Who are we kidding?  Getting millions of views for your video is like catching lightning in a bottle.  It's time to come clean on the truth about viral videos.   Anyone who tells you that they can produce a viral video for you is lying…or at the very least, greatly exaggerating.  The reality is that viral videos cannot be manufactured.  They are nearly impossible to fabricate, because viral videos require a "perfect storm" of circumstances.   In fact, most viral videos are a happy accident - and many never earn a cent for their creators.

Viral videos are those elusive videos that get gazillions of views on YouTube, spread like wildfire, and often become an overnight sensation.  You know the ones:  the Evolution of Dance, the Wedding Entrance Dance video, Charlie Bit My Finger and, more recently, The Muppets doing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.  Who wouldn't want a video that gets millions of views?  It's online marketing nirvana!

The fact is that the secret ingredient of viral videos is almost entirely outside of your control.  There's a lot of luck involved, along with what ReelSEO.com calls "Internet serendipity."  That said, ReelSEO identifies several key factors that videos need in order to even have a chance at going viral.  These videos need to be most - if not all - of the following:

• Unexpected
• Unusual
• Original
• Humorous

I would add to this list that your video must also be short and sweet.  Few of the top ten viral videos of all time are over four minutes in length.  One other thing to keep in mind:  The Dance Dance Evolution video, with almost 140 Million views, and the second most viewed video on YouTube ever, certainly helped its creator's career, but even his follow up video garnered only a fraction of the views of the original.  If the creator of The Evolution of Dance video can't replicate his first hit, what are our chances?

However, there is good news for entrepreneurs:  You do not need a viral video to become an online sensation - or, more important, to make money from your video.  You simply need to be "viral" with your target market.   Your video has done its job if it attracts and engages your intended audience.   I'll take a video that's seen by 500 coaches in my niche over a video that's seen by 5 million people who will never become clients or never buy anything from me.   It's not about reaching the most people - it's about reaching the right people!

So make your video with an eye toward having it easily spread and shared, but be sure to create your video so that it appeals to your target audience.  You want to engage your prospects, and get your customers to take action.  Don't get so caught up in the numbers that you forget your target market.

Lou Bortone, Group Mastery - Online Video Expert

Lou is a former television executive who worked for E! Entertainment Television and later served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing & Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox in Los Angeles. Lou is an author and ghostwriter of six business books, a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and a Book Yourself Solid Certified Coach.  His website is at: http://www.OnlineVideoBranding.com.

You don’t want to miss this free call I’m doing with my great pal, Lou Bortone of Online Video Branding.

August 6, 2009
1pm ET

How to Boost Your Business with Online Video

Register NOW

I know you’re nervous about doing video and you're ready to learn how to make it work for you.

Lou's da guy! He's well-known online for producing adorable, funny, powerful and effective videos.  He's branded his business and is ready to show you how to brand your business with videos, too.

Yes, you can make your videos go viral and boost your web cred easily and effortlessly.  I'm talking to Lou and he's sharing tips and tricks to get you started.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE VIDEO TRAFFIC BLAST TELESEMINAR

“I see you everywhere!” Yup, I get that a lot!  Colleagues and clients tell me all the time that I seem to be “everywhere.”  They see me on YouTube, Facebook, on blogs and on Twitter.  I am definitely visible!  But my online visibility is no accident.   My visibility strategy is simple:  I leverage the power of video to increase my exposure – and you can, too!

Online video is the perfect tool to maximize your web presence because it’s highly visible and viral.  You can create one video and have it spread from YouTube to Facebook to your own website and beyond.  It’s the ultimate leverage resource, because you create it once and use it in many different ways, and in many different places.

Best of all, creating a video to enhance your visibility is quick, easy and inexpensive.  Armed with only a webcam or an affordable Flip Video camera, you can shoot a simple video message and upload it to YouTube in minutes.  All you need is a (high-speed) Internet connection and a free account on YouTube.com.

Once your video is posted on YouTube, you can send it to Facebook and MySpace with one click!  Other free video hosting sites like Blip.tv give you easy sharing and cross-posting functions to add your video to your own website, or to social sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon. To really leverage your time and energy, use another free service, TubeMogul.com, to blast your video out to over a dozen sites with one click!  You get the idea: One video to many sites means leverage and visibility across the web!

Keep in mind that even just posting your video to Facebook is going to give you video some mileage.  As others comment on your video on Facebook, the video then appears on their Facebook page in addition to your own.  That’s the “viral” in viral video!

And let’s not leave Twitter out of the video party…  While you can’t post the video itself on Twitter, you can certainly promote the link to your video on Twitter.  Better yet, there are several free services, such as Tweetube and Twiddeo, that will notify Twitter for you whenever you put your video on their sites.

Finally, if you want the ultimate, maxed-out, super-charged version of video visibility, be sure to get in touch with me about a free trial of Veeple.com.  Veeple is the video hosting platform that I use to make my videos clickable (with live links) and interactive. Veeple’s  new deal with TubeMogul means you can even blast your video from Veeple.com to a boatload of popular video sites.  It’s one-stop shopping for massive video visibility!  You can find more info on Veeple here: http://tinyurl.com/ltdjgv.

If you’d like more information or a quick crash course on video visibility, please feel free to visit my “Video Traffic Blast” website.  There you can find out more about my step-by-step viral video process.  Be sure to get your video online now!  Start sharing your video on the web and soon, you too can be seen “everywhere!”

Lou Bortone, Online Video, Group Mastery Expert

Lou Bortone is a long-time marketing and branding consultant who helps entrepreneurs build breakthrough brands on the Internet, with services such as online video production, video branding, coaching and creative support.  Lou is a former television executive who worked for E! Entertainment Television and later served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing & Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox in Los Angeles.  Lou is an author and ghostwriter of six business books, a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and a Book Yourself Solid Certified Coach. Visit Lou’s website at http://www.OnlineVideoBranding.com.