I finally did it. I put myself in front of the camera and shot a video for my hyperlocal blog. I am so used to being behind the video camera that I was actually nervous about it. How will I be perceived? Will I look goofy? Will people laugh at my feeble attempt? You know what? I really enjoyed it and I don’t give a crap what anyone thinks about it. I don’t answer to anyone on my hyperlocal blog and I’ll do what I damn well please. That felt good to write, yea! I’m not really a hyperlocal video Rockstar yet, but that’s what I’m working towards. Why not? So should you.

It’s something that I have been wanting to do and I would encourage you to do the same. Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. My good buddy, Allyn Hane over at Blogger Illustrated is a video blogger and he lays it on the line everytime he posts a new video. By watching him and the fun he has with it, I decided to make the jump from director to Rock Star!

To set it up…I recently had my lawnmower repaired and the shop gave me outstanding service. This is a lawn equipment sales and repair shop that is pretty far out in my county and they have a very good reputation and have been around forever. I took this opportunity to do a video review of their business. If you are a hyperlocal blogger and receive good customer service from a local merchant, I advise you to post an article about the business. You don’t have to go to the extreme of publishing a video, but an article and a few photos do wonders for your blog in your community. Here are a couple of links to two articles I have posted on my hyperlocal blog. I call these “Good Service Alerts!” Here is a Good Service Alert I wrote about Tire Town. Here is another Good Service Alert I wrote about Artistic Imprints. These articles spread good will in my community and also sent me traffic. They do not take long to write and publish. That is why I stress to you, always bring a camera or video camera when you leave the house. You never know when an opportunity for a hyperlocal article will present itself.

I shot the video in my yard and driveway. I’m talking about lawn equipment so what better way than on my lawnmower and in the grass? I was by myself so it took a little while to set up my shots and try to make them look good. I used my Sennheiser Wireless Lavaliere Microphone so I would have good audio. This is an awesome wireless mic I use that will actually transmit through walls. It’s on the upper end of the scale but it creates professional audio for your videos. *Tip, good audio is always necessary, your viewers will forgive you for bad shaky video but they will click away with bad audio. Once I shot the video, I was surprised to see just how much video I had shot. I had to edit it down to 5 minutes. I felt like 5 minutes was plenty and maybe even a little too much. Once I started editing, I tried to mix it up a little with a couple of photos of the business and also some zoom edits where it appears that I have a camera man zooming around.

The resulting video I have almost termed as a hyperlocal infomercial. I felt like Billy May’s or the ShamWow Guy. As soon as the video was published, I called the owner to let him know what I had done and he was very appreciative. Enough blabbing, have a look. Here’s a link to the article I wrote that accompanied the video.

That was my first attempt and I hope I will get better over time. Even though I got a little bit fancy with my editing with graphics and a little music, you do not have to do that on yours. That’s not what it’s all about folks. It’s about your content. Shoot videos of your local community and upload to YouTube. Post them on your blog. Do it over and over. Your community will find them, I promise. They will appreciate it. Your traffic will increase. What are you waiting on? Be a hyperlocal Rock Star in your town!

I would love to hear your comments, good or bad. Have a great weekend, wherever you are.

Enjoy or download for free, the outro music I used on the video. “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven.
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