It is becoming increasingly common to use video to enhance CPA web sites. You can easily use this technique to increase your CPA Website Design Search Engine Presence and keep your clients informed about your services.

We’re going to start out by showing you how to make your video for your firm’s website.

This can get pricey if you do it wrong so let’s skip the high priced director, expensive cameras and actors. We don’t need to make a commercial here. We just need a video for your firm’s web site.

Get a Screen Capture Video Utility.  The trick to making this into a video is using a screen capture video utility. Camtasia works really well, but the price tag is pretty high.  I found an easy to use screen capture utility on download.com called Easy Screen Capture Video for 10 bucks.

Create Good Content. If you don’t have all the expensive trappings there is still one thing you DO need… good content. Give the viewer something for his trouble. Choose a topic that you know about that other people don’t. Choosing a subject is easy if you consider an obvious source, your clients.

You get questions all the time that serve no useful purpose other than to chew into your billable hours. How can I track my return? How can I change a vendor name in my QuickBooks? There are any number of these types of questions. Still not sure check out the pages of frequently asked questions that are included when you have an accounting website with CPA Site Solutions.

Show the Answer to Common Questions on Your Computer Screen. After you come up with a question, then answer it. Make it a question you can answer by showing me how on your computer. Now all you need to do to make a good and informative video is to use the screen capture utility to record yourself answering the question.

Work Slowly. It is more efficient if you work slowly. It is easier to try to edit chunks of screen time out of your video than it is to stretch them out, and if you move your mouse around too fast the screen capture utility may not track it properly.

Careful of Content Already on Your Computer. Be careful what’s showing on your desktop while you’re recording. You don’t want anyone seeing a social security number, credit card number, email address, password etc.

Write Your Script. It is often easier to write it while you’re doing the task. Think of your initial draft as a guideline as you will be tweaking your script constantly as you record.

Get a Decent Microphone. There are a lot of great microphones out there. Try to look for a Podcasting microphone as a normal mic might not give you the power output you need. You could also record from your webcam as some of them will have decent enough sound quality.

Voice Over Your Video. (Screen capture utilities won’t record sound). I can’t get too bogged down on the niceties of making videos (there are whole books on the topic), but I have three words for you: Windows Movie Maker. If you have a Windows operating system you likely already have this program installed on your computer. If you can’t figure it out turn the job over to any kid older than 12. It really is that easy. You can record your soundtrack right into Movie Maker. Everything you need to know is right here:

If you don’t have a windows operating system you’ll need to find some equivalent application. Apple computers come bundled with Apple iMovie.

In part 2 of this series we’ll take the next step to get video on your accounting firm’s web site. I’ll show you how to submit your new movie to video sharing web sites and talk more about how it can help your CPA website design.

Do you already have video on your website? Let us know how you use video and any tips you’ve learned along the way.