With the rise in popularity of video sharing sites like YouTube.com, video is becoming more popular than ever.  It’s hard to imagine that every day, more than 89 MILLION people in the US will watch more than 1.2 BILLION videos online!

To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products.
~ Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot

And it’s not just that people watch videos…they take action as a result!  On average, 75% of people who watch a video will visit the marketer’s website afterwards.  And people who view a product video are 85% more likely to buy!

If that’s not a good enough reason to consider video, know that 80% of online viewers will watch a video, while only 20% will read your content. OUCH!  And since video keeps viewers engaged, they will likely stay on your website twice as long.

So…how do you get started with creating videos?

It’s easy today now that every smartphone has a camera with video capabilities and small high resolution digital cameras, like the GoPro, are fairly inexpensive. Plus, editing software can even be free if you use open source software or have a Mac and can use iMovie.

Video brings another element to your blog, giving your visitors a richer experience. By combining images, sound and text you’ll be able to give your views more information and help them though the decision-making process.

And, when YOU are on camera, you allow your visitors to connect with you on a personal level, face-to-face.  This increases the all-important “know, like, and trust” factor that makes people feel like they know you personally.

Along your video journey, you’ll no-doubt find new ways to communicate to your target audience when using video, and that’s where the fun begins!

Here are some helpful tips for using video on your blog:

  • Place Video Strategically – Don’t turn your blog into a video-only blog or a vlog. Many people are reading your blog at work, or in a place that they can’t always listen to a video.  If you’re using your own videos (which you should!) or someone else’s videos, they should support, enhance, and/or entertain your visitors…but it should also be related to your content and not a random video that doesn’t add any value to your site.
  • Add Supporting Content – You ALWAYS want to add written content to your blog to attract the search engines that can drive traffic to your site.  One way to do this is with a transcript of the video. This way, if a person is not able to view the video they can still get the information you’re sharing.
  • Place Video After Content – In your post, first put some written content explaining what the video is about using some keywords to describe it.  Then place the video, and finally add the text transcript of the video. Not only does this make your blog visually appealing, but textually it is a keyword-rich blog that will attract a lot of traffic.
  • Create High-Quality Video – Don’t skimp on creating videos that are high quality. It’s okay if there are minor issues and mistakes, but plan out what you’re going to say, and use editing software to help you perfect how it looks. You don’t have to have expensive equipment to produce a professional high-quality video these days…as I mentioned before, you can use your smartphone.  Just make sure you have good, clear audio and decent lighting.
  • Keep Videos Short – The average attention span today is just a mere 9 seconds, so keep your videos short.  Most videos should not be more than three minutes long.  There are some exceptions, of course, like training videos, product demos, cooking videos, and videos sharing compelling stories.  However, generally speaking, if you can’t say what you want to say in less than three minutes, your topic might be too big.  If that’s the case, break up the video into shorter, easier-to-digest chunks.
  • Hosting Your Videos – Right now the most popular place to host videos is on YouTube, and if you want your videos (and your blog!) to be found, then YouTube is THE BEST place to host them!  But YouTube isn’t perfect:  your channel could get shut down, and your videos are branded with the YouTube logo.  So you may want to consider ALSO hosting your blog videos on a site like Vimeo or Amazon S3, and using THAT VERSION for your blog.  While these are paid sites, your videos will be unbranded and you have more control over how they’re used…but they WILL NOT just “get found” and drive traffic to your blog.

Adding video to your blog will bring life to an otherwise text-based world, just like adding graphics and other images can…just remember to not overdo it. Write supporting content before and after your video, decide where to host your blog videos, and finally, focus on quality.