The Internet is continually changing; every day brings about a new marketing tool or scheme. Only five years ago a business could face possible extinction if their website did not contain an opt-in email newsletter. Now, the newsletter trend has gone the way of the dinosaur and everyone is using RSS feeds. Some trends, however, remain powerful tools on a website, such as an eBook or a free download.
The newest trend in marketing is the video clip. Google has announced that in 2011, the word “video” was searched more than any of the other common words. It outranked love, jobs, news, and gambling. Video clips have become so popular that Google now ranks websites that contain video clips higher than other sites, regardless of SEO content.
A recent study conducted on online video usage has shown that nearly 62% of all Internet users watched a video at some point during 2011. In fact, with the increased popularity of How-To video clips, the study anticipates that figure to reach 71% or higher in 2012.
Video clips are quite easy to produce, easy to share and can bring many people to your site that may not have visited before. Videos can be viewed in emails, on mobile devices, and on a regular computer, making it a very versatile tool.
But I Am Not A Movie Maker
You do not have to be a professional to create a video clip for your site. A quick script, a home video camera and an uplink to your site is all you need. Editing software is commonly available, and most cameras come with this software in their packaging.
Your clip does not need to be long. On average they are between 1-2 minutes in length. It does not need to be spectacular or have special effects, but it should flow smoothly and provide an answer to a question.
If you are not comfortable creating a video, there are many freelancers that will create a video clip for your business at a relatively low cost. Unlike 20 years ago when video production was incredibly expensive, the digital age has made this type of process affordable to anyone.
Loading Your Video Clip
When you create a file name for your video to post to your site, make sure that you incorporate the words “How-To” or “Product Demonstration” into the file name. This will help the Internet spiders find your videos faster and give them higher rankings than other videos that they would deem personal creations.
Advertising Your Video
Once you have created your video, you are not restricted to only placing it on your site. You can post it to your company social page, place it on YouTube, or even use it for email marketing purposes. You should change the file name when you post it off of your site, however, to increase the presence of your video under different categories.
Many experienced marketers also take out pay-per-click campaigns specifically for their videos. While this is still a new trend in marketing, it has shown to produce very high conversion rates. While this may change in a few years like the importance of a newsletter, it may also stay around indefinitely like email. People enjoy visual stimulation, which is one of the reasons that the Internet is so popular, Providing this stimulation through a video will have positive effects on your site and work from home business.
