Common Questions about Web Video and the Web Video Marketing Program from GM Simmons Co
Question: "Why should I include video in my Web marketing program?"
Answer: "It's all in the numbers! The phenomenal growth of online video over the last 2-3 years proves that the web is moving from a stoic nature to one where searchers are wanting to interact with sites/content. Because of this, searchers are expecting to see more on a business than just a standard web site.
Video also gives you the best chance to put "a face" behind a site, build your credibility online and brand your business/product/service in the minds of today's consumer's"
Question: "What should I do a video on?"
Answer: "This is probably the most asked question we get, yet the answer is very helpful in learning the behind the scenes working of a good web marketing campaign. You probably talk to a number of prospects 1 on 1, either in person or on the phone. Those prospective customers may ask you a common question, if so THAT is a GREAT topic for a video. Consider what it is that normal people would ask about your business/service or products.
Another great way to find topics is to visit online forums that deal with the subject manor of your business. For instance, if you were a home builder, go to Google and type in the search box "home building forums". Look around and see what people are asking questions about. Jot down anything that stands out as something you have knowledge on or would deal with your business. Those are great topics.
A third way is to go to Google's free keyword tool and type in your business category (as the example above, "home builder"). Use the results as a guide to know what it is that people are searching for-and you can do a video explaining.
Question: "Where should I put my video"
Answer: "Definitely YouTube, since it is the 900 LB Gorilla in the video serving world on the web. Once your video is on YouTube, you can use their service to both embed the video on your website and link to it from emails and site pages.
It's also a good idea to include the video on several other video serving sites, like My Space video and AOL Video. There are a number of sites out there, which ones you use depends really upon your desired audience and target markets"
Question: "Is there additional costs involved in video, like hosting fees and domain name registrations?"
Answer: "No, hosting and streaming via most video sharing sites (including YouTube) are free. That's one of the major benefits of using web video, once you do the production (or pay someone to do it for you) there is no other costs involved. Everything from that point on (unless you want to utilize YouTubes or Google's pay per click features) is free."
Question: "How long should my video be and how long will it remain online?"
Answer: "Attention spans online are VERY short, so your video should remain under 3-4 minutes in length. If you have more material on a subject, that will cause the video to go over that time length, it's best to shoot an additional video and break it up.
Video's remain online until you either take it down or disable it. Your video can be removed by the hosting site if it is found to be in violation of their terms of service (which includes using copyrighted materials) so be careful to stay within those guidelines."
Question: "Can I track results and viewer usage statistics from my videos?"
Answer: "Certainly. Results can be tracked using Google Analytics as long as you have that set up on your site. Simply refer to traffic sources and look for "youtube" pages that sent traffic to your site. This will give you the number of visitors that clicked through to your site from each video you have on YouTube (each video will have a different page id-you'll need to match those up with the video's to know which is which)
Viewer usage can be viewed by signing in to your YouTube account, then clicking on the "my videos" link and the "insight" button next to each video. There you will be able to see data on viewers interaction with the video."
Question: "How many video's should I have?"
Answer: "There's no real concrete answer to that question, but really you can never have too many. As many questions/comments/suggestions you can think of regarding your business and the products and services you provide is how many video's you can/should have for people to find"
Question: "Will my video show up in Google's search results?"
Answer: "There are many factors that go into Google's decision to include specific video's on their organic search results pages. You have the best chance if your video deals with a specific subject or product, is concise and helpful, includes the keywords in the title and the description and has tags included that correspond to the keywords your targeting.
You will probably not show up if your video is nothing more than an online commercial for your business. Be sure to make it helpful to searchers and your chances greatly improve."
Have more questions or need more information on how Web Video can help with your companies online marketing efforts? Fill in the form below and submit, We'll be glad to answer your questions for you.
