How necessary is it to have a video about you or your product or service on your website?

Videos can be optimized, just like webpages. The difference between optimizing webpages and videos is that while Google can't see the content of the video, it can certainly see the file name and the text in the description provided. It has been my experience with clients that in many categories, the video may come up on the first page of Google.

There is also great value in having your video appear in the Google Local listing.

Of course, the quality of the video will communicate a great deal about your company, so do something you are proud of. I make videos that work nicely with just my iPhone, a good microphone, and lights that cost less than $200.

Here are some stats that might help:

With proper optimization, video increases the chance of a front page Google result by 53x.
Forrester, January 2010

A visitor who watched a product video is 85% more likely to make a purchase than if they hadn’t.
Internet Retailer, April 2010

Zappos achieved a 6-30% increase in sales after implementing product videos onto their website.
ReelSEO, December 2009

In a recent study, it was found that eCommerce sites that display video increased conversion by 30% and increased average ticket sales by 13%.
L2 Specialty Retail Report, September 2010

Visitors who view video on retail sites stay 2 minutes longer than those who do not.
comScore, August 2010

Airgun Depot reports that they noticed 10-12% higher conversion rates for shoppers who watched videos.
Internet Retailer, October 2010

Living Direct, #259 in the Top 500 Guide, discovered that their customers spent 9% more time on a page where video was present.
Internet Retailer, October 2010

eParty found that customers who watched product videos had a 43% higher conversion rate compared to customers who did not.
nternet Retailer, February 2011

A recent study by Forrester showed that video increased email click-through rates by 2-3x.
Forrester, 2010

Swimwear Boutique found that 90% of shoppers found video useful in making purchasing decisions.
Internet Retailer, October 2010

Marketers in the United States are expected to spend $2.16 billion on online video ads in 2011, that’s a 52.1% increase from the $1.42 billion last year.
Internet Retailer, June 2011

Marks & Spencer, using video technology provided by Brightcove and Adjust Your Set, report that click-through rates increased 30% after the addition of video, driving some product sales by as much as 90%.
Internet Retailer, February 2010

After doubling their library of online videos, Skis.com experienced a 19% increase in conversion rates and a 13% increase in number of page views per visit.
Internet Retailer, July 2009

Ice.com, internet jewelry retailer, reported that the conversion rate on products purchases was 4x higher after viewing a video. They also noticed that their monthly product return rates dropped from 12% to under 9%.
Internet Retailer, December 2009

According to a survey conducted by Forbes Insights in 2010, 65% of C-Level and senior executives visited a vendor’s website after viewing a video.
Forbes Insights, 2010

In March 2011, 83.5% of the U.S. internet audience viewed online video. That’s 174.3 million unique viewers generating 5.8 billion viewing sessions. 12.7% of all video views were solely video advertisements.
comScore, 2011

A recent study by Forrester Research found that videos, if properly optimized, were 53 times more likely to generate a first page Google ranking than traditional SEO techniques alone. So, until that changes and if getting found is important to you, I'd say you want a video. On the homepage.

Regardless of SEO, video is a powerful tool that can bring a brand to life online. People research a website to get answers to their big questions: who are these people, what do they do, does it feel right for me? A video can provide answers and develop buying confidence.

Full disclosure: my Agency specializes in Brands, Interactive Websites, ad Video.

The big advantage of video is not SEO. It is grabbing — and holding — attention on the site and conveying more information than you would get across otherwise. That's reason enough to use it if you can.

Al Shultz
www.alshultz.com

I agree that video is an important component of a web presence. Whether it is video testimonials from your customers (very compelling), a video of how to use your products, or a video of you and your people, video can help you promote your product and services.

Word of warning: Even though you can easily and affordably produce video you still need to consider a few things especially when video taping people.

1. Be well lit. Daylight balanced lights are the best
2. Use a microphone. Even though cameras have built in mics it can sound bad without one.
3. Stay still. Don't move towards and away from the camera. Watch TV and movies. Newscasters and actors stay pretty still. That doesn't mean being stiff but avoid unnecessary movement. Movement appears bigger on camera
4.Wear clothing that is flattering, professional, neat and well pressed.

Video can express who you are, what it is like to work with you and your production values in just a few seconds. If those first few seconds are engaging, they'll watch the entire 1 - 2.5 minutes.

This is a ridiculous assertion. Google crawls web pages using a piece of robot software called Googlebot. It does not have the ability to "watch" a video and determine its value or quality. In fact, Google explicity states that:

"Googlebot cannot crawl the content of video files"

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=72746

If you provide a transcript of the video, that's text which Google can digest. But the video itself has zero value.

Agreed, search engines don't crawl the content of a video. The key word is "optimized." Optimized video provides metadata to the search engines which can be carefully crafted to boost your organic ranking.

Nipun (and Bob) here is a link to the source: http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/01/the-easiest-way.html

Ahh, so what do you do when your prospect gets to your web site? Video can be a powerful persuader. People want to be informed AND entertained. Boring content and boring text equals less customers.

This is only anecdotal evidence, but I've been told that our videos have been the final factor in new clients/prospects deciding to contact us.

I'm a big fan of videos (and video blogs) on websites.

But I agree with others, the video needs to be of a decent quality. Otherwise you're communicating negatively about your brand.

Is using video FAQ's with amazing response. Plus can place the videos in many places and pull traffic http://www.apparel3.wizgoshop.com/. Tries to get clients to give video testimonial. Was difficult at first. Then asked the script writer to be interviewer and consider as self promotion for client. This made it happen

I found this good article on SEO myths. by David Jackson http://www.sitepronews.com/2011/11/15/14-popular-seo-myths-examined/

Product videos are great content so long as they focus on how people use the product and not just on the product features -- many of which most may never use. Show me the product in action, being used by real people to add value to their lives and you have my attention. As an example I would offer up the Snow Wovel video on their site:
http://www.wovel.com/

Regards,
Jim

I have found that in certain cases I can even use this video tool www.animoto.com. I made these in a couple of hours

This one for fundraising (when they tried to get away) http://animoto.com/play/9jprddrdMlcL4VAKYefJKg?utm_content=challenger

This one to promote my photographer's art collection http://animoto.com/play/KtsUuVhJNYfWPjihO1W0oQ

and this one for a game world presentation to investors http://animoto.com/play/VVAKzg1xOLBm7kXEnW2Tfw

I use the tool to create video invitation to meet, thank you's and so on
But the best results are when I donate time and make video for a clients cause or event.

I am not that good at it yet but do have a lot of fun making my own stuff which is better than waiting for people to make things for my sales campaigns

Thx Animoto....

In today's world capturing the attention of a potential customer is difficult. It is no longer good enough to just drive people to a website; there needs to be a call to action or some form of engagement otherwise they'll look elsewhere for their needs.

Rather than a visitor on your website going looking for what they need, a video serves your value proposition to them on a silver platter. If the video is well made, it should convert the person from visitor to customer.

video is very important factor to grab attention, It is not the SEO. quality of the video attracts more number of prospects to the business. As you know video creates the grater impact than text, people are not ready to read the content of the website, if you are having proper site that tells about the overall business operation than is really worth adding to site.

http://www.nichesuite.com/#