SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly

Ready for Launch

Now It’s All About the Data SALES

It’s been quite a journey. Some 10 years ago, the simple but now prophetic words of good friend and visionary Jerry McCabe launched a tenacious group of volunteers in pursuit of an industry solution for product data creation, storage and distribution: “It’s all about the data.” Now, after years of planning, adjusting and adapting—and a nine-month “test drive” in the beta phase—the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is readying for launch of the live production system in January.

Because of the importance of product data management in today’s marketplace, SEMA has taken a no-holds-barred approach to this project, investing much time, effort and money to create a state-of-the-art solution. Affordable to the smallest of companies yet powerful enough to support the largest, the SDC is truly positioned to be the centralized data repository for the specialty parts market. And now, with the full production system slated for liftoff, there is no better time to bring your company into the Co-op and join us as we bring order and efficiency to this critical business asset once and for all.

The SDC concept is simple: to enable the cost savings of a single facility to safely store and distribute product data, to educate and train participants to own the process and their data, and to enable members to provide or receive the latest data updates without delay through an easy-to-access web interface. The system also provides other specific services and feature points:

• The SDC is an industry-owned, nonprofit solution that allows suppliers to own their data 100% and manage it 24/7 using state-of-the-art tools.
• It is the only data service to validate all incoming data for standards compliance, producing a consistent, accurate supply.
• The SDC’s fulltime help desk is available to assist suppliers and receivers of any skill level, from beginner
  to expert.
• All data is stored in the latest Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) and AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES), with no confusing proprietary data formats to deal with.
• Exports are available in standard formats or virtually any custom requirement, with no extra charges for “special” exports.
• Unlimited exports, updates and downloads mean you can send or receive as often as you like with no extra charges.
• Low fixed monthly fee for all on-boarding, validation, secure storage and unlimited exports ensure an affordable solution for companies of any size.

We’re all looking to 2013 with anticipation and hopes for a year of recovery and economic upswing. If you are a supplier, then stack the deck in your favor by committing your company to owning your product data management with the help of the SEMA Data Co-op. If you are a receiver looking for a solid source of product data in one place, configured specifically to your system requirements, you’ve come to the right source!

Our data, business and technology experts will be happy to help you with any questions you may have and look forward to showing you how effective product data is a true business builder. 

For more information about how the SEMA Data Cooperative can help you create, manage, store and distribute your product data in the most efficient and cost-effective way ever, call 888-958-6698 or send an e-mail to jimg@SEMAdatacoop.org.

SEMA News—December 2012

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Home-Run Slugger

How to Optimize YouTube Videos for Search Engines

	Google employees like this one will reward businesses that follow some basic, YouTube optimization best practices.

While search-engine optimization on YouTube often comes off as modern-day mysticism best reserved for the high priests of the digerati, it’s actually fairly straightforward if you know what you’re doing. Essentially, you’ll be able to ensure that your YouTube videos pop up higher in search-engine returns if you follow the guidelines below, as recommended by Bobbi Dempsey, author of the MarketingSherpa Report, “30 Minute Marketer: How to Create SEO-Friendly YouTube Content”.

Get Comfortable With the Terrain: If you’ve never uploaded a video to YouTube before, you’re in luck. YouTube offers a Creators’ Corner on its site that is designed to bring the novice quickly up to speed. You’ll learn the basics of how to create and set up a YouTube account as well as get inspiration on how to shoot your first video. You’ll also find editing tools at Creators’ Corner, which will help you polish the raw video footage you shoot. Plus, Creators’ Corner has a free users’ forum where you can get advice from seasoned YouTube veterans.

Embed Keywords in Every Facet of Your Video: Once you’ve created your video, you’ll want to seed it with keywords that intimately describe its content so that it will be easy to find for the search engines, which look for keywords describing YouTube videos in a number of ways. Most experienced YouTubers realize that the title of a video should include a keyword or keywords that vividly describe the video. But search engines also respond very favorably to keywords that are embedded in the text description of your video as well as keywords that are in the actual file name of your video.

Get Help From a Keyword Research Tool: You can discover some of the best keywords for your video by using keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. By inputting a general theme in these tools, you’ll be able to identify popular terms associated with the theme, highly competitive terms and related synonyms. In addition to the keywords that you believe are a natural for your videos, the keywords you glean from these tools will serve as an excellent baseline in your ongoing quest for the best keywords for your videos.

Avoid Keyword “Stuffing”: Search engines penalize YouTubers who “stuff” an onslaught of keywords into video title names, video file names and the like. Rule of thumb: If a title or description you come up with sounds awkward or unintelligible, you could be penalized by the search engines. If in doubt, trash it.

Be Specific With Keywords: Generally, the more specific you can be with keywords, the more viewers you’ll have for your video. Also, be sure to include the word “video” at the end of every title, file name and other descriptions of your video. The reason: Web users generally use the word “video” in their search phrases for video content.

Centralize All of Your Videos for Easy Viewing: You can create a free “channel” for your videos on YouTube so that visitors will have a central location to find and view all of them. Creating a channel involves little more than registering your company’s name as your YouTube username and then accessing “My Account” to tweak and customize your channel. Here is a detailed video tutorial on how to put together a channel.

Embed Webpages Featuring Videos With Keywords: YouTube offers a free video player that you can insert into your company webpage. Visitors can click on the player to view your videos right from your website. Be sure to seed a webpage sporting this kind of player with keywords that are also a part of your video titles, video file names and the like. (Here's more on inserting a YouTube player onto your webpage.)

Limit Videos to Three Minutes or Less: Web video viewers tend to gobble up their content in short bursts, so avoid lengthy videos. Essentially, a visitor is much more likely to view five three-minute videos than one 15-minute video.

Take Advantage of Free Analytics: You’ll be able to learn how well your videos are being received—and refine your keyword and video choices—by using YouTube’s free Insight Analytics. Essentially, Insight is an online service that offers you a heat map of where your video views are coming from. It will also show you how people are discovering your videos by revealing the search terms they use to find your videos. Plus, you’ll be able to discern the age and gender of your audience, observe how many times viewers rate or comment on your videos and more.

You’ll also be able to see how viewers found your video—whether by searching on YouTube or Google, browsing under “Related Videos” on the YouTube site, via a link to the video from your own e-mail marketing campaign or from another website. And you’ll also be able to tell if viewers are watching your video directly on the YouTube site or via the YouTube player you installed on your site.

Still another metric that Insight offers is the ability to identify the search queries visitors use on the search engines to find your video—information that can be used to make informed decisions on the kind of keywords your company may want to bid for on Google-sponsored links and similar sponsored links programs on other search engines.

A fresh analytics report from Insight is issued each day, so you’ll be able to track spikes in viewership against the rollout of new marketing campaigns on any given day.

YouTube users with free accounts can find the Insight tool by clicking “My Account,” then “Videos.” You’ll find a button there labeled “Insight.” Here is a video tutorial on everything Insight has to offer. Similar tutorials can be found by searching the keywords “YouTube Insight video tutorial.”

Tag Your Videos: Tags are yet another tool that video sites use to categorize content. Ergo, it’s important to place keywords that are intimately related to your video there as well. To tag it, simply click on your video while on YouTube, click “Edit,” and enter your keywords in the “Tags” box. YouTube has a video tutorial on how to tag.

Annotate Your Videos: If you’ve ever seen a comment pop up when you’re viewing a video on YouTube, that’s an example of an annotated video. Fortunately, many of the search engines treat these annotations as keywords, so it’s important to annotate your video using the same keywords that you use in your title, file name, etc. For complete details on how to annotate, check out YouTube’s help section on the topic.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—December 2012

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Home-Run Slugger

How to Optimize YouTube Videos for Search Engines

	Google employees like this one will reward businesses that follow some basic, YouTube optimization best practices.

While search-engine optimization on YouTube often comes off as modern-day mysticism best reserved for the high priests of the digerati, it’s actually fairly straightforward if you know what you’re doing. Essentially, you’ll be able to ensure that your YouTube videos pop up higher in search-engine returns if you follow the guidelines below, as recommended by Bobbi Dempsey, author of the MarketingSherpa Report, “30 Minute Marketer: How to Create SEO-Friendly YouTube Content”.

Get Comfortable With the Terrain: If you’ve never uploaded a video to YouTube before, you’re in luck. YouTube offers a Creators’ Corner on its site that is designed to bring the novice quickly up to speed. You’ll learn the basics of how to create and set up a YouTube account as well as get inspiration on how to shoot your first video. You’ll also find editing tools at Creators’ Corner, which will help you polish the raw video footage you shoot. Plus, Creators’ Corner has a free users’ forum where you can get advice from seasoned YouTube veterans.

Embed Keywords in Every Facet of Your Video: Once you’ve created your video, you’ll want to seed it with keywords that intimately describe its content so that it will be easy to find for the search engines, which look for keywords describing YouTube videos in a number of ways. Most experienced YouTubers realize that the title of a video should include a keyword or keywords that vividly describe the video. But search engines also respond very favorably to keywords that are embedded in the text description of your video as well as keywords that are in the actual file name of your video.

Get Help From a Keyword Research Tool: You can discover some of the best keywords for your video by using keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. By inputting a general theme in these tools, you’ll be able to identify popular terms associated with the theme, highly competitive terms and related synonyms. In addition to the keywords that you believe are a natural for your videos, the keywords you glean from these tools will serve as an excellent baseline in your ongoing quest for the best keywords for your videos.

Avoid Keyword “Stuffing”: Search engines penalize YouTubers who “stuff” an onslaught of keywords into video title names, video file names and the like. Rule of thumb: If a title or description you come up with sounds awkward or unintelligible, you could be penalized by the search engines. If in doubt, trash it.

Be Specific With Keywords: Generally, the more specific you can be with keywords, the more viewers you’ll have for your video. Also, be sure to include the word “video” at the end of every title, file name and other descriptions of your video. The reason: Web users generally use the word “video” in their search phrases for video content.

Centralize All of Your Videos for Easy Viewing: You can create a free “channel” for your videos on YouTube so that visitors will have a central location to find and view all of them. Creating a channel involves little more than registering your company’s name as your YouTube username and then accessing “My Account” to tweak and customize your channel. Here is a detailed video tutorial on how to put together a channel.

Embed Webpages Featuring Videos With Keywords: YouTube offers a free video player that you can insert into your company webpage. Visitors can click on the player to view your videos right from your website. Be sure to seed a webpage sporting this kind of player with keywords that are also a part of your video titles, video file names and the like. (Here's more on inserting a YouTube player onto your webpage.)

Limit Videos to Three Minutes or Less: Web video viewers tend to gobble up their content in short bursts, so avoid lengthy videos. Essentially, a visitor is much more likely to view five three-minute videos than one 15-minute video.

Take Advantage of Free Analytics: You’ll be able to learn how well your videos are being received—and refine your keyword and video choices—by using YouTube’s free Insight Analytics. Essentially, Insight is an online service that offers you a heat map of where your video views are coming from. It will also show you how people are discovering your videos by revealing the search terms they use to find your videos. Plus, you’ll be able to discern the age and gender of your audience, observe how many times viewers rate or comment on your videos and more.

You’ll also be able to see how viewers found your video—whether by searching on YouTube or Google, browsing under “Related Videos” on the YouTube site, via a link to the video from your own e-mail marketing campaign or from another website. And you’ll also be able to tell if viewers are watching your video directly on the YouTube site or via the YouTube player you installed on your site.

Still another metric that Insight offers is the ability to identify the search queries visitors use on the search engines to find your video—information that can be used to make informed decisions on the kind of keywords your company may want to bid for on Google-sponsored links and similar sponsored links programs on other search engines.

A fresh analytics report from Insight is issued each day, so you’ll be able to track spikes in viewership against the rollout of new marketing campaigns on any given day.

YouTube users with free accounts can find the Insight tool by clicking “My Account,” then “Videos.” You’ll find a button there labeled “Insight.” Here is a video tutorial on everything Insight has to offer. Similar tutorials can be found by searching the keywords “YouTube Insight video tutorial.”

Tag Your Videos: Tags are yet another tool that video sites use to categorize content. Ergo, it’s important to place keywords that are intimately related to your video there as well. To tag it, simply click on your video while on YouTube, click “Edit,” and enter your keywords in the “Tags” box. YouTube has a video tutorial on how to tag.

Annotate Your Videos: If you’ve ever seen a comment pop up when you’re viewing a video on YouTube, that’s an example of an annotated video. Fortunately, many of the search engines treat these annotations as keywords, so it’s important to annotate your video using the same keywords that you use in your title, file name, etc. For complete details on how to annotate, check out YouTube’s help section on the topic.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—December 2012

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Home-Run Slugger

How to Optimize YouTube Videos for Search Engines

	Google employees like this one will reward businesses that follow some basic, YouTube optimization best practices.

While search-engine optimization on YouTube often comes off as modern-day mysticism best reserved for the high priests of the digerati, it’s actually fairly straightforward if you know what you’re doing. Essentially, you’ll be able to ensure that your YouTube videos pop up higher in search-engine returns if you follow the guidelines below, as recommended by Bobbi Dempsey, author of the MarketingSherpa Report, “30 Minute Marketer: How to Create SEO-Friendly YouTube Content”.

Get Comfortable With the Terrain: If you’ve never uploaded a video to YouTube before, you’re in luck. YouTube offers a Creators’ Corner on its site that is designed to bring the novice quickly up to speed. You’ll learn the basics of how to create and set up a YouTube account as well as get inspiration on how to shoot your first video. You’ll also find editing tools at Creators’ Corner, which will help you polish the raw video footage you shoot. Plus, Creators’ Corner has a free users’ forum where you can get advice from seasoned YouTube veterans.

Embed Keywords in Every Facet of Your Video: Once you’ve created your video, you’ll want to seed it with keywords that intimately describe its content so that it will be easy to find for the search engines, which look for keywords describing YouTube videos in a number of ways. Most experienced YouTubers realize that the title of a video should include a keyword or keywords that vividly describe the video. But search engines also respond very favorably to keywords that are embedded in the text description of your video as well as keywords that are in the actual file name of your video.

Get Help From a Keyword Research Tool: You can discover some of the best keywords for your video by using keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. By inputting a general theme in these tools, you’ll be able to identify popular terms associated with the theme, highly competitive terms and related synonyms. In addition to the keywords that you believe are a natural for your videos, the keywords you glean from these tools will serve as an excellent baseline in your ongoing quest for the best keywords for your videos.

Avoid Keyword “Stuffing”: Search engines penalize YouTubers who “stuff” an onslaught of keywords into video title names, video file names and the like. Rule of thumb: If a title or description you come up with sounds awkward or unintelligible, you could be penalized by the search engines. If in doubt, trash it.

Be Specific With Keywords: Generally, the more specific you can be with keywords, the more viewers you’ll have for your video. Also, be sure to include the word “video” at the end of every title, file name and other descriptions of your video. The reason: Web users generally use the word “video” in their search phrases for video content.

Centralize All of Your Videos for Easy Viewing: You can create a free “channel” for your videos on YouTube so that visitors will have a central location to find and view all of them. Creating a channel involves little more than registering your company’s name as your YouTube username and then accessing “My Account” to tweak and customize your channel. Here is a detailed video tutorial on how to put together a channel.

Embed Webpages Featuring Videos With Keywords: YouTube offers a free video player that you can insert into your company webpage. Visitors can click on the player to view your videos right from your website. Be sure to seed a webpage sporting this kind of player with keywords that are also a part of your video titles, video file names and the like. (Here's more on inserting a YouTube player onto your webpage.)

Limit Videos to Three Minutes or Less: Web video viewers tend to gobble up their content in short bursts, so avoid lengthy videos. Essentially, a visitor is much more likely to view five three-minute videos than one 15-minute video.

Take Advantage of Free Analytics: You’ll be able to learn how well your videos are being received—and refine your keyword and video choices—by using YouTube’s free Insight Analytics. Essentially, Insight is an online service that offers you a heat map of where your video views are coming from. It will also show you how people are discovering your videos by revealing the search terms they use to find your videos. Plus, you’ll be able to discern the age and gender of your audience, observe how many times viewers rate or comment on your videos and more.

You’ll also be able to see how viewers found your video—whether by searching on YouTube or Google, browsing under “Related Videos” on the YouTube site, via a link to the video from your own e-mail marketing campaign or from another website. And you’ll also be able to tell if viewers are watching your video directly on the YouTube site or via the YouTube player you installed on your site.

Still another metric that Insight offers is the ability to identify the search queries visitors use on the search engines to find your video—information that can be used to make informed decisions on the kind of keywords your company may want to bid for on Google-sponsored links and similar sponsored links programs on other search engines.

A fresh analytics report from Insight is issued each day, so you’ll be able to track spikes in viewership against the rollout of new marketing campaigns on any given day.

YouTube users with free accounts can find the Insight tool by clicking “My Account,” then “Videos.” You’ll find a button there labeled “Insight.” Here is a video tutorial on everything Insight has to offer. Similar tutorials can be found by searching the keywords “YouTube Insight video tutorial.”

Tag Your Videos: Tags are yet another tool that video sites use to categorize content. Ergo, it’s important to place keywords that are intimately related to your video there as well. To tag it, simply click on your video while on YouTube, click “Edit,” and enter your keywords in the “Tags” box. YouTube has a video tutorial on how to tag.

Annotate Your Videos: If you’ve ever seen a comment pop up when you’re viewing a video on YouTube, that’s an example of an annotated video. Fortunately, many of the search engines treat these annotations as keywords, so it’s important to annotate your video using the same keywords that you use in your title, file name, etc. For complete details on how to annotate, check out YouTube’s help section on the topic.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—December 2012

INTERNET
By Joe Dysart

Home-Run Slugger

How to Optimize YouTube Videos for Search Engines

	Google employees like this one will reward businesses that follow some basic, YouTube optimization best practices.

While search-engine optimization on YouTube often comes off as modern-day mysticism best reserved for the high priests of the digerati, it’s actually fairly straightforward if you know what you’re doing. Essentially, you’ll be able to ensure that your YouTube videos pop up higher in search-engine returns if you follow the guidelines below, as recommended by Bobbi Dempsey, author of the MarketingSherpa Report, “30 Minute Marketer: How to Create SEO-Friendly YouTube Content”.

Get Comfortable With the Terrain: If you’ve never uploaded a video to YouTube before, you’re in luck. YouTube offers a Creators’ Corner on its site that is designed to bring the novice quickly up to speed. You’ll learn the basics of how to create and set up a YouTube account as well as get inspiration on how to shoot your first video. You’ll also find editing tools at Creators’ Corner, which will help you polish the raw video footage you shoot. Plus, Creators’ Corner has a free users’ forum where you can get advice from seasoned YouTube veterans.

Embed Keywords in Every Facet of Your Video: Once you’ve created your video, you’ll want to seed it with keywords that intimately describe its content so that it will be easy to find for the search engines, which look for keywords describing YouTube videos in a number of ways. Most experienced YouTubers realize that the title of a video should include a keyword or keywords that vividly describe the video. But search engines also respond very favorably to keywords that are embedded in the text description of your video as well as keywords that are in the actual file name of your video.

Get Help From a Keyword Research Tool: You can discover some of the best keywords for your video by using keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. By inputting a general theme in these tools, you’ll be able to identify popular terms associated with the theme, highly competitive terms and related synonyms. In addition to the keywords that you believe are a natural for your videos, the keywords you glean from these tools will serve as an excellent baseline in your ongoing quest for the best keywords for your videos.

Avoid Keyword “Stuffing”: Search engines penalize YouTubers who “stuff” an onslaught of keywords into video title names, video file names and the like. Rule of thumb: If a title or description you come up with sounds awkward or unintelligible, you could be penalized by the search engines. If in doubt, trash it.

Be Specific With Keywords: Generally, the more specific you can be with keywords, the more viewers you’ll have for your video. Also, be sure to include the word “video” at the end of every title, file name and other descriptions of your video. The reason: Web users generally use the word “video” in their search phrases for video content.

Centralize All of Your Videos for Easy Viewing: You can create a free “channel” for your videos on YouTube so that visitors will have a central location to find and view all of them. Creating a channel involves little more than registering your company’s name as your YouTube username and then accessing “My Account” to tweak and customize your channel. Here is a detailed video tutorial on how to put together a channel.

Embed Webpages Featuring Videos With Keywords: YouTube offers a free video player that you can insert into your company webpage. Visitors can click on the player to view your videos right from your website. Be sure to seed a webpage sporting this kind of player with keywords that are also a part of your video titles, video file names and the like. (Here's more on inserting a YouTube player onto your webpage.)

Limit Videos to Three Minutes or Less: Web video viewers tend to gobble up their content in short bursts, so avoid lengthy videos. Essentially, a visitor is much more likely to view five three-minute videos than one 15-minute video.

Take Advantage of Free Analytics: You’ll be able to learn how well your videos are being received—and refine your keyword and video choices—by using YouTube’s free Insight Analytics. Essentially, Insight is an online service that offers you a heat map of where your video views are coming from. It will also show you how people are discovering your videos by revealing the search terms they use to find your videos. Plus, you’ll be able to discern the age and gender of your audience, observe how many times viewers rate or comment on your videos and more.

You’ll also be able to see how viewers found your video—whether by searching on YouTube or Google, browsing under “Related Videos” on the YouTube site, via a link to the video from your own e-mail marketing campaign or from another website. And you’ll also be able to tell if viewers are watching your video directly on the YouTube site or via the YouTube player you installed on your site.

Still another metric that Insight offers is the ability to identify the search queries visitors use on the search engines to find your video—information that can be used to make informed decisions on the kind of keywords your company may want to bid for on Google-sponsored links and similar sponsored links programs on other search engines.

A fresh analytics report from Insight is issued each day, so you’ll be able to track spikes in viewership against the rollout of new marketing campaigns on any given day.

YouTube users with free accounts can find the Insight tool by clicking “My Account,” then “Videos.” You’ll find a button there labeled “Insight.” Here is a video tutorial on everything Insight has to offer. Similar tutorials can be found by searching the keywords “YouTube Insight video tutorial.”

Tag Your Videos: Tags are yet another tool that video sites use to categorize content. Ergo, it’s important to place keywords that are intimately related to your video there as well. To tag it, simply click on your video while on YouTube, click “Edit,” and enter your keywords in the “Tags” box. YouTube has a video tutorial on how to tag.

Annotate Your Videos: If you’ve ever seen a comment pop up when you’re viewing a video on YouTube, that’s an example of an annotated video. Fortunately, many of the search engines treat these annotations as keywords, so it’s important to annotate your video using the same keywords that you use in your title, file name, etc. For complete details on how to annotate, check out YouTube’s help section on the topic.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.
646-233-4089
joe@joedysart.com
www.joedysart.com