Online videos add dimension to any website. They can showcase a product or service in a way text and still-graphics simply cannot. The adage, “A picture says a thousand words”, is absolutely true, but when it comes to on-line videos, I dare say that it’s safe to say, “A picture says a thousand words, but a video says a thousand more.”
How Can Videos Make A Difference?
Videos have great potential to impact your marketing efforts in positive ways; and here are a few thoughts to consider:
- Videos add a human touch to your product—they provide a personal feel in a digital world.
- Videos can contribute to higher conversion rates.
- Videos afford increased exposure, especially when utilizing such popular, dominating platforms as YouTube.
The Forrester Research Report of January 2009 revealed that a video is at least 50 times more likely to produce a first-page Google ranking than conventional search engine marketing methods. Additionally, videos will start to show in search engine results in days instead of months. With that being said, the research is worth pondering and it just might behoove one to seriously consider embedding video(s) in one’s online site.
Implementing the Video Dimension:
A key element is adding that oh-so-rare personal touch; and that means appealing to your audience in a way that will enlist them and keep their attention. The types of topics that are universally appealing are simple yet intriguing, are humble yet articulate and give a ‘down-home’ feel, such as:
- Videos that provide ‘how-to’ advice on repairing, creating, solving, playing, organizing—whatever perspective would compliment your site’s product or service.
- Videos that allow one to ‘meet’ those in your company who ‘make it happen’– there’s something about putting a human face to a business’ work-team. It allows your on-line visitors to gain a sense of genuine connectedness—you become more ‘real’; and that transparency translates into consumers’ increased confidence and trust in you as well as your product or service; and that will, most definitely, influence conversion rates.
- Videos that offer quiz snippets–for example, if your on-line business provides exotic animals for children’s parties, quiz snippets can capture attention and maintain a level of intrigue. Here’s an example: “Do you think our most exotic animal at your party will be: (a) a baby alligator (b) a kangaroo (c) a desert fox or (d) a 5’ boa constrictor? Snippets should offer dramatic information, if at all possible, that gets one’s juices flowing, rousing a visitor to want to know more!
On-site tours or behind-the-scene interviews could serve as a video’s approach, as well—any topic that captivates a visitor’s interest and keeps it, while developing a feeling of intimacy at the same time.
The Needed Technical Side:
If you have successfully created your video, your production will need to be prepared in such a way that it can be indexed by search engines. Once your video is uploaded to your website, you’ll need to submit it to Google or it will not be crawled and indexed as a regular page, which means it would fail to show up in search engine results. You’ll want to take the necessary step of utilizing a media RSS feed to actively submit your video information or create a video sitemap which will provide guidelines for video content. You must, also, create a robots.txt file and incorporate all your video pages to make sure Google is not restricted, and permit the search engine to rapidly authenticate your video content. If this sounds too overwhelming, professionals like MMT Advertising, can help with this final step.
A bit of elbow grease, but the rewards will be worth the effort!
Got a strong online marketing presence? Keep following Nebraska’s retired educator, K. Carlson, and you will.
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