1. Keep your YouTube video short.

Don’t make videos that take forever to load -or play. People have other things on their minds, and an aggregator site like YouTube has far too many choices for them to pick from already. A recent study on video-sharing websites suggests that a video works best when it is under 5 minutes in length. A CBS-TV report from 2011 says two minutes is fine. So even though YouTube allows you a maximum of 10 minutes, keep it under 5 minutes.

2. Find an angle and exploit it.

Think you can’t come up with something creative for your video? Think again. Here’s a simple activity to help you get started:

Take out a piece of paper and list 10 video subject ideas.

Next to each idea, write down what would make the idea or your treatment of it so appealing. If you can’t come up with at least five reasons the idea is compelling, scratch it off the list.

Narrow your list to your top five choices.

Now, try to define how you will present the information in your video to highlight your video in a unique and unusual way. Will it be a takeoff on a popular theme, movie, music video? Will you eshew gimmicks for valuable information, presented in a straightforward manner? Will you record it standing on top of the highest building in your town? Will you include appropriate background music or sound effects and some nifty animation?

Whatever you decide, make sure you try something unique. People have every opportunity to watch something boring on television. They turn to YouTube.com to find interesting and intriguing things to view.

3. Make the most of your screen time.

YouTube only gives you a few minutes to make a good impression, so you want to make the most of that limited time. How do you do it? Well, consider the last time you watched a movie preview? Was it intriguing? Did it have you curious, even asking questions? Did you want to see more?

I get a lot of inspiration from watching movie trailers -those writers and producers are experts at building suspense and generating a buzz. And when you create your own online videos, you should be thinking along these lines, too. Pretend you’re creating a theatrical movie preview.

4. Make certain you’ve got a good product.

Provide clear shots and well-recorded audio. Graphically sweeten your video to keep the viewer intrigued and interested. If you’re going to appear on camera to deliver the message, practice your lines so you can say what you have to say without fumbling. When in doubt, use a teleprompter. Remember, a few minutes of video time isn’t much time at all. You want to produce and upload a video that’s representative of your skills and creativity; one that is dynamic, unusual and anything but ordinary. Some of the most popular videos on YouTube are popular if for not other reason than the creator did something unique, different and interesting.

5. “Show and tell, no sell.”

Even if you are trying to brand and promote your products, services or websites, you must be careful to make sure you do so in an interesting and creative way. No one wants to watch an infomercial on YouTube. So find a fun way to get your message out.

6 Add your URL.

You’ve made a great video and you’re getting a lot of comments. All of it won’t count for a hill of beans in today’s crazy world if it doesn’t result in increased traffic to your site. So add that all-important URL to your video. You may add one at the head of the video and another at the end. Remember to add your URL to your YouTube profile as well. It’s all in the details.

Follow these techniques to get more YouTube views, and more hits on your own website, too!

Way down there.

Did you notice that nifty toolbar at the bottom of this page? It was developed by a company named Wibiya, and I think it’s got some good Mojo that you can put to use on your site as well.

Basically, the Wibiya add-on toolbar works on most blog platforms -Joomia, Drupal, WordPress, Blogger and Typepad. It saves space if you have troubles finding a place for your search toolbar, recent posts, social marketing links and the like. More often than not, you’ll find the right-hand side of your pages serving as a catch-all for everything but the kitchen sink. Ahem. Kinda like our site.

You can choose your applications from a growing list of handy utilities -live notifications, translation services, your RSS feed, 3D photo galleries, Facebook and Twitter connections, and a bunch more. (See them here.) And you add and remove applications in just one click. Of course, you can choose from a nice color palette so it fits nicely into your site design, too.

I’ve seen a few of these types of toolbars around lately -but this one is free. Not only that, in most instances, there’s no coding necessary; you just install it like you would install any blog plugin.

I think the toolbar can help set your blog or website apart from your competition. I’ve read reports that it actually increases clickthrough rates. People like to push buttons -and it certainly provides you with that option. Best of all, if you don’t like it, you can always quickly deactivate the plugin and poof! -it’s gone; no harm, no foul. Pick it up here.

What’s your opinion? Tool? Toy? Or both?

If you’re looking for a way to take your business to the next level, you might want to consider starting a business blog of your own. Of course, it’s not for everyone. And it’s not the same as a personal blog.

It has its own unique pitfalls and strengths. And here are some of each.

Comment? Love to hear from you.