Video marketing is just as important for your search engine optimization (SEO) and brand awareness as the written content on your website. Honestly, it might even be more important.
Current trends show that video consumption has never been higher and the value it provides to your business cannot be overstated.
Why Should I Use Video on My Website?
Video is the way consumers are absorbing content on the internet and your business should be primed to take advantage of the opportunity that video provides. Statistics show that viewers will stay engaged longer with video than with reading and are more likely to convert to leads after viewing a video. This is because video allows your company to communicate to your customer base in a simple but effective way.
Statistics on Internet Video Consumption
- Marketing statistics from 2017 show increased video consumption, with the trend continuing to increase in the next few years.
- Currently, YouTube has over a billion users. This amounts to almost a 1/3 of all internet users.
- 85% of internet users within the U.S. consume content through video.
- By 2019, video consumption is expected to increase to around 80% of all internet traffic.
Reasons Why Your Business Should Have Video On Your Website
There are many reasons for placing a video or several videos on your website:
1. Improve Your Rank on the Search Engine Results Pages
The old saying, “Content is King” applies to videos too! Although the footage in the video may not be indexed by search engine crawlers, the way the data is optimized on the video makes the difference.
Keywords
Using keywords in the video title, descriptions, and tags help provide an additional SEO boost.
Optimized YouTube Channel
Additionally, Google owns YouTube. This is a built-in advantage for your company to have an increased presence in Google’s search engine results page.
Create an optimized channel that hosts all of your video content, even if you have the video embedded on your actual website. The channel and videos provide high-quality backlinks and information about your website.
2. Show Off Your Brand, Products, Services, and Company Personality
Video is a great way to humanize your brand and connect with your website visitors. This connection is part of relationship and trust building. People buy from businesses they trust, and a video can help bridge the gap.
Create Trust
Videos send signals that show you believe in your product or service. Even when a video is not watched, there is a subconscious trust signal being established between your brand and the viewer. This is why having a video for your services or products is a great way to create emotions within your customer base that triggers them to contact you.
3. Stand Out From Your Competition
A lot of businesses are still out of the loop on the importance of video, but that window of opportunity is closing. As more companies become aware of the success of online video marketing, your competitors may use the opportunity to get ahead of you in search results and brand message.
Videos will help you reach new website visitors and create a lasting impression.
Video Provides a Better Website Experience and Retention Rate
A video provides supplemental material to the static content on a website that helps to provide a compelling experience for the consumer. Videos are a great way to build a lasting relationship with online visitors.
Consumers are more likely to remember your video than the content they can read on your competitor’s website. Add in the fact that video links are easily shareable, and you have an opportunity for your customers to post your content across their social platforms. Take a look at HubSpot’s infographic on Twitter Video Statistics for additional proof of how video and social media are interconnected.
Can I Use YouTube Videos on My Website?
Absolutely!
Since YouTube is owned by Google, and even by itself is the second most-used search engine on the internet, it is highly recommended to use this platform for your videos.
There are several plugins that can be added to the backend dashboard of your WordPress website to incorporate playlists from your YouTube channel. The actual YouTube plugin is a great one because it allows a high degree of functionality and control.
What Types of Videos Should I Make?
Take advantage of all forms of video media for your business. Each type of video should have a specific message in mind. There are a few options that all companies can benefit from using as promotional material.
Introduction to the Business
Think of this as your opportunity to tell your customers who you are, what your business is about, and WHY they should work with you versus your competition. Consider this as a mini TV advertisement, but for the internet. Often a video like this is best presented on the website’s homepage.
Here the Coca-Cola company takes you on an adventure just to tell you who they are!
Product and Services
Commercials and advertisements are an everyday part of life, but advertising space for TV and billboards is costly. Online videos on your website and YouTube channel don’t have to be restricted to a specific time slot, length, or style.
For example, the video below is much longer than a commercial, but provides more detail and is geared toward someone further in the buyer cycle. What the video does well is that it provides graphics, and examples of why you should purchase one product over a competitor.
Customer Testimonials
A customer’s personal experience with your company speaks volumes. Consumers are more likely to trust their peer’s experience over a sales pitch any day, and a good testimonial video that shows your client is going to elicit a more favorable response than a picture with a caption stating, “We loved our experience with Company XYZ.” People can be pretty skeptical and a video can help overcome the skepticism.
The video below offers perspectives from three different client on the success they received and the working relationship have from their service provider. The video is clean and crisp, but also the viewer does not get the impression that these are paid actors in a staged review. This is a great way to showcase how your business can help your potential clients.
Instructional
Who wants to read a long instruction manual when YouTube is full of tutorial videos? Answers to a lot of questions for “how to …” are readily available online. Instead of giving a random amateur YouTuber more hits on their channel, optimize your company’s web videos to answer questions relevant to your business. You may be surprised at how well your videos are received and it can give your company the opening to attract new clients.
Examples of Instructional Video:
This video explaining how to finish drywall is a good example of an instructional video that understands the need to keep the viewer’s attention. First, the video is broken down into multiple parts so that the viewer does not have to watch a full 20 minute tutorial AND the viewer can select the video that corresponds with their needs.
What Should I Avoid When Creating Video for My Website?
There are definitely things that should be avoided when it comes to making a video for your website. Remember the goal is to create engaging content that causes the RIGHT emotional response to your viewers. Here are some tips to avoid creating a video that derails your marketing strategy:
Keep your message short and simple: Make sure you can hit all the hot points in your video during the time allotted. Don’t overextend your screen time as it can negatively affect viewership. If your topic is broader than the time you have, break the message down into multiple videos. KEEP YOUR VIEWERS ATTENTION!
Don’t bore your audience! Keep your video exciting. This will help engagement and allow you to effectively get your message across. People will zone out or leave a boring video that doesn’t grab their attention.
Shoot with a Script: This will help keep your video and message on track. Even if you are an expert on your topic, having a script will keep you focused. This will provide confidence to the person in the video or doing the voice over and will help them on during filming to eliminate awkward pauses and gestures.
Don’t Over Promote Your Business, BUT Make Sure You Have a Call-to-Action Included – Without a call to action in your video, you will lose some of the effectiveness of your message and marketing effort. Ask your viewer to complete the cycle by presenting a call-to-action that grabs them emotionally and causes them to act! But be careful – don’t over promote your business or you could turn off potential customers by selling to them too much. Keep the information clean and simple.
Get Help Adding Videos to Your Website
Now that you understand the benefit of adding videos to your website, it is important to take advantage of professional support to help your website grow. If you are in need of video marketing support, TheeDesign can provide that solution.
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