Web Video Goldmine

Over the years internet marketing has evolved. Today one of the most important facts of it is web video. You should really be using this in your marketing strategy. In this article I will why YouTube and web video marketing is useful for taking your business to the next level.

One site, YouTube has become the top site in the world for watching online video content. The growth of the site has been staggering to say the least. The huge number of videos uploaded each day to YouTube is simply phenomenal.

As of January 2012 it has been reported that 86,000 hours of footage are uploaded each day to YouTube.

Don’t you think it is time you were part of this phenomenon by making your own web video to advertise your products? By not doing so you are missing out on a huge traffic source which could attract millions of people to your website. If you want to increase subscribers and profits then get involved with video now.

Predictions have stated that 90% of internet content will be in web video format by 2014. This can only be good for any business that has an online presence.

An important factor in the growth of internet video is how people view their online content these days. There has been an explosion in portable devices such as the tablet computer, smartphones, iPads etc. All these new devices are used by people to look at internet content.

There is no better way to get your point across than by using web video. Instead of simply telling everyone about your product, why not show them visually also?

Around ten videos a month are produced and hosted on YouTube by the average Fortune 100 company. A Burson-Marsteller study conducted not so long ago stated that these companies would rather use this video strategy than write seven blog posts in the same period.

Have a think on how web video can be used to promote your products or service. Keep in mind the cost of doing so will be quite low and you won’t need to use any professional video company. These services would cost you thousands of dollars, but there are other ways to produce quality video content.

If your competition is not using video and you can produce at least one video a month then you will be keeping ahead of them. To make a TV commercial would be really expensive. To advertise with a video on YouTube will cost a lot less.

Web video content costs

Always a consideration for any business is whether or not a venture is going to be cost effective. Online video is in fact a low cost form of advertising compared to other marketing strategies you may have considered. Yes you need a camera of some kind, but this can also be done cheaply. For example, a smartphone or Flip type camera can create very good quality video.

Web video marketing tools

A camcorder is my preference for creating video as I find it serves my purpose better. You will need a computer for editing the video and also some editing software.

There is free editing software you can use such as Microsoft Windows Movie Maker, but this may be too simplistic for your needs. For many standard videos it will be adequate. There are different web video formats so make sure you have an understanding of this and select the correct one.

You will also need some experience in editing web video and this can be time consuming. You may find you need to give more attention to other areas of your business. If this is the case then consider outsourcing your video needs to someone who is keen to handle this for you.

There is a process which needs to be followed with online video. What may take the time for you is creating the video, editing it, uploading it and optimising it for the search engines. You may find someone to take care of some or all of this for you. There are a few web video content places around worth considering.

Plan of action

Before going ahead with web video marketing you need to decide upon what it is you are trying to achieve. What is your video going to be about and how long is it likely to be? You should aim to make your content run for around two minutes otherwise people may become bored. Have some kind of storyboard ready.

Do you intent to appear on camera? It is not always necessary and you could simply use narration and text in the web video.

Are you filming the computer screen only? If you do go down this route then there is software available that can help you with this. Some of it can be pricey however and some of it is free. I would not recommend the free software though as the results just don’t look professional.

Are you intending to demonstrate your product or service? If so then you will need to rehearse exactly what it is you are going to say. It would be worth filming the web video many times until you are happy with the results. It is possible, although unlikely that you will get it right the first time you do it so don’t be afraid to make changes.

Web video delivery

How will your potential customers find your video? If you host it on a video site such as YouTube then you can get customers this way. You may want to consider creating a blog or website however. You could deliver your video to existing customers via email. The potential for follow up sales here is good as people like the fact that you’ve sent them a personal video email.

Maximize search engine optimization opportunities

It will help with search engine optimisation if you get involved with video marketing. Web video is 53 times more likely to turn up on Google page one than any other form of media.

When you type into Google a search term such as ‘Cats’, you will get a list of web pages returned in the results as well as videos. Are you starting to see how a video marketing campaign can be beneficial for your business? You may be thinking creating, uploading and using online video is going to be expensive for small business internet marketing purposes. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is hard to see how other media can compare to the effectiveness of YouTube these days.

Conclusion

If you are not using web video in your business now then it may be something you could look at. The potential is enormous and it just might be the missing link between having a successful business or one that fails. See what video can do for your sales today.