A couple of weeks ago I outlined how I put together copy for a sales page. Following much the same approach I wrote a script for a sales video and only yesterday posted it live online. Now since the product has yet to be given Clickbank approval I won’t  reveal it just yet, but I thought I’d outline the process of making the video in case others find it useful.

This is the second sales video I have created and I decided to try a slightly different method this time. My first sales videowas created using only Camtasia. However since then I had found a method that includes Audacity.

Audacity is a free open source audio editor that can record, edit and mix audio. I have heard it recommended by several internet marketers for its sound quality so I decided to use it for the video. You can download it from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/.

Once I had downloaded the software it was time to record the script. At present I am using a Plantronics headset with a microphone. When I record for normal content I usually place the mike by my throat, but a sales video requires a bit more enthusiasm and volume than usual so I tend to put the mike higher, roughly nose level. Before recording your own audio track you should make some trial recordings so that you can adjust the microphone position and get an idea of the recording levels to use.

When you start your recording leave a silence for at least ten seconds before you start speaking. You’ll need this pause later when you record the visual element of the sales video.

A sales video usually lasts more than 5 or 10 minutes and it’s almost certain that you’ll make some mistakes during the recording. The secret here is to pause after each mistake, make sure you know what you want to say, then simply start again from the point in the script just before where the error occurred. The key is to leave a silent pause because it will leave a flat gap as you look at the timeline of the recording. This makes it easy to see where you made your mistakes so you don’t have to hunt for them when it comes to editing.

Often editing is mostly the cutting out of mistakes. You can easily select a section of a recording in Audacity and get it to play just the section you have highlighted for removal. This way you can be sure you are only removing the parts you do not want. Audacity can do much more than just cut sections of audio and if you need any help you can Google ‘Audacity Wiki’ or search YouTube for instructional videos.

Once the audio is as you want it’s time to save it. I usually save audio as an mp3, but this time I saved the audio as a WAV file. Again this was to have a better quality recording.

Now you can import the audio track into Camtasia ready to produce the video element. On a sales video this is usually a Powerpoint presentation (or Keynote if you’re using a Mac). One way to create the slides is to find key pieces of the script that highlight or summarise the main points of your sales presentation. If you have a list make a series of slides where each point is added so you can build the list visually as your narration mentions each point.

Next I recorded the slides and the method I used is the reason for setting up the audio track first. All you have to do is record the presentation while the audio is playing and you change the slides at the proper points.

Remember I told you to record at least ten seconds of silence at the start of the audio track? This is so when you start the recording in Camtasia you have time to open the slides at the first one and be ready to move on to the next slides before your recording starts speaking. Get this right and it can save a lot of editing time.

However there’s almost certain to be some small tweaks you’ll want to make. The biggest mistake you can make is to forget you now have two recorded tracks. If you want to cut a piece of video you have to remember to move the audio track otherwise you’ll lose some of the narration too.

Once the sales video is complete it’s time to produce it as a mp4 file. Then you can set it up ready for upload to your website using software like Easy Video Suite.

It’s certainly easier to create, produce and upload video, but there are still some pitfalls for the unwary. I hope you found the above helpful.