1 Why Use Video For Your Online Business? Sigurd Kvernmoen ©2013 by CINéSYN Published by CINéSYN at Smashwords CINéSYN is a video production company. Visit us at www.cinesyn.com. 1 Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Some Startling Statistics 7 3 Building rapport with potential customers 9 4 Showing off products and services 13 5 Nothing Beats Video for Educating the Consumer 17 6 Video is More Easily Syndicated 21 7 Increasing Interest in Your Website 24 8 People Remember Video Better 29 9 Engaging customers with your brand 34 10 Video Increased Google Rankings 36 11 Video Increases Sales 40 12 Your Competitors are Using Video 45 13 Finding the Right Video Production Professional 47 14 Introducing CINéSYN 49 1 Introduction In recent years, video has all but taken over the World Wide Web. Whereas a few short years ago, it was a technological challenge to put a short, tiny video on a website, making those websites special; today websites are expected to provide video content for their viewers. In fact, for many people, websites which don’t have videos are considered “old fashioned,” “out of touch” and “just plain boring.” This incredible change has been brought about by two major technological breakthroughs in the Internet. The first was the switchover from dial-up modem Internet service to broadband service. This allowed the bandwidth necessary to stream video content to anyone who had broadband service. The second breakthrough was the opening of YouTube.com. Starting in 2005, YouTube provided anyone with the capability of uploading their videos to the Internet, sharing those videos and embedding them in their own web pages. YouTube grew explosively, so rapidly that the Internet giant, Google, bought them out for $1.65 billion dollars a mere 21 months after launching. Today, YouTube is second only to Google for the most visits per month. This alone should serve as a wakeup call to anyone in business; people want to see videos on the Internet. In fact, video on the Internet has become so popular that there are some remarkable statistics about YouTube which you need to know: · 35 hours of video footage is uploaded to the site every minute. · Each week, YouTube receives the equivalent of 115,000 full-length feature films in uploads. · Over 13 million hours of footage was uploaded in 2010. · More video is uploaded every 60 days than the three major US television networks produced in 60 years. · The most popular video of all time on YouTube has had been viewed over 1.2 billion times. With these types of statistics, it’s not a wonder that people are using video for their businesses; what’s amazing that some businesses still aren’t using it. While YouTube doesn’t represent the entire video audience on the Internet, it does represent about 47% of it. Many of the most popular videos on YouTube are professionally recorded music videos of the type that are seen on MTV. Nevertheless, there are also some popular videos which are poorly recorded videos made in someone’s home with a handheld camcorder. Of these, the most popular boasts over 500 million views! Today’s society wants to be entertained. Video is a much better medium for accomplishing this than other mediums used over the Internet. While some people surf the ‘Net looking for information, many just do so looking for something that will catch their interest, distract them from life and maybe give them a laugh. When companies create entertaining videos and put them on their websites, it provides an incredible hook to bring in potential customers. Entertainment has long been an effective part of advertising. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the second Superbowl competition. While the teams are battling it out on the gridiron, other teams are battling it out in the commercials. Each of these thirty second spots, for which their companies pay $4 million (for Superbowl 47), is worthy of the Academy Awards. Millions of viewers watch, rate and vote on those commercials, making a secondary competition that is even more serious than the main event. To ensure that they get their money’s worth; the corporate sponsors of those commercials spend a small fortune to make them as entertaining as possible. They want viewers to watch their commercials, not to take that time as an opportunity to run to the fridge. In 2013, for the first time ever, teasers for the commercials were leaked before the Superbowl, one of which garnered over a million YouTube views before the day of the game. For those who are old enough, who can ever forget AlkaSelzer’s famous commercials from the 1960s? “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz” and “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” gained an instant following, literally going viral, even without an Internet to go viral in. The combination of catchy phrasing and a great job of acting made these commercials an instant success. People were going around their offices repeating the jingles and spoofs were part of almost every comic’s routine. More recently than that, companies have developed video marketing campaigns which are created specifically for use on YouTube and elsewhere on the Internet. Blendtec’s “Will it Blend?” series of videos has been the most successful series of videos advertisements created specifically for the YouTube audience. There are over 100 videos in this series, some of which have had over 6 million views, for an aggregate total of over 220 million views (as of January 2013). For a relatively cheap advertising campaign, this one has been highly successful. Not every video created for a website will have the same appeal as the “Will it Blend?” series, but that’s not saying that it can’t. Your video’s ability to make an impact on your potential customers depends more upon your imagination and creativity than anything else. We have established that the Internet is a visual medium, which is becoming more and more video oriented on a daily basis. But what about you and your business? Can video help your website promote your products and services better? Are potential customers more likely to find you if you have video on your home page? Will they spend more time on your website and spend enough money to make your investment in video pay off? The simple answer to all these questions is “Yes!” Video pays off in countless ways. Of all the content you can put on your website, the one which is going to have the greatest possibility of increasing traffic and business is video. In this book, we’re going to look at how. 2 Some startling statistics Just to help you realize how big an impact video is having on the Internet, I’ve compiled a few statistics. These come from a variety of sources, many being experts on the Internet and Internet marketing. · Viewers watched 75% more videos online in December 2010 than in December 2008. · By sometime in 2013, it is expected that 90% of all Internet traffic will be video. · Advanced forms of video, such as 3D and HD, is expected to increase 23-fold between 2009 and 2014. · By 2014, 3D and HD Internet video is expected to be 46% of Internet video traffic. · In February 2011, the average video length was 5.1 minutes, the average online video ad was 24 seconds. · Video ads account for 12.4% of all videos viewed and 1.2% of all minutes spent watching video online. · As of February 2011 there were 3.8 million video ads, which averages about 30.2 ads per viewer and reached 42% of the total U.S. population. · As of 2010, 73% of online retailers were using some form of video on their websites. · 60% of people surveyed have stated that they would watch video on a web page before seeing what else is on that page. · 75% of business executives said that they watch workrelated videos on business websites at least once per week. · 65% of business executives surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 visit a vendor’s website after viewing a workrelated online video; 53% have conducted a search for a vendor, product or service, for more information; and 42% have made a business related purchase. · A report by the Online Publishers Association states that 46% of those who see video advertising take some action based upon the advertisement; 22% visited the website, 26% looked for more information, 15% visited the company and 12% purchased that particular product. · 40% of the online video traffic is through YouTube. · 94 of AdAge’s Top 100 Advertisers run ad campaigns on YouTube. 3 Video Builds Rapport with Potential Customers One of the problems inherent with e-commerce is the lack of personal contact. While that personal contact may not be necessary to grab the first, low-price sale, it is essential for converting a first-time customer into a long- term one. With so little personal contact, customers don’t typically develop brand loyalty, the bread and butter of any business. It’s the repeat customers who make a business grow and prosper, not the one-time purchasers, no matter how much they spend in that one purchase. Video puts a “face” on your internet business; specifically your face. Viewers start to identify your business with you. Along with that, they start thinking of you as “their plumber,” “their consultant,” and even “their friend.” All of that is important. When they connect your face to your business, then business goes from being impersonal to being a relationship. Never forget the importance of personal relationship in business. In much of the world, people will go to a particular store, not because they have better prices, or because they have the model the customer wants, but because they know somebody in that store. You have to see that to truly understand it. In Mexico, for example, people will drive across town to a pharmacy or hardware store, just because the proprietor is the brother-in-law of a friend of their third cousin. People the world over prefer doing business with somebody they know, and in many parts of the world, you can’t do business at all without first forming a relationship. That’s what made the old mom and pop shop of the last generation so successful. Everyone knew their corner [...]... them to embed your video on their website as well I realize that sounds like I’m telling you to spend your time and money to promote your competition’s business, but I’m not There are three things you’ll gain from them using your video First of all, there will be a link back to your page, which helps your website’s rankings Secondly, people who are looking for a plumber and stumble upon your video on their... When they find you, they’ll feel like they already know you Thirdly, your competitors can’t cut out part of your video, they have to use the whole thing So, your statement of For more how to plumbing videos, visit us at: www.plumber.com” at the end of the video is going to send them to your website 7 Video Increases Interest in Your Website, Keeping People There Longer Let’s face it; our society... are in similar businesses Allow me to amplify on the last one of those for a moment If a “how to” video that you create is going to help your business, it is easy to sell the idea to others that the same how to video will help their business Let’s say that you’re a plumber, and you’ve created a video showing how to unclog a clogged up sink, which is on your website The other plumbers in your trade association... promote well produced videos Since the marketplace is hooked on video, then videos help keep people interested in your website Videos cause viewers to spend an average of six minutes on a web page, compared to only 4:48 for images and text together It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to educate the consumer or explaining your products and services, video helps keep people on your website longer,... embed it on your website, don’t limit your thinking It doesn’t cost anything more to embed that video in a number of places So, think of everyplace you can put it, where people will be able to see it, and put it there Some of these would include: · YouTube · Other video sites, such as Vimeo · Your business Facebook page · Your friends and colleagues Facebook pages · Your website · iTunes, as a video podcast... this than copying the video in multiple locations, that’s to embed the video Embedding consists of attaching some HTML code to the web page, which causes it to show a video that’s in another location So, other people can embed your video on their website, and it will show on their website, just as if it will on yours Even better, the link between the two websites will help increase your website’s ranking... companies use this capability for their videos Instead of hosting the video on their own website, they host it through YouTube and embed their own video on their website This allows their website to operate faster, as it doesn’t have to stream the video, YouTube takes care of that It also allows the same video to be embedded in a variety of places, such as on social media sites When you create a video. .. If all your website has is words, then the reader may not get the whole message that you want them to get Your passion for excellence is hard to express on the printed page Your commitment to customer service is equally hard to convey Your expertise in the area is hard to get across, even if you have 100 articles on your website to answer their questions When your potential customers see a video greeting... from you on your website, they are doing much more than just hearing your words Just like a person-to-person conversation, they are looking at your body language, seeing your facial expression, and hearing your tone of voice All of this helps convey the message that you want to get across to your customers This personal aspect of a video can make the difference between someone staying on your website... years ago For this reason, advertisers must be more careful about how they present their products The marketplace is more skeptical now than it was before, and can recognize truth in advertising much more easily That recognition of truth in advertising can be to your benefit if you use it properly A video on your website, which shows your product or service in operation, provides valuable information . 1 Why Use Video For Your Online Business? Sigurd Kvernmoen ©2013 by CINéSYN Published by CINéSYN at Smashwords CINéSYN is a video production. with your brand 34 10 Video Increased Google Rankings 36 11 Video Increases Sales 40 12 Your Competitors are Using Video 45 13 Finding the Right Video