The Free Traffic Blog

I almost didn’t even realize what I had done.  It just came so naturally to me even though it is something that I maybe do only about 1% of the time.  In fact, I almost felt like I got “tricked” into doing it!  But at the same time, I felt o.k. about doing it.  You see, I gave a 5 star rating for this guy’s YouTube video, just because he asked me to!

Now, I’ll admit that this video was a pretty good video, and it actually deserved a rating, but the funny thing is that every day I’ll view a good handful of great informative videos, and I won’t give those videos a rating.  The rating system with most of the video sharing sites help these sites determine which videos are of great value.  If a certain video gets a lot of ratings and comments, then that means that the video will normally get more and more exposure.  So, if you have a way of getting people to rate and comment on your videos, then this means that your videos will get ranked even higher!

So, here is the magic formula for making all of this happen:  Just simply ask for to rate and comment on your video.  That’s it!  You see, I did a little bit of research and found that when people actually ask for your to rate and comment of their video, a lot of the time they will at least rate the video for you, just because you asked!  That is what I did.  I rated this guy’s video because he asked me to.  Most of the time I am so busy that I don’t even remember that there is a rating system, but when he asked me to rate his video within the video, I was reminded and I simply gave him a rating without thinking. 

So, when it comes to viral video marketing, the magic words are simply “please” and “thank you.”  Simply thanking people for watching your video and asking them to please comment and rank your video will get your video more and more exposure.  Also, if you ask people to share your video with others, then they will more than likely remeber to share your video if it is worth sharing.

So why does this work and will this always work?  Well, I’ll be the first to tell you that this will not always work, and the first reason why is because most people ask for you to rate, share, or comment on the video at the very end of the video.  And if you video is garbage, then almost nobody will see the end of your video.  So, there is an important psychological aspect that you need to include when you ask someone to share, rate, or comment on your video.  You need to make the viewer feel like that you have provided them will something valuable as they watched your video.  This is especially easy with a “how to” video.  Think about this:  If I created a really detailed “how to” video that taught you how to easily make an extra $100 today, then my guess would be that you would be very thankful for this information.  Now, if I simply asked you a favor at the end of the video, a favor that would just take anywhere from 1 second to a couple of minutes (your choice by-the-way) then would you at least do me the 1 second favor?  In most cases, most people would at least do the 1 second favor, and when I talk about a 1 second favor, I just mean simply giving my video a rating, and if my video even just gets a bunch of ratings, then my video will get ranked higher and higher, given my video more and more views and allowing that video to be shared with more and more viewers. 

Daniel Pereira

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