Second up in our book review series is YouTube and Video Marketing from Greg Jarboe. This book focuses more on the video aspects of sites but as video becomes much more prevalent on the web its important to be at least familiar with the practices behind video usage and marketing on a site.

There are two major reasons why a website or small business owner would want to use YouTube. The first one is that Google actually owns YouTube and now includes video results as part of its searches. If two websites have the same editorial theme but one has YouTube videos on them, Google will place the one with videos on it ahead of the comparable site. It’s part of the marketing ploy for Google.

The second reason is that users or customers are actually very comfortable with watching video online these days, and a video is a better way to make a presentation than just text on a page. Free tip from the book: The actual principle from the business should be the one in the video instead of an actor because a genuine message is received much better by the user than a “fake” one.

The book is laid out starting with the history of YouTube and then goes into better defined sections as the book progresses. Users can start using some of the tools within the first hour of reading and get more advanced with each new chapter. The best part of the book is that it shows you how to break video marketing, no small task, into easy chunks and how to go forward with a basic plan.

So what’s the real reason to read this book? The future of the internet will not be as text based as it was or is, and video plays a big role in the change. Business owners need to know what a competent video marketing effort for a small business looks like, and how they get there without spending thousands of dollars.