Have you ever thought about using video on a website? Video is extremely powerful and, if used properly, your story will be remembered far greater than written or audio information would be.
Did you know that:
- 52% of consumers say that watching a video on a product makes them more confident with a purchase decision.
- Cisco predicts that in the year 2013, video will be 90% of all consumer traffic.
- Blog posts incorporating video attract 3 times as many inbound links as blog posts without video.
If you are not using video on your website, you might want to ask yourself, “Why not?”
Innovative Ways to Use Video on a Website:
About Us or Company Overviews
Most of these pages tend to be boring. Spruce them up with a video about your company, what you stand for, what you like and any other relevant information.
Blog
I got to a point where I was spending so much time writing blog posts that I found creating videos was a way to reduce the time involved to create my posts.
Post videos on YouTube (or other services like Vimeo) to permit a new audience to find you. If you are using YouTube, include a hyperlink in the description so that people can visit your website. YouTube is the second largest search engine, coming in second after Google.
Product Pages and Product Demonstrations
People want to see what you do or what your product does. Use a camera to show them what your product or service does.
Show off some of your best features and explain the benefits provided. Consider using video to showcase your products or, at the very least, some of your best selling products.
Landing Pages
A landing page is designed with one purpose – to get you to do something. Something like providing your name and email address or purchasing a product.
Add a video to your landing page to explain what you want someone to do when they arrive there.
How To
People love to learn so show them how to do things and make it relate to what your offering is.
For example, I recently bought a car with a navigation system. I can’t figure out how to use the navigation system and I would love it if someone at the dealership would create a quick video explaining how to do so.
Frequently Asked Questions
You will undoubtedly be asked the same questions about your products or services over and over. Record some videos on your most frequently asked questions and add them to your website. Educate people about your product.
Also, take a look at some of your competitors. I’ll bet they aren’t doing this. Beat them to the punch.
Questions that Should be Asked
Just like frequently asked questions, you probably have questions that you wish your clients would ask about your products or services.
Ask the questions for them and record the answers in a video and post it on your website.
Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are extremely powerful. People believe credible testimonials almost as much as they trust testimonials from family and friends. Want the secret to customer testimonials that really resonate? Get them on video.
Ask clients if you can record them providing a testimonial and put it on your home page since it’s probably the most trafficked page on your website. These are extremely powerful, instant trust builders.
Interviews
Interview people in your company or industry experts and add those interviews your website.
Case Studies
Let’s face it, sometimes case studies are boring. Spruce them up by turning them into a video presentation that tells a story.
Contact Us Page
Include video on your contact page. For example, record a video from the point of view of someone coming into your office.
24 Hour Web Cam
Place a 24 hour web cam in an interesting area of your office. I suggested this to a client that had a staff that was a lot of fun. I wanted the world to see that they enjoyed themselves while they worked.
So what’s holding you back? Begin to incorporate video into your website today.
How are you using video on your website?
Video Photo via Shutterstock
Stephen Felt
Great article, as a video production company we have been promoting this like crazy. Text has its limits and if a picture is worth 1000 words then video is worth 10,000 words.
Chris Hamilton
I have seen stats that place the written equivalent of 1 minute of video being (don’t quote me) about 1.3 Million words.
So you are very right.
Chris
Ti Roberts
Great post, Chris. It’s important that you diversify the way your content is delivered. Using video is by far one of the very best ways to expand your business in nearly every direction: more interaction and engagement, more personalable, better branding, more exposure, more traffic, and ultimately more sales. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Ti
Chris Hamilton
Ti,
As always, thanks for commenting and you are welcome for me sharing, I love doing it.
Regards,
Chris
I’ll be honest, just doing video would be a huge upgrade for most sites, so these ideas are all great ways to get started!
Susan
This article has great ideas. 2013 is going to be a big video year for me and now I’ve got a few extra ideas. Thanks! I’m going to link to this article from my FB page.
Chris Hamilton
Thanks Susan.
Chris
Tracy Brown
Hi Chris – Thanks for the great suggestions!
Using client testimonials in company videos is an excellent idea. I can see how that could persuade a new customer or client to buy into your services (or buy your product, of course).
As a consumer, I use YouTube for “How To’s” quite often. It’s amazing what is freely available!
Chris Hamilton
Tracy,
We use video testimonials and once we started doing it, it was amazing how it shortened the sell cycle. My thought is that once someone sees a human giving your product or service a positive review, it makes them feel comfortable about going ahead.
Thanks for commenting.
Regards,
Chris
Video blogging is becoming quite the trend. It’s important to transcribe the video for the search engines.
Julie Pell
Video is great for showcasing products and actually seeing people inside the company that you can connect with. I think video will have a massive impact on marketing this year.