 |
Adding Video to Your Company Website
Author: Zachary Elwood  | Posted: 22-05-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 5 | Rating: (51)  (?) 
Our company works with a lot of businesses who want to feature video on their websites. This is an increasing trend, as companies seek to communicate more directly and personally with their potential customers. Online video has almost become par for the course for any mid-size to large company. In our frequent perusal of internet video content, we run across a lot of just plain bad video, but also good video being used in bad ways. The following are some of what we consider the main points to remember when placing video on your company’s website:
• Make Your Central Video Short and Concise
A major problem is main webpage video that is overly long and/or overly technical. A main page video should be short and concise; it should usually be an overview and act as an introduction to people who’d like to know the main points about what your company does.
A long video, even if it makes some really good points, drives people away. A good video will communicate what your business is about with a concise voice-over, or with selectively chosen sound bites, and will further tell why someone should do business with you. Short and sweet testimonial sound bites are very influential for this purpose. We recommend these main webpage videos to be only about 1 to 1½ minutes long. At most a video should be about 3 minutes long. It’s not a problem to have a longer, more in-depth video, but I would put it on another page, perhaps on a ‘Services’ or ‘Learn More’ page, for example.
• Consider Your Audience
Thought has to go into who the target audience is who will be viewing this video and viewing the page it is embedded in. Consider the site’s average viewer. What business industry are you targeting? What are the average demographics for that targeted viewer? Where will they be primarily coming from? Traffic from web searches? Internet advertising links? Links from emails that your salespeople are sending? Think about how much information the average visitor will have about your business and how much information you want them to have.
An interesting change we are just now instituting on our own website is making three separate landing pages, each dedicated to a different facet of our business. Because we work with a wide range of clients, we thought it best to split up our services into three separate, stand-alone pages, each focused specifically on the industry we are targeting. Each service page will feature its own short video describing our services in that area.
• Video Should Look Professional
So many websites have what looks like amateur video hosted on their pages. This, to me, is much worse than not having any video. Bad lighting, bad sound, bad graphics, bad resolution; all of these things give the impression corners were cut.
On a purely superficial note, bad lighting in particular can make otherwise attractive people look just plain ugly. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being physically unattractive. Some of my best friends are very ugly people. There’s just no reason if you’re good-looking in real life to come out looking ugly on video unless there’s a reason for it. Like if you’re doing ‘Before’ and ‘After’ pictures, for example. But I digress...) Finding good sound bites from principals in your company and from satisfied clients means little if they look bad, and the production appears shoddy.
How does bad video get made and featured on a website? There are several explanations. Perhaps someone at the company decided to do an in-house job because they thought it would be the most cost-effective method. Or they got the equivalent of a local cable TV commercial production crew to shoot their video. (Nothing against them; I used to be one of these guys myself. But their production budget is often similar to that of a small family picnic.) Or maybe nobody has updated a company video that was made in the 1970s. (“Yes, we realize that Grandpa Johnson is featured in the video, and he started the company with change he found in a public fountain, but most people coming to your website aren’t going to appreciate this sentimental tidbit...”)
Badly produced video isn’t just off-putting to video nerds like myself. Your average viewer may not be able to put their finger on what is wrong like people in the production business can, but they will know that something is not right. And they may associate the low video quality with a company’s products/services in general, and that is not a good thing.
Making good video is not rocket science, to be sure, but it is also not as simple a matter as most people seem to think it is. After making it, you still have to consider how to best display it. The above are the major concerns that should be taken into account when considering creating and placing video on your website. Businesses and proprietors should put a good amount of effort into figuring out the best video solutions for their particular needs. They should consider how to best tell their story, who their audience primarily will be, and how to achieve a level of video quality that will reflect well on their business.
Rate this Article:
Current: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s).
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/video-articles/adding-video-to-your-company-website-423269.html
|
Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free! |
|
Related Articles
Validate Your Business' Trust Factor
By: Diana D\'Itri | 25/06/2008 | Internet Marketing
Trust-ability is an attribute that is hard to convey, especially with a Yellow Pages ad or other print ad. With television, radio, and now the Internet, you have the opportunity to stimulate your prospect’s senses by giving them a glimpse into the business behind the business. You, the owner, can speak directly to your audience. This gives the prospect a better picture of your business, which works in your favor, as long as the production is of high quality and you can convey integrity.
Top Business Tips: Web Video Is For You!
By: Raj Yagnik | 06/12/2007 | Multimedia
Expert opinion and original ideas about how best to use video to enhance the effectiveness of your website.
How to Choose a Video Production Company
By: Paul Lyke | 10/03/2007 | Business
Finding and hiring a video production company for your business can be frustrating and risky for a small business owner, often having to take a crash course in video technology and hoping for the best. But by following these three considerations when choosing a video producer, you can drastically increase the chances that your video project will be responsive, visually stunning, and pay for itself many times over.
Video to Web 101
By: Jim DeSantis | 07/04/2008 | Video
For Internet marketers, the most powerful aspect of video that has been invented in recent months is the software and know how to create video products. Yes, video that you could actually watch from your monitor screen. Video that is accompanied by audio commentaries, which seek to inform, teach, sell, and to entertain. But, how do you pull it off?
Five Key Elements of a Video Marketing
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008 | Video
Video Production
The first thing that you will need for a video, of course, is video. This is the starting point. The video can be made up of images, scenes, and pictures, and these are going to tell people your company's story and let them know the information that they are looking for.
Top Mistakes to Avoid in Video Advertising
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008 | Video
When people are making a video for their company and their products, they often make mistakes that can be very costly. These mistakes can turn people away from your business and make them not want to do business with you.
Internet Video - Why You Have To Use It For Your Business
By: Kevin Rockwell | 07/04/2008 | Internet Marketing
Internet video is booming these days. No longer the step child of content it is no easy for anyone to add video to their site and benefit form it with customers.
Video for the Internet – a Great Business Booster
By: Irwin Myers | 01/02/2008 | Online Promotion
These days your website needs to have video. Your video commercial can be used on your home page, on YouTube, attached to emails as well as other ways to generate customers. However, it needs to be professionally produced, even if you're going for the 'amateur look'. It needs to be short, coherent and entertaining.
Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
How to eject my new SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive
By: sal39 | 23-07-2008
I have a new USB flash drive plugged in to my home computer (Windows XP). First, I can't figure out how to copy files to the flash drive. Second, I can't eject the flash drive. When I click on the Curzer icon and click on Eject, it tells me to first close two applications that are still running: LaunchPad Tour, and CruzerSync U3 Edition. I can't figure out how to close these programs. When I bring up Task Manager, it doesn't show either of these programs. And neither program shows in drive G: (the USB drive).
Recently,when i connect to my aol.windows internet ...
By: mike | 23-07-2008
recently,when i connect to my aol.windows internet explorer comes up right away and covers the aol page what can i do to stop this please
Am ion the internet now?
By: johnsonedjim | 23-07-2008
am ion the internet now?
Is Public Works policy to deny internet access on ...
By: Buel Woolverton | 23-07-2008
Is Public Works policy to deny internet access on County computers to junior engineers justified?
Naked men exercise video
By: David | 23-07-2008
Where can i find a few video of men who do naked exercises. it's like exercise videos we buy in the book store or on line but one wthat are naked men. Looking at naked men who are fit helps me focus on being fit.
I do know there was a couple video that were mostly yoga and the men were naked.
Can't send my e-mail
By: Celia | 22-07-2008
I am unable to send aol e-mail. I get a message about a url and a puzzle. What does that mean?
Q&A Powered by: 
Latest Video Articles
The 10 Commandments To Being Successful On Utube
By: T J Madigan | 08/09/2008
Web 2.0 offers many cost-effective ways of promoting your website and YouTube is no different. It is also one of the most fun ways of promoting your website. But to be successful on Youtube you need to be innovative, you need to be observant and you need to be smart.
Why Benefit From Captioning and Subtitling
By: Stefanie Howard | 06/09/2008
Subtitling and captioning prime objective is to quickly widen the potential audience of a video material through adding textual information. But how can this objective benefit the audience? Is there a difference between captioning and subtitling? Amazingly, subtitling and captioning can offer more than meets the eyes.
Tips for Making Your Video Boost Your Business's Revenue
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008
There are some proven things that you can do in order to make sure that your sales are boosted thanks to your video. Some of them are listed below and when you follow these tips, you will find that your sales will increase. Make sure that your video is something that is going to make people interested.
The Top Reasons of Why Video Marketing Works
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008
There are a lot of people who wonder why video marketing is a good idea when you are trying to promote a website and products. Is it really the worth all of the trouble that they have to go through? Is it really something that people have found to be useful and that is something that is going to make people want to go to their website and buy their products?
Three Things to Remember When Making a Marketing Video
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008
Something that people are doing more recently is advertising their online businesses with videos. With so many people using videos to advertise their online businesses, how do you make people sit up and notice yours?
Top Mistakes to Avoid in Video Advertising
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008
When people are making a video for their company and their products, they often make mistakes that can be very costly. These mistakes can turn people away from your business and make them not want to do business with you.
Five Key Elements of a Video Marketing
By: Darren Webb | 06/09/2008
Video Production
The first thing that you will need for a video, of course, is video. This is the starting point. The video can be made up of images, scenes, and pictures, and these are going to tell people your company's story and let them know the information that they are looking for.
Online Video Makes More Money
By: Dontrell Lyons | 04/09/2008
It's no secret that online video is becoming very huge these days, it's becoming easier and easier to post video all over the web.
More from Zachary Elwood
Appearing Your Best on Video
By: Zachary Elwood | 22/05/2008 | Video
A short overview of some things to take in mind when you are starring in promotional or marketing video. These ideas should help put you more at ease in situations when you are being featured prominently in a video production.
Introductory Tips on Event Videography
By: Zachary Elwood | 22/05/2008 | Visual Art
A short article about the often lucrative business of event videography, with some easy tips on getting started in the business. Includes tips on figuring out events to shoot and how to approach event promoters and organizers.
|
|
Internet 
