Hello all!
First, I'll give you a quick introduction. I'm Tawny Taylor, erotic romance author and self-taught book trailer producer. I am an Adobe Photoshop junkie and enjoy anything to do with graphics. Today, I thought I'd post a little about my (so far) most popular book trailer, Sex and the Single Ghost, and describe one aspect of the video that (I believe) has led to its relative popularity. To date, this trailer has had over 8, 400 views on YouTube alone. That's not bad for a book trailer.
First, the video:
Now, let's talk about the number of "hits" or views a trailer gets. (Speaking strictly about YouTube, here)
I have yet to figure out a way to verify what keywords or phrases a viewer types in to find my videos, but I find it not surprising that my most popular video has the word "sex" in the title.
Note: I'm no professional when it comes to film creation or marketing. I'm an author. So, I'm here to tell you that if I can figure this stuff out, anyone can. And I'm happy to share what I've learned so far.
I have videos that have garnered very few views, and others that are fairly successful (defined by the relative number of views). The one thing that seems to have a direct effect on a video's popularity is the still image that appears as the video's icon. The sexier the image, the sexier the title, the more views a video tends to get.
How does one change or select the icon that displays on YouTube? I haven't found a way to do that once a video is uploaded onto YouTube's server, however, there are ways to work around that. As a general rule, YouTube's system selects an image from roughly the middle of the video as the display icon. Therefore, selecting a compelling, powerful (and yes, sexy) image to display at that time will make it more likely you'll end up with something more interesting than a white or black screen with blurry text.
Something I've done--Try creating several versions of the same video, intentionally selecting different images for the middle-ish parts of your trailer, and give them a test run. Make sure to use identical titles and keywords to keep everything else constant. Is one getting more views than the others?
Hope this hint helps a few folks! Please, feel free to post questions in the comments. Comments, feedback, opinions are also welcome.
Tawny Taylor
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Erotic Romance with Sassitude
Sassy, Sexy Romance Books
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1 comment:
The placement of an interesting, alluring or shocking photo at the beginning of your video is a great idea. It does end up being the thumbnail (icon)on 99% of most video networks.
Tags about sex always bring in more views. But, if it is views from men looking for naked girls, they aren't likely to buy a book. Still, you can't ignore the obvious allure of using those type of tags.
I'm investing in a metatag builder. I think that's really the way to go. I'll let you know if it works!
Sheila Clover English
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