Turning your articles into videos can be a very powerful traffic-generating technique. I started experimenting with it back in December, when I started using it as one of a handful of techniques to increase the Alexa ranking of my Home Sweet Home Page web page.

It can be time-consuming at first, but I found that once I knew what I was doing, had become familiar with the software I was using, and developed a system, I was able to create a video from an article in just a few hours.

So you can learn from my experience, here are the steps I take in transforming an article I’ve written into a video that I can post on the web.

Tools I Use:

Audio Recording: Free Conference Calling
This service, which used to be called The Basement Ventures, will let you record audio over the phone. Because it was created with podcasters in mind, only one person (you) need to be on the phone to record the call.

Audio Editing: Audacity
This is a free audio editor program. It does come with a learning curve, but I finally bit the bullet and started to learn it because it allows me to improve the volume and is much easier to edit out ums, coughs, etc. than doing it all in iMovie.

Video Editing: iMovie
This comes with a Mac computer, which I have. It’s pretty easy to use, too. But there are other free video editing options … if you have a newer computer, one is probably already sitting in your hard drive.

Royalty Free Music: Incompetech
I happen to really like all the funky and electronic music I’ve found at this site. They also have wide selection of other styles. However, you can find royalty free music at other sites, if you do a Google search.

Image/Slide Creation: Photoshop
I started out using PowerPoint, but found that quality of the images were not very good. So now I create all my images in Photoshop.

The Process:

So you can have a visual, I’m going to use my video called “Make Your Opt-In Bonus Relevant – To Your Customers and Your Business” as an example.

Step 1: Select the article you want to transform and record yourself reading it.

Since I post my articles to Ezine Articles, I call up one of the articles there, log into Free Conference Calling and just read the article into the phone.

For best quality, use a land line and not a cell phone. Also, you want to speak into the hand set unless you have a decent quality headset. I just happen to have a nice one I picked up at the GoodWill for about $3. But I wouldn’t count on that kind of luck!

Also, be sure to state at the beginning and at the end who you are and what website you want them to visit. For example, I start off with something like this:

“Make Your Opt-In Bonus Relevant – To Your Customers and Your Business by Carma Spence-Pothitt, author of [title of my book].”

OK … I don’t state the website just yet, but I do put an image with the URL up while I’m saying the script above.

Step 2: Download the audio and edit.

Now I go into Audacity and edit out pauses that are too long, bloopers, deep breaths and other things that will distract from the message.

Step 3: Import audio into video editing software.

Now I import both my edited audio of me reading the article, along with some music. I edit the music so that it fades into me reading at the beginning and then increases in volume at the end.

Step 4: Add in images.

I start out the video with a standard image that identifies it as part of series, in the case of the Home Sweet Home Page series of videos, “Home Page Design Tips”

Then I show the title of the article and the URL where I’d like them to go once they’ve finished viewing the video.

Finally, I create images that not only illustrate something I’m saying, but I spell it out, too. That way, those who like to read can follow along.

At the end, I use an image with the URL I want them to go to as the music fades out.

Step 5: Export the video and upload to my favorite video hosting site(s).
When you export your video, be sure to select the option for web streaming. This makes the video optimized for streaming online.

I usually upload the video to YouTube first, then, if relevant, to one of my Facebook fan pages. Then, maybe a week or so later I’ll use VideoMogul to upload to other sites.

Some Final Thoughts

You want your videos to be no longer than 3 or 4 minutes … longer than that and you’ll probably loose your audience. In fact, a video of about 2 to 3 minutes is probably best. That’s why I choose to transform those articles that run between 300 and 400 words long.

So you can really get some SEO juice, be sure to include your full URL (http included) in the description of your video. On YouTube, this will be turned into a live link which not only creates a backlink to your site, but also make it easier for viewers to quickly jump to your website.

Now, I do all this myself at the moment, but there is no reason you can’t hand this particular task off to someone else who is better suited to it.