, and change it monthly. Once you see how easy it is, and how good the quality, you'll be sold. If you doubt this, go to MySpace or YouTube and look at all the great quality videos made by amateurs.

YOUTUBE & GOOGLE VIDEO

Sticky websites are the main tool for today's content site managers. They are finding it more difficult to build an opt-in list. It is difficult to keep visitors connected to the web site until they purchase. They need a real strong hook to keep visitors.

YouTube is a free service that lets webmasters embed their own video, or other video, onto a web site. Imbedding a video clip from a famous author, an industry guru, or even a news clip that relates to an article dramatically increases the impact, and sticky factor of the web page.

YouTube allows users to upload their own video and then embed it, with player, on their web site. This video can instruct, sell to, or build trust between the visitor and the product. In fact, it can become the product.

As for the marketing power of video, YouTub recently surpassed CNN's hits per day, and MySpace video has surpassed AOL, according to Alexa. No wonder Google recently purchased YouTube for more money than many small countries are worth. This is a mute testament to the power of video.

Each of the three main video hosting sites have their advantages and disadvantages. MySpace is social based. Its ignorance of hard core porn leaves a bad taste in many Social Networking and SEO webmasters. There are very few intellectual videos on MySpace, and there is no way to easily embed them onto your web page. This means that people must leave the site to see them, or the webmaster must embed a video player.

Google video is too complicated. It can take more than twenty minutes to sign up. And then there is a complicated tutorial.

This leaves YouTube, as the leading service for most webmasters. YouTube allows a webmaster to sign up and embed video on their website in less than two minutes.

PODCASTING

Podcasting, or audio streaming, has been around for several years. It ranges from creating a radio station with syndication, or setting up a small web based audio sites, to uploading an audio stream onto your website.

Podcasting is the most cost-effective method of retaining customers, improving sales, and educating visitors. However, it is time consuming. It takes at least 30 hours of streaming, rotated in four hour blocks, to effectively create a 24 hour broadcast. The content should be continually updated. Even tutorials should change every few weeks.

Another setback for podcasting is the bandwidth and storage requirement. While there are cheap $5 a month services, you can find site that offer a complete service with royalty management, few webmasters are utilizing the services properly. Those web sites that are using these services are not scripting and editing, resulting in poor content.

The place where Podcasting excels is in short online tutorials. Many web sites utilize them with a PowerPoint presentation, creating a tutorial. While this is a 'poor cousin' to the Macromedia flash tutorials, Powerpoint has the benefit of saving each slide as a .gif, making it easy for amateurs to incorporate on their web sites.

It is easy to imbed an audio stream. Just upload the file, and then hyperlink it to a button on the web page. When the button is clicked, the user's Media player will play the audio.

An audio file can even be linked to photos. A shopping cart with ten cameras on a page can include separate audio streams discussing the benefits of each. The visitor only needs to click a link and/or the image to start the audio stream.

The internet is tiring of web sites that sell ebook downloads. Instead of writing an ebook think 'new trend.' The emerging trend is online tutorials, either audio and PowerPoint, audio and photo, Macromedia flash, or video streaming.

HOW TO PROFIT

Each of these tools are used to create a sticky web site. They are used on blogs, web sites, and in forums. These tools 'tease' users. Then, when they are hooked, a full video course can be offered.

Bloggers do this. They offer 'how to courses' that span 500 blogs, or, the visitor can purchase the ebook, or download the entire course in an audio file.

Video has one main advantage over ebooks and podcasts. While an ebook may fetch $50 - $100.00, the exact same content packaged in a video course could fetch as much as $1,000.00.

Once you are prepared to profit, it is time to trash your homemade product and create a professional one.

Camtasia is an easy software system that allows video editing. It is moderately priced at $299.99. Camtasia Studio 4.0 makes it easy to publish videos and MP3 files for iPod, or other portable media players. Now your marketing message, screencast, lecture, or training video can reach anyone, anywhere, on the bus, in a coffee shop, or even while they're jogging. Camtasia is easy to learn, easy to use, and affordably priced.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

Today's generation has been acclimatized to video. It is part of everything they do - their work, their education, and definitely their entertainment. They will not easily tire of video and audio streaming.

Webmasters do not need to worry about investing money into these mediums, only to have them go out of vogue like so many other Internet Marketing tools have. And, best of all, video is fun to create, easy to use, and very profitable.