Everyone is so inundated with emails, news, and AI Hype there’s little time to focus on your marketing strategy. So, to make things a little easy, we did the research for you and pulled together five video and marketing trends on the horizon for 2026. Here’s what the big brands are doing and here’s how you can use them for your business.

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Hiring/Recruitment Videos

Revised Corporate Branding/Culture Videos

Explainer Videos

Customer Testimonial Videos

And now for a bonus
Interactive 360° Tours

Questions? Need help? As always, we are anxious to assist you with all or part of your next project!

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360-degree videos provide a unique opportunity to market and think differently with video. As more distribution channels begin to support 360-degree video including Facebook, Twitter, and of course YouTube there is no excuse for you to not get on board. Contact us if you’re interested or need help.

How To Watch a 360-Degree Video

Using a smartphone? Hold your phone up straight in front of you to start. Then pan & rotate to watch from different angles. On your computer? Use your mouse to drag or use the on-screen control in the top left. If you already own a VR headset no explanation is needed – you’re a pro!

If your video looks like this when it plays something is wrong. Chances are you’re using the Safari browser on a Mac, try Google Chrome. On your mobile device be sure you have the YouTube app installed.

Try directly visiting YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL3v2V5na6g

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At this point in your video project, you’ve established the messaging and purpose, as well as the style and vision. You’ve written the script and created a shot-list. The pre-production preparation for your business video is nearly complete! Now it’s time to start PLANNING FOR THE SHOOT. Here are some quick tips to ensure your video shoot day is a success!

The Location Matters

• Choose a Brand-Friendly Environment: You’ll want to make sure the setting of your video or the subject’s background visually connects with the story being told. Strategically, this should include showcasing your brand’s colors, products, props, or what you do in a visually pleasing way. 

• Check the Acoustics: Make sure the location you choose is quiet enough for recording audio. Be aware of your surroundings and identify what may create unwanted noise in your video. 

• Avoid Lighting Hazards: Bad lighting can ruin a video. Be aware of glaring overhead lights, windows, flickering or discolored fluorescents, and other light sources that may negatively affect the look of your video.

• Use a Green Screen: If your space doesn’t have an ideal location to shoot your video, film against a green screen backdrop. With post-production software, you can key out the green and add in the background of your choice.  

• Fill the Frame: Get close enough to your subject or product to fill the frame, removing unnecessary and possibly distracting negative space.

• Add Background Depth: Position your subject away from walls, props, and other background materials. This draws focus to the subject and helps make the visual much more interesting.

Equipment Must-Haves

• Choose the Right Camera: If your goal is to shoot professional-looking videos, use a professional camera. Mobile devices with higher quality cameras are an alternative if used properly.
• Control the Lighting: While professional equipment is best, you may be able to get by with lamps or shop lights as an alternative. The tip here is, be sure your subject is well lit and separated from the background.
• Consider Teleprompters or Cue Cards: Either can be a great tool and timesaver for long scripts and help pace your speech. Teleprompters are available as apps, or you can substitute by using a laptop or cue cards. If your subject is talking directly to the camera or “viewer,” position the prompter or cards as close to the camera lens as possible.
• Use a Tripod or Monopod: These simple camera tools will keep your shots smooth and steady. They also add controlled movement when you want to pan or tilt in your scene.
• Use Dedicated Audio Equipment: Viewers won’t tolerate bad audio, so making sure you have the proper tools to capture sound is a must-have. Using external mics with headphones for monitoring will help ensure great audio and a clear message.
• Rent Needed Equipment: Renting is an affordable option when you’re not ready to invest in professional equipment. We’re happy to share and recommend our source, Lensrentals, at lensrentals.com.

Choose the Best Talent

• Find the Right Person with the Right Qualities: Characteristics like confidence, sincerity, concern, and other emotions are important when considering your lead talent. They should be able to speak clearly and articulate your message. We recommend auditioning internal talent before committing!
• Have a Creative Director on the set: Creating video is a team effort. Your camera person and talent will need encouragement, direction, and/or constructive criticism to ensure the quality and vision meets or exceeds expectations. Before calling it a wrap for the day, the footage should be reviewed, approved, and reshot if necessary.
• Plan your Hair, Makeup, & Clothing in Advance: Avoid shoot day disasters! Communicate with your talent whether you are providing a stylist or if they should arrive “camera-ready.” Consider wardrobe as another opportunity to showcase or emphasize your brand.

Practice Makes Perfect

• Review the script Ahead of Time: Give enough time to provide feedback and become familiar with the content. If you or your talent wait until shoot day to read through the script, it may cause delays or be too late to address any questions or concerns.
• Practice Until You’re Comfortable: If you’re already reviewing the script, practice/rehearse and see how it feels to say your lines. Suggest changes if necessary, so the words flow as you would normally speak. Appearing confident, sincere, and natural is critical to your performance. So… practice, practice, practice (makes perfect)!
• Set up a Full Equipment Rehearsal: Standing in front of the camera with audio and lighting equipment pointed at you can be an intimidating experience. A full rehearsal before shoot day can help shake any on-camera jitters. Take this opportunity to make sure you have all the necessary equipment and everything works.

Conclusion

While it is not feasible for us to cover all aspects of video production in this short post, we hope the above tips help your shoot day run as smoothly as possible, and the result is a great video. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, suggestions, or how we may help you with your next project.

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Video is a must have not a nice to have.

Your audience will look forward to your videos, making them loyal subscribers to your content.  Listen to the entire webinar here. Thank you CMI for the informative webinar.

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More News Feed Ranking Factors

New Video Ad Pricing

Facebook has added a new option in pricing video ads, you can now choose to be charged only if someone viewed your video for at least 10 seconds. Previously, the only option available was cost-per-impression, and advertisers couldn’t be sure if Facebook users even really watched their video ad.

Brand New Video Ad Metrics

Advertisers now have the access to more insights on their video. It’s located in the “Video” tab on the Facebook Page Insights. Facebook explains it in detail here! 

New Feature: Floating Video Player

You can now detach a video from the news feed and continue scrolling on your browser. Not all accounts have it yet, but Facebook is testing it out slowly on a few accounts.

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Gap is a great example of this. After Instagram launched their new feature, Gap made video posts that looped seamlessly, allowing them to stand out amidst other posts in a customer’s feed.

https://instagram.com/p/1gLAbDj9mX/?taken-by=gap

It’s a great way to use video to connect with customers! Although we’re using a big company as an example, this is definitely doable with a simple budget!

Want to try it for your business? Call us and we’ll help you out!

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The report also includes other information such as the percentages of digital advertising budgets spent on social advertising, the top social networks used to run video advertising campaigns, how important social advertising is to advertisers in their digital media mix, among other results.

Download the report here!

Need help making your video ads for Facebook? Contact us to create your next amazing Facebook video!

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Users are now able to embed any video they’ve uploaded to Facebook. Just click on “Options” on the lower right portion of the Facebook Video Player and click “Embed Video” to get the code.

Facebook is now getting 3 billion video streams on its site per day, and with all the new features they’re adding to native video, that number will only grow more.

Want to utilize Facebook’s new features for video? Contact us to create your next amazing Facebook video!

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There’s a ton of new social video advertising opportunities and there’s no sign of slow down of video consumption.

Check out this article by videoink!

The post It’s 2015! Are you growing your business with video yet? appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

ClickZ also shared tips for businesses on how to make great brand videos:

1. Think Niche.
2. Tap Into Popular Culture.
3. Stimulate Memories.
4. Capture What’s Around You

The opportunities to grow your business with video are just endless!

Interested in talking to us about making a brand video? Give us a call at (216) 514-1835!

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<re/code> writes, in their article, “Facebook Video is Booming. Now What About Video Ads?”:

• Users now register three billion video views on Facebook each day.
• All of those video views are for native videos — directly uploaded to Facebook.
• 65% of the site’s video views come from users on mobile devices.

The article also notes that while Facebook has plans to increase video ads in users’ timelines, it’s still unclear exactly when and what this means for video advertising on the site. But with the explosive growth in video for Facebook, we’re sure it can only mean good things. If you’re interested in growing your business with Facebook video ads, check back here often for updates!

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> Video will “become the single most powerful tool companies have to communicate with customers and demonstrate true ROI to the higher-ups.”
> The growth continues– more people will be watching even more video online because of the growing use of smart phones and tablets.
> Video will allow you to learn more about your customers thanks to emerging technologies.
> Businesses will be using video in more targeted, personalized ways, increasing conversions.

We’re looking forward to 2015!

The post Forbes’ 5 Online Video Trends appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

We can provide still or motion backgrounds as seen in the examples below, in any choice of color.

Contact us for a quote on custom backdrops.

 Still Backdrops:

Motion Backdrop:

The post Custom Video Backdrops appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

Before sending us your graphics, check out the article below.

1. What kind of graphic types are acceptable?

Almost all of them. We accept just about any file type, and work with common graphic programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Most often we receive the following types:

• .JPG
• .TIFF
• .PDF
• .EPS
• .PNG

2. What is the best graphic size for video?

The highest quality available. More specifically, it depends on what the photo is being used for. A background graphic is going to need to be larger to fill the entire frame, but a logo can usually get away with being smaller.

We want to work with the highest resolution possible. We export all videos in HD sizes of 720 and/or 1080. To fill the entire screen, the image should be as close to these dimensions as possible: 1280×720 (for 720) or 1920×1080 (for 1080).

Most photos taken directly from a camera are large enough to work in your video. A photo taken on your cell phone is probably fine too, as long as your phone is relatively new. If your camera quality is over 2 megapixels, the image should work.

If possible, please do NOT take images from your existing website and send them to us. These images are way too small to be put into an HD video. Attempt to track down the file source, which will typically be a larger file than the one displayed.

Sometimes a lower size, lower resolution image will appear grainy or blurry in an HD video, but look perfectly acceptable when displayed as a small video on your website. However, for places like YouTube, where you can view the video in different sizes–including full screen–the image will again be lower quality when viewed the a larger size.

3. Another thing to consider – Portrait vs. Landscape:

Your video is going to be shot, edited and delivered in a landscape format, so your graphic should match that. If your image is not meant to take up a large portion of the screen, then both are acceptable.

4. Where else can I get graphics?

Royalty-free, stock photos are a great way to find high-quality graphics, illustrations, photos, and video to incorporate into your own video.

Some stock photo/video sites we use are:

• ShutterStock.com
• iStockPhoto.com
• Fotolia.com
• MotionDrops.com
• UnlimitedStockMedia.com

5. Sending Your Graphics to Us:

The simplest way to send us your graphics and media is through email. However, often your media elements may exceed the maximum size you’re able to send. In that case, we’ll guide you through alternative methods, such as DropBox and YouSendIt.

The post Graphic Sizes and Types for Your Video appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

Even though your video may be played back in a small player on your website, smartphone or tablet, the fact is, most support full screen, high-definition playback. Your video could also be streamed to large TV monitors. Why would we give you anything less? We want to make sure your video investment gives you the best return in the future, on any type of device.

1. High-Definition and Standard Definition – What’s the difference?

High-Definition (HD) video contains a higher number of pixels, which creates a larger, sharper image and therefore, a higher quality. The two most common sizes of high-definition video are 720 and 1080. Meaning, in the dimensions of high-definition video there are either 1280×720 or 1920×1080 pixels–small blocks that make up an entire frame.

Standard Definition (SD) video contains a lower number of pixels, which creates a lower quality image. In a standard definition video, the common sizes are either 640×480 or 720×480 pixels. A 4:3 aspect ratio uses 640×480 and a 16:9 aspect ratio uses 720×480.

2. 4:3 and 16:9 – What’s the difference?

The aspect ratio refers to the image’s shape. Older, box TVs and monitors had a square shape, whereas now, they are more rectangular, or widescreen. Often you will see black bars on the sides or top and bottom of the screen, and that is because the image dimensions of the video do not match the image dimensions of the screen.

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There are so many different ways companies can use web video as a marketing and branding tool. Below is a list with short explanations on different ways your company can benefit from the fastest growing online communication.

• Welcome Video – Numerous studies show that videos help tremendously in personally connecting visitors with your company and brand. Why not put up a video welcoming and thanking for people visiting your website?
• Instructional Videos – These videos can show customers what to do on your website, help them make purchases, lead them to other areas on the website, and much more. People find it much easier to navigate through a process when a video spokesperson is telling them exactly how to do it.
• Product Reviews – These are great for showcasing your products and services. Show the customer why your product is right for them with a hands-on demonstration.
• Testimonials – Testimonials are great for gaining customer trust. Interview former customers and have these customers tell visitors how great your business is. These videos work really well on improving conversions.
• Webinars – Webinars give interested visitors free information. In turn the viewers will provide you with their information (ex: Name and Email, which you can use later to get in contact with them). You are able to show your knowledge about the industry, as well as making your brand relevant in that industry.
• Company Tour – People like to know who they are doing business with. By giving them a behind-the-scenes look at your company, visitors feel like they know your company and are more likely to do business.
• CEO’s Message – When people are able to see who is running the operation of a company, they feel more connected to that company. This can be accomplished with a short address by the CEO, stating a brief history/overview of the company, and why they are the right choice to do business with.
• How-To Videos – These instructional videos simply show viewers how to do something. For example, a remodeling business might make a how-to video on properly installing drywall. Again, it builds brand and credibility for the business, as well as getting potential customers to return to your website.

There are many more options on ways to create and use web video, but these are some of the most common. Many web video companies are able to make all of these types of videos, and even help write the scripts for them. Just remember, as always, the content must be useful, relevant, and prepared in a professional way to make the impact you want.

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Videos should be optimized just as websites should be. By optimizing your business’s videos you will get more views, more traffic to your website, and more conversions. Here are some best practices to follow when optimizing videos.

• Have Relative Content – Visitors don’t appreciate poor, sloppy, or irrelevant content on websites they click on. Video is no different. Having poor content in your videos can confuse your audience and actually hurt your results, rankings, and brand, more than help them. Be sure to plan the content and flow for your videos, write scripts that visitors and viewers will find useful, and give your videos a professional look.
• Optimize for your keywords – It’s important to make videos around your keywords and keyword themes, and optimize the content for those keywords. You should optimize and add your main keywords to:
  • The title of the video
  • The tags
  • File name
  • The URL
  • Link text
  • The meta description.
• Develop a linking strategy– Getting your videos in front of potential customers is important. Here are a few ways to build a good linking strategy.
  • Cross-linking (referring to another one of your videos) – Cross-linking your videos is similar to adding internal links on your website pages. You allow users to check out your other videos that they may be interested in watching by referring to them in the current video you are creating.
  • Adding your video to blog posts or referring your video via anchor text on your website are great ways to get more people to watch your video. Also, you can suggest the video to other blogs in your market or niche. If your video is useful and has relevant content, they may post your video to their blog or website too.
  • Post on sharing sites will get your video in front of more potential customers. There are free and paid options and can be done fairly quickly. (see below)
• Brand your videos – Put your brand in front of each viewer. It will help make a name for your company, and viewers will associate your expertise and relevant, useful content with your brand/company.

Here are 5 of the top FREE and top 5 of the PAID websites to submit your optimized video to:

The post Video SEO: Improving Traffic appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

Web video has been growing and becoming more and more relevant for businesses every year. If you are not familiar with the web video industry, but would like to create your own web video for your business, here are some basic strategies to help you start a successful campaign.

• Relevancy meets Personality – It is extremely important that every video you make has high quality and useful information. This will make your business an expert in the eyes of potential customers. Also, be sure to let the personality and brand of your business show in your videos. The goal is to connect with people on a personal level through your business’s videos and convert those visitors into customers.
• Keep it short and to the point – These days, people lose interest faster than ever. Keep your videos under a 5-minute maximum, but shorter than that if possible. Highlight the most important aspects relative to your video’s subject. Give the visitors the useful information or solution they are looking for, and let them come to you for answers to any more questions they may have.
• Production Quality is Important– Great content, as stated earlier, is very important; but so is the presentation of that information. Top-notch production quality is a way to positively represent your business as well as give a great impression to viewers. If you’re videos look great AND have great content, viewers are much more likely to covert to customers.
• Produce multiple videos – Don’t try and cram all your information into one or two videos. Not only is that bad for SEO, it makes the video’s play time too long, as well as leading your viewers in too many different directions. Create videos around your main keywords and product themes, and optimize those videos accordingly. A library of short videos is better than one or two large videos filled with too much information.
• Post your videos to sharing sites – Get your videos out on the internet and post them to sharing sites, like YouTube. Optimize those pages and be sure to allow embedding for those videos. Embedding allows people to add your video to their website or blog. It’s a great way to gain viewers and traffic back to both your video page and your website.
• Make videos relating to trends in your industry – Research your industry and find growing trends on information people are looking for. Make videos around these trends to answer the questions people are asking. Your video may become viral in your industry, and viewers may come back to you and your business for their other questions and problems. It’s a great way to build brand recognition for your business.
• Optimize your videos – Video SEO can get in depth and confusing, and may take some research. For starters, build videos around your keywords and key products/services. Add the keywords in the title, meta description, URL, and tags of your video when you post them online. You can read more in-depth information from our handout on Video SEO.

If you opt to take the DIY approach to web video, make sure and follow these pointers when you begin. There are many more tips and tricks when it comes to web video, but this should get you a good start. Just remember; make it relevant, useful, and professional!

The post Video Marketing Strategies appeared first on New Image Media Inc., Video Production Cleveland.

Web video is the fastest growing feature on the internet today. Adding video to your website can not only add a unique touch to your business’s website and brand, it can also improve conversions and sales. Videos bring more traffic to your business’s website (increase click through rate) along with convincing visitors to stay on the website longer. This article will dive into all aspects of web video, including how video improves a website, SEO for web video, web video technologies, and even a case study on conversions. One thing is for certain, web video works!

There are many different ways people use videos. Some examples include: entertainment, information, viral, branding, marketing, and personal. The most important video types relating to business are informational and branding/marketing videos. These kinds of videos can do things such as introduce your company and brand, engage the visitor, and help answer questions the visitor may have about your company. People who are searching for answers aren’t necessarily looking for a just a website. They are looking for a solution, and they want to personally connect with someone or something. Video can help connect with those visitors and find the solution they are looking for, which should be your product or service.

Web video is cited by many experts to be the hottest trend on the internet for the next few years. Recent numbers show proof of how it has been growing. According to Nielsen Online, over 137 million people watched web videos in December of 2009. That’s over a third of our population in the US, and the numbers are still growing. For instance, in April 2010, 178 million US internet users watched web videos, which is 83.5% of all the internet users in the United States. Even the length of each video that was watched just about doubled from previous years. Trends like these just prove the significance video has on the internet world. David Kenny of Akamai Technologies, Inc. predicts that by 2014, it will take 2 years to watch every second of video that will cross global IP networks. These viewers aren’t just college students and kids, either. When you take a closer look at income levels and education levels of the viewers, it reveals a hopeful indicator. The biggest demographic of viewers are well educated, affluent adults.

The reason video has been trending upwards so strongly is because it is much more accessible and easier for people to implement it on their websites. Videos can be hosted on websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, and bandwidth prices are far less expensive they have been in the past. With the commonality of high speed internet, videos are able to stream quickly and easily. This has facilitated what is called the “Web Video Revolution”, and is set to continue on throughout the near future and beyond. Very significant improvements in encoding and embedding technologies have made video content easy and available to integrate into the body of an email. This is a great way to get more traffic to your business’s website.

YouTube was a revelation for web video in general, and is now the second largest search engine behind Google. It gave users a way to post video to the internet for free, and it also provided a new way to get traffic to a website.  In 2011, experts predict that YouTube will only become more central to the online video ecosystem.  Advertisers will start to use UGC, or user-generated content, websites like YouTube in place of traditional advertising banners, because these banners and content networks are becoming less reliable. Sponsored YouTube videos will also become more important and popular because YouTube is pushing these sponsored links into new locations of search volume. YouTube is also a very simple way to post a video one time for all different video devices, including computers, smart phones, Google and Apple TV, and the new flat screen TV’s that can receive a direct line to the internet. Over 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute! That’s almost doubled since 2009, and will only continue to grow. Also, only about 14% of users actually post video online, so that can be good for business if you can post the right videos that catch the customers’ eye. Using overlays in your video can be better for your click through rates than traditional banner ads, so take advantage of this and put a catchy call to action in your video. You will be surprised at the results. You should also cross promote your videos within your other videos in your library or YouTube channel. This is basically doing a quick mention of another video topic you have and linking to it in the current video. This will drive visitors to all of the content you offer, increasing your chances of a sale or conversion.

Not only does web video provide the most compelling and engaging user experience possible, its success continues to be driven by emerging technologies including production equipment, video distribution and sharing sites, search engines, and portable devices with no end in sight. Web video technology has improved vastly since its beginning. Web video hosting used to be very expensive, where now it is very affordable. There are also content sites out there (YouTube) which host videos for you. As mentioned before, internet speeds and new encoding have also improved the way we get and the way we see video.

Just as web video hosting and technology has improved, so has the equipment. Cameras are able to capture better images, along with much cheaper option that really work great. For around $150 you can buy a flipcam. Flipcams work really well for an inexpensive, do-it-yourself option for video interviews and testimonials. These types of videos are excellent to help build a reputation, accountability, and credibility. Also, the ease of using a Flipcam enables users to shoot and post videos quickly, allowing them to take advantage of hot new trends before the market is saturated.

If you decide to shoot your own video using a flipcam or another type of camera, you will want to edit it with video software. Important Note*A poorly shot and edited video can actually do more harm to your website than good. By choosing good software to use, you can make your video, interview, or testimonial look great and help convert visitors to customers. Some of this video software includes CyberLink Power Director, Corel Video Studio, Adobe Premier Elements, and Roxio Creator. There is more software out there, but these are some of the higher rated applications. Camtasia is also another option for creating a useful video. With Camtasia you can capture your screen while navigating through demonstrations, presentations on PowerPoint, and other similar programs.

Once your video is shot and edited, it’s time to get people to watch it. With the recent technological breakthrough of the different social media platforms, information is easier to share than ever before. You can create a Facebook “Fan Page” for your business. Upload the video to your Facebook page or post it to your Facebook wall and all of your friends and followers will be able to see it. Twitter is another great social media tool to spread videos. Once you build a following, it makes it very easy to reach those followers and show them your videos.

Technology like Flipcams and editing software can enable small business to create web videos in house. Before making this decision for your business, be sure to take these few points into consideration. First, doing video production and editing can be difficult and time consuming, and may not be the most efficient way to go. By hiring a professional web video company, you can get the expertise of actors, top quality equipment and editing, and a great finished product you can be proud of. Web video companies usually offer many different services, including professional actors/actresses, video spokespeople, and custom editing. Depending on the nature of the company, their prices can vary greatly. Be sure get testimonials and referrals from other customers who have purchased products or services to see if a web video company is right for you. Also, there are many things that go into making a web video look professional that people don’t realize. Lighting must be correct, camera techniques such as panning must be used right, and tough questions must be answered in the pre-production phase (such as which format should be used for the video). Web video companies also can offer assistance in one of the most important aspects of the video itself; the writing and creation of the script. I know it has been mentioned before, but keep in mind that a bad video can actually hurt results rather than help them.

Web video companies can give you a great product for your money, and the can also give you great advice on how to make that product work best for you online. A video does nothing if no one knows it’s there to watch. Just like websites, videos fall subject to search engine optimization. SEO is how search engines search and find your video, read to see its relevance to a particular search term, and display it in the search results. These techniques can get very complicated, but there are many basic things that you or your web video company can do to get the most out of your video(s).

The 2 main options on getting your video out on the internet are “hosted” and “posted”. Hosted video is you actually doing the hosting yourself (which I mentioned before is much less expensive than it used to be). The benefits to hosting video yourself are the control aspect (on-page text, user-experience, action/conversions, brand experience), generating traffic directly, better measurement capabilities, and can strengthen your overall SEO more efficiently. Posting, on the other hand, can give you more of a viral source and enable you to reach more people at a faster rate. You can take advantage of the video sharing sites, high page rank and authority, and show up multiple times in SERPS. It is optimal to utilize both of these for your videos, because both will help you website in different ways.

When you measure video statistics, be sure to look at when your watchers are coming from (referring sites, search engines, etc.) Check and see if your video appear in searches, and also see if anyone is linking or posting your videos on their sites. Be sure to use embedded players and not pop-ups, because pop-ups may cause the user problems if they have a blocker on. Follow general principles of SEO for headings, tags, and titles (meaning use keywords in all of them towards the beginning). *see below screenshot*

Let’s take a look at a case study. In this case study, UpDown.com used an A/B split test. An A/B split test is when you take a page, make a change or changes to the page, and test the results of those changes against the original page. By running both pages, you are able to gauge which page converts better. UpDpwn.com took their home page and tested it against the same page with an added video.

The results to this test were that the page with the video had significantly better results than the page without the video. The video trigger was increasing conversions by over 30% compared to the page without the video. Similar case studies will so the same type of results. Video improves conversions. The next step for this page would be to change the placement, title, etc. of this video to see what gets the most attention.

The first and most important thing to look at before you even make a web video is to understand the reason behind the video. If you are using the video to convert or to bring traffic to your website, then to need to look at the most important aspect of SEO, which are the keywords. One big mistake people make when shooting web videos is that they try and shoot one or two videos with all their keywords stuffed into them. It is much more effective to shoot many videos, each going after a few relevant keywords, than shooting just a few videos with all the keywords in those two videos. A library of videos will be much more likely to catch people’s attention and get them to your website. After you find the right keyword to make your videos around, you should be prepared to optimize the video. SEO and keyword focus for videos is different than SEO and keyword focus for Google. People use different keyword searches when searching on sites like YouTube than they do on Google. Customers are even adding the word “video” to their search queries.

Google can transcribe video now, and is very friendly to websites that use video, giving them an advantage in searches. In 2011, it is predicted that rapidly advancing technology, such as YouTube’s auto-captioning system, and new tools for content creators, such as video sitemaps, are helping search engines find and rank videos better than ever before. Be sure to make the content relevant to your keyword(s), to use the keywords in the dialog, and to use the keyword in a very catchy title. Using closed captions can help Google understand your video better, and comply with the disabilities act for the internet. Video is just like copywriting; bad copy or video can make your website look cheap and scammy, and hurt in conversions.  Remember, video can increase your chances of higher rankings than site without video by 50%. Google tends to rank sites with video better than sites without! Besides putting your keywords in the content of your video, you should also optimize the meta data. This would consist of the title, the tags, and the description. Also, don’t forget about the caption too.

Another huge part of all SEO is link building. Be sure to promote your videos and make the content outstanding so other blogs and websites will post and link to them. These links act like “juice” or “votes” for your video, and help your video rank in searches.

There are many variables that go into a successful video and video campaign. If the right steps are taken, though, it can provide you with an excellent way to increase traffic, conversions, and customers. In summary, make sure that your content is always great and useful. Take advantage of hiring a web video company to ensure that the editing and shooting is done properly. Utilize all user generated content websites for video like YouTube, and optimize your video so it reaches the top of searches. Web video is fastest growing way to get visitors to come to your website. People want a personal connection when searching, and video gives them just that.

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