Videos are a great way to improve your online presence. If you don’t already have one, it’s easy to set up with your own website, Facebook, and maybe even a Twitter account. But a good way to drive more visitors to your site – and a great way to retain those pageviews as regular users – is to add videos to your website.
Video is simply a great way to communicate with people. Video is much more engaging and direct an experience that simply static images and bars of text. The great thing is that videos are really easy to make now, with sites like Animoto offering free, easy conversion of images into video slideshows.
Make your videos today, and connect with a wider audience! Here are some ways to use videos to improve your online presence:
- Make a knockout pitch Forget expensive TV adverts or longwinded Powerpoint presentations. A high-quality video presentation will communicate more in less than a minute and will help people remember it better. Show off what you or your company can do for your users, and why they should trust you.
A simple video, with a good script and professional visuals will capture and retain the attention. Put a pitch video on the landing page of your site and show, not tell, people exactly who you are and what you’re about in the very first minute.
Dollar Shave Club has a great pitch video, and is hilarious besides http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
- Show off your expertise How-to guides are especially popular all over the internet, nowhere more so than on Youtube. Show off your expertise, and give people advice, hints and tips on how they can do things a little better.
By offering people useful information, you’re not only demonstrating your expertise and gaining credibility; you’re also showing how you can create value for them. One way bloggers gain traction is by offering new, useful content, which drives traffic and pageviews to sites, and and gives you more opportunities to convert them to customers. This is the basis of inbound marketing.
Wendy’s Lookbook got a lot of views over her quirky, popular video 25 ways to wear a scarf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LYAEz777AU
- Share your opinions Discuss current controversies or talking points in your knowledge domain, or simply make video responses to popular videos. Highlight the important points and raise issues that may have been overlooked, or simply offer your expert opinion.
By taking part in discussions of current affairs you stay relevant and visible, and particularly insightful or pithy observations will draw in more views, responses and attention, extending your reach.
Some time ago, a huge controversy was stirred up by a blonde college student complaining about Asian students in the library; this rode the wave of controversies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGpGoEMu2s
- Demonstrate how to use your site A simple video tutorial will often explain things more clearly than long Help or FAQ pages. Done correctly this will not only help users better navigate and utilize your website, but also give you a better chance to capture their attention and show off the features of your site that they may have missed on the first go.
If your website is too complicated, users can get bored and leave; a simple tutorial video will alleviate that pain. And, as with all videos, if you make it quirky and interesting, it’s an additional nudge for them to use your site.
It’s not exactly a website, but here’s a product demonstration by Apple showing off Siri in iPhone 4.
- Charm them – make ‘em laugh! Make your own quirky, lighthearted videos about the company or yourself. Everybody loves a funny video, and making people laugh is one step closer to charming them and gaining a new follower or subscriber.
There’s a chance you’ll strike gold and have it go viral – but even if not, make them laugh and you’ll have a new friend.
Will it Blend is a popular video series showing what happens when you put things into a blender – but how many know it’s actually a superb viral campaign by BlendTec Blenders? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnonj_84Ju4
But making a video and placing it on your site is not enough; you need the video to actually be more than simple entertainment.
For example, it’s important to add backlinks to your site and remind users who you are and where you can be found. Users are more likely to click videos on Google and this helps point them in your direction — not to mention gaining valuable SEO ranking that could bump your site upwards.
It’s also great to add a watermark or a pre-roll with your company name and logo to remind them who you are. A big part of getting attention is to make things easy for people, and it’s a great opportunity to get some branding done.
End the video with a call to action. Direct them to watch your other videos, get them to sign up now with your form (link in the video) or show them the way to your website. Having captured their attention remember to do something with it!
Finally, distribute your videos! Share it on social networks, with friends and clients. Make sure your video gets as much exposure and views as possible. The greater the reach of your video, the more effective your video efforts will be. Our site, Startcut.com, offers a one-click solution to the problem of video distribution by uploading your video directly to the 20 largest video sites all over the world, with a potential audience of over 3 billion people.
Darren does marketing, blogging, and works at an Israeli startup at Startcut.com. StartCut helps you by distributing your videos to over 25 websites and 3 billion viewers. Visit StartCut today, or inquire at blog@startcut.com for more information.
