how-to Articles

A how-to is an informal, often short, description of how to accomplish some specific task. A how-to is usually meant to help non-experts, may leave out details that are only important to experts, and may also be greatly simplified from an overall discussion of the topic. One of the earliest how-to books was published in 1569 by Thomas Wight and entitled, A booke of the arte and maner, how to plant and graffe all sortes of trees: With divers other new practise, by one of the Abbey of Saint Vin...

Zooey Deschanel's HelloGiggles Picks Up Web Series, The Single Life

Last year, Dentyne Gum sponsored a scripted online dating web series called The Single Life.  Starring Taryn Southern (The Temp Life), Jeremy Searle, and "host" Leslie Miles (Final Destination 5, J Edgar), the show is a fictionalized how-to in online dating, complete with Blind Date-esque ...

ReelSEO Wants To Serve You Better In 2012

Wow, as the ReelSEO teams reflects back on 2011, so much has happend and changed around here! And we have so much more planned for 2012! We're really excited about all of the ideas we're dreaming to help you with your online video initiatives, but ...

Sharing Your YouTube Video With Blogs--The YouTube Creator Playbook

There's no doubt that getting your video to show up in YouTube and other search engines is important.  But when you are first starting out, the search engine isn't going to exactly favor your videos or channel because you aren't popular just yet.  Getting people ...

How To Optimize Your YouTube Channel Page--The YouTube Creator Playbook

Your channel page on YouTube is where you can brand your videos through attractive packaging.  It creates an insular experience for your videos, one without all the distractions of suggested videos and that plain YouTube white background.  A channel page is invitation into your home ...

Free Social Video Webinar: How To Build Better Customer Relationships With Video

This Thursday the video solutions provider Liveclicker will be hosting a free webinar, "The New Social Video - How to Build Relationships with Shoppers through Video." I interviewed Liveclicker's Justin Foster for a sneak preview on this event. Social Video Commerce Webinar Info November 17 ...

Using YouTube Annotations To Create A Call To Action - The YouTube Creator Playbook

Annotations are an often overlooked aspect of YouTube videos.  They can lead the viewer to a number of actions, whether it's directing them towards other videos you've created or brings attention to a call-to-action such as liking, favoriting, subscribing, or commenting.  However the annotations are ...

Best Video Marketing Tip Winners: Knowing Customer Pain & Having A Good Call To Action

About a week ago, we announced a ReelSEO video marketing tips contest, with two winners gaining free entry into this year's Blogworld conference in L.A. And while we were surprised we didn't see a few more entries, we were nonetheless impressed with the video marketing ...

How To Optimize YouTube Thumbnails To Attract Viewers - The YouTube Creator Playbook

Now it's time to get into the mind of a movie poster designer and create images for your video that are appealing to increase the chances of someone clicking on it.  Usually, you're going to watch the video and find that compelling image that sums ...

Six Pack Shortcuts Uses Promoted Videos To Get Ripped

Some members of the YouTube community are searching for workout videos, fitness tips, and the best advice on how to get a ripped body and six pack abs.  No, ma'am, I'm not one of them.  To paraphrase Agent K in Men in Black (1997), "We ...

How To Use Royalty Free Music Professionally On YouTube

Proper use of music and sound can make or break your video or film production. However, for those who use YouTube in a professional way, using the right type of music in your productions can make all the difference between a happy and a grumpy ...

The Role Of Metadata In Video SEO, Part 1: The YouTube Creator Playbook

One of the great mysteries among those who don't work inside Google headquarters is how a search engine decides who the cool kids are on the Internet.  The top few links you get from a search engine are also going to be the ones that ...

How To Change Your YouTube Channel URL - Reel Video Producer Tips #7

This week's Producer Tip shows you how to change your YouTube channel URL! Maybe you're stuck with a channel name you don't really like anymore, but all your videos, views and subscribers are on it already. How can you change your existing channel name to ...

How to Track Your Video With YouTube Insight Analytics: The YouTube Creator Playbook

In almost every section of YouTube Creator Playbook, they have provided a tip on using the audience tracking tool, YouTube Insight (YouTube Analytics).  Insight is YouTube's massive test audience, everyone who uses YouTube is represented in these statistics.  You can figure out the basic age of your ...

Video Marketing Advice For Retailers: Product Videos Alone Aren't Enough Anymore

Mark Robertson, Founder and CEO of the The Online Video Marketer's Guide, ReelSEO.com, recently presented the session, Welcome to the 'REEL' Web: Why Video Marketing has Evolved Beyond SEO, at Liveclicker's 2011 Video Commerce Summit.  While he was at the summit, the online video guru sat down with ...

How To Shoot A Fight Scene & Practical Muzzle Flash Effects--Film Riot Video Production Tutorials

Fighting should be an easy thing to capture on film, right?  You just get a couple of guys fake punch each other in the face and have them react like a real punch just connected, with heads flying in the opposite direction.  Well, it shouldn't ...