Video on Websites

As a culture we are getting lazy.  There was a time when we actually got up and physically switched channels on our television sets.  Doesn’t that seem strange!  Now we just reach for the remote – and, if we can’t find it, will spend more time and effort searching for it than it would take to actually change channels manually.

Indeed TV and film have largely replaced reading as way of gaining knowledge.  Why read “Pride and Prejudice” when you can just watch Colin Firth in his infamous wet shirt portrayal of Mr Darcy for a fraction of the effort.  Danger is when the adaptation doesn’t quite marry up with the original source as many school English scholars, having opted for taking a video shortcut, will have discovered!

Having said this video is very much part of our new and exciting cyber space dominated way of life.

It is videos, not the written word,  that go viral on YouTube with resultant world-wide exposure.

The basic truth is – provided the experience looks as if it will be rewarding and time well spent – video links will tend to be clicked on before written content on a website is read.  However – a word of warning – if the viewing experience does not look inviting then they will not.

“Sounds good,” you say, “What should I be doing?”

The answer is simple!

You basically want browsers to click on your video links.

Not only does this give a powerful new dimension to what you are trying to say/market – an extension of the “a picture is worth a thousand word” principle – it also should increase your SEO potential.

Businesses should certainly consider embedding videos on their web page if they have not already done so.  Indeed, setting up a YouTube account, embedding video on this and linking this to a web page will quickly make this a reality.

However there are pitfalls

• The clip should be short.  We live in an age of fickle browsers.  If a clip lasts more than a minute – unless maybe there is a reason for this like it being a record of a presentation or speech – then interest wanes and the browser quickly browses on – perhaps before being even aware of the focal point or purpose of the video.
• The clip should not be amateurish unless this is deliberate and meant to perhaps create a comedy – however this goal can and often does backfire.  There is a difference between being laughed “at” and being laughed “with”!
• The clip should be interesting and engaging – scripts and storylines need to be well thought out.
• The clip should be properly edited.
• The tagline that invites the browser to click should be eye catching and engaging – for example “our director talks about how he can help your business” will probably not create much desire to watch in the way that “3 Sure fire ways to grow your business” might.

Although more costly than going down the route of making your own video clip, the best way forward is probably to have a media company do the work for you.  A short clip will probably only take a couple of days to pull together and it could be money well spent.

YUVA Consultants has an excellent media service on tap to help you with this.

Get in touch to see what we can do for you.